Kosovo Maiden
Encyclopedia
Serbian epic poetry
Serb epic poetry is a form of epic poetry written by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The main cycles were composed by unknown Serb authors between the 14th and 19th centuries...
. In it, a young beauty searches the battlefield for her betrothed husband and helps wounded Serbian warriors with water, wine and bread after the Battle of Kosovo
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 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...
in 1389 between Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. She finally finds wounded and dying warrior Pavle Orlović who tells her that her fiancée Milan Toplica
Milan Toplica
Milan Toplica was a Serbian knight that died during the historical Battle of Kosovo in 1389.He was born in the Toplica region....
and his blood-brothers Miloš Obilić
Miloš Obilic
Miloš Obilić was a medieval Serbian knight in the service of Prince Lazar, during the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. He is not mentioned in contemporary sources, but he features prominently in later accounts of the Serbian defeat at the Battle of Kosovo as the legendary assassin of the Ottoman...
and Ivan Kosančić are dead. Before the battle they had given her a cloak, golden ring and veil for the wedding as a promise of safe return, but they were slain and Pavle pointed to the direction of the bodies. The poem finishes with;
"Unhappy, if I were to grasp a green pine,
Even the green pine would wither"
The poem became greatly popular as a symbol of womanly compassion and charity. Uroš Predić
Uroš Predic
Uroš Predić was one of the greatest Serbian Realist painters, along with Paja Jovanović and Đorđe Krstić...
took up the theme in 1919 with an oil painting of the same title. In 1907, the sculptor Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrovic
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor and architect born in Vrpolje, Croatia...
created a marble relief of the subject as a part of his Kosovo-sculpture cycle.