Battle of Kosovo

This article is about the battle in 1389. For other battles, see Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation).

The Battle of Kosovo took place on 15 June 1389^[A] between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Murad Hüdavendigâr.

Battle of Kosovo
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Serbian-Ottoman Wars
Battle of Kosovo by Adam Stefanović (1870)
Date 15 June 1389[A] Location Kosovo field, District of Branković 42°43′03″N 21°05′06″E Result Inconclusive[1][2][3][4][5]
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire Supported by: Beylik of Isfendiyar	Moravian Serbia Supported by: District of Branković[6] Kingdom of Bosnia[6] Principality of Muzaka Jonima Family
Commanders and leaders
Murad I † Şehzade Bayezid Yakub Çelebi	Prince Lazar † Vuk Branković Vlatko Vuković
Strength
27,000–30,000; higher estimates up to 40,000[7]	12,000–20,000; higher estimates up to 25,000
Casualties and losses
Very heavy[1][8]
Location within Kosovo Show map of Kosovo Battle of Kosovo (Serbia) Show map of Serbia Battle of Kosovo (Balkans) Show map of Balkans

The battle was fought on the Kosovo field in the territory ruled by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković, in what is today Kosovo, about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) northwest of the modern city of Pristina. The army under Prince Lazar consisted mostly of his own troops, a contingent led by Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. However, Lazar was also supported by a Christian coalition from various European ethnic groups. Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Branković ruled the District of Branković and other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord.

Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce.^[9] The bulk of both armies were wiped out, and Lazar and Murad were killed. The battle marked the only time in history when an Ottoman Sultan was killed in battle. Serbian manpower was depleted and had no capacity to field large armies against future Ottoman campaigns, which relied on new reserve forces from Anatolia. The Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, became so in the following years.

The mythologization of the battle and writings began shortly after the event, though the legend was not fully formed immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions. In Serbian folklore, the Kosovo Myth acquired new meanings and importance during the rise of Serbian nationalism in the 19th century as the Serbian state sought to expand, especially towards Kosovo which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. In modern discourse, the battle would come to be seen as integral to Serbian history, tradition and national identity. Vidovdan is celebrated on June 28 and is an important Serbian national and religious holiday as a memorial day for the Battle of Kosovo.^[10]

Background

Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan "the Mighty" (r. 1331–55) was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V "the Weak" (r. 1355–71), whose reign was characterized by the decline of central power and the rise of numerous virtually independent principalities; this period is known as the fall of the Serbian Empire. Uroš V was neither able to sustain the great empire created by his father nor repulse foreign threats and limit the independence of the nobility; he died childless in December 1371,^[11][12] after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Ottomans in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year.^[13] Prince Lazar, ruler of the northern part of the former empire (of Moravian Serbia), was aware of the Ottoman threat and began diplomatic and military preparations for a campaign against them.

After the defeat of the Ottomans at Pločnik (1386) and Bileća (1388), Murad I, the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from Philippoupolis to Ihtiman (modern Bulgaria) in the spring of 1388. From there they traveled across Velbužd and Kratovo (modern North Macedonia). Though longer than the alternative route through Sofia and the Nišava Valley, this led the Ottoman forces to Kosovo, one of the most important crossroads in the Balkans. From Kosovo, they could attack the lands of either Prince Lazar or Vuk Branković. Having stayed in Kratovo for a time, Murad and his troops marched through Kumanovo, Preševo, and Gjilan to Pristina, where he arrived on June 14.

• 
  Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović
• 
  Sultan Murad Hüdavendigâr

While there is less information about Lazar's preparations, he gathered his troops near Niš, on the right bank of the South Morava. His forces likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereupon he moved across Prokuplje to Kosovo. This was the best place he could choose as a battlefield, as it gave him control of all the routes that Murad could take. The historiographical examination of the battle is challenging. No first-hand accounts from participants in the battle exist. Contemporary sources are written from widely diverging points of view and not much is discussed in them about battle tactics, army size and other battleground details.^[14]

Army composition

Estimates about army size vary, but the Ottoman army was larger. It is likely that the army led by Lazar had 12,000/15,000 to 20,000 troops against 27,000–30,000 led by Murad.^[15][16] A higher estimate places the size of Murad's army up to 40,000 and Lazar's up to 25,000 troops.^[7] Ottoman historian Mehmed Neşri who authored the first detailed report in Ottoman historiography about the battle of Kosovo in 1521 represents the Ottoman imperial narrative. As an Ottoman Sultan died before or during the battle, the size of the Christian army is presented as significantly larger in Ottoman sources. Neşri placed it at around 500,000, double the size of the Ottoman army.^[17] According to historian Noel Malcolm, Ottoman writers were most likely eager to build up the size and significance of Lazar's army, which they described as vastly outnumbering Murat's, in order to add to the glory of the "Turkish victory". Moreover, Malcolm claims that the Ottoman sources lack reliability.^[18] Regardless of the exact army size, the battle of Kosovo was one of the largest battles of late medieval times. In comparison, in the battle of Agincourt (1415) even by assuming the higher estimate of army size as correct, around 10,000 fewer soldiers were engaged.^[15] The Ottoman army was supported by auxiliary troops from the Anatolian Turkoman Beylik of Isfendiyar,^[19] and comprised no more than 2,000 Janissaries.^[20]

Lazar's main forces included the Serbian contingent from his principality, troops of Vuk Branković his son in law and Bosnian forces under Vlatko Vuković, sent by Lazar's ally King Tvrtko of Bosnia.^[21] Lazar's Christian coalition also included Albanians, Croatians, Hungarians and Bulgarians.^[22][23][24] Teodor II Muzaka, Dhimitër Jonima and other Albanian lords and aristocrats participated in the battle on the side of the Christian coalition, bringing a band of Albanians to join Lazar's army.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]} Of those Albanian lords, Teodor II Muzaka died during the battle, alongside a number of fellow Albanians.^[33][34] Based on Ottomans sources, it is claimed by Albanian historiography that the Albanians accounted for around a quarter of the total number of troops in Lazar's coalition, primarily under the command of Dhimitër Jonima, Đurađ II Balšić and Teodor II.^[35][36][37]

According to historian Dejan Djokić, it is improbable that Lazar commanded a broad coalition composed of Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Hungarians, Germans and Vlachs, in addition to his and Vuk Branković’s armies and reinforcements from Bosnia.^[38] Daniel Waley says that next to nothing can be said with assurance about numbers and multi-ethnic composition of both armies.^[39]

A group of crusaders linked to the Knights of Rhodes, led by John of Palisna, has been suggested as participants on Lazar's side by Croatian historian Neven Budak, who quotes in the Italian Chronicles Annales Forolivienses, "Domino Johanne Banno cum Crucesignatis" (Ban John with those marked by a cross).^[40] According to Budak, "Domine Johanne Bano" probably refers to John of Palisna the Ban of Croatia,^[40] but the writer of the Chronicles could have been honouring someone who was no longer a ban, such as John Horvat.^[41] British historian and Hospitaller scholar Anthony Luttrell disputes Budak’s assumption that "crucesignati" means the Knights Hospitaller, stating, “Hospitallers wore a cross but technically were not crusaders or crucesignati, how the author of the Annales Forolivienses understood the term is uncertain.”^[42] Budak himself suggests that the term could simply designate warriors who marked a cross on their clothing, a customary practice before going to war against infidels.^[41]

Both armies contained soldiers of various origins.^[24] Contemporary Greek authors list among participants Northern Albanians, those of Himarë, Epirus and the coast.^[43] Based on Neşri's account, Đurađ II Balšić has also been linked to the Christian coalition which fought in the battle of Kosovo. The hypothesis about his participation is considered to be "almost entirely false" as he had become an Ottoman vassal; he was in hostility with Lazar's ally Tvrtko I; and at the time of the battle he was most likely in Ulcinj.^[18]

Troop deployment

Troop disposition

Serbian forces assembled at Kosovo Field approximately 3 miles northwest of Priština. Prince Lazar led the Serb center, Branković took command of the right, while Vuković the Bosnian general commanded the left, which also included the foreign contingents.^[44] The formidable Serb cavalry took their place at the forefront, with lighter cavalry armed with bows positioned on the flanks.^[45]

Murad led the Ottoman center, entrusting his younger son Bayezid and his commander Evrenoz with the European troops on the right wing; Murad's other son, Yakub, led the Anatolian troops on the left.^[44][45] The wings were fortified with around 1,000 archers, while the Janissaries held the central position, supported by Murad and his cavalry guard standing behind them.^[45] Ottoman sources claim that Murat also placed camels in front to scare the Serbian cavalry.^[44] One of the Ottoman commanders was Pasha Yiğit Bey.^[46]

Battle

Plan of the battle

Serbian and Turkish accounts of the battle differ, making it difficult to reconstruct the course of events. It is believed that the battle commenced with Ottoman archers shooting at Serbian cavalry, who then made ready for the attack. After positioning in a wedge formation,^[47] the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.^[48]

The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Ottoman wing commanded by Yakub Çelebi.^[49] When the knights' charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counterattacked and the Serbian heavy armor became a disadvantage. In the center, Serbian troops managed to push back Ottoman forces, except for Bayezid's wing, which barely held off the Bosnians commanded by Vlatko Vuković, who inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on the Ottomans. The Ottomans, in a ferocious counterattack led by Bayezid, pushed the Serbian forces back and then prevailed later in the day, routing the Serbian infantry. Both flanks still held, with Vuković's Bosnian troops drifting toward the center to compensate for the heavy losses inflicted on the Serbian infantry.

Historical facts say that Vuk Branković saw that there was no hope for victory and fled to save as many men as he could after Lazar was captured. In popular oral tradition, however, Branković is said to have fled and betrayed Lazar, a theory which was first presented by the writer Mavro Orbini in a 1601 work but is largely seen as unfounded.^[50][51][52] Sometime after Branković's retreat from the battle, the remaining Bosnian and Serb forces yielded the field, believing that a victory was no longer possible.

In one of the earliest accounts of the battle, it is described that twelve Serbian knights, known in Serbian epic poetry as the Jugović brothers, successfully breached the Ottoman defense.^[53] One of the knights, later identified as Miloš Obilić, pretended to have deserted to the Ottoman forces. When brought before Murad, Obilić pulled out a hidden dagger and killed the Sultan by slashing him. He was then killed by the Sultan's bodyguards.^[54][55] There are differing versions of the assassination however, with another version describing Obilić playing dead on the battlefield and stabbing the Sultan as he walked.^[45] It is also unclear when the assassination occurred, as some sources suggest it happened once the battle turned against the Serbs or in the immediate aftermath of the battle,^[56][57] while others describe it happening early on as Miloš sought to prove his loyalty to Prince Lazar after he was accused of treachery.^[54] The battle marked the only time in history an Ottoman Sultan was killed in battle.^[58]

Aftermath

Miloš Obilić, the alleged assassin of Sultan Murad I.

Turkish armor during battles of Marica and Kosovo.

Early reports

The event of the battle quickly became known in Europe. Not much attention was paid to the outcome in these early rumors which circulated, but they all focused on the fact that the Ottoman Sultan had been killed in the battle. Some of the earliest reports about the battle come from the court of Tvrtko of Bosnia who in separate letters to the senate of Trogir (August 1) and the council of Florence claimed that he had defeated the Ottomans in Kosovo.^[59] The response of the Florentines to Tvrtko (20 October 1389) is an important historical document as it confirms that Murad was killed during the battle and that it took place on June 28 (St. Vitus day/Vidovdan). The killer is not named, but it was one of 12 Serbian noblemen who managed to break through the Ottoman lines:

Fortunate, most fortunate are those hands of the twelve loyal lords who, having opened their way with the sword and having penetrated the enemy lines and the circle of chained camels, heroically reached the tent of Murat himself. Fortunate above all is that one who so forcefully killed such a strong vojvoda by stabbing him with a sword in the throat and belly. And blessed are all those who gave their lives and blood through the glorious manner of martyrdom as victims of the dead leader over his ugly corpse.^[60]

Another Italian account, Mignanelli's work of 1416, asserted that it was Lazar who killed the Ottoman sultan.^[61]

Geopolitical consequences

Both armies were destroyed in the battle.^[62] Both Lazar and Murad lost their lives, and the remnants of their armies retreated from the battlefield. Murad's son Bayezid killed his younger brother, Yakub Çelebi, upon hearing of their father's death, thus becoming the sole heir to the Ottoman throne.^[63] The Serbs were left with too few men to defend their lands effectively, while the Turks had many more troops in the east.^[62] The immediate effect of the depletion of Serbian manpower was a shift in the stance of Hungarian policy towards Serbia. Hungary tried to exploit the effects of battle and expand in northern Serbia, while the Ottomans renewed their campaign in southern Serbia as early as 1390–1391. Domestically, the Serbian feudal class in response to these threats split in two factions. A northern faction supported a conciliatory, pro-Ottoman foreign policy as a means of defence of their lands against Hungary, while a southern faction which was immediately threatened by Ottoman expansion sought to establish a pro-Hungarian foreign policy. Some Serbian feudal lords continued to fight against the Ottomans and others were integrated in the Ottoman feudal hierarchy. Consequently, some of the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals became so in the following years.^[62] These feudal lords – including the daughter of Prince Lazar – formed marriage ties with the new Sultan Bayezid.^[64][65][66]

In the wake of these marriages, Stefan Lazarević, Lazar's son, became a loyal ally of Bayezid, and contributed significant forces to many of Bayezid's future military engagements, including the Battle of Nicopolis, where Vuk Branković another Serbian magnate who ruled in parts of Kosovo had joined the anti-Ottoman coalition. As a reward for his contribution to the Ottoman victory, Lazarević was given a large part of Branković's lands. Branković himself died as an Ottoman prisoner, although in all later "Kosovo myth" narratives first created by Stefan Lazarević, he is portrayed as a betrayer of the Christians. Lazarević's success as an Ottoman vassal was such that eventually his lands encompassed a territory bigger than his father's and matched the territories of the Nemanjic dynasty in the 13th century.^[67] After Mehmed's death in 1421, Lazarević was one of the vassals who strongly supported the coalition against the future Mehmed the Conqueror who ultimately prevailed. This move led Mehmed to punish the Serbian and all other vassals who supported the other claimants to the throne by campaigning against them to directly annex their lands. In a series of campaigns from this era onward Serbia formally became an Ottoman province.^[68] The capture of Smederevo on June 20, 1459 marks the end of medieval Serbian statehood.^[69]

Legacy

Main article: Kosovo Myth

Serbs celebrating Vidovdan at the Gazimestan monument in 2013.

The Kosovo Myth has for a long time been a central subject in Serbian folklore and Serbian literary tradition, and for centuries was cultivated mostly in the form of oral epic poetry and guslar poems.^{[70][71][72][73]} The mythologization of the battle occurred shortly after the event.^[72][74] The legend was not fully formed immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions.^[75] The philologist Vuk Karadžić collected traditional epic poems related to the topic of the Battle of Kosovo and in the 19th century, he released the so-called "Kosovo cycle", which became the final version of the transformation of the myth.^[74][76] The modern narrativization of the legend focuses on three main motifs: sacrifice, betrayal and heroism, exemplified respectively by Prince Lazar choosing a "heavenly kingdom" over an "earthly kingdom", Vuk Branković's supposed desertion and Miloš Obilić's assassination of Murad.^[72][77]

In Serbian historiography, the complicated political setting preceding the battle has been simplified in the battle being a clash between Christianity and Islam.^[78] However, Miodrag Popović notes that in Ottoman Serbia of the 16th and 17th century, the local population was "Turkophilic" in accordance with the general climate of necessary adaptation to Ottoman rule.^[76][79] Тhey did not give the legend of the Battle of Kosovo an interpretation unfavorable or hostile to the Ottoman Turks.^[79] Perceptions about the Battle of Kosovo in Serbian public discourse changed and were "harnessed in earnest in the rise of Serbian nationalism during the 19th century" and acquired new meanings in the context of the Greater Serbia nationalist project.^[78] Many of the elements which came to be seen later in Serbian discourse as crucial elements of Serbian tradition appear to have entered the Serbian corpus about Kosovo just a few decades before 19th century Serbian folklorists recorded them.^[75] Throughout most of the 19th century it did not carry its later importance, as the Principality of Serbia saw the region of Bosnia as its core, not Kosovo. The Congress of Berlin (1878) was the event which caused the elevation of the narratives about the Battle of Kosovo ("Kosovo myth") in its modern status. The region of Bosnia was effectively handed out to Austria-Hungary and Serbian expansion towards that area was blocked, which in turn left southwards expansion towards Kosovo as the only available geopolitical alternative for the Serbian state.^[80] Today, the Battle of Kosovo has come to be seen in public discourse as "particularly important to Serbian history, tradition and national identity".^[81] The battle has become a force of historical, political, military and artistic inspiration to date.^[82]

The day of the battle, known in Serbian as Vidovdan (St. Vitus' day) and celebrated according to the Julian calendar (corresponding to 28 June Gregorian in the 20th and 21st centuries), is an important part of Serb ethnic and national identity,^[10] with notable events in Serbian history falling on that day: in 1876 Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire (Serbian–Ottoman War (1876–78); in 1881 Austria-Hungary and the Principality of Serbia signed a secret alliance; in 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was carried out by the Serbian Gavrilo Princip (although a coincidence that his visit fell on that day, Vidovdan added nationalist symbolism to the event);^[83] in 1921 King Alexander I of Yugoslavia proclaimed the Vidovdan Constitution; in 1989, on the 600th anniversary of the battle, Serbian president Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech on the site of the historic battle.

See also

• Battle of Dubravnica
• Battle of Pločnik
• Battle of Bileća
• Battle of Kosovo (1448)
• Gazimestan
• Kosovo curse

Notes

1. ^
   Date: Some sources attempt to give the date as June 28 in the New-Style Gregorian calendar, but that was not adopted until 1582, and did not apply retrospectively (but see Proleptic Gregorian calendar). Moreover, the proleptic Gregorian date of the battle is June 23, not 28. Nevertheless, anniversaries of the battle are still celebrated on June 15 Julian (Vidovdan, that is St. Vitus' Day in the calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is still Julian), which corresponds to June 28 Gregorian in the 20th and 21st centuries.^{[citation needed]}

Citations

1. Fine 1994, p. 410, Thus since the Turks also withdrew, one can conclude that the battle was a draw.
2. Emmert 1990, Surprisingly enough, it is not even possible to know with certainty from the extant contemporary material whether one or the other side was victorious on the field. There is certainly little to indicate that it was a great Serbian defeat; and the earliest reports of the conflict suggest, on the contrary, that the Christian forces had won.^{[page needed]}
3. Waley, Daniel; Denley, Peter (2013). Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520. Routledge. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-89018-8. The outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive.
4. Oliver, Ian (2005). War and Peace in the Balkans: The Diplomacy of Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia. I. B.Tauris. p. vii. ISBN 978-1-85043-889-2. Losses on both sides were appalling and the outcome inconclusive although the Serbs never fully recovered.
5. Binns, John (2002). An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches. Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-521-66738-8. The battle is remembered as a heroic defeat, but historical evidence suggests an inconclusive draw.
6. Fine 1994, p. 409
7. Cox 2002, p. 30, The Ottoman army probably numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. They faced something like 15,000 to 25,000 Eastern Orthodox soldiers. [...] Accounts from the period after the battle depict the engagement at Kosovo as anything from a draw to a Christian victory.
8. Emmert 1991, p. 4.
9. "ИСТОРИЈА КОЈУ НИСМО УЧИЛИ НА ЧАСОВИМА: Милош Обилић је био турски заточник, али јесте убио Мурата на Косову". www.intermagazin.rs (in Serbian).
10. Đorđević 1990.
11. Hussey, J. M., ed. (1966). The Cambridge Medieval History: The Byzantine Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 549.
12. Frucht, Richard (2004). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury. p. 534. ISBN 9781576078013.
13. Roszkowski, Wojciech (2015). East Central Europe: A Concise History. Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Instytut Jagielloński. p. 36. ISBN 9788365972200.
14. Emmert 1991, p. 3, The historian is faced with a difficult problem when he attempts to discover what occurred in the Battle of Kosovo. There are no eyewitness accounts of the battle, and rather significant differences exist among those contemporary sources which do mention the event.
15. Humphreys 2013, p. 46, But what can be said with some certainly is that on Vidovdan 1389 the Serbian Tzar Lazar with an army estimated at 15,000–20,000 troops faced an Ottoman army of 27,000–30,000, led by Sultan Murad on Kosovo Polje (Field of the Blackbirds) near Pristina. Let there be no doubt that these were large armies; the famous Battle of Agincourt – fought some three decades later in 1415 – was contested by forces whose numbers are estimated at 6,000–9,000 on one side and 12,000–30,000 (much the biggest estimate) on the other.
16. Sedlar 2013, p. 244, Nearly the entire Serbian fighting force (between 12,000 and 20,000 men) had been present at Kosovo, while the Ottomans (with 27,000 to 30,000 on the battlefield) retained numerous reserves in Anatolia.
17. Emmert 1991, p. 11.
18. Malcolm 1998, p. 62.
19. Karpat, Kemal H.; Zens, Robert W. (2003). Ottoman Borderlands: Issues, Personalities, and Political Changes. Center of Turkish Studies, University of Wisconsin. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-299-20024-4. Troops of his emirate seconded Murad I in the battle of Kosovo Polje (1389), as indicated in the "Book of Victory" (Fatih-name) issued by Bayezid the Thunderbolt.
20. Kortüm, Hans-Henning (2006). Transcultural wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Akademie. p. 231. ISBN 978-3-05-004131-5. But having been established under Murad I (1362–1389), essentially as a bodyguard, the Janissaries cannot have been present in large numbers at Nicopolis (there were no more than 2,000 at Kosovo in 1389)
21. Emmert 1991, p. 3, Given the divisiveness among Serbian lords which generally characterized the decades following Dusan's death, the fact that Lazar, Vuk, and Tvrtko were able to conclude an alliance against the Turks was reason for at least some optimism.
22. Somel, S. A. (2010). The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire. The A to Z Guide Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-4617-3176-4.
23. Cox 2002, p. 29, But there were also certainly Bosnians and Albanians, who were Christian at the time, among the Christian fighters
24. Humphreys 2013, p. 46:Both armies – and this is a fact that is ignored by the hagiographic telling – contained soldiers of various origins; Bosnians, Albanians, Hungarians, Greeks, Bulgars, perhaps even Catalans (on the Ottoman side).
25. Malcolm 1998, p. 63.
26. Vickers, Miranda. "Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo". The New York Times Archives. But in spite of this a large coalition army led by Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Bosnian and Albanian nobles gathered on the wide plain of Kosovo to confront the Ottoman army. Albanian princes were at that time close allies of the Serbs, the result of their shared desire to oppose the Ottomans. In many districts the Slavonic and Albanian elements existed side-by-side, and numerous examples are known of close economic and political ties between Serbs and Albanians during the medieval period.
27. Serge Métais, Histoire des Albanais, Fayard, 2006.
28. "1515 | John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty". Albanianhistory.net. Archived from the original on 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2012-02-13. Lazar (6), the Despot of Serbia, and King Marko of Bulgaria and Theodore Musachi, the second-born of our family, and the other Lords of Albania united and set off for battle, which the Christians lost (7).
29. Xhufi, Pëllumb (2011). "La Macédoine Occidentale dans l'histoire des Albanais du VIIe au XVe siècle". Studia Albanica (in French) (2): 3–21. ISSN 0585-5047. Cette faiblesse a été cependant passagère, car au XIVe siècle, on mentionne de nouveau comme maître de cette aire Andrea Gropa, qui a participé en 1389 à la bataille de la Plaine du Kosovo, aux côtés de Théodore Muzaka.
30. Veremes, Thanos; Kophos, Euangelos (1998). Kosovo: avoiding another Balkan war. Athens: Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign policy. p. 418. ISBN 9789607061409. ... is a historical fact that they were on the Serbian side against the Ottoman Empire in that cataclysmic battle of 1389 (under Albanian counts Balsha and Jonima)
31. Elsie, Robert (2004). Historical dictionary of Kosova. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8108-5309-6. ... Vlach contingents of Voyvode Mircea, the troops of Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Brankovic and Albanian forces under George Balsha and Demeter Jonima.
32. Petritsch, Wolfgang; Kaser, Karl; Pichler, Robert (1999). Kosovo - Kosova: Mythen, Daten, Fakten (in German) (2. Aufl ed.). Klagenfurt: Wieser. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9783851293043. ... geantwortet haben und sich mit einer Armee von 6.000 Mann nach Kosova aufgemacht haben soll. An der Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld nahmen auch andere mäch- tige albanische Fürsten teil : Demeter Jonima , dessen Reich sich über die..
33. Petta 2000, p. 123, Giovanni Musacchi esule in Italia, provano la contemporanea presenza di rami cristiani e musulmanio; e accadde anzi che i figli di un Teodoro Musacchi, caduto nel 1389 sul campo di battaglia di Kosovo, dove aveva combattuto a fianco dei serbi, divenissero musulmani, e che uno di loro, già sangiacco di Albania, cadesse nel 1442 combattendo contro gli ungheresi.
34. Muhadri, Bedrı (2021-03-29). "The Battle of Kosovo 1389 and the Albanians". Tarih ve Gelecek Dergisi. 7 (1): 436–452. doi:10.21551/jhf.898751. ISSN 2458-7672. S2CID 233651440. The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.
35. Di Lellio, Anna (2009). The battle of Kosovo, 1389: an Albanian epic. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 12. ISBN 9781848850941. A more elaborate representation of the Battle, based on Ottoman sources, attributes to the Albanian leaders Balsha, Jonima and Muzaka an organized Albanian contingent as numerous as one-fourth of the entire Balkan coalition.
36. Myftiu, Genc (2000). Albania: a Patrimony of European Values Guide of Albanian History and Culture Heritage. SEDA. p. 14. Two years later Gjergj Balsha II, Teodor Muzaka and Dhimitër Jonima fought in the battle of Kosovo... a quarter of the military force in the anti-Ottoman coalition was Albanian...
37. Iseni, Bashkim (2008). La question nationale en Europe du sud-est: genèse, émergence et développement de l'identité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine (in French). Bern: Peter Lang. p. 84. ISBN 978-3039113200. L'historiographie albanaise quant à elle met davantage l'accent sur la présence albanaise dans ce qui était une grande coalition de principautés chrétienne contre les Ottomans. Selon elle, sur les sept chefs de guerre de cette coalition, deux étaient albanais, Gjergj Balsha II et Dhimiter Jonima. Auraient aussi participé à cette bataille d'autres féodaux albanais, notamment Gjon Muzaka et Teodor Muzaka II. La participation albanaise aurait atteint un quart de la totalité des troupes de la coalition.
38. Djokić 2023, p. 127.
39. Waley, Daniel; Denley, Peter (2013). Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520. Routledge. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-89018-8. A landmark came when an alliance between Bosnians and Serbs met Ottoman forces in June 1389. at Kosovo Polje. Much uncertainty hangs over this celebrated battle which, as is now notorious, subsequently came to occupy a central place in Serbian nationalist ideology. Next to nothing can be said with assurance about numbers and multi-ethnic composition of both armies.
40. Budak 2001, p. 287.
41. Budak 2014, p. 69.
42. Runciman, Hunyadi & Laszlovszky 2001, p. 281.
43. Di Lellio, Anna (2006). The Case for Kosova: Passage to Independence. Anthem. p. 32. ISBN 1-84331-245-X. Far from arriving in the 'enemies' trucks' the Albanian population, from the lake of Shkodra to Kosova, were one with the other Christian populations At the time of the Ottoman invasion of 1389, Greek authors mention, after the Serbs and the Bulgarians, the Northern Albanians, those of Himarë, Epyrus and the coast.
44. Malcolm 1998, p. 64.
45. Tucker, Spencer (2010). Battles that Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict. ABC-CLIO. p. 138. ISBN 9781598844290.
46. Çelebi, Evliya; Šabanović, Hazim (1996). Putopisi: odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama (in Bosnian). Sarajevo-Publishing. p. 280. Retrieved 26 July 2013. Paša Jigit- -beg, koji se prvi put pominje kao jedan između turskih komandanata u kosovskoj bici.
47. Nastasijevic, Slavomir (1987). Vitezi Kneza Lazara (in Serbian). Narodna Knjiga Beograd. p. 187. ISBN 8633100150. [Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.]
48. Rogers, Clifford J., ed. (2010). "Battle of Kosovo Polje". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p. 471. ISBN 9780195334036.
49. Emmert 1991^{[page needed]}
50. Mihaljčić 1989, p. 117, 158.
51. Fine 1994, p. 414.
52. Chadwick, H. Munro; Chadwick, Nora K. (2010). The Growth of Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 382. ISBN 9781108016155.
53. Emmert 1996; Makušev, V. V. (1871), "Prilozi k srpskoj istoriji XIV i XV veka", Glasnik srpskog učenog društva 32 (in Serbian), pp. 174–5
54. Fine 1994, p. 410: Vuk Branković charged him with being in secret contact with the Turks. When Lazar faced Miloš with the charge, Miloš denied it, saying, "Tomorrow my deeds will show that I am faithful to my lord." To prove his loyalty, shortly before dawn on 28 June (the day on which the battle occurred) Miloš slipped out of the Serbian camp and announced himself to the Turkish sentries as a Serbian deserter. Taken to the sultan, he pulled out a knife he had secreted in his garments and stabbed Murad, fatally wounding him. We do not know whether there had actually been any accusations in the Serbian camp before the battle, but it is a fact that a Serb named Miloš Obilić (or Kobilić) did desert and murder the Sultan.
55. "Lanz Zervas and the British liaison officers". The South Slav Journal. 12–13. Dositey Obradovich Circle: 47. 1989. The most dramatic event of the battle was the assassination of Sultan Murad by a Serbian noble named Miloš Obilić. He pretended to be a deserter from the Serbian side and thus managed to gain access to Murad's tent; there he stabbed him to death.. Obilić himself was killed by members of Murad's bodyguard..
56. Gwin, Peter (1999). "Overrun with Ghosts of Conflicts Past". Europe. 383–392. Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities. Again, accounts vary depending on the source, although one popular version describes a desperate act of Serb heroism. As the battle turned against the Serbs, one of their noblemen, Milos Obilic pretended to desert to the Turkish forces. When he was brought before Murad, Obilic pulled out a hidden dagger and killed him.
57. Singleton, Fred (1985). A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples. Cambridge University Press. pp. 46–47. ISBN 9780521274852.
58. Flemming, Barbara (2017). Essays on Turkish Literature and History. Brill. p. 319. ISBN 9789004355767.
59. Emmert 1991, p. 3
60. Vucinich, Wayne S; Emmert, Thomas A. (1991). Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle. University of Minnesota. ISBN 9789992287552.
61. Ćirković, Sima M. (1990). Kosovska bitka u istoriografiji: Redakcioni odbor Sima Ćirković (urednik izdanja) [... et al.] (in Serbian). Zmaj. p. 38. Retrieved 11 September 2013. Код Мињанелиjа, кнез је претходно заробл - ен и принуЬен да Мурату положи заклетву верности! и тада је један од њих, кажу да је то био Лазар, зарио Мурату мач у прса
62. Fine 1994, pp. 409–411
63. Imber, Colin (2009). The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: the structure of power. Basingstoke, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-230-57451-9.
64. Volkan, Vamik D. (1998). Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. Westview. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8133-9038-3.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
65. Quataert, Donald (11 August 2005). The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-83910-5.
66. Shaw, Stanford J. (2002). History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 1: Empire of the Gazis: the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1280–1808. Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-521-29163-7. 24
67. Djokić 2023, p. 131:In terms of political and economic significance and its territorial extent, the Lazarević-Branković despotate matched the thirteenth-century Nemanjić kingdom.
68. Djokić 2023, p. 132.
69. Fine 1994, p. 575.
70. Duijzings 2000, p. 184
71. Kaser & Katschnig-Fasch 2005, p. 100.
72. Uğurlu 2011.
73. Jakica, Lara (2010–2011). "The problem of resurrection of Kosovo mythology in Serbian popular culture". Transcultural Studies. 6/7: 161–170. doi:10.1163/23751606-00601011.
74. Cimeša, Milica (28 November 2012). Wakounig, Marija (ed.). From Collective Memories to Intercultural Exchanges. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-3-643-90287-0.
75. Greenawalt 2001, p. 52.
76. Greenawalt 2001, p. 53.
77. Schlichte, Klaus; Stetter, Stephan, eds. (2023). The Historicity of International Politics: Imperialism and the Presence of the Past. Cambridge University Press. p. 270. ISBN 9781009199056.
78. Parppei, Kati (2017). The Battle of Kulikovo refought: "the first national feat". Leiden Boston: Brill. pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-90-04337-94-7.
79. Ramet 2011, p. 282.
80. Ognjenović 2014, p. 137
81. Dierauer, Isabelle (16 May 2013). Disequilibrium, Polarization, and Crisis Model: An International Relations Theory Explaining Conflict. University Press of America. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7618-6106-5.
82. Gantheret, Fiana; Guibert, Nolwenn; Stolk, Sofia (2023). Art and Human Rights: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Contemporary Issues. Edward Elgar. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-80220-814-6.
83. Manfried Rauchensteiner, Der Erste Weltkrieg und das Ende der Habsburgermonarchie 1914–1918, 2013, p. 87

Bibliography

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• Cox, John K. (2002). The History of Serbia. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-31290-8.
• Đorđević, Dimitrije (Spring 1990). "The role of St. Vitus Day in modern Serbian history" (PDF). Serbian Studies. 5 (3). North American Society for Serbian Studies: 33–40. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
• Duijzings, Gerlachlus (January 2000). Religion and the Politics of Identity in Kosovo. C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 978-1-85065-392-9.
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• Ramet, Sabrina P. (2011). Civic and Uncivic Values: Serbia in the Post-Milosevic Era. Central European University Press.
• Fine, John V. A. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
• Humphreys, Brendan (2013). The Battle Backwards A Comparative Study of the Battle of Kosovo Polje (1389) and the Munich Agreement (1938) as Political Myths (PDF) (Thesis).
• Kaser, Karl; Katschnig-Fasch, Elisabeth (2005). Gender and Nation in South Eastern Europe (in German). LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-8258-8802-2.
• Malcolm, N. (1998). Kosovo: A Short History. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-66612-8.
• Mihaljčić, Rade (1989). The Battle of Kosovo in history and in popular tradition. Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod. ISBN 9788613003663.
• Ognjenović, Gorana (2014). Politicization of Religion, the Power of Symbolism: The Case of Former Yugoslavia and its Successor States. Springer. ISBN 978-1137477897.
• Petta, Paolo (2000). Despoti d'Epiro e principi di Macedonia: esuli albanesi nell'Italia del Rinascimento (in Italian). Argo. ISBN 8882340287.
• Runciman, S.; Hunyadi, Z.; Laszlovszky, J. (2001). The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity. CEU Medievalia Series (in Italian). Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University. ISBN 978-963-9241-42-8.
• Sedlar, Jean W. (2013). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500. University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295800646.
• Uğurlu, Mesut (2011). "Kosova Efsanesi". Hacettepe Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları (HÜTAD) (in Turkish). 14 (14): 241–252.
• Djokić, Dejan (2023). A Concise History of Serbia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139236140.

Further reading

• Bieber, Florian (2002). "Nationalist mobilization and stories of Serb suffering: The Kosovo myth from 600th anniversary to the present" (PDF). Rethinking History. 6 (1): 95–110. doi:10.1080/136425200110112137. S2CID 154628299.^{[dead link‍]}
• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell. ISBN 9781405142915.
• Ćirković, Sima M. (1990). Kosovska bitka u istoriografiji (in Serbian). Zmaj.
• Đerić, Branislav (1989). Kosovska bitka: vojno-istorijska rasprava (in Serbian). Naučna knjiga. ISBN 9788623020070.
• Elezović, Gliša (1940). Boj na Kosovu 1389 g. u istoriji Mula Mehmeda Nešrije (in Serbian). Štamp. "Luč".
• Kusovac, Nikola (1988). Kosovska bitka: mit, legenda i stvarnost (in Serbian). Litera.
• Lugar, Peter B (2005), The History and Effects of the Kosovo Polje Mythology (PDF), Army Command and General Staff College, archived (PDF) from the original on July 4, 2020
• Mišković, Jov (1933). Kosovska bitka 15. juna 1389. godine (in Serbian). Planeta.
• Ostojić, Tihomir (1901). Kosovo: narodne pesme o boju na Kosovu 1389. godine (in Serbian). Izd. Matice Srpske. p. 91.
• Tomac, Petar (1968). Kosovska bitka (in Serbian). Vojnoizdavački zavod.

External links

• Simic, Charles, ed. (1987). "Serbian Epic Poems - The Battle of Kosovo". Rastko. Archived from the original on 2014-11-04.