Prophecies and Facts in One Notice from the Belyakovets’ Chronicle

Abstract

The article examines a short extensive report in the 16th-century Belyakovets’ Chronicle (NLCM 309), which combines prophesies and facts. The information, which has not been a subject of a special study so far, tells of an eclipse and a comet as harbingers of the death of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović in the battle of Kosovo. Some of the information is contained in other short chronicles but the prophesy is not derived from them. The note uses hagiographic works as a source, including the Lives of Lazar Hrebeljanović and of Stefan Lazarević. The supplement shows the attitude of the writer, who seeks to enrich the text and looks for the reasons for the described events. It is also a testimony to the dynamics of the Bulgarian-Serbian literary relations and to the respect for the Serbian saints, conceived as martyrs for the faith.