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Nagoričino, Church of Saint George
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Place
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According to the Life of Saint Prohor Pčinjski (11th c.) Prohor settled in a small cave in the deserted area of Nagoričino in Žegligovo as a hermit (vь glubokuju pustynnju Nagoričeskuju). In Nagoričino also his hermitage (cave) is to be found. The original construction of the Church of Saint George in Nagoričino is dated to the 11th century and associated with Saint Prohor Pčinjski or the Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (reigned 1068-1071). The Life of Saint Joakim Osogovski from the 12th century gives an account on the building activity of an anonymous Emperor (hram prpodbnomu vъ ime svjatogo velikomčenika Hristvo Gjeōrgia). The church fell without doubt into disrepair in the last quarter of the 13th century. According to the Slavonic inscription at the Western entrance to the narthex, the church was renewed by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (reigned 1282-1321) in the year 1313. In this inscription a certain abbot called Andonij is also mentioned. This hint suggests that a monastery existed at that time near the church itself (Izvoleniemь božiemь sьzda sja domь svetago i velikoslavnago mjačenika Hristova Geōrgijě vь dny svjatorodnago i prěvysokago kralě Uroša Milutina, bogomь samodrьžьcu vsei srbьskoi zemli i primorьskoi, pri bogočьstivěi kralici Simonidě, i pri igumeně Andony, v lěto 6821 [1313]). According to the Slavonic inscription from 1318 in the interior, the church was decorated with frescoes by order of the Serbian King Milutin under the abbot Benjamin (Božiemь izvoljenijemь sьzʼda se ōt osnovanie, i popisa se, čьstnii hramь podaijemь vsakiim prevysokago krala Stefana Uroša, vь lěto 6826, pri igumeně Beniamine). Another inscription in the interior above the Western entrance has not been preserved. Between 1300 and 1318/21 a certain anagnost Radin from Nagoričino in Žegligovo (anagnosta Radina Nagoričanina izь Žegligova) wrote a gospel for the priest Zagoranin in Sušica. The old Serbian Genealogies (rodoslovi) and Annals (letopisi) report that the Serbian King Milutin had founded or endowed numerous monasteries, amongst others also the Monastery of Saint George in Nagoričino (Nagoričino svetomu Geōrgiju; i vь Nagoričine svetago Gjeōrgija; i druguju vь Nagoričinu; i vь Nagoričine Georgia). In the same sources Žegligovo and Nagoričino are subsumed in one geographical unit (i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crьkov svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago mučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgija). The Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops by Archbishop Danilo II and his successors confirm the renewal of the church under the Serbian King Milutin (i crkovь svetaago Georgьgija nagoričьskaago). The abbot Benjamin from Nagoričino is named in the list of abbots in two Serbian charters (1317 and one forgery from the 15th century, where he is referrred to as nagoričkii Beniaminь, respectively nagorički Beniaminь). According to the aforesaid Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops, the Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski (reigned 1321-1331) gathered his army in the forefront of the Battle of Velbužd in the first half of 1330 on a field called Dobrič, located in today's South-Eastern Serbia at the confluence of the rivers Južna Morava and Toplica. He intended to confront the Bulgarian Tsar Michael III Šišman (reigned 1323-1330) at this place. When messengers informed him that the Bulgarian Tsar had intruded Serbian territory near the castle of Zemen on the upper reaches of the river Struma, where the then border of the Serbian Kingdom lay, he set his army in march and first moved to Nagoričino, where he prayed in the Church of Saint George (priide vь monastirь svoi kь svetomu mučeniku Hristovu Georьgiju Nagoričьskomu). The victory of King Stefan Dečanski at the Battle of Velbužd on 28 July 1330 is described by the Serbian annals and the aforesaid Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops. According to the Serbian annals, King Stefan Dečanski captured Michael Šišman and brought him to Žegligovo (aduxere eum in Segligovo), where the Bulgarian Tsar died and was buried in the Church of Saint George in the village of Nagoričino (et sepulchro datus est in Ecclesia sancti Georgii in pago Gorichina). On the contrary, the Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops describe that the Bulgarian ruler had already died in the battle. His corpse was brought to the Church of Saint George in the place called Nagoričino (prěnesenu Georьgija vь městě rekoměmь Nagoričьskaago) and entombed there. In a ledger containing a list of debtors and guarantors of the Ragusan merchant Mihailo Lukarević from Novo Brdo, dated to the period from 1432 to 1438, a certain Radiuoj Tatich from Nagoričino, who was born in Kokÿno (de Chochina in Nagorizno/Nagorzno) is mentioned. On his campaign against the town of Skutari (now Shkodra in Albania) in May 1474 the Ottoman Pasha of Rumeli stayed with his army in Nagoričino, which was three days of journey away from Kosovo Polje (Bassa Romanie cum numeroso et valido exercitu dimissus est in loco dicto Nagoricino, distanti a Cossovo itinere dierum trium). In the Pšinski pomenik (15th c.) Nagoričino is attested as Staro Nagoričino ("Old Nagoričino"), while the toponym of Nagoričino is obviously used for Mlado Nagoričino. Nagoričino is registered in the Defter for the Sanjak Köstendil from 1519 with the attribute "Staro" and from the years 1570 to 1572 as Gühne Nogoriç, Köhne-i Nagoriç and Köhne-yi Nogoriç (with the meaning of "Staro Nogorič"). The assumption that Edward Brown (1668-1669, published in 1673) saw the Church of Saint George in Nagoričino, while passing through Kumanovo, is probably incorrect ("near which [scil. Kumanovo] there is still a Greek Monastery, upon the side of the hills"). Rather he wrote about Sveta Bogorodica Črьnogorska in the Skopska Crna Gora, to the West of Kumanovo. In 1704 the Serbian scribe Jerotej Račanin refers to Nagoričino as 40 churches ("40 crkvy" or Turkish "krka klisa").
From the viewpoint of Art History, it should be emphasised that the Serbian King Milutin had the upper part of the Church of Saint George built on the destroyed walls of an older edifice in 1312/13 as evidenced by the aforesaid inscription above the Western entrance. The frescoes in the church were completed in 1317/18 according to the aforesaid inscription from 1318 in the interior and were executed by the painters Michael and Eutychius. The Church of Saint George is in the form of an inscribed cross with five domes, with barrel and groin vaults and a semicircular apse on the East (the altar space is relatively large and is continuing to the space of the nave), while the older edifice is clearly visible (especially on the Northern side of the church).
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Žegligovo
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Place
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According to the Life of Saint Prohor Pčinjski (11th century) Prohor settled in a small cave in the deserted area of Nagoričino in Žegligovo (vь Žegligovskoj straně). The Saint met the later Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (reigned 1068-1071), who was hunting in Žegligovo. Between 1300 and 1318/21 a certain anagnost Radin from Nagoričino in Žegligovo (anagnosta Radina Nagoričanina izь Žegligova) wrote a gospel for the priest Zagoranin in Sušica. According to the Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops, written by Archbishop Danilo II and his successors, the Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski (reigned 1321-1331) gathered his army in the forefront of the Battle of Velbužd in the first half of 1330 on a field called Dobrič, located in today's South-Eastern Serbia at the confluence of the rivers Južna Morava and Toplica. He intended to confront the Bulgarian Tsar Michael III Šišman (reigned 1323-1330) at this place. As messengers informed him that the Bulgarian Tsar had reached the castle of Zemen in the upper course of the river Strymon (Struma), at that time the border between the Serbian Kingdom and the Second Bulgarian Empire, he set his army in march and first moved to Nagoričino, where he prayed in the Church of Saint George (priide vь monastirь svoi kь svetomu mučeniku Hristovu Georьgiju Nagoričьskomu). After the Serbian victory at the Battle of Velbužd near today's Kjustendil on 28 July 1330, Stefan Dečanski captured Michael Šišman and brought him to Žegligovo (aduxere eum in Segligovo), where he died and was buried in the Church of Saint George in the village of Nagoričino (et sepulchro datus est in Ecclesia sancti Georgii in pago Gorichina). In the year 1349 (u zemli žegligovьskoi) and 1354/55 respectively (u zemli žegligovьskoi) the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (reigned 1331-1355) mentions Žegligovo in his charters for Church of the Presentation of the Holy Mother of God in the village of Arhiljevica. The localisation of Arhilevjica remains unsolved. It might have lain near Preševo (today in Serbia) or in the Skopska Crna Gora in the triangle of the villages of Belanovce, Domanovci and Izvorь. In the Serbian Annals a church in the Skopska Crna Gora above Žegligovo is mentioned (u Črьmьnyje Gory, vyše Žegligova; eius vero mater aedificavit Ecclesiam in Nigro Monte, supra Segligovo). The same source often conflates Žegligovo and Nagoričino in one unit (I u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crьkov svetago velikomučenika Georgïa; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgïa; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago mučenika Georgïa; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crьkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgïa; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgïa). Žegligovo is mentioned by the Serbian Janissary Konstantin Mihailović (15th century) in his memoirs ("and as he [scilicet the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš V] reached the land of Constantine, he pitched his tent in the field of Žegligovo" and "as the Sultan Mehmed [II] arrived near the field called Žegligovo on the border of Rascia"). The term "Land of Constantine" relates to the Serbian Despot Konstantin Dragaš, who ruled over Žegligovo in the second half of the 14th century and was therefore called "Žegligovac". Žegligovo served probably as a deployment area for the Ottoman Sultan Murad I (reigned 1360-1389) before the Battle of Kosovo in June 1389 against the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović (reigned 1373-1389). The Byzantine Short Chronicles report that the Ottoman Sultan Bāyezīd I (reigned 1389-1402) handed over the relics of Saint Hilarion of Moglena (11th/12th centuries) to Konstantin Dragaš in 1394, who resided in Žegligovo (ὁποῦ ἐκάθετον εἰς τὸν Ὀζίγλοβο). Thereupon, Konstantin brought the relics to the Monastery of Sarandaporь. In the year 1395 Konstantin Dragaš fell in the Battle of Rovine against the Wallachian Voivode Mircea the Elder (reigned 1386-1418). In the year 1479 the scribe Vladislav Gramatik compiled a liturgical book (Panegyrikon) in the Monastery of Saint Bogorodica Črьnogorska at the foot of the Črьna Gora (Skopska Crna Gora) in the region of Žegligovo (vь prědělě žegligovscěm). The humanist and diplomat Felix Petančić (ca. 1455-after 1517) refers to Žegligovo as "Gegligove". In 1512 Ottoman troops pillaged Žegligovo and Ovče Pole (To lěto plěniše Turci Žegligovo, Ovče Polě). In the summer of 1550 Klementios was appointed Metropolitan of Skopje, Vranje and Žegligovo (μητρόπολιν Σκοπίου, Βράνιας καὶ Ζεγληγόβου). Žegligovo is mentioned in the Vodičnički pomenik from the 16th century. The župa of Žegligovo roughly included the area to the South of Preševo (today in Serbia), to the West of Slavište, to the North of Ovče Pole and the valley of the river Vardar and to the East of the Skopska Crna Gora.
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