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Copyright of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology is the property of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The churches commissioned by King (later Emperor) Stephen Dušan, his important dignitaries, and later Serbian rulers-e.g., Holy Archangels near Prizren, Lesnovo, Hilandar, Markov Manastir, Ravanica, and Manasija-often have a narthex or an entrance porch covered by a dome. This architectural element is additionally emphasized by a specific program of painted decoration-as witnessed by several preserved ensembles-which, like the one in the nave's dome, contains some representation of Christ surrounded by members of the heavenly ranks. Through the choice of iconographic elements of Christ or accompanying personages, these compositions are often imbued with a royal subtext. Such an architectural and iconographic solution has its precedents in some Byzantine monuments from the 10th to the 12th century, of which the most important for the Serbian examples, as their potential models, are probably the Athonite katholika and the main church of the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople. The prevalence of this architectural element notably increased during the Late Byzantine period, particularly in political entities whose rulers sought independence and even aspired to imperial dignity, such as Epirus, which bordered the Serbian state, and later Mystra. In these Byzantine churches, the specific form of this micro-architectural feature and its strategic placement at the church entrance can be associated with imperial patronage and royal visits. Given the well-supported hypothesis that this paradigm was adopted into Serbian architecture with the same imperial connotation, this study examines its spatial, formal, and iconographic elements, along with its semantic and ideological context. The author's ongoing research of this phenomenon encompasses all preserved and relevant examples within the Serbian Empire, Byzantium, and the broader Byzantine world. However, for the purpose of this article, the discussion will be limited only to Serbian monuments, include an examination of their potential models, and underscore particular nuances in meaning exhibited by their spatial solutions and iconographic programs.

The ruler’s title serves as a crucial element in the argumentative strategy for legitimizing power. It is directed towards a complex system of heterogeneous audiences and is a valuable source for the changes in the socio-political self-identification of the ruling authority. Medieval Serbia experienced a brief period of prominence in southeastern Europe, particularly under the reign of Stefan Dušan (1331–1355), who expanded his realm to include territories inhabited by Greek-speaking populations. The political landscape of the new empire was multifaceted, requiring the Serbian ruler to navigate complex dynamics by balancing the interests of longstanding subjects, newer constituents, and the Byzantine hierarchy of rulers alongside Western European traditions. This article aims to analyze and elucidate these ideological processes as evidenced in royal charters written in Greek, while also challenging M. Popovich’s thesis regarding the existence of a Serbian “ecumene” and Stefan Dušan’s claims to the Byzantine throne. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inscriptions on buildings, wall paintings and tombstones, as well as marginal notes of copyists and readers of books are important sources for the study of daily life in Serbia and Bosnia in the Middle Ages. They contain information about the erection and painting of churches and monasteries, their founders, builders and painters, and sometimes about the reasons and circumstances in which these buildings were created. The tombstone inscriptions can offer basic information about deceased persons and their lives and often depict the beliefs, ethics and culture of the nobility. Records of copyists, translators and manuscript illuminators reveal both religious motives that led them to accept this endeavor, as well as various difficulties they faced in their work (from inadequate sources, poor quality writing material, to the difficult conditions in which they copied, translated and decorated books – cold, hunger, lack of sleep, sight problems, social disturbances and wars). Similar marginalia about the difficulties they encountered in everyday life, about illness, death or fear of the Turks were often left by the readers of these books, and empty pages or margins in the books were sometimes used to list someone’s income and expenses, draft private contracts or record global and local news.

Female donation and representation are an important part of Serbian medieval visual culture. This paper explores the donation and representation of queen and empress Jelena in Serbian visual culture. It points to the mechanisms of presence and visibility of Jelena in the life of medieval Serbia by way of her participation in political matters of the state, her participation in the creation of visual culture, donations she made as a female ruler along with her husband, her visual portraits in monumental fresco painting, as well as her erection of endowments during Emperor Dušan’s lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious practice in Serbia has taken place using both indoors and outdoors sacred sites ever since the adoption of Christianity in medieval times. However, previous archaeoacoustic research was focused on historic church acoustics, excluding the open-air soundscapes of sacred sites. The goal of this review paper is to shed light on the varieties of sacred soundscapes that have supported the various needs of Orthodox Christian practice in medieval Serbia. First, in relation to the acoustic requirements of the religious service, we compare the acoustic properties of masonry and wooden churches based on the published archaeoacoustic studies of medieval churches and musicological studies of the medieval art of chanting. Second, we provide an overview of the ethnological and historical studies that address the outdoor sacred soundscapes and investigate the religious sound markers of large percussion instruments, such as bells and semantra, the open-air litany procession that has been practiced during the annual celebration of a patron saint’s day in rural areas, and the medieval assemblies that took place on the sacred sites. This paper finally points out that the archaeoacoustic studies of sacred soundscapes should not be limited to church acoustics but also include open-air sacred sites to provide a complete analysis of the aural environment of religious practice and thus contribute to understanding the acoustic intention of medieval builders, as well as the aural experience of both clergy and laity.

Religious practice in Serbia has taken place using both indoors and outdoors sacred sites ever since the adoption of Christianity in medieval times. However, previous archaeoacoustic research was focused on historic church acoustics, excluding the open-air soundscapes of sacred sites. The goal of this review paper is to shed light on the varieties of sacred soundscapes that have supported the various needs of Orthodox Christian practice in medieval Serbia. First, in relation to the acoustic requirements of the religious service, we compare the acoustic properties of masonry and wooden churches based on the published archaeoacoustic studies of medieval churches and musicological studies of the medieval art of chanting. Second, we provide an overview of the ethnological and historical studies that address the outdoor sacred soundscapes and investigate the religious sound markers of large percussion instruments, such as bells and semantra, the open-air litany procession that has been practiced during the annual celebration of a patron saint's day in rural areas, and the medieval assemblies that took place on the sacred sites. This paper finally points out that the archaeoacoustic studies of sacred soundscapes should not be limited to church acoustics but also include open-air sacred sites to provide a complete analysis of the aural environment of religious practice and thus contribute to understanding the acoustic intention of medieval builders, as well as the aural experience of both clergy and laity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The mining and metallurgical activity has a centuries-old tradition in Serbia. Copper, iron and gold are the basic metals in the ore of Eastern Serbia. Lead, zinc, iron and silver ore are present in central Serbia, while antimony and lead ore are predominant at the location of western Serbia. The strength of Nemanjic's Serbia was mostly based on the development of this activity. With the arrival of the Turks, the mining and metallurgical activity weakened, and at the beginning of the 18th century it completely become extincted. Almost all current mines of polymetallic ores in Serbia appeared on the locations of medieval mines.

Copyright of Istorijski časopis is the property of Istorijski Institut and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Theodore Spandounes was born in the middle of the 15th century to a family of the Greek exiles who had found shelter in Italy after the fall of Constantinople. The Spandounes family had not played any significant role in the history of the Byzantine Empire but his mother Eudotia came from the famous Kantakouzenos family. Members of the Kantakouzenos family played an important political role in Serbia until its annexation by the Ottoman Empire in 1459. Theodore established close relations with popes Clement VII and Paul III, who he advised on the Ottoman affairs. Probably around 1515, Spandounes wrote the first version of the treatise On the Origin of the Ottoman Emperors. In 1538 he dedicated the final version to Henry, Dauphin of France (the future king Henry II). As suggested by the title, the main objective of Spandounes's treatise was to explain how the Ottomans rose from the humble beginnings to their current mighty status in a relatively short time. In its final version from 1538, the treatise consists of four parts, different in size, composition and content. The most original and creative part, which is also of the greatest importance to the scholars interested in the Ottoman history, is the second part. However, information concerning the history of Serbia and Hungary can only be found in the first part. A detailed analysis of Theodor's treatise leads to the following conclusions: 1) Spandounes's remarks concerning Hungary and Serbia are generally infrequent, and the events described were rather accidentally chosen; 2) The author pays more attention to Serbia, with which he was emotionally connected through his ancestors. The information about the genealogy of the ruling family is interesting and reliable; 3) Spandounes is barely credible in his descriptions of events from the 14th and 15th century. His accounts are tendentious and quite often false; 4) Information concerning Hungary becomes more frequent for years 1520-1538, and it is relatively credible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the materials and techniques of gilding in the Serbian wall painting of the 13th and early 14th centuries. The investigation focuses on the pictorial decoration of the churches at Studenica, Mileševa, Sopoćani, Gradac and Banjska, all founded by members of the Serbian royalty. The murals of these churches originally featured backgrounds covered with gold leaf and patterned to mimic mosaic cubes—an expensive and fragile form of decoration of which only traces now survive. Research was conducted through a combination of in situ examination, sampling and laboratory microanalyses, with the aim to identify the composition of the materials used and to reconstruct the painters' working methods. The results reveal a highly unusual, even experimental, system of gilding. In all but one instance, the painters employed leaves of what is known as 'part gold'—a laminate produced by beating two sheets of gold and silver together, which was seldom applied to images on the wall and never on such a massive scale. The article's goal is twofold: first, to present new data on an important and innovative, yet poorly understood, form of decoration; and second, to lay the foundation for a comprehensive art‐historical study of the Serbian gilded murals with simulated tessellation and their significance for understanding the changing dynamic between painting and mosaic in the later Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the beginning of the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216) the necessity of creating a large coalition for a better organization of the Fourth Crusade convinced the pope to establish diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Serbia, and to support Hungarian expansion in Bosnia. His aim was to surround Constantinople with a ring of states loyal to the Roman Church, thus forcing the empire to participate in the crusade. In order to achieve this result, Innocent was more than willing to put aside his concerns for strict religious orthodoxy and allow the existence, to a certain extent, of non-conforming practices and beliefs in the lands of South-eastern Europe. While this plan was successful at first, and both Bulgaria and Serbia recognized pontifical authority in exchange for political legitimization, the establishment of the so-called Latin empire of Constantinople in 1204 changed the picture. Its relations with Bulgaria were extremely conflicted, and the threat posed by Bulgaria to the very existence of the empire forced again Innocent III to a politics of compromise. The survival of the Latin empire was of the greatest importance, since Innocent hoped to use it as a launching point for future crusades: yet, he tried until possible to maintain a conciliatory politics towards Bulgaria as well.

The overall experience of religious practice is significantly affected by the acoustical properties of temples. Divine service is the most important act in the Orthodox Church, which equally demands intelligibility of speech for preaching and as well as adequate acoustics for Byzantine chanting as a form of a song-prayer. In order to better understand and contribute to unlocking the role of sound in these historical sacral spaces, this paper explores the acoustics of two well-preserved Orthodox churches, from Ljubostinja and Naupara monastery, built in the last building period of medieval Serbia (1371–1459). These represent two types of the Morava architectural style – triconch combined with a developed and compressed inscribed cross, respectively. Using EASERA software, we measured the impulse response for two sound source positions – in the altar and in the southern chanting apse, as the main points from which the Orthodox service is carried out. Thus obtained acoustic parameters (RT, EDT, C50 and STI) were further analysed, pointing out the differences in experiencing sound between naos and narthex, as well as how the position of the sound source influenced the experience of sound. Finally, we compared the results with previous archaeoacoustic research of the churches from the same building period.

Copyright of Istorijski časopis is the property of Istorijski Institut and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Despite the fact that freedom of labor as an assumption of social public policy has emerged only in capitalist society, the article indicates that certain initial elements- seeds of social security law can be recognized even in ancient and middle ages. In accordance with that context, the subject of this research is the largest middle age codex in Serbia, the Saint Sava's Nomocanon, its provisions based on the idea of social justice, provisions aimed at fulfillment of social requirements and used as a response to social risks and social cases, as well as institutionalization of special protection of women, children and family. That said brings us to the conclusion that the observed provisions of the Saint Sava's Nomocanon, the very ones that promote Christian doctrine of social justice and that contain a line of ethical requirements which influence the process of moralization of social relations, are essentially identical with the idea of social justice of the modern state of welfare within the European social model, as well as with the emancipation role of social security law and that the legal institutions of the Saint Sava's Nomocanon are the very beginning of the Serbian social security law.

In the article, a phenomenon of promotion and marketing in the medieval Serbia was discussed, as well as the strategies of creating a specific, desired and functional image of the ruling dynasties. Due to this, the basic communication practices were recalled that is, a management of impression, building the so-called brand (social, political, cultural property of the dynasty, its family pattern), and also specifically conceived branding itself (that is, a management of consciousness and value of the dynastic brand), what ultimately proved that the lineage of social-cultural usage of images, along with the models and devices serving the politics of public relations is deeply rooted in the middle ages. The phenomenon of promotion and marketing in the medieval Serbia was presented on the basis of the medieval Serbian literature, hagiography, hymnography, historiography, and iconographic implementations were also included. The article presents images of rulers and dynasties prevailing in the historical, religious and ideological context, the phenomenon of promotion and marketing in the context of characteristic ideological structures, such as state and church tradition, imperial-monastic tradition, charismatic dynasty, sanctity of the ruling family, land and the Serbian nation e.t.c. The timeless phenomenon of promotion and marketing has been presented as a lasting component of shaping the culture model of the medieval Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of mental health patients in Serbia in the Middle ages was the same as in other European countries. Medicine of that time was based on science, the use of magic rituals and witchcraft was banned. Doctors from Serbia, Byzantium and the national doctors had been educated in Salerno and Montpellier, the most developed centers of medicine. They took the exam in front of the government Medical testimony. The development of medicine was followed in the Hodoloski code which was considered the oldest record of folk medicine and the Hilandar medical code which represented a collection of medieval scientific European medicine and Serbian medicine culture (XII-XV). The first Serbian hospital was established in Hilandar in 1199. The founder was Saint Sava who wrote the rules about the work of the hospital. Actually, it was the practice for all medical facilities that were opened later. We know about mental diseases and healing in Serbia from Lives of Saints in monasteries Zica (from 1207) and Decani (1327) and from the biography of Medieval ruler (king) Stephen of Decani. The illustrations of healing some patients with mental diseases were shown on frescoes and in the lives of saints. In Medieval Serbia, there were 49 foreign doctors working (15 in XIV, 30 in XV and 4 in XVI century) and until Turkish conquest Serbia took a very important place in Medieval Europe. Objective of this paper is to show where psychiatric patients were treated in Medieval Serbia, the way they were treated, who treated them, where the hospitals were and what kind of treatment wereapplied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeoacoustics is a multidisciplinary field of research focused on the history of the relatedness of the field of sound and architecture. The architectural history of Europe, from Antiquity to the modern period, is abundant in the findings of vessels, which are considered to have an acoustic purpose. This paper addresses these acoustic vessels embedded in the massive walls of sacred architecture in medieval Serbia (15 churches). We considered the wide context of current archaeoacoustic research, in order to argue that this practice can be regarded as an expression of a certain medieval musical tradition. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177012: Society, spiritual and material culture and communication on the Balkans in prehistory and early history of Balkans and Grant no. 179048: Theory and practice of science in society: multidisciplinary, educational and intergenerational perspectives]

In this article we aimed to present the idea of bequeathing in the old Serbian law. Serbs, just as the other Slavic tribes, had a particular way of life, and customs that included the phenomenon of zadruga, extended family which was formed by several families who shared property. In that reality, it was not possible to divide estate, nor to dispose it individually. Therefore, writing a will or establishing some likewise division by the words of last will orally, probably was something that was not done, or at least was limited only to chattel. However, researching on the oldest mentions of Serbs, one can notice that its medieval rulers, and sometimes noblemen, had the right to determine their successors and to bequeath to them a certain part of their estate. That was usually done by a father - a king, to his sons. That is the model that is present in the history of early medieval era in various Slavic tribes. On the other side, will as a private legal deed is for the first time mentioned in the legal code of XIII century, Zakonopravilo of Saint Sabba, following the Byzantine legal provisions. Wills must have been used if not earlier than the XIII century, then certainly in this time, around the second decade of the XIII century. Nevertheless, nature of the Serbian Medieval wills (or the other acts of bequeathing, such as gifts ad pias causas) might be a subject of deeper analysis where they could be compared to the other medieval Slavic wills, originated from the scope of medieval Croatia, Russia, Great Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland. We tried to list the oldest known Serbian wills and make some remarks in relation to their common characteristics.

Abstrait: Dans la communication sur les terminologies médiévales et les sciences respectives est examiné un recueil de textes médicaux serbes du Moyen âge (XIIe–XVe siècles), intitulé le Code médical du Chilandar, retrouvé en 1952 dans la bibliothèque du monastère serbe Chilandar au mont Athos (en Grèce), et il est comparé à la tradition médicale et pharmacologique en latin des grandes écoles médiévales occidentales. Dans le cadre des oppositions entre les langues et cultures, on verra qu' on ne peut indiquer les référents des expressions sans connaître le monde duquel ces référents sont prélevés. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the beginning of the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216) the necessity of creating a large coalition for a better organization of the Fourth Crusade convinced the pope to establish diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and Serbia, and to support Hungarian expansion in Bosnia. His aim was to surround Constantinople with a ring of states loyal to the Roman Church, thus forcing the empire to participate in the crusade. In order to achieve this result, Innocent was more than willing to put aside his concerns for strict religious orthodoxy and allow the existence, to a certain extent, of non-conforming practices and beliefs in the lands of South-eastern Europe. While this plan was successful at first, and both Bulgaria and Serbia recognized pontifical authority in exchange for political legitimization, the establishment of the so-called Latin empire of Constantinople in 1204 changed the picture. Its relations with Bulgaria were extremely conflicted, and the threat posed by Bulgaria to the very existence of the empire forced again Innocent III to a politics of compromise. The survival of the Latin empire was of the greatest importance, since Innocent hoped to use it as a launching point for future crusades: yet, he tried until possible to maintain a conciliatory politics towards Bulgaria as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses sensory experience in the practice of devotion of two highly venerated icons in medieval and Early Modern Balkans: the mosaic icon of the Virgin Hodegetria from the monastery of Chilandar and the icon of Gospa of Škrpjela (Our Lady of the Reef) from the Bay of Kotor. Although part of two different, albeit historically intertwined and perpetually connected cultural and liturgical spheres, icon veneration in both the Orthodox and the Catholic community of the broader Mediterranean world and the Balkans in medieval and Early Modern times shares the same source. It relies on the traditional Byzantine manner of icon veneration. This is particularly true of highly venerated and often miracle working images of the Mother of God, identity markers of political, social and religious entities, objects of private devotion as well as performative objects around which are centered public rituals of liturgical processions and ephemeral spectacles.

The authors aim to present the way in which two Arabic sources, each other's contemporaries, depict Southern Hungary and Serbia. Those are Andalusian traveler Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī and famous Arabic geographer Al-Idrīsī. Both of them paid their visits to Southern Hungary and Serbia during their travels in the mid 12th century. The key aim of the paper is to present two completely different accounts written by two Muslim scholars. The first one, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī, being a devoted Muslim, almost completely dedicates his account on the Muslims of Hungary, whilst Al-Idrīsī is more interested in different aspects of the economy, nature and inhabitants of the country itself. Both of these sources are valuable in numerous ways. They present the view of the two Islamic scholars, but also they are very important as sources that fulfill the other contemporary works of the Byzantine and the Western provenance. They are also unique sources, especially Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī, since he is the only one who writes about the everyday life of the Hungarian Muslim population from the 12th century. Al-Idrīsī, on the other side, is a very interesting source for the Orthodox Greek population in Southern Hungary and represents, in view of this topic, one of the most important written sources. Concentrating on other in the Geography of Al-Idrīsī, and showing the interest in self in the Mu'rib of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġarnāṭī make these two sources complementary and give a different picture of the Southern Hungary and Serbia in the middle of the 12th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting books of the Caboga (Kabužić) brothers 1426-1433 (Squarço/Reminder, Journal and Main Ledger) kept at the Historical Archives of Dubrovnik provide new evidence for the composition and advanced levels of processing of precious metals from Serbian medieval mines. Notably, that the residue left after the process of obtaining fine silver was copper. Even the price of the refining process is specified. Two items of a transaction entered in the Squarço in 1430 contain some previously unknown data about auriferous silver (argento di glama). Besides gold, it also contained copper and, moreover, the ratio of the two per pound is specified. Apart from the Caboga brothers’ accounting books, neither the other written sources nor geological research have provided any indication about the presence of copper in the auriferous silver mines.

Based on the results of the archaeological research of the oldest horizon of the katholikon of Žiča Monastery, this paper brings the hypothesis that the initial model for its spatial arrangement was the main church of the Archbishopric of Kalocsa. Documented by the historical arguments that give the indirect validation, this hypothesis is considered from the perspective of cultural interactions which left a mark on the artistic creations of liminal geographical and historical zones of the Christian world during the twelfth and thirteenth century. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177015: Hrišćanska kultura na Balkanu u srednjem veku: Vizantijsko carstvo, Srbi i Bugari od IX do XV veka i br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst]

Copyright of Legal Records / Pravni Zapisi is the property of Union University Law School, Belgrade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we present the mathematical and topographic analysis of orientation of the most significant churches (11) of Morava school, the last style in architecture of medieval Serbia whose executors were chief architects. The deviation from equinox East of the main axis of each church and the dates when the Sun rises on the physical horizon, in the extension of the main axis, have been calculated. These were the dates when the church could have been oriented towards the rising Sun. This possibility has been ruled out for four churches. As for the other churches, the matching of the mentioned dates with the patron’s days wasn’t established. The churches in monasteries Ljubostinja and Kalenic are oriented with astronomical precision towards equinox East, an admirable fact considering the tools available to the builders. Rade Borovic, the only chief architect who put his signature on his work, was the chief architect of Ljubostinja.

The author analyzes two medieval swords (one found near Kalenić monastery and one near the Ćuprija town) from the funds of the Department of Archaeology in the Regional Museum in Jagodina. He presents arguments in opposition to the typological classification existent in scholarly literature of the first one, and concludes that the both specimens most probably originate from the same workshop, as were being stamped with identical maker-marks. In the end the author draws one’s attention to circumstances of the site find of the first sword, and also points towards possible directions of research of the sacred topography of the Kalenić monastery environs.

Copyright of Banatica is the property of Museum of Highland Banat and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry is known as excellent nondestructive technique for analysis of artifacts, in our case, medieval numismatic coins. Collections of 30 silver coins, owned by National Museum in Belgrade, were investigated during our research. Coins from the historical period from 1389 to 1458 belong to the reign of two Serbian rulers, Stefan Lazarević and Đurđe Branković. The aim of this study was to determine elemental composition of silver coins and to characterize alloys from which the coins were minted. The dominant elements detected in all coins were Ag, Cu, Zn and Pb. In some coins Fe, Si and S were detected as well. Results from quantitative analysis shows that the content of Ag in all investigated silver coins exceed 90%, except in two coins that were assumed to be forged. The concentration of Cu ranged from 3% to 5%, and the contents of Zn and Pb varied around 1%. Characterization of coins provided us information about raw materials and employed metallurgical processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]