Lazar of Serbia
Lazar Hrebeljanović was a medieval Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. Lazar's state, referred to by historians as Moravian Serbia, comprised the basins of the Great Morava, West Morava, and South Morava rivers. Lazar ruled Moravian Serbia from 1371 until his death in 1389. He sought to resurrect the Serbian Empire and place himself at its helm, claiming to be the direct successor of the Nemanjić dynasty, which went extinct in 1371 after ruling over Serbia for two centuries. Lazar's programme had the full support of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but the Serbian nobility did not recognize him as their supreme ruler. He is often referred to as Tsar Lazar Hrebeljanović ; however, he only held the title of prince.
Lazar was killed at the Battle of Kosovo in June 1389 while leading a Christian army assembled to confront the invading Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Murad I. The battle ended without a clear victor, with both sides enduring heavy losses. In order to protect the weakened Serbian state from the Hungarian invasion from the north, Lazar's widow, Milica, who ruled as regent for their adolescent son Stefan Lazarević, Lazar's successor, accepted Ottoman suzerainty in the summer of 1390 in exchange for a military alliance.
Lazar is venerated in the Orthodox Christian Church as a martyr and saint, and is highly regarded in Serbian history, culture and tradition. In Serbian epic poetry, he is referred to as Tsar Lazar.
Life
Lazar was born around 1329 in the Fortress of Prilepac, southeast of Novo Brdo, then an important mining town. His family were the hereditary lords of Prilepac, which together with the nearby Fortress of Prizrenac protected the mines and settlements around Novo Brdo. Lazar's father, Pribac, was a logothete in the court of Stefan Dušan, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled as the King of Serbia from 1331 to 1346 and the Serbian Emperor from 1346 to 1355. The rank of logothete was relatively modest in the hierarchy of the Serbian court. Dušan became the ruler of Serbia by dethroning his father, King Stefan Uroš III, then rewarding the petty nobles that had supported him in his rebellion, elevating them to higher positions within the feudal hierarchy. Lazar's father was among these nobles and was elevated to the position of logothete by pledging loyalty to Dušan. According to Mavro Orbin, a 16th-century Ragusan historian, Pribac and Lazar's surname was Hrebeljanović. Though Orbin did not provide a source for this claim, it has been widely accepted in historiography.Courtier
Pribac was awarded by Dušan in yet another way: his son Lazar was granted the position of stavilac at the ruler's court. The stavilac had a role in the ceremony at the royal table, though he could be entrusted with jobs that had nothing to do with court ritual. The title of stavilac ranked as the last in the hierarchy of the Serbian court. It was, nevertheless, quite prestigious as it enabled its holder to be very close to the ruler. Around 1353 Stavilac Lazar Hrebeljanović married Princess Milica Nemanjić. According to subsequent genealogies, created in the first half of the 15th century, Milica was the daughter of Prince Vratko, a great-grandson of Vukan, Grand Prince of Serbia. The latter was the son of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, which ruled Serbia from 1166 to 1371. Vukan's descendants are not mentioned in any known source that predates the 15th-century genealogies.Tsar Dušan died suddenly in 1355 at the age of about 47, and was succeeded by his 20-year-old son Stefan Uroš V. Lazar remained a stavilac at the court of the new tsar. Dušan's death was followed by the stirring of separatist activity in the Serbian Empire. Epirus and Thessaly in its southwest broke away by 1359. The same happened with Braničevo and Kučevo, the empire's north-eastern regions controlled by the Rastislalić family, who recognized the suzerainty of King Louis of Hungary. The rest of the Serbian state remained loyal to young Tsar Uroš. Even within it, however, powerful Serbian nobles were asserting more and more independence from the tsar's authority.
Uroš was weak and unable to counteract these separatist tendencies, becoming an inferior power in the state he nominally ruled. He relied on the strongest Serbian noble, Prince Vojislav Vojinović of Zahumlje. Vojislav started as a stavilac at the court of Tsar Dušan, but by 1363 he controlled a large region from Mount Rudnik in central Serbia to Konavle on the Adriatic coast, and from the upper reaches of the Drina River to northern Kosovo. The next in power to Prince Vojislav were the Balšić brothers, Stracimir, Đurađ, and Balša II. By 1363, they gained control over the region of Zeta, which coincided for the most part with present-day Montenegro.
In 1361, Prince Vojislav started a war with the Republic of Ragusa over some territories. Ragusans then asked most eminent persons in Serbia to use their influence to stop these hostilities that were harmful for both sides. In 1362 the Ragusans also applied to stavilac Lazar and presented him with three bolts of cloth. A relatively modest present as it was, it testifies that Lazar was perceived as having some influence at the court of Tsar Uroš. The peace between Prince Vojislav and Ragusa was signed in August 1362. Stavilac Lazar is mentioned as a witness in a July 1363 document by which Tsar Uroš approved an exchange of lands between Prince Vojislav and čelnik Musa. The latter man had been married to Lazar's sister, Dragana, since at least 1355. Musa's title, čelnik, was of a higher rank than stavilac.
Minor regional lord
Lazar's activities in the period between 1363 and 1371 are poorly documented in sources. Apparently, he left the court of Tsar Uroš in 1363 or 1365; he was about 35 years of age, and had not advanced beyond the rank of stavilac. Prince Vojislav, the strongest regional lord, suddenly died in September 1363. The Mrnjavčević brothers, Vukašin and Jovan Uglješa, became the most powerful nobles in the Serbian Empire. They controlled lands in the south of the Empire, primarily in Macedonia. In 1365, Tsar Uroš crowned Vukašin king, making him his co-ruler. Approximately at the same time, Jovan Uglješa was promoted to the rank of despot. A nephew of Prince Vojislav, Nikola Altomanović, gained control by 1368 of most of the territory of his late uncle; Nikola was about 20 at that time. In this period, Lazar became independent and began his career as a regional lord. It is not clear how his territory developed, but its nucleus was certainly not at his patrimony, the Fortress of Prilepac, which had been taken by Vukašin. The nucleus of Lazar's territory was somewhere in the area bordered by the Mrnjavčevićs in the south, Nikola Altomanović in the west, and the Rastislalićs in the north.The book Il Regno de gli Slavi by Mavro Orbin, published in Pesaro in 1601, describes events in which Lazar was a main protagonist. Since this account is not corroborated by other sources, some historians doubt its veracity. According to Orbin, Nikola Altomanović and Lazar persuaded Tsar Uroš to join them in their attack on the Mrnjavčević brothers. The clash between the two groups of Serbian lords took place on the Kosovo Field in 1369. Lazar withdrew from the battle soon after it began. His allies fought on, but were defeated by the Mrnjavčevićs. Altomanović barely escaped with his life, while Uroš was captured and briefly imprisoned by the brothers. There are indications that the co-rulers, Tsar Uroš and King Vukašin Mrnjavčević, went their separate ways two years prior to the alleged battle. In 1370 Lazar took from Altomanović the town of Rudnik, a rich mining centre. This could have been a consequence of Altomanović's defeat the year before. In any case, Altomanović could have quickly recovered from this defeat with the help of his powerful protector, the Kingdom of Hungary.
Prince
It is uncertain since when Lazar had borne the title of knez, which is usually translated as "prince". The earliest source that testifies to Lazar's new title is a Ragusan document in Latin, dated 22 April 1371, in which he is referred to as Comes Lazarus. Ragusans used comes as a Latin translation of the Slavic title knez. The same document relates that Lazar held Rudnik at that time. In medieval Serbia, knez was not a precisely defined term, and the title had no fixed rank in the feudal hierarchy. Its rank was high in the 12th century, but somewhat lower in the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century. During the reign of Tsar Uroš, when the central authority declined, the high prestige of the title of knez was restored. It was borne by the mightiest regional lord, Vojislav Vojinović, until his death in 1363.Rise to power
The Ottoman Turks took Gallipoli from Byzantium in 1354. This town at the south-eastern edge of the Balkan Peninsula was the first Ottoman possession in Europe. From there the Ottomans expanded further into the Balkans, and by 1370 they reached Serbian lands, specifically the territory of the Mrnjavčevićs in eastern Macedonia. An army of the Mrnjavčević brothers entered the territory controlled by the Ottomans and clashed with them in the Battle of Marica on 26 September 1371. The Ottomans annihilated the Serbian army; both King Vukašin and Despot Jovan Uglješa were killed in the battle. Vukašin's son and successor, King Marko, became the co-ruler of Tsar Uroš. In December 1371 Uroš died childless, marking the end of the Nemanjić dynasty, which had ruled Serbia for two centuries. The ruler of the Serbian state, which had in fact ceased to exist as a whole, was formally King Marko Mrnjavčević. Powerful Serbian lords, however, did not even consider recognizing him as their supreme ruler. They attacked the Mrnjavčevićs' lands in Macedonia and Kosovo. Prizren and Peć were taken by the Balšić brothers, the lords of Zeta. Prince Lazar took Priština and Novo Brdo, recovering also his patrimony, the Fortress of Prilepac. The Dragaš brothers, Jovan and Konstantin, created their own domain in eastern Macedonia. King Marko was eventually left only a relatively small area in western Macedonia centred on the town of Prilep. Jovan Uglješa's widow, Jelena, who became a nun and took the monastic name of Jefimija, lived on with Prince Lazar and his wife Milica.After the demise of the Mrnjavčević brothers, Nikola Altomanović emerged as the most powerful noble on the territory of the fragmented Serbian state. While Lazar was busy taking Priština and Novo Brdo, Nikola recovered Rudnik from him. By 1372, Prince Lazar and Tvrtko, the Ban of Bosnia, formed an alliance against Nikola. According to Ragusan sources, the Republic of Venice mediated an agreement between Nikola Altomanović and Djuradj Balšić about their joint attack on Ragusa. Nikola was to gain Pelješac and Ston, the Ragusan parts of the region of Zahumlje, which was divided between Nikola's domain, Bosnia, and Ragusa. Louis I, the King of Hungary, sternly warned Nikola and Djuradj to keep off Ragusa, which had been a Hungarian vassal since 1358. By conspiring with Venice, a Hungarian enemy, Nikola lost the protection of Hungary. Lazar, preparing for the confrontation with Nikola, promised King Louis to be his loyal vassal if the king was on his side. Prince Lazar and Ban Tvrtko attacked and defeated Nikola Altomanović in 1373. Nikola was captured in his stronghold, the town of Užice, and given in charge to Lazar's nephews, the Musić brothers, who blinded him. Lazar accepted the suzerainty of King Louis.
Ban Tvrtko annexed to his state the parts of Zahumlje which were held by Nikola, including the upper reaches of the Drina and Lim Rivers, as well as the districts of Onogošt and Gacko. Prince Lazar and his in-laws, Vuk Branković and čelnik Musa, took most of Nikola's domain. Vuk Branković, who married Lazar's daughter Mara in around 1371, acquired Sjenica and part of Kosovo. Lazar's subordinate, čelnik Musa, governed an area around Mount Kopaonik jointly with his sons Stefan and Lazar, known as the Musić brothers. Djuradj Balšić grabbed Nikola's littoral districts: Dračevica, Konavle, and Trebinje. Ban Tvrtko would take these lands in 1377. In October of that year, Tvrtko was crowned king of the Serbs, Bosnia, Maritime, and Western Areas. Although Tvrtko was a Catholic, his coronation was performed at the Serbian Monastery of Mileševa, or at some other prominent Serbian Orthodox centre in his state. King Tvrtko asserted pretensions to the Serbian throne and the heritage of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was a distant blood relative to the Nemanjićs. Hungary and Ragusa recognized Tvrtko as king, and there are no indications that Prince Lazar had any objections to the new title of his ally Kotromanić. This, on the other hand, does not mean that Lazar recognized Tvrtko as his overlord. King Tvrtko, however, had no support from the Serbian Church, the only cohesive force in the fragmented Serbian state.