Table of contents |
2 Marriage and Progeny 3 Sources 4 External link |
Participation in the Battle of Kosovo
After having utilized internal troubles in Byzantium and the Slavic states to extend Turkish conquests in the Balkan peninsula, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I returned to the Europe with a large force. Moving into Serbia, he marched as far as Kosovo, where he was confronted by prince Lazar's army. On the St. Vitus' Day, the June 15th 1389, the greatest of the battles of Kosovo was fought. Turkish army was three times as big as the Serbian army. The Duke of Bosnia, Vlatko Vukovic (d. 1392) also participated in this battle. According to the beliefs and epic poetry of Serbian people, participation of Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Brankovic was expected, yet never happened. If some other Serbian commanders and soldiers helped Lazar's army, the overall result of this battle, and of later Serbian history, most likely would have been a whole lot different.
Unfortuantely Lazar's forces were defeated. Lazar himself was captured on battlefield and later executed. [1]
Serbian Orthodox Church canonised Lazar as Saint Hieromartyr Lazar. He is celebrated at June 15th of the Julian calendar, which is June 28th of the Gregorian Calendar.
Marriage and Progeny
Lazar married Milica (Милица) ¹ in around 1353 and issued at least seven children (Cyrillic in parentheses):
Footnotes
¹ Milica was a daughter of Prince Vratko (кнез Вратко), who was a great-grandson of Vukan Nemanjic. Vukan himself was the eldest son of Stefan Nemanja. Milica was first mentioned in 1395 and later became monk Jevgenija (Јевгенија) and shimonk (?) Jefrosina (Јефросина). [Mrdjenović (1987), p.20, 75]
² Sandalj Hranic (around 1370-March 15 1435) was a nephew of Vlatko Vukovic, the aforementioned participant of the Battle of Kosovo. [Mrdjenović (1987), p.108]
³ Balkan noblewomen married to an Ottoman sultan during this era of Turkish invasion were chosen into the sultan's harem.
Sources
External link