| Battle of Kosovo | |||||||
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| Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe Serbian-Ottoman Wars |
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Battle of Kosovo 1389, sixteenth-century Russian miniature |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Serbian Principality Allies: Kingdom of Bosnia |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sultan Murad I † Bayezid I Yakub † |
Prince Lazar † Vuk Branković Vlatko Vuković |
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| Strength | |||||||
| ~ 27,000-40,000[B] | ~ 12,000-30,000[B][1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Sultan Murad I and the bulk of his troops |
Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the bulk of his troops | ||||||
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The Battle of Kosovo (Serbian: Косовска битка, Kosovska bitka; Turkish: Kosova Meydan Savaşı) took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15,[A] 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I. The army under Prince Lazar consisted of his own troops, a contingent led by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković.[2][3] Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia, and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Vuk Branković ruled a part of Kosovo and other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord. The Battle of Kosovo took place in the Kosovo Field, about 5 kilometers northwest of modern-day Priština.
Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce; however, a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles (such as Angora or Nikopolis) enables reliable reconstruction.[1] The bulk of both armies was wiped out in the battle;[2] both Lazar and Murad lost their lives in it, and the remnants of their armies eventually retreated from Kosovo. Serbs were left with too few men to effectively defend their lands, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, one after the other became so in the following years.[2]
The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to Serbian history, tradition, and national identity.[4]
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Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355) was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V (r. 1355-1371) whose reign was characterized by decline of central power and rise of numerous virtually independent principalities; this period is known as the fall of the Serbian Empire. Uroš the Weak was not able to sustain the great empire created by his father nor to repulse the foreign threats and failed to limit the independence of the nobles. Uroš V died childless on 4 December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Turks in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year. Prince Lazar, ruler of Moravian Serbia, aware of the Ottoman threat began diplomatic and military preparations for a campaign against the Ottomans.
After the defeat of the Ottomans at Pločnik (1386) and Bileća (1388), Murad I, the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from Philippoupolis (Plovdiv in modern Bulgaria) in the spring of 1389 to Ihtiman. From there, the party traveled across Velbužd (Kyustendil) and Kratovo (present-day Macedonia). Though longer than the alternate route through Sofia and the Nišava Valley, this route led the Ottoman party to Kosovo, one of the most important crossroads in the Balkans. From Kosovo, Murad's party could attack the lands of either Lazar of Serbia or Vuk Branković. Having stayed in Kratovo for a time, Murad and his troops marched through Kumanovo, Preševo and Gnjilane to Pristina, where he arrived on June 14.[1]
While there is less information about Lazar's preparations, he gathered his troops near Niš, on the right bank of the South Morava River. His party likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereupon he moved across Prokuplje to Kosovo. This was the best place Lazar could choose as a battlefield, as it gave him control of all the routes that Murad could take.[1]
Murad's army numbered from 27,000 to 40,000 fighters.[B][1] Amongst the 40,000 included not more than 2,000 Janissaries,[5] 2,500 of Murad's cavalry guard, 6,000 sipahis, 20,000 azaps and akincis and 8,000 of his vassals from Germiyanids, Sarukhanids, Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, and the lands of Constantine Dragaš and Prince Marko.[1] Marko and Dragaš, although Ottoman vassals, did not participate in the battle.[6]
Lazar's army numbered from 12,000 to 30,000.[B][1] Out of approximately 30,000 fighters present, 12,000 to 15,000 were under Lazar's command, with 5,000 to 10,000 under Vuk Branković, a Serbian nobleman from Kosovo, and just as many under nobleman Vlatko Vuković.[1] The latter troops were sent by Bosnian king Tvrtko I. Mixed with Vuković's army was a contingent of Knights Hospitallers, whom the Croatian knight John of Palisna had led from Vrana in Croatia.[7] Several thousand were cavalry.[8]
According to some sources, the Christian army led by Prince Lazar included contingents sent from Poland and Hungary,[9] and contingents of Albanians led by Đurađ Balšić, Dhimitër Jonima, and Teodor II Muzaka, as well as Wallachian troops of Voivode Mircea the Elder.[10] Claims about such a coalition of Christian rulers first appeared about eighty years after the battle in a book written by an Ottoman author, Oruç of Edirne, and were repeated by later Turkish historians.[11] Some of them added also Franks, Czechs, and Bulgarians to the aforementioned troops, claiming that there were 500,000 soldiers in the "Christian coalition". The reason for the Ottomans to represent the Battle of Kosovo in this way might lie in the fact that it was the only battle in which an Ottoman sultan was killed.[11]
The alleged participation of Đurađ II Balšić, the lord of Zeta, in Lazar's army is improbable: he had previously 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.[12] The participation of Teodor Muzaka and other Albanians is suggested by a family history of the Muzaka (Musachi) family,[12] written in Naples in c. 1515 by John Musachi, who stated the following: "Lazar, the Despot of Serbia, and King Marko of Bulgarian.b.1 and Theodore Musachi,n.b.2 and the other Lords of Albania united and set off for battle, which the Christians lost."[13] Robert Elsie, expert on Albanian studies, characterizes John Musachi's chronicle as "no work of great scholarship" whose historical accounts are confusing, although it is an important source for late 15th-century Albania.[13]
n.b.1 Bulgaria's monarch in 1389 was Tsar Ivan Shishman, who had been under the Ottoman overlordship since 1373. King Marko is referred to also as the king of Serbia in John Musachi's chronicle.
n.b.2 Theodore Musachi is the younger brother of John Musachi's father, Gjin. According to the chronicle, Theodore died in the Battle of Kosovo, about 125 years before his nephew wrote the chronicle.
The armies met at Kosovo Field. Murad headed the Ottoman army, with his sons Bayezid on his right and Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 archers were in the front line in the wings, backed up by azap and akinci; in the front center were janissaries, behind whom was Murad, surrounded by his cavalry guard; finally, the supply train at the rear was guarded by a small number of troops.[8]
The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the Serbian army were the heavy cavalry and archer cavalry on the flanks, with the infantry to the rear. While parallel, the dispositions of the armies were not symmetrical, as the Serbian center had a broader front than the Ottoman center.[8]
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 for the attack. After positioning in a V-shaped formation, the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.[8]
The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Turkish wing commanded by Yakub Celebi.[3] When the knights' charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry counter-attacked and the Serbian heavy armour became a disadvantage. In the center, Serbian fighters managed to push back Ottoman forces, except for Bayezid's wing, which barely held off the forces commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Vuković thus inflicted disproportionately heavy losses on the Turks. The Ottomans, in a ferocious counter-attack 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 drifting toward the center to compensate for the heavy losses inflicted on the Serbian infantry.
It is said that Branković had long been jealous of his sovereign. Some historians state that he had arranged with Murad to betray his master, on the promise that he would rule Serbia under the sultan's overlordship. At a critical moment in the battle, Branković turned his horse and fled from the field, followed by his troops. However, historic facts say that Vuk Branković had seen that there was no hope for victory, and fled to save as many men as he could. He fled after Lazar was captured, but in songs, it is said that he betrayed Lazar, and left him to death in middle of battle rather than after Lazar was captured and the center massacred.
Bayezid gained his nickname "the Thunderbolt" here, after leading the decisive counter-attack. 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.
Serbian knight Miloš Obilić killed Murat during the battle, when Obilić went into the Ottoman camp and entered the sultan's tent in an apparent desertion. Once there he stabbed Murad in the neck and heart. Obilić was killed by the Sultan's bodyguards, either immediately, or afterwards while fleeing on horseback.[14][15][16][17]
The earliest preserved record, a letter from the Florentine senate to King Tvrtko I of Bosnia dated 20 October 1389, says that Murad was killed during the battle. 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.[18]
Murad's son, Bayezid, was informed of the sultan's death before his older brother Yakub. Bayezid sent Yakub a message, stating that their father had some new orders for them. When Yakub arrived, he was strangled to death, leaving Bayezid as the sole heir to the throne.[19]
The bulk of both armies were wiped out in the battle;[2] both Lazar and Murad lost their lives, and the remnants of their armies eventually retreated from the battlefield. The Serbs were left with too few men to defend their lands effectively, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals, one after the other became so in the following years.[2] Furthermore, in response to Turkish pressure,[20] some Serbian noblemen wed their daughters, including the daughter of Prince Lazar, to Bayezid.[21][22] In the wake of these marriages, Stefan Lazarević became a loyal ally of Bayezid, going on to contribute significant forces to many of Bayezid's future military engagements, including the Battle of Nicopolis. Eventually, the Serbian Despotate would, on numerous occasions, attempt to defeat the Ottomans in conjunction with the Hungarians until its final defeat in 1459 and again in 1540.
The Battle of Kosovo came to be seen as a symbol of Serbian patriotism and desire for independence in the 19th century rise of nationalism under Ottoman rule, including the Kosovo curse, and its significance for Serbian nationalism returned to prominence during the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo War when Slobodan Milošević invoked it during an important speech.[23]