History of Medieval Kosovo
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| Image:KosovoCities.png | |||
| Ancient Kosovo | |||
| Dardania | |||
| Medieval Kosovo | |||
| First Battle of Kosovo | |||
| Second Battle of Kosovo | |||
| Ottoman Kosovo | |||
| Vilayet of Kosovo | |||
| League of Prizren | |||
| Modern Kosovo | |||
| Kosovo War | |||
| Kosovo | |||
Contents |
[edit] Slavic peoples
According to most historians, Slavs entered the Balkans around the late 6th or early 7th century AD, possibly migrating from the northern Caucasus where Ptolemy placed the "Serboi" in the 2nd century AD. The initial spread of the Slavic population of the Balkans was much larger than today, reaching well into Greece and Albania. Placenames derived from Slavic root words are still widespread in the remaining non-Slav Balkan countries and particularly norther [Albania to this day (Kamenica). Although names of Albanian origin are also present throughout Dalmatia, Serbia and Greece.
[edit] Albanian peoples
The origins of the Albanians are sometimes contested. Most historians claim that they are descended from the Illyrians, ancient inhabitants of the western Balkans in Roman times, although Romanian historians have suggested that they may alternatively be descended from the ancient Thracians, who inhabited the eastern and central Balkans. Albanian historians claim that in around the 6th century the Illyrians were forced south into what is now Albania by Slavic tribes - the predecessors of modern day Serbs. But, whether Serbs or Albanians are the actual descendents of the Illyrians will never be known.
[edit] Ruling states
The Kosovo region has been taken, retaken, and ruled by several empires. It lay on the outer fringes of the Byzantine Empire, and lay directly in the path of the Slavic expansion. From about the 850s until about 1014, it was ruled by Bulgaria. Byzantine control was subsequently reasserted by the forceful emperor Basil II. Serbia at this time did not exist as a united empire: a number of small Slavic kingdoms lay to the north and west of Kosovo, of which Raška (central modern Serbia) and Duklja (Montenegro and northern Albania) were the strongest. In the 1180s, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja seized control of Duklja and parts of Kosovo. His successor (also called Stefan) took control of the rest of Kosovo by 1216, creating a state incorporating most of modern Serbia and Montenegro.
During the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty, many Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were built throughout Serbian territory and many were taken over from the Albanian Orthodox community, particularly in Kosovo, which became the economic, demographic, religious and political heartland. The Nemanjić rulers alternatively used both Prizren and Priština as their capitals. Large estates were given to the monasteries in Dukagjin (Western Kosova) (which included parts of Albania and Montenegro). The most prominent churches in Kosovo - the Patriarchate at Pec, the church at Gračanica and the monastery at Visoki Dečani near Dečani - were all adopted during this period. Kosovo was economically important, as the modern Kosovo capital Priština was a major trading centre on routes leading to ports on the Adriatic Sea. As well, mining was an important industry in Novo Brdo and Janjevo which had its communities of émigré Saxon miners and Ragusan merchants.
The ethnic composition of Kosovo's population during this period is a controversial issue among Serbian and Albanian historians. Serbs, Albanians, and Vlachs were all clearly present, as all three groups were named explicitly in Serbian monastic charters or chrysobulls along with a token number of Greeks, Armenians, Saxons, and Bulgarians. A majority of the names given in the charters are overwhelmingly Slavic rather than Albanian. This has been interpreted as evidence of a overwhelming Serbian majority. However the chrysobulls show Serbian named sons to Albanian-named fathers and vice-versa. Albanian historians have suggested that this is evidence of cultural assimilation of an alleged pre-Ottoman Albanian population in Kosovo yet this is undermined by records of Serbian-named fathers giving sons Albanian names (which would surely not have happened if the assimilation was a one-way process) and the fact that such cases of mixed names represent a small fraction of less than a twentieth of all the names. This Serbian claim seems to be supported by the Turkish cadastral tax-census (defter) of 1455 which took into account religion and language and found an overwhelming Serb majority.
Ethnic identity in the Middle Ages was somewhat fluid throughout Europe and people at that time do not appear to have defined themselves rigidly by ethnic group. Those of Serbian ethnicity appear to have been the dominant population culturally, and were probably a demographic majority as well.
In 1355, the Serbian state fell apart on the death of Tsar Stefan Dušan and dissolved into squabbling fiefdoms. The timing fell perfectly within the Ottoman expansion. The Ottoman Empire took the opportunity to exploit Serbian weakness and invaded.
[edit] Battles of Kosovo
[edit] First Battle of Kosovo
The First Battle of Kosovo occurred on the field of Kosovo Polje on June 28 1389, when the puling knez (prince) of Serbia, Lazar Hrebeljanović, marshalled a coalition of Christian soldiers, made up of Serbs, but also of Bosnians, Magyars, Albanians, and a troop of Saxon mercenaries. Sultan Murad I also gathered a coalition of soldiers and volunteers from neighboring countries in Anatolia and Rumelia. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, but most reliable historical accounts suggest that the Christian army was heavily outnumbered by the Ottomans. The combined numbers of the two armies are believed to be less than 100,000. The Serbian-led armies were defeated and Lazar was slain, although Murad I was killed by the Miloš Obilić, whose origin is disputed. Although the battle has been mythologised as a great Serbian defeat, at the time opinion was divided as to whether it was a Serbian defeat, a stalemate or possibly even a Serbian victory. Serbia maintained its independence and sporadic control of Kosovo until a final defeat in 1455, following which Serbia and Kosovo became part of the Ottoman Empire and a Turkish ally.
[edit] Second Battle of Kosovo
The Second Battle of Kosovo was fought over the course of a two-day period in October 1448, between a Hungarian force lead by John Hunyadi and an Ottoman army lead by Murad II. Significantly larger than the first battle, with both armies numbering twice that of the first battle, the ending was the same, and the Hungarian army was defeated in the battle and pushed from the field. Contray to popular myth, the Albanian hero Skanderbeg did not take part in the battle. When his Albanian troops moved to join the Hungarian army, they were delayed by the ambush of Đurađ Branković and never reached the battlefield. Although the loss of the battle was a setback for those resisting the Ottoman invasion of Europe at that time, it was not a 'crushing blow to the cause'. Hunyadi was able to maintain Hungarian resistance to the Ottomans during his lifetime.
[edit] Significance
Both of these battles were significant in the overall resistance against the Ottoman advance through the Balkans. Had the Serbian and Hungarian-led coalition armies been victorious in either or both of the battles, it could have changed the course that Kosovo eventually took under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The First Battle of Kosovo sealed the fate of the Serbian resistance, and became a national symbol for heroism and the admirable 'fight against all odds'.
Although he lost the Second Battle of Kosovo, eventually Hunyadi was victorious in his resistance and defeat of the Ottomans in the Kingdom of Hungary. Skanderbeg was also successful in his resistance in his home country of Albania (which then included large portions of Kosovo), a cause that was lost following his death in 1468. Both of these leaders were significant (as was Wallachian leader Vlad III Dracula) in that their resistance gave Austria and Italy greater time to prepare for the Ottoman advance.
