THE BATTLE OF KOSOVO AGAINST TURKISH INVADERS

BIJELJINA, JUNE 27 /SRNA/ - On June 28, 1389, a decisive battle took place between the Serbian and Turkish armies on the Kosovo field, marking the beginning of the end of the independent Serbian state and opening the gates for further Turkish advances into Europe.

Sparse historical records do not reveal the course of the battle, not even who won.

It is assumed that the Turkish Sultan Murad I, who arrived in Kosovo with his sons Bayezid and Yakub, led an army of 40,000 soldiers, while Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović gathered 25,000 fighters.

The Serb King of Bosnia, Tvrtko I Kotromanić, who came to Prince Lazar's aid with a detachment under the command of Grand Duke Vlatko Vuković, facing the Turkish onslaught after becoming a vassal to the Byzantine and Bulgarian emperors. wrote to the people of Trogir on August 1, 1389, about a "victory over the Turks".

A similar letter was sent to Florence, from where a reply came saying they were already aware of the Turkish defeat.

Evidence of Serbs' victory is also indirectly suggested by the diary of Russian Metropolitan Pimen during his journey to Constantinople, which mentions major unrest in Turkey 12 days after the Battle of Kosovo.

Both rulers were killed in the battle - Prince Lazar was captured and executed by the Turks, while Sultan Murad I, according to one version, was killed by the Serbian warrior Miloš Obilić, who fought his way through the Turkish army.

The Battle of Kosovo became the subject of legend - first with the Bulgarian writer Constantine the Philosopher in The Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević, then with Dubrovnik historian Mavro Orbini in Il Regno degli Slavi /The Kingdom of the Slavs/, and most notably in the cycle of magnificent Serb epic folk poems.