International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Mila Krneta
University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Philosophy, Banja Luka, 
Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 
[e-mail]
Byzantine Women in Serbian Medieval Hagiography
Serbian medieval hagiographies were aimed to celebrate the spiritual, but also the secular 
achievements of their heroes. Although these hagiographies were primarily consecrated to prominent 
rulers and spiritual leaders of the Serbian medieval period, and none of these Byzantine women had 
a major role in any of them, they are mentioned in some parts casually or with the intention of 
completing the picture, in a good or a bad light, of a certain event or person being described. The 
aim of this work is to show how Byzantine women are represented in this type of Serbian medieval 
sources and to compare the image of women of Byzantine origin with that of the other women who 
are mentioned, and to provide examples. In eight hagiographies seven women are mentioned, all of 
whom were found to have been of Byzantine origin. The names of most of these women were not 
registered, but their names are known from other, mainly Byzantine, sources. From the perspective 
of historical sources not all of them were of the same importance, and so it is somewhat expected 
that we were not given the names of all the Byzantine women referred to there in.
In general, the attitude of medieval literature towards women was binary, ranging between two 
extremes: that of the negative image of the sinful Eve, who was responsible for human suffering, and 
Virgin Mary, free of all sin. In this context one can also discuss the presentation of Byzantine women 

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that are mentioned in Serbian hagiographies. What is particularly interesting and pronounced is the 
description of a single woman in a different light in two different hagiographies. The descriptions 
ranged from extremely positive to extremely negative. Byzantine women which were presented in 
a good light include Empress Irina Laskaris in Life of Saint Sava by Domentian, Simonis in Life of 
Queen Jelena by Danilo II and in Life of King Milutin by Danilo II, as well as Mary Paleologina in 
Life of Stefan Dečanski by Daniel’s successor and in the Life of Stefan Dečanski by Gregory Camblak. 
Their mention is accompanied by epithets such are God-loving, pure of faith, Christ-loving and 
blessed. Displayed in a completely opposite, negative way are Anna Angelus in Life of Saint Sava by 
Theodosius and Simonis Palaiologina in Life of Stefan Dečanski by Gregory Camblak. In the two 
hagiographies mentioned these two women are described by the adjectives ill-natured, cunning and 
shameless. In this paper the possible motives of the authors to characterize those Byzantine women 
as villains will be discussed. In some hagiographies, Byzantine women were presented in a third, 
neutral way which does not let us easily conclude whether they were good or bad. Such is the image 
of Empress Jelena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great in Life of Emperor Uroš by patriarch 
Pajsije Janjevac, Evdokia in Life of Saint Simeon by Saint Sava, Anna Angelus in Life of Saint Sava 
by Domentian, Irina Laskaris in Life of Saint Sava by Theodosius, and Theodora Palaiologina, sister 
of Emperor Andronicus III Palaeologus in Life of Stefan Dečanski by Danilo’s successor.
What particularly arrests our attention is the lack of any mention of Evdokia in Life of Saint 
Simeon by Stefan Nemanjić, although this marriage was a very important event that took place 
during the reign of Stefan Nemanja, to whom the work was dedicated. The question arises why he 
neglected to write about a Byzantine woman that he was married with.