PRINCIPLES OF COMPARATIVE PALAEOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE RAGUSAN AND THE NEMANJI？ SLAVIC CHANCERIES

Sa？etak Medieval Cyrillic diplomatic minuscule (a form of Cyrillic script) in the mid 14th century is the preferred means of written communication between Dubrovnik and the neighbouring Slavic chanceries. In this period, this form of Cyrillic script, used mainly in political and business purposes, already has characteristic letter shapes, largely conditioned by the advanced process of coordination within the linear system, as well as other writing peculiarities that are inherited from Dubrovnik’s long tradition of Cyrillic writing. The aim of this comparative palaeographic research is to identify, on the basis of documents from two of the most prolific Slavic chanceries of this period in the nearby area, the Dubrovnik and Serbian (Nemanji？ family) ones, possible differences in the studied categories of the script, potential local characteristics of the script, as well as to deepen the understanding of the possible directions of development of the script (primarily the identification of links to later cursive Cyrillic forms)