Battle of Kosovo: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Estimates about army size vary, but the Ottoman army was larger. It is likely that the army led by Lazar had 12,000/15,000 to 20,000 troops against 27,000–30,000 led by Murad.<ref name="Humphreys46">{{harvnb|Humphreys|2013|p=46|ps=:But what can be said with some certainly is that on Vidovdan 1389 the Serbian Tzar Lazar with an army estimated at 15,000–20,000 troops faced an Ottoman army of 27,000–30,000, led by Sultan Murad on Kosovo Polje (Field of the Blackbirds) near Pristina. Let there be no doubt that these were large armies; the famous Battle of Agincourt – fought some three decades later in 1415 – was contested by forces whose numbers are estimated at 6,000–9,000 on one side and 12,000–30,000 (much the biggest estimate) on the other.}}</ref><ref name="Sedlar30">{{harvnb|Sedlar|2013|p=244|ps=:Nearly the entire Serbian 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> A higher estimate places the size of Murad's army up to 40,000 and Lazar's up to 25,000 troops.<ref name="Cox30">{{harvnb|Cox|2002|p=30|ps=:The Ottoman army probably numbered between 30,000 and 40,000. They faced something like 15,000 to 25,000 Eastern Orthodox soldiers. [...] Accounts from the period after the battle depict the engagement at Kosovo as anything from a draw to a Christian victory.}}</ref> Ottoman historian [[Mehmed Neşri]] who authored the first detailed report in Ottoman historiography about the battle of Kosovo in 1521 represents the Ottoman imperial narrative. As an Ottoman Sultan died before or during the battle, the size of the Christian army is presented as significantly larger in Ottoman sources. Neşri placed it at around 500,000, double the size of the Ottoman army.{{sfn|Emmert|1991|p=11}} According to historian [[Noel Malcolm]], Ottoman writers were most likely eager to build up the size and significance of Lazar's army, which they described as vastly outnumbering Murat's, in order to add to the glory of the "Turkish victory". Moreover, Malcolm claims that the Ottoman sources lack reliability.{{sfn|Malcolm|1998|p=62}} Regardless of the exact army size, the battle of Kosovo was one of the largest battles of late medieval times. In comparison, in the [[battle of Agincourt]] (1415) even by assuming the higher estimate of army size as correct, around 10,000 less soldiers were engaged.<ref name="Humphreys46"/> The Ottoman army was supported by auxiliary troops from the [[Anatolia]]n [[Turkmen people|Turkoman]] [[Isfendiyarids|Beylik of Isfendiyar]],<ref name="KarpatZens2003">{{cite book|last1=Karpat|first1=Kemal H.|author-link1=Kemal H. Karpat|last2=Zens|first2=Robert W.|title=Ottoman Borderlands: Issues, Personalities, and Political Changes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNMlAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Center of Turkish Studies, University of Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-299-20024-4|page=35|quote=Troops of his emirate seconded Murad I in the battle of Kosovo Polje (1389), as indicated in the "Book of Victory" (Fatih-name) issued by Bayezid the Thunderbolt.}}</ref> and comprised no more than 2,000 [[Janissary|Janissaries]],.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hans-Henning Kortüm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bdmAAAAMAAJ |title=Transcultural wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st century |publisher=Akademie |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-05-004131-5 |page=231 |quote=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>

Lazar's main forces included the Serbian contingent from his principality, troops of [[Vuk Branković]] his son in law and Bosnian forces under [[Vlatko Vuković]], sent by Lazar's ally [[Tvrtko I of Bosnia|King Tvrtko]] of Bosnia.<ref name="Emmert3a">{{harvnb|Emmert|1991|p=3|ps=:Given the divisiveness among Serbian lords which generally characterized the decades following Dusan's death, the fact that Lazar, Vuk, and Tvrtko were able to conclude an alliance against the Turks was reason for at least some optimism.}}</ref> Lazar's Christian coalition also included Albanians, Croatians, Hungarians and Bulgarians.<ref name="Somel 2010 p. 36">{{cite book |last=Somel |first=S.A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UU8iCY0OZmcC&pg=PA36 |title=The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4617-3176-4 |series=The A to Z Guide Series |page=36}}</ref><ref name="Cox29a">{{harvnb|Cox|2002|p=29|ts:=But there were also certainly Bosnians and Albanians, who were Christian at the time, among the Christian fighters}}</ref><ref name="Humphreys46a2" /> [[Teodor II Muzaka]], [[Dhimitër Jonima]] and other Albanian lords and aristocrats participated in the battle on the side of the Christian coalition, bringing a large band of Albanians to join Lazar's army.{{sfn | Malcolm | 1998 | p=63}}<ref name="Vickers">{{cite news |last1=Vickers |first1=Miranda |title=Between Serb and Albanian: A History of Kosovo |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/vickers-serb.html |work=[[The New York Times]] Archives |quote=But in spite of this a large coalition army led by Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Bosnian and Albanian nobles gathered on the wide plain of Kosovo to confront the Ottoman army. Albanian princes were at that time close allies of the Serbs, the result of their shared desire to oppose the Ottomans. In many districts the Slavonic and Albanian elements existed side-by-side, and numerous examples are known of close economic and political ties between Serbs and Albanians during the medieval period.}}</ref><ref name="a">Serge Métais, ''Histoire des Albanais'', [[Librairie Arthème Fayard|Fayard]], 2006.</ref><ref name="Musachi">{{cite web |url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |title=1515 {{pipe}} John Musachi: Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty |publisher=Albanianhistory.net |quote=Lazar (6), the Despot of Serbia, and King Marko of Bulgaria and Theodore Musachi, the second-born of our family, and the other Lords of Albania united and set off for battle, which the Christians lost (7). |access-date=2012-02-13 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910095427/http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts16-18/AH1515.html |archive-date=2010-09-10 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Xhufi |first=Pëllumb |date=2011 |title=La Macédoine Occidentale dans l'histoire des Albanais du VIIe au XVe siècle |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=276164 |journal=Studia Albanica |language=French |issue=2 |pages=3–21 |issn=0585-5047 |quote=Cette faiblesse a été cependant passagère, car au XIVe siècle, on mentionne de nouveau comme maître de cette aire Andrea Gropa, qui a participé en 1389 à la bataille de la Plaine du Kosovo, aux côtés de Théodore Muzaka.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Veremes |first1=Thanos |last2=Kophos |first2=Euangelos |title=Kosovo: avoiding another Balkan war |date=1998 |publisher=Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign policy |location=Athens |isbn=9789607061409 |page=418 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bX9pAAAAMAAJ&q=Kosovo:%20Avoiding%20Another%20Balkan%20War |quote= ... is a historical fact that they were on the Serbian side against the Ottoman Empire in that cataclysmic battle of 1389 ( under Albanian counts Balsha and Jonima)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Elsie |first1=Robert |title=Historical dictionary of Kosova |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0-8108-5309-6 |page=156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fnbw1wsacSAC |quote=... Vlach contingents of Voyvode Mircea, the troops of Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Brankovic and Albanian forces under George Balsha and Demeter Jonima.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Petritsch |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Kaser |first2=Karl |last3=Pichler |first3=Robert |title=Kosovo - Kosova: Mythen, Daten, Fakten |date=1999 |publisher=Wieser |location=Klagenfurt |isbn=9783851293043 |pages=32–33 |edition=2. Aufl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn5pAAAAMAAJ&q=Kosovo:%20Mythen,%20Daten,%20Fakten. |quote=... geantwortet haben und sich mit einer Armee von 6.000 Mann nach Kosova aufgemacht haben soll. An der Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld nahmen auch andere mäch- tige albanische Fürsten teil : Demeter Jonima , dessen Reich sich über die..}}</ref> Of those Albanian lords, Teodor II Muzaka died during the battle, alongside a number of fellow Albanians.<ref name="Petta123">{{harvnb|Petta|2000|p=123|ps=:Giovanni Musacchi esule in Italia, provano la contemporanea presenza di rami cristiani e musulmanio; e accadde anzi che i figli di un Teodoro Musacchi, caduto nel 1389 sul campo di battaglia di Kosovo, dove aveva combattuto a fianco dei serbi, divenissero musulmani, e che uno di loro, già sangiacco di Albania, cadesse nel 1442 combattendo contro gli ungheresi.}}</ref><ref name="Muhadri">{{Cite journal|last=Muhadri|first=Bedrı|date=2021-03-29|title=The Battle of Kosovo 1389 and the Albanians|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1645262|journal=Tarih ve Gelecek Dergisi|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=436–452|doi=10.21551/jhf.898751|s2cid=233651440|quote=The famous Albanian prince, Teodor Muzaka II, was killed in this battle, as well as many other Albanian comrades.|doi-access=free}}</ref> Based on Ottomans sources, it is claimed by Albanian historiography that the Albanians accounted for around a quarter of the total number of troops in Lazar's coalition, primarily under the command of Dhimitër Jonima, Đurađ II Balšić and Teodor II.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Di Lellio |first1=Anna |title=The battle of Kosovo, 1389: an Albanian epic |date=2009 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |location=London |isbn=9781848850941 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDEqAQAAIAAJ |quote=A more elaborate representation of the Battle, based on Ottoman sources, attributes to the Albanian leaders Balsha, Jonima and Muzaka an organized Albanian contingent as numerous as one-forth of the entire Balkan coalition.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Myftiu |first1=Genc |title=Albania: a Patrimony of European Values Guide of Albanian History and Culture Heritage |date=2000 |publisher=SEDA |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHQtAQAAIAAJ&q=Albania,%20a%20Patrimony%20of%20European%20Values. |quote=Two years later Gjergj Balsha II, Teodor Muzaka and Dhimitër Jonima fought in the battle of Kosovo... a quarter of the military force in the anti-Ottoman coalition was Albanian...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Iseni |first1=Bashkim |title=La question nationale en Europe du sud-est: genèse, émergence et développement de l'identité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine |date=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |location=Bern |isbn=978-3039113200 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAdlqwCm_9sC&pg=PA84 |quote= L'historiographie albanaise quant à elle met davantage l'accent sur la présence albanaise dans ce qui était une grande coalition de principautés chrétienne contre les Ottomans. Selon elle, sur les sept chefs de guerre de cette coalition, deux étaient albanais, Gjergj Balsha II et Dhimiter Jonima. Auraient aussi participé à cette bataille d'autres féodaux albanais, notamment Gjon Muzaka et Teodor Muzaka II. La participation albanaise aurait atteint un quart de la totalité des troupes de la coalition.}}</ref>