Kosovo Myth

It is rooted in Prince Lazar’s apocryphal choice during the battle at the Kosovo Polje, where he is said to have rejected an earthly victory over the Ottoman Sultan Murad I and chose to die as a Christian martyr in favor of a “heavenly kingdom”.

In the myth, as opposed to what actually happened in reality, Vuk Branković withdrew his troops at crucial moments, thus becoming a symbol of a betrayal, while Miloš Obilić assassinated Murad I and then was executed.

In the modern narratives of the myth, defeat in battle was characterized as the downfall of the glorious medieval Serbian Kingdom and a subsequent long-lasting Ottoman occupation and slavery.

It was evoked at times of major historic events such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, World War I, creation of Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslav coup d'état.

[25][26] The sacrifice of Lazar and his knights for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven resulted in the defeat of the Serbian army by the Turks, while the Serbs were presented as the chosen people who signed a Covenant with God.

[27][18] Other famous knights who, according to legends, took part in the battle are Milan Toplica, Ivan Kosančić, Pavle Orlović, Stevo Vasojević, and the Musić brothers.

[39][40] While Lazar is portrayed as Jesus and faith, the dinner that he headed the night before the battle has the attributes of the biblical Last Supper, including the presence of his disciples and Vuk Branković, the traitor or Judas figure.

[9] Italian literature and popular poetry in Republic of Ragusa influenced educated Serbian exiles to produce the first bugarštice based on the accumulation of oral history in the late 15th century.

[65] In 1601, Ragusan chronicler Mavro Orbini published the Kingdom of the Slavs in Italian, which was important for the reconstruction and development of the myth, combining the records of historians and folk legends.

[9][66][4][49] In the following period, many stories were published by anonymous authors in Ragusa and Bay of Kotor, the most significant and most comprehensive was the Life of Prince Lazar, also known as the Tale of the Battle of Kosovo, from the beginning of the 18th century.

[70] Karadžić mostly published oral songs, with special reference to the heroic deeds of Prince Marko and the Kosovo Battle-related events, just like the singers sang without changes or additions.

[71] The folk poems about the Kosovo legend can also be found in the collections of Avram Miletić, Ivan Franjo Jukić, Franz Miklosich, Valtazar Bogišić and Grgo Martić.

[1][4] Lazar's Christian coalition also included the unit of the King of Bosnia Tvrtko I, as well as Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Frankish, and Wallachian forces.

The real Kosovo Battle was not as decisive as presented by the myth because the final downfall of medieval Serbian state happened 70 years after it, in 1459, when the Ottomans captured Smederevo.

[95] In the first half of the 19th century, plays about the characters of the Kosovo Myth have been published by Serbian authors educated in the Austrian Empire, who adopted ideas combining Enlightenment rationalism and Romantic nationalism.

[56] The poet Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Prince-Bishop of Montenegro (1830–1851), and his epic drama The Mountain Wreath (1847), which is considered as masterpiece and one of the most celebrated works in the South Slavic literature, represents a prominent example that glorifies the heroic ideals and spirit of the Kosovo Myth.

[56] During the 19th century, the Serbian government financed painters such as Đorđe Krstić and Nikola Aleksić to decorate churches and monasteries with paintings and frescoes with motifs of Kosovo martyrs.

[24][56] Many of Meštrović's works dedicated to the Kosovo legends and heroes attracted much attention and were exhibited in many European cities, including in the Grafton Galleries in London and at the Venice Biennale.

[24] In 1917, Milutin Bojić published the Poems of pain and pride, a lyrical depiction of the torture of people during the war, and deeply affected by the events he wrote: "We bravely sow our new graves... O, Lord, haven't we had enough punishment...

The martyrdom of Radisav, a character from Andrić's most famous novel The Bridge on the Drina (1945), has been described by some scholars as the reworking of Kosovo legacy and a founding myth of the Serbian nation.

[115] Although Andrićgrad, founded in Višegrad in 2014 by the two-time Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Emir Kusturica, is named after Ivo Andrić, it is believed that its purpose is to maintain the Kosovo Myth and the Serbian national consciousness.

[85] In the 1860s, the Kosovo myth was used as a theme to freedom and democracy among Serbia Liberals and Radicals, while the ruling Conservatives and the Court used it to compare the opposition with the "treacherous Vuk Branković".

[129] He introduced the traditional Montenegrin cap with the aim of strengthening the presence of the Kosovo Myth in everyday life and emphasizing the direct connection with medieval Serbia.

[131] On Vidovdan in 1914, Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian Serb member of Young Bosnia, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria which initiated the July Crisis and led to the outbreak of World War I.

[137][138] Milan Nedić and his puppet government of the German-occupied territory of Serbia also evoked the Myth, insisting that what the Yugoslav resistance movements are direct opponents of the values and legacy of Kosovo heroes.

[140] Following the SFR Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform on Vidovdan in 1948, a government minister Milovan Đilas commented that the expelling resolution "cut into the minds and hearts of all us Serbs" and noted "the coincidence in dates between ancient calamities and living threats and onslaughts".

According to David Bruce MacDonald, this style of "paranoid rhetoric" demonstrates both the perseverance and versatility of Serbian writers when faced with the reality that Serbs had not been victims of genocide in any conventional sense.

[145] The myth was used by the Milošević government and Serbian Orthodox Church to create a narrative of superior Serbdom in conflict with barbarian forces, in order to justify violent actions that were being planned at the time.

[147] Vidovdan was also a date that symbolized the rise and fall of Milošević, as he gave a speech in the presence of about а million people in 1989 to mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, and later was arrested and extradited to the ICTY on 28 June 2001 to stand trial for charges of war crimes.

[152] Pro-Serbian events along with Kossovo Day were also held in the United States, and in a speech given by American lawyer James M. Beck, references were made to Lazar and the Battle of Kosovo.