Maps of Power

Thodora

Properties

ID	132078
System Class	Person
Case Study	Byzantino-Serbian Border Zones in Transition (1282–1355) , Historical Region of Macedonia TIB 16
Sex	Female

Description

Mentioned in the colophone (170b) of the festal Menaion, which has been preserved in the Chludov collection of the manuscripts at the State Historical Museum in Moscow under the signature 164. The manuscript was written between the years 1371 and 1394. She was the daughter or wife of a certain Grьgurь, probably Grьgurь Branković. Her husband was Radoslabos Chlapenos. King Markos had an affair with her. After the romance ended, Markos gave Thodora to Radoslabos Chlapenos and remarried Jelena according to dijak Dobre, who wrote about it in a note in the festal Menaion (Pysa se sija knyga u Porěči, u selě zovom Kalugerecь vь dьni blagověrnago kralja Mar’ka, jegda ōdade Thodoru Grьgurovu ženu Hlapenu, a uze ženu svoju prьvověn’čan’nu Jelenu, Hlapenovu dьštere).

literature

Adžievski 1994 — 256-257 , Dinić-Knežević 1974 — 142 , Dinić-Knežević 2005 — 61 , Grujić 1935a — 188 , Iorga 1899 — 63, n. 8 , Jireček 1911-1918 — II, 105 , Katić 1967 — 277 , Kašanin 1990 — 304 , Mihajlovski 2005 — 192 , Mihaljčić 1989a — 198 , Mirković 1924/1925 — 28 , Pop-Atanasov/Velev/Jakimovska-Tošiḱ 1997 — 86 , Popov 1872 — 346 , Popović 1988 — 20 , Soulis 1984 — 222, n. 147 , Stojanović 1902-1926 — I, Nr. 189 (58-59) , Tichomirov 1969 — 294 , Tomin 2005 — 211-219 , Ugrinova-Skalovska 1975 — 27 , Šuica 1995 — 172 , Šuica 2009a — 360

Relations

Actors (1)

Name	Class	Begin	End	Relation Type	Description
Chlapenos Radoslabos	Person			Spouse	Identical with Radoslav’ (Povikь?)? It is doubtful, that he is the same person as the župan Hlapen, who governed Konavle and the region of Trebinje. He died before 1385. He was a commandant of the Serbian military troops in Macedonia, 1350. He controlled a large area in Macedonia in the border region, 1357–1362. He was a relative of the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. He married Eirene Prelumpissa in 1358 (ὅθεν καὶ γυναῖκα λαμβάνει τὴν τοῦ Πρελούμπου ἐκείνου γαμετήν). He was the father of Helena. According to a manuscript note she was married to Marko Mrnjavčević (vь dьni blagověrnago kralja Mar’ka, jegda ōdade Thodoru Grьgurovu ženu Hlapenu, a uze ženu svoju prьvověn’čan’nu Jelenu, Hlapenovu dьštere). His second daughter was the wife of Nikolaos Baldubinos Pagases [Νικόλαος Βαλδουβῖνος Παγάσης/Nikola Bagaš] (ἀπὸ τοῦ πενθεροῦ μου Ῥαδοσλάβου τοῦ Χλαπένου). The third daughter called Maria Angelina Radosthlaba married Alexios Angelos Philantropenos. Mauro Orbini, a Ragusan chronicler from 16th century, who used older sources, mentions also a son of him called Stefan-Dukas (I maschi si chiamauno Duca & Stefano). He defected in 1350 along with Tolisthlabos from the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan to the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes VI Kantakuzenos (ἧκον δὲ καὶ αὐτόμολοι δύο ἐξ αὐτῶν· ὧν ἅτερος τῶν μάλιστα ἦν ἐπιφανῶν, κατὰ γένος προσήκων Κράλῃ, Χλάπαινος ὠνομασμένος, στρατιάν τε ἔχων ὑφ’ ἑαυτὸν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον καὶ πολλὴν περιουσίαν· ὁ λοιπὸς δὲ οὐ τῶν πάνυ περιδόξων ἦν, πλὴν κἀκεῖνος ἀρχάς τε πόλεων ἐγκεχειρισμένος καὶ στρατοπέδων ἡγεμονίας, ὄνομα Τολίσθλαβος). After a while he switched sides again and joined most likely the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. He captured Beroia before 1359, probably in 1351 (Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ Χλάπενος, εἷς ὢν τῶν Σερβικῶν σατραπῶν καὶ τινα φρούρια ἐκ τῶν Ῥωμαï κῶν ὁρίων εἰληφώς, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τὴν μεγαλόδοξον πόλιν Βέῤῥοιαν, μεγάλως ἐπὶ τοὶς κατορθώμασιν ἐσέμνυνεν). He witnessed the apparently falsified charter issued by the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš V in 1355 for the inhabitants of the town of Kotor (Radosav Chlapene). He acted as a protector of the inheritance right of his wife and his stepson Toma Preljubović (Θωμᾶς Πρέλουμπος). Therefore he seized the Thessalian town Damasis in 1359/1360 (Τῇ Βλαχίᾳ δὲ φθάσας μετὰ τῶν στρατευμάτων καὶ φρούριον ἓν πολιορκία εἰληφώς, Δάμασιν καλούμενον, εἰς συμβάσεις μετὰ τοῦ βασιλέως Συμεὼν χωροῦσι, καὶ τὸ φρούριον τούτῳ παραχωρεῖ). He gave up the town of Damasis to Simeon Uroš (Συμεὼν Παλαιολόγος) on condition of arranging the marriage between Maria Angelina Komnene Palaiologina, the daughter of Simeon, and Toma Preljubović (Θωμᾶς Πρέλουμπος). He founded the Mesonesiotissa Monastery near Kastoria (καὶ ἂν κατὰ διαδοχὴν καὶ κληρονομίαν ἔλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ πενθεροῦ μου Ῥαδοσλάβου τοῦ Χλαπένου σεβασμίαν καὶ ἱερὰν μονὴν, τὴν παρ’ ἐκείνου ἀνεγερθεῖσαν ἐκ βάθρων αὐτῶν τῇ ὑπερευλογημένῃ ἡμῶν δεσποίνῃ καὶ θεομήτορι, τὴν οὕτω πως καλουμένην Μεσονησιώτισσαν). Apparently his ring was found on a medieval necropolis of the Vodoča Monastery near Strumica. It bears an invocation (Izvolite raba Božija Hlapena).