Miloš Obilic
Encyclopedia
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 sultan Murad I
. Although he remains anonymous in the extant sources until the late 15th century, the dissemination of the story of Murad's assassination in Florentine, Serbian, Ottoman and Greek sources suggests that versions of it circulated widely across the Balkans within half a century after the event.
Miloš became a major figure in Serbian epic poetry
, in which he is elevated to the level of the most noble national hero of medieval Serbian folklore
. Along with the martyrdom of Prince Lazar and the alleged treachery
of Vuk Branković, Miloš's deed became an integral part of Serbian traditions surrounding the Battle of Kosovo. In the 19th century, Miloš also came to be venerated as a saint
in the Serbian Church.
(died 1406), Chancellor of Florence, in his letter to King Tvrtko I of Bosnia
(r. 1353-1391), dated 20 October 1389, on behalf of the Florentine Senate. The killer is not named but he is described as one of twelve Serbian noblemen who managed to break through the Ottoman ranks:
The assassin's first appearance in Serbian sources is in the biography of Stefan Lazarević
, Lazar's son, by Constantine the Philosopher
, written in the 1440s. The hero, still anonymous, is described as a man of noble birth whom envious tongues had sought to defame before the prince. To prove his loyalty and courage, he left the front line on the pretext of being a deserter, seized the opportunity to stab the sultan to death and was killed himself shortly afterwards. The initial phase of ignominy and its redemption by a courageous plot of slaying the sultan are narrative ingredients which would become essential to the Serbian legend as it evolved in later times.
, Oruc or Uruc, explains the lack of protection by saying that the army was preoccupied with pursuing the enemy in rear flight and introduces an element of deception: the Christian "had promised himself as a sacrifice and approached Murad, who was sitting alone on his horse. Pretending he wished to kiss the sultan's hand, he stabbed the sultan with a sharp dagger."
Since about the late 15th century, Greek sources also begin to record the event. The Athenian scholar Laonicus Chalcondyles
(d. c. 1490) claims to draw on Greek traditions when he refers to Murad's killer as Miloes, "a man of noble birth [... who] voluntarily decided to accomplish the heroic act of assassination. He requested what he needed from Prince Lazar, and then rode off to Murad's camp with the intention of presenting himself as a deserter. Murad, who was standing in the midst of his troops before the battle, was eager to receive the deserter. Miloes reached the sultan and his bodyguards, turned his spear against Murad, and killed him." Writing in the second half of the same century, Michael Doukas
regarded the story as worthy of inclusion in his Historia Byzantina. He relates how the young nobleman pretended to desert the battle, was captured by the Turks and professing to know the key to victory, managed to gain access to Murad and kill him.
In 1976, Miodrag Popovic suggested that the narrative elements of secrecy and stratagem in the Serbian tradition were all introduced from Turkish sources. However, Thomas A. Emmert considers it more likely that the interpretation of events in the Serbian tradition, which was to enter further stages of development in the 16th century, had influenced the Ottoman accounts.
, a Serbian Janissary
from the village of Ostrovica
, who wrote his Memoirs of a Janissary or Turkish Chronicle in ca 1497. In a passage intended to infer a moral lesson about disloyalty from the Serbian defeat at Kosovo, Mihailović identifies Miloš Kobilac as the knight who on the fateful last Friday of the battle slew Murad. The next time a name is given in the sources is three decades later, in 1530, when the (Slovene) monk Benedikt Kuripešić (Curipeschitz) wrote memoirs of his travels through the Balkan Peninsula. His visit to Murad's tomb in Kosovo Polje
provides the occasion for the story of the knight whom he names Miloš Kobilović. Kuripešić elaborates on the humiliation and fall out favour which Miloš endured before the battle, his last dinner with Lazar and his nobles, his admittance to Murad's tent, the brutal murder and his own death on attempting to escape on horseback. The monk, though not explicit about his sources, writes that Miloš was a celebrated figure in the popular traditions of Croats
and "others in those regions", who sing about his heroic exploits on the border.
According to the most popular version of the legend, during the first Battle of Kosovo
, Miloš made his way into the Ottoman
camp pretending that he wanted to surrender, and at an opportune moment forced his way into the Sultan
's tent and stabbed him to death. Obilić was consequently "slashed to pieces" by the Sultan's bodyguards.
In Serbian epic poetry and song (e.g. "Radul-bey and Bulgarian King Šišman" and the song "Dušan's Wedding"), Miloš Obilić is often grouped along with other literary creations like Karadjordje, Vuk Karadžić and Njegoš as Serbs of Dinaric origin who distinguished themselves as the great moral and/or intellectual minds of the past in contradistinction to Bulgarian contemporaries, who could claim no such status. In the poem "Obilić Dragon's Son", Miloš is given a mythical ancestry as the son of a dragon to emphasise his superhuman strength on a physical and spiritual level; in this, he joins the ranks of many other heroes of Serbian poetry who fought against Turkish oppression and are claimed to have been descendants of a dragon.
It was not until the early 19th century that Miloš was also venerated as a saint in the Serbian Church. During the First Serbian Uprising
(1804–1813), a fresco of Miloš as a haloed, sword-bearing saint was painted in Prince Lazar's narthex
in the Hilandar
Monastery on Mount Athos
(Greece). The historian Rade Mihaljcic
suggests that the cult was a popular movement which originated among the Serbs south of the Sava and Danube
during the Ottoman period.
Later in the same century, the heroic figure of Miloš was given a national boost in the epic poem The Mountain Wreath
(1847) by Petar Petrovic Njegoš
, prince of Montenegro. The poem praises the assassin's valour in battle, calling him "the victim of a noble feeling, / An all powerful military genius, / A dreadful thunder that smashes crowns".
The prince-poet also instituted the Obilić medal for courage.
itself is deeply embedded in the Serbs'
national consciousness, history, and poetry.
In the late 1980s, religious nationalists began to breathe further life into the figure of Miloš and the Kosovo myth. Special inspiration was taken from Njegoš's The Mountain Wreath, with its portrayal of Lazar as a Christ-like martyr and Miloš as the Serb sacrificing himself to prove his loyalty and seek retribution. The construction of a national mythology enabled them not only to reinforce a sense of Serb cultural identity but also to represent the contemporary Serb-Muslim conflict in terms of a long-standing enmity with "the Christ-killer" and "the race-traitor". A key event which gave expression to this idea was the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo (Vidovdan
) on 28 June 1989, which was held at the Gazimestan plain, near the site of the battle. Milos' feat has been cited as a source of inspiration in public speeches by political leaders, notably President Milošević
, who referred to him in his Gazimestan speech
on the occasion of the battle anniversary.
Religious nationalist use of the Miloš/Kosovo legend culminated in attempts to encourage and justify aggression against Bosnian Muslims, notably the Bosnian genocide of the early nineties
. During the atrocities of the time, nationalists supporting the Republika Srpska cited hostile verses from The Mountain Wreath and other epics, and medals with Milos’ name were awarded to soldiers who had taken part in the genocide. Concerning the cultural extent of this religious nationalist ideology, Michael Sells
writes that it:
One such song was directed at Alija Izetbegović
, in which the first-person speaker would boast that he will slay the president just as Miloš slew the sultan.
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
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
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...
as the legendary assassin of the Ottoman sultan Murad I
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
. Although he remains anonymous in the extant sources until the late 15th century, the dissemination of the story of Murad's assassination in Florentine, Serbian, Ottoman and Greek sources suggests that versions of it circulated widely across the Balkans within half a century after the event.
Miloš became a major figure in Serbian epic poetry
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 which he is elevated to the level of the most noble national hero of medieval Serbian folklore
Serbian folklore
Serbian folklore is the folk traditions among ethnic Serbs. The earliest examples of Serbian folklore are seen in the pre-Christian Slavic customs transformed into Christianity.-Folklore:...
. Along with the martyrdom of Prince Lazar and the alleged treachery
Treachery
Treachery is a statutory offence in Australia. There was also an unrelated statutory offence bearing that name in the United Kingdom, but it has been abolished. Both of these offences were derived from or inspired by the related offence of treason. The name treachery was chosen because it is a...
of Vuk Branković, Miloš's deed became an integral part of Serbian traditions surrounding the Battle of Kosovo. In the 19th century, Miloš also came to be venerated as a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
in the Serbian Church.
Earliest sources
The earliest Serbian sources on the Battle of Kosovo, which generally favour the cult of Prince Lazar, do not mention Miloš or his assassination of the sultan. The deed itself is first reported by Coluccio SalutatiColuccio Salutati
Coluccio Salutati was an Italian Humanist and man of letters, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence.-Birth and Early Career:...
(died 1406), Chancellor of Florence, in his letter to King Tvrtko I of Bosnia
Tvrtko I of Bosnia
Stjepan Tvrtko I was a ruler of medieval Bosnia. He ruled in 1353–1366 and again in 1367–1377 as Ban and in 1377–1391 as the first Bosnian King....
(r. 1353-1391), dated 20 October 1389, on behalf of the Florentine Senate. The killer is not named but he is described as one of twelve Serbian noblemen who managed to break through the Ottoman ranks:
- "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 Amurat [Murad] 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."
The assassin's first appearance in Serbian sources is in the biography of Stefan Lazarević
Stefan Lazarevic
Stefan Lazarević known also as Stevan the Tall was a Serbian Despot, ruler of the Serbian Despotate between 1389 and 1427. He was the son and heir to Prince Lazar, who died at the Battle of Kosovo against the Turks in 1389, and Princess Milica from the subordinate branch of the Nemanjić dynasty...
, Lazar's son, by Constantine the Philosopher
Constantine of Kostenets
Constantine of Kostenets , also known as Konstantin Kostenechki and Constantine the Philosopher , was a medieval Bulgarian writer and chronicler...
, written in the 1440s. The hero, still anonymous, is described as a man of noble birth whom envious tongues had sought to defame before the prince. To prove his loyalty and courage, he left the front line on the pretext of being a deserter, seized the opportunity to stab the sultan to death and was killed himself shortly afterwards. The initial phase of ignominy and its redemption by a courageous plot of slaying the sultan are narrative ingredients which would become essential to the Serbian legend as it evolved in later times.
Ottoman and Greek sources
The loss of the sultan also made an impression on the earliest Ottoman sources. They usually describe how Murad was unaccompanied on the battlefield and an anonymous Christian who had been lying among the corpses stabbed him to death. In the early 15th century, for instance, the poet Ahmedi writes that "[s]uddenly one of the Christians, who was covered in blood and apparently hidden among the enemy dead, got up, rushed to Murad and stabbed him with a dagger." One historian from EdirneEdirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
, Oruc or Uruc, explains the lack of protection by saying that the army was preoccupied with pursuing the enemy in rear flight and introduces an element of deception: the Christian "had promised himself as a sacrifice and approached Murad, who was sitting alone on his horse. Pretending he wished to kiss the sultan's hand, he stabbed the sultan with a sharp dagger."
Since about the late 15th century, Greek sources also begin to record the event. The Athenian scholar Laonicus Chalcondyles
Laonicus Chalcondyles
Laonikos Chalkokondyles, latinized as Laonicus Chalcondyles was a Byzantine Greek scholar from Athens.- Life :He was a Byzantine historian, son of George and cousin of Demetrios Chalcocondylas...
(d. c. 1490) claims to draw on Greek traditions when he refers to Murad's killer as Miloes, "a man of noble birth [... who] voluntarily decided to accomplish the heroic act of assassination. He requested what he needed from Prince Lazar, and then rode off to Murad's camp with the intention of presenting himself as a deserter. Murad, who was standing in the midst of his troops before the battle, was eager to receive the deserter. Miloes reached the sultan and his bodyguards, turned his spear against Murad, and killed him." Writing in the second half of the same century, Michael Doukas
Michael Doukas (historian)
Doukas was Byzantine historian who flourished under Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor. He is one of the most important sources for the last decades and eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans.-Life:...
regarded the story as worthy of inclusion in his Historia Byzantina. He relates how the young nobleman pretended to desert the battle, was captured by the Turks and professing to know the key to victory, managed to gain access to Murad and kill him.
In 1976, Miodrag Popovic suggested that the narrative elements of secrecy and stratagem in the Serbian tradition were all introduced from Turkish sources. However, Thomas A. Emmert considers it more likely that the interpretation of events in the Serbian tradition, which was to enter further stages of development in the 16th century, had influenced the Ottoman accounts.
Serbian traditions
The first author to refer to Murad's killer by his full name is Konstantin MihailovićKonstantin Mihailovic
Konstantin Mihailović was a Serbian who served as a Janissary during the 15th century for the Ottoman Empire. Born in the village of Ostrovica, near Novo Brdo around 1430 , Mihailović is remembered for having kept memoirs of his service and in doing so he allowed a unique insight into life in the...
, a Serbian Janissary
Janissary
The Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
from the village of Ostrovica
Ostrovica
Ostrovica may refer to:* Ostrovica, Croatia, village in Croatia, near Benkovac, in Lišane Ostrovičke municipality* Ostrovica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, village in Bosnia, near Kulen Vakuf* Ostrovica , village in Serbia, near Niš...
, who wrote his Memoirs of a Janissary or Turkish Chronicle in ca 1497. In a passage intended to infer a moral lesson about disloyalty from the Serbian defeat at Kosovo, Mihailović identifies Miloš Kobilac as the knight who on the fateful last Friday of the battle slew Murad. The next time a name is given in the sources is three decades later, in 1530, when the (Slovene) monk Benedikt Kuripešić (Curipeschitz) wrote memoirs of his travels through the Balkan Peninsula. His visit to Murad's tomb in Kosovo Polje
Kosovo Polje
Kosovo Polje or Fushë Kosova is a town and municipality in the Pristina district of central Kosovo, at 42.63° North, 21.12° East, or approximately eight kilometres south-west of the capital Pristina...
provides the occasion for the story of the knight whom he names Miloš Kobilović. Kuripešić elaborates on the humiliation and fall out favour which Miloš endured before the battle, his last dinner with Lazar and his nobles, his admittance to Murad's tent, the brutal murder and his own death on attempting to escape on horseback. The monk, though not explicit about his sources, writes that Miloš was a celebrated figure in the popular traditions of Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and "others in those regions", who sing about his heroic exploits on the border.
According to the most popular version of the legend, during the first 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...
, Miloš made his way into the Ottoman
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...
camp pretending that he wanted to surrender, and at an opportune moment forced his way into the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
's tent and stabbed him to death. Obilić was consequently "slashed to pieces" by the Sultan's bodyguards.
In Serbian epic poetry and song (e.g. "Radul-bey and Bulgarian King Šišman" and the song "Dušan's Wedding"), Miloš Obilić is often grouped along with other literary creations like Karadjordje, Vuk Karadžić and Njegoš as Serbs of Dinaric origin who distinguished themselves as the great moral and/or intellectual minds of the past in contradistinction to Bulgarian contemporaries, who could claim no such status. In the poem "Obilić Dragon's Son", Miloš is given a mythical ancestry as the son of a dragon to emphasise his superhuman strength on a physical and spiritual level; in this, he joins the ranks of many other heroes of Serbian poetry who fought against Turkish oppression and are claimed to have been descendants of a dragon.
Later legends
- An earlier episode of Miloš Obilić's career in the service of Prince Lazar is related to the Battle of PločnikBattle of PlocnikThe Battle of Pločnik was fought in 1386 , at the village of Pločnik, near Prokuplje in today's southeastern Serbia, between the Serbian forces of prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the invading Ottoman Turks of sultan Murad I.It was the second clash between the Ottomans and forces commanded by Lazar,...
, in which he participated and survived an arrow wound. In many sources he is mentioned as a son-in-law of Prince Lazar, which would make him a brother-in-law to Vuk Branković, another Serbian high ranking nobleman and a prominent antagonist in epic traditions concerning the Battle of KosovoBattle of KosovoThe 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...
. The characters of Obilić and Branković are usually contrasted in these legends. However, these claims cannot be confirmed with certainty. - Another legend tells about the treason of Vuk Branković, Serbian feudal lord and son-in-law of the Serbian Prince Lazar. According to this legend, Miloš was accused by Branković, at the eve of the Battle of KosovoBattle of KosovoThe 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...
of intent to betray his lord Lazar and switch sides mid battle. The accusation was a result of alleged rivalry between the two. Branković, a nobleman of much higher rank, was intensely jealous of the reputation that Obilić enjoyed as the bravest of Serbian knights. In order to clear his name and prove his loyalty to Lazar and his country, Miloš made a solemn oath to slay the Ottoman Sultan during the battle. - Other variants of songs and legends state that Miloš was captured by a Baba YagaBaba YagaBaba Yaga or Baba Roga is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs...
(a witch), who advised the Turks how to kill Miloš's horse and find the keys of his armour, which were hidden in his moustaches. Miloš gained his revenge by killing the witch on a bridge, which is presently called Babin Most (Old Woman's Bridge). - In folk epic and legends, Miloš was celebrated as the hero of supernatural birth and strength (his mother was a fairy, demonic creature or his father was a dragon; he had got his strength from the milk of the mare). He had an extraordinary horse called Ždral.
- His blood brothers were Milan ToplicaMilan ToplicaMilan Toplica was a Serbian knight that died during the historical Battle of Kosovo in 1389.He was born in the Toplica region....
and Ivan Kosančić, prominent Serbian knights from Toplica region, both of whom, according to legend, lost their lives in the Battle of KosovoBattle of KosovoThe 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...
.
19th century
First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising was the first stage of the Serbian Revolution , the successful wars of independence that lasted for 9 years and approximately 9 months , during which Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after more than three centuries of Ottoman rule and...
(1804–1813), a fresco of Miloš as a haloed, sword-bearing saint was painted in Prince Lazar's narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
in the Hilandar
Hilandar
Hilandar Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the first Serbian Archbishop Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja of the medieval Serbian principality of Raška...
Monastery on Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
(Greece). The historian Rade Mihaljcic
Rade Mihaljcic
Rade Mihaljčić is a Serbian historian and academic. The most of his works is about medieval Serbia especially Serbian empire and Battle of Kosovo.-Major works:Monographies:...
suggests that the cult was a popular movement which originated among the Serbs south of the Sava and Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
during the Ottoman period.
Later in the same century, the heroic figure of Miloš was given a national boost in the epic poem The Mountain Wreath
The Mountain Wreath
The Mountain Wreath is a poem and a play, a masterpiece of Montenegrin and Serbian literature, written by Montenegrin Prince-Bishop and poet Petar II Petrović-Njegoš.Njegoš wrote The Mountain Wreath during 1846 in Cetinje and published it the following year after the...
(1847) by Petar Petrovic Njegoš
Petar II Petrovic-Njegoš
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš , was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro , who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet...
, prince of Montenegro. The poem praises the assassin's valour in battle, calling him "the victim of a noble feeling, / An all powerful military genius, / A dreadful thunder that smashes crowns".
The prince-poet also instituted the Obilić medal for courage.
Today
This event and the Kosovo battleBattle 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...
itself is deeply embedded in the Serbs'
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
national consciousness, history, and poetry.
In the late 1980s, religious nationalists began to breathe further life into the figure of Miloš and the Kosovo myth. Special inspiration was taken from Njegoš's The Mountain Wreath, with its portrayal of Lazar as a Christ-like martyr and Miloš as the Serb sacrificing himself to prove his loyalty and seek retribution. The construction of a national mythology enabled them not only to reinforce a sense of Serb cultural identity but also to represent the contemporary Serb-Muslim conflict in terms of a long-standing enmity with "the Christ-killer" and "the race-traitor". A key event which gave expression to this idea was the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo (Vidovdan
Vidovdan
-See also:*Divinity*Daeva*Deva *Vidovdan...
) on 28 June 1989, which was held at the Gazimestan plain, near the site of the battle. Milos' feat has been cited as a source of inspiration in public speeches by political leaders, notably President Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, who referred to him in his Gazimestan speech
Gazimestan speech
The Gazimestan speech was a speech given on 28 June 1989 by Slobodan Milošević, then President of Serbia. It was the centrepiece of a day-long event to mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, which spelled the defeat of the medieval Serbian kingdom at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, as...
on the occasion of the battle anniversary.
Religious nationalist use of the Miloš/Kosovo legend culminated in attempts to encourage and justify aggression against Bosnian Muslims, notably the Bosnian genocide of the early nineties
Bosnian Genocide
The term Bosnian Genocide refers to either the genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995 or the ethnic cleansing campaign that took place throughout areas controlled by the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War....
. During the atrocities of the time, nationalists supporting the Republika Srpska cited hostile verses from The Mountain Wreath and other epics, and medals with Milos’ name were awarded to soldiers who had taken part in the genocide. Concerning the cultural extent of this religious nationalist ideology, Michael Sells
Michael Sells
Michael Anthony Sells is currently the John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.....
writes that it:
operated not only in speeches and manifestos, but in specific rituals of atrocity. Survivors of concentration camps report that during torture sessions or when they begged for water, they were made to sing Serbian religious nationalist songs, reworded to reflect the contemporary conflict.
One such song was directed at Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
, in which the first-person speaker would boast that he will slay the president just as Miloš slew the sultan.
See also
- Battle of KosovoBattle of KosovoThe 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...
- List of Serbs
- History of SerbiaHistory of SerbiaThe history of Serbia, as a country, begins with the Slavic settlements in the Balkans, established in the 6th century in territories governed by the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries, the Serbian realm evolved into a Kingdom , then an Empire , before the Ottomans annexed it in 1540...
- Lazar of SerbiaLazar of SerbiaLazar Hrebeljanović , was a medieval nobleman that emerged as the most powerful Serbian ruler after the death of the previous, childless, Emperor Uroš the Weak, which resulted in years of instability in the Serbian realm. As Stefan Lazar, he was Prince of Serbia from 1371 to 1389, ruling what is...
Primary sources
- Coluccio SalutatiColuccio SalutatiColuccio Salutati was an Italian Humanist and man of letters, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence.-Birth and Early Career:...
(chancellor of FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, died 1406), letter to King Tvrtko I of BosniaTvrtko I of BosniaStjepan Tvrtko I was a ruler of medieval Bosnia. He ruled in 1353–1366 and again in 1367–1377 as Ban and in 1377–1391 as the first Bosnian King....
(r. 1353-1391) - anonymous Florentine Chronicle, ed. L.A. Muratori, Cronica Volgare di Anonimo Fiorentino dall' anno 1385 al 1409. Rerum Italicarum Scriptores vol. 17, fasc. 152. Citta di CastelloCittà di CastelloCittà di Castello is a city and comune in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of the Umbria region of Italy. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain of the river Tiber. The city is north of Perugia and south of Cesena on the S3bis. It is connected to the A1...
, 1917. pp. 77–9. - Beltram Minianelli of SienaSienaSiena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, Life of Tamerlane (Timur)TimurTimur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until... - Constantine the PhilosopherConstantine of KostenetsConstantine of Kostenets , also known as Konstantin Kostenechki and Constantine the Philosopher , was a medieval Bulgarian writer and chronicler...
, Life of Despot Stefan LazarevićStefan LazarevicStefan Lazarević known also as Stevan the Tall was a Serbian Despot, ruler of the Serbian Despotate between 1389 and 1427. He was the son and heir to Prince Lazar, who died at the Battle of Kosovo against the Turks in 1389, and Princess Milica from the subordinate branch of the Nemanjić dynasty...
(written 1440s) - Konstantin MihailovićKonstantin MihailovicKonstantin Mihailović was a Serbian who served as a Janissary during the 15th century for the Ottoman Empire. Born in the village of Ostrovica, near Novo Brdo around 1430 , Mihailović is remembered for having kept memoirs of his service and in doing so he allowed a unique insight into life in the...
(15th century), Memoirs of a Janissary (or Turkish Chronicle) - Benedict Kuripešić, Travel memoirs (written 1530)
- Ottoman sources
- the poet Ahmedi (early 15th century), ed. A. Olesnicki, Turski izvori o Kosovskom boju., Glasnik skopskog naucnog drustva 14 (1934): 60-2.
- Uruc, historian
- Greek sources
- Laonicus Chalcocondyles (late 15th century)
- John Ducas
- Later narrations
- Mavro OrbiniMavro OrbiniMavro Orbin was a writer, ideologue and historian from the Republic of Ragusa...
, Il regno degli Slavi ("The Realm of the Slavs") (1601) - Drama Milos Obilic (1826)
- Petar II Petrović-NjegošPetar II Petrovic-NjegošPetar II Petrović-Njegoš , was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro , who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet...
, The Mountain WreathThe Mountain WreathThe Mountain Wreath is a poem and a play, a masterpiece of Montenegrin and Serbian literature, written by Montenegrin Prince-Bishop and poet Petar II Petrović-Njegoš.Njegoš wrote The Mountain Wreath during 1846 in Cetinje and published it the following year after the...
(written 1847)
- Mavro Orbini
Secondary sources
- Ivanova, Radost (1993). "The Problem of the Historical Approach in the Epic Songs of the Kosovo Cycle." Études balkaniques 4: 111-22.
- Khan, Mujeeb R. (1996) "The 'Other' in the Balkans. Historical constructions of Serbs and 'Turks'." Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 16.
- Kostic, Dragutin (1934–1935). "Milos Kopilic-Kobilic-Obilic." Revue Internationale des Etudes Balkaniques 1-2: 232-54. A study of Miloš Obilić's name.
- Mihaljcic, Rade (1989). The Battle of Kosovo. Belgrade.