The Mileševa printing house () was a printing house established in 1544 in the Mileševa monastery near

Prijepolje Prijepolje ( sr-Cyrl, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022, the town has 11,928 inhabitants, while the municipality has 32,214 inhabitants. Etymology One possible mean ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(modern day

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

). Three srbulje books were printed in this printing house. Two in 1544 and 1545 and one in 1557.

Background

Activities connected with printing in Mileševa began when in 1518 or at the beginning of 1519 when Teodor Ljubavić, who was a

hieromonk A hieromonk,; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: ''Иеромонахъ''; ; ; ; ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Hieromurg'' also called a priestmonk, is a person who is both monk and Priest#Roman Catholic and Orthodox, priest in the Eastern Christianity ...

of Mileševa, travelled to

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to learn printing skills. Ljubavić worked at

Goražde printing house The Goražde printing house ( or ) was one of the earliest printing houses among the Serbs,Biggins & Crayne 2000, pp. 85–86 and the first in the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of the Ottoman Empire).Benac & Lovrenovi� ...

between 1521 and 1523. Between 1533 and 1535

Božidar Vuković Božidar Vuković ( sr-Cyrl, Божидар Вуковић, , ; c. 1460 — c. 1539) was one of the first printers and editors of Serbian books in Montenegro. He founded the famous Vuković printing house in Venice. His printing house was opera ...

visited Mileševa and concluded an agreement with Mileševa to distribute his books.

Establishing

In 1543 Todor Ljubojević, a monk in Mileševa and son of Božidar, was sent to Venice to join his brother Đurađ and to buy a printing press for the monastery. He was accompanied by Mileševa monk Sava and by Mardarije who was a

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

of the

Banja Monastery The Banja Monastery () is a Serbian Orthodox monasteries, Serbian Orthodox Monastery located near Priboj, Serbia. Monastery Banja presents Cultural Monuments of Exceptional Importance, Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in Serbia. Histo ...

near

Priboj Priboj ( sr-Cyrl, Прибој, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The population of the town is 13,172, while the population of the municipality is 23,514. Geography The municipality of Priboj i ...

. At that time Banja Monastery was a seat of the

metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

while Mileševa was the richest monastery of Dabar eparchy. That is why those two monasteries were given the task to finance and organize establishing of the printing house in Mileševa and why Mardarije travelled to Venice together with monks from Mileševa.

Printing

Mileševa printing house was operational in period 1544–1557. Three books were printed in it,

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

(Псалтир, 1544),

Breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

(Требник, 1545) and another Psalter (1557). Psalter of 1544 was edited and prepared by Mardarije and Teodor Ljubavić, based on 1519-20 Psalter of

. Psalter was edited and prepared by Mardarije and Teodor Ljubavić, based on 1519-20 Psalter of

. Trebnik was printed by Deak Damjan and Milan from Obna (region around river Kolubara). The third book was printed after a pause of twelve years. Because it was printed with different types, some sources say that two printing houses existed in Mileševa, both of them founded by the order of hegumen of Mileševa, Danilo.

Background

Establishing

Printing

See also

References

Sources

Further reading