Промена владарског потписа: кнез и деспот Стефан Лазаревић

Abstract

У прилогу се сагледавају палеографске одлике потписа Стефан Лазаревића у двема његовим владарским фазама, као кнеза и као деспота. Узимају се у обзир непосредни и шири контекст, традиције и рад државне канцеларије Немањића и кнеза Лазара. Препознаје се промена која доводи до индивидуализације деспотова потписа у начелном смислу речи (то не подразумева фиксирање готових решења), промена која је препозната и од савременика (на пример, Руско Христифоровић у својим копијама докумената писаним уједначеним, заправо властитим писарским дуктусом, којим се неутралишу разлике из предложака, верно прецртава карактеристичне деспотове потписе).

The paper discusses the palaeographic features of Stefan Lazarević’s signature in the two stages of his reign, a prince (1389–1402) and as a despot (1402–1427). Both the immediate and wider contexts are taken into consideration, as well as the traditions and activities of the Nemanjić’s chancery (from Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja and even Prince Miroslav, through Nemanja’s descendants, King Milutin, and King and Emperor Dušan), and Stefan’s father and predecessor, Prince Lazar. It is possible to observe major differences in the shaping of the ruler’s signature, depending on Stefan’s title and the adopted status. Soon after the promotion into the rank of despot, a very specific ruler’s signature was developed in his chancery; it can be found in his official documents and it would become the emblem of his personality as a ruler. Nevertheless, the signature is not monotonous; it is marked by diversity, while conforming to the overall principle – the logographic partitioning of word parts within a relatively stable formula and what is commonly referred to as “writing the characters within a block”. Even in the copies made by the Serbian Chancery in Dubrovnik, which sought to copy text regularly and neutrally in terms of the graphic and orthographic features, the peculiar calligraphic patterns of the Despot’s signature are faithfully copied. At the same time, Stefan’s title transformed from an ordinary appellative into a substitute for the ruler’s name; as a consequence, the monogram was derived from the word ‘despot’, which was also considered to be a sufficient ruler’s mark on some coin emissions under Despot Stefan. Pursuing to reconstruct the formation of the specific calligraphic procedure involved in the construction of the Despot’s official signature, which made it representatively individualized, we also use sphragistic and numismatic materials. Although the hypothesis that these materials may have served as the source for the signature’s shape may be appealing, they turn out to be of secondary importance. Stefan’s signature as a despot, most typically found in documents, was shaped by a chancery scribe familiar with the local calligraphic tradition and apparently experienced in writing on book-size sheets. Stefan’s successor, Đurađ Branković (1427–1456), would retain Stefan’s attributes as a ruler, including, in general, the distinctive ruler’s signature.