1.
Battle of Kosovo (film)
–
Battle of Kosovo is a 1989 Yugoslav historical drama/war film filmed in Serbia. The film was based on the written by poet Ljubomir Simović. It depicts the historical Battle of Kosovo between Medieval Serbia and the Ottoman Empire which took place on 15 June 1389 in a field about 5 kilometers northwest of Pristina. Serbian Duke Lazar in 1389 refuses to obey the Turk Sultan Murat who intends on invading Serbia with an army in order to conquer Europe, although aware that he is weaker, without enough men, Duke Lazar decides to fight him anyway. The Serbian Lords are not united, most of them want to fight, even at the cost of defeat, but some of them do not. Everyone fit for battle is sent to Kosovo, the battle of Kosovo in 1389 ended with no winners - with both armies defeated and both Lazar and Murat dead. The Turks would proceed to invade Serbia but were hindered from taking over the rest of Europe, the film was released in 1989, which marked the 600th anniversary of the Battle
Battle of Kosovo (film)
–
Бој на Косову Boj na Kosovu Battle of Kosovo
2.
Ottoman wars in Europe
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The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars in the 13th century, followed by the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars and the Serbian–Ottoman Wars in the 14th century. Much of this period was characterized by Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire made further inroads into Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, culminating in the peak of Ottoman territorial claims in Europe. The Ottoman–Venetian Wars spanned four centuries, starting in 1423 and lasting until 1718, the island of Corfu under Venetian rule remained the only Greek island not conquered by the Ottomans. Nevertheless, Ottoman armies were able to hold their own against their European rivals until the half of the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century the Ottomans were confronted with insurrection from their Serbian and this occurred in tandem with the Russo-Turkish wars, which further destabilized the empire. The final retreat of Ottoman rule came with the First Balkan War, Constantinople fell in 1453 after the Battle of Varna and the Second Battle of Kosovo. The remaining Greek state fell in 1461, sofia fell in 1382, followed by the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire Tarnovgrad in 1393, and the northwest remnants of the state after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Much of Serbia fell to the Ottomans by 1459, the Kingdom of Hungary made a partial reconquest in 1480, the Ottomans took much of Albania in the 1385 Battle of Savra. The 1444 League of Lezhë briefly restored one part of Albania, until Ottomans captured complete territory of Albania after capture of Shkodër in 1479 and Durrës in 1501. It has been argued that Albanian resilience halted the Ottoman advance along the Eastern flank of the Western Civilization, Sultan Mehmet II died in 1481, merely two years after the collapse of the Albanian resistance and one year after he launched an Italian campaign. Ottoman Empire first reached Bosnia in 1388 where they were defeated by Bosnian forces in the Battle of Bileca, after the fall of Serbia in 1389 Battle of Kosovo, where the Bosnians participated through Vlatko Vuković, the Turks began various offensives against the Kingdom of Bosnia. The Bosnians defended themselves but without much success, Bosnians resisted strongly in the Bosnian Royal castle of Jajce, where the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomašević tried to repel the Turks. The Ottoman army conquered it after a few months of the siege of Jajce, in 1463, the House of Kosača held Herzegovina until 1482. The Ottomans meanwhile reached the river Neretva and having conquered Herzegovina in 1482, they encroached upon Croatia, a decisive Ottoman victory at the Battle of Krbava field shook all of Croatia. However, it did not dissuade the Croats from making persistent attempts at defending themselves against the attacks of the superior Ottoman forces. After almost two hundred years of Croatian resistance against the Ottoman Empire, the victory in the Battle of Sisak marked the end of Ottoman rule, the Viceroys army, chasing the fleeing remnants at Petrinja in 1595, sealed the victory. The Kingdom of Hungary, which at the time spanned the area from Croatia in the west to Transylvania in the east, was gravely threatened by Ottoman advances. The origins of such a deterioration can be traced back to the fall of the ruling dynasty and their subsequent replacement with the Angevin
Ottoman wars in Europe
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Conquest of Constantinople by Sultan
Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453
Ottoman wars in Europe
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Albanian assault on a Turkish encampment in 1457
Ottoman wars in Europe
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Croatian captain
Petar Kružić led the defense of the
Klis Fortress against a Turkish invasion and siege that lasted for more than two and a half decades. During this defense, an elite Croatian military faction of
Uskoci was formed.
Ottoman wars in Europe
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Ottoman advances resulted in some of the captive Christians being carried deep into Turkish territory
3.
Kosovo field (region)
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The Kosovo field is a large karst field, a plain located in the eastern part of Kosovo. It is mostly known for being the battlefield of the Battle of Kosovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies, and many other battles, the large karst field is directed northwest–south. The plain stretches from Mitrovica southwards including Obilić, Kosovo Polje, Lipljan, the region of Kosovo stretches roughly from Ferizaj to Vučitrn. It is situated 500-600m above sea level, in the central part, to the west, is the Drenica valley. In 1877, the Kosovo Vilayet was established by the Ottoman Empire, during World War I the Serbian army retreated to the Kosovo plain by November 1915, then under attack from both sides, the army withdrew across the mountains into Albania
Kosovo field (region)
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Approximate region.
4.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
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Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
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Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
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Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
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Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
5.
Serbs
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The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the state of Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. They form significant minorities in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, there is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia. The Serbs share many traits with the rest of the peoples of Southeast Europe. They are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians by religion, the Serbian language is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro. The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions, in the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs. The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, the origin of the ethnonym is unclear. Serbia has among the tallest people in the world, after Montenegro and Netherlands, Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Up until the late 560s their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, the Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed and this area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population, numerous small Serbian states were created, located in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it, prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty ruled over Serbia until the 14th century, over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire, the medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, when Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting
Serbs
Serbs
–
The 1389
Battle of Kosovo is considered as one of the most influential events in the history of the Serbs.
Serbs
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Serbian Army during its retreat towards Albania; more than a million Serbs died during
World War I.
Serbs
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Serbian civilians interned in
Jasenovac concentration camp, 1942
6.
Moravian Serbia
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Moravian Serbia is the name used in historiography for the largest and most powerful state to emerge from the ruins of the Serbian Empire. In 1403 it was raised to the Serbian Despotate, which would exist until 1459, Moravian Serbia was established in 1373 and attained its largest extent in 1379 through the military and political activities of its first ruler, Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. The name Moravian Serbia should not imply that the state was affiliated in any way with the region of Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic. The adjective Moravian in this sense refers to the fact that the state comprised the basins of the Great Morava, West Morava, and South Morava rivers. Lazar Hrebeljanović was born in around 1329 in the fortress of Prilepac, near the town of Novo Brdo in the region of Kosovo, powerful Serbian nobles became practically independent in the regions they controlled. Lazar left the court Tsar Uroš in 1363 or 1365, and he held the title of prince since at least 1371. His territory initially developed in the shadow of stronger regional lords, the strongest were the Mrnjavčević brothers, Vukašin and Jovan Uglješa. They were defeated and killed by the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Mariča in 1371, Lazar and Tvrtko Kotromanić, the Ban of Bosnia, jointly defeated in 1373 another strong noble, Nikola Altomanović. Most of Altomanovićs territory was acquired by Lazar, about that time, Lazar accepted the suzerainty of King Louis I of Hungary, who granted him the region of Mačva, or at least a part of it. With all these gains, Lazar emerged as the most powerful Serbian lord. The state he created is known in historiography as Moravian Serbia. Moravian Serbia attained its full extent in 1379, when Lazar took Braničevo and Kučevo, Lazars state was larger than the domains of the other lords on the territory of the former Serbian Empire. It also had an organized government and army. The state comprised the basins of the Great Morava, West Morava and its north-western border ran along the Drina River. Besides the capital Kruševac, the state included important towns of Niš and Užice, as well as Novo Brdo and Rudnik, of all the Serbian lands, Lazars state lay furthest from Ottoman centres, and was least exposed to the ravages of Turkish raiding parties. This circumstance attracted immigrants from Turkish-threatened areas, who built new villages, there were also spiritual persons among the immigrants, which stimulated the revival of old ecclesiastical centres and the foundation of new ones in Lazars state. A Turkish raiding party, passing unobstructed through territories of Ottoman vassals and it was routed by Lazars nobles Crep Vukoslavić and Vitomir in the Battle of Dubravica, fought near the town of Paraćin. In 1386, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I himself led much larger forces that took Niš from Lazar and it is unclear whether the encounter between the armies of Lazar and Murad at Pločnik, a site southwest of Niš, happened shortly before or after the capture of Niš
Moravian Serbia
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Moravian Serbia
7.
Kingdom of Bosnia
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The Kingdom of Bosnia was a medieval kingdom that evolved from the Banate of Bosnia. Bosnia enjoyed de facto independence in the 13th and 14th centuries despite being a part of the Hungarian Crown Lands and its difficult terrain and remoteness enabled the Bosnians to maneuver between their two powerful neighbors, Hungary and Serbia, usually managing to avoid subordination to either. Several capable rulers allowed Bosnia briefly to play the role of a power in the 14th century. After 1290, Bosnia enjoyed virtual independence from Hungary and gained significant territory in Dalmatia at Serbias expense, however, feudal fragmentation remained strong in Bosnia, and after his death the country lost its importance. The Ottoman Empire annexed portions of eastern Bosnia in the 1440s and 1450s, the Banate of Bosnia was a medieval state comprising at its peak most of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as parts of Dalmatia, Serbia and Montenegro. Although nominally in vassalage to the Kingdom of Hungary, Bosnia was a de facto independent state, the Banate of Bosnia existed until 1377, when it was elevated into a kingdom with the coronation of Tvrtko I. By the mid-14th century, Bosnia reached its peak under Ban Tvrtko I of the House of Kotromanić, by having done so, he became a ruler of the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Bosnia, a state that followed the Banate of Bosnia. At its peak the Kingdom became one of the most influential, throughout the Middle Ages, Herzegovina was made up of several smaller polities, Zahumlje, centered around the town of Blagaj, and Travunia, centered on the town of Trebinje. These statelets were in periods ruled by semi-independent princes, mostly under suzerainty of the Serbian medieval monarchy and their territories included modern Herzegovina and parts of Montenegro and southern Dalmatia. The name Herzegovina was adopted when Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, the Duke of St. Sava asserted its independence in 1435–48, the assembly of these noblemen was called stanak and was quite influential. Bosnia reached its peak under Ban Tvrtko I, a member of the Kotromanić dynasty, in 1372, Tvrtko formed an alliance with Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, one of the regional lords in the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. The next year, Tvrtko and Lazar attacked the domain of Nikola Altomanović, after defeating Altomanović, they divided his lands, except for his littoral districts of Dračevica, Konavle, and Trebinje, which were seized by Đurađ I Balšić, the Lord of Zeta. Tvrtko received parts of Zahumlje, the reaches of the Drina and Lim rivers, as well as the districts of Onogošt. This acquisition included the important Serbian Orthodox monastery of Mileševa, in 1377, Tvrtko took the littoral districts from Balšić. That year, on 26 October, he was crowned King of Serbia, Bosnia, the Primorje, and this was made possible by the royal Nemanjić line having died out with Uroš in 1371. The crown was sent to him by Hungarian king Louis of Anjou, in contrast, some earlier historiographers, mostly represented by scholars from Serbia, consider that he was crowned in the Orthodox Monastery of Mileševa, by the Metropolitan of Mileševa. However, after the defeat of Nikola Altomanović, Prince Lazar had emerged as the most powerful lord on the territory of the former Serbian Empire and he wanted to reunite the Serbian state, and the Serbian Orthodox Church saw him as most fitted to succeed the Nemanjić dynasty. The Church, which was the strongest cohesive force among the Serbs at the time, by 1390, Tvrtko I expanded his realm to include a part of Croatia and Dalmatia, and expanded his title to King of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and the Littoral
Kingdom of Bosnia
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Coat of arms
Kingdom of Bosnia
–
Coat of arms of Bosnia for
Tvrtko I of Bosnia (left)
8.
Murad I
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Murad I was the Ottoman Sultan from 1362 to 1389. He was a son of Orhan and the Valide Nilüfer Hatun, Murad I conquered Adrianople, renamed it to Edirne, and in 1363 made it the new capital of Ottoman Sultanate. Murad I administratively divided his sultanate into the two provinces of Anatolia and Rumelia, Murads death against the Serbs would cause the Ottomans to halt their expansion into the territory temporarily and focus their attention once more on the ailing Byzantine Empire. Murad fought against the powerful beylik of Karaman in Anatolia and against the Serbs, in 1385, Sofia fell to the Ottomans. In 1386 Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović defeated an Ottoman force at the Battle of Pločnik, the Ottoman army suffered heavy casualties, and was unable to capture Niš on the way back. In 1389, Murads army defeated the Serbian Army and its allies under the leadership of Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo, there are different accounts from different sources about when and how Murad I was assassinated. The contemporary sources mainly noted that the battle took place and that both Prince Lazar and the Sultan lost their lives in the battle. The existing evidence of the stories and speculations as to how Murad I died were disseminated and recorded in the 15th century and later. One Western source states that during first hours of the battle, Murad I was assassinated by Serbian nobleman, most Ottoman chroniclers state that he was assassinated after the finish of the battle while going around the battlefield. Others state that he was assassinated in the evening after the battle at his tent by the assassin who was admitted to ask a special favour and his older son Bayezid, who was in charge of the left wing of the Ottoman forces, took charge after that. A letter of Florentine senate to the King Tvrtko I of Bosnia, dated 20 October 1389, a party of twelve Serbian lords slashed their way through the Ottoman lines defending Murad I. One of them, allegedly Miloš Obilić, had managed to get through to the Sultans tent and kill him with sword stabs to the throat and it has been vandalized between 1999-2006 and renovated recently. His other remains were carried to Bursa, his Anatolian capital city and it was Murad who established the former Osmanli tribe into an sultanate. He established the title of sultan in 1383 and the corps of the janissaries and he also organised the government of the Divan, the system of timars and timar-holders and the military judge, the kazasker. He also established the two provinces of Anadolu and Rumeli and he and his ally, Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus son Andronicus, rebelled against their fathers. Andronicus, who had surrendered to his father, was imprisoned and blinded at Murads insistence, Sultan Bayezid I – son of Gülçiçek Hatun, Yakub Çelebi – son. Bayezid I had Yakub killed during or following the Battle of Kosovo at which their father had been killed, ibrahim Bey, Daughter Nefise Hatun, Murad is the subject of Thomas Goffes play The Courageous Turk, published in 1632. Harris, Jonathan, The End of Byzantium, new Haven and London, Yale University Press,2010
Murad I
–
Murad I
Murad I
–
Tomb of Sultan Murat on Kosovo field
9.
Bayezid I
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Bayezid I was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Gülçiçek Hatun and he built one of the largest armies in the known world at the time and unsuccessfully besieged Constantinople. He was defeated and captured by Timur at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, the first major role of Bayezid was as governor of Kütahya, a city that was conquered from the Germiyanids. He was a soldier, earning the nickname of Lightning in a battle against the Karamanids. Immediately after obtaining the throne, he had his younger brother strangled to avoid a plot, in 1390, Bayezid took as a wife Princess Olivera Despina, the daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia, who also lost his life in Kosovo. Bayezid recognized Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, as the new Serbian leader, the upper Serbia resisted the Ottomans until general Pashayigit captured the city of Skopje in 1391, converting the city to an important base of operations. Meanwhile, the sultan began unifying Anatolia under his rule, forcible expansion into Muslim territories could endanger the Ottoman relationship with the gazis, who were an important source of warriors for this ruling house on the European frontier. So Bayezid began the practice to first secure fatwas, or legal rulings from Islamic scholars, however he suspected the loyalty of his Muslim Turkoman followers, for Bayezid relied heavily on his Serbian and Byzantine vassal troops to perform these conquests. In a single campaign over the summer and fall of 1390, Bayezid conquered the beyliks of Aydin, Saruhan and his major rival Sulayman, the emir of Karaman, responded by allying himself with the ruler of Sivas, Kadi Burhan al-Din and the remaining Turkish beyliks. At this point, Bayezid accepted peace proposals from Karaman, concerned that further advances would antagonize his Turkoman followers and lead them to ally with Kadi Burhan al-Din. Once peace had been made with Karaman, Bayezid moved north against Kastamonu which had given refuge to many fleeing from his forces, from 1389 to 1395 he conquered Bulgaria and northern Greece. In 1394 Bayezid crossed the River Danube to attack Wallachia, ruled at that time by Mircea the Elder, in 1394, Bayezid laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Anadoluhisarı fortress was built between 1393 and 1394 as part of preparations for the Second Ottoman Siege of Constantinople, which place in 1395. On the urgings of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus a new crusade was organized to defeat him and this proved unsuccessful, in 1396 the Christian allies, under the leadership of the King of Hungary and future Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, were defeated in the Battle of Nicopolis. Bayezid built the magnificent Ulu Cami in Bursa, to celebrate this victory, thus the siege of Constantinople continued, lasting until 1402. The beleaguered Byzantines had their reprieve when Bayezid fought the Timurid Empire in the East, at this time, the empire of Bayezid included Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and parts of Serbia in Europe. In Asia, his domains extended to the Taurus Mountains and his army was considered one of the best in the Islamic world. In 1397, Bayezid defeated the emir of Karaman in Akçay, killing him, in 1398, the sultan conquered the Djanik emirate and the territory of Burhan al-Din, violating the accord with Timur
Bayezid I
–
Bayezid I
Bayezid I
–
Tughra
Bayezid I
–
Turkish Miniature depicting Bayezid
Bayezid I
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A manuscript of the
Quran from the reign of Bayezid I.
10.
Lazar of Serbia
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Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović was a medieval Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. Lazars state, referred to by historians as Moravian Serbia, comprised the basins of the Great Morava, West Morava, Lazar ruled Moravian Serbia from 1373 until his death in 1389. Lazars programme had the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Lazar was killed at the Battle of Kosovo in June 1389 while leading an army assembled to confront the invading Ottoman Empire. The battle ended without a victor, though both sides endured heavy losses, which were more devastating for the less numerous Serbs and their Christian allies. Lazars widow, Milica, who ruled as regent for their adolescent son Stefan Lazarević, Lazars successor, 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, Lazar was born around 1329 in the Prilepac Fortress,13 kilometres southeast of Novo Brdo, then an important mining town. His family were the lords of Prilepac, which together with the nearby fortress of Prizrenac protected the mines. Lazars 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, the rank of logothete was relatively modest in the hierarchy of the Serbian court. Lazars 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 Lazars surname was Hrebeljanović. Though Orbin did not provide a source for this claim, it has widely accepted in historiography. Pribac was awarded by Dušan in yet another way, his son Lazar was granted the position of stavilac at the rulers court. The stavilac had a role in the ceremony at the royal table, 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 close to the ruler. Stavilac Lazar married Milica, 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. The latter was the son of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, vukans descendents 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, dušans 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 empires north-eastern regions controlled by the Rastislalić family, who recognized the suzerainty of King Louis of Hungary
Lazar of Serbia
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Portrait of Prince Lazar in the
Ravanica Monastery (1380s)
Lazar of Serbia
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Painting of Lazar by
Vladislav Titelbah (ca. 1900).
Lazar of Serbia
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Coat of arms of Prince Lazar painted on a wall of the
Hilandar Monastery (14th century)
Lazar of Serbia
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Remains of the donjon of Lazar's fortress in
Kruševac, the capital of Lazar's state.
11.
Battle of Maritsa
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Before the Battle of Maritsa, Vukašin had the intention to recapture Skadar for the Serbian Empire. The Serbian army numbered 20, 000–70,000 men, most sources agree on the higher number. Despot Uglješa wanted to make an attack on the Ottomans in their capital city, Edirne. Thousands of Serbs were killed, and thousands drowned in the Maritsa river when they tried to flee, after the battle, the Maritsa ran scarlet with blood. Macedonia and parts of Greece fell under Ottoman power after this battle, the battle preceded the later 1389 Battle of Kosovo, and was one of many in history of the Serbian-Turkish wars. Battle of the Maritsa River Encyclopædia Britannica
Battle of Maritsa
–
The Ottoman advance after the battle of Chernomen.
12.
Battle of Savra
–
The Battle of Savra or the Battle of the Vjosë was fought on 18 September 1385 between Ottoman and much smaller Zetan forces, at the Savra field near Lushnjë. The Ottomans were invited by Karlo Thopia to support him in his feud against Balša II, in 1372, Balša II married Komnina, the daughter of John Komnenos Asen, the Despot of Valona. As a dowry, Balša gained the cities of Valona, Berat and Kanina, in 1385 Balša II conquered Durazzo, presumably from Karl Topia. In a charter to Ragusa issued in April 1385, he called himself Duke of Durazzo, the expansion of Balšićs realm into Epirus brought him to the frontline against the Ottomans. Being aware of Ottoman aspirations to his territory, on 8 August 1385 Balša II asked Venetians to support him with four galleys, Karlo Thopia invited Ottomans to support him in conflict with Balša II. Thopias invitation was accepted and Hayreddin Pasha brought his forces from region of Ohrid to Saurian field, news about incursion of the Ottoman forces into the region of Berat reached Balša II while he was in Durrës. According to Mavro Orbini, Balša II rounded up one thousand men in Durrës and, ignoring the advice of his nobles, unsurprisingly, Balšas small forces had little success and Balša II was killed. Orbinis work is the source that mention Ivaniš Mrnjavčević as participant in this battle. Some scholars believe he did not even exist, while other believe that he was not independent medieval lord, another person mentioned only by Orbini is Balšas voivode Đurađ Krvavčić, described as brave warrior who also died in this battle. Mavrini explains that body of Balša II was decapitated and his head taken to Hayreddin Pasha, since the Ottomans were victorious, most of the local Serbian and Albanian lords became vassals. Immediately after this battle Thopia recaptured Durrës, probably under the Ottoman suzerainty, the Ottomans captured Krujë, Berat and Ulcinj and soon retreated from them keeping only Kastoria under their permanent control. Some sources explain that Ottomans probably remained in Berat with intention to use it as foothold to capture Vlorë, the work of Mavro Orbini is one of the main primary sources about this battle. It contains many incorrect and imprecise data, another primary source about the Battle of Savra is Marin Barleti who explained that Balša II was brave and idealistic. This battle set foundation for centuries-long Ottoman presence in this part of the Balkans, Serbian historian Stojan Novaković emphasized that the battles importance for these Serbian and Albanian lords was comparable to that of the Battle of Marica and Battle of Kosovo together. The important result of battle was influx of Albanians into Ottoman forces who had been a significant source of its strength during next 527 years. The Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ivić, Aleksa, Mrđenović, Dušan, Spasić, Dušan, Palavestra, Aleksandar. Rodoslovne tablice i grbovi srpskih dinastija i vlastele, research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture
Battle of Savra
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Domains of Balša II outside Zeta
13.
Battle of Despotovac
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Stefan Lazarević, also known as Stefan the Tall, was the ruler of Serbia as prince and despot. The son of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, he was regarded as one of the finest knights, after the death of his father at Kosovo, he became ruler of Moravian Serbia and ruled with his mother Milica, until he reached adulthood in 1393. Stefan led troops in battles as an Ottoman vassal, until asserting independence after receiving the title of despot from the Byzantines in 1402. Becoming an Hungarian ally in 1403–04, he received large possessions, including the important Belgrade and he also held the superior rank in the chivalric Order of the Dragon. During his reign there was a conflict with his nephew Đurađ Branković. Stefan also inherited Zeta, and waged the war against Venice, since he was childless, he designated his nephew Đurađ as heir in 1426, a year before his death. On the domestic front, he broke the resistance of the Serbian nobles, in 1412 he issued the Code of Mines, with a separate section on governing of Novo Brdo – the largest mine in the Balkans at that time. This code increased the development of mining in Serbia, which has been the economic backbone of Serbian Despotate. At the time of his death, Serbia was one of the largest silver producers in Europe, in the field of architecture, he continued development of the Morava school. His reign and personal works are sometimes associated with early signs of the Renaissance in the Serbian lands. He introduced knightly tournaments, modern tactics, and firearms to Serbia. He was a patron of the arts and culture by providing shelter and support to scholars. In addition, he was himself a writer, and his most important work is A Homage to Love, during his reign the Resava School was formed. Stefan was the son of Lazar and his wife Milica, a line of Nemanjić. Hrebeljanovićs father Prince Vratko was a descendant of Vukan, eldest son of Stefan Nemanja. In addition to Stefan, they had seven other children, Stefan Lazarević married Jelena in September 1405. Jelena was daughter of Francesco II Gattilusio, a Genovese lord of Lesbos and a sister of Irene Gattilusio, empress of Byzantium empire and a wife of John VII Palaiologos. This marriage was arranged during his stay in Constantinople in 1402, at a time when the city, Jelena and Stefan had no children and Jelena is not shown on any frescoes in monasteries built by Stefan
Battle of Despotovac
–
Mosque of Kuklibeu
Battle of Despotovac
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Mosque of Muderis Ali Efendi
Battle of Despotovac
–
Mustafe Pashe Prizrenit
14.
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
–
The Siege of Belgrade, or Battle of Belgrade or Siege of Nándorfehérvár. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II rallied his resources in order to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary and his immediate objective was the border fort of the town of Belgrade. John Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania, who had many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades, prepared the defenses of the fortress. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century, the Pope celebrated the victory as well, as he previously ordered all Catholic kingdoms to pray for the victory of the defenders of Belgrade. This led to the noon bell ritual that is undertaken in Catholic. The day of the victory,22 July, has been a day in Hungary ever since. At the end of 1455, John Hunyadi began preparations for the defence of Belgrade, at his own expense, he provisioned and armed the fortress with a strong garrison under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László. Hunyadi then proceeded to form an army and an additional fleet of two hundred corvettes. The barons feared Hunyadis growing power more than the Ottoman threat, an Italian Franciscan friar allied to Hunyadi, Giovanni da Capistrano, preached a crusade to attract peasants and local countryside landlords to Hunyadis cause. The recruits were ill-armed, many with only slings and scythes, the recruits came under Hunyadis banner, the core of which consisted of smaller bands of seasoned mercenaries and a few groups of minor knights. All in all, Hunyadi managed to build a force of 25–30,000 men, before Hunyadi could assemble his forces, the army of Mehmed II arrived at Belgrade. The siege began on July 4,1456, Szilágyi could rely on a force of only 5, 000-7,000 men in the castle. Mehmed set up his siege on the neck of the headland and he arrayed his men in three sections, The Rumelian corps had the majority of his 300 cannons, while his fleet of 200 river war vessels had the rest of them. The Rumelians were arrayed on the wing and the Anatolian corps were arrayed on the left. In the middle were the guards of the Sultan, the Janissaries. The Anatolian corps and the Janissaries were both heavy infantry troops, Mehmed posted his river vessels mainly to the northwest of the city to patrol the marshes and ensure that the fortress was not reinforced. They also kept an eye on the Sava river to the southwest to avoid the infantry from being outflanked by Hunyadis army, the zone from the Danube eastwards was guarded by the Sipahi, the Sultans feudal heavy cavalry corps, to avoid being outflanked on the right. When Hunyadi was informed of this, he was in the south of Hungary recruiting additional light cavalry troops for the army, although relatively few, his fellow nobles were willing to provide manpower, and the peasants were more than willing to do so
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
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Ottoman miniature of the siege of Belgrade 1456
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
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John Hunyadi John of Capistrano Michael Szilágyi
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
–
Gothic fresco of the Siege of Belgrade in a Church of
Olomouc (Modern Czech Republic) from 1468. It is probably the oldest depiction of the battle. It shows Giovanni da Capistrano and John Hunyadi, too.
Siege of Belgrade (1456)
–
Fortress of Belgrade as it looked in the Middle Ages. The lower and upper town with the palace are visible.
15.
Serbia in the Middle Ages
–
Тhe medieval history of Serbia begins in the 6th century with the Slavic invasion of the Balkans, and lasts until the Ottoman occupation of 1540. Sclaveni raided and settled the western Balkans in the 6th and 7th century, through linguistical studies, it is concluded that the Early South Slavs were made up of a western and eastern branch, of parallel streams, roughly divided in the Timok–Osogovo–Šar line. The DAI drew information on the Serbs from, among others, the first capital was Ras, in Raška. The other Serb-inhabited lands that were mentioned included the countries of Paganija, Zahumlje and Travunija and these polities bordered Serbia to the north. The exact borders of the early Serbian state are unclear, the Serbian ruler was titled Prince of the Serbs. The DAI mentions that the Serbian throne is inherited by the son, i. e. the first-born, his descendants succeeded him, between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević, and his son, Constantine Bodin, Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported a Slavic uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, between 1113 and 1149 Duklja was the centre of Serbian–Byzantine conflict, with members of the Vojislavljević as protégés of either fighting each other for power. The Serbian Grand Principality, also known as Rascia, was founded in 1090, when Bodin had died, Rascia became the strongest entity, in which the Serbian realm would be seated, in hands of the Vukanović dynasty. Uroš I, the son of Vukan, ruled Serbia when the Byzantines invaded Duklja, and Rascia would be next in line, Uroš II initially fought the Byzantines, but after a defeat soon gives oaths of servitude to the Emperor. Desa, the brother of Uroš II and an initial Byzantine ally, turned to Hungarian support, but was deposed in 1163, Stefan Nemanja was succeeded by his middle son Stefan, while his first-born son Vukan was given the rule of the Zeta region. Stefan Nemanjas youngest son Rastko became a monk, turning all his efforts to spread religion among his people, since the Catholic Church already had ambitions to spread its influence to the Balkans as well, Stefan took advantage and obtained the royal crown from the Pope in 1217. In Byzantium, Sava managed to secure autocephaly for the Serbian Church, in the same year Sava issued the first constitution in Serbia, the Zakonopravilo. Thus the medieval Serbian state acquired both forms of independence, political and religious, the next generation of Serbian rulers, the sons of King Stefan, Stefan Radoslav, Stefan Vladislav and Stefan Uroš I, marked a period of stagnation of the state structure. All three kings were more or less dependent on some of the neighbouring states—Byzantium, Bulgaria or Hungary, the ties with the Hungarians played a decisive role in the fact that Uroš I was succeeded by his son Stefan Dragutin, whose wife was a Hungarian princess. Thus, some of these became part of the Serbian state for the first time. His new state was named Kingdom of Srem, in that time the name Srem was a designation for two territories, Upper Srem and Lower Srem. Kingdom of Srem under the rule of Stefan Dragutin was actually Lower Srem, after Dragutin died, the new ruler of the Kingdom of Srem became his son, king Vladislav II, who ruled this state until 1325
Serbia in the Middle Ages
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Nemanjić's Serbia, 1150–1220, during the reigns of
Stefan Nemanja and
Stefan Prvovenčani
Serbia in the Middle Ages
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Migration of Serbs from White Serbia, showing the opinion about location of White Serbia in modern-day eastern Germany.
Serbia in the Middle Ages
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Serbian Kingdom in 1265
Serbia in the Middle Ages
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Serbian Empire, 1355 A.D.
16.
Tvrtko I
–
Stephen Tvrtko I was the first King of Bosnia, and is widely considered one of the countrys greatest medieval rulers. A member of the House of Kotromanić, Tvrtko succeeded his uncle Stephen II as Ban of Bosnia in 1353, as he was a minor at the time, his father, Vladislav, briefly ruled as regent, followed by his mother, Jelena. Early in his personal rule Tvrtko quarreled with Roman Catholic clergy, after initial difficulties – the loss of large parts of Bosnia to his overlord, King Louis I of Hungary, and a brief deposition by magnates – Tvrtkos power grew considerably. He conquered some remnants of the neighbouring Serbian Empire in 1373, after the death of its last ruler and his distant relative, in 1377 he had himself crowned King of Bosnia and of Serbia, claiming to be the heir of the extinct Serbian Nemanjić dynasty. The expansion of the Kingdom of Bosnia continued, with the King focusing on the coast, the death of King Louis and accession of Queen Mary in 1382 allowed Tvrtko to take advantage of the ensuing succession crisis in Hungary and Croatia. After bitter fighting from 1385 to 1390, Tvrtko succeeded in conquering large parts of Slavonia, Dalmatia and Croatia proper. Following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, his tenuous claim to Serbia became a mere fiction, the Ottoman Turks also launched their first attacks on Bosnia during Tvrtko Is reign, but his army was able to repel them. Tvrtkos sudden death in 1391 prevented him from solidifying the Kotromanić hold on Croatian lands, Tvrtko I extended medieval Bosnias borders to their farthest limits, left a strong economy and improved the living standards of his subjects. He was survived by at least one son, Tvrtko II, Tvrtko was the elder son of Vladislav Kotromanić and Jelena Šubić, likely born within a year of their marriage, which was celerated in 1337. The couple were the brother of the Bosnian ban Stephen II, Tvrtko was most likely raised as a Roman Catholic, his mother belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and his uncle Stephen joined it shortly after Tvrtkos birth. Stephen died in September 1353, leaving no sons. Although Vladislav was still alive, Stephens title passed directly to Tvrtko, Tvrtko, however, was only about fifteen years old at the time, so his father assumed the government as regent. Soon after his accession, Tvrtko was taken by his father through the realm to settle relations with his vassals, Jelena replaced Vladislav as regent upon his death in 1354. She immediately traveled to Hungary to obtain consent to Tvrtkos accession from King Louis I, his overlord. Following her return, Jelena held an assembly in Mile, with mother and son confirming the possessions and privileges of the noblemen of all of Bosnia, Donji Kraji, Zagorje and the Hum land. The death of Tvrtkos maternal uncle, Mladen III Šubić, in 1348 led to a decline of the noble family. In May 1355, Jelena and Tvrtko marched with an army to Duvno in order to claim his share of his uncles patrimony, the state assembled by Tvrtkos uncle Stephen broke apart on Tvrtkos accession, much to the satisfaction of his overlord Louis. The Hungarians were keen to encourage Stephens vassals to act independently from Tvrtko, Louis posed a more direct threat as well, he was determined to enlarge the royal domain and throughout his realm he ardently reclaimed all lands that once belonged to the monarch
Tvrtko I
–
Seal of king Tvrtko I
17.
Kosovo
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Kosovo is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula, with its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other urban areas include Prizren, Pejë. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west, while Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovos elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region, the area was inhabited by several ancient Illyrian tribes. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires, Kosovo was the core of the medieval Serbian state and it has been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, the war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovos Parliament declared independence and it has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 111 UN member states, Taiwan, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Cook Islands and Niue. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013 it has accepted the legitimacy of Kosovar institutions, the entire region is commonly referred to in English simply as Kosovo and in Albanian as Kosova or Kosovë. The name of the plain was applied to the Kosovo Province created in 1864, Albanians refer to Kosovo as Dardania, the name of a Roman province located in Central Balkans that was formed in 284 AD which covered the territory of modern Kosovo. The name is derived from the Albanian word dardha/dardā which means pear, the former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova had been an enthusiastic backer of a Dardanian identity and the Kosovan flag and presidential seal refer to this national identity. However, the name Kosova remains more widely used among the Albanian population, the official conventional long name of the state is Republic of Kosovo, as defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, and is used to represent Kosovo internationally. This arrangement, which has dubbed the asterisk agreement, was agreed in an 11-point arrangement agreed on 24 February 2012. By the independence declaration in 2008, its long name became Republic of Kosovo. In prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, the area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years. During the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the area of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black, bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found in Metohija. However, life during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is not confirmed yet, therefore, until arguments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic man are confirmed, Neolithic man, respectively the Neolithic sites are considered as the chronological beginning of population in Kosovo. From this period until today Kosovo has been inhabited, and traces of activities of societies from prehistoric, ancient, whereas, in some archaeological sites, multilayer settlements clearly reflect the continuity of life through centuries
Kosovo
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The
Sinan Pasha Mosque and old stone bridge in
Prizren
Kosovo
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Flag
Kosovo
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German soldiers
set fire to a Serbian village near Kosovska Mitrovica, circa 1941.
Kosovo
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U.S. Marines set up a road block near the village of Koretin, 16 June 1999
18.
Kosovo Field
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Kosovo Field is a former battlefield northwest from Priština that was the site of the Battle of Kosovo between the Balkan Alliance and Ottoman armies. It is for field, and the battle, that the Kosovo region is named. The modern city of Kosovo Polje is also named after the field, Balkan Alliance ruler Stefan Lazarević erected a marble column with inscriptions on the field, in memory of his father. Battle of Kosovo was fought between the Ottoman Empire and Kingdom of Hungary
Kosovo Field
–
Approximate region.
Kosovo Field
19.
Prishtina
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Prishtina or Priština, is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the center of the homonymous municipality and district. Geographically, it is located in the part of Kosovo close to the Goljak mountains. The city is situated some 250 kilometres north-east of Tirana,90 kilometres north of Skopje,520 kilometres south of Belgrade and 300 kilometres east of Podgorica, being Kosovos largest city, Pristina is a hometown of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies. One of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, in ancient times, Illyrians and Romans inhabited the region. In the 4th century BC, the king of Dardanians, Bardyllis brought various tribes together in the area of Pristina, the ancient city of Ulpiana, near Pristina, was considered one of the most important Roman cities in the Balkans. In the Middle Ages, Pristina was an important town in Medieval Serbia and it was a royal estate of Stefan Milutin, Stefan Uroš III, Stefan Dušan, Stefan Uroš V and Vuk Branković. During the Ottoman period, Pristina was classified as an important mining and trading center on the Balkan market due to its position near the mining town of Novo Brdo. The city was known for its fairs and items, such as goatskin and goat hair. The first mosque in Pristina was built in the late 14th century, Pristina has always been considered as a city where tolerance and coexistence in terms of religion and culture has been part of the society in the last centuries. The city has a majority Albanian population, alongside other smaller communities, with a population of about 500.000, Pristina is the second-largest Albanian-speaking city in the world. The name of the city is derived from a Slavic form *Prišьčь, an adjective from the personal name *Prišьkъ. The name is most likely a patronymic of the personal name *Prišь, preserved as a surname in Sorbian Priš, and Polish Przybysz, a false etymology connects the name Priština with the Serbian word prišt, meaning ulcer or tumour, referring to its boiling. The inhabitants of this city call themselves Prishtinali in local Gheg Albanian or Prištevci in the local Serbian dialect, in prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, Baden culture were active in the region. The area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years, during the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the areal of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black and grey pottery. Bronze and Iron Age tombs have found in Rrafshi i Dukagjinit. The area in and around Pristina has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years, early Neolithic findings were discovered dating as far back as the 8th century BC, in the areas surrounding Pristina, i. e. Matiçan, Gračanica and Ulpiana. In the 4th century BC, Bardyllis brought various tribes together in the region, after the Roman conquest of Illyria in 168 BC, Romans colonized and founded several cities in the region, which they named Dardania
Prishtina
–
From top (left to right): a panoramic view of the city, clock-tower, Skanderbeg square,
National Library of Kosovo, the
Newborn monument, the
Kosovo Government Building and the
Skanderbeg monument,
National Museum of Kosovo and a view of Prishtina at night.
Prishtina
–
Panorama of Pristina
Prishtina
–
Pristina, end of the 19th century.
Prishtina
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Plaque on a war memorial in Pristina. The text reads "At this location on 23 October 1944, German Nazis executed 104 Albanian patriots who gave their lives for the freedom and independence of their country - Society of anti-Nazi and national liberation veterans of Kosovo".
20.
Fall of the Serbian Empire
–
The fall of the Serbian Empire was a decades-long period in the late 14th century that marked the end of the once-powerful Serbian Empire. This period is known as the dissolution or the beginning of the fall of the Serbian Empire, between 1366 and 1371 King Vukašin was the co-ruler of Emperor Uroš, ruling the southern half, thus the Empire may be viewed as a de facto diarchy. Before 1371, the nobility were either directly subordinate to Emperor Uroš or to Vukašin, Vukašin died in the Battle of Maritsa against the invading Ottoman Empire, and southern Serbian provinces became nominal Ottoman vassals. The lords could not agree on the ruler, they dismissed Prince Marko, the son of Vukašin. The period after the death of Uroš and Vukašin was marked with the rise and fall of Prince Lazar, Lazar ruled the most powerful Serbian principality – Moravian Serbia. The rule of Lazar ended with his death in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, when Serbia stood up against invading Ottomans, an event that is deeply rooted in Serbdom. After the battle, and by 1395, most of the provinces were conquered and annexed by the Ottomans. Dušans half brother Simeon Uroš was expelled from Epirus and sought to obtain Serbia and he marched on Serbia in 1357 after he had himself proclaimed Tsar of the Greeks, Serbs, and Albanians at Kastoria in 1356. The forces of Stephen Uroš met the forces of Simeon near Scutari in Zeta, the ransom was paid by the Emperor John V Palaiologos and Matthew was allowed to retire to Morea. Now the lands that remained loyal to Uroš were most of Macedonia, the lands that remained Serbian could be divided into three main parts, the western territories, including Zeta, the central Serbian lands of Uroš and the southern lands. One of the strongest western nobles was Vojislav Vojinović and he quarreled with the Republic of Ragusa in the fall of 1358, when the Serbs, the Hungarians penetrated deep into Serbian territory and the Serbian army retreated to avoid battle with the attackers. Vojislav waited until the Hungarians withdrew in 1359 then he attacked Ragusa, in 1363 the Hungarians and Wallachians were joined by Bosnian and Serbian forces committed to expel the Ottoman Turks from Europe. Caught by surprise near Adrianople, these forces were defeated by the Turks in 1364 on the banks of the Maritsa river, in 1365 Vukašin was proclaimed King of Serbia and co-ruler with Uroš, and Jovan Uglješa was made Despot in the Serbian principality of Serres. There was a far more serious problem for Serbia — and the whole Balkans — than the internal squabbling of the Serbian nobles, followed by their penetration into Thrace, in 1354 they acquired Gallipoli on the European side of the Dardanelles. From there, they expanded into Thrace taking Demotika from the Byzantines in 1361 and Philippopolis from the Bulgarians in 1363, by 1370 Turks had occupied most of Thrace to the Rhodopes and to the Balkan Mountains. As they reached the Rhodopes they collided with Jovan Uglješa who had extended his realm beyond the Mesta into this territory, the offensive against the Turks was originally scheduled for early 1371, but was delayed perhaps because Uglješa had hoped that Bulgaria might also join the coalition. Furthermore, they did not keep their horses or their weapons in readiness, the Ottomans won the battle, as they attacked the Serbian army while they rested. The bodies of the commanders were not found, Prince Marko inherited the royal title of his father, and became the co-ruler of Emperor Uroš
Fall of the Serbian Empire
–
States in the Central Balkans that emerged after the dissolution of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century (1373–1395)
21.
Serbian nobility
–
Notable are also Serbian families that gained nobility in Russian Empire. With the independence of Serbia in the 19th century, a new aristocracy arose, in the medieval Serbian states, the privileged class consisted of nobility and clergy, distinguished from commoners, part of the feudal society. The nobility were roughly grouped into magnates and the lesser nobility, after the Ottoman conquest in the 15th and 16th centuries, large migrations of Serbs followed into the Pannonian Plain. The community in the Kingdom of Hungary, and subsequently Habsburg Monarchy, were known as Rascians, Serbs distinguished themselves as warriors and diplomats, and enrolled in Austrian, Transylvanian or Wallachian services. After the fall of Vienna in 1683, Serbian warriors left for Austria and Russia where they obtained high ranks and honors in the armies, and once again a new level of nobility emerged. Similarly, towards the Adriatic, the Frontier Serbs, outlaw hajduks and Uskoks waged war against the Ottomans, and were bestowed noble titles by the Republic of Venice
Serbian nobility
22.
Plovdiv
–
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 341,567 inhabitants as of 2015, while 544,628 live in its urban area. It is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational center, Plovdiv has evidence of habitation since the 6th millennium BC when the first Neolithic settlements were established. It is said to be one of the oldest cities in the world, Plovdiv was known in the West for most of its recorded history by the name Philippopolis as Philip II of Macedon conquered it in the 4th century BC and gave his name to it. The city was originally a Thracian settlement, later being invaded by Persians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Slav-Vikings, Crusaders, on 4 January 1878, Plovdiv was liberated from Ottoman rule by the Russian army. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, in 1885, Plovdiv and Eastern Rumelia joined Bulgaria. Plovdiv is situated in a region of south-central Bulgaria on the two banks of the Maritsa River. The city has developed on seven syenite hills, some of which are 250 metres high. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to in Bulgaria as The City of the Seven Hills, Plovdiv is host to cultural events such as the International Fair Plovdiv, the international theatrical festival A stage on a crossroad, and the TV festival The golden chest. There are many remains preserved from antiquity such as the ancient Plovdiv Roman theatre, Roman odeon, Roman aqueduct, Roman Stadium, the archaeological complex Eirene, and others. The oldest American educational institution outside the United States was founded in Plovdiv in 1860, on 5 September 2014, Plovdiv was selected as the Bulgarian host of the European Capital of Culture 2019. This happened with the help of the Municipal Foundation Plovdiv 2019″ - a non-government organization which was established in 2011 by Plovdivs City Council, the main objectives were to develop and to prepare Plovdivs bid book for European Capital of Culture in 2019. The organization has a board of directors, which consists of 9 members, the foundation also has a Public Council, chaired by the mayor of the city, and a Control Board supervises the organizations activities. The main objective of the foundation is strategic development and implementation of the bid book, Plovdiv was given various names throughout its long history. The Odrysian capital Odryssa is suggested to have been modern Plovdiv by numismatic research or Odrin, Philippopolis was identified later by Plutarch and Pliny as the former Poneropolis. Strabo identified Philip IIs settlement of most evil, wicked as Calybe, kendrisia was an old name of the city. An assumed name is the 1st century Tiberias in honor of the Roman emperor Tiberius, after the Romans had taken control of the area, the city was named in Latin, TRIMONTIUM, meaning The Three Hills, mentioned in the 1st century by Pliny. At times the name was Ulpia, Flavia, Julia after the Roman families, Ammianus Marcellinus wrote in the 4th century that the then city had been the old Eumolpias/Eumolpiada, i. e. the earliest name in chronological terms. In the 6th century Jordanes wrote that the name of the city was Pulpudeva
Plovdiv
–
1st row: Plovdiv on the banks of
Maritsa 2nd: The old town and the Three Hills 3rd: Streets in Plovdiv 4th: City Hall •
Plovdiv Roman theatre 5rd: Churches and the bath •
Mosque • Fountain
Plovdiv
–
Plan of the known parts of the Roman city superimposed on a plan of modern Plovdiv.
Plovdiv
–
Monument of
Krum in Plovdiv who was the first Bulgarian ruler to capture Plovdiv.
23.
Ihtiman
–
Ihtiman is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountains and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, formerly a Roman defensive station guarding the important roads to the Bosphorus, Ihtiman was then called Stipon. It continued to play this role under the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, following the Ottoman domination in the 14th century, the towns name was changed to Ihtiman, which is thought to be of Ottoman Turkish origin. The traditional and dominant religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Ihtiman Hook on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Ihtiman. Ikhtiman has a continental climate with very cold and snowy winters and not too hot. The average annual temperature is 8. 9C, Ihtiman is also the seat of Ihtiman municipality, which includes the following 27 villages, Russia Klimovsk Information portal for IHTIMAN
Ihtiman
–
Villages
24.
Kyustendil
–
Kyustendil is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The total population counts 44,532 people, with a Bulgarian majority, during the Iron Age, a Thracian settlement was located within the town, later known as Roman in the 1st century AD. In the Middle Ages, the town switched hands between the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and Serbia, prior to Ottoman annexation in 1395, after centuries of Ottoman rule, the town became part of an independent Bulgarian state in 1878. The modern name is derived from Kösten, the Turkified name of the 14th-century local feudal Constantine Dragaš, from Latin constans, steadfast + the Turkish il shire, the town was known as Pautalia in Antiquity and as Velbazhd in the Middle Ages. Kyustendil Ridge in Graham Land, Antarctica is named after the city, many Thracian and Roman objects are exhibited in the towns Regional History Museum, most notably an impressive numismatic collection. A fortress was built in the town in the 4th century, the town was mentioned under the Slavic name of Velbazhd in a 1019 charter by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. It became a religious and administrative centre of the Byzantine Empire. In 1282, Serbian king Stefan Milutin defeated the Byzantine Empire, in 1330, the Serbs defeated the Bulgarians in the vicinity, effectively keeping the region to the Serbian Kingdom. Upon Dejans death, his possessions in Žegligovo and Upper Struma were given to his two sons, Jovan Dragaš and Konstantin, the city was a sanjak centre initially in Rumelia governorate-general, after that in the Bitola and Niš vilayets. It was a centre in the Sofia sanjak of Danube Province until the creation of the Principality of Bulgaria in 1878. The residents of Kyustendil took a part in the Bulgarian National Revival and crafts. The town was liberated from Ottoman rule on 29 January 1878, in the mean time, about a fourth of Bulgarians live in the surrounding villages, also part of the Municipality of Kyustendil. Kyustendil today belongs to the Sofia diocese in regards of Orthodox church-administrative structure, the city is the center of the vicarage and the Kyustendil Eparchy, in the past, Kyustendil was the seat of the diocese, that latter was closed in 1884. The majority of the population profess the Orthodox faith today, there are several Christian denominations associated with Protestantism. During Ottoman rule Kyustendil had mostly Turkish population professing Islam, but of the mosques of the time. Today the city has only Christian churches operating, in Antiquity, Pautalia was a bishopric in the Roman province of Dacia Mediterranea, suffragan to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sardica, in the sway of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its only recorded residential bishop is Evangelius, who was summoned to Constantinople by Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus in 516 during the controversy against Monophysitism, the archdiocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Latin Metropolitan Titular archbishopric of Velebusdus / Velebusdo / Velesdien. Gabriele Arcangelo all’Acqua Traversa, previously Titular Bishop of Tisili as Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid Archbishop Gábor Pintér, papal diplomat, Apostolic Nuncio to Belarus, Kyustendil is a national balneological resort at an altitude of 600 metres
Kyustendil
–
Kyustendil Кюстендил
Kyustendil
–
The municipality hall (architect
Friedrich Grünanger)
Kyustendil
Kyustendil
–
10th-11th-century
Church of St George in the Kolusha neighbourhood
25.
Kratovo, Republic of Macedonia
–
Kratovo is a small picturesque town in Macedonia, one of the regions living museums. It is the seat of Kratovo Municipality and it lies on the western slopes of Mount Osogovo at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level. Having a mild and pleasant climate, it is located in the crater of an extinct volcano and it is famous for its bridges and towers. Tetradrachmas of Philip II of Macedon found in Kratovo might suggest that there was a settlement here in antiquity, in the Roman period there was a settlement called Tranatura located within the modern city municipality. There was a nearby and the town was the seat of local authorities. No remains of the settlement has been found, however, remnants of Roman fortification were found on Zdravče kamen hill above the town, the golden age of Kratovo started after 1282 when it became part of the Kingdom of Serbia. In all probability the wealth of the came from its mines. Saxon miners and Ragusan merchants who already had worked in other parts of Serbia settled here, the town was first mentioned under its current name in 1330. Gold, silver, lead, iron and copper were mined in the immediate vicinity, during the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan the mines of Kratovo were the prime source of wealth of despot Jovan Oliver. After his death, during the fall of the Serbian Empire under Stefan Uroš V, konstantin Dejanović minted his silver coins here. The Ragusan merchant colony grew larger and took over the best part of trading with ores, in 1389, during his attack on Prince Lazar, Ottoman sultan Murad I stopped in Kratovo to gather information and hold a war council. Next year, in 1390, his son, Bayezid, captured it from the Dejanović and put his official to reside here. Kratovo was the seat of a nahiya, as a part of the sanjak of Velbužd, as well as a kaza, seat of a kadi/judge, engulfing not only the towns vicinity but also Štip, Kočani and Nagoričani. In 1484 Jovan Konić and Stepan, son of Branko, both from Kratovo, paid an amazing 16,424,000 akçe for a rent of mints in Novo Brdo, Skopje. As a trade center Kratovo was also settled by Sephardic Jews, Kratovo was an important stop for Ottoman sultans, in 1455, before an attack on Novo Brdo, the Ottoman army regrouped here. In the 16th century Kratovo ranked among the most important mining towns in the European part of the Ottoman Empire. However, from 1520 to 1540 minting and mining were in crisis and many of the tenants, all of them local Christians. Also, between 1519 and 1530 the number of Christian households dwindled from 982 to 606, after the reform and codification of the craft, the mining and minting recovered around mid-century
Kratovo, Republic of Macedonia
–
Kratovo
26.
Republic of Macedonia
–
Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
–
Heraclea Lyncestis, a city founded by
Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC: ruins of the Byzantine "Small Basilica"
Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
–
Nikola Karev, president of the short-lived
Kruševo Republic during the
Ilinden Uprising
Republic of Macedonia
–
Avtonomna Makedonia periodical,
Belgrade, 1905
27.
Balkans
–
The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania
Balkans
–
The Balkan Peninsula, as defined by the
Danube -
Sava -
Kupa line
Balkans
–
The Peninsula's most extensive definition, bordered by water on three sides and connected with a line on the fourth
Balkans
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Panorama of
Stara Planina. Its highest peak is
Botev at a height of 2,376 m.
Balkans
–
View toward
Rila, the highest mountain in the Balkans which reaches 2925 m
28.
Kumanovo
–
Kumanovo is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and is the seat of Kumanovo Municipality which is the largest municipality in the country. Municipal institutions include a city council, mayor and other administrative bodies, the name of the city in Macedonian, Serbian and Bulgarian is Kumanovo. In Albanian, it is Kumanova or Kumanovë, Kumanovo derives from the name of the Cumans, a western branch of Kipchaks, the tribe that invaded the area in the early 12th century. Kumanovo is situated in the part of the Macedonia, near the capital city of Skopje. The coordinates of the city are approximately 42°05N and 21°40E, Goce Delčev, Zelen rid, Pero Čičo, Karpoš, Sokolana, Igor Tričkovik, Vera Kotorka, Bedinje, Jane Sandanski, Sredorek. Most old neighborhood consist of shops and very few houses, veleshka Maalo is an old neighbourhood of Kumanovo. The main street, which today is named Narodna Revolucija, was their shortest way to the center of the city, karapsko maalo was located across todays south side of Goce Delchev High School through to the end of Mosha Pijade street. The name of the came from the Ottomans. Every house in the neighborhood had a yard, neighboring yard were connected with doors, Macedonians, komits and revolutionaries used this scheme to escape to the towns outskirts and the town itself. The Ottomans called it the dark or the secret neighborhood, also, Varoš maalo, Endek maalo, Muhamedbegovo maalo, Ortabunar maalo, Bedinsko maalo, Novo maalo, Lipkovsko maalo, Teke maalo, Tatar maalo and Muandzisko maalo, Sokolana maalo. Endek maalo was placed across todays city hall on two banks of the river of Serava. Opančarsko sokače, Nagorički sokak, Proevski sokak, Veleški sokak, Romanovski sokak, Ukumat sokak, Military base Boro Menkov is one of the military installation of ARM in Kumanovo. The base was established by JNA, MB Hristijan Todorovski Karposh is the second base in Kumanovo, it was also established by the JNA and was inherited by the ARM. Today part of the installation is converted into a University and another part was inherited by the Ministry of Interior, there was an idea of turning the base into an economic industrial zone. In Kumanovos Elezov kamen area there is also a Military Warehouse Base that operates today, the first written mentioning of the individual modern villages of the Kumanovo region originate in the 14th century. These are, for the most part, found in Serbian charters, of King Stefan Milutin, Emperor Stefan Dušan, Sevastokrator Dejan, Jevdokija Dejanović, in this time, the Kumanovo region received its geographical location and certain settlement picture. According to a charter of the monastery of Arhiljevica dated 1355 and it included the old župe of Žegligovo and Preševo. The town was first mentioned in 17-th century, evliya Çelebi described it in 1660–61, The colony of Kumanovo is situated on the territory of the Skopje sanjak and represents one county
Kumanovo
–
Main Square of Kumanovo
Kumanovo
Kumanovo
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The Municipal Building in Kumanovo (built as an Ottoman police station)
Kumanovo
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Kokino artefacts.
29.
Gjilan
–
Gjilan or Gnjilane is a city and municipality in eastern Kosovo. It is the center of the District of Gjilan. It is known for having recorded the lowest temperature in Kosovo, −32.5 °C, Gjilan is located in the southern Binačka Morava river basin. Ottoman chronicler Evliya Çelebi mentions Morava as a settlement of the Sanjak of Vučitrn, Çelebi writes that, The seventeen day journey from Constantinople to pass through Vranje, Novo Brdo, Krivareka and Morava. The etymology of Gjilan is disputed, Albanian sources claim that the town obtained its name from Bahti Beg Gjinolli of Gjinaj clan that ruled the region of Vučitrn, and populated this area in the 18th century. However, there is no evidence to support that claim. On the other hand, Serbian sources claim that the origin of the name is in the Serbian word gnjio. In 1342, a place called Morava was visited by Serbian King Stefan Dušan, a fort was built nearby in the 14th century. In the 1455 defter, Gjilan was inhabited by Serbs, haji Kalfa mentions Morava being 17 days from Constantinople. Gornja Morava and Izmornik were organized into the Sanjak of Vučitrn up until the 18th century, Gjilan became a kadiluk around 1780, and 20–25 years later a large village. In 1915, in and around the city, the Serbian army made a stand against the 1st Army of Bulgaria. That battle resulted in the defeat of the Serbian military, in World War II there was a significant amount of activity in and around Gjilan by the Partisans fighting against Nazi Germany and her allies. Monuments to these actions can still be today, one of which is located in the middle of the village of Koretište. S. Gjilan has also served as the headquarters of the UNMIK International Police task force from 1999. In March 2011, the Gjilan municipality was estimated to have over 90,015 residents, the vast majority of the population is Albanian, followed by Serbs, and a small number of minorities. The population density was 229.7 km2, Albanian, Serbian and Turkish languages are official languages in the municipality. In the municipality according to the 2011 census there are 978 Turks or 1% of the municipality population, the number of Serbs has decreased due to boycott and the creation of the Serb-majority municipality of Parteš. Education in Gjilan includes primary, secondary education, and a public university, currently there are 23,608 Albanian students and 881 minority students enrolled in educational institutions around Gjilan
Gjilan
–
Communist-era apartment complex in Gjilan.
Gjilan
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Mosque in Gjilan
Gjilan
–
An Albanian dance during "Flame's Pentagram"
Gjilan
–
Gjilan old city center 1913
30.
South Morava
–
South Morava or in the past Bulgarian Morava is a river in eastern Kosovo and in southern Serbia, which represents the shorter headwater of Great Morava. Today, it is 295 km long and it flows generally in the south to north direction, from Macedonian border to Kosovo and onwards to Central Serbia, where it meets West Morava at Stalać, to create Great Morava. The river rises in the Skopska Crna Gora mountain in Macedonia, streams of Ključevska reka and Slatinska reka join together to form the river Golema, which is, after passing the Macedonian-Serbian border, known as Binačka Morava. After 49 km it meets Preševska Moravica at Bujanovac, and for the remaining of 246 km flows as South Morava. South Morava belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, and its own drainage area is 15,469 km² and its average discharge at the mouth is 100 m³/s and it is not navigable. After breaking through the last, Stalać gorge, it meets West Morava, in macro-geological point of view, South Morava connects Aegean basin with Pannonian basin. This creates a phenomenon named apparent flow inversion, because it seems that river from one lowland climbs up the mountains, South Morava used to be 318 km long and represented longer and natural headwater of Great Morava. Causing severe floods in history, meandering river has been shortened by almost 30 km until today, however, West Morava has always had bigger discharge. Areas in southern Serbia where South Morava flows have been almost completely deforested, as a result of this, the river brings large amount of materials to the Great Morava, filling and elevating its river bed, which helps the huge floods of its daughter river. The most important left ones are, Jablanica, Veternica, Pusta reka, right tributaries are, Vrla, Vlasina, Nišava and Sokobanjska Moravica. South Morava has a significant potential for electricity production, but this has not been used at all, huge hydroelectrical system has been constructed in its drainage basin, though. To a certain extent, its waters are used for irrigation, the most important role river valley has in transportation. It is the route for both railway and highway Belgrade–Skopje–Thessaloniki. It is part of the Pan-European corridor X, and the route of E75 Highway, Great Morava West Morava Nišava River Pčinja River Notes General Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition, Prosveta, ISBN 86-07-00001-2 Jovan Đ
South Morava
–
South Morava in
Moravac
31.
Prokuplje
–
Prokuplje is a town, municipality and the administrative center of the Toplica District in the southern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the town has a population of 27,333 inhabitants. It is one of the Roman sites of Serbia and it was a kaza center in Niš sanjak as Ürgüp during Ottoman rule and was incorporated in Kingdom of Serbia in 1878. The Prokuplje municipality is located between municipalities of Blace, Kuršumlija, Bojnik, Žitorađa, Merošina, Aleksinac, and Kruševac. The traces of early settlements can be found on neolithic localities such as Macina, Kavolak 6 kilometres west of Prokuplje, the Vinca period is preserved in the Plocnik locality, on the left side of the road from Prokuplje to Kursumlija. The earliest known metalworking in the world was found in Pločnik in 2007 dating to 5500 BC making the Copper Age several centuries older than previously thought and those agricultural settlements were replaced by the emerging Thracians and then the invading Celtic Scordisci in 279 BC. Pieces of ceramics found by the Latin church are traces of those tribes movement on their way to Greece, between 73-75 B. C. after the Romans subjugated the tribes of the region, this part of Serbia became a part of the Roman province of Moesia. It was part of the Roman „via militaris“ from Niš, the town was known as Hammeum, or Hameo, at the end of 4th century A. D. when the Roman empire was divided, all settlements in Toplica region belonged to. The name of the place was Komplos or Komblos, some historians believed that Komplos was rebuilt by Emperor Justinian. When South Slavic tribes first settled in area in the 6th century. Today’s name of the town of Prokuplje was first seen in use after the replacement of St. Prokopius relics from Nis in the year 1396 A. D, in early middle age, during the rule of Stefan Nemanja, Prokuplje is not mentioned in any written documents. The settlement gained its importance during Tsar Lazars reign period, before the Ottoman invasion, Prokuplje was besieged in 1454 and during 423 years of Turkish rule the name of the place was Urcub or Okrub. It was part of the Sanjak of Niš, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the towns importance increased. Prokuplje prospered through the connections with Dubrovnik. During the Great Turkish War Prokuplje was captured by Austrian troops and Serbian Militia in 1689 and burned down during their retreat in 1690, Prokuplje was liberated from the Ottomans in the 19th of December,1877, and the whole Toplica region was liberated in 1877. Toponyms such as Arbanaška and Đjake shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica, as the wider Toplica region, Prokuplje also had an Albanian majority. These Albanians were expelled by Serbian forces in a way that today would be characterized as ethnic cleansing, from 1929 to 1941, Prokuplje was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the First and Second World War Prokuplje was completely destroyed, in July 2008 a major Roman spa was unearthed
Prokuplje
–
View on Prokuplje form Savićevac on Hisar hill, Serbia.
Prokuplje
–
Coat of arms
Prokuplje
–
Remains of Roman Baths
Prokuplje
–
Monument in Prokuplje
32.
Battle of Ankara
–
The Battle of Ankara was fought on 20 July 1402 at the Çubuk plain near Ankara between the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and Timur, ruler of the Timurid Empire. The battle was a victory for Timur, and it led to a period of crisis for the Ottoman Empire. Timur, a Turco-Mongol from Transoxiana, had built an empire in Central Asia over the years and he sought to rebuild the once great Mongol Empire. In the 1380s and 1390s, he invaded and conquered parts of Persia, ravaged southern Russia and Ukraine, in 1400–01 Timur took Sivas from the Ottomans, parts of Syria from the Mamluks, and next directed towards Anatolia. Meanwhile, in 1402, the Ottomans had been campaigning in Europe, Bayezid broke off the blockade of Constantinople and marched to Ankara after Timur again moved his army to the southeast in the summer of 1402. It is estimated that the Timurid army counted 140,000, mostly cavalry, historical sources exaggerated the number of troops, Ahmad ibn Arabshah claimed 800,000 Timurid troops, while a German witness claimed 1,6 million, for instance. The Ottoman force included contingents under his sons, Ghazis, Janissaries, Anatolian Muslim vassals, among Serbian vassals participating were Stefan Lazarević and Đurađ Branković, and among Albanian were Koja Zakarija, Demetrius Jonima, Gjon Kastrioti, and probably Tanush Major Dukagjin. Christian vassals that did not participate were Wallachian Mircea and Zetan Konstantin Balšić, a quarter of the Ottoman troops were recently conquered Tatars. Bayezid reluctantly withdrew his forces from the blockade of Constantinople and marched them through the midsummer heat, when they arrived, they were tired and thirsty, but were allowed no time to rest or recuperate. Bayezid instead chose to take a stance and marched eastward. Advancing Ottoman scouts found no traces of the Timurids, who secretly marched southwest, rested, the Timurids encamped in the same locations that the Ottomans had previously occupied, making use of abandoned tents and water sources. In the Timurid army, Timur commanded the centre, his sons Miran and Rukh the right and left, respectively, the battle began with a large-scale attack from the Ottomans, countered by swarms of arrows from the Timurid horse archers. Several thousands were killed and many surrendered to Timur, Stefan Lazarević and his knights together with Wallachian forces successfully fought off the Timurid assaults and cut through the Mongol ranks three times. Each time Stefan advised Bayezid to break out with him, Bayezid declined to do so, but the Serbians managed to save one of Bayezids sons and the treasury from the Mongols and made their way to Constantinople. The Serbian troops wore heavy black plate armour which was effective against the Timurid arrows. Timur admired the Serbian troops who according to him fight like lions, during the battle the main water supply of both armies, Çubuk creek, was diverted to an off-stream reservoir near the town of Çubuk by Timur, which left the Ottoman army with no water. The final battle took place at Catal hill, dominating the Çubuk valley, the Ottoman army, both thirsty and tired, was defeated, though Bayezid managed to escape to the nearby mountains with a few hundred horsemen. However, Timur had the mountains surrounded and, heavily outnumbering Bayezid and he died in captivity three months later
Battle of Ankara
–
Battle of Ankara (
Mughal illustration)
Battle of Ankara
–
Bayezid I at the hands of Timur. After defeating
Bayezid I during the Battle of Ankara,
Emir Timur had become the preeminent ruler in the
Muslim world.
33.
Battle of Nikopolis
–
It is often referred to as the Crusade of Nicopolis as it was one of the last large-scale Crusades of the Middle Ages, together with the Crusade of Varna in 1443–1444. There were many minor crusades in the 14th century, undertaken by individual kings or knights, most recently there had been a failed crusade against Tunisia in 1390, and there was ongoing warfare in northern Europe along the Baltic coast. In 1393 the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman had lost Nicopolis — his temporary capital — to the Ottomans, while his brother, Ivan Stratsimir, still held Vidin but had been reduced to an Ottoman vassal. In the eyes of the Bulgarian boyars, despots and other independent Balkan rulers, in addition, the frontline between Islam and Christianity had been moving slowly towards the Kingdom of Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary was now the frontier between the two religions in Eastern Europe, and the Hungarians were in danger of being attacked themselves. The Genoese also owned the citadel of Galata, located at the north of the Golden Horn in Constantinople, to which Bayezid had laid siege in 1395. The two decisive factors in the formation of the last crusade were the ongoing Hundred Years War between Richard IIs England and Charles VIs France and the support of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, in 1389, the war had ground to one of its periodic truces. The support of Burgundy, among the most powerful of the French nobles was also vital, in 1391, Burgundy, trying to decide between sending a crusade to either Prussia or Hungary, sent his envoy Guy de La Trémoille to Venice and Hungary to evaluate the situation. Burgundy originally envisioned a crusade led by himself and the Dukes of Orléans and Lancaster and it was very unlikely that defense against the Turks was considered a particularly important goal of the crusade. Charles VI, having secured a peace with England through the marriage of his daughter, was able to reply that it was his responsibility to protect Christianity, the number of combatants is heavily contested in historical accounts. The oft-given figure of 100,000 crusaders is dismissed by Tuchman, next in importance were the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes, who were the standard bearers of Christianity in the Levant since the decline of Constantinople and Cyprus. Venice supplied a fleet for supporting action, while Hungarian envoys encouraged German princes of the Rhineland, Bavaria, Saxony. French heralds had proclaimed the crusade in Poland, Bohemia, Navarre and Spain, the Italian city-states were too much engaged in their customary violent rivalries to participate, and the widely reported and acclaimed English participation never actually occurred. The report of 1,000 English knights comes from contemporary Antonio Fiorentino, a thousand knights would have actually amounted to four to six thousand men and at least twice as many horses, counting foot-soldiers and other retainers. However, there are no records of financial arrangements being made in England to send a force abroad, nor of any royal preparation needed to organize and dispatch such a force. Atiya also thought that the invocation of St. Furthermore, there was no collection of money in England to pay for captives. Nevertheless, obviously inflated figures continue to be repeated, the strength of the Ottoman forces is also estimated at about 20-25,000, but inflated figures continue to be repeated. The Ottoman force also included 1,500 Serbian heavy cavalry knights under the command of Prince Stefan Lazarević, however, Burgundy retained control of the enterprise he was funding by naming 24-year-old John, Count of Nevers, the Dukes eldest son, for nominal command
Battle of Nikopolis
–
Battle of Nicopolis (Note the counterfactual depiction of siege weapons)
Battle of Nikopolis
–
The Battle of Nicopolis, as depicted by a Turkish miniaturist in 1588
Battle of Nikopolis
–
The crusaders took eight days to cross the
Danube at the
Iron Gate
Battle of Nikopolis
–
Titus Fay saves King Sigismund of Hungary in the Battle of Nicopolis. Painting in the Castle of Vaja, creation of Ferenc Lohr, 1896.
34.
Janissary
–
The Janissaries were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultans household troops, bodyguards and the first standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established during the reign of Murad I and they began as an elite corps of slaves made up of conscripted young Christian boys, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries, forbidden to marry or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army. Civilians bought their way into the corps in order to benefit from the socioeconomic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its character, undergoing a process which has been described as civilianization. The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident in which 6,000 or more were executed, the formation of the Janissaries has been dated to the reign of Murad I, the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire. From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the system which was abolished in 1638. This was the taking of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians, Jews were never subject to devşirme, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from Albania, Bosnia, and Bulgaria were preferred, the Janissaries were kapıkulları, door servants or slaves of the Porte, neither freemen nor ordinary slaves. They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement, as such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, through a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts at reform of the military. These boys were taken from their parents and given to Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish language and customs. The recruits were indoctrinated into Islam, forced into circumcision and supervised 24 hours a day by eunuchs and they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing a beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops, and became members of the askeri class, most were non-Muslims, because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. The Janissary system was introduced in the 14th century, the Janissary Corps was a trained and loyal group of slaves to the sultan. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to members of the Corps. They also became rent-seeking and sought protection of their special rights, according to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards
Janissary
–
Janissaries
Janissary
–
Janissary, before 1657
Janissary
–
A Janissary
Ağa in the year 1768.
Janissary
–
Registration of boys for the devşirme. Ottoman miniature painting from the Süleymanname, 1558.
35.
Sipahi
–
Sipahi were two types of Ottoman cavalry corps, including the fief-holding provincial timarli sipahi, which constituted most of the army, and the regular kapikulu sipahi, palace troops. Other types of cavalry which were not regarded sipahi were the irregular akıncı, the sipahi formed their own distinctive social classes, and were notably in rivalry with the Janissaries, the elite corps of the Sultan. It was also the given to several cavalry units serving in the French. The word is derived from Persian sepāhī, meaning soldier, the term is also transliterated as spahi and spahee, rendered in other languages as, spahiu, spahis, spahija or spahiya. The word sepoy is derived from the same Persian word sepāhī, the term refers to all freeborn Ottoman Turkish mounted troops other than akıncı and tribal horsemen in the Ottoman army. The word was used almost synonymously with cavalry, the provincial governors, or beys, were rotated every few years, preventing land inheritance. The provinces, or sanjaks, were not all equal since Anatolia, the entwinement of land, military, politics, economics and religion was a way of life. The timar system, where the sultan owned all land but individual plots of land, the sipahi did not inherit anything, preventing power centres from growing and threatening the supreme power structure. The locals on the timar used the land and all it produced, the Timarli Sipahi or timariot was the holder of a fief of land granted directly by the Ottoman sultan or with his official permission by beylerbeys. He was entitled to all of the income from that land, the peasants on the land were subsequently attached thereto. Timarli Sipahis status resembled that of the knights of medieval Europe, unlike medieval knights, they were not legally owners of their fiefs. The right to govern and collect taxes in a fief was merely given to a Timarli Sipahi by the Ottoman State. And in return, tımarli sipahis were responsible for security of the people in their timar, enlisting and training cebelu soldiers for the army. A timar was the smallest unit of land held by a Sipahi, providing a revenue of no more than 20,000 akçe. A ziamet was a unit of land, yielding up to 100,000 akçe. A has was the largest unit of land, giving revenues of more than 100,000 akçe, and was only held by the highest-ranking members of the military. A tîmâr Sipahi was obliged to provide the army with up to five armed retainers, a ziamet Sipahi with up to twenty, the sipahi were traditionally recruited among Turkic landowners, and thus, the non-Turkic provinces such as Arabia and Maghreb did not have sipahi. Recruitment of non-Turkic sipahi was banned with a 1635 ferman, in contrast to the Janissaries, Timarli Sipahis from that time onwards were Turks
Sipahi
–
A Sipahi, from a 16th-century Western engraving
Sipahi
Sipahi
–
Miniature depicting an Anatolian Timariot, dating to before 1657.
Sipahi
–
Timariot armour dating to 1480–1500
36.
Azap
–
Azabs also known as Asappes or Asappi, were irregular light infantry of the Ottoman Army. The Azaps were also known as the bachelors, they were volunteers who were paid only during campaigns and had the freedom to leave the army whenever they wanted. The Azaps were initially only Anatolian Turks, though by the late 16th century any Muslim from an Ottoman province could enlist as an Azap, the main role of Azaps was fighting as infantry archers, although they were often mounted as well. In addition to jobs in the military also had jobs as guards. As volunteers the Azaps had a range of weaponry. These include pole arms, such as the tirpan and harba as well as balta, in addition to pole arms they were armed with a variety of maces, bows, sabers and to a rarer extent crossbows. Later on guns were adopted instead, the power and significance of the Azaps began to deteriorate as time went on. Despite once seen as rivals to the elite Janissary Ocak, by the 16th they were responsible for taking on tasks such as carrying ammunition. In the late 16th century all Muslim men could enlist, from every 20-30 households 1 man would join whilst the others supported him. The standard weaponry of an Azap of this era was a matchlock, akinci Seymen Ga ́bor A ́goston, Bruce Alan Masters
Azap
–
An archer of the Turkish Galleys - Azab
37.
Akinci
–
Akinji or akindji were irregular light cavalry, scout divisions and advance troops of the Ottoman Empires military. When the pre-existing Turkish ghazis were incorporated into the Ottoman Empires military they became known as akıncı and they were one of the first divisions to face the opposing military and were known for their prowess in battle. Unpaid they lived and operated as raiders on the frontiers of the Ottoman Empire, there is a distinction made between akıncı and deli cavalry. In battle their main role was to act as advance troops on the front lines and demoralise the marching opposing army by using guerrilla tactics and they could be likened to a scythe in a wheat field. They would basically hit the enemy with arrows, when attacked in melee, they would retreat while still shooting backwards. They could easily outrun heavy cavalry because they were lightly armed, Akinji forces carried swords, lances, shields and battle axes as well, so that in a field of combat, they could face the enemy first and fight melee. In some Ottoman campaigns, such as the Battle of Krbava field, because of their mobility akinji were also used for reconnaissance and as a vanguard force to terrorize the local population before the advance of the main Ottoman forces. They would also attack trading routes to cut supply and transportation. Akinji forces were led by certain families, well-known akinji families were Malkoçoğlu, Turhanlı, Ömerli, Evrenosoğlu, and Mihalli. These akinji clans were mainly composed of Turkmen tribal warriors with a dynasty which descended from the warrior ghazis of the first Ottoman ruler Osman I. Adventurers, soldiers of fortune, mercenaries, warrior dervishes, and civilians looking for fortune, since akinjis were seen as irregular militia, they did not have regular salaries as kapikulu soldiers, or fiefs like timarli soldiers, their only income was the booty that they plundered. Akinjis used to wear colourful and interesting clothes to shock and confuse their opponents and they used to wear eagle wings on their backs, put on helmets with bull horns, wear coats made of leopard skin. Because of their appearance and their almost suicidally courageous battle tactics, akinjis were nicknamed by the public as deliler. Akinji system had an important role at the establishment of the empire, though the akinji system worked excellently from the 14th to 16th centuries, it began to decline after the 16th century. Starting with 16th-17th century nomadic Tatar and Nogay cavalry from the Crimean Khanate also served as akinjis for the Ottoman Empire, after the Ottoman advance in Europe stopped, akinji warriors became unnecessary and without the economy of plunder this warrior class slowly faded away. After the modernization of the Ottoman army, the last few officially recognized akinji clans were abolished, still, last remnants of akinji system existed till late 19th century in the Balkan provinces as the bashi-bozouk warriors. Akinji lifestyle with battles and plunder was a fantasy for the public and so akinjis were a popular subject in Ottoman folk literature. Serhad türküleri or border folk songs is a subcategory of Ottoman folk music dealing mostly with raids and battles or love affairs of akinji warriors
Akinci
–
Akinci graveyard at Budapest
Akinci
–
Akıncı Sinan Bey duels with Hungarian knight Eugene, 1526, Suleymanname
38.
Vassal
–
A vassal or feudatory is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, the term is applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. It is like a land lord some one who own and lets you live on it, in contrast, a fidelity, or fidelitas, was a sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. Such refinements were not included from the outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, under feudalism, those who were weakest needed the protection of the knights who owned the weapons and knew how to fight. Feudal society was based on the concept of lordship, which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity. In the time of Charlemagne, the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural manorialism and the social and legal structures labelled — and these developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times, monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands, even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. The stratification of a band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term fief that had started to supersede benefice in the 9th century. An upper group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family, a lower group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conduct of warfare, as co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of an economy, came only from land and its associated assets. Many empires have set up states, based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states. In these cases a state has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while and, in many instances. In this framework, a colony or junior ally might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations. The concept of a state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance, Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire
Vassal
–
Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (
Bayeux Tapestry)
39.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Anatolia
–
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Anatolia
–
The location of
Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the
European continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the
Asian part of Turkey, except the eastern parts historically known as the
Armenian Highlands
Anatolia
–
1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms
Anatolia
–
Mural of
aurochs, a
deer, and humans in
Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. It was registered as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
40.
Turkmen people
–
The Turkmens are a Turkic people located primarily in Central Asia, in the state of Turkmenistan, as well as in Iran, Afghanistan, North Caucasus, and northern Pakistan. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages, examples of other Oghuz languages are Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz, Khorasani, and Salar. Originally, all Turkic tribes that were not part of the Turkic dynastic mythological system were designated Turkmens, only later did this word come to refer to a specific ethnonym. The etymology of the term derives from Türk plus the Sogdian affix of similarity -myn, -men, a prominent Turkic scholar, Mahmud Kashgari, also mentions the etymology Türk manand. The language and ethnicity of the Turkmen were much influenced by their migration to the west, Kashgari calls the Karluks Turkmen as well, but the first time the etymology Turkmen was used was by Makdisi in the second half of the 10th century AD. Like Kashgari, he wrote that the Karluks and Oghuz Turks were called Turkmen, some modern scholars have proposed that the element -man/-men acts as an intensifier, and have translated the word as pure Turk or most Turk-like of the Turks. During the Ottoman period these nomads were known by the names of Türkmen and these names were generally used to describe their nomadic way of life, rather than their ethnic origins. However, these terms were used interchangeably by foreigners. At the same time, various other exonym words were used for these nomads, such as Konar-göçer, Göçebe, Göçer-yörük, Göçerler, the most common one among these was Konar-göçer – nomadic Turcoman Turks. All of these words are found in Ottoman archival documents and carry only the meaning of nomad, Oghuz tribes had moved westward from the Altay mountains in the 7th century AD, through the Siberian steppes, and settled in this region. They also penetrated as far west as the Volga basin and the Balkans and these early Turkmens are believed to have mixed with native Sogdian peoples and lived as pastoral nomads until the Russian conquest of the 19th century. Signs of advanced settlements have been found throughout Turkmenistan including the Djeitun settlement where neolithic buildings have been excavated and dated to the 7th millennium BCE, by 2000 BCE, various Indo-European peoples began to settle throughout the region, as indicated by the finds at the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. Notable early tribes included the nomadic Dahae, Massagetae and Scythians, the Parni, a Dahae tribe came to dominate the region, and established the Parthian Empire, which also later fractured as a result of invasions from the north. Ephthalites, Huns, and Göktürks came in a parade of invasions. Finally, the Sassanid Empire based in Persia ruled the area prior to the coming of the Muslim Arabs during the Umayyad Caliphate by 716 CE, the majority of the inhabitants were converted to Islam as the region grew in prominence. Next came the Oghuz Turks, who imparted their language upon the local population, a tribe of the Oghuz, the Seljuks, established a Turko-Iranian culture that culminated in the Khwarezmid Empire by the 12th century. Mongol hordes led by Genghis Khan conquered the area between 1219 and 1221 and devastated many of the cities led to a rapid decline of the remaining Iranian urban population. The Turkmen largely survived the Mongol period due to their lifestyle and became traders along the Caspian
Turkmen people
–
Oghuz Khan
Turkmen people
–
Ahmad Sanjar
Turkmen people
–
Magtymguly Pyragy
Turkmen people
–
Jafar al-Askari
41.
Isfendiyarids
–
The region is also known in Western literature as Paphlagonia, a name used for the same geographic area during the Roman period. The founder of the beylik is Şemseddin Yaman Candar, the collapsed in 1461 when the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II annexed the region. The Seljuq Sultan Masud II gave Kastamonu to Temür Yaman Jandar and this province, however, was already under the control of the Chobanids. Following Temürs death, his son Süleyman I conquered the province and annexed Safranbolu and Sinop, Süleyman then appointed his son Ibrahim I as governor to Sinop and a second son Ali to Safranbolu. Süleyman reigned under the authority of the Ilkhanate, the Mongols of Persia, following the death of Süleyman I, his sons Ibrahim I and Ali fought for the throne. In 1339 Ibrahim was victorious and took over the rule of Kastamonu, upon his death, his cousin Adil replaced him. When Adil died, his son Kötürüm Bayezid became bey, Bayezid left for Sinop, and thus the Jandarid Principality was divided. After Bayezids death in 1385, his son Isfendiyar succeeded him, based in Kastamonu, Süleyman II remained faithful to Murad I, his supporter in his revolt against his father, and participated in Ottoman campaigns in Europe in 1386 and 1389. Murads successor, the aggressive Beyazid I launched an assault in 1391 on Kastamonu as part of an effort to control the Anatolian beyliks, Süleyman II was killed and Jandarids rule in Kastamonu ended. Meanwhile, fearing conflict with the powerful Ottomans, Isfendiyar requested immunity from Beyazid in return for being subject to Ottoman reign, after Timur left Anatolia, during the Ottoman Interregnum, Isfendiyar stood close to all the four sons of Beyazid avoiding any conflict. When one of his sons, Kasım claimed control over Çankırı and Tosya, and declared the annexation of areas to the Ottoman Empire. But Isfendiyar revolted against the new sultan Murad II, only to be defeated, Isfendiyar died in 1439, to be succeeded by his son Ibrahim II, who upon his death was replaced by Ismail in 1443. After his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II turned to Anatolia to unite the Anatolian beyliks, according to new research, this seems to have happened in 1464. Descendants of the Jandarid dynasty live today as Citizens of the Turkish Republic mostly in Istanbul and in Europe, ayşe Sultan, who was the last identified descendant of the Jandarid dynasty having benefited from the status offered by the Ottoman Empire to the dynasty, died 1981 in Ankara. The flag of Jandarids may confuse many with what is now known as the Star of David. In medieval times however, this was not solely a Jewish symbol, another state known to use the seal on their flag was the Beylik of Karaman. The Jandarids was located at an important region in the northeast of Anatolia. They were quite significant in their area with their population and political influence, existing along other beyliks
Isfendiyarids
–
Flag according to the
Catalan Atlas.
42.
Knights Hospitaller
–
It was headquartered variously in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, until it became known by its current name. Some scholars, however, consider that the Amalfitan order and hospital were different from Gerard Thoms order and it regained strength during the early 19th century as it redirected itself toward religious and humanitarian causes. In 1834, the order, by this time known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, acquired new headquarters in Rome, in 800, Emperor Charlemagne enlarged Probus hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the hospital, in 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist and it was served by the Order of Saint Benedict. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem, under his successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem, but the order extended to providing pilgrims with an armed escort. Thus the Order of St. John imperceptibly became military without losing its charitable character. Raymond du Puy, who succeeded Gerard as Master of the Hospital in 1118, organised a militia from the orders members, in 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a silver cross in a field of red. The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land, frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185. The statutes of Roger de Moulins deal only with the service of the sick, the order numbered three distinct classes of membership, the military brothers, the brothers infirmarians, and the brothers chaplains, to whom was entrusted the divine service. In 1248 Pope Innocent IV approved a military dress for the Hospitallers to be worn during battle. Instead of a closed cape over their armour, they wore a red surcoat with a cross emblazoned on it. Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were built by the Templars, at the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers, the property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies. As early as the late 12th century the order had begun to achieve recognition in the Kingdom of England, as a result, buildings such as St Johns Jerusalem and the Knights Gate, Quenington in England were built on land donated to the order by local nobility. An Irish house was established at Kilmainham, near Dublin, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights were confined to the County of Tripoli and, when Acre was captured in 1291, the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus. His successor, Foulques de Villaret, executed the plan, and on 15 August 1310, after four years of campaigning
Knights Hospitaller
–
Grand Master and senior Knights Hospitaller in the 14th century
Knights Hospitaller
–
Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
–
Street of Knights in Rhodes
Knights Hospitaller
–
The Knights' castle at Rhodes
43.
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
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The Kingdom of Croatia was a medieval kingdom in Central Europe comprising most of what is today Croatia, as well as most of the modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Kingdom existed as a state for nearly two centuries. In the second half of the 11th century Croatia managed to secure most coastal cities of Dalmatia with the collapse of Byzantine control over them, during this time the kingdom reached its peak under the rule of kings Peter Krešimir IV and Demetrius Zvonimir. The state was ruled mostly by the Trpimirović dynasty until 1091, the precise terms of the relationship between the two realms became a matter of dispute in the 19th century. The nature of the relationship varied through time, Croatia retained a degree of internal autonomy overall. The first official name of the country was Kingdom of the Croats, such form of the name lasted until the death of King Stephen II in 1091. The Slavs arrived in the early 7th century in what is Croatia today, no contemporary written records about the migration have been preserved, especially not about the events as a whole and from the area itself. Instead, historians rely on records written several centuries after the facts, the Croats were a Slavic tribe, coming from an area in and around todays Poland or western Ukraine. Many modern scholars believe that the early Croat people, as well as other early Slavic groups, were agricultural populations that were ruled by the nomadic Iranian-speaking Alans. It is unclear whether the Alans contributed much more than a ruling caste or a class of warriors, the evidence on their contribution is mainly philological and etymological. The large scale movements of Slavs are associated with the Avars, the book De Administrando Imperio, written in the 10th century, is the most referenced source on the migration of Slavic peoples into southeastern Europe. The second wave of migration, possibly around year 620, began when the Croats were invited by the Emperor Heraclius to counter the Avar threat on the Byzantine Empire, the Emperor promised the Croats protection if they defeated the Avars, who had earlier expelled the population of Dalmatia. From those Croats who came to Dalmatia a part split off and settled in Illyricum, after they had fought one another for some years, the Croats prevailed and killed some of the Avars and the remainder they compelled to be subject to them. And so from that time land was possessed by the Croats. Thomas the Archdeacon, as well as the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja from the 12th century, the Chronicle speaks of a Gothic invasion. The earliest record of contact between the Roman Pope and the Croats dates from a mid-7th century entry in the Liber Pontificalis, Pope John IV sent an abbot named Martin to Dalmatia and Istria in order to pay ransom for some prisoners and for the remains of old Christian martyrs. This abbot is recorded to have travelled through Dalmatia with the help of the Croatian leaders, the Christianization of the Croats began after their arrival, probably in the 7th century, influenced by the proximity of the old Roman cities in Dalmatia. The process was completed in the north by the beginning of the 9th century and it is possible that these are all renditions of the same rulers name
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
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The Coming of the Croats to the Adriatic by
Oton Iveković
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
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Croatia at the height of its power
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
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The stone inscription of Duke
Branimir, c. 880
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
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Croatia shown on an old German map from 1886 (status after arrival of the
Hungarians at the end of the 9th century)
44.
John of Palisna
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John of Palisna was a Croatian knight and warrior, prior of Vrana, and Ban of Croatia. It is unclear when John of Palisna became prior of Vrana, in May 1381 he was already prior, because the citizens of Zadar were complaining about him to the King of Hungary and Croatia. He co-ruled with relative Ivan Anjou Horvat de Radics as a Ban of Croatia from 1385 to 1386, obviously, without the help from Bosnians, John was unable to resist Sigismunds allies, especially when he personally went away, to fight against the Ottomans. John of Palisna opposed the rule of Elizabeth of Bosnia and he was mainly opposed to the centralizing policy which Elizabeths husband had enforced. He hoped to regain local independence by rising against Elizabeth, John of Palisna asked Tvrtko for help but was ultimately defeated by Elizabeths army and forced to flee to Bosnia. Knights Hospitaller Klis Fortress Elizabeth of Bosnia Fine, John Van Antwerp, the Late Medieval Balkans, A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, hunyadi and Laszlovszky, Zsolt and József. The Crusades and the orders, expanding the frontiers of medieval latin christianity
John of Palisna
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John of Palisna statue in
Zagreb Cathedral.
45.
Knight
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A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a monarch or other political leader for service to the monarch or country, especially in a military capacity. Historically, in Europe, knighthood was conferred upon mounted warriors, during the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, often, a knight was a vassal who served as a fighter for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback, since the early modern period, the title of knight is purely honorific, usually bestowed by a monarch, as in the British honours system, often for non-military service to the country. The modern female equivalent in the United Kingdom is Dame, furthermore, Geoffroi de Charnys Book of Chivalry expounded upon the importance of Christian faith in every area of a knights life. This novel explored the ideals of knighthood and their incongruity with the reality of Cervantes world, in the late medieval period, new methods of warfare began to render classical knights in armour obsolete, but the titles remained in many nations. Some orders of knighthood, such as the Knights Templar, have become the subject of legend, each of these orders has its own criteria for eligibility, but knighthood is generally granted by a head of state or monarch to selected persons to recognise some meritorious achievement. This linkage is reflected in the etymology of chivalry, cavalier, the special prestige accorded to mounted warriors finds a parallel in the furusiyya in the Muslim world, and the Greek hippeus and Roman eques of classical antiquity. The word knight, from Old English cniht, is a cognate of the German word Knecht and this meaning, of unknown origin, is common among West Germanic languages. Middle High German had the phrase guoter kneht, which also meant knight, the Anglo-Saxon cniht had no connection to horsemanship, the word referred to any servant. A rādcniht, riding-servant, was a servant delivering messages or patrolling coastlines on horseback, a narrowing of the generic meaning servant to military follower of a king or other superior is visible by 1100. The specific military sense of a knight as a warrior in the heavy cavalry emerges only in the Hundred Years War. The verb to knight appears around 1300, and, from the same time, an Equestrian was a member of the second highest social class in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. This class is often translated as knight, the medieval knight, both Greek ἳππος and Latin equus are derived from the Proto-Indo-European word root ekwo-, horse. In the later Roman Empire, the classical Latin word for horse, equus, was replaced in common parlance by the vulgar Latin caballus, sometimes thought to derive from Gaulish caballos. From caballus arose terms in the various Romance languages cognate with the English cavalier, Italian cavaliere, Spanish caballero, French chevalier, Portuguese cavaleiro, the Germanic languages have terms cognate with the English rider, German Ritter, and Dutch and Scandinavian ridder. These words are derived from Germanic rīdan, to ride, in turn derived from the Proto-Indo-European root reidh-, in ancient Rome there was a knightly class Ordo Equestris from which European knighthood may have been derived. Some portions of the armies of Germanic peoples who occupied Europe from the 3rd century AD onward had been mounted, in the Early Medieval period any well-equipped horseman could be described as a knight, or miles in Latin
Knight
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David I of Scotland knighting a squire
Knight
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The English fighting the French knights at the
Battle of Crécy in 1346.
Knight
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Khosrau II dressed as a mounted Persian knight riding on his favourite horse, Shabdiz. One of the oldest known reliefs of a heavily armoured cavalryman, from the Sassanid empire, Taqé Bostan, Iran (4th century).
Knight
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A Norman knight slaying
Harold Godwinson (
Bayeux tapestry, c. 1070). The rank of knight developed in the 12th century from the mounted warriors of the 10th and 11th centuries.
46.
Archery
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Archery is the sport, practice or skill of using a bow to propel arrows. The word comes from the Latin arcus, historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity, a person who participates in archery is typically called an archer or a bowman, and a person who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite. The bow and arrow seems to have invented in the later Paleolithic or early Mesolithic periods. The oldest signs of its use in Europe come from the Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and dates from the late Paleolithic, about 10, 000–9000 BC. The arrows were made of pine and consisted of a mainshaft, there are no definite earlier bows, previous pointed shafts are known, but may have been launched by spear-throwers rather than bows. The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark, bows and arrows have been present in Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins. In the Levant, artifacts that could be arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the Natufian culture, the Khiamian and PPN A shouldered Khiam-points may well be arrowheads. Classical civilizations, notably the Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Parthians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, akkadians were the first to use composite bows in war according to the victory stele of Naram-Sin of Akkad. The Welsh longbow proved its worth for the first time in Continental warfare at the Battle of Crécy, in the Americas archery was widespread at European contact. Archery was highly developed in Asia, the Sanskrit term for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to martial arts in general. In East Asia, Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea was well known for its regiments of skilled archers. Central Asian tribesmen and American Plains Indians became extremely adept at archery on horseback, lightly armoured, but highly mobile archers were excellently suited to warfare in the Central Asian steppes, and they formed a large part of armies that repeatedly conquered large areas of Eurasia. Shorter bows are more suited to use on horseback, and the bow enabled mounted archers to use powerful weapons. It is possible that barbarian peoples were responsible for introducing archery or certain types of bows to their civilized counterparts—the Xiong-nu, similarly, short bows seem to have been introduced to Japan by northeast Asian groups. The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare, albeit efforts were made to preserve archery practice. In Wales and England, for example, the government tried to practice with the Longbow until the end of the 16th century. This was because it was recognised that the bow had been instrumental to military success during the Hundred Years War, early firearms were inferior in rate-of-fire, and were very susceptible to wet weather
Archery
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Archery competition in
Mönchengladbach, Germany, in 1983
Archery
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A
Rikbaktsa archer competes at Brazil's Indigenous Games
Archery
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Tibetan archer, 1938
Archery
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Master Heon Kim demonstrating
Gungdo, traditional Korean archery (Kuk Kung), 2009
47.
Janissaries
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The Janissaries were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultans household troops, bodyguards and the first standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established during the reign of Murad I and they began as an elite corps of slaves made up of conscripted young Christian boys, and became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries, forbidden to marry or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Sultan was expected. By the seventeenth century, due to a increase in the size of the Ottoman standing army. Civilians bought their way into the corps in order to benefit from the socioeconomic status it conferred upon them. Consequently, the corps gradually lost its character, undergoing a process which has been described as civilianization. The corps was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 in the Auspicious Incident in which 6,000 or more were executed, the formation of the Janissaries has been dated to the reign of Murad I, the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire. From the 1380s to 1648, the Janissaries were gathered through the system which was abolished in 1638. This was the taking of non-Muslim boys, notably Anatolian and Balkan Christians, Jews were never subject to devşirme, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in early days, all Christians were enrolled indiscriminately. Later, those from Albania, Bosnia, and Bulgaria were preferred, the Janissaries were kapıkulları, door servants or slaves of the Porte, neither freemen nor ordinary slaves. They were subjected to strict discipline, but were paid salaries and pensions upon retirement, as such, they became one of the ruling classes of the Ottoman Empire, rivalling the Turkish aristocracy. The brightest of the Janissaries were sent to the palace institution, through a system of meritocracy, the Janissaries held enormous power, stopping all efforts at reform of the military. These boys were taken from their parents and given to Turkish families in the provinces to learn Turkish language and customs. The recruits were indoctrinated into Islam, forced into circumcision and supervised 24 hours a day by eunuchs and they were subjected to severe discipline, being prohibited from growing a beard, taking up a skill other than soldiering, and marrying. As a result, the Janissaries were extremely well-disciplined troops, and became members of the askeri class, most were non-Muslims, because it was not permissible to enslave a Muslim. The Janissary system was introduced in the 14th century, the Janissary Corps was a trained and loyal group of slaves to the sultan. In the late 16th century, a sultan gave in to the pressures of the Corps and permitted Janissary children to members of the Corps. They also became rent-seeking and sought protection of their special rights, according to paintings of the era, they were also permitted to grow beards
Janissaries
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Janissaries
Janissaries
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Janissary, before 1657
Janissaries
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A Janissary
Ağa in the year 1768.
Janissaries
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Registration of boys for the devşirme. Ottoman miniature painting from the Süleymanname, 1558.
48.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
Florence
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A collage of Florence showing the
Galleria degli Uffizi (top left), followed by the
Palazzo Pitti, a sunset view of the city and the
Fountain of Neptune in the
Piazza della Signoria
Florence
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A wooden model of Florence as it would have probably looked during Roman times, showing the ancient amphitheatre
Florence
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The façade of the Cathedral
Florence
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Leonardo da Vinci statue outside the
Uffizi Gallery.
49.
Tvrtko I of Bosnia
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Stephen Tvrtko I was the first King of Bosnia, and is widely considered one of the countrys greatest medieval rulers. A member of the House of Kotromanić, Tvrtko succeeded his uncle Stephen II as Ban of Bosnia in 1353, as he was a minor at the time, his father, Vladislav, briefly ruled as regent, followed by his mother, Jelena. Early in his personal rule Tvrtko quarreled with Roman Catholic clergy, after initial difficulties – the loss of large parts of Bosnia to his overlord, King Louis I of Hungary, and a brief deposition by magnates – Tvrtkos power grew considerably. He conquered some remnants of the neighbouring Serbian Empire in 1373, after the death of its last ruler and his distant relative, in 1377 he had himself crowned King of Bosnia and of Serbia, claiming to be the heir of the extinct Serbian Nemanjić dynasty. The expansion of the Kingdom of Bosnia continued, with the King focusing on the coast, the death of King Louis and accession of Queen Mary in 1382 allowed Tvrtko to take advantage of the ensuing succession crisis in Hungary and Croatia. After bitter fighting from 1385 to 1390, Tvrtko succeeded in conquering large parts of Slavonia, Dalmatia and Croatia proper. Following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, his tenuous claim to Serbia became a mere fiction, the Ottoman Turks also launched their first attacks on Bosnia during Tvrtko Is reign, but his army was able to repel them. Tvrtkos sudden death in 1391 prevented him from solidifying the Kotromanić hold on Croatian lands, Tvrtko I extended medieval Bosnias borders to their farthest limits, left a strong economy and improved the living standards of his subjects. He was survived by at least one son, Tvrtko II, Tvrtko was the elder son of Vladislav Kotromanić and Jelena Šubić, likely born within a year of their marriage, which was celerated in 1337. The couple were the brother of the Bosnian ban Stephen II, Tvrtko was most likely raised as a Roman Catholic, his mother belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and his uncle Stephen joined it shortly after Tvrtkos birth. Stephen died in September 1353, leaving no sons. Although Vladislav was still alive, Stephens title passed directly to Tvrtko, Tvrtko, however, was only about fifteen years old at the time, so his father assumed the government as regent. Soon after his accession, Tvrtko was taken by his father through the realm to settle relations with his vassals, Jelena replaced Vladislav as regent upon his death in 1354. She immediately traveled to Hungary to obtain consent to Tvrtkos accession from King Louis I, his overlord. Following her return, Jelena held an assembly in Mile, with mother and son confirming the possessions and privileges of the noblemen of all of Bosnia, Donji Kraji, Zagorje and the Hum land. The death of Tvrtkos maternal uncle, Mladen III Šubić, in 1348 led to a decline of the noble family. In May 1355, Jelena and Tvrtko marched with an army to Duvno in order to claim his share of his uncles patrimony, the state assembled by Tvrtkos uncle Stephen broke apart on Tvrtkos accession, much to the satisfaction of his overlord Louis. The Hungarians were keen to encourage Stephens vassals to act independently from Tvrtko, Louis posed a more direct threat as well, he was determined to enlarge the royal domain and throughout his realm he ardently reclaimed all lands that once belonged to the monarch
Tvrtko I of Bosnia
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Seal of king Tvrtko I
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Ottoman Empire
Moravian Serbia.svg){kind=small}
District of Branković
Kingdom of Bosnia
