BL 49, 50], the Podgorica [SSRL 594ђ; PL 184 (151)] and Sjenica Chronicles [SJ 179], while it is mentioned specifically as the resting place of Despot Stefan by the Cetinje Genealogy [SRL 21: 10–11, 22: 4–5], the Ruvarac Genealogy [SSH 106; SSRL 92], the Karlovci Genealogy [SRL 40: 29–31, 41: 16–17; SSRL 31], the Cetinje and Sofia Chronicle I [SSRL 136, 727а], the Tronoša Genealogy [SL 98, OL 63] and other Serbian manuscripts, as well as by the Russian Illustrated Chronicle Compilation, the "Tsar Book" produced in the time of the Russian Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible (1530–1584) [LLS XIII, 35–36]. In their petition to Pope Clement VIII (1536–1605), written in 1597, the Serbian monks Damjan and Pavle state that the holy body of Despot Stefan lies in the church of the monastery of Resava [MDP 57 (93: 24а)].21 However, on the basis of these brief mentions of the Resava church as the burial place of Despot Stefan, it is not possible to conclude that the monastery was active at that time. Nor is it known whether there was a monastic community in the monastery of Resava in the period of the restored Patriarchate of Peć, that is, after 1557. It is interesting, however, that in 1574 the Turkish authorities ordered the sanjakbey of Smederevo and the kadi of Belgrade to cast new cannons from the copper and the bells in Resava and Kučajna and from the remains of broken cannons.22 Again, this may mean that some bell still remained in the Resava fortress, but not that the monastery was alive. Clear and reliable testimonies of the existence of a monastic community in the monastery of Resava during the 16th century have, in any case, not survived. The following, 17th century is exceptionally dark as far as historical traces of the monastery of Resava are concerned. Only a couple of mentions of Resava from the 17th century are known. Thus the Turkish geographer Kâtip Çelebi (1609–1657), in his notes on the Balkan Peninsula written in the middle of the 17th century, mentions the place Resava [RIB A:XXVI: 10–11 (69)].23 As for the Resava fortress itself, one finds mentions in the literature that it was taken by units of the Austrian army in the war of 1689,24 but that already in the following year, 1690, an Ottoman military garrison returned to it.25
- The petition says of Despot Stefan: "his holy body is in Resava, in the church" (неговое ст͠ о тиело ꙋ̑ ресави. ꙋ̑ црк꙯ви). This petition is kept in the Vatican Archives (Vat. arh. Borgh. I, 913, f. 154 - according to [Karlo Horvat], "New Historical Monuments for the History of Bosnia and the Neighboring Lands. Collected from the Roman Archives and Edited by Dr. Karlo Horvat" ("Novi historijski spomenici za povjest Bosne i susjednih zemalja"), Glasnik of the National Museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, year XXI, vol. 1–2 (January–June 1909): 1–104: 56; AAV, Fondo Borghese, Serie I, 913, ff. 157r–v - according to Marija Koprivica and Katarina Mitrović, "The Letter of the Serbian Monks Damjan and Pavle to Pope Clement VIII from the End of the 16th Century" („Писмо српских калуђера Дамјана и Павла папи Клименту VIII с краја XVI века"), Glas CDXXXV of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Department of Language and Literature, vol. 33 (2023): 85–115: 86). Since some researchers have supposed that this letter means that the Resava monastery was active in 1597, it is important to note that the letter mentions other Serbian churches besides that of Resava, and that Damjan and Pavle do not sign themselves as monks of Manasija, but as Serbian monks ("monks from Serbia, Damjan and Pavle" - калꙋ̑ гери ѿ сер̀ бие дамиꙗнъ й павалъ - Horvat, "New Historical Monuments for the History of Bosnia and the Neighboring Lands," 58; Koprivica and Mitrović, "The Letter of the Serbian Monks Damjan and Pavle to Pope Clement VIII from the End of the 16th Century," 95); the editors of this letter also provide basic information about the authors of this petition and its historical context- cf. Horvat, "New Historical Monuments for the History of Bosnia and the Neighboring Lands," 58; Koprivica and Mitrović, "The Letter of the Serbian Monks Damjan and Pavle to Pope Clement VIII from the End of the 16th Century," 108–112).
- Cf. Krstić, "The Bells of Resava and the Monks' Betrayal - On a Report from the Nikoljac and Branković Chronicles," 201.
- This is only a brief note - that the place Resava lies not far from the road to Belgrade, on the right-hand side, opposite Paraćin.
- More precisely, one finds claims in the literature that on July 24, 1689, the Serbs, with the help of the Austrian army, recovered the fortress: cf. Jovan Mišković, "Some Old Towns and Their Surroundings in the Kingdom of Serbia [II. Resava (Manasija). III. Gamzigrad. IV. Kostolac of the Timok (Kostol)]" („Неки стари градови и њихове околине у Краљевини Србији"), Starinar of the Serbian Archaeological Society, year 4, no. 3 (1887): 65–73: 68 (citing J. Dragašević - Jovan Dragašević, The Illyrian (Balkan) Peninsula from a Military Point of View: A Study by [Jovan] Dragašević (Полострово Илирско (Балканско) са гледишта војно) (Belgrade: printed at the State Printing House, 1881), 157 - where in fact it does not say that the Serbs took the Resava fortress, but that the Austrian military authorities sent several hundred Serbs as a reconnaissance party together with "a thousand Hungarian horsemen to take the town of Resava (Manasija)" - without mentioning the outcome of this operation; in connection with these events see also [Stevan M. Koturović], "Fragments from the History of Belgrade: Belgrade from 1689 to 1717" („Одломци из историје Београда: Београд од 1689. до 1717. год."), Godišnjica Nikole Čupića, vol. VI (1884): 141–188: 145–146); cf. also Stanojević, Bošković and Mirković, Manasija Monastery, 4; Simić and Vukadinović, The Fortification of the Monastery of Resava, 27.
- After the short-lived success of the Austrian army, in 1690 the Turks conquered Serbia again: cf. Tatjana Katić, The Turkish Conquest of Serbia in 1690 (Tursko osvajanje Srbije 1690. godine), Biblioteka "Studia osmanica", knj. 1 / Etnološka biblioteka. Posebna izdanja, knj. 6 (Belgrade: Srpski genealoški centar - Centar za osmanističke studije, 2012).