Sacralizing the Nation through Remembrance of Medieval Religious Figures in Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia

Description

Religious figures of remembrance served to consolidate dynastic rule and later nation-state legitimacy and community. The study illuminates the interweaving of (Eastern) Roman, medieval Serbian and Bulgarian, as well as Ottoman and Western European national discourses culminating in the sacralization of the nation. Contents Figures Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Historiographical Context, Question, and Outline 2 State of Research 3 Sources Chapter 2 Holy Teachers, Rulers, and Capitals – Religious Memory-Figures up to the 18th Century 1 “Educators and Teachers of the Slavs” Constantine-Cyril and Methodius 2 Scholars, Patron Saints, and Miracle Workers – Clement of Ohrid and Naum 3 Saints as Pillars of Bulgarian Rule in the New City of the Tsars 4 Excursus: Ioakim, Gavriil, and Prohor – Slavic-Byzantine Saints between Bulgarian and Serbian Dominion 5 Holy Rulers of Rascia or Serbia 6 “Pro patria mori” – The Battle of the Field of Blackbirds, Lazar, and St. Vitus’s Day 7 Serbian and Bulgarian Holy Princes of the Church 8 Holy Branković Despots – The Continued Invention of the Holy Dynasty in Hungary 9 Review – Religious Memory-Figures up to the 18th Century as Media of Homogeneous “National Denominational Cultures”? Chapter 3 The Invention of European, Christian Nations to Overcome the “Asian Yoke” in the Long 19th Century 1 Clergy as National Saints: Sava’s Ascent to “Savior” and “New Creator” 2 Clergy as National Saints: Ivan as “the Only All-National Saint” and His Monastery of Rila 3 Clergy as National Saints: The Rediscovery of Cyril and Methodius as “Geniuses” between Transnational Pan-Slavism and Nationalism 4 Clergymen as National Saints: From Archbishop and “Ohridian Babalŭk” to “Savior of Slavdom” and “Smith of the Bulgarian Nationality” – Clement in Ohrid and Bulgaria 5 The Controversial National Myth – the Battle of the Blackbird Field and St. Vitus’s Day as National Myth Nexus 6 Holy Serbian Rulers – Stefan the First-Crowned and the Other Nemanjids in Sava’s Shadow 7 Holy Bulgarian Rulers – Boris as “Creator of the Bulgarian Nationality” 8 The “Bulgarian God,” the Serbian “Holy Land,” as Well as Monasteries and Regions – Spatial Designs through Religious-National Memory 9 Interim Assessment