Elizabeta DIMITROVA V. I. Personalities in Medieval Macedonia Five Paradigms of Supreme Commissionership (11 th – 14 th century) UDK 7.078:726.54(497.7)”653” University of Sts Cyril and Methodius, Skopje elizabeta@fzf.ukim.edu.mk Abstract: The article is a structural intro into a larger study of khtetorial enterprises in Medieval Macedonia as a part of the Byzantine Empire and its cultural sphere. It refers to the role of the commissioners in the construction of Macedonian medieval treasury of representative sacral monuments, as well as to their impact over the social matrixes of cultural development in the period between the 11 th and the 14 th century. Starting from the notion of the actual social opportunities of the members of the ruling dynasties, the highest nobility circles and the church dignitaries in the spheres of creative utilization of their authoritative potential, the paper examines the impact of the diferent feudal categories of commissioners over the design, the scope, the artistic code, as well as the contemporary cultural signiicance of the works of art produced in the course of the Byzantine era in the territory of Macedonia. Having in mind the speciic historic circumstances of diferent centuries, as well as the highly determinant social features of diferent sacral monuments, the aim of the paper is to give an insight into the typological scale and socio-cultural signiicance of major medieval khtetors in Byzantine Macedonia. Key words and phrases: khtetor, medieval endowments, state authorities, nobility, Marko’s monastery, Lesnovo monastery, St. Sophia Cathedral, St. Achilles Cathedral, Kurbinovo In the domain of medieval cultural history, which, as a research composite, encompasses artistic production, archaeology, history, literature, aesthetics and cultural anthropology, one can enumerate a large group of scholarly challenges highly picturesque according to their contents, as well as inspiring according to the cultural signiicance. However, the main features of the medieval cultural treasury: architectural concepts, iconographic inventions, painterly currents, aesthetical values etc., are always united in one essential amalgam – the khtetorial characters, the personages who, articulating their political power, social reputation, cultural impact, theological erudition, as well as artistic taste, have enabled the creation of artistic legacy of representative sacral monuments, marked by creative innovations and reined visual estheticism. As producers of the artistic enterprises of diferent scope and diversiied importance: local, regional and/or global, through animation of a wider sphere of available creative potential and engagement of masons, iconography designers and painters, they were playing the role of creators of the cultural matrixes in