Dimitrije (veliki čelnik)

Dimitrije (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије; d. 6 March 1349) was a Serbian magnate who served emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55) as veliki čelnik ("great čelnik"). As a royal čelnik, the title-holder had a very high position at the Serbian court, often compared to comes palatinus.^[1] The veliki čelnik supervised over several čelniks,^[1] the čelnik being a commander of military forifications (and presumably its troops)^[2] or a senior (starešina) of a larger number of villages.^[3] Dimitrije entered the service of Stefan Dušan before 1349, when he was mentioned with the title of veliki čelnik.^[4] Earlier, magnate Jovan Oliver had the title (fl. 1340).^[4] Dimitrije died on 6 March 1349 and was buried at the Monastery of St. Nicholas at Banja.^[5] According to the grave inscription, Dimitrije had held Gacko with Rudine, Drina and Dabar.^[5] G. Tomović theorized that this Dimitrije was the same person as the earlier mentioned nobleman Hrvatin (magnate Vojin's brother) who served King Stefan Dečanski (r. 1322–31) and held Rudine (1330).^[5] In 1350, Đurica^[4] and Andronik^[3] are mentioned as čelniks. After Jovan Oliver and Dimitrije, it seems that the title of veliki čelnik was not given at the Serbian Imperial court.^[6] The territories held by Dimitrije were eventually consolidated by Vojin's son Vojislav (fl. 1350–d. 1363).^[7] It was earlier believed that Dimitrije died in 1359.^[8]

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