Constantine of Kostenets

Konstantin Kostenezki ( Bulgarian Константин Костенечки; * 1380 in Kostenez, Bulgaria; † after 1431), and Constantine the Philosopher (Serbian Konstantin Filozof / Константин Филозоф ) was a medieval Bulgarian writer and historian. His most famous work is the biography of the Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević. He also established the first Serbian philological work, Skazanije o pismenah ( history of writing ).

Biography

Constantine was probably born in the Bulgarian town Kostenez, which he later adopted as his surname. He attended the literary school in Tarnovo and was instructed by Andronik, a disciple of the Patriarch of Bulgaria Ewtimij. His studies he continued on Mount Athos and in Constantinople Opel. The Ottoman conquest of Tarnovo in 1393 forced him probably in 1402 to emigrate to Serbia, which was ruled at that time by Stefan Lazarević. He was hired by the latter, who was himself a writer, at whose court in Belgrade as a teacher.

Built as a mausoleum of Stefan Lazarević monastery Manasija developed in the time of Constantine to an outstanding cultural center ( Resava school, Resava literature school). His high level of education, his life experience and his extensive travels earned him the nickname " philosopher " a (probably after Saint Cyril of Thessalonica ). In his youth, Constantine visited the Holy Land and took his descriptions part in three missions to Eastern leaders ( Timur, Musa and Mehmed I. ).

After Stefan Lazarević 's death in 1427 left Constantinople Belgrade and moved to Prince Uglješa in the near Vranje, where he later died.

Constantine's work had a strong influence on the medieval Serbian literature and education. He led many classical Greek elements in the philosophy and literature. Citing often ancient philosophers and this compared with Stefan Lazarević, he is regarded by many as a pioneer of the Renaissance in Serbia, which had received no feed during the Ottoman occupation.

Constantine is considered by Sava of Serbia as the second major language reformer of Serbia ( as the third Vuk Karadžić is considered the modern era ). In his philological work, he tried to bring the Bulgarian and Serbian language so as to move a common written language of the Orthodox Slavs. An agreement of Bulgarians and Serbs held Konstantin regarding the Ottoman expansion necessary. Serbian philologists are today mostly agree that Constantine's language reform the Serbian literary language, while more complex made ​​, but at the same time lost the written language of poetry of Sava'ischen time and adjusted them even more of the ordinary vernacular away, which should subsequently lead to two parallel Serbian languages, the Štokavischen as the language of the people and the Church Slavonic as a written language.