The Life and Feats of the ever-mentioned, glorious, pious Lord Despot 1Stefan,2 written by the command and request of the most holy patriarch of the Serbian land, Kir Nikon,3 and the court chiefs, and by the vision of the Holy Trinity, while Stefan himself (the Despot) requested this to be done.
Bless me, Father!
[On the origin of Despot Stefan Lazarević]
This man, therefore, shone forth from the land of Dalmatia Dacia, [lands] now called Serbia, where many have flourished in recent times, of whom the genealogy will speak. And this [land] not only, like the promised one, flows with milk and honey, but as if it has embraced and bound the four seasons and the air, and from itself gives them to others…4
- Tran. note: A title of high nobility, conferred by the Emperors of Eastern Roman Empire or states within its cultural influence who claimed the title of Emperor. ↩︎
- Tran. note: Stefan Lazarević (c.1377-1427), ruler of Serbia 1389-1427 (with his mother as the regent until 1393). ↩︎
- Tran. note: Nikon I, Archbishop of Peć and the Serbian Patriarch 1419-1435. “Kir” is a title meaning “lord”, “master” or “gentleman”, derived from Greek. ↩︎
- Tran. note: Parts of the text were lost, the breaks are indicated with an elipsis. ↩︎
