JOVAN VLADIMIR AS THE RULER, KNIGHT, AND SAINT. A STRATEGY OF CREATING CHARACTERS IN THE SOURCE OF THE ORTHODOX PRIEST DUKLANIN

Abstract

The article serves as a reminder of Jovan Vladimir, of which life has been described
in a one of the chapters (XXXVI) of the oldest Southern Slavonic work of historiography,
known under the title Kingdom of Slavs or A Chronicle of the Orthodox Priest Duklanin. The
presented considerations concern a development of the moralistic pattern, strategy of creating
characters, presence of a series of two cultural traditions, the Western and Eastern Christian
ones, which determine the hagiographic narratives. In the context of creation regarding the
personal pattern, there is also mentioned a question of the influence of the Western European
knightly tradition including elements and motifs typical for knightly poems, that is in other
words, stories of deeds: chansone de geste, which are presented in the commented work as well
as in the other chronicles of that time. For that reason, the narrative devoted to Jovan Vladimir
might be regarded as the first Southern Slavonic representative of the gesta literature. In the
article, a problem of domination of the hagiographic strategy is elaborated along with a process
of creation of the character, and a direction of transmission concerning the imperious and
knightly tradition, and the idea of sanctity. Comprised in the manuscript composition, the
narrative on Jovan Vladimir is perceived as a primary work through lack of the supposed
earlier source, and because of the character’s creation itself namely, the strategy of its
presentation, which, in almost literal sense, has been used by the authors of the later
hagiographic and hymnic texts regarding Vladimir. It is necessary to stress that the article is of
a sketchy character, and serves as an indication of the certain problem fields. Due to this, the
article cannot be considered as an overall picture of the theme, since it is limited by the
expected length of the academic text, and by the impressive number of already published
monographs focused on the very same topic. The proposed reflection, therefore, should be
treated as a sort of outline concentrated on the presentation of the construction essential for the
character’s image, and as a kind of occasional reminder of the famous knight (on account of a
round anniversary of his death, i.e. his birth for heaven: 1016-2016), who was the Warrior of
Christ, the first ruler-martyr, and the first Slavonic saint – the “head-carrying.”