Vlgdrag

Vlgdrag
čelnik [of the Serbian kingdom]
Vlgdrag founded the Church of St. John the Baptist in Dići, where he was buried in 1327.
Spouse(s)	Vladislava (nun Ana)
Detail Titles and styles čelnik
Born	Kingdom of Serbia
Died	8 May 1327
Buried	Church of St. John the Baptist in Dići (near Ljig, central Serbia)
Occupation	magnate

Vlgdrag (Serbian Cyrillic: Влгдраг;^[a] d. 1327) was a Serbian nobleman who served King Stefan Dečanski (r. 1321–31) as čelnik.^[1] He was a magnate in the Rudnik mountain area, who founded (as the ktetor) the Raška style^[2] church in Dići (near Ljig, central Serbia), below the Rudnik, before 1327, most likely as a family temple.^[3] He must have had one of the important gubernatorial functions in the Rudnik oblast (province) during the reigns of kings Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321) and Stefan Dečanski.^[2] Unknown in historical sources,^[4] he was buried in his church, where his gravestone inscription tells that he died on 8 May 1327,^[5] on the Feast of the Ascension (Spasovdan),^[6] and that he had taken monastic vows as Nikola (Никола) and [once] held the title of čelnik.^[7] It is unclear if there was one or several individuals with that title at the court at that time; Đuraš Ilijić (fl. 1326–62) was mentioned with the title in 1326, and Gradislav Vojšić (fl. 1284–1327), for the second time, in 1327.^[1] He was buried in a special tomb inside the church,^[8] and his gravestone was set by his wife Vladislava (nun Ana).^[9] The unearthing of the gravestone gave new facts in the understanding of the territorial contours of the Serbian state north of Rudnik at the end of the 13th- and beginning of 14th century.^[10] The largest medieval necropolis in Serbia was unearthed around the church, with flat gravestones (more than 180 slabs) belonging to the oldest phase of the Stećak culture.^[11]

Annotations

1. ^ Also rendered Vlkdrag (Влкдраг);^[6] modern forms Vukdrag (Вукдраг) and Vukodrag (Вукодраг). It is an old Serbian name, found in medieval epigraphy. It is an apotropaic name, derived from vuk ("wolf") and drag ("dear").

References

1. Blagojević 2001, p. 211.
2. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Valjevo.
3. Kalezić 2002, p. 553.
4. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Valjevo; Stamenković 2002, p. 499
5. Đorđević, Vojvodić & Marković 2008, p. 481.
6. Novak 2009, p. 95.
7. Janićijević 1998, p. 339; Blagojević 2001, p. 211
8. Anthropologischer Anzeiger 2001, p. 114.
9. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Valjevo; Kalezić 2002, p. 553; Novak 2009, p. 95
10. Stamenković 2002, p. 499; Erdeljan 1996, p. 86
11. Stamenković 2002, p. 499.

Sources

• Anthropologischer Anzeiger (2001). Anthropologischer Anzeiger 59. E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (E. Nägele). p. 114.
• Blagojević, Miloš (2001). Državna uprava u srpskim srednjovekovnim zemljama. Službeni list SRJ.
• Đorđević, Ivan M.; Vojvodić, Dragan; Marković, Miodrag (2008). Studije srpske srednjovekovne umetnosti. Zavod za Udžbenike. p. 481.
• Erdeljan, Jelena (1996). Medieval funerary monuments in the region of Ras. Arheološki institut, Beograd. ISBN 978-86-80093-10-9.
• Janićijević, Jovan (1998). The cultural treasury of Serbia. IDEA. p. 339.
• Kalezić, Dimitrije M. (2002). Enciklopedija pravoslavlja. Savremena administracija.
• Novak, Viktor (2009). Revue historique 58. Istorijski institut u Beogradu. p. 95.
• Stamenković, Srboljub Đ. (2002). Geografska enciklopedija: naselja Srbije. Geografski fakultet. p. 499.

External links

• Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Valjevo. "Dići". Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Valjevo. (Serbian)