Lazar Hrebeljanović ( sr-cyr, Лазар Хребељановић; ca. 1329 – 15 June 1389) was a medieval
Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire ( sr, / , ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the ...
. Lazar's state, referred to by historians as
Moravian Serbia
Moravian Serbia (), the Principality of Moravian Serbia ( sr, Кнежевина Моравска Србија, translit=Kneževina Moravska Srbija) or the Realm of Prince Lazar are the names used in historiography for the largest and most power ...
, comprised the basins of the
Great Morava
The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia.
Etymology
According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...
,
West Morava
West Morava ( sr, Западна Морава, Zapadna Morava, ) is a river in Central Serbia, a 184 km-long headstream of the Great Morava, which it forms with the South Morava. It was known as Brongus in antiquity.
Origin
The West Mora ...
, and
South Morava
The South Morava (Macedonian and Serbian: Јужна Морава, ''Južna Morava'', ; sq, Lumi Morava) is a river in eastern Kosovo and in southern Serbia, which represents the shorter headwater of Great Morava. Today, it is 295 km long, ...
rivers. Lazar ruled Moravian Serbia from 1373 until his death in 1389. He sought to resurrect the Serbian Empire and place himself at its helm, claiming to be the direct successor of the
Nemanjić dynasty
The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal, and later imperial house produced twelve Serbian monarchs, who rul ...
, which went extinct in 1371 after ruling over Serbia for two centuries. Lazar's programme had the full support of the
Serbian Orthodox Church, but the Serbian nobility did not recognize him as their supreme ruler. He is often referred to as Tsar Lazar Hrebeljanović ( sr, Цар Лазар Хребељановић / ''Car Lazar Hrebeljanović''); however, he only held the title of
prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
( sr, link=no, кнез / ''
knez'').
Lazar was killed at the
Battle of Kosovo in June 1389 while leading a Christian army assembled to confront the invading
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, led by
Sultan Murad I
Murad I ( ota, مراد اول; tr, I. Murad, Murad-ı Hüdavendigâr (nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'', from fa, خداوندگار, translit=Khodāvandgār, lit=the devotee of God – meaning "sovereign" in this context); 29 June 1326 – 15 Jun ...
. The battle ended without a clear victor, with both sides enduring heavy losses. Lazar's widow,
Milica
Milica ( sr-Cyrl, Милица; pronounced 'Millitsa') is a feminine name popular in Balkan countries. It is a diminutive form of the given name Mila, meaning 'kind', 'dear' or 'sweet'. The name was used for a number of queens and princesses, inc ...
, who ruled as regent for their adolescent son
Stefan Lazarević, Lazar's successor, accepted Ottoman suzerainty in the summer of 1390.
Lazar is venerated in the Orthodox Christian Church as a
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
and
saint, and is highly regarded in
Serbian history,
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
and tradition. In
Serbian epic poetry
Serbian epic poetry ( sr, Српске епске народне песме, Srpske epske narodne pesme) is a form of epic poetry created by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The ...
, he is referred to as Tsar Lazar ( sr, Цар Лазар / ''Car Lazar'').
Life
![Tabla u Prilepcu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Tabla_u_Prilepcu.jpg)
Lazar was born around 1329 in the
Fortress of Prilepac,
southeast of
Novo Brdo
Novo Brdo ( sr-Cyrl, Ново Брдо), or Novobërda and Artana ( sq-definite, Novobërdë or ''Artanë''), is a municipality located in the Pristina district of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 6,729 inhabitants. T ...
, then an important mining town. His family were the hereditary lords of Prilepac, which together with the nearby
Fortress of Prizrenac protected the mines and settlements around Novo Brdo.
[Mihaljčić 1984, p. 15] Lazar's father, Pribac, was a
logothete Logothete ( el, λογοθέτης, ''logothétēs'', pl. λογοθέται, ''logothétai''; Med. la, logotheta, pl. ''logothetae''; bg, логотет; it, logoteta; ro, logofăt; sr, логотет, ''logotet'') was an administrative title ...
(chancellor) in the court of
Stefan Dušan
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gre ...
,
a member of the
Nemanjić dynasty
The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal, and later imperial house produced twelve Serbian monarchs, who rul ...
, who ruled as the King of Serbia from 1331 to 1346 and the Serbian Emperor (
tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
) from 1346 to 1355. The rank of logothete was relatively modest in the hierarchy of the Serbian court. Dušan became the ruler of Serbia by dethroning his father, King
Stefan Uroš III, then rewarding the petty nobles that had supported him in his rebellion, elevating them to higher positions within the
feudal hierarchy. Lazar's father was among these nobles and was elevated to the position of logothete by pledging loyalty to Dušan. According to
Mavro Orbin
Mavro Orbini (1563–1614) was a Ragusan chronicler, notable for his work ''The Realm of the Slavs'' (1601) which influenced Slavic ideology and historiography in the later centuries.
Life
Orbini was born in Ragusa (now Dubrovnik), the capital o ...
, a 16th-century
Ragusan historian, Pribac and Lazar's surname was Hrebeljanović. Though Orbin did not provide a source for this claim, it has been widely accepted in historiography.
[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 15–28]
Courtier
Pribac was awarded by Dušan in yet another way: his son Lazar was granted the position of ''
stavilac'' at the ruler's court. The ''stavilac'' (literally "placer") had a role in the ceremony at the royal table, though he could be entrusted with jobs that had nothing to do with court ritual. The title of ''stavilac'' ranked as the last in the hierarchy of the Serbian court. It was, nevertheless, quite prestigious as it enabled its holder to be very close to the ruler. ''Stavilac'' Lazar married Milica; according to subsequent genealogies, created in the first half of the 15th century, Milica was the daughter of
Prince Vratko, a great-grandson of
Vukan. The latter was the son of Grand Prince
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince ( Veliki Župan) of the Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška, lat. ) from 1166 to 1196. A member of the Vukanović dynasty, Nemanja founded the Nema ...
, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, which ruled Serbia from 1166 to 1371. Vukan's descendants are not mentioned in any known source that predates the 15th-century genealogies.
[
Tsar Dušan died suddenly in 1355 at the age of about 47, and was succeeded by his 20-year-old son ]Stefan Uroš V
Saint Stefan Uroš V ( sr-cyrl, Свети Стефан Урош V, ; 13362/4 December 1371), known in historiography and folk tradition as Uroš the Weak ( sr-cyr, Урош Нејаки, Uroš Nejaki), was the second Emperor (Tsar) of the Ser ...
. Lazar remained a ''stavilac'' at the court of the new tsar.[ Dušan's death was followed by the stirring of separatist activity in the ]Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire ( sr, / , ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the ...
. Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
and Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
in its southwest broke away by 1359. The same happened with Braničevo and Kučevo
Kučevo ( sr-cyr, Кучево, ; ro, Cuciovă) is a town and municipality located in the Braničevo District of the eastern Serbia. In 2011, the population of the town was 3,944, while the population of the municipality was 15,516.
History
In ...
, the empire's north-eastern regions controlled by the Rastislalić family, who recognized the suzerainty of King Louis Louis may refer to:
* Louis (coin)
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
Derived or associated terms
* Lewis ( ...
of Hungary. The rest of the Serbian state remained loyal to young Tsar Uroš. Even within it, however, powerful Serbian nobles were asserting more and more independence from the tsar's authority.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 29–52]
Uroš was weak and unable to counteract these separatist tendencies, becoming an inferior power in the state he nominally ruled. He relied on the strongest Serbian noble, Prince Vojislav Vojinović of Zahumlje
Zachlumia or Zachumlia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zahumlje, Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia ...
. Vojislav started as a ''stavilac'' at the court of Tsar Dušan, but by 1363 he controlled a large region from Mount Rudnik
Rudnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Рудник, ) is a mountain in central Serbia, near the town of Gornji Milanovac. Its highest peak ''Cvijićev vrh'', named after geologist and biologist Jovan Cvijić, has an elevation of 1,132 meters above sea l ...
in central Serbia to Konavle
Konavle () is a municipality and a small region located southeast of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
It is administratively part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and the center of the municipality is Cavtat.
Demographics
The total municipality population wa ...
on the Adriatic coast, and from the upper reaches of the Drina River to northern Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
.[ The next in power to Prince Vojislav were the Balšić brothers, Stracimir, ]Đurađ
Đurađ ( sr-Cyrl, Ђурађ, ; ) is a Serbian masculine given name, derived from the Greek ''Georgios''. It is also transliterated as Djuradj.
It is, along with the variant '' Đorđe'', the equivalent of the English '' George''. It was widespr ...
, and Balša II. By 1363, they gained control over the region of Zeta
Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; grc, ζῆτα, el, ζήτα, label= Demotic Greek, classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived f ...
, which coincided for the most part with present-day Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
.[Fine 1994, pp. 358–59]
In 1361, Prince Vojislav started a war with the Republic of Ragusa
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century
, currency = ...
over some territories. Ragusans then asked most eminent persons in Serbia to use their influence to stop these hostilities that were harmful for both sides. In 1362 the Ragusans also applied to ''stavilac'' Lazar and presented him with three bolts of cloth. A relatively modest present as it was, it testifies that Lazar was perceived as having some influence at the court of Tsar Uroš. The peace between Prince Vojislav and Ragusa was signed in August 1362. ''Stavilac'' Lazar is mentioned as a witness in a July 1363 document by which Tsar Uroš approved an exchange of lands between Prince Vojislav and ''čelnik ''Čelnik'' ( sr-cyr, челник) was a high court title in the Kingdom of Serbia, Serbian Empire and Serbian Despotate.
In its early form, the holder was entrusted with the security of property belonging to the Orthodox Church from the aristoc ...
'' Musa
Musa may refer to:
Places
* Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia
* Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon
* Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province
* Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran
*Musa, Kerman, Iran
* Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaija ...
. The latter man had been married to Lazar's sister, Dragana, since at least 1355. Musa's title, ''čelnik'' ("headman"), was of a higher rank than ''stavilac''.[
]
Minor regional lord
Lazar's activities in the period between 1363 and 1371 are poorly documented in sources.[ Apparently, he left the court of Tsar Uroš in 1363 or 1365;][ he was about 35 years of age, and had not advanced beyond the rank of ''stavilac''. Prince Vojislav, the strongest regional lord, suddenly died in September 1363. The Mrnjavčević brothers, ]Vukašin
Vukašin (Cyrillic script: Вукашин) is an old Slavic name of Serbian origin. It is composed from two words: Vuk (wolf) and sin ( son), so it means sin vuka (son of wolf). In some places in Croatia and Bosnia it can be found as a surname. ...
and Jovan Uglješa Jovan may refer to:
*Jovan (given name), a list of people with this given name
* Jovan, Mawal, a village on the western coastal region of Maharashtra, India
*Jōvan Musk
Jōvan Musk is a line of cologne for men and women. Barry Shipp developed th ...
, became the most powerful nobles in the Serbian Empire. They controlled lands in the south of the Empire, primarily in Macedonia.[ In 1365, Tsar Uroš crowned Vukašin king, making him his co-ruler. Approximately at the same time, Jovan Uglješa was promoted to the rank of despot.][Fine 1994, pp. 363–64] A nephew of Prince Vojislav, Nikola Altomanović
Nikola Altomanović ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Алтомановић; died after 1395) was a 14th-century Serbian župan of the House of Vojinović. He ruled the areas from Rudnik, over Polimlje, Podrinje, east Herzegovina with Trebinje, reachi ...
, gained control by 1368 of most of the territory of his late uncle; Nikola was about 20 at that time. In this period, Lazar became independent and began his career as a regional lord. It is not clear how his territory developed, but its nucleus was certainly not at his patrimony, the Fortress of Prilepac, which had been taken by Vukašin. The nucleus of Lazar's territory was somewhere in the area bordered by the Mrnjavčevićs in the south, Nikola Altomanović in the west, and the Rastislalićs in the north.[
The book ''Il Regno de gli Slavi he Realm of the Slavs' by Mavro Orbin, published in Pesaro in 1601, describes events in which Lazar was a main protagonist. Since this account is not corroborated by other sources, some historians doubt its veracity. According to Orbin, Nikola Altomanović and Lazar persuaded Tsar Uroš to join them in their attack on the Mrnjavčević brothers. The clash between the two groups of Serbian lords took place on the Kosovo Field in 1369. Lazar withdrew from the battle soon after it began. His allies fought on, but were defeated by the Mrnjavčevićs. Altomanović barely escaped with his life, while Uroš was captured and briefly imprisoned by the brothers.][ There are indications that the co-rulers, Tsar Uroš and King Vukašin Mrnjavčević, went their separate ways two years prior to the alleged battle.][ In 1370 Lazar took from Altomanović the town of Rudnik, a rich mining centre. This could have been a consequence of Altomanović's defeat the year before.][ In any case, Altomanović could have quickly recovered from this defeat with the help of his powerful protector, the ]Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
.[
]
Prince
It is uncertain since when Lazar had borne the title of '' knez'',[ which is usually translated as "prince".] The earliest source that testifies to Lazar's new title is a Ragusan document in Latin, dated 22 April 1371, in which he is referred to as ''Comes Lazarus''.[Jireček 1911, pp. 435–36] Ragusans used ''comes'' as a Latin translation of the Slavic title ''knez''. The same document relates that Lazar held Rudnik at that time.[ In medieval Serbia, ''knez'' was not a precisely defined term, and the title had no fixed rank in the feudal hierarchy. Its rank was high in the 12th century, but somewhat lower in the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century. During the reign of Tsar Uroš, when the central authority declined, the high prestige of the title of ''knez'' was restored. It was borne by the mightiest regional lord, Vojislav Vojinović, until his death in 1363.][
]
Rise to power
The Ottoman Turks took Gallipoli from Byzantium in 1354. This town at the south-eastern edge of the Balkan Peninsula was the first Ottoman possession in Europe. From there the Ottomans expanded further into the Balkans, and by 1370 they reached Serbian lands, specifically the territory of the Mrnjavčevićs in eastern Macedonia.[Fine 1994, pp. 377–78] An army of the Mrnjavčević brothers entered the territory controlled by the Ottomans and clashed with them in the Battle of Marica on 26 September 1371. The Ottomans annihilated the Serbian army; both King Vukašin and Despot Jovan Uglješa were killed in the battle. Vukašin's son and successor, King Marko, became the co-ruler of Tsar Uroš. In December 1371 Uroš died childless, marking the end of the Nemanjić dynasty, which had ruled Serbia for two centuries. The ruler of the Serbian state, which had in fact ceased to exist as a whole, was formally King Marko Mrnjavčević. Powerful Serbian lords, however, did not even consider recognizing him as their supreme ruler. They attacked the Mrnjavčevićs' lands in Macedonia and Kosovo. Prizren and Peć
Peja ( Indefinite Albanian form: ''Pejë'' ) or Peć ( sr-Cyrl, Пећ ) is the fourth largest city of Kosovo and seat of Peja Municipality and Peja District. It is situated in the region of Rugova on the eastern section of the Accursed Moun ...
were taken by the Balšić brothers, the lords of Zeta. Prince Lazar took Priština
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians a ...
and Novo Brdo, recovering also his patrimony, the Fortress of Prilepac. The Dragaš brothers, Jovan and Konstantin
The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name ''Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great ...
, created their own domain in eastern Macedonia. King Marko was eventually left only a relatively small area in western Macedonia centred on the town of Prilep
Prilep ( mk, Прилеп ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.
Name
The name of Prilep appear ...
.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 53–77] Jovan Uglješa's widow, Jelena, who became a nun and took the monastic name of Jefimija,[ lived on with Prince Lazar and his wife Milica.
After the demise of the Mrnjavčević brothers, Nikola Altomanović emerged as the most powerful noble on the territory of the fragmented Serbian state. While Lazar was busy taking Priština and Novo Brdo, Nikola recovered Rudnik from him.][ By 1372, Prince Lazar and Tvrtko, the Ban of Bosnia, formed an alliance against Nikola. According to Ragusan sources, the ]Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
mediated an agreement between Nikola Altomanović and Djuradj Balšić about their joint attack on Ragusa. Nikola was to gain Pelješac
Pelješac (; Chakavian: ; it, Sabbioncello) is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia. From the isthmus that begins at Ston, to the to ...
and Ston
Ston () is a settlement and a municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula.
History
Because of its geopolitical and strategic position, Ston has had a rich history since ant ...
, the Ragusan parts of the region of Zahumlje, which was divided between Nikola's domain, Bosnia, and Ragusa. Louis I, the King of Hungary, sternly warned Nikola and Djuradj to keep off Ragusa, which had been a Hungarian vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
since 1358. By conspiring with Venice, a Hungarian enemy, Nikola lost the protection of Hungary.[Mihaljčić 1985, p. 57] Lazar, preparing for the confrontation with Nikola, promised King Louis to be his loyal vassal if the king was on his side. Prince Lazar and Ban Tvrtko attacked and defeated Nikola Altomanović in 1373. Nikola was captured in his stronghold, the town of Užice
Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 59,747. The C ...
, and given in charge to Lazar's nephews, the Musić brothers, who (according to Orbin with the secret approval of Lazar) blinded him.[Mihaljčić 1985, p. 58-59] Lazar accepted the suzerainty of King Louis.[
Ban Tvrtko annexed to his state the parts of Zahumlje which were held by Nikola, including the upper reaches of the Drina and Lim Rivers, as well as the districts of Onogošt and ]Gacko
Gacko ( sr-cyrl, Гацко) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the region of East Herzegovina. As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,784 inhabitants, while the m ...
.[Fine 1994, pp. 392–93] Prince Lazar and his in-laws, Vuk Branković
Vuk Branković ( sr-cyr, Вук Бранковић, , 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, enti ...
and ''čelnik'' Musa, took most of Nikola's domain. Vuk Branković, who married Lazar's daughter Mara in around 1371, acquired Sjenica
Sjenica ( sr-cyr, Сјеница, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The population of the town, according to 2011 census, is 14,060 inhabitants, while the municipality has 26,392.
Sjenica is si ...
and part of Kosovo. Lazar's subordinate, ''čelnik'' Musa, governed an area around Mount Kopaonik jointly with his sons Stefan and Lazar, known as the Musić brothers. Djuradj Balšić grabbed Nikola's littoral districts: Dračevica, Konavle, and Trebinje
Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality located in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of Trebišnjica river in the r ...
. Ban Tvrtko would take these lands in 1377. In October of that year, Tvrtko was crowned king of the Serbs, Bosnia, Maritime, and Western Areas.[ Although Tvrtko was a Catholic, his coronation was performed at the Serbian Monastery of Mileševa,][ or at some other prominent ]Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
centre in his state. King Tvrtko asserted pretensions to the Serbian throne and the heritage of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was a distant blood relative to the Nemanjićs. Hungary and Ragusa recognized Tvrtko as king, and there are no indications that Prince Lazar had any objections to the new title of his ally Kotromanić. This, on the other hand, does not mean that Lazar recognized Tvrtko as his overlord. King Tvrtko, however, had no support from the Serbian Church, the only cohesive force in the fragmented Serbian state.[
]
Major lord in Serbia
After the demise of Nikola Altomanović, Prince Lazar emerged as the most powerful lord on the territory of the former Serbian Empire.[Fine 1994, pp. 387–89] Some local nobles resisted Lazar's authority, but they eventually submitted to the prince. That was the case with Nikola Zojić on Mount Rudnik
Rudnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Рудник, ) is a mountain in central Serbia, near the town of Gornji Milanovac. Its highest peak ''Cvijićev vrh'', named after geologist and biologist Jovan Cvijić, has an elevation of 1,132 meters above sea l ...
, and Novak Belocrkvić in the valley of the Toplica River
The Toplica ( sr-Cyrl, Топлица, ) is a river in southern Serbia. The river is 130 km long and gives its name to the region it flows through, which constitutes most of the modern Toplica District of Serbia.
Upper course
The Toplica or ...
. Lazar's large and rich domain was a refuge for Eastern Orthodox Christian monks who fled from areas threatened by the Islamic Ottomans. This brought fame to Lazar on Mount Athos, the centre of Orthodox monasticism. The Serbian Church (Serbian Patriarchate of Peć
The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć ( sr, Српска патријаршија у Пећи, ''Srpska patrijaršija u Peći'') or just Patriarchate of Peć ( sr, Пећка патријаршија, ''Pećka patrijaršija''), was an autocephalous ...
) had since 1350 been in schism with the Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
, the central authority of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity. A Serb monk from Mount Athos named Isaija, who distinguished himself as a writer and translator, encouraged Lazar to work on the reconciliation of the two patriarchates. Through efforts of Lazar and Isaija, an ecclesiastical delegation was sent to the Constantinopolitan Patriarch to negotiate the reconciliation. The delegation was successful, and in 1375 the Serbian Church was readmitted into communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.[
The last patriarch of the Serbian Church in schism, Sava IV, died in April 1375. In October of the same year, Prince Lazar and Djuradj Balšić convened a synod of the Serbian Church in Peć. Patriarch Jefrem was selected for the new head of the Church. He was a candidate of Constantinople, or a compromise selection from among the candidates of powerful nobles.][Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 78–115] Patriarch Jefrem abdicated in 1379 in favour of Spiridon, which is explained by some historians as having resulted from the influence of an undercurrent in the Church associated with Lazar. The prince and Patriarch Spiridon had an excellent cooperation.[ The Church was obliged to Lazar for his role in ending the schism with Constantinople. Lazar also granted lands to monasteries and built churches.][ His greatest legacy as a church builder is the Monastery of Ravanica completed in 1381.] Some time earlier, he built the Church of St Stephen in his capital, Kruševac
Kruševac ( sr-cyr, Крушевац, , tr, Alacahisar or Kruşevca) is a city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina river. According to the 2011 census, t ...
; the church would become known as Lazarica. After 1379, he built the Gornjak Monastery
The Gornjak Monastery ( sr, Манастир Горњак, Manastir Gornjak), also known as Ždrelo (Ждрело), is a 14th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery located in the vicinity of today's city of Petrovac na Mlavi, Serbia.
Gornjak monast ...
in Braničevo. He was one of the founders of the Romanian monasteries in Tismana
Tismana is a town in Gorj County, Oltenia, Romania. It administers ten villages: Celei, Costeni, Gornovița, Isvarna, Pocruia, Racoți, Sohodol, Topești, Vâlcele and Vânăta.
History
During the Byzantine period, Tismana was a major center of ...
and Vodiţa. He funded some construction works in two monasteries on Mount Athos, the Serbian Hilandar
The Hilandar Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Хиландар, Manastir Hilandar, , el, Μονή Χιλανδαρίου) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It wa ...
and the Russian St Panteleimon.[
]
Lazar extended his domain to the Danube in 1379, when the prince took Kučevo and Braničevo, ousting the Hungarian vassal Radič Branković Rastislalić from these regions.[Mihaljčić 1975, pp. 217] King Louis had earlier granted to Lazar the region of Mačva
Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...
, or at least a part of it, probably when the prince accepted the king's suzerainty.[ This suggests that Lazar, who was himself a vassal of Louis, had rebelled, and indeed Louis is known to have been organizing a campaign against Serbia in 1378. However, it is not known against whom Louis was intending to act. It is also possible that it was Radič Branković Rastislalić and that Lazar's attack had the approval of Louis.][
Lazar's state, known in literature as ]Moravian Serbia
Moravian Serbia (), the Principality of Moravian Serbia ( sr, Кнежевина Моравска Србија, translit=Kneževina Moravska Srbija) or the Realm of Prince Lazar are the names used in historiography for the largest and most power ...
, was larger than the domains of the other lords on the territory of the former Serbian Empire. It also had a better organized government and army. The state comprised the basins of the Great Morava
The Great Morava ( sr, Велика Морава, Velika Morava, ) is the final section of the Morava ( sr-Cyrl, Морава), a major river system in Serbia.
Etymology
According to Predrag Komatina from the Institute for Byzantine Studies ...
, West Morava
West Morava ( sr, Западна Морава, Zapadna Morava, ) is a river in Central Serbia, a 184 km-long headstream of the Great Morava, which it forms with the South Morava. It was known as Brongus in antiquity.
Origin
The West Mora ...
, and South Morava
The South Morava (Macedonian and Serbian: Јужна Морава, ''Južna Morava'', ; sq, Lumi Morava) is a river in eastern Kosovo and in southern Serbia, which represents the shorter headwater of Great Morava. Today, it is 295 km long, ...
Rivers, extending from the source of South Morava northward to the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
and Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
Rivers. Its north-western border ran along the Drina River. Besides the capital Kruševac, the state included important towns of Niš
Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...
and Užice, as well as Novo Brdo and Rudnik, the two richest mining centres of medieval Serbia. Of all the Serbian lands, Lazar's state lay furthest from Ottoman centres, and was least exposed to the ravages of Turkish raiding parties. This circumstance attracted immigrants from Turkish-threatened areas, who built new villages and hamlets in previously poorly inhabited and uncultivated areas of Moravian Serbia. There were also spiritual persons among the immigrants, which stimulated the revival of old ecclesiastical centres and the foundation of new ones in Lazar's state. The strategic position of the Morava basins contributed to Lazar's prestige and political influence in the Balkans due to the anticipated Turkish offensives.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 116–32]
In charters issued between 1379 and 1388, the prince named himself as Stefan Lazar. " Stefan" was the name borne by all Nemanjić rulers, leading the name to be regarded as a title of Serbian rulers. Tvrtko added "Stefan" to his name when he was crowned king of the Serbs and Bosnia.[ From a linguistic point of view, Lazar's charters show traits of the Kosovo-Resava dialect of the ]Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and K ...
. In the charters, Lazar referred to himself as the autocrator
''Autokrator'' or ''Autocrator'' ( grc-gre, αὐτοκράτωρ, autokrátōr, , self-ruler," "one who rules by himself," whence English "autocrat, from grc, αὐτός, autós, self, label=none + grc, κράτος, krátos, dominion, power ...
(''samodržac'' in Serbian) of all the Serbian land, or the autocrator of all the Serbs. Autocrator, "self-ruler" in Greek, was an epithet of the Byzantine emperors. The Nemanjić kings adopted it and applied it to themselves in its literal meaning to stress their independence from Byzantium, whose supreme suzerainty they nominally recognized. In the time of Prince Lazar, the Serbian state experienced the loss of some of its lands, the division of the remaining lands among regional lords, the end of the Nemanjić dynasty, and the Turkish attacks. These circumstances raised the question of a continuation of the Serbian state. Lazar's answer to this question could be read in the titles he applied to himself in his charters. Lazar's ideal was the reunification of the Serbian state under him as the direct successor of the Nemanjićs. Lazar had the full support of the Serbian Church for this political programme. However, powerful regional lords—the Balšićs in Zeta, Vuk Branković in Kosovo, King Marko, Konstantin Dragaš, and Radoslav Hlapen
Radoslav Hlapen ( sr, Радослав Хлапен; 1350–1383) was a Serbian magnate who served Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1355) and Stefan Uroš V (r. 1355–71) as '' vojvoda'' (military commander). He took part in the conques ...
in Macedonia—ruled their domains independent from Prince Lazar. Beside that, the three lords in Macedonia became Ottoman vassals after the Battle of Marica. The same happened to Byzantium and Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
.[ By 1388, Ottoman suzerainty was also accepted by Djuradj Stracimirović Balšić, the lord of Zeta.][
A Turkish raiding party, passing unobstructed through territories of Ottoman vassals, broke into Moravian Serbia in 1381. It was routed by Lazar's nobles Crep Vukoslavić and Vitomir in the ]Battle of Dubravnica
The Battle of Dubravnica was fought in the summer of 1380 or December 1381, on the Dubravnica River near Paraćin in today's central Serbia, between the Serbs, Serbian forces of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, Lazar of Serbia led by commanders Vitom ...
, fought near the town of Paraćin
Paraćin ( sr-Cyrl, Параћин, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of central Serbia. It is located in the valley of the Velika Morava river, north of Kruševac and southeast of Kragujevac. In 2011 the town had a p ...
.[ In 1386, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I himself led much larger forces that took Niš from Lazar. It is unclear whether the encounter between the armies of Lazar and Murad at Pločnik, a site southwest of Niš, happened shortly before or after the capture of Niš. Lazar rebuffed Murad at Pločnik. After the death of King Louis I in 1382, a civil war broke out in the Kingdom of Hungary. It seems that Lazar participated in the war as one of the opponents of Prince ]Sigismund of Luxemburg
Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia ('' jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his deat ...
. Lazar may have sent some troops to fight in the regions of Belgrade and Syrmia. As the Ottoman threat increased and the support for Sigismund grew in Hungary, Lazar made peace with Sigismund, who was crowned Hungarian king in March 1387. The peace was sealed, probably in 1387, with the marriage of Lazar's daughter Teodora to Nicholas II Garay, a powerful Hungarian noble who supported Sigismund.[Fine 1994, pp. 395–98] Around the same year, Lazar's daughter Jelena married Djuradj Stracimirović Balšić. About a year before, Lazar's daughter Dragana married Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, the son of Ivan Shishman
Ivan Shishman ( bg, Иван Шишман) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Tarnovo from 1371 to 3 June 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire.
In the wake of the death of Ivan Alexan ...
, Tsar of Bulgaria.[
]
Battle of Kosovo
Since the encounter at Pločnik in 1386, it was clear to Lazar that a decisive battle with the Ottomans was imminent. After he made peace with Sigismund, to avoid troubles on his northern borders, the prince secured military support from Vuk Branković and King Tvrtko.[Fine 1994, pp. 409–14] The King of the Serbs and Bosnia was also expecting a bigger Ottoman offensive since his army, commanded by Vlatko Vuković
}; died ) was a 14th-century Bosnian nobleman, Duke of Hum, Grand Duke of Bosnia ( sh, Veliki vojvoda bosanski) and one of the best military commanders of King Tvrtko I, for whom he governed Hum (part of modern-day Herzegovina), which was part of ...
, wiped out a large Turkish raiding party in the Battle of Bileća in 1388. A massive Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad, estimated at between 27,000 and 30,000 men, advanced across the territory of Konstantin Dragaš and arrived in June 1389 on the Kosovo Field near Priština
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians a ...
, on the territory of Vuk Branković. The Ottoman army was met by the forces commanded by Prince Lazar, estimated at between 12,000 and 30,000 men, which consisted of the prince's own troops, Vuk Branković's troops, and a contingent under the leadership of Vlatko Vuković sent by King Tvrtko.[ The Battle of Kosovo, the most famous battle in Serbia's medieval history,][ was fought on 15 June 1389. In the fierce fighting and mutual heavy losses, both Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad lost their lives.][
Information about the course and the outcome of the Battle of Kosovo is incomplete in the historical sources. It can be concluded that, tactically, the battle was a draw. However, the mutual heavy losses were devastating only for the Serbs, who had brought to Kosovo almost all of their fighting strength.][ Although Serbia under Prince Lazar was an economically prosperous and militarily well organized state, it could not compare to the Ottoman Empire with respect to the size of territory, population, and economic power.][ Lazar was succeeded by his eldest son Stefan Lazarević. As he was still a minor, Moravian Serbia was administered by Stefan's mother, Milica. She was attacked from the north five months after the battle by troops of the Hungarian King Sigismund. When Turkish forces, moving toward Hungary, reached the borders of Moravian Serbia in the summer of 1390, Milica accepted Ottoman suzerainty. She sent her youngest daughter, Olivera, to join the harem of Sultan Bayezid I. Vuk Branković became an Ottoman vassal in 1392. Now all the Serbian lands were under Ottoman suzerainty, except Zahumlje under King Tvrtko.][
]
Cult
Under Serbian rulers
After the Battle of Kosovo, Prince Lazar was interred in the Church of the Ascension in Priština, the capital of Vuk Branković's domain.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 155–58] After a year or two, in 1390 or 1391, Lazar's relics
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...
were transferred to the Ravanica Monastery
The Ravanica Monastery ( sr, / ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Kučaj mountains near Senje, a village in Ćuprija municipality in Central Serbia. It was built in 1375–1377 as an endowment of prince Lazar of Serbia, who is buried ...
, which the prince had built and intended as his burial place. The translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
was organized by the Serbian Church and Lazar's family. The ceremonial interment of the relics in Ravanica was attended by the highest clergy of the Serbian Church, including Patriarch Danilo III. It is most likely at this time and place that Lazar was canonized, though no account of his canonization was written. He was included among the Christian martyrs
In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at th ...
, with his feast day being celebrated on 15 June. According to writings by Patriarch Danilo and other contemporary authors, Prince Lazar was captured and beheaded by the Turks. His death could thus be likened to that of early Christian martyrs who were slain by pagans.[
]
In a medieval state with a strong link between the State and the Church, as in Moravian Serbia, a canonization was not only an ecclesiastical act. It also had a social significance. After two centuries of rule of the Nemanjić dynasty, most members of which were canonized, Lazar was the first lay person to be recognized as a saint. During his lifetime, he had achieved considerable prestige as the major lord on the territory of the former Serbian Empire. The Church saw him as the only ruler worthy and capable of succeeding the Nemanjićs and restoring their state. His death was seen as a turning point in Serbian history. The aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo was felt in Serbia almost immediately,[ although more significant in the long run was the Battle of Marica eighteen years earlier, as the defeat of the Mrnjavčević brothers in it opened up the Balkans to the Turks.]
Lazar is celebrated as a saint and martyr in ten cultic
Cult is the care (Latin: '' cultus'') owed to deities and temples, shrines, or churches. Cult is embodied in ritual and ceremony. Its present or former presence is made concrete in temples, shrines and churches, and cult images, including votiv ...
writings composed in Serbia between 1389 and 1420; nine of them could be dated closer to the former year than to the latter.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 140–43] These writings were the principal means of spreading the cult of Saint Lazar, and most of them were used in liturgy on his feast day. The ''Encomium of Prince Lazar'' by nun Jefimija is considered to have the highest literary quality of the ten texts.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 175–79] Nun Jefimija (whose secular name was Jelena) was a relative of Princess Milica,[ and the widow of Jovan Uglješa Mrnjavčević. After his death she lived on with Milica and Lazar. Jefimija embroidered her ''Encomium'' with a gilded thread on the silken shroud covering Lazar's relics. Stefan Lazarević is regarded as the author of the text carved on a marble pillar that was erected at the site of the Battle of Kosovo.][ The pillar was destroyed by the Ottomans,][ but the text is preserved in a 16th-century manuscript. Patriarch Danilo III wrote ''Narration about Prince Lazar'' around the time of the translation of Lazar's relics. It is regarded as historically the most informative of the ten writings,][ though it is a synthesis of hagiography, ]eulogy
A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as ...
, and homily. The prince is celebrated not only as a martyr, but also as a warrior. The patriarch wrote that the Battle of Kosovo ended when both sides became exhausted; both the Serbs and the Turks suffered heavy losses.[Emmert 1991, pp. 23–27] The central part of ''Narration'' is the patriarch's version of Lazar's speech to Serbian warriors before the battle:
With Lazar's death, Serbia lost its strongest regional ruler, who might have been seen as the last hope against the expanding Ottomans. This loss could have led to pessimism and a feeling of despair. The authors of the cultic writings interpreted the death of Lazar and the thousands of his warriors on the Kosovo Field as a martyrdom for the Christian faith and for Serbia. Sultan Murad and his army are described as bloodthirsty, godless, heathen beasts. Prince Lazar, by his martyrdom, remains eternally among the Serbs as the good shepherd. His cult was adjoined to the other great cults of medieval Serbia, those of the first canonized Nemanjićs—Saint Simeon (whose secular name was Nemanja) and his son Saint Sava
Saint Sava ( sr, Свети Сава, Sveti Sava, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; gr, Άγιος Σάββας; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1236), known as the Enlightener, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalou ...
. The cults contributed to the consolidation of the Serbs in a strong religious and political unit.[ Lazar was, however, in the shadow of Saint Sava and Saint Simeon.][Mihaljčić 2001, p. 184–85]
Lazar's son and successor, Stefan Lazarević, was granted the title of despot by the Byzantine Emperor, and he ceased to be an Ottoman vassal in 1402. At least during his reign, the Holy Prince Lazar was probably venerated throughout Moravian Serbia, as well as in two monasteries on Mount Athos, the Serbian Hilandar
The Hilandar Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Хиландар, Manastir Hilandar, , el, Μονή Χιλανδαρίου) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It wa ...
and the Russian St. Panteleimon, in which the prince had funded some construction works.[ During Despot Stefan's reign, only one image of Lazar is known to have been painted. It is in a fresco in the ]Ljubostinja
The Ljubostinja Monastery ( sr, / , ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery near Trstenik, Serbia. Located in the small mountain valley of the Ljubostinja river, the monastery is dedicated to the Holy Virgin.
History
The monastery was built fr ...
Monastery, built around 1405 by Princess Milica. Lazar is represented there with regal attributes, rather than saintly ones.[ His next image would not appear until 1594, when it was painted among images of numerous other personages in the ]Orahovica Monastery
The Orahovica Monastery ( sr, Манастир Ораховица, Manastir Orahovica) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the village of Duzluk of Orahovica, Croatia. It is mentioned in 1583 when it was a seat of the Požega metropolitanate an ...
in Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baran ...
(then under Ottoman rule). For his cult, more important than iconography was the cultic literature.[
Despot Stefan Lazarević suddenly died in July 1427. He was succeeded by Despot Đurađ, Vuk Branković's son and Lazar's grandson. At the beginning of his reign, Đurađ issued a charter in which he referred to Lazar as a saint. When he reissued the charter in 1445, he avoided the adjective свети "saint", in reference to Lazar, by replacing it with светопочивши "resting in holiness". The avoidance to refer to the prince as a saint can be observed in other documents and inscriptions of that period, including those authored by his daughter Jelena.
]
During Ottoman rule
The Serbian Despotate
The Serbian Despotate ( sr, / ) was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and ...
fell to the Ottomans in 1459. The veneration of the Holy Prince Lazar was reduced to a local cult, centred on the Ravanica Monastery. Its monks continued to celebrate annually his feast day. The prince had granted 148 villages and various privileges to the monastery. The Ottomans reduced its property to a couple of villages containing 127 households in all, but they exempted Ravanica from some taxes. Italian traveller Marc Antonio Pigafetta, who visited Ravanica in 1568, reported that the monastery was never damaged by the Turks, and the monks practiced freely their religion, except that they were not allowed to ring bells.
Saint Lazar was venerated at the court of Ivan the Terrible, the first Russian tsar (1547–1584),[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 196–97] whose maternal grandmother was born in the Serbian noble family of Jakšić. Lazar appears in a fresco in the Cathedral of the Archangel
The Cathedral of the Archangel (russian: Архангельский собор, Arkhangel'skiy sobor) is a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia between the Gr ...
, the burial place of Russian rulers in the Moscow Kremlin. The walls of the cathedral were painted in 1565 with frescoes showing all Russian rulers preceding Ivan the Terrible. Only four non-Russians were depicted: Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...
and three Serbs—Saints Simeon, Sava, and Lazar. The prince is also represented in the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible
The Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible (russian: Лицевой летописный свод, Litsevoy letopisny svod) is the largest compilation of historical information ever assembled in medieval Russia. It covers the period from the ...
, in its nine miniatures depicting the Battle of Kosovo.[ It is in this Russian book that Prince Lazar was for the first time referred to as a tsar. Around 1700, Count Đorđe Branković would write his ''Slavo-Serbian Chronicles'', in which he claimed that Lazar was crowned tsar. This would influence Serbian folk tradition, in which the prince is to this day known as Tsar Lazar. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, Lazar is rarely mentioned in Russian sources.][
Lazar's cult in his Ottoman-held homeland, reduced to the Ravanica Monastery, was given a boost during the office of Serbian Patriarch Paisije. In 1633 and several ensuing years, Lazar was painted in the church of the ]Patriarchal Monastery of Peć
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males a ...
and three other Serbian churches. Patriarch Paisije wrote that Serbian Tsar Dušan adopted Lazar and gave him his relative, Princess Milica, in marriage. In this way, Lazar was the legitimate successor to the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1667, the prince was painted on a wall in the Hilandar Monastery. The same painter created an icon showing Lazar together with Đorđe Kratovac, a goldsmith who was tortured and killed by the Turks and recognized as a martyr. In 1675, Prince Lazar and several Nemanjićs were represented in an icon commissioned by the brothers Gavro and Vukoje Humković, Serbian craftsmen from Sarajevo. The prince's images from this period show him more as a ruler than as a saint, except the icon with Đorđe Kratovac.
After the Great Serb Migration
During the Great Turkish War in the last decades of the 17th century, the Habsburg monarchy took some Serbian lands from the Ottomans. In 1690, a considerable proportion of the Serbian population living in these lands emigrated to the Habsburg Monarchy, as its army retreated from Serbia before the advancing Ottomans. This exodus, known as the Great Serb Migration
The Great Migrations of the Serbs ( sr, Велике сеобе Срба), also known as the Great Exoduses of the Serbs, refers mainly to two large migrations of Serbs from various territories under the rule of the Ottoman Empire to regions u ...
, was led by Arsenije III Čarnojević Arsenije ( sr-cyr, Арсеније; ) is a Serbian given name, a variant of the Greek name '' Arsenios''. Diminutives of the name include '' Arsen'', ''Arsa'' and '' Arso''. It may refer to:
* Arsenije Sremac (d. 1266), second Archbishop of the Se ...
, the patriarch of the Serbian Church. The Ravanica monks joined the northward exodus, taking Lazar's relics and the monastery's valuables with them. They settled at the town of Szentendre, near which they built a wooden church and placed the relics in it.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 214–16] They built houses for themselves around the church, and named their new settlement Ravanica. Szentendre also became a temporary see of Patriarch Arsenije III.[Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 220–25]
The Ravanica monks established contacts with Serbian monasteries in the Habsburg Monarchy, and with the Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
, from which they received help. They considerably enlarged their library and treasury during their stay at Szentendre. In this period they started to use printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
to spread the veneration of the Holy Prince: they made a woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...
representing Lazar as a cephalophore
A cephalophore (from the Greek for "head-carrier") is a saint who is generally depicted carrying their own severed head. In Christian art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading. Depicting th ...
, holding his severed head in his hand.[ In 1697, the Ravanica monks left their wooden settlement at Szentendre and moved to the dilapidated Monastery of Vrdnik-Ravanica on Mount ]Fruška Gora
Fruška gora ( sr-Cyrl, Фрушка гора; hu, Tarcal-hegység) is a mountain in Syrmia, administratively part of Serbia with a part of its western side extending into eastern Croatia. The area under Serbian administration forms the country ...
in the region of Syrmia. They renovated it and placed Lazar's relics in its church, after which this monastery became the centre of Lazar's cult. It soon came to be more frequently referred to as Ravanica than Vrdnik. By the mid-18th century, a general belief arose that the monastery was founded by Prince Lazar himself.[ Its church became too small to accommodate all the devotees who assembled there on holidays.][Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 226–29]
The Treaty of Passarowitz
The Treaty of Passarowitz, or Treaty of Požarevac, was the peace treaty signed in Požarevac ( sr-cyr, Пожаревац, german: Passarowitz), a town that was in the Ottoman Empire but is now in Serbia, on 21 July 1718 between the Ottoman ...
, by which Serbia north of the West Morava was ceded from the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburg Monarchy, was signed on 21 July 1718. At that time, only one of the original Ravanica monks who had left their monastery 28 years ago, was still alive. His name was Stefan. Shortly before the treaty was signed, Stefan returned to Ravanica and renovated the monastery, which had been half-ruined and overgrown with vegetation when he came. In 1733, there were only five monks in Ravanica. Serbia was returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1739, but the monastery was not completely abandoned this time.[
After the Great Serb Migration, the highest clergy of the Serbian Church actively popularized the cults of canonized Serbian rulers. Arsenije IV Šakabenta, ]Metropolitan of Karlovci
The Metropolitanate of Karlovci ( sr, Карловачка митрополија, Karlovačka mitropolija) was a metropolitanate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed in the Habsburg monarchy between 1708 and 1848. Between 1708 and 1713 ...
, employed in 1741 the engravers Hristofor Žefarović
Hristofor Žefarović ( bg, Христофор Жефарович, sr-cyr, Христофор Жефаровић, ''Hristofor Zhefarovich'') was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of early pan-South Slavis ...
and Toma Mesmer to create a poster titled "Saint Sava with Serbian Saints of the House of Nemanja", where Lazar was also depicted. Its purpose was not only religious, as it should also remind people of the independent Serbian state before the Ottoman conquest, and of Prince Lazar's fight against the Ottomans. The poster was presented at the Habsburg court. The same engravers produced a book titled ''Stemmatographia'', published in Vienna in 1741. Part of it included copperplates of 29 rulers and saints, among whom were two cephalophores, Jovan Vladimir
Jovan Vladimir or John Vladimir ( sr-cyr, Јован Владимир; c. 990 – 22 May 1016) was the ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war between t ...
and Lazar. ''Stemmatographia'' was very popular among the Serbs, stirring patriotic feelings in them. The Holy Prince would often be represented as a cephalophore in subsequent works, created in various artistic techniques.[ An isolated case among the images of Lazar is a 1773 copperplate by ]Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin ( sr-Cyrl, Захаријe Орфелин; 1726 – 19 January 1785) was a Serbs, Serbian polymath who lived and worked in the Austrian Monarchy and Republic of Venice, Venice.
Works
*''Pesan novosadelanuje za gradjanku go ...
, in which the prince has a parading appearance, without saintly attributes except a halo.
Lazar's relics remained in the Monastery of Vrdnik-Ravanica until 1941. Shortly before Nazi Germany attacked and overran Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, the relics were taken to the Bešenovo Monastery
The Bešenovo Monastery ( sr, Манастир Бешеново, Manastir Bešenovo, ) was a Serb Orthodox monastery on the Fruška Gora mountain in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. It was located by the Čikoš stream, in the area of ...
, also on Mount Fruška Gora. Syrmia became part of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, controlled by the fascist Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionary Move ...
movement, which conducted large-scale genocide campaigns against the Serbs. The Archimandrite
The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") wh ...
of Vrdnik, Longin, who escaped to Belgrade in 1941, reported that Serbian sacred objects on Fruška Gora were in danger of total destruction. He proposed that they be taken to Belgrade, which was accepted by the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church. On 14 April 1942, after the German occupation authorities gave their permission, the reliquary with Lazar's relics was transported from Bešenovo to the Belgrade Cathedral Church and ceremonially laid in front of the iconostasis in the church. In 1954, the Synod decided that the relics should be returned the Ravanica Monastery, which was accomplished in 1989—on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo.
Tradition
In Serbian epic tradition, Lazar is said to have been visited the night before battle by a grey hawk
The gray hawk (''Buteo plagiatus'') or Mexican goshawk is a smallish raptor found in open country and forest edges. It is sometimes placed in the genus ''Asturina'' as ''Asturina plagiata''. The species was split by the American Ornithological S ...
or falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
from Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
who offered a choice between an earthly kingdom—implying victory at the Battle of Kosovo—or a heavenly kingdom—which would come as the result of a peaceful capitulation or bloody defeat.
::''"...the Prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...
then appeared as a gray falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
to Lazar, bearing a letter from the Mother of God
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations ar ...
that told him the choice was between holding an earthly kingdom and entering the kingdom of heaven..."''
According to the epics, Lazar opted for the eternal, heavenly kingdom and consequently perished on the battlefield. "We die with Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, to live forever", he told his soldiers. That Kosovo's declaration and testament is regarded as a covenant which the Serb people made with God and sealed with the blood of martyrs. Since then all Serbs faithful to that Testament regard themselves as the people of God, Christ's New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
nation, heavenly Serbia, part of God's New Israel. This is why Serbs sometimes refer to themselves as the ''people of Heaven''.
Jefimija, the former wife of Uglješa Mrnjavčević
Jovan Uglješa Mrnjavčević ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Угљеша Мрњавчевић; fl. 1346–1371), known as Jovan Uglješa ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Угљеша), was a Serbian medieval nobleman of the Mrnjavčević family and one of the m ...
and later a nun in the Ljubostinja monastery, embroidered the ''Praise to Prince Lazar'', one of the most significant works of medieval Serbian literature. The Serbian Orthodox Church canonised Lazar as Saint Lazar. He is celebrated on (Vidovdan
Vidovdan ( sr-cyr, Видовдан, lit. "Saint Vitus Day") is a Serbian national and religious holiday, a ''slava'' (feast day) celebrated on 28 June (Gregorian calendar), or 15 June according to the Julian calendar. The Serbian Church desi ...
). Several towns and villages (like Lazarevac
Lazarevac ( sr-cyr, Лазаревац, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. , the town has a total population of 25,526 inhabitants, while the municipal area has a total of 58,622 inhabitants.
Its name stems from the name of medieval Ser ...
), small Serbian Orthodox churches and missions throughout the world are named after him. His alleged remains are kept in Ravanica Monastery
The Ravanica Monastery ( sr, / ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Kučaj mountains near Senje, a village in Ćuprija municipality in Central Serbia. It was built in 1375–1377 as an endowment of prince Lazar of Serbia, who is buried ...
.
Titles
It is uncertain since when Lazar had borne the title of '' knez'', which is usually translated as "prince" or "duke". The earliest source that testifies to Lazar's new title is a Ragusan document in Latin, dated 22 April 1371, in which he is referred to as ''Comes Lazarus''.[Jireček 1911, pp. 435–36] Ragusans used ''comes'' as a Latin translation of the Slavic title ''knez''. The same document relates that Lazar held Rudnik at that time. In medieval Serbia, ''knez'' was not a precisely defined term, and the title had no fixed rank in the feudal hierarchy. Its rank was high in the 12th century, but somewhat lower in the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century. During the reign of Tsar Uroš, when the central authority declined, the high prestige of the title of ''knez'' was restored. It was borne by the mightiest regional lord, Vojislav Vojinović, until his death in 1363.
In the period between 1374 and 1379 the Serbian Church recognized Lazar as the "Lord of Serbs and Podunavlje
Podunavlje ( sr-Cyrl, Подунавље) is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Serbia (Vojvodina, Belgrade and Eastern Serbia) and Croatia (Slavonia, Syrmia, and Baranya). Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannoni ...
" (господар Срба и Подунавља). In 1381, he is signed as "''knez'' Lazar, of Serbs and Podunavlje
Podunavlje ( sr-Cyrl, Подунавље) is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Serbia (Vojvodina, Belgrade and Eastern Serbia) and Croatia (Slavonia, Syrmia, and Baranya). Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannoni ...
" (). In an inscription from Ljubostinja dated to 1389, he is mentioned as "''knez'' Lazar, of all Serbs and Podunavlje provinces" (). In Hungary, he was known as the "Prince of the Kingdom of Rascia".
In charters issued between 1379 and 1388, he named himself as Stefan Lazar. " Stefan" was the name borne by all Nemanjić rulers, leading the name to be regarded as a title of Serbian rulers. Tvrtko added "Stefan" to his name when he was crowned king of the Serbs and Bosnia. In the charters, Lazar referred to himself as the autocrator
''Autokrator'' or ''Autocrator'' ( grc-gre, αὐτοκράτωρ, autokrátōr, , self-ruler," "one who rules by himself," whence English "autocrat, from grc, αὐτός, autós, self, label=none + grc, κράτος, krátos, dominion, power ...
(''samodržac'' in Serbian) of "All Serbian Lands" (), or the autocrator of "All the Serbs" (). Autocrator, "self-ruler" in Greek, was an epithet of the Byzantine emperors. The Nemanjić kings adopted it and applied it to themselves in its literal meaning to stress their independence from Byzantium, whose supreme suzerainty they nominally recognized.
Issue
Lazar and Milica had at least seven children:
#Mara (died 12 April 1426), married Vuk Branković
Vuk Branković ( sr-cyr, Вук Бранковић, , 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, enti ...
in around 1371
# Dragana (died before July 1395), married Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Shishman
Ivan Shishman ( bg, Иван Шишман) ruled as emperor (tsar) of Bulgaria in Tarnovo from 1371 to 3 June 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire.
In the wake of the death of Ivan Alexan ...
, in around 1386
#Teodora (died before 1405), married Hungarian noble Nicholas II Garay in around 1387
# Jelena (died March 1443) married firstly Zetan lord Đurađ II Balšić
Đurađ Stracimirović ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Страцимировић; 1385 – April 1403), or Đurađ II, was the Lord of Zeta from 1385 to 1403, as a member of the Balšić noble family. He was the son of Stracimir Balšić, and succe ...
, secondly Bosnian magnate Sandalj Hranić
# Olivera (1372–after 1444), married Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I
Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...
in 1390
# Stefan Lazarević (ca. 1377–19 July 1427), prince (1389–1402) and despot (1402–1427)
#Vuk Lazarević
Vuk Lazarević ( sr, Вук Лазаревић) (c. 1380 – 6 July 1410) was a Serbian Prince and the younger son of Prince Lazar of Serbia and Princess Milica Nemanjić. He was executed on 6 July 1410.
He was born sometime around 1380. His old ...
, prince, executed on 6 July 1410
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Serbian Epic Poetry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazar
1329 births
1389 deaths
14th-century Serbian monarchs
14th-century Serbian nobility
14th-century Christian saints
People of the Serbian Empire
Lazarević dynasty
People from Novo Brdo
Kosovo Serbs
Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
Monarchs killed in action
Serbian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Characters in Serbian epic poetry
Medieval Serbian magnates
Medieval Serbian military leaders
Burials at Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches
Eastern Orthodox royal saints
Christian monarchs