The ''Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević'' ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Живот деспота Стефана Лазаревића, Житије деспота Стефана Лазаревића, Život despota Stefana Lazarevića, Žitije despota Stefana Lazarevića, separator=" / ") is a biography of Serbian ruler

Stefan Lazarević Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall (), was a Serbian ruler as prince (1389–1402) and Despot (court title), despot (1402–1427). He was also a diplomat, legislat ...

authored by

Constantine of Kostenets Constantine of Kostenets (; – after 1431), also known as Constantine the Philosopher ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Константин Филозоф, Konstantin Filozof, separator=" / "), was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and chronicler, who spent mo ...

("the Philosopher") . The biography had been ordered by Serbian Patriarch Nikon following the death of Despot Stefan. That order was only fulfilled four years later, when allegedly Despot Stefan himself appeared in Constantine's dream. The biography is regarded as one of the most interesting in the

medieval Serbian literature Medieval Serbian literature or Old Serbian literature () refers to the literature written in medieval forms of Serbian language, up to the end of the 15th century, with its traditions extending into the early modern period. During the Middle Age ...

because it contains not only facts about the Despot's life, but also geographic information and thorough descriptions of numerous historical events. Constantine was apparently inspired by Byzantine chronicles. The work begins with a geographic description of Serbia's natural beauties, going on to describe its residents, praising their character but also mourning their forthcoming fall to the Turks. An exhaustive story of court events and Despot Stefan's life follows, with numerous Biblical and classical references and numerous historical data which have proven invaluable to later historians. On several occasions, Constantine used

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

s, with three masterpiece instances: in the introduction verses, in the titles of central chapters, and in the verses telling of his sorrow for the deceased.

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Житије деспота Стефана Лазаревића
(excerpts),

Project Rastko Project Rastko — Internet Library of Serb Culture () is a non-profit and non-governmental publishing, cultural and educational project dedicated to Serb and Serb-related arts and humanities. It is named after Rastko Nemanjić. Project The pro ...

{{in lang, sr Medieval Serbian literature 15th century in Serbia 1430s books Serbian Despotate Lazarević dynasty History of the Serbian Orthodox Church Books about monarchs 15th-century history books Serbian manuscripts Cyrillic manuscripts Christian hagiography 1431 Serbian Cyrillic texts

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