The king’s body in Serbian hagiography: Meaning and function of the corpus invictissimus topos

Abstract

Conceptions of the holy in Serbian hagiography were deeply inspired by the translations of patristic, byzantine and, partly, chivalric literature. Whether the corporal is exalted or rejected, in the tradition of Serbian hagiography it is never an evaluatively neutral notion. Against the intellectual background, crucial for understanding the manner the Serbian medieval society conceived of the body, this paper gives an account of the “invincible body” topos, i.e. considers the rise of the chivalric idea of the hero, as well as the ideological and symbolic context of its formati