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It may be true that the oral tradition may not make history but the Albanian tradition conserves a lot of testimony about this battle, which would not be normal hadn't the Albanians been a part of this battle. However all this oral tradition is supported by the Osman chronicles of the time, and we must not forget that the Osmans had at the time maybe the most modern state, and by the Serbian history as well. Although mostly the Serbian history has tried to change on favor of its expansionist intentions the historical sources. This oral tradition is also supported by the sources saved on different churches, bibliotheques, and archives of different states of the time.
{{copyedit}}
Normally the history of Kosova is represented as Serbian during all the time that the Serbian empire was strong. But we must not forget that the principal feature of an empire is its multicultural compound. So just the fact that during the XII-XIV centuries we have an empire in the Balkans proves that we have different populations on this region. It may be true that Kosova has been the heart of the Serbian empire during this time, but we have no reason to believe that beside the rulers even the population was Serbian. We must not forget also that the notion of “nation” is relatively a new one, become relevant during the Renaissance, which means that at the time there does not exist the nowadays tendency to show states by their ethnic composition. At the time who was under the king of Serbia was a Serbian, although he did speak another language, or had completely other customs.
:''This page is about the Battle of Kosovo of [[1389]]; for other battles, see [[Battle of Kosovo (disambiguation)]]''.
{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Battle of Kosovo
|image=[[Image:Battle on Kosovo1389.jpg|300px]]
|caption=''Battle on Kosovo'', by Adam Stefanović, ''oil'', 1870
|partof=the [[Ottoman wars in Europe]]
|date=[[June 15]], [[1389]] (Julian calendar)
|place=[[Gazimestan|Kosovo Field, Kosovo]]
|result=Decisive Ottoman [[victory]]<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046112 Battle of Kosovo, '' Encyclopedia Britannica'']</ref><ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/ko/Kosovo.html Kosovo Field, ''Columbia Encyclopedia'']</ref><ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588292/Kosovo_Battle_of.html Kosovo, Battle of, ''Encarta Encyclopedia'']</ref><ref>Historical Dictionary Of Kosova By Robert Elsie, pg.95</ref><ref>The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged By Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, pg. 125</ref><ref>Global Terrorism By James M Lutz, Brenda J Lutz, pg. 103</ref><ref>Parliaments and Politics During the Cromwellian Protectorate By David L. Smith, Patrick Little, pg. 124</ref><ref>Genocide: a critical bibliographic review By Israel W. Charny, Alan L. Berger, pg. 56</ref>
|combatant1=[[Image:Flag of the Ottoman Sultanate (1299-1453).svg|25px]] [[Ottoman Empire]]
|combatant2=[[Image:Flag of Serbia 1281.svg|20px]] [[Serbia]],<br/>[[Image:Grb kosaca.gif|25px]][[History of Bosnia and Herzegovina (958–1463)|Bosnia]]
|commander1=[[Murad I]] †,<br/> [[Bayezid I]],<br/> Yakub †
|commander2=[[Lazar Hrebeljanović]] †,<br/> [[Vuk Branković]],<br/> [[Vlatko Vuković]]
|strength1=~ 27,000-40,000<ref name=Sedlar/><ref name=Cox/><ref name=Cowley/>
|strength2=~ 12,000-30,000<ref name=Sedlar>{{cite book | last = Sedlar | first = Jean W. | title = East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 | publisher = University of Washington Press | pages=244 | quote = Nearly the entire Christian fighting force (between 12,000 and 20,000 men) had been present at Kosovo, while the Ottomans (with 27,000 to 30,000 on the battlefield) retained numerous reserves in Anatolia.}}</ref><ref name=Cox>{{cite book | last = Cox | first = John K. | title = The History of Serbia | publisher = Greenwood Press | pages=30 | quote = The Ottoman army probably numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. They faced something like 15,000 to 25,000 Eastern Orthodox soldiers.}}</ref><ref name=Cowley>{{cite book | last = Cowley | first = Robert | coauthor = Geoffrey Parker | title = The Reader's Companion to Military History | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books | pages=249 | quote=On June 28, 1389, an Ottoman army of between thirty thousand and forty thousand under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated an army of Balkan allies numbering twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand under the command of Prince Lazar of Serbia at Kosovo Polije (Blackbird's Field) in the central Balkans.}}</ref><ref name=VE9-0>{{cite book | title = [[Vojna Enciklopedija]] | publisher = Vojnoizdavački zavod | location = Belgrade | year = 1972 | language = Serbo-Croatian | pages = 659-660 | chapter = Kosovska bitka}}</ref>
|casualties1= Unknown; [[Sultan]] [[Murad I]] was assassinated by [[Miloš Obilić]] (a Serbian nobleman taken to his tent as a prisoner) after the battle.
|casualties2= Extremely high; most of the [[List of Serbs|Serbian nobility]] including [[Lazar Hrebeljanović|Tzar Lazar Hrebeljanović]] were killed during the battle.
}}


There is written proof of the Serbian population in Kosovo since the XI century, meanwhile it is grown ion number in the following centuries when Kosovo became part of the Nemanjide state, but nevertheless never overflowing the Albanian ethnic population.
The '''Battle of Kosovo''' (or ''Battle of Amselfeld''; [[Serbian language|Serbian]]: Косовски бој or Бој на Косову, ''Kosovski boj'', or ''Boj na Kosovu''; [[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Kosova Meydan Muharebesi''; see also ''[[Battle of Kosovo#Name in different languages|names in other languages]]'') was fought on [[Vidovdan|St Vitus' Day]] ([[June 15]], now celebrated on [[June 28|28]]) [[1389]] between a coalition of [[Serbs|Serb]] lords and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Although the Serbian army lost, the Battle of Kosovo is seen by many Serbs as a defining moment in the rise of the Serbian nation.
And it was in the territory of the Arber population that the Battle of Kosova was fought. (28-th of June 1389). This was the biggest struggle of the Balkans to resist the Osman expansion into their territories. And to save their lands they let aside all skirmishes, and united themselves under the Serbian Prince Lazar Hreblamoviq. The serious accomplishment, the great number of the combating armies, the results and the consequences made this battle enter into all historical annals of the time, and also gave birth to one of the most wonderful cycles of the Balkan epic.

Leading to that war were different reasons, the biggest we may assume was the Osman want to grow larger, but the occasion was given by the Serbian leader Lazar and the Albanian Prince Gjergj II Balsha.
Reliable historical accounts of the battle are scarce, however a critical comparison with historically contemporaneous battles (such as the Battle of [[Battle of Angora|Angora]] or [[Battle of Nikopolis|Nikopolis]]) enable reliable reconstruction.<ref name=VE9>{{cite book | title = [[Vojna Enciklopedija]] | publisher = Vojnoizdavački zavod | location = Belgrade | year = 1972 | language = Serbo-Croatian | pages = 659 | chapter = Kosovska bitka}}</ref>
During their Balkan campaign the turks entered Serbia and conquered Nish. In 1386 King Lazar fearing the Osman army accepted not to fight but to pay tribute to the sultan Murat, but soon after he didn't keep his promise.

When Gjergj II Balsha was seeing his territory( Shkodra, Drisht, Ulqin and Tivar) was becoming every day smaller, he accepted to enter under Turkish vasality. Balsha had married the doughter of King Lazar. And so on summer 1388 he was allied with his father-in-law and King Tvertko of Bosnia and together they won the battle of Bileqe. So “it became necessary for the Osman empire to vendicate the soldiers killed and to liquidate the intrigues of the rebels.” as reports Idris Bitlisi. And this means that the turks undertook an anti- Balkans campain, and not an anti Serbian one.
==Preparations==
So when Sultan Murat was waiting spring on Plovdiv, the Balkan lords, King Lazar Hreblanoviq of Serbia, Gjergj II Balsha of Shkodra, Vuk Brankoviq the ruler of Kosova, and many others gathered and planed the resistance.
====Army movement====
The battle was planned to take place on the Arber Lands of Kosovo, since ther was space enough for those big armies, and because it was the crocevia of the Balkans, there encontered all the roads to further enter the inner Balkans. One Osman cronist of the time tells that the Sultan with an army of 50000-60000 soldiers was prepared to fight. He had called on arms all his vassals, and help had arrived to him even from the Persians and Arabs. Meanwhile in the other side were gathered all the interested parties. The Serbs, the Albanians, the Bosnians, the Vlleh, the Checs, the Hungarians, the Polish, the French, meanwhile other sorces name only the Serbs, the Albanians and Bosnians with their other allies.
[[Image:Knezlazar.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Prince Lazar|Prince Lazar of Serbia]]]]
Leading the coalition army were on the center King Lazar, on the right Vuk Brnakoviq and on the left the Bosnian noble Vlatko Vukoviq and the Albanian Dhimitër Jonima, lord of Lezha and Kurbin. In this way we see that the albanians were placed on the right and on the left of the formations, in the way that those leaded by their leaders to the left with the Bosnians, and others to the right under Vuk Brankoviq. With these ones must have been placed even the Albanian Millosh Kopiliqi, who'd give another turn to the battle.
After the Serbs defeated the [[Ottomans]] at the [[Battle of Plocnik]], [[Murad I]], the reigning Ottoman sultan, gathered his troops in Philippoupolis ([[Plovdiv]]) in the spring of 1389, and arrived in [[Ihtiman]] after a three-day [[marching|march]]. From there, the party travelled across Velbužd ([[Kyustendil]]) and [[Kratovo, Republic of Macedonia|Kratovo]]. Though longer than the alternate route through [[Sofia]] and the [[Nišava]] valley, which would have given them direct access to Lazar's lands, the route taken led the Ottoman party to [[Kosovo]], an area significant for being [[strategy|strategically]] important, one of the most important trade [[Crossroads (culture)|crossroads]] in the [[Balkans]]. From Kosovo, Murad's party could attack either Lazar's or [[Vuk Branković|Vuk]]'s lands, or move into Italy. Having stayed in Kosovo for a time, Murad and his troops passed across [[Kumanovo]], [[Preševo]] and [[Gnjilane]] to [[Priština]], where he arrived on [[June 14]].<ref name=VE9/>
Based on the Serbian epic, Gjergj II Balsha was present with an army of 6000 thousand men, and other Albanian lords and princes were present too. To name some of them is the Despot of Berat Theodhori II Muzaka, and Gjergj Kastrioti, lord of Mat, grandfather of the Albanian national hero. It is worth notin the presence of Albanian lords from down to the lands of Himara and Epir.
{{History of Kosovo}}
The battle started the morning of 28-th of june 1389, and at the end both the leadres of the armies, Murat and Lazar, were killed. On the albanian part the illustrious dead were Theodori II Muzaka and the baron from Drenica who killed the Sultan, Milosh Kopiliqi.
While there is less information about Lazar's preparations, it can be assumed that he gathered his troops near [[Niš]], possibly on the right (north/east/south/west?) bank of [[Južna Morava]]. His party likely remained there until he learned that Murad had moved to Velbužd, whereby he also moved probably across [[Prokuplje]] to Kosovo. Lazar, with a Christian army that included Bulgarians, Bosnians, Croats, Albanians, Poles, and Hungarians, as well as Serbs met Murad’s troops at Kosovo. This was Lazar's optimal choice for the battlefield as it meant having control of all the possible routes that Murad could take.<ref name=VE9/>
After Sulatn was dead, his son Bajazit retired to Ederne to secure his post, and it gave the impression that the war was won by the coalition, seen this on the letter that Tvertko, king of Bosnia, sent to the town of Trogir on 1-st of august 1389, but the reality was in fact different. The Balkans after that battle were one after another put under the Osman empire, and they had to revive after a long time.

====Army composition====
It is not certain how large the armies were, especially as later sources tended to exaggerate their size, even into the hundreds of thousands.<ref name=VE0>{{cite book | title = [[Vojna Enciklopedija]] | publisher = Vojnoizdavački zavod | location = Belgrade | year = 1972 | language = Serbo-Croatian | pages = 660 | chapter = Kosovska bitka}}</ref>

Murad's army may have numbered 27,000-40,000.<ref name=Sedlar/><ref name=Cox/><ref name=Cowley/><ref name=VE9/> If we take the estimate of 40,000, it probably included 2,000-5,000 [[Janissary|Janissaries]],<ref>Hans-Henning Kortüm, ''Transcultural Wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century'', Akademie Verlag, 231. "But having been established under Murad I (1362-1389), essentially as a bodyguard, the Janissaries cannot have been present in large numbers at Nicopolis (there were no more than 2,000 at Kosovo in 1389)."</ref> 2,500 of Murad's cavalry guard, 6,000 [[sipahi]]s, 20,000 [[azap]]s and [[akinci]]s and 8,000 of his [[vassal]]s.<ref name=VE9/> Lazar's army might have been 12,000-30,000.<ref name=Sedlar/><ref name=Cox/><ref name=Cowley/><ref name=VE9-0/> If we take the estimate of 25,000, some 15,000 were under Lazar's command, 5,000 [[Vuk Branković|Vuk]]'s, and as many [[Vlatko Vuković|Vlatko]]'s.<ref name=VE9-0/> Of these, several thousand were [[cavalry]], but perhaps only a few hundred were clad in [[full plate armour]].<ref name=VE0/>

Both armies included some foreign troops: for example, the Serbian force included a small number of troops from the Croatian [[Ban (title)|ban]] [[Ivan Paližna]], probably as part of the [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]]n contingent, while the Turkish army was helped<!-- In the source I can't see whether he personally participated or provided troops or perhaps only helped in provisions so this covers it all --> by the Serbian noble [[Konstantin Dejanović]]. This has led some analysts to describe the armies as [[coalition]]s.<ref name=VE0/>

{{cquote|''...if all of us would now turn to salt, we couldn't even salt the Turk's lunch...''<ref>[[Kosančić Ivan]], [[Serbian epic poetry]]</ref>}}

==The battle==
[[Image:Kosovo Field.svg|thumb|left|200px|Kosovo Field with probable disposition of troops before the battle]]
====Troop disposition====
The armies met at [[Kosovo Field]]. The Ottoman army was headed by Murad, with his son Bayezid on his right, and his son Yakub on his left. Around 1,000 [[archers]] were in the front line in the wings, backed up by [[azap]] and [[akinci]]; in the front centre were [[janissary]], behind whom was Murad, surrounded by his cavalry guard; finally, the supply train at the rear was guarded by a small number of troops.<ref name=VE0/>

The Serbian army had Lazar at its center, Vuk on the right and Vlatko on the left. At the front of the Serbian army was placed the heavy cavalry and archer cavalry on the flanks, with the infantry to the rear. While parallel, the dispositions of the amries were not symmetric, as the Serbian center overlapped the Ottoman center.<ref name=VE0/>

{{cquote|''When torrent of arrows landed on Serbian armsmen<br/>who until then stood motionless like mountains of iron,<br/> they rode forward, rolling and thundering like the sea''<ref name=nesri>[[Mehmet Neşri]]</ref>}}

====Start====
[[Image:Milos_Obilic.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Miloš Obilić]]]]
The battle commenced with Ottoman archers firing at Serbian cavalry, who then made for the attack. After positioning in a "V" shaped formation, the Serbian cavalry managed to break through the Ottoman left wing, but were not as successful against the center and the right wing. <ref name=VE0/>

====Turkish counterattack====
{{Unreferencedsection|date=January 2008}}
The Serbs had the initial advantage after their first charge, which significantly damaged the Turkish wing commanded by [[Yakub Celebi]]. When the knight's charge was finished, light Ottoman cavalry and light infantry took advantage during the counter-attack and the Serbian heavy armour became a disadvantage. In the center, Serbian fighters managed to push back Ottoman forces with only [[Bayezid I|Bayezid's]] wing holding off the forces commanded by [[Vlatko Vuković]]. The Ottomans, in a counter-attack, pushed the Serbian forces back and then prevailed later in the day. [[Bayezid I]], who would become the Ottoman sultan after the battle, gained his nickname "the thunderbolt" here, after leading the decisive counter-attack. At the end of the day, Ottoman military tactics eventually won them the battle. [[Image:hatemibeyazit.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Bayezid I]], oil on canvas by [[Haydar Hatemi]] (1999)]]

====Murad's death====
{{Unreferencedsection|date=January 2008}}
Based on Turkish historical records, it is believed that Sultan Murad I was killed by [[Miloš Obilić]] who, pretending to be dead, killed Murad while he walked on the battlefield after the fighting had finished. In contrast, Serbian sources allege that he was assassinated by [[Miloš Obilić]], who went into the Turkish camp on the pretext of being a deserter and, just prior to kneeling before the Sultan, stabbed him in the stomach and killed him. Miloš Obilić was immediately killed by the Sultan's bodyguards. Murad was the only Ottoman sultan who died in battle. Murad's son, Bayezid, was immediately informed of the Sultan's death and, while the battle was still raging, called his brother Yakub and informed him that their father had some new orders for them. When Yakub arrived he was strangled to death, his demise leaving Bayezid as the sole heir to the throne.

The Sultan's tomb remains to this day, in a corner of the battlefield. While it is not in good condition, it has not been vandalized or destroyed - this despite centuries of hostilities between Turks and Serbs.

==Aftermath==
[[Image:TheKosovoMaiden.jpg|250px|thumb|right|''The Kosovo Maiden'' by [[Uroš Predić]]]]
The battle of Kosovo was a decisive victory for the Ottomans.<ref>Historical Dictionary Of Kosova By Robert Elsie, pg.95</ref><ref>The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged By Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, pg. 125</ref><ref>Global Terrorism By James M Lutz, Brenda J Lutz, pg. 103</ref><ref>Parliaments and Politics During the Cromwellian Protectorate By David L. Smith, Patrick Little, pg. 124</ref><ref>Genocide: a critical bibliographic review By Israel W. Charny, Alan L. Berger, pg. 56</ref> Nevertheless, the Ottoman army retreated and the Serbs remained in partial control of Kosovo. While losses were substantial on both sides, heavy losses suffered by Serbia resulted in its reduction to a virtual vasal state with some, but not all, Serbian nobles paying tribute and supplying soldiers to the Ottomans.

In the wake of the battle, and the death of Serbian King Lazar, who also died during the fighting, Bayezid I formed a crucial alliance with Lazar's son Stefan. Bayezid took Stefan's sister as his wife, and with the marriage Stefan became a loyal ally of Bayezid, going on to contribute significant forces to many of Bayezid's future military engagements.

The Battle of Kosovo continues to be regarded as a milestone in the formation and construction of Serbian national identity; despite it being fought between Ottoman Turks and a coalition of Christian European nations.<ref>http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588292/Kosovo_Battle_of.html</ref> The Battle of Kosovo endured as a symbol of Serbian patriotism and desire for independence for centuries under Ottoman rule. The Battle of Kosovo, and it's meaning in the Serbian national perspective, continues to be contemporarily relevant as evidenced during the [[Kosovo War]]; and Kosovo's February 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo]]. In contrast to the declaration of independence Serbs claim, partly due to the Battle of Kosovo, that Kosovo remains an important and integral part of Serbia.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.du.edu/~sward/kosovo.html Battle of Kosovo as National Narrative] by Dr. Seth Ward
* [http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/emmert.htm The Battle of Kosovo: Early Reports of Victory and Defeat] by Thomas Emmert
* [http://www.njegos.org/orthodoxy/kosovo.htm The Kosovo Legacy] by Thomas Emmert [http://www.srpska-mreza.com/bookstore/kosovo/kosovo11.htm alternate URL]
* [http://www.kosovo.net/kosbitka.html The events Surrounding the Battle of Kosovo 1389 and its cultural effect on the Serbian people] by Mark Gottfried
* [http://www.kosovo.net/sk/history/battle_of_kosovo.html The Battle of Kosovo ''Serbian Epic Poems''] edited by [[Charles Simic]] [http://www.rastko.org.yu/knjizevnost/usmena/battle_of_kosovo.html Alternate URL]

==Name in different languages==<!-- This section is linked from [[Battle of Kosovo]] -->
*[[Albanian language|Albanian]]: ''Beteja e Kosovës''
*[[Bosnian language|Bosnian]]: ''Bitka na Kosovu''
*[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]: Битка на Косово поле (''Bitka na Kosovo pole'') or Косовска битка (''Kosovska bitka'')
*[[Croatian language|Croatian]]: ''Bitka na Kosovu polju'' or ''Kosovska bitka''
*[[Czech language|Czech]]: ''Bitva na Kosově poli''
*[[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Slag op het Merelveld''
*[[Estonian language|Estonian]]:''Lahing Kosovo väljal'', ''Kosovo lahing''
*[[French language|French]]: ''Bataille de Kosovo ou du champ des Merles''
*[[German language|German]]: ''Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld''
*[[Greek language|Greek]]: Μάχη του Κοσσυφοπεδίου (''Máchē tou Kossyphopedíou'')
*[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]: ''Rigómezei csata''
*[[Italian language|Italian]]: ''Battaglia del Kosovo''
*[[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]: ''Kosovo mūšis''
*[[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]: ''Косовска Битка'' (''Kosovska Bitka'') or ''Битка на Косовско Поле'' (''Bitka na Kosovsko Pole'')
*[[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Bitwa na Kosowym Polu''
*[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: ''Batalha de Kosovo''
*[[Romanian language|Romanian]]: ''Bătălia de la Câmpia Mierlei''
*[[Russian language|Russian]]: Битва на Косовом поле (''Bitva na Kosovom pole'')
*[[Slovak language|Slovak]]: ''Bitka na Kosovom poli''
*[[Slovenian language|Slovenian]]: ''Bitka na Kosovskem polju''
*[[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''Batalla de Kosovo''
*[[Swedish language|Swedish]]: ''Slaget vid Trastfälten'' or ''Slaget vid Kosovo Polje''
*[[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Kosova Savaşı'' or ''Kosova Meydan Muharebesi''

{{Portal|Military history of the Ottoman Empire|image=Topcu_arma.jpg}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosovo 1389}}
[[Category:1389]]
[[Category:14th century conflicts]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:History of Kosovo]]
[[Category:Warfare of the Medieval era]]
[[Category:Battles involving Serbia]]

[[ar:معركة قوصوه]]
[[bs:Kosovska bitka]]
[[da:Slaget på Solsortesletten]]
[[de:Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld]]
[[es:Batalla de Kosovo]]
[[fr:Bataille de Kosovo Polje]]
[[hr:Bitka na Kosovu polju]]
[[it:Battaglia di Kosovo Polje]]
[[lv:Kosovas kauja]]
[[lt:Kosovo mūšis]]
[[hu:Rigómezei csata (1389)]]
[[nl:Slag op het Merelveld]]
[[ja:コソボの戦い]]
[[no:Slaget ved Kosovosletta]]
[[pl:Bitwa na Kosowym Polu (1389)]]
[[pt:Batalha do Kosovo]]
[[ro:Bătălia de la Kosovo Polje (1389)]]
[[ru:Битва на Косовом поле]]
[[sq:Beteja e Kosovës]]
[[simple:Battle of Kosovo]]
[[sl:Bitka na Kosovem polju]]
[[sr:Косовска битка]]
[[fi:Kosovo Poljen taistelu]]
[[sv:Slaget vid Kosovo Polje]]
[[tr:I. Kosova Savaşı]]
[[vi:Trận Kosovo]]
[[zh:科索沃战役]]

Revision as of 12:24, 24 February 2008

It may be true that the oral tradition may not make history but the Albanian tradition conserves a lot of testimony about this battle, which would not be normal hadn't the Albanians been a part of this battle. However all this oral tradition is supported by the Osman chronicles of the time, and we must not forget that the Osmans had at the time maybe the most modern state, and by the Serbian history as well. Although mostly the Serbian history has tried to change on favor of its expansionist intentions the historical sources. This oral tradition is also supported by the sources saved on different churches, bibliotheques, and archives of different states of the time. Normally the history of Kosova is represented as Serbian during all the time that the Serbian empire was strong. But we must not forget that the principal feature of an empire is its multicultural compound. So just the fact that during the XII-XIV centuries we have an empire in the Balkans proves that we have different populations on this region. It may be true that Kosova has been the heart of the Serbian empire during this time, but we have no reason to believe that beside the rulers even the population was Serbian. We must not forget also that the notion of “nation” is relatively a new one, become relevant during the Renaissance, which means that at the time there does not exist the nowadays tendency to show states by their ethnic composition. At the time who was under the king of Serbia was a Serbian, although he did speak another language, or had completely other customs.

There is written proof of the Serbian population in Kosovo since the XI century, meanwhile it is grown ion number in the following centuries when Kosovo became part of the Nemanjide state, but nevertheless never overflowing the Albanian ethnic population. And it was in the territory of the Arber population that the Battle of Kosova was fought. (28-th of June 1389). This was the biggest struggle of the Balkans to resist the Osman expansion into their territories. And to save their lands they let aside all skirmishes, and united themselves under the Serbian Prince Lazar Hreblamoviq. The serious accomplishment, the great number of the combating armies, the results and the consequences made this battle enter into all historical annals of the time, and also gave birth to one of the most wonderful cycles of the Balkan epic. Leading to that war were different reasons, the biggest we may assume was the Osman want to grow larger, but the occasion was given by the Serbian leader Lazar and the Albanian Prince Gjergj II Balsha. During their Balkan campaign the turks entered Serbia and conquered Nish. In 1386 King Lazar fearing the Osman army accepted not to fight but to pay tribute to the sultan Murat, but soon after he didn't keep his promise. When Gjergj II Balsha was seeing his territory( Shkodra, Drisht, Ulqin and Tivar) was becoming every day smaller, he accepted to enter under Turkish vasality. Balsha had married the doughter of King Lazar. And so on summer 1388 he was allied with his father-in-law and King Tvertko of Bosnia and together they won the battle of Bileqe. So “it became necessary for the Osman empire to vendicate the soldiers killed and to liquidate the intrigues of the rebels.” as reports Idris Bitlisi. And this means that the turks undertook an anti- Balkans campain, and not an anti Serbian one. So when Sultan Murat was waiting spring on Plovdiv, the Balkan lords, King Lazar Hreblanoviq of Serbia, Gjergj II Balsha of Shkodra, Vuk Brankoviq the ruler of Kosova, and many others gathered and planed the resistance. The battle was planned to take place on the Arber Lands of Kosovo, since ther was space enough for those big armies, and because it was the crocevia of the Balkans, there encontered all the roads to further enter the inner Balkans. One Osman cronist of the time tells that the Sultan with an army of 50000-60000 soldiers was prepared to fight. He had called on arms all his vassals, and help had arrived to him even from the Persians and Arabs. Meanwhile in the other side were gathered all the interested parties. The Serbs, the Albanians, the Bosnians, the Vlleh, the Checs, the Hungarians, the Polish, the French, meanwhile other sorces name only the Serbs, the Albanians and Bosnians with their other allies. Leading the coalition army were on the center King Lazar, on the right Vuk Brnakoviq and on the left the Bosnian noble Vlatko Vukoviq and the Albanian Dhimitër Jonima, lord of Lezha and Kurbin. In this way we see that the albanians were placed on the right and on the left of the formations, in the way that those leaded by their leaders to the left with the Bosnians, and others to the right under Vuk Brankoviq. With these ones must have been placed even the Albanian Millosh Kopiliqi, who'd give another turn to the battle. Based on the Serbian epic, Gjergj II Balsha was present with an army of 6000 thousand men, and other Albanian lords and princes were present too. To name some of them is the Despot of Berat Theodhori II Muzaka, and Gjergj Kastrioti, lord of Mat, grandfather of the Albanian national hero. It is worth notin the presence of Albanian lords from down to the lands of Himara and Epir. The battle started the morning of 28-th of june 1389, and at the end both the leadres of the armies, Murat and Lazar, were killed. On the albanian part the illustrious dead were Theodori II Muzaka and the baron from Drenica who killed the Sultan, Milosh Kopiliqi. After Sulatn was dead, his son Bajazit retired to Ederne to secure his post, and it gave the impression that the war was won by the coalition, seen this on the letter that Tvertko, king of Bosnia, sent to the town of Trogir on 1-st of august 1389, but the reality was in fact different. The Balkans after that battle were one after another put under the Osman empire, and they had to revive after a long time.

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