Decay of the Serbian Empire
Prehistory
When did the Serbs actually settle in the Balkans?
In the seventh century, the Serbs' tribal association settled in the central and western Balkan territories. It is assumed that at this time the area was sparsely populated and it was inhabited by Albanians (1).
(See more under the area: Illyrians and Dardans)
The Serbian tribes gained their territory independent of each other, and after a while, two political core areas of them emerged: Raška and Duklja.
In the 12th century, the medieval Serbian empire formed from Raška (1,5).
What was the distribution of the hierarchy between Serbs and Albanians?
At that time it did not play an important role which ethnic background the ruler or the servant had. It often happened that individual Albanian families became leaders in the Serbian empire. At the same time, the Albanian, as well as the Serbian population, formed the underclass.
Who had the most powerful dynasty in this time?
The dynasty of the Nemanjić was the most important Serbian ruling dynasty of the Middle Ages. Founded by Stefan Nemanja, the family ruled medieval Serbia from 1167 to 1371 (2).
Who built the churches and monasteries in Kosovo?
Stefan Nemanja and his sons Sava of Serbia and Stefan the First the Crowned laid the foundations for the state-building of the Church Slavonic cultural and political orientation and secured the church and state independence using wise swinging policy between Byzantium and Rome (3).
There were already early Christian basilicas and monasteries, which either were destroyed by the Serbs or were taken over more rarely.
With the new generation of Christians, Christianization prevailed in Kosovo and religion spread further. Since the 13th century, hundreds of churches and monasteries have erected in Kosovo, which is of great importance to the Serbian art and cultural history and have thus become very valuable to the Serbs.
How long did this powerful dynasty exist?
This Serbian empire consisted in its most significant expansion for two centuries, encompassing all Albanian settlements. In the middle of the 14th century, the empire extended even to a large part of the Greek mainland (4).
What about the Albanian principalities?
After the decline of the great Serbian state of Stefan Dušan (1355), immediately showed a considerable force to move the internal economic factors for the progress of the country. Thus, in the second half of the 14th century, Albanian feudal states were also established, such as:
and much more (5).
Thus the Albanian feudal states became important political factors in the inner and outer parts of the Balkans.
What ethnic groups inhabited the Kosovo area?
At this time, there were four populations in the area, which were as follows:
Serbs, Albanians, Vlachs (5,5) and the Saxon miners.
When the Czar Stefan Dušan died in 1355, he was unable to make an ordered succession and thus did not leave a stable empire.
So it was also that Dusan's successors could not hold the empire together and it fell into individual feudal units. Thus they were weakened, and the threatening danger was already on the way.
Who was involved in the battle?
In the middle of the 14th century, the Ottomans crossed the Dardanelles and advanced in the following two centuries to Central Europe.In 1372 the Ottoman army defeated the Balkan coalition army at the Marica in Thrace. After the southern Balkan territories subjected, Sultan Murad I extended another campaign against the areas in the central Balkans.The Serbian feudal lord Zar Lazar suspected this plan and tried to provide the Ottomans with an efficient counter-defense. At that time, Zar Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia and also one of the most influential rulers of Serbian regional sovereignty.
And so it happened that on 15/28 June 1389 on Kosovo Polje/Kosovo field, which at the time under the rule of Vuk Brankovic stood, a battle between Zar Lazar and his army and the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I broke-out. The military under Zar Lazar consisted of his army, a contingent fought by the Serbian leader Vuk Brancovic, a unit from Bosnia from the King Tvrtko I, which was under the leadership of Vuk Brancovic. Also, a broad band of Albanians joined Lazar´s army, together with other Albanian lord´s. (6)
What was the result of this battle?
The army commanders, Zar Lazar and Murad I, were killed in this battle and the majority of the two armies extinguished while the Serbs remained with too few men to defend their countries effectively. The Ottomans, on the other hand, had further troops in the east, so that the Serbian principalities became a loose dependency on the Ottoman Empire, their final subjugation taking place in 1459 and lasting 457 years.
Problematic conclusions, myths and instrumentalizations
After Lazar died, he developed to a mythical figure. The Serbian Church, which interpreted Lazar's death as a martyrdom for faith and his people, contributed most to this. So it was said that he sacrificed himself for the benefit of the Serbian people. It was said that he had accepted his coming death with will and pleasure so that Zar Lazar was seen as the actual victor of this battle (7).
Zar Lazar was immediately described as a saint since he now received an image of a shepherd chosen by God. Since that time the Lazar cult lives up to the present, which is also a breeding ground for aggressive ideologies.
The Serbian myth of the Battle in Kosovo Polje in 1389 was created and rose up in the 19th century after the founding of the Serbian state.
From time on, Kosovo was seen from the perspective of some Serbs and them institutions more and more as the Jerusalem of Serbia.
The most dangerous thing about such myths is that historical memory gets transformed into a collective sacrificial myth, which then becomes a general and official recollection, which also calls for bindingness: the willingness and obligation for the fatherland to go to war, to make sacrifices which serves the general welfare of the nation. If geopolitical and power interests are added, and the right levers of manipulation and instrumentalization are moved, this can have terrible consequences, such as the bloody war in Kosovo 1998-1999.
Instrumentalization and Milosevic era
Slobodan Milosevic was in full political ascension as the 600th anniversary of the battle, and its heroic event was held. Milosevic understood how to instrumentalize this event politicly. With an enormous accompaniment of the media, this commemoration became a giant spectacle.
Around 1.5 million Serbians from all over the world were present, including many Serbian Orthodox bishops.
Milosevic took the floor, making historical parallels between 1389 and the present. This speech was known as the Gazimestan speech.
In the same year, in line with Milosevic's performance and the 600th anniversary of the battle, the Serbian film Battle of Kosovo, was presented to the Serbian public. This movie based on the production of the Serbian poet Ljubomir Simovic, (thereby denying any involvement of the Albanians and not even mention them in itself in the film).
This film appeals to the pure emotionality and leaves almost all rationality and facts aside.
The film also tells the story of a Serbian Milos Obilic, who at the end of the battle gives his life for it by killing Sultan Murad I personally and surprisingly. There are no eye-witnesses from this act, only from legends, one can infer assumptions, which, however, are not a fact. Some said that Milos Obilic was a Serb, others in the legends that Obilic was an Albanian. But even in this case, any circumstances are not known, and nothing else has been handed down to us.The film shows the meeting of the Serbian tsars and army leaders by the last supper. A parallel to the Christian holy supper of Jesus and his apostles is built. Probably this been done with a deliberate intention, to appeal to the deeply rooted faith of the Serbs, and to show that this story was holy and unique, like that of Jesus, who was also called by God Sacrificial lamb for us to die to bring us salvation.
Lazar´s death and mythology
SOURCE
(1) R. Mark: Grenzmarken und Nachbarn von Makedonien in Norden und Westen. Dissartation, Göttingen 1951, S.172. / F. Papazoglu: Srednjebalkanska plemena u predrimsko doba. Sarajevo 1969, page 143-161
(1,5) Kosovo, Kosovo, Mythen,Daten, Fakten/ Wieser Verlag, page 13
(2) Stanislaus Hafner: Stefan Nemanja nach den Viten des hl. Sava und Stefans des Erstgekrönten. 1962.
(3) Stanislaus Hafner: Danilo II. und sein Schüler: Die Königsbiographien. 1976, page 13.
(4) Kosova, Mythen, Daten, Fakten/ Wieser Verlag, page 13.
(5) Selami Pulaha: Die Albaner und die Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld.
(5,5) Eugene Hammel: Sensivity Analysis of Household Structure in Medieval Serbian Censuses, in: Historical Methods 13,2/ 1980, page 105-118
(6 )Selami Pulaha: Die Albaner und die Schalcht auf dem Amselfeld/
(Encyclopædia Britannica ), Link: https://www.britannica.com/place/Serbia/Government-and-society#ref477239 /
Hopf, Chroniques, page 273
(7) Kosovo, Kosova, Mythen, Daten, Fakten, Wieser Verlag. page 34