Talk:Stephen (honorific)

Factual accuracy alternatively POV

I would like to see credible and independent sources used to corroborate that the medieval title in question would have been native to the Nemanjic dynasty. In its current state the article is completely unreferenced and alludes to the title as Serbian in origin, which is highly unlikely considering for example that the title was used by Hungarian regents hundreds of years prior to the emergence of the Nemanjic dynasty; see Stephen I of Hungary. Praxis Icosahedron (talk) 03:35, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

See also the list of royalties bearing the title provided in the article on Stephen: Stephen#Royalty. There is a bunch of non-Serb rulers; if anything "Stefan" is merely a Serb spelling/variant of the title Stephen, which is also what the article should be renamed to. Praxis Icosahedron (talk) 03:45, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

I've added sources showing that the article's data relates to the Serbian dynastic tradition.--Zoupan 09:07, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Dear Zoupan, thank you for your references. It is clear to me that the very origins of Stephen as a title cannot be Serbian, as also popes bore the title as early as in the 3rd century. The nature of the title is thus wide-spread and general, I presume Greek in origin(?). While not wrong as such (Stefan might be a variant of Stephen unique to Serb dynasties) I do believe that any specific "regional" usage of the title Stephen should be addressed in the form of subsections serving a main article foremost covering the general attributes and indeed ubiquitous nature of the title. My offer is to rename the present article into Stephen (honorific), underlining its wide-spread usage and possibly including the list or rulers and popes provided in the Stephen article, while on the other hand including the current text into a subsection specifically dealing with the matter of Serb dynasties. So far so good; that is until I come across the mentioning of Stephen Tvrtko I of Bosnia in the current text. As I have argued in the talk page of Kingdom of Bosnia, the title of Tvrtko I being Stephen is not the result of his pretensions on Serbian territories (the reason he also assumed the Serbian crown) nor his minor blood relation to the Nemanjic dynasty only through his paternal grandmother (which was the political pretext for the former). The House of Kotromanic had in fact used the title of Stephen for more than half a century before the conception of Tvrtko I, as initially through Stephen I, Ban of Bosnia who, being entirely unrelated to the Nemanjic, adopted the title by virtue of either serving as a vassal to the Kingdom of Hungary, or by simply wishing to emulate his power. It is therefore inaccurate and a far-stretched personal point of view to claim any association between the Stephen title of Tvrtko I and that of the house of Nemanjic (which were also spelled differently: Stjepan versus Stefan) If anything, Tvrtko is likely to have paid his Kotromanic roots tribute by assuming the title rather than any Nemanjic ones, which is also what the assigned reference of Basic is trying to say I suspect. It is for the best to exclude the issue of his title all together and strive to refrain from the extrapolation of deeper ethnopolitic meanings which will constitute the foundation of bias and original research obstructing the assumption of good faith in between editors. Thank you. Praxis Icosahedron (talk) 11:29, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Upon proceeding to read Basic's work (cited by you) it becomes evident on page 165 that Basic is elaborating the very same points brought up by me here: the title of Stephen was of no novelty to the Bosnian cultural realm with the coronation of Tvrtko I, who did however tend to use the titular spelling Stefan, akin to the house of Nemanjic, more frequently than those of previous Kotromanic members, namely Stjepan, Stipan, Stepan; a transition most satisfactorily explained by the invitation of Serbian scribes by Tvrtko I to his court after including parts of Serbia into his realm (as opposed to some supposed form of sudden ethnic notion of "Serbhood" evoked in Tvrtko by his coronation). It is inconclusive to whether his title was truly Stefan or Stjepan/Stipan/Stepan, and if this had any relevance whatsoever, in essence he did not assume a principally different title than any of his ancestors had had prior to him. It is basically a futile attempt to gain any "ethnic" points by dwelling on his title. All that is sensibly said about Tvrtko I is that he was a powerful Bosnian ruler who successfully expanded his borders.Praxis Icosahedron (talk) 13:22, 8 July 2012 (UTC)