The Battle of Kosovo, 15 June 1389
—Jason
Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/ufpearth/hwts078
The Battle of Kosovo took place on 15 June 1389 between the Kingdom of Serbia and the Ottoman Empire. This battle was a result of Ottoman forces invading southeastern Europe through the Balkans. Sultan Murad I sought to expand his European territories while at the same time, surrounding the last vestiges of the Byzantine Empire. The Serbians had been fighting to maintain their kingdom’s integrity and independence after the collapse of their empire in 1371. Though accounts are sparce in terms of details about the battle, we do know that this as a decisive and incredibly bloody conflict.
Internecine conflict had erupted after the death of the overall Serbian Emperor Stefan Uros V, also called “the Weak.” He was not as effective a ruler as his father and had no heirs and had not named a successor before his own death, causing the large Serbian Empire to disintegrate. This allowed the Ottomans to push deep into these territories. The Serbian forces that confronted Sultan Murad I were a coalition of numerous contingents commanded by Prince Lazar, the ruler of Serbian Moravia. He relied on the cooperation of fellow Christians against the Ottomans, though they were otherwise rivals. The most notable of these was Bosnian King Tvrtko I, who claimed territories adjacent to Serbia. Albanians, Greeks, Hungarians, and Bulgarians also were present in considerable numbers. His alliance did score two victories, first at the Battle of Plocnik (1386) and the second at the Battle of Bileca (1388); these forced Sultan Murad I to personally lead an army to crush the Serbs.
The Ottoman commander Sultan Murad I brought his two sons, Bayezid and Yakub Bey, to lead the wings of the army. Murad I called up volunteer ghazi fighters to supplement his personal Janissary Corps. The Janissaries were the elite slave soldiers of the Ottoman sultans and usually formed the center of the battleline; Murad had about 2,000 Janissaries serving his center infantry and bodyguard. The ghazi fighters were irregular troops who fought for religious purposes as well as personal gain through keeping a portion of the loot from campaigns. Non-Janissary infantry and cavalry formations in the Ottoman army were generally unreliable: many units broke, leaving the sultan and his bodyguard alone on the battlefield.
Murad I raised a force of between 27,000 and 30,000 soldiers as he marched north to engage the Serbians. After marching through northwestern Bulgarian and northern Macedonia in the spring of 1389, the Ottomans arrived near the small town of Pristina which lies on the Kosovo field. Upon reaching the village on 14 June, Murad found Prince Lazar and 25,000 soldiers of his coalition army. Both armies settled into an uncomfortable night in their camps while awaiting the coming battle.
Murad I commanded the center of the Ottoman line with his Janissaries. His son Bayezid commanded the right and Yakub the left wing, both sons had a combination of irregular infantry and cavalry as their forces. In opposition, Prince Lazar commanded the Serbian center with heavy cavalry and horse archers on their flanks for the frontline. Serbian and mixed infantry formed a second line for the Christian forces.
Firsthand accounts of the battle do not exist, the closest we have is the work of later chroniclers based on oral accounts of survivors. The battle erupted after Ottoman archers pelted the Serbian horse archers with arrows. Following this opening action, the Serbian heavy cavalry charged the Ottoman lines. Serbian knights slammed into the Ottoman left flank, shattering it. The Ottoman center and right wing faired better, but the Serbians had an early advantage. Bayezid was the hero of the battle as he led a vicious counterattack that destroyed much of the Serbian cavalry. By the end of the afternoon, Bayezid had secured the battlefield and ensured an Ottoman victory.
Murad I did not get to enjoy the success of his son. His death did not come as a direct result of the battle, but at the hands of a Serbian knight later identified as Milos Olibic. As the battle progressed, Olibic pretended to defect to the Ottomans and was brought to Murad. Upon this meeting, Olibic pulled out a hidden dagger and fatally stabbed the sultan before he was cut down by the vengeful Janissaries. The accounts differ on when and where Murad died, during or after the battle, but the news was not shared until after the battle was over: Bayezid was informed by the Janissaries about the fate of his father.
Bayezid and Yukub both had legitimate claim the title of sultan. This could have resulted into a bitter civil war as each had their own supporters in court. Bayezid took decisive action by sending a messenger to his brother asking him to come to his command tent. According to the sources, Yakub had not been informed of his father’s death and had no idea what his brother was planning. Yakub entered his brother’s tent where he was ambushed and strangled, assuring no civil war would be fought over rulership. Bayezid took the title of Sultan Bayezid I, the Thunderbolt. He had his father’s heart buried on Kosovo field in a specially built mosque. Bayezid ruled the Ottoman Empire until his capture by Timur in 1402 and subsequent death by suicide while in captivity in 1403.