Taxus Baccata

The Battle of Kosovo (Turkish: Kosova Savaşı; Serbian: Косовска битка) 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. The battle was fought on the Kosovo field in the territory ruled by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković, in what is today Kosovo,^[a] about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) northwest of the modern city of Pristina. The army under Prince Lazar consisted of his own troops, a contingent led by Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković.^[6] 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.^[10] The bulk of both armies were wiped out, and Lazar and Murad were killed. Although the Ottomans managed to annihilate the Serbian army, they also suffered huge casualties that delayed their progress. The 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 became so consecutively in the following years.

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 on 4 December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been destroyed by the Ottomans in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year. 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.^[11]

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.^[12]^[13] A higher estimate places the size of Murad's army up to 40,000 and Lazar's up to 25,000 troops.^[14] 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.^[15] Regardless of the exact army size, the battle of Kosovo was one of the large 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 less soldiers were engaged.^[12]

Murad's army included no more than 2,000 Janissaries,^[16] The Ottoman army was supported by auxiliary troops from the Anatolian Turkoman Beylik of Isfendiyar.^[17] Murad's army may have also included Christians: Catalans, Greeks and Italians.^[18]^[19]

Lazar's army included large contingents from his principality and that of Vuk Branković. Along with Serb troops, a Christian coalition from nearby Christian principalities and kingdoms formed. Bosnians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Hungarians fought in the army led by Lazar.^[20]^[19] Tvrtko I of Bosnia had concluded an anti-Ottoman defensive pact with Lazar and Vuk Branković and sent Vlatko Vuković as commander of the Bosnian forces in Kosovo.^[21]^[22] Groups of crusaders linked to the Knights of Rhodes under a Domine Johanne Bano is mentioned as fighting in the battle in Annales Forolivienses. Domine Johanne Bano most probably refers to John of Palisna, although identification with a John Horvath has also been proposed.^[23] Dhimitër Jonima, Teodor II Muzaka, Andrea Gropa and other Albanian aristocrats have been suggested as participants in the battle.^[24]^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28] Of those, Teodor Muzaka verifiably fought and died in the battle.^[7] 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.^[29]

Troop deployment

The armies met at the 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.^{[citation needed]} One of the Ottoman commanders was Pasha Yiğit Bey.^[30]

The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right, and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the 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.

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,^[31] the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.

The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Ottoman wing commanded by Yakub Çelebi.^[32] 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. Vuković thus 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 traditional songs, however, it is said that he betrayed Lazar and left him to die in the middle of battle, rather than after Lazar was captured and the center suffered heavy losses.

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.

As the battle turned against the Serbs, it is said that one of their 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, after which the Sultan's bodyguards immediately killed him.

Aftermath

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.^[33]

Another Italian account, Mignanelli's work of 1416, asserted that it was Lazar who killed the Ottoman sultan.^[34]

Both armies were broken by the battle.^[6] Both Lazar and Murad lost their lives, and the remnants of their armies retreated from the battlefield. Murad's son Bayezid strangled his younger brother, Yakub Çelebi, upon hearing of their father's death, thus becoming the sole heir to the Ottoman throne.^[35] The Serbs were left with too few men to defend their lands effectively, while the Turks had many more troops in the east.^[6] Consequently, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals became so in the following years, yielding one by one.^[6] Furthermore, in response to Ottoman pressure,^[36] several Serbian noblemen wed their daughters, including the daughter of Prince Lazar, to Bayezid.^[37]^[38] 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.^[39]

Legacy

The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to Serbian history, tradition and national identity.^[40]

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,^[41] 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^[42]); in 1921 Serbian King Alexander I proclaimed the Vidovdan Constitution; in 1989, on the 600th anniversary of the battle, Serbian political leader Slobodan Milošević delivered the Gazimestan speech on the site of the historic battle.

The Tomb of Sultan Murad, a site in Kosovo Polje where Murad I's internal organs were buried, has gained a religious significance for local Muslims. A monument was built by Murad I's son Bayezid I at the tomb, becoming the first example of Ottoman architecture in the Kosovo territory.^{[citation needed]}

Notes & References

^
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]}

^ Template:Kosovo-note

^ ^a ^b ^c (Fine 1994, p. 410)
Thus since the Turks also withdrew, one can conclude that the battle was a draw.
^ (Emmert 1990, p. ?)
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.
^ Daniel Waley; Peter Denley (2013). Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520. Routledge. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-89018-8. The outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive.
^ Ian Oliver (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.
^ John Binns (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.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e (Fine 1994, pp. 409–411)
^ ^a ^b Petta & 2000 123
^ Emmert 1991, p. 4.
^ Humphreys 2013, p. 46.
^ https://www.intermagazin.rs/istorija-koju-nismo-ucili-na-casovima-milos-obilic-je-bio-turski-zatocnik-ali-jeste-ubio-murata-na-kosovu/
^ Emmert, 1991 & 3
^ ^a ^b Humphreys, 2013 & 46
^ Sedlar 2013, p. 244
^ Cox, 2002 & 30
^ Emmert, 1991 & 11.
^ Hans-Henning Kortüm (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)
^ 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.
^ Cox, 2002 & 29.
^ ^a ^b Humphreys, 2013 & 46
^ Cox, 2002 & 29
^ Emmert, 1991 & 3
^ Humphreys, 2013 & 47.
^ Budak & 2001 287.
^ Miranda Vickers, A History of Kosovo |quote=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.
^ Serge Métais, Histoire des Albanais, Fayard, 2006.
^ Ангелов, Д., Чолпанов, Б. Българска военна история през Средновековието (X-XV век), Издателство на БАН, София 1994, стр. 235
^ "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).
^ 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. The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.
^ Malcolm, Noel (1998). Kosovo: A Short History. London: Macmillan. p. 62
^ Evliya Çelebi; Hazim Šabanović (1996). Putopisi: odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama. Sarajevo-Publishing. p. 280. Retrieved 26 July 2013. Paša Jigit- -beg, koji se prvi put pominje kao jedan između turskih komandanata u kosovskoj bici.
^ Slavomir Nastasijevic (1987). Vitezi Kneza Lazara. Narodna Knjiga Beograd. pp. 187–. ISBN 8633100150. Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.
^ (Emmert 1991, p. ?) ^{[page needed]}
^ Wayne S. Vucinich, Thomas A. Emmert (1991). Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle. University of Minnesota. ISBN 9789992287552.
^ Sima M. Ćirković (1990). Kosovska bitka u istoriografiji: Redakcioni odbor Sima Ćirković (urednik izdanja) [... et al.]. 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
^ Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire: The Structure of Power, 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 85. ISBN 0-230-57451-3.
^ Vamik D. Volkan (1998). Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. Westview Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8133-9038-3.
^ Donald Quataert (11 August 2005). The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-83910-5.
^ History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey By Stanford Jay Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw, p. 24
^ Fine, John (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 575. ISBN 9780472082605.
^ Isabelle Dierauer (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.
^ Đorđević 1990.
^ Manfried Rauchensteiner, Der Erste Weltkrieg und das Ende der Habsburgermonarchie 1914–1918, 2013, p. 87

Sources

Budak, Neven (2001). "John of Palisna, the Hospitaller Prior of Varna". In Hunyadi, Zsolt; Laszlovszky, Jozsef (eds.). The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity. Central European University Press. ISBN 9639241423.
John K. Cox (2002). The History of Serbia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-31290-8.
Sedlar, Jean W. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. University of Washington Press.
John V. A. Fine; John Van Antwerp Fine (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).
Emmert, Thomas (1991). "The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat". In Vucinich, Wayne; Emmert, Thomas (eds.). Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle (PDF). University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9992287551.
Petta, Paolo (2000). Despoti d'Epiro e principi di Macedonia: esuli albanesi nell'Italia del Rinascimento. Argo. ISBN 8882340287.

External links

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

[rdp-we-cnote_A] 
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]}

[status-10] Template:Kosovo-note

[fine410-1] (Fine 1994, p. 410)
Thus since the Turks also withdrew, one can conclude that the battle was a draw.

[emmert-2] (Emmert 1990, p. ?)
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.

[3] Daniel Waley; Peter Denley (2013). Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520. Routledge. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-89018-8. The outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive.

[4] Ian Oliver (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] John Binns (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.

[Fine-1994-409-11-6] (Fine 1994, pp. 409–411)

[Petta123-7] Petta & 2000 123

[FOOTNOTEEmmert19914-8] Emmert 1991, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTEHumphreys201346-9] Humphreys 2013, p. 46.

[11] ttps://www.intermagazin.rs/istorija-koju-nismo-ucili-na-casovima-milos-obilic-je-bio-turski-zatocnik-ali-jeste-ubio-murata-na-kosovu/

[Emmert3b-12] Emmert, 1991 & 3

[Humphreys46-13] Humphreys, 2013 & 46

[Sedlar30-14] Sedlar 2013, p. 244

[Cox30-15] Cox, 2002 & 30

[FOOTNOTEEmmert199111-16] Emmert, 1991 & 11.

[17] Hans-Henning Kortüm (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)

[KarpatZens2003-18] 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.

[FOOTNOTECox200229-19] Cox, 2002 & 29.

[Humphreys46a-20] Humphreys, 2013 & 46

[Cox29a-21] Cox, 2002 & 29

[Emmert3a-22] Emmert, 1991 & 3

[FOOTNOTEHumphreys201347-23] Humphreys, 2013 & 47.

[FOOTNOTEBudak2001287-24] Budak & 2001 287.

[25] Miranda Vickers, A History of Kosovo |quote=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.

[a-26] Serge Métais, Histoire des Albanais, Fayard, 2006.

[bvis235-27] Ангелов, Д., Чолпанов, Б. Българска военна история през Средновековието (X-XV век), Издателство на БАН, София 1994, стр. 235

[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] 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. The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.

[Malcolm-1998-62-30] Malcolm, Noel (1998). Kosovo: A Short History. London: Macmillan. p. 62

[ÇelebiŠabanović1996-31] Evliya Çelebi; Hazim Šabanović (1996). Putopisi: odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama. Sarajevo-Publishing. p. 280. Retrieved 26 July 2013. Paša Jigit- -beg, koji se prvi put pominje kao jedan između turskih komandanata u kosovskoj bici.

[Vitezi_Kneza_Lazara-32] Slavomir Nastasijevic (1987). Vitezi Kneza Lazara. Narodna Knjiga Beograd. pp. 187–. ISBN 8633100150. Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.

[33] (Emmert 1991, p. ?) ^{[page needed]}

[34] Wayne S. Vucinich, Thomas A. Emmert (1991). Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle. University of Minnesota. ISBN 9789992287552.

[35] Sima M. Ćirković (1990). Kosovska bitka u istoriografiji: Redakcioni odbor Sima Ćirković (urednik izdanja) [... et al.]. 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

[36] Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire: The Structure of Power, 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 85. ISBN 0-230-57451-3.

[37] Vamik D. Volkan (1998). Bloodlines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism. Westview Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8133-9038-3.

[38] Donald Quataert (11 August 2005). The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-83910-5.

[39] History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey By Stanford Jay Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw, p. 24

[40] Fine, John (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 575. ISBN 9780472082605.

[41] Isabelle Dierauer (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.

[FOOTNOTEĐorđević1990-42] Đorđević 1990.

[43] Manfried Rauchensteiner, Der Erste Weltkrieg und das Ende der Habsburgermonarchie 1914–1918, 2013, p. 87

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-{{Short description|1389 battle between Moravian Serbia and the Ottoman Sultanate}}
+{{Short description|1389 battle between Christian coalition led by Moravian Serbia and the Ottoman Empire}}
-{{About|the battle in 1389|other battles|Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)|the film|Battle of Kosovo (film)}}
+{{About|the battle in 1389|other battles|Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)}}
 {{Infobox military conflict
 | conflict    = Battle of Kosovo
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 | date        = June 15<!-- Do not change 15 to 28! See the footnote -->,{{Cref2|A|1}} 1389
 | place       = [[Kosovo field (Kosovo)|Kosovo field]], [[District of Branković]]
-| result      = Inconclusive<ref name=fine410>{{harv|Fine|1994|p=410}} {{quote|Thus since the Turks also withdrew, one can conclude that the battle was a draw.}}</ref><ref name=emmert>{{harv|Emmert|1990|p=?}} {{quote|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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Daniel Waley|author2=Peter Denley|title=Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qkuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA255|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-89018-8|page=255|quote=The outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ian Oliver|title=War and Peace in the Balkans: The Diplomacy of Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qu58hfrYAHsC&pg=PR7|year=2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-889-2|page=vii|quote=Losses on both sides were appalling and the outcome inconclusive although the Serbs never fully recovered.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John Binns|title=An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOA5vfSl3dwC&pg=PA197|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66738-8|page=197|quote=The battle is remembered as a heroic defeat, but historical evidence suggests an inconclusive draw.}}</ref><ref name=Cox-30>{{cite book|author=John K. Cox|title=The History of Serbia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U765FGDfbPoC&pg=PA30|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31290-8|page=30|quote=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.}}</ref>
+| result      = Inconclusive<ref name=fine410>{{harv|Fine|1994|p=410}} {{quote|Thus since the Turks also withdrew, one can conclude that the battle was a draw.}}</ref><ref name=emmert>{{harv|Emmert|1990|p=?}} {{quote|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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Daniel Waley|author2=Peter Denley|title=Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qkuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA255|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-89018-8|page=255|quote=The outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Ian Oliver|title=War and Peace in the Balkans: The Diplomacy of Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qu58hfrYAHsC&pg=PR7|year=2005|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-889-2|page=vii|quote=Losses on both sides were appalling and the outcome inconclusive although the Serbs never fully recovered.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John Binns|title=An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MOA5vfSl3dwC&pg=PA197|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66738-8|page=197|quote=The battle is remembered as a heroic defeat, but historical evidence suggests an inconclusive draw.}}</ref>
+* Tactical draw<br>
+* Mutual heavy losses<br>
-* Mutual heavy losses—devastating for the less numerous [[Serbs]]<ref name=Fine-1994-409-11/>
+* Depletion of [[Moravian Serbia|Serbian]] available manpower in future campaigns<ref name=Fine-1994-409-11/>
-| combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Ottoman red flag.svg|border}} [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Sultanate]]
+| combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Ottoman red flag.svg|border}} [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]]
 | combatant2 = {{Plainlist|
 * [[File:Coat of arms of Moravian Serbia.svg|20px]] [[Moravian Serbia]]
 * {{flagicon image|Royal banner of Branković family.svg|border}} [[District of Branković]]
-* {{flagicon image|Bosnian Royal Flag of Tvrtko I of Bosnia.png}} [[Kingdom of Bosnia]]
+* {{flagicon image|Bosnian Royal Flag of Tvrtko I of Bosnia.png|border}} [[Kingdom of Bosnia]]
-* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Order of St. John (various).svg|border}} [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of Rhodes]]}}
+* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Order of St. John (various).svg|border}} [[Knights Hospitaller]]
+* {{flagicon image|Muzaka.svg}} [[Principality of Berat|Principality of Muzaka]]}}
 | commander1  = {{flagicon image|Ottoman red flag.svg|borders}} [[Murad I]]{{KIA}}<br/>{{flagicon image|Ottoman red flag.svg|border}} [[Bayezid I|Şehzade Bayezid]]<br/>{{flagicon image|Ottoman red flag.svg|border}} [[Yakub Çelebi]]{{Executed}}
-| commander2  = {{Plainlist|'''Main commander:'''
+| commander2  =
 * [[File:Coat of arms of Moravian Serbia.svg|18px]] [[Lazar of Serbia|Prince Lazar]]{{KIA}}
-'''Secondary commanders:'''
 * [[File:Coat of arms of Branković family (small).svg|15px]] [[Vuk Branković]]
 * [[File:Грб Вуковића.png|15px]] [[Vlatko Vuković]]
-* [[File:Armoiries de l'Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem.svg|15px]] [[John of Palisna]]}}
+* [[File:Armoiries de l'Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem.svg|15px]] [[John of Palisna]] (most probably)
+* [[File:Muzaka.svg|15px]] [[Teodor II Muzaka]]{{KIA}}<ref name="Petta123"/>
-| strength1   = ~ 27,000–40,000{{Cref2|B|1}}
-| strength2   = ~ 12,000–30,000{{Cref2|B|2}}|
+| strength1   = 27,000 to 30,000 <br> higher estimate up to 40,000
-| casualties1 = Most of army killed<ref name=fine410/><ref name=emmert/>
+| strength2   = 12,000/15,000 to 20,000 <br> higher estimate up to 25,000
-| casualties2 = Most of army killed<ref name=fine410/><ref name=emmert/>
+| casualties1 = Very heavy losses<ref name=fine410/>{{sfn|Emmert|1991|p=4}}
+| casualties2 = Very heavy losses<ref name=fine410/>{{sfn|Humphreys|2013|p=46}}
 }}
 {{Serbian-Ottoman Wars (Medieval)}}
 {{Bosnian-Ottoman Wars (Medieval)}}
@@ Line 42: / Line 47: @@
 Emperor [[Stefan Dušan|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 on 4 December 1371, after much of the [[Serbian nobility]] had been destroyed by the Ottomans in the [[Battle of Maritsa]] earlier that year. [[Lazar of Serbia|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 [[Battle of Pločnik|Pločnik (1386)]] and [[Battle of Bileća|Bileća (1388)]], [[Murad I]], the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from [[Plovdiv|Philippoupolis]] to [[Ihtiman]] (modern Bulgaria) in the spring of 1388. From there they traveled across [[Kyustendil|Velbužd]] and [[Kratovo, North Macedonia|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.<ref name=KosovskaBitka659>{{harv|Vojna Akademija|1972|p=659}}</ref>
+After the defeat of the Ottomans at [[Battle of Pločnik|Pločnik (1386)]] and [[Battle of Bileća|Bileća (1388)]], [[Murad I]], the reigning Ottoman sultan, moved his troops from [[Plovdiv|Philippoupolis]] to [[Ihtiman]] (modern Bulgaria) in the spring of 1388. From there they traveled across [[Kyustendil|Velbužd]] and [[Kratovo, North Macedonia|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.
 {{Gallery |align=center |captionstyle= |state= |width=130 |mode= |noborder= | File:Knez Lazar, Vladislav Titelbah.jpg |alt1= |Prince [[Lazar of Serbia|Lazar Hrebeljanović]] | File:Murad I.jpg |alt2= |{{nowrap|Sultan [[Murad I|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.<ref name=KosovskaBitka659/>
+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.<ref name="Emmert3b">{{harvnb|Emmert|1991|3|ts=: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.}}</ref>
+==Army composition==
-Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce; however, a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles (such as [[Battle of Ankara|Ankara]] or [[Battle of Nikopolis|Nikopolis]]) enables reliable reconstruction.<ref name=KosovskaBitka659/>
+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.<ref name="Humphreys46">{{harvnb|Humphreys|2013|46|ts=: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 Kovoso 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.}}</ref><ref name="Sedlar30">{{harvnb|Sedlar|2013|p=244|ts=: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.}}</ref> A higher estimate places the size of Murad's army up to 40,000 and Lazar's up to 25,000 troops.<ref name="Cox30">{{harvnb|Cox|2002|30|ts=:|quote=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.}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Emmert|1991|11}}  Regardless of the exact army size, the battle of Kosovo was one of the large 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 less soldiers were engaged.<ref name="Humphreys46"/>
+Murad's army included no more than 2,000 [[Janissary|Janissaries]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Hans-Henning Kortüm|title=Transcultural wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bdmAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Akademie|isbn=978-3-05-004131-5|page=231|quote=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)}}</ref> The Ottoman army was supported by auxiliary troops from the [[Anatolia]]n [[Turkmen people|Turkoman]] [[Isfendiyarids|Beylik of Isfendiyar]].<ref name="KarpatZens2003">{{cite book|last1=Karpat|first1=Kemal H.|author-link1=Kemal H. Karpat|last2=Zens|first2=Robert W.|title=Ottoman Borderlands: Issues, Personalities, and Political Changes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNMlAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Center of Turkish Studies, University of Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-299-20024-4|page=35|quote=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.}}</ref> Murad's army may have also included Christians: Catalans, Greeks and Italians.{{sfn|Cox|2002|29}}<ref name="Humphreys46a">{{harvnb|Humphreys|2013|46|ts=: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).}}</ref>
-==Prelude==
-===Army composition===
-Murad's army numbered between 27,000 and 40,000 men.{{Cref2|B|3}}<ref name=KosovskaBitka659/> These included no more than 2,000 [[Janissary|Janissaries]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Hans-Henning Kortüm|title=Transcultural wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bdmAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Akademie|isbn=978-3-05-004131-5|page=231|quote=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)}}</ref> 2,500 of Murad's cavalry guard, 6,000 [[sipahi]]s, 20,000 [[azap]]s and [[akinci]]s, and 8,000 troops from his [[vassal]]s.<ref name=KosovskaBitka659/> The Ottoman army was supported by the forces of the [[Anatolia]]n [[Turkmen people|Turkoman]] [[Isfendiyarids|Beylik of Isfendiyar]].<ref name="KarpatZens2003">{{cite book|last1=Karpat|first1=Kemal H.|author-link1=Kemal H. Karpat|last2=Zens|first2=Robert W.|title=Ottoman Borderlands: Issues, Personalities, and Political Changes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNMlAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Center of Turkish Studies, University of Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-299-20024-4|page=35|quote=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.}}</ref>
+Lazar's army included large contingents from his principality and that of [[Vuk Branković]]. Along with Serb troops, a Christian coalition from nearby Christian principalities and kingdoms formed. [[Kingdom of Bosnia|Bosnians]], [[Albanians]], Bulgarians, Greeks and Hungarians fought in the army led by Lazar.<ref name="Cox29a">{{harvnb|Cox|2002|29|ts:=But there were also certainly Bosnians and Albanians, who were Christian at the time, among the Christian fighters}}</ref><ref name="Humphreys46a"/> [[Tvrtko I of Bosnia]] had concluded an anti-Ottoman defensive pact with Lazar and Vuk Branković and sent [[Vlatko Vuković]] as commander of the Bosnian forces in Kosovo.<ref name="Emmert3a">{{harvnb|Emmert|1991|3|ts=: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.}}</ref>{{sfn|Humphreys|2013|47}} Groups of crusaders linked to the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of Rhodes]] under a ''Domine Johanne Bano'' is mentioned as fighting in the battle in Annales Forolivienses. ''Domine Johanne Bano'' most probably refers to [[John of Palisna]], although identification with a John Horvath has also been proposed.{{sfn|Budak|2001|287}} [[Dhimitër Jonima]], [[Teodor II Muzaka]], [[Andrea Gropa]] and other Albanian aristocrats have been suggested as participants in the battle.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/vickers-serb.html Miranda Vickers, A History of Kosovo]
-Lazar's army numbered between 12,000 and 30,000.{{Cref2|B|4}} According to a Yugoslav encyclopedia (1972), there were approximately 30,000 fighters present; 12,000-15,000 were under Lazar's command, with 5,000-10,000 under [[Vuk Branković]], a Serbian nobleman from Kosovo, and just as many under a Bosnian nobleman [[Vlatko Vuković]], sent by the [[King of Bosnia|Bosnian king]] [[Tvrtko I of Bosnia|Tvrtko I Kotromanić]] and several [[Albanian nobility|Albanian lords]] including: [[Dhimitër Jonima]], [[Teodor II Muzaka]] (who died in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389), [[Andrea Gropa]] and others.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/vickers-serb.html Miranda Vickers, A History of Kosovo]
-|quote=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.</ref><ref name="a">Serge Métais, ''Histoire des Albanais'', [[Librairie Arthème Fayard|Fayard]], 2006.</ref><ref name="bvis235">Ангелов, Д., Чолпанов, Б. ''Българска военна история през Средновековието (X-XV век)'', Издателство на БАН, София 1994, стр. 235</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |title=1515 &#124; John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty |publisher=Albanianhistory.net |quote=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). |access-date=2012-02-13 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910095427/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |archive-date=2010-09-10 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Muhadri|first=Bedrı|date=2021-03-29|title=The Battle of Kosovo 1389 and the Albanians|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1645262|journal=Tarih ve Gelecek Dergisi|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=436–452|doi=10.21551/jhf.898751|quote=The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.}}</ref><ref>History of the Balkans: from Mohammed the Conqueror to Stalin East European monographs Author Georges Castellan Translated by Nicholas Bradley Publisher East European Monographs, 1992 {{ISBN|0-88033-222-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-88033-222-4}} p. 54</ref><ref name="KosovskaBitka659" /> Several thousand were [[knight]]s.<ref name=KosovskaBitka660>{{harv|Vojna Akademija|1972|p=660}}</ref>{{Cref2|C}}
+|quote=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.</ref><ref name="a">Serge Métais, ''Histoire des Albanais'', [[Librairie Arthème Fayard|Fayard]], 2006.</ref><ref name="bvis235">Ангелов, Д., Чолпанов, Б. ''Българска военна история през Средновековието (X-XV век)'', Издателство на БАН, София 1994, стр. 235</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |title=1515 &#124; John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty |publisher=Albanianhistory.net |quote=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). |access-date=2012-02-13 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910095427/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |archive-date=2010-09-10 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Muhadri|first=Bedrı|date=2021-03-29|title=The Battle of Kosovo 1389 and the Albanians|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1645262|journal=Tarih ve Gelecek Dergisi|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=436–452|doi=10.21551/jhf.898751|quote=The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.}}</ref> Of those, Teodor Muzaka verifiably fought and died in the battle.<ref name="Petta123">{{harvnb|Petta|2000|123|ts=: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.}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=Malcolm-1998-62>Malcolm, Noel (1998). ''Kosovo: A Short History''. London: Macmillan. p. 62</ref>
 ===Troop deployment===
 [[File:Battle of Kosovo, disposition of troops.svg|thumb|220px|right|Troop disposition]]
-The armies met at the [[Kosovo field]]. Murad headed the Ottoman army, with his sons Bayezid on his right and Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 [[archery|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.<ref name=KosovskaBitka660/> One of the Ottoman commanders was [[Pasha Yiğit Bey]].<ref name="ÇelebiŠabanović1996">{{cite book|author1=Evliya Çelebi|author-link1=Evliya Çelebi|author2=Hazim Šabanović|title=Putopisi: odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=029pAAAAMAAJ|access-date=26 July 2013|year=1996|publisher=Sarajevo-Publishing|page=280|quote=Paša Jigit- -beg, koji se prvi put pominje kao jedan između turskih komandanata u kosovskoj bici.}}</ref>
+The armies met at the [[Kosovo field]]. Murad headed the Ottoman army, with his sons Bayezid on his right and Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 [[archery|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.{{cn}} One of the Ottoman commanders was [[Pasha Yiğit Bey]].<ref name="ÇelebiŠabanović1996">{{cite book|author1=Evliya Çelebi|author-link1=Evliya Çelebi|author2=Hazim Šabanović|title=Putopisi: odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=029pAAAAMAAJ|access-date=26 July 2013|year=1996|publisher=Sarajevo-Publishing|page=280|quote=Paša Jigit- -beg, koji se prvi put pominje kao jedan između turskih komandanata u kosovskoj bici.}}</ref>
-The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right, and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the 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.<ref name=KosovskaBitka660/>
+The Serbian army had Prince Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right, and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the 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.
 ==Battle==
 [[File:Battle of Kosovo plan.png|thumb|220px|right|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,<ref name="Vitezi Kneza Lazara">{{cite book|author=Slavomir Nastasijevic|title=Vitezi Kneza Lazara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESbkAAAACAAJ|date=1987|publisher=Narodna Knjiga Beograd|isbn=8633100150|pages=187–|quote=Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.}}</ref> the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.<ref name=KosovskaBitka660/>
+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,<ref name="Vitezi Kneza Lazara">{{cite book|author=Slavomir Nastasijevic|title=Vitezi Kneza Lazara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESbkAAAACAAJ|date=1987|publisher=Narodna Knjiga Beograd|isbn=8633100150|pages=187–|quote=Serbian heavy cavalry took V wedge shape charge position breaking through Ottoman infantry and light cavalry.}}</ref> the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing.
 The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Ottoman wing commanded by Yakub Çelebi.<ref>{{harv|Emmert|1991|p=?}} {{page needed|date=July 2014}}</ref> 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]]. Vuković thus 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.
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 ==See also==
-{{Portal|War}}
 *[[Battle of Dubravnica]]
 *[[Battle of Pločnik]]
@@ Line 104: / Line 108: @@
 *[[Kosovo curse]]
-==Notes==
-{{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha}}
-{{Cnote2|A|'''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.}}
-{{Cnote2|B|n=3|'''Strength''': Estimate vary, although with the Ottomans having greater numbers;
-*According to Sedlar: "Nearly the entire Christian 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."<ref>{{cite book | last = Sedlar | first = Jean W. | title = East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 | publisher = University of Washington Press | page=244 | quote = Nearly the entire Christian 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.}}</ref>
-*According to J. K. Cox: "The Ottoman army probably numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. They faced something like 15,000 to 25,000 Eastern Orthodox soldiers."<ref name=Cox-30/>
-*According to Cowley: "On June 28, 1389, an Ottoman army of between thirty thousand and forty thousand under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated an army of Balkan allies numbering twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand under the command of Prince Lazar of Serbia at Kosovo Polje (Field of Blackbirds) in the central Balkans."<ref>{{cite book | last = Cowley | first = Robert |author2=Geoffrey Parker | title = The Reader's Companion to Military History | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books | page=249 | quote=On June 28, 1389, an Ottoman army of between thirty thousand and forty thousand under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated an army of Balkan allies numbering twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand under the command of Prince Lazar of Serbia at Kosovo Polje (Blackbird's Field) in the central Balkans.}}</ref>
-}}
-{{Cnote2|C|According to some Turkish sources, the "Christian army" led by Prince Lazar included contingents of Bulgarians, Albanians, Wallachians, Germans and Bohemians.<ref name=Fajfric-7>{{cite book|author=Željko Fajfrić|url=http://www.rastko.rs/kosovo/istorija/zfajfric-lazarevici.html|title=Sveta loza kneza Lazara|chapter=7. Bitka na Kosovu|quote=[...] Nije knez mogao računati ni na Vlaškog vojvodu Mirčeta jer je ovaj ratovao protiv Ugara po Poljskoj, ali ni na svoga zeta Bugarskog cara Šišmana. Još su neosnovanije bile tvrdnje da su knezu pomagali Albanci. Stoga svi kasniji navodi, naročito Turski, gde se tvrdi da je knez Lazar uspeo da okupi oko sebe Bugare, Albance, Vlahe pa čak Nemce i Čehe, jesu najobičnija izmišljotina koja je imala za zadatak da kneževu snagu preuveličaju. [Lazar could not count on Wallachian voivode Mirčeta as he was in war with the Hungarians in Poland, nor on Bulgarian Emperor Šišman. Even more ungrounded is the claim that Albanians aided Lazar. All the later mentions, particularly the Turkish, where it is claimed that Lazar managed to gather the Bulgarians, Albanians, Wallachians, and even Germans and Czechs, are the commonest of fabrications which have the intention to exaggerate the size of Lazar's forces.]}}</ref> 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.<ref name=antic>[[Čedomir Antić|Antić, Čedomir]] (25 November 2010). "[http://www.politika.rs/pogledi/Chedomir-Antic/Bitka-za-bitku.lt.html Bitka za bitku]" (in Serbian). ''[[Politika|Politika Online]]''.</ref> Some of them added also Franks, and Czechs 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.<ref name=antic/> The alleged participation of [[Đurađ II Balšić]], the lord of [[Principality of Zeta|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]].<ref name=Malcolm-1998-62>Malcolm, Noel (1998). ''Kosovo: A Short History''. London: Macmillan. p. 62</ref> The participation of Teodor Muzaka and other Albanians is suggested by a family history of the Muzaka (Musachi) family,<ref name=Malcolm-1998-62/> written in [[Naples]] in c. 1515 by John Musachi, who stated the following: "Lazar, the Despot of Serbia, and King Marko of Bulgaria (Bulgaria's monarch in 1389 was [[Tsar]] [[Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria|Ivan Shishman]], who had been under the Ottoman overlordship since 1373. [[Prince Marko|King Marko]] is referred to also as the king of Serbia in John Musachi's chronicle.) and Theodore Musachi, (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.) and the other Lords of Albania united and set off for battle, which the Christians lost."<ref name=Elsie-2003>[[Robert Elsie|Elsie, Robert]] (2003). "[http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html 1515. John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910095427/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |date=2010-09-10 }}". ''Documents 16th to 18th centuries''. Texts and Documents of Albanian History.</ref> [[Robert Elsie]], an 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.<ref name=Elsie-2003/>}}
-{{Cnote2 End}}
-===Status of Kosovo===
+==Notes & References==
+{{Cnote2 Begin|liststyle=upper-alpha}}
+{{Cnote2|A|'''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.{{cn}}}}
+{{Cnote2 End}}
 {{notes
 | notes =
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 | {{Kosovo-note}}
 }}
 }}
-==References==
-===Citations===
 {{Reflist}}
-===Sources===
+==Sources==
+*{{cite book |last1=Budak |first1=Neven |editor1-last=Hunyadi |editor1-first=Zsolt |editor2-last=Laszlovszky |editor2-first=Jozsef |title=The Crusades and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity |date=2001 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=9639241423 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1m4fbJyQ4pkC |chapter=John of Palisna, the Hospitaller Prior of Varna}}
-* {{cite book|author=Vojna Akademija|title = Vojna Enciklopedija | publisher = Vojnoizdavački zavod JNA | location = Belgrade | year = 1972 | language = sh | chapter = Kosovska bitka}}
+*{{cite book|author=John K. Cox|title=The History of Serbia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U765FGDfbPoC&pg=PA30|year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31290-8}}
+*{{cite book | last = Sedlar | first = Jean W. | title = East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 | publisher = University of Washington Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NYTCgAAQBAJ}}
 * {{cite book|author1=John V. A. Fine|author2=John Van Antwerp Fine|title=The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC|year=1994|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0-472-08260-4}}
+*{{cite thesis|last=Humphreys|first=Brendan|year=2013|title=The Battle Backwards A Comparative Study of the Battle of Kosovo Polje (1389) and the Munich Agreement (1938) as Political Myths|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/146448468.pdf}}
-* Emmert, Thomas Allan (1991).{{cite web|url=http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/emmert.htm |title=The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat |access-date=2008-05-17 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716072235/http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/emmert.htm |archive-date=2011-07-16 }} . ''Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|9789992287552}}
+*{{cite book |last1=Emmert |first1=Thomas |editor1-last=Vucinich |editor1-first=Wayne |editor2-last=Emmert |editor2-first=Thomas |title=Kosovo: Legacy of a Medieval Battle |date=1991 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=9992287551 |url=https://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/cmes.arizona.edu/files/Background%20-Battle%20of%20Kosovo%20poetry.pdf |chapter=The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat}}
+*{{cite book |last1=Petta |first1=Paolo |title=Despoti d'Epiro e principi di Macedonia: esuli albanesi nell'Italia del Rinascimento |date=2000 |publisher=Argo |isbn=8882340287 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aF1oAAAAMAAJ}}
 ===Further reading===

Kosovo Myth
Serbian epic poetry Serb traditions Serbian national identity
Characters and topics	Battle of Kosovo (main event) Kosovo Field (location) Vidovdan (date) Kosovo curse Tsar Lazar and Miloš Obilić (main heroes) Ottoman Turks (main enemy) Murad I Bajazet Vuk Branković (depiction of a traitor) Tsaritsa Milica Jugović brothers Jug Bogdan Kosovo Maiden Musić brothers Milan Toplica Ivan Kosančić Pavle Orlović Stevo Vasojević Strahinja Banović Prince Marko Kingdom of Heaven Chosen people Fall of the Serbian Empire
Sources and literature	The Narration about Prince Lazar by Danilo III The Encomium of Prince Lazar by Jefimija Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević by Constantine of Kostenets Memoirs of a Janissary by Konstantin Mihailović Bugarštica Benedikt Kuripečič Tronoša Chronicle Kingdom of the Slavs by Mavro Orbini Filip Višnjić Vuk Karadžić
Art and popular culture	Guslar poems The Mountain Wreath (1847) by Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Onamo, 'namo! by Nicholas I of Montenegro Ivan Meštrović Adam Stefanović Pavle Čortanović Uroš Predić Aleksandar Deroko Battle of Kosovo (1989) Vidovdan (1989)
Other	Gazimestan Paeonia peregrina (kosovski božur) Yugoslavism Young Bosnia Medal of Obilić (Montenegro) Medal of Obilić (Serbia) Vidovdan Constitution Gazimestan speech Andrićgrad