The Dečani chrysobulls ( sr, Дечанске хрисовуље/Dečanske hrisovulje) alternatively known as the Dečani charters (Дечанске повеље/Dečanske povelje) are

chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors and later by monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most notably by the Holy Roman Emperors. The term was originally coined for the golden seal (a ''bull ...

s dating to 1321-1331 which contains a detailed list of landholdings and

tax farming Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contract ...

rights which the monastery of

Visoki Dečani The Visoki Dečani Monastery ( sr, Манастир Високи Дечани, Manastir Visoki Dečani, sq, Manastiri i Deçanit) is a medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian monastery located near Deçan, Kosovo. It was founded in the first half of ...

held over settlements and communities in an area which spanned from southern

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and parts of northern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. The chrysobulls were signed by King

Stefan Uroš III Dečanski of Serbia Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

who confirmed existing rights and gave new ones to the monastery. King Stefan Dečanski (r. 1321–1331) mentioned that the court dignitaries present at the Dečani assembly were the ''kaznac'', ''tepčija'', ''vojvoda'', ''sluga'' and ''stavilac''. The chrysobulls did not list every settlement in the domain of Serbian kings, but only those whose taxes were directly used for the benefit of the monastery. The chrysobulls listed that

held such rights over 2,097 households of

meropsi The ''sebri'' ( sr-cyr, себри) was the lower-half social class, commoners, of the medieval Serbian state. The status of the groups comprising the class was regulated in medieval code of laws, such as ''Dušan's Code'' (1349). It included severa ...

(dependent farmers-serfs), 266

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...

households (pastoral communities) and 69 ''sokalniki'' (craftsmen). The settlements listed in the first charter region were mostly ethnically Serb. Most of the Albanians at the time were Catholic and as such might not have been listed in the documents of Serbian Orthodox monasteries. Some of those listed as "Vlachs" might have actually been Albanian-speakers. The total of 89 settlements with 2,666 households were recorded of which 86 settlements were Serb (96,6%) and 3 (3,3%) were Albanian.Pavle Ivić and Milica Grković, 1976
''Dečanske hrisovulje''

Institute of Linguistics (Novi Sad) An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

, (Serbo-Croatian)

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* * * * Golden Bulls Medieval charters and cartularies of Serbia 14th century in Serbia Nemanjić dynasty Demographic history of Serbia {{serbia-hist-stub