Prince Lazar

Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović (Serbian Кнез Лазар Хребељановић) (around 1329 in Prilepac - St. Vitus' Day 1389 on the Kosovo Field) was a prince from 1372 up to 1389 and a commander of Serbian army during the Battle of Kosovo.

Table of contents

1 Participation in the Battle of Kosovo 2 Marriage and Progeny 2.1 Footnotes 3 Sources 4 External link

Participation in the Battle of Kosovo

After having utilized internal troubles in Byzantium and the Slavic states to extend Turkish conquests in the Balkan peninsula, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I returned to the Europe with a large force. Moving into Serbia, he marched as far as Kosovo, where he was confronted by prince Lazar's army. On the St. Vitus' Day, the June 15th 1389, the greatest of the battles of Kosovo was fought. Turkish army was three times as big as the Serbian army. The Duke of Bosnia, Vlatko Vukovic (d. 1392) also participated in this battle. According to the beliefs and epic poetry of Serbian people, participation of Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Brankovic was expected, yet never happened. If some other Serbian commanders and soldiers helped Lazar's army, the overall result of this battle, and of later Serbian history, most likely would have been a whole lot different.

Unfortuantely Lazar's forces were defeated. Lazar himself was captured on battlefield and later executed. [1]

Serbian Orthodox Church canonised Lazar as Saint Hieromartyr Lazar. He is celebrated at June 15th of the Julian calendar, which is June 28th of the Gregorian Calendar.

Marriage and Progeny

Lazar married Milica (Милица) ¹ in around 1353 and issued at least seven children (Cyrillic in parentheses):

1. Mara (Марa): died April 12 1426, married Vuk Brankovic in around 1371
2. Stefan Visoki (Стефан Високи) (around 1377 - July 19 1427, burried in Resava), prince (1389-1402) and despot (1402-1427) , married in 1405 Jelena, ћепка Френческа Гатилузија 1384-1404)
3. Vuk, prince, executed on July 6th 1410
4. Mara or Dragana, died before July 1395, married Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman in around 1386
5. Teodora, died before 1405, married Nikola II Gorjanski (who died 1433) (Nikola II Gorjanski jr. (Никола II Горјански Млађи), son of Nikola I Gorjanski (Никола I Горјански), ban of Macva since 1387, ban of Croatia since 1394, Hungarian Palatin since 1401)
6. Jelena or Jela, died March 1443, married
   1. Djuradj Stracimirovic (Ђурађ Страцимировић), one of Balsics
   2. Sandalj Hranic ² (Сандаљ Хранић) Kosace (Косаче)
7. Olivera Despina (Оливера Деспина) died after 1444, married ³ Ottoman Sultan Beyazid I in 1390

See also: List of Serbian monarchs - History of Serbia - Milos Obilic

Footnotes

¹ Milica was a daughter of Prince Vratko (кнез Вратко), who was a great-grandson of Vukan Nemanjic. Vukan himself was the eldest son of Stefan Nemanja. Milica was first mentioned in 1395 and later became monk Jevgenija (Јевгенија) and shimonk (?) Jefrosina (Јефросина). [Mrdjenović (1987), p.20, 75]

² Sandalj Hranic (around 1370-March 15 1435) was a nephew of Vlatko Vukovic, the aforementioned participant of the Battle of Kosovo. [Mrdjenović (1987), p.108]

³ Balkan noblewomen married to an Ottoman sultan during this era of Turkish invasion were chosen into the sultan's harem.

Sources

• This article is originally based on a text which has been published on freesrpska.org. Note that some of the contents of the site might be propagandistic, wrong and/or biased.
• Age, marriage and progeny information from The geneaology and coats of arms of Serbian dynasties and feudals (Родословне таблице и грбови српских династија и властеле); editors Aleksa Ivić (1928), Dusan Spasić, Aleksandar Plavestra and Dusan Mrdjenović (1987); Bata, Belgrade, ISBN 86-7685-007-0 (1928), ISBN 86-7335-050-6 (1987) (in Serbian language).
• Croats and Serbs: Chapter V - History of the Serbs in the middle ages - The Dismemberment of Dusan’s empire

External link

• Lazar's virtual grave