Helen – a Catholic Noblewoman, Serbian Queen and Interreligious Donor connecting East and West in the 13th/14th Centuries (IDCEW)

Description

The project aims to address the life and deeds of the medieval Serbian Queen Helen, who lived in the 13th/14th centuries and was married to the Serbian King Uroš I. It will be conducted in cooperation with the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with regard to the surveys and drone documentation in the area of research. Helen’s life has to be understood as a person, who was building bridges between the Orthodox East and the Latin West due to her French descent and her strong relationship with the noble family of Anjou. Many questions regarding Helen’s life, realm and endowments need further in-depth research.

These questions include:

• A re-evaluation of Helen’s documents (i.e. charters and letters) in order to define her realm in Zeta, Trebinje, Plav and the upper flow of the river Ibar more precisely (also with the means of Cartography, Toponymy and GIS)
• In this context a new edition of the charters to the Monastery Sveti Nikola na Vranjini, which have not been adequately edited until now and which will contribute to our research questions
• A reconstruction of the “Sacred Landscape” (contact zone) of Helen’s realm by analysing the architecture of respective monuments (churches and monasteries) of the 13th and 14th centuries, especially Sopoćani and Gradac, in the Raški and Moravički okruzi (Serbia) with regard to Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Latin, Catholic) influences
• The donations of icons and other small objects of art by Helen to churches and monasteries in her realm as well as in Italy (cf. the icon of the Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican), their analysis with regard to Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Latin, Catholic) influences and Helen’s afterlife in Serbian art of the 18th and 19th centuries