The St. Stephen Chrysobull () or Banjska Chrysobull (Бањска хрисовуља/Banjska hrisovulja) was a chrysobull, charter, issued in 1314–1316 by Serbian king Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321). It was held at the Banjska monastery founded by Milutin. It is currently held at the Topkapi library in Istanbul.
The transcript of this charter in the form of a book was found in 1889 in Old Saraj, Constantinople, whose text was printed in two editions in Belgrade and in Vienna. Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin raised an endowment between 1313 and 1316 as a grave church in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica in Banjska, dedicated to St. Stefan the First Martyr. Upon completion of construction he issued the charter in the form of a rotulus with a gold seal at its end, which was soon written on parchment in the form of a book, because of its wider and better usability. The book next to the text of the charter which ends with the signature of King Milutin, also contains the exposures of King Dragutin and Archbishop Nikodim I.
The Chrysobull describeds in detail the expansion of estates which King Milutin gifted to the settlements of Ibar, Sitnica, Laba, in Ras, Hvosna, Plava, Budim, Zeta, and others. It also includes a special section by the name of "Law of Vlachs" which covers the regulations of Vlach cattle breeder obligations on that manor. Obligations and privileges of farmers, cattle breeders and craftsman are prescribed in the charter according to Banjska Monastery. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 the Osmans pillaged Milutin’s endowment and took the charter in the process, which has been kept in Constantinople since the second half of the 15th century, in the sultan's treasury of Old Saraj.
Finding and publication of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull
The merit for the finding of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull goes to the Hungarian philologist Armin Vambery. He was a great connoisseur of Turkish language and history, a traveler through Central Asia and the Ottoman Empire and the author of many Turkish dictionaries. Thanks to that he was granted permission to study documents that were moved from Budim to Constantinople several centuries ago. Čedomilj Mijatović and Stojan Novaković found out about that. Stojan Novaković met with the Polish scholar Korzhenovsky who was a member of the expedition that inspected the documents. Korzhenovsky informed Novaković that he found "one Serbian diploma, in the form of a book, issued by two kings, Stefan and Stefan Uroš, that was granted to some monastery". Stojan Novaković immediately assumed that it was St. Stefan’s Chrysobull. Soon after that Novaković met with Vambery and it was agreed that Korzhenovsky would photograph the charter and give it to Hungarian Royal Academy which would later give it to the Serbian Royal Academy.
In 1889 Novaković compiled a report about the finding of the Chrysobull, but renounced the honour of printing it. He left the honour to Ljubomir Kovačević who published it in February 1890. Soon after that Vatroslav Jagić wrote about the charter, describing how it was found, and published it himself at a later date. A quote of Nikola Radojčić, made on the occasion of publication of Stefan Lazarević’s Mining Law, gives enough information about the importance of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull: "The Serbian historical science has not received a greater and more useful surprise since the finding of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull, until the discovery of this Mining Law by Despot Stefan Lazarević. Let us hope that this is not the last great discovery." The finding of St. Stefans Chrysobull and the discovery of Stefan Lazarević’s Mining Law remain important historical discoveries to this day. This is the oldest Chrysobull written in the form of a book.
Year of issuance of the charter
The time in which Stefan Milutin issued the charter is connected to the time of the construction of St. Stefan’s monastery in Banjska. The question of the charter's publication started soon after it became known to science. The first to engage with it was Stojan Novaković who dated the construction of St. Stefan’s monastery to the period between 1312 and 1317. The charter had to be issued after the construction of the monastery. The construction of the monastery started after the civil war between Milutin and Dragutin, and was finished soon after the death of Queen Jelena, but before the death of King Dragutin. Archbishop Danilo mentions a meeting of the brothers in Pauni at which mutual issues were regulated. Many historians believe that it was that assembly on which St. Stefan’s charter, which contains both Kings' signatures, was passed. However, the exact year of the meeting is not known.