Virgino Charter

(the beginning of the charter is damaged) … and to the other faithful …, which the holy and Orthodox tsars established and endowed. This, then, is a work that cares for the love of God: to give treasures and riches to the holy and divine churches, as did the holy and Orthodox Greek and Bulgarian tsars and the zhupans, princes and kings of the Serbian land, who had most zealous love and care for the holy and divine churches. So my empire too, imitating those faithful and holy tsars who were before me, to pour upon them abundant gifts and to enrich them: when my empire came down into the Lower land, my empire found the monastery of the Great Martyr of Christ George the Swift, founded by the holy tsar Roman on Virgino hill opposite the town of Skopje, on the Serava, and — through the attack of the alien Hagarenes having lost all its rules and its metochia and fallen to the ground — rebuilt, raised and glorified anew by the holy tsar lord Alexius, and endowed and supported by many holy Orthodox tsars. Varlaam, archimandrite of this honourable church, set out before my empire the rules and chrysobulls of the holy and Orthodox tsars who were before me, and of the kings: of the holy tsar Roman, of tsar Diogenes, of the holy tsar Peter, of tsar lord Nikephoros, and of the rest — of the holy tsar lord Alexius, of tsar Kaloyan, of tsar lord Manuel, of tsar lord Theodore, of tsar lord Isaac, of St Simeon Nemanja, grandfather of my empire, of tsar Vatatzes, of tsar Kaliman. My empire, having received them favourably and read them, neither changed nor broke them, but amended and confirmed them yet more firmly than all the aforesaid tsars and kings.

The people who are in the town of Skopje and belong to the holy and most glorious Great Martyr of Christ George the Swift and Victory-bearer in battle: let them do no labour as a state due, nor give any impost, nor let sevast interfere with them, nor praktor, nor knez, nor kastrophylax, nor watah, nor topshtikal, nor judge them, nor bind them, nor take a fine or any tax. And as for the … well … and Slivishta from its spring, and the fair on 21 November — in these districts let no lord touch them, nor anyone else. And whoever dares and touches them, let him be punished with the wrath of my empire and be reckoned unfaithful to my empire.

The village of Dvigod together with the villages of Dlabitsa and Chreshoveni, with the vineyards, fields, mills and pastures, the mountains and the preserves, and all their rights and privileges (the bounds of these villages run from Cherna gora, as the slope descends toward Dlabitsa, to the mound, to the marble cross [?] and down along the Bitola road, through Kavianovo hill, as the road goes toward Ralitsi and reaches the height of the upland, to Dalga polyana, to Gradishte at the Black Stone). The village of Pobuzhda with its vineyards, fields, mills and pastures. The villages of Kondovo, Dlabitsa and Raoche with all their rights. The village of Glumovo, with its metochion, vineyards, fields, mills and all their rights. The village of … with its metochion, vineyards, fields and all their rights. The village of Zdune in the forest, with its hamlets — Bliznisko, Mokroseki, the Great podom [?] and the priest-lands [?] — with vineyards, fields, mills, winter-pasture, summer-pasture, mountains, hunting and fishing grounds and preserves. The village of Sushtitsa with its priest-lands, the village, vineyards, fields and mountains. The village of Gradechnitsa with its priest-lands, vineyards and fields. The village of Brod, in which there is a metochion named for the Mother of God, with fields, vineyards, mills, meadows, summer- and winter-pastures, hunting and fishing grounds, a market and the fair held on 10 September and the market every Sunday and the due from that market (its bound runs from Gradishta up Tamni dol, to Plesh, to Kozya stena, to Peshtets, to the meadow, to Belkov tor, to Shipkovitsa, to Vinishta, to Orlitsa, to Vasilevo hamlet, up the ridge, to Kalavar, to Gledula, to Dushiche, from Kichava to Todorov dol). And in the Prilep district the village of Kărpa-vlasi, and in it the metochion of the Saviour, granted by tsar Roman, with fields, mills, preserves, summer- and winter-pastures and mountains. Zdune, Sushtitsa, Gradechnitsa, Brod with Slansko and Barbaraso, and Kărpa — all these places are parik-lands, that is, held in villeinage; let no one interfere or touch anything, nor sell outside — neither field nor vineyard. In the Polog district the village of Rechitsa, also granted by the holy tsar Roman to St George, with vineyards, fields, mills, gardens, hayfields, preserves, mountains, hunting grounds and all revenues; and let no kefalia interfere, nor any lord of my empire enter the village of Rechitsa, nor judge, nor bind, nor take a fine, nor any tax, but let the church take every lawful tax and levy. And in Upper Polog the village of …; the village of Tochil and the said mountain; the village of Banitsa; the village of …yane with the mountain called Mramor; the village of Nahovo with its pariks, fields, meadows and fisheries; the village of Tavor gradishte with the plain, fields, the marsh-lake, preserves and hunting and fishing grounds; the village of Bistritsa in Babuna with pastures and summer- and winter-pastures; the village of … with the metochion of St John the Theologian; the village of Dabnitsa; a metochion of St Basil; …the Katun [?] … ; a metochion of St Luke …; a metochion at Velbazhd, St Nicholas in Ko…shi; the village of Lazheni; the village of Rani luk; the villages of Vitino and Binech — all with their rights.

All this my empire understood and saw to have been granted, confirmed and recorded by the holy and Orthodox tsars and kings who lived before me, and my empire follows them, prays and bows down, begging mercy and help from the holy Great Martyr of Christ George the Swift and Victory-bearer in battle; and I gave over to his holy church the village of Kozarevo (my empire found that it had been given earlier by the holy tsar Roman, together with Barovo, with Sinsko and with the church of St John Chrysostom and all the hamlets there, with vineyards, fields, gardens, mills, hayfields, preserves, fisheries and hunting grounds, and mountains). My empire added also the village of Kalugerovene, with vineyards, fields, preserves and all rights; and further … in Zlatitsa the village of Kalugerov dol, and in it the church of St George … Neither in the zhupa, nor in any town or any village of St George, may any lord of the realm of my empire judge … the people of St George; but for every debt let the present abbot judge, and take every debt from the abbot's otroks. Whoever is found judging by force a man of St George, or giving up our otrok, or binding him without the abbot's court, let the curse of God and of the holy Orthodox tsars be upon him, and let him pay 9 gold coins to the state treasury. … Let no lord take from a church man; only the church may take from its own men; nor let evil be done to the people of St George. Let no bishop interfere with the priests and priest-lands under the authority of St George, nor take tax, nor place a ban on the priests …; for the bishop a commemoration, but the whole priestly due to the exarch — all this to belong to the church of St George. Let neither the exarch nor the chief-priest interfere or enter the villages and metochia to take anything spiritual from the priests, but let all this be the church of St George's. For every fine … is granted as a due to the church, and its truth [?], the blood-feud fine (vrazhda) … abduction of maidens and horse-theft — let the church take from its own people; and let this blood-feud not be taken from the villages except from the plaintiffs, and that too by trial. The metochia of St George are to pay neither billeting (priselitsa), nor the ox-tax (volobershtina), nor the perper, nor the hearth-tax (dimnina). And if anyone enters a metochion of St George in any village without the archimandrite's leave, or the mountain, or the pastures, or a preserve, or the hunting and fishing grounds, or cuts a tree in the forest on a church hill, or sets a mill on church water flowing from a church spring, or grazes horses on church land, or leads water across church land, or ploughs a field without the abbot's blessing — let the curse of God be upon him, and the curse of St George and of the aforesaid holy Orthodox tsars and kings, and let him pay 6 hyperpyra to the state treasury.

All these mercies my empire handed over by the grant of this chrysobull, as long as the name of Christ is glorified on earth; and to the servants of my empire, sent out at all times through the districts and the towns, I forbade to take anything, to enter, to halt, or to harm a metochion, or a village, or the people of St George, nor … through the districts of my empire — neither sevast, nor duke, nor kastrophylax, nor praktors, nor knez, nor topshtikal, nor wine-collector, nor komis with horses, nor strator, nor town courier, nor scribe, nor apodohator, nor falconer, nor houndsman, nor tithe-collectors of bees or sheep, nor grass-due, nor sheepfold-due, nor elephant-due, nor komod, nor billeting (mitati), nor fold-tax, nor ox-tax (volobershtina), nor levy of grain, wine, meat or cheese; nor let them build a fortress, nor guard it, nor guard a prison, nor plough, nor dig a vineyard, nor mow hay, nor reap; nor let a state due be taken from a man of St George, nor at any market; nor let ferry-toll be taken, nor bridge-toll, nor let man, horse, ox or ass be taken.

And after the death of my empire, whomever God is pleased to set on the throne of my empire, or one of the kinsmen of my empire, I beg not to break or trample this chrysobull, but rather to grant, renew and confirm it with zeal, for it is pious for the holy and Orthodox tsars and kings to do so. And if anyone is found who, by the prompting of the devil, transgresses these commands and tramples this chrysobull — let God and His most pure Mother be his enemy, in this age and in the age to come, at the dread judgement and the second coming; and let St George in the battles be his enemy instead of his help, here and at the dread judgement; and let him be thrice-cursed by the Lord God Almighty and by His most pure Mother and by the power of the honourable and life-giving Cross and by the four Evangelists, the Twelve Apostles and the 318 fathers of Nicaea and by the said holy Orthodox tsars and kings. … It was written and signed [?] … of St George the Swift and Victory-bearer, for every confirmation in endless times. “Konstantin, in Christ God faithful tsar and autocrat of the Bulgarians, Asen.”