Significance of the battle on the Kosovo field 1389. In the people's memory. What the legends say

It is bounded by the Kopaonik ranges in the north and Shar-Planina in the south. The length is 84 km, the width is up to 14 km, the height is 500-700 m. The surface is a hilly plain composed mainly of ancient lake and river sediments. The climate is temperate continental, precipitation is 600-700 mm per year. Kosovo Polje is drained by the Sitnica river system (Morava river basin). Kosovo Pole has long been known as the granary of Serbia, corn, wheat, barley are cultivated here, horticulture and viticulture are developed in the foothills; lignite and magnesite are mined. The cities of Pristina, Kosovska Mitrovica, Uroshevac are located in Kosovo Polje; passes part of the railway Belgrade - Skopje.

Kosovo Pole is known as the site of two of the largest battles in the history of the struggle of the Balkan peoples against the Turkish conquerors. Here, near Pristina, on June 15, 1389, a decisive battle took place between the united troops of the Serbs and Bosnians (15-20 thousand people), led by the Serbian prince Lazar, and the army of the Turkish Sultan Murad I (27-30 thousand people). The battle, despite the heroic resistance of the troops of Prince Lazar, ended in victory for the Turks. Prince Lazar was captured and killed. After the Battle of Kosovo, Serbia became a vassal of Ottoman Turkey.
After winning the Battle of Varna (1444), the Ottoman Sultan Murad II in 1446 launched a war against the Greek state of Morea and forced its rulers to become its vassals. Then he opposed the leader of the Albanian resistance to the Turks, Skanderbeg. In 1448, the Hungarian ruler Janos Hunyadi came to the aid of Skanderbeg from across the Danube, but on October 17-20, 1448 he suffered a crushing defeat in Kosovo. The victory of the Turks did not lead to the capture of Albania, but strengthened their position on the Danubian border and put an end to the last serious attempt by the Christians to liberate the Balkans and provide assistance to the besieged Constantinople. In 1459 Serbia was incorporated into Ottoman Turkey. The Battle of Kosovo, the exploits of Christian soldiers who fought heroically against the army of the Turks, are reflected in the Serbian epic.

Battle of Kosovo Field 1389

In the middle of the 14th century, the Turks began to threaten to invade the Balkan Peninsula. In 1352, they defeated the troops of the Byzantine emperor and crossed the Dardanelles. In 1354, the Gallipoli Peninsula was captured, Eastern Thrace became the stronghold of the Turks for further advancement deep into the Balkan Peninsula. The successful offensive of Ottoman Turkey was facilitated by the fragmentation of the forces of the Christian rulers of the Balkan states, their enmity with each other, they often resorted to the help of the Turks themselves in the fight against their neighbors.
The Ottoman state was on the rise, had a strong, numerous, well-organized army, consisting mainly of regular and irregular cavalry. In 1329, the Turks had an infantry corps of the Janissaries, which was finally formed in 1362. He formed the core of the Turkish military order and was used to deliver decisive blows on the battlefields. In 1359, Murad I became the Ottoman sultan, who stepped up the advance to the west, in 1359-1360 the Ottomans occupied Thrace, captured Adrianople (Edirne), which in 1365 became the residence of the Sultan's court.
In 1371, the troops of Murad I in the battle on the Maritsa River crushed the 60,000-strong army of the allied army of the Christian rulers of Southern Europe, after which they captured a significant part of Macedonia. Bulgarian and Serbian lands began to be subjected to devastating raids. The real danger of a Turkish invasion made the Balkan rulers seek consolidation. In the 1370s, the Serbian prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich managed to unite the northern and central Serbian regions under his rule, to stop feudal civil strife in the Serbian lands.
In 1382 Sultan Murad I invaded Serbia. Lacking sufficient strength to fight back, Prince Lazar was forced to sue for peace, went to meet the Sultan's demands, and even assumed the obligation, if necessary, to send a thousand Serbian soldiers to the Ottoman army. However, the peace was fragile, Murad I was not going to abandon his plans for conquest, and Prince Lazar was preparing for war. He understood that the Turkish threat could be eliminated only through the combined efforts of the Serbs and its neighbors, and he established friendly relations with Hungary, the rulers of Herzegovina and Albania. Lazar's ally was the Bosnian prince Tvartko, as well as the owner of the South Serbian lands Vuk Brankovich, who was married to Lazar's eldest daughter.
In 1386, the Turks occupied the Serbian city of Nis, in response, Lazar announced a break in peace with Turkey and defeated the Turkish troops at Pločnik. Both sides began to prepare for a decisive battle. Prince Lazar managed to recruit 15-20 thousand people into his army, in addition to the Serbs, it included Bosnians, Albanians, Vlachs, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Poles. The weak side of his army was the lack of internal unity. Intrigues permeated even the inner circle of the Serbian prince, Vuk Brankovich competed with Milos Obilic (or Kobilic) - the husband of Lazar's youngest daughter.
In 1389, the army of Murad I, numbering 27-30 thousand people, advanced deep into Serbia and met with the army of Lazar near Pristina. Sultan Murad led the center of his army, the right flank was commanded by his son, the younger Bayazid, and the left flank by his eldest son Yakub.
The center of the Serbian army was commanded by Prince Lazar, Vuk Brankovich led the right flank, the Bosnian governor Vlatko Vukovich - the left flank. Along the entire front of the Serbian army, heavy cavalry was stretched out, behind them were detachments of infantry. The attack of the Serbian heavy cavalry was successful on the right flank, the left wing of the Turkish army under the command of Yakub suffered heavy losses. But then the Turkish cavalry and infantry counterattacked the armored Serbian horsemen and knocked them over. Bayezid, pushing the Serbs back, hit their infantry. Gradually, the defense of the Serbian infantry was broken through, it began to retreat. Vuk Brankovich, seeking to save the remnants of his troops, left the battlefield. Popular rumor accused him of betrayal. Following him, the remnants of the Serbian army left the battlefield. The wounded Prince Lazar was captured during the battle and was executed on the same day.
Even at the beginning of the battle, Sultan Murad was also killed. He fell at the hands of Milos Obilich, who, having entered the camp of the Turks under the guise of a defector, made his way to the sultan's tent and stabbed Murad with a poisoned dagger, hoping that the loss of the leader would sow panic among the Turkish army. However, immediately after the death of the Sultan, his son Bayezid led the army and brought the battle to a victorious end. The defeat in the Kosovo Field predetermined the enslavement of Serbia by Ottoman Turkey.

It was in the days of beautiful, old,
When the Serbs died gloriously.
Lost their head in Kosovo
But the Serbs defended their glory.
Serbian folk song

In the history of Serbia, perhaps, there is no event more heroic and more shrouded in myths than the Battle of Kosovo. In the middle of the 14th century, the Serbian state claimed the Byzantine inheritance, and now the Serbs were forced to fight for their independence at their near borders, trying to repel the invasion of the Turkish Sultan Murad, who was more likely to let himself be stabbed than retreat, because the Ottoman onslaught on the Balkans was just beginning and the sultan was hungry for new conquests. The Serbian Prince Lazar was also not a timid ten and refused to bow his head to the “Saracen” - it’s not a pity to lose such a head. About the death of Serbian statehood, about how popular rumor turns events beyond recognition and why Vidovdan is such an important day for every Serb

With a dream of an empire

In the middle of the 14th century, Serbia was a real regional superpower, occupying vast territories in the Balkans and the Danube and even threatening the independence of the once powerful Byzantine Empire, whose vassals the Serbian sovereigns were throughout the 12th century. But first things first.

The founder of the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty, the great Župan Raški (a region in eastern Serbia), Stefan Nemanja, managed to achieve independence from Byzantium at the end of the 12th century, uniting Serbian territories in the Balkans under his rule. Under the successors of Stephen I, Serbia achieved the status of a kingdom (the first king of Serbia in 1217 was the son of Nemanja Stefan II the First-crowned), the autocephaly of the Church (1219) and continued to expand its territory at the expense of Byzantine possessions and less efficient neighbors.

During the reign of Stefan IV Dushan (1331−1355) the Serbian state reaches its highest peak. Dushan sought to unite the South Slavic and Byzantine lands under his rule, claiming the legacy of the Eastern Empire, whose power had long since sunk into oblivion. In 1346 he was crowned as king of the Serbs and Greeks, the Greco-Serbian kingdom founded by him. This was the period of the highest flowering of Serbian statehood: Byzantine culture spread in the country, laws were codified, silver coins were minted, new cities and monasteries were founded, the Serbian Patriarchy was founded, and friends and enemies listened to the word of the king.

After the unexpected death of Dushan the Strong in 1355, his empire began to rapidly disintegrate. The country was torn apart by civil strife, the Greek outskirts quickly separated from the Slavic center. Very soon, in the place of a single power, there were many small possessions - even Serbia itself was divided between the clans of influential feudal lords. And he already turned his gaze to the divided Serbian state as a much more powerful ruler than the Byzantine emperor, who boasted of his glorious history, but retained only a shadow of his former strength, or the Hungarian king, with whom the deceased Dushan successfully fought. The rich lands of Thrace, Greece and Serbia were greedily looked at by the Turkish ruler Murad I.

The coming storm

Dushan the Great's successor, Stefan Urosh V, tried in vain to preserve his father's empire. The endless intrigues of the nobles (and even his own mother), unsuccessful wars with the pretenders and the rapid advance of the Turks to the Balkans put an end to the idea of a single Greek-Serbian kingdom. In the autumn of 1371, the rulers of the principalities bordering on the Ottoman territories, Vukashin, who achieved the title of king and became co-ruler of Uros V, and Uglesh Mrnyaevichi were defeated by the Turks in the battle on the Maritsa River near Adrianople. In the same 1371, Stephen V died without heirs - the only one who could at least formally unite the Serbian state. Dark times were coming for Serbia.

After the victory at Maritsa, the Ottomans occupied Macedonia and part of Serbia, bringing local rulers under their hand. The queue remained behind the northern lands of the former Serbian state, whose sovereigns, instead of consolidating in the face of a powerful enemy, continued to fight each other. Soon, the Serbian prince Lazar Khrebelyanovych became the most prominent figure here.

Lazarev revival

During the 1370s, the prince managed to defeat or reconcile with the most influential rivals, significantly expanding his zone of influence, including capturing rich silver deposits - Rudnik and Novo Brdo (up to 1/3 of all gold and silver in Europe was mined in the Balkan mines). However, it was not necessary to dream of restoring Dushan's empire - under the control of Lazar was hardly a quarter of the former Greek-Serbian state, not all even the Serbian regions proper recognized the supremacy of the prince.

On the other hand, the Serbian church provided the most active support to Lazar, because thanks to his efforts, the Byzantine patriarch lifted the anathema imposed on Serbia after the proclamation of the Serbian metropolitan as patriarch, and even agreed to recognize the Serbian patriarchate. It is not surprising that it was in Prince Lazar that the Balkan peoples saw someone who could resist Turkish expansion on the peninsula and stop the hordes of the formidable Murad. The capital of Lazar, the city of Krusevac became the center of rallying anti-Ottoman forces. A decisive battle was to come.

The beginning of the war. Lazar gathers strength

The reason for the war with the Sultan was the capture of Sofia by the Turks and the occupation of the ancient Serbian city of Nis. Moreover, Prince Lazar looked with apprehension at the ever-increasing influence of the Ottomans in the region, as local rulers were actively hired into their service, replenishing the already numerous Sultan's army. It became clear that the prince would either have to submit to Murad, or go to war with him, because the situation was deteriorating day by day. The Serbian prince called on his neighbors to consolidate their efforts in the fight against the Ottomans, however, not everyone responded. The Bulgarian ruler tried to connect with Lazar, but Murad was ahead of him with decisive actions, defeated him and forced him to leave the alliance. The Serbian prince had to rely only on local forces. In the summer of 1389, the opponents met on the Kosovo field, not far from Pristina. Who were these opponents?

In addition to the princely contingents themselves, Lazar was assisted by Tvrtko I, a Bosnian ban, who crowned himself king of Serbia and Bosnia under the name Stefan (the name was considered royal, and Tvrtko thus tried to legitimize his power). Another sovereign who fought on the side of Lazar was Vuk Brankovich, in whose territories the battle took place. And although the later Serbian tradition presents him as a traitor, thanks to which Murad managed to win, there is no reason to classify him as a defector or traitor, especially since after Kosovo field he continued to act against the Turks.
The Serb army was limited only by local forces: neither the Hungarians, nor the Bulgarians, nor other Europeans joined the army of Prince Lazar, contrary to the assertions of the later Turkish chronicles, which sought to present the Battle of Kosovo as a victory over a host of infidels and the triumph of Islam. Moreover, the Hungarian king Sigismund himself was going to invade Bosnia in the summer of 1389, intending to take revenge on Tvrtko I for past defeats.

Sultan Murad also opposed the recalcitrant Serbian princes not alone, especially since the Turks formally did not have a common border with the territories of Lazar or Vuk Brankovich: between the opponents lay a strip of vassal Turkish possessions formed after Murad's victories over Serbs and Bulgarians. The sultan was joined by his Serbian, Balkan and Greek vassals, including the Albanians, who for a long time became the faithful servants of the sultan and the support of the Turks in the region (however, this refers more to the 16th century, when the Albanians began to actively convert to Islam and enjoyed all the privileges on a par with the Turks) . Determining the composition of the opposing armies presents certain difficulties, since such a number of myths have spread in later chronicles and annals that it becomes difficult to “get to the bottom” of the truth.

Side forces. Myths and reality

Even more deplorable is the situation with determining the number of contingents that gathered on the Kosovo field in the summer of 1389. Medieval sources are full of loud figures, which, however, should not be trusted unconditionally. So a participant in the Nikopol campaign of 1396, the French knight Philip Messier, claimed that at least 20,000 soldiers fell at the Kosovo field, which is hardly true. For comparison, in the Battle of Nikopol, which is much more representative in terms of the composition of the participants, a total of "only" 30,000 thousand people took part - an impressive figure for the Middle Ages.

Later chroniclers went even further: in the books there were reports of 100,000 Serbs and 300,000 Turks gathered at the Kosovo field. The scope is more consistent with the wars of modern times than with the unorganized, from the point of view of modern armies, the Middle Ages. This is how Serbian folklore describes the size of the Turkish army: If our army became salt, // Turkish pilaf would be undersalted. (from the song "Milos Oblich's Conversation with Ivan Kosancic"). Poetic, but has nothing to do with reality.

In fact, the size of the Turkish army probably did not exceed 15 thousand, the Serbian rulers gathered about 10 thousand soldiers (the figures are given without taking into account non-combatant and convoy servants, whose number in the 14th century could well exceed the number of combatants).

Kosovo Field

The place of the battle was not chosen by chance: the hilly plain not far from Pristina, limited on the flanks by rivers, made it possible to somewhat level the numerical superiority of the Turkish army, forestalling the coverage of the Serbs on both sides. From here the road opened to the north, to the lands of Prince Lazar and to the Danube and to the east, to the lands of Vuk Brankovich, to Bosnia and to the shores of the Adriatic.

The armies of the opponents met on June 15, 1389 - the day of St. Vitus or Vidovdan, as he is called in Serbia. Martyr Vit is one of the most revered saints in Serbia; on this day in 1389, prayers were offered to him for granting victory to the Serbs over the infidel Saracens. What happened on that summer day?

The Kosovo field is that characteristic example of a battle, more interesting for its influence on the minds of contemporaries and descendants than for its contribution to the history of military art. It is difficult to judge the course of the battle itself, since for 600 years it has acquired the most unprecedented legends. We can say that the battle was stubborn, because it is not in vain that folklore sings about the “three-day battle”. It seems that at first the close ranks of the Serbian horsemen clashed with the Turkish vanguard, traditionally consisting of skirmishers and light cavalry, which they easily defeated, however, as soon as Lazar and his associates entered the battle with the sipahis (heavy Turkish cavalry), things took a bad turn.

For some time, the Serbs fought so desperately that a handful of daredevils cut into the camp of the enemy and managed to get to the Sultan himself. In a Florentine letter written shortly after the Battle of Kosovo, Tvrko of Bosnia mentions 12 noble men who vowed to break through to Murad's camp, and one of them who "stuck a sword into the throat and loin" of a Saracen. The subsequent Serbian tradition preserved the legend of Milos Oblic, who, under the guise of a defector, went to the Turkish camp and stabbed the Sultan during an audience. The image of Milos is one of the most heroized in Serbian history.

The death of Murad's son Yakub, who allegedly died in battle while commanding one of the flanks of the Turkish army, is shrouded in mystery. Evil tongues, however, claimed that as soon as the heir to the throne, Bayazid, found out about the death of his father, he immediately gave the order to faithful people to stab his brother in order to avoid civil strife. One way or another, Sultan Murad and his son Yakub fell on the Kosovo field. Bayazid did not lose his head and managed to keep the threads of commanding the army, apparently hiding the death of his father. The pressure of the Serbs had dried up by this moment, and the Turkish soldiers counterattacked the enemy. Desperate to achieve victory, Lazar's troops faltered. The prince himself was captured and was executed right on the battlefield along with other captives, in retaliation for the heavy losses of the Ottoman army. So both commanders laid down their heads on the Kosovo field.

After the battle, the Turks retreated from the battlefield and left Serbia, which gave the chroniclers the right to declare the Serbs the winners, because according to the views of the Middle Ages, who retreats, he lost. Most likely, the return of the Ottomans to their territories was caused by the death of the Sultan. Bayazid, who inherited the throne (the future winner of the crusaders at Nikopol in 1396), did not dare to continue the campaign and returned to the capital, as soon as the news of Murad's death spread around the district, unrest and riots began to shake the nascent empire. Bayezid was not up to Serbia. At least for now.

Aftermath of the battle

But if the Serbs can "count" a tactical victory (albeit a Pyrrhic one), then the strategic consequences of the battle were not at all in their favor. The lands of Lazar, the most powerful Serbian prince, were left without a ruler, since his son Stefan was still too young (he was barely 12 years old). Milica, the widow of Lazar, had to take over the management of affairs. She made peace with Bayezid, recognizing Turkish suzerainty. From now on, Serbia was obliged to pay tribute and put up an army to help the Sultan. To seal the peace, the youngest daughter of Lazar Miliev was married off to Bayezid. Lazar's ally Vuk Brankovich (slandered by subsequent Serbian authors and entered into the history of Serbia as a traitor) continued the war with the Sultan until 1391, but he was forced to submit.
So, for a long 500 years, the history of independent Serbia was interrupted. Stefan Lazarevich became a devoted servant of the Sultan, helping him during endless campaigns and battles, sharing the joy of victory at Nikopol and the bitterness of defeat at Ankara (the Turks were defeated by Tamerlane, and Bayezid died in captivity). Half a century later, Serbia will finally cease to exist as a state, and its territory will be divided among more successful neighbors. Most of the country will remain under Turkish rule for a long time, which will end only after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78, as a result of which Serbia (at least partially) was liberated and gained independence.

In the people's memory

Lazar Khrebelyanovic became one of the most revered characters in Serbian history, a symbol of the struggle for its independence and determination to die, but not to prostrate before a mighty enemy. Prince Lazar was immediately canonized and reburied in Ravanitsa, where his body remains to this day. The events of the Kosovo field became the subject of many folk legends and songs that were composed by the Serbs, the battle barely had time to end. The battle became a symbol of the firmness of the Serbian spirit and, at the same time, the death of statehood, the revival of which was dreamed of by many generations of Serbian intellectuals and ordinary peasants.

It is interesting that, despite all the importance that Serbian intellectuals attached to this battle (and maybe because of this), even the outcome of the battle itself is not completely determined. Sources written in hot pursuit tell us about the victory of the Serbs, while later writings speak of the defeat of Lazar's army and the loss of Serbian independence.

People's memory distorted, embellished, and sometimes even changed real events beyond recognition. So, in folklore history, stories about the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and the battle of 1448, which took place near Kosovo, were mixed up, and the course of the battle was overgrown with numerous parallels with the Gospel. The last feast of Prince Lazar, for example, is compared to the Last Supper, and the betrayal of Vuki Brankovich, which is unlikely to have taken place in reality, refers to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.

The memory of the events of the end of the XIV century lives in the Serbs to this day. The following short episode speaks eloquently about what the Kosovo field meant and means for a simple Serb. When the Serbs occupied Kosovo during the Second Balkan War in 1912, the soldiers, according to foreign observers, came to the Kosovo field "fell on their knees and kissed the ground."

On the other hand, the myth surrounding the events of 1389 played a cruel joke on the Serbs. During the collapse of Yugoslavia, the image of an inhuman enemy in the person of the Turks was projected onto the Muslim population of Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania. The Muslims responded in kind, because they have their own "Kosovo myth". The war of myths turned into a real war, with real victims, refugees and humanitarian disasters. The very fate of the Kosovo field, which suffered no less than others during the war years, is instructive - the monastery built on the site of the battle was destroyed, and the memory of the fallen was desecrated. Now attempts are being made to give an unbiased and balanced analysis of those events, abstracting from national interests and heroic tradition. It remains to be hoped that scientists will be able to form a more objective view of the events of 600 years ago.

In the armies:

Ottoman Empire Commanders Prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich †
Prince Vuk Brankovich
Grand Governor Vlatko Vukovich Sultan Murad I Godlike †
Prince Bayezid Lightning
Prince Yacoub † Side forces 12 to 30 thousand 27 to 40 thousand Military casualties very high very high

Prehistoric Serbia
History of Serbia



Ancient Serbia

Middle Ages






Battle of Kosovo

Ottoman/Habsburg Serbia

Second Habsburg Serbia
Serbian revolution


Modern Serbia










Portal "Serbia"

Previous events

After the battle of Maritsa, the Ottomans expanded the circle of their vassals, cities on the Aegean coast and important transport routes obeyed them. In 1383 they approached Thessaloniki, capturing Ser and the surrounding areas. Even then, monks from Athos monasteries, whose possessions were under threat, turned to them. Through the Gallipoli peninsula, the Ottomans maintained contact with Asia Minor, and also established contacts with Venice and Genoa, which were at enmity with each other due to influence over the remnants of the once powerful Byzantium.

During this period, the Turks formed a strategy for their expansion. They willingly participated in the civil strife of the Christian rulers, while gradually settling in their territories and subjugating those whom they promised to help. They usually used the death of a local ruler or strife in his family as an excuse for subordinating one or another area to themselves. The Ottomans undertook their campaigns over fairly long distances. As a rule, in all areas of the Balkan Peninsula, Turkish detachments appeared long before the Ottoman state became their immediate neighbor.

The Turks appeared on the lands of Prince Lazar Khreblyanovich back in 1381, when the princely governor Tsrep defeated them on Dubravnitsa near Parachin. Probably, the Turkish detachment ended up there after the operation in Bulgaria. In 1386, the Ottomans launched a much more serious invasion. Their army was led by Murad himself, who reached Pločnik in Toplice. During this campaign, the Turks attacked the Gracanitsa monastery, where the inner tower, which kept valuable manuscripts and books, burned down.

In August 1388, taking advantage of the enmity between the Bosnian king Tvrtko and Balsici, the Turkish army led by Shahin invaded Bilechi, where it was defeated. Gradually, the Ottomans tightened the ring around Serbia. They were separated from the lands of Prince Lazar and Vuk Brankovich only by the possessions of Dragash Dejanovic in the east and the heirs of Vukashin in the south, who were Turkish vassals. At the same time, due to the internal conflict in Hungary, Lazar and Vuk Brankovich were effectively cut off from Christian lands. During the Hungarian strife, they supported Ladislaus of Naples, thus having connections with him and the rebellious Croatian cities.

At the beginning of the summer of 1389, the Turkish Sultan Murad began a campaign against Serbia. In addition to the Turks, his troops included detachments of vassals and mercenaries. Preparations for the campaign went on for a long time, both the Serbian rulers and other states, such as Venice, knew about it. Through the lands of his vassals in Macedonia, he went to Kosovo-Pole, from where he could move in any direction. Upon learning of the approach of Murad, Prince Lazar and Vuk Brankovich gathered an army. A large detachment of voivode Vlatko Vukovich, sent by the Bosnian king Tvrtko, came to their aid.

The forces of the parties and the advance of the armies

The exact number of the fighting armies is not known. Different researchers give different estimates of the number of warriors who fought.

The number of Turkish troops, according to some sources, ranged from 27,000 to 40,000 people. Among them are 2-5,000 Janissaries, 2,500 horsemen of the Sultan's personal guard, 6,000 sipahis, 20,000 Azaps and akinjis, and up to 8,000 warriors of vassal states. Turkish troops in the spring of 1389 advanced from Plovdiv to Ihtiman. From there, through Velbuzhd, they reached Kratovo, where they remained for some time and, after passing through Kumanovo, Presevo and Gniljane, on June 14 they reached Kosovo Pol. Dragos Dejanovich, although he let the Ottoman army pass through his lands, did not himself take part in the battle on the side of the Turks.

Painting by Stevo Todorovic "Sabor in Prizren before the Battle of Kosovo"

Lazar's army consisted of 12,000 to 33,000 warriors. 12-15,000 men were under the direct command of Lazar, 5-10,000 under the command of Vuk Branković, and about the same number of warriors under the command of the Bosnian voivode Vlatko Vuković. With him came a detachment of the Knights Hospitaller. Less is known about Serb preparations for battle. Historians agree that the gathering of troops took place near Niš, on the right bank of the South Morava. The Serbs remained there until news of the movement of the Turks through Velbujd arrived. After that, Lazar's army went through Prokuple to Kosovo-Pol, which was a crossroads of important routes and opened several routes for the Turks to move deep into Serbian lands.

The course of the battle

Painting by Adam Stefanovich "Fight in Kosovo"

The troops were positioned as follows. Sultan Murad led the center of his army, his sons Bayazid (right) and Yakub (left) commanded the flanks. In front of the main forces of the Ottoman army, about 1000 archers lined up in a line, Azaps and akindzhi were located behind, and Janissaries were in the center of the Turkish formation. Murad was there with his guards. A small detachment was assigned to cover the convoy.

The center of the Serbian army was commanded by Prince Lazar himself, Vuk Brankovich commanded the right flank, Vlatko Vukovich - the left. Heavy cavalry was stationed along the entire front of the Serbian army, and horse archers were on the flanks. Behind them were detachments of infantry.

Serbian and Turkish sources give contradictory information about the course of the battle, so the reconstruction of the battle presents difficulties for historians. The battle began with the shelling of Serbian positions by Turkish archers and the attack of Serbian heavy cavalry, which crashed into Turkish positions like a wedge. Having broken through the left flank of the Ottomans, the Serbs did not succeed in the center and on the right flank of the Turks. Nevertheless, the right wing of the Turkish army under the command of Yakub suffered heavy losses. Soon, light Turkish cavalry and infantry counterattacked the armored Serbian horsemen and knocked them over.

The Serbian soldiers managed to achieve some success in the center, somewhat pushing the Turks back. However, on the right flank, Bayezid launched a counterattack, pushing back the Serbs and hitting their infantry. Gradually, the defense of the Serbian infantry was broken through and it began to retreat. Vuk Brankovich, trying to save the remnants of the troops, left the battlefield. Later, popular rumor accused him of betrayal. Following him, the remnants of the detachments of Vlatko Vukovich and Prince Lazar left the battlefield. Lazar himself, wounded, was taken prisoner during the battle and was executed on the same day.

At the beginning of the battle, the Sultan was killed. According to some reports, he was killed by the Orthodox knight Milos Obilich, who, posing as a defector, entered the sultan's tent and stabbed him with a knife, after which he was destroyed by the sultan's guards. After the death of the Sultan, the Turkish army was led by his son Bayezid. A Florentine letter to King Tvrtko states that Murad was killed by one of the 12 noble Serbs who, at the beginning of the battle, were able to break through the ranks of Turkish soldiers. According to the statements of the Turks, which were cited by the 15th-century Byzantine historian Chalkokondil, Murad was killed after the battle while inspecting the battlefield.

When Bayezid found out about the death of his father, he sent a messenger to his elder brother Yakub, who did not yet know about what had happened. Bayezid told Yakub that their father Murad had given them new orders. When Yakub arrived at Bayezid's, he was strangled. Thus, Bayezid became Murad's sole heir and led the Ottoman state.

Results and consequences of the battle

Painting by Uros Predich "Kosovo girl"

After the battle, the Turkish army left the Kosovo field and moved east, as the new Sultan Bayezid feared for his power and sought to strengthen his influence. Vuk Brankovich, who owned the territory where the battle took place, remained in power and did not immediately submit to the Turks.

The deaths of both rulers and the fact that Bayazit did not stay in Serbia to exploit the victory of his troops led to discussions about how strong the Turkish victory was or whether neither side won a victory. And for several months after the battle in neighboring countries it was not known who won.

The Bosnian king Tvrtko informed the inhabitants of Trogir, which belonged to him, and friendly Florence about the great victory of the Christians and the death of a few of his people. The death of the Turkish sultan in Byzantium and other European countries was perceived as confirmation of the victory of the Christians. A similar position was held by the Byzantine chronicler Kidon, who accused the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos that he did not want to take advantage of the defeat of the Turks and the strife in the Ottoman Empire that followed the death of Murad. One of the annals of Dubrovnik of the 15th century claims that neither side won the victory, since the losses among the soldiers were very high.

However, in Moravian Serbia, the significance and possible consequences of the battle were immediately understood. In the battle, not only Prince Lazar died, leaving his infant son Stefan as his heir. Almost all the nobility perished, losses were great among ordinary soldiers. The Serbs quickly realized that the country did not have enough strength to repel a new Turkish or any other invasion.

Role of battle in folklore

Painting by Alexander Dobrich "Milos Obilic"

The battle between Lazar's troops and the Turks plays a significant role in Serbian folklore. Legends about the battle multiplied. In the Christian environment, the motive of betrayal arose, at first attributed to the Bosnian detachment and a certain Dragolsav, and later to Vuk Brankovich. Already in the first decades after the battle, a legend appeared about a slandered knight who made his way into the Turkish camp and killed the Sultan. Under the influence of the knightly epic, a connection was established between the murderer of Murad and the traitor of Lazar - both roles were assigned to the prince's sons-in-law.

By the end of the 15th century, the legend about the evening of the prince and his solemn speech was already known. There was a whole cycle of folk songs with many picturesque details. According to folk legends, the Battle of Kosovo became the reason for resettlement, served as the beginning of a turning point in the development of tribes and clans. According to the well-known Serbian historian Sima Chirkovich, it became the most striking historical event, which "brighter than others crashed into the people's consciousness." A similar opinion was voiced by another well-known Serbian historian Vladimir Corović. Until the 20th century, legends about the battle served, on the one hand, to call for heroic deeds and self-sacrifice, and on the other hand, to condemn betrayal.

To date, such folk songs and legends about the Battle of Kosovo as “Glory to Prince Lazar at Krushevets”, “Banoviћ Strahiњa”, “Kosovka girl”, “Smrt maјke Jugoviћa”, “Tsar Lazar and Queen Militsa”, “Zidaњe Ravanice” have been preserved. According to the Serbian researcher Dimitrie Bogdanovich, these and other folk songs form a complex of positive, negative and tragic heroes of the Serbian national history.

Notes

Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 107. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Volodymyr Chorovych. History of Srba (Serb.). Rastko Library. Archived from the original on December 23, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 108. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 109. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Sedlar, Jean W.
Cox, John K.
Vojna Enciklopedija. - Beograd: Vojnoizdavacki zavod, 1972. - S. 659.
Sedlar, Jean W. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. - University of Washington Press. - P. 244.
Cox, John K. The History of Serbia. - Greenwood Press. - P. 30.
Cowley Robert, Geoffrey Parker. The Reader's Companion to Military History. - Houghton Mifflin Books. - P. 249.
Vojna Enciklopedija. - Beograd: Vojnoizdavacki zavod, 1972. - S. 659.
Hunyadi and Laszlovszky, Zsolt and Jozsef. The Crusades and the military orders: expanding the frontiers of medieval Latin Christianity. - Budapest: Central European University Press. Dept. of Medieval Studies. - P. 285-290.

Kosovo Field (Kosovo Pože) is a hollow in Southern Serbia, where on June 15, 1389, near the city of Pristina, a decisive battle took place between the united troops of Serbs and Bosnians (15-20 thousand people), led by Prince Lazar, and the army of the Turkish Sultan Murad I (27 -30 thousand people). The united troops, in addition to the detachment of Prince Lazar, included detachments of the Bosnian governor Vlatko Vukovich and the Serbian feudal lord Buk Brankovich. First, the troops of Prince Lazar somewhat pressed the Turks. In the midst of the battle, the Serbian feudal lord Milos Obilich made his way into Murad's tent and killed him. Murad's son Bayazid took command of the Turkish troops. The battle ended with the victory of the Turks. Prince Lazar was captured and killed by the Turks. After the Battle of Kosovo, Serbia became a vassal of Turkey, and in 1459 was included in the Ottoman Empire. The Battle of Kosovo, the exploits of Serbian soldiers who fought heroically against the army of the Turks, are reflected in the Serbian heroic epic.

V. G. Karasev. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 7. KARAKEEV - KOSHAKER. 1965.

Literature: Shkrivanih G., Kosovska bitka, Tsetiye, 1956.

From the middle of the XIV century, the threat of Turkish conquest of the Balkan countries increased. In 1352, the Ottomans defeated Greeks, Serbs, and Bulgarians who fought on the side of the Byzantine emperor. In the same year, the Turks crossed the Dardanelles and took the fortress of Tsimpe, and in 1354 captured the Gallipoli peninsula. Then the Turks penetrated into Eastern Thrace, which became the stronghold of their offensive on the Balkan Peninsula. The feudal rulers of the Balkan states, fighting the Turkish troops alone, constantly betrayed each other, and sometimes resorted to the help of the Turks themselves to fight their neighbors, thereby contributing to the realization of strategic Ottoman interests.

Turkish state at that time it was strong and had a large, well-organized army, consisting mainly of irregular or light and regular cavalry. In 1329, the Turks had an infantry corps of the Janissaries, which was finally formed in 1362. He, as it were, constituted the "core" of the Turkish military order, or had the value of a general reserve for delivering decisive blows.

Turkish expansion to the Balkans intensified from the late 50s of the XIV century, especially during the reign of Sultan Murad I. In 1359-1360, the Ottomans occupied Thrace, then captured Adrianople and began to develop an offensive in the southwestern part of the peninsula. After the Turks defeated the Macedonian army in 1371, Bulgarian, and then Serbian and Bosnian lands began to be devastated by their raids.

In view of the real danger of a Turkish invasion of Serbia and Bosnia the rulers of these lands began to show a desire for unity and consolidation. Thus, the Serbian prince Lazar Khrebelyanovich, who in the 70s united all the northern and central Serbian regions, sought to subjugate some rulers in his own regions to his power and to stop feudal civil strife in the Serbian lands. The policy of the prince "led to some strengthening of the internal situation in the country. The unification under the rule of Prince Lazar of a significant part of the lands inhabited by Serbs could initiate their internal consolidation into a strong single state." (History of Yugoslavia. T. 1. M "1963. S. 108.)

Carrying out the aggressive policy of the Turkish state, Sultan Murad 1 attacked Serbia in 1382 and took the fortress of Tsatelica. Not having sufficient forces to repulse, Lazar was forced to pay off the world and to take upon himself the obligation in case of war to give the Sultan 1,000 of his soldiers.

Soon the current situation ceased to suit both sides. The Turks wanted more. In 1386, Murad took the city of Nis. In turn, the Serbs still hoped to break the shackles of a humiliating world. In response to the military preparations of the Turks, Lazar announced the start of a general uprising. In 1386, the Serbian prince defeated the Turkish troops at Pločnik. At the same time, he increased his diplomatic activity: relations with Hungary were established (the Serbian prince undertook to deliver tribute to her); managed to receive military assistance from the Bosnian ruler Tvartka, who sent an army to Serbia, led by the governor Vlatko Vukovich. Of the Serbian feudal lords, Vuk Brankovich, the ruler of the southern regions of Serbia, and some others took part in the coalition. The Serbian prince also received support from the rulers of Herzegovina and Albania.

Thus, the allied army included Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians, Vlachs, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Poles. Its number fluctuated between 15-20 thousand people. The weak side of the allied forces was the lack of internal unity. Unfortunately, Lazarus was surrounded by strife and treason. The intrigue came from Vuk Brankovich, the husband of the prince's eldest daughter.

The Turkish army under the command of Murad consisted of 27 to 30 thousand people.

The decisive battle between the Serbs and the Turkish army took place on June 15, 1389 on the Kosovo field - a hollow in southern Serbia, near the city of Pristina, surrounded by mountains on both sides and cut through in the middle of the river. Sitnitsa. On the eve of the battle, on June 14, military councils were held in both camps, Turkish and Serbian. Many Turkish commanders proposed to cover the front with camels in order to confuse the Serbian cavalry with their exotic appearance. However, Bayazid, the son of the Sultan, objected to the use of this petty trick: firstly, it would mean disbelief in fate, which had previously favored the weapons of the Ottomans, and, secondly, the camels themselves could be frightened by the heavy Serbian cavalry and upset the main forces. The Sultan agreed with his son, whose opinion was shared by the Grand Vizier Ali Pasha.

At the council of the allies, many proposed to impose a night battle on the enemy. However, the opinion of their opponents prevailed, who found the size of the allied army sufficient to win the day battle. After the council, the Serbian prince arranged a feast, during which disagreements, mutual hostility and resentment again came to light. Vuk Branković continued to intrigue against Milos Obilic, who was married to the prince's youngest daughter. Lazar succumbed to Brankovich's instigations and let his other son-in-law know that he doubted his fidelity. At 6 am on June 15, a fierce battle began. At first, the Serbs pressed the Turks and by 2 o'clock in the afternoon they had already begun to overcome them, but then the Turks firmly seized the strategic initiative. From the Serbian side, the right wing was commanded by Prince Lazar's father-in-law Yug Bogdan Vratko, the left wing by Vuk Brankovich, Lazar himself was in the center. From the side of the Turks on the right wing was Evrenos-Beg, on the left Yakub (the eldest son of the Sultan); Murad himself was going to command the center. However, the Sultan was mortally wounded by Milos Obilic, thus proving his patriotism and personal devotion to the Serbian prince. The command of the main forces of the Turkish army was taken over by Bayazid, who ordered the death of his elder brother Yakub.

The Turks swiftly attacked the left wing of the allied army. Vuk Brankovich, who had previously accused his brother-in-law Milos of treason, himself showed cowardice and essentially betrayed the common cause, retreating with his detachment beyond the Sitnitsa River. The Bosnians ran after him, attacked by Bayazit's cavalry.

Then Bayazid turned to the right wing of the Serbs, where Yug Bogdan Vratko stood unshakably. He fought bravely, but died in a fierce and bloody battle. After him, one by one, all his nine sons took command. They also fought heroically, but fell in an unequal battle.

Prince Lazar fought to the death. However, when he rode off to change his tired horse, misfortune occurred. The army, accustomed to seeing him ahead, and thinking that he was killed, trembled. The prince's attempts to restore order came to nothing. Carelessly driving forward, he was surrounded by the enemy, wounded and taken to the dying Murad, on whose orders he was killed along with Milos Obilich.

The Serbs, having lost their valiant leaders, partly demoralized by the betrayal of Brankovich, suffered a complete defeat. Bayazid, having become sultan after the death of his father, devastated Serbia, and Lazar's widow, Milica, was forced to give him his daughter Mileva as his wife.

Thus, the state independence of Serbia was lost, which after the defeat turned into a vassal of Turkey. In 1459, the country was included in the Ottoman Empire and thus fell under the centuries-old Turkish oppression, which delayed the economic, political and cultural development of the Serbian people. Not a single event in Serbian history has left such a deep mournful trace as the defeat in Kosovo.

However, the victory came at a high cost to the Turks: they suffered heavy losses, and the death of Murad and the murder of the heir to the throne caused temporary turmoil in the Ottoman state.

In the future, Bayezid I, nicknamed Lightning, continued the aggressive policy of his predecessors. He captured Bulgaria (1393-1396), Macedonia, Thessaly, made devastating raids into Morea (1394) and Hungary (1395). Having defeated the crusader army at the Battle of Nikopol on the Danube (1396), Bayezid subjugated Bosnia, forced Wallachia to pay tribute to himself, strengthened Turkish positions in the Balkan Peninsula, and established a de facto dictatorship over Byzantium.

Materials of the book were used: "One Hundred Great Battles", M. "Veche", 2002

Read further:

The whole world in the XIV century (chronological table).

Literature

1. Military encyclopedia. -SPb., Ed. I.D. Sytin, 1913. -T.13. - S. 214-215.

2. Military encyclopedic lexicon published by the society of military men and writers. - Ed. 2nd. - In the 14th volume - St. Petersburg, 1855. - V.7. - S. 424-425.

3. History of Yugoslavia: In 2 volumes / Ed. Yu.V. Bromley and others - M., 1963.-T. 1.-S. 110.

4. Soviet military encyclopedia in the 8th volume / Ch. ed. comis. N.V. Ogarkov (prev.) and others - M., 1977. - V.4. - S. 403.

In the armies:

Prehistoric Serbia
History of Serbia



Ancient Serbia

Middle Ages






Battle of Kosovo

Ottoman/Habsburg Serbia

Second Habsburg Serbia
Serbian revolution


Modern Serbia










Portal "Serbia"

Previous events

The forces of the parties and the advance of the armies

The exact number of the fighting armies is not known. Different researchers give different estimates of the number of warriors who fought.

Painting by Stevo Todorovic "Sabor in Prizren before the Battle of Kosovo"

The course of the battle

Painting by Adam Stefanovich "Fight in Kosovo"

Results and consequences of the battle

Painting by Uros Predich "Kosovo girl"

Role of battle in folklore

Painting by Alexander Dobrich "Milos Obilic"

Notes

Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 107. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Volodymyr Chorovych. History of Srba (Serb.). Rastko Library. Archived from the original on December 23, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 108. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Chirkovich Sima. History of the Serbs. - M .: The whole world, 2009. - S. 109. - ISBN 978-5-7777-0431-3
Sedlar, Jean W.
Cox, John K.
Vojna Enciklopedija. - Beograd: Vojnoizdavacki zavod, 1972. - S. 659.
Sedlar, Jean W. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. - University of Washington Press. - P. 244.
Cox, John K. The History of Serbia. - Greenwood Press. - P. 30.
Cowley Robert, Geoffrey Parker. The Reader's Companion to Military History. - Houghton Mifflin Books. - P. 249.
Vojna Enciklopedija. - Beograd: Vojnoizdavacki zavod, 1972. - S. 659.
Hunyadi and Laszlovszky, Zsolt and Jozsef. The Crusades and the military orders: expanding the frontiers of medieval Latin Christianity. - Budapest: Central European University Press. Dept. of Medieval Studies. - P. 285-290.

Significance of the battle on the Kosovo field 1389. In the people's memory. What the legends say

Battle of Kosovo Field 1389

Previous events

The forces of the parties and the advance of the armies

The course of the battle

Results and consequences of the battle

Role of battle in folklore

see also

Notes

Read further:

Literature

Previous events

The forces of the parties and the advance of the armies

The course of the battle

Results and consequences of the battle

Role of battle in folklore

see also

Notes