Early Women Writers

Jefimija

Serbia

1349-1405

Born as Jelena Mrnjavčević, Jefimija is touted as the first Serbian female poet known for her lyric form tužbalice (which means laments in Serbian). She was married to Uglješa, Emperor Dušan the Great’s son in 1365. But due to some unfortunate turn of events she lost first her son soon after birth and then her husband in the Ottoman’s conquest of the Balkan. After this incident she moved to the city of Kruševac, she became a nun and took the name of Jefimija. Owing to her noble birth, Jelena could read and write in both Serbian and Greek and became skilled in creating tapestries with intricate embroidery. This skill as well as the tragic incidents in her life became the fuel for her artistic endeavours. She expressed her grief by engraving literary compositions on altar curtains, diptych and tapestries.

Mala ikona/Lament/Tuga za jedincetom [Small icon/Lament//Sorrow for the only son] (1368), Moljenje Gospodu Isusu Hristu [Prayers to The Lord Jesus Christ] (1398), Pohvala knezu Lazaru [Appraisal of Prince Lazar] (1402).

Serbian

Lament Poetry

Drpić, Ivan. Jefimija the Nun: A Reappraisal. www.academia.edu, http://www.academia.edu/27185780/Jefimija_the_Nun_A_Reappraisal. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019;Jefimija - Womenwriters. http://www.womenwriters.nl/index.php/Jefimija. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019;
Jefimija, . Monahinja Jefimija =: The Nun Euphemia. Beograd: Udruženje universitetski obrazovanih žena, Sekcija Beograd, 1936. Print;
Cirkovic, Sima M. The Serbs. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.