Royal Bodies of Serbian Medieval Kings. Entwined in the Vine of Salvation

Abstract

This article discusses the phenomenon of visual representation of the holy Nemanjić family tree and its multiple iconographic variations, including the horizontal and the vertical models, which reflect the theologically grounded royal ideology and its direct relation to that of the Davidic, messianic nature and body of the basileos ton Romaion. Already rooted in the days of the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, Stefan Nemanja-Saint Simeon, and his sons, Stefan Prvovenčani and Saint Sava the Serbian, in the late 12th and early 13th century, the phenomenon is particularly manifest in the programme of decoration of such churches raised by king Milutin (1282-1321) as the Virgin Ljeviška in Prizren and the church of the Virgin in the monastery of Gračanica. It became even more intense because of Milutin’s marriage to the porphyrogenita Simonis, daughter of emperor Andronicos II, and his thereby achieved oneness – unity – with the Christian Empire of the Romans.