Coverpage Introduction Vuk Brankovich Milosh Obilich Prince Lazar The Kosovo Maiden (As you step out of the mists of time, you find yourself at the top of a hill, overlooking a wide, flat plain. The plain is scattered with the bodies of dead and dying men and horses. Some of the men are dressed loosely, wearing turbans, but most are clad in western style armor. Clearly a massive battle has taken place here. The moans of the dying haunt your ears as you see a plainly dressed but pretty young woman delicately picking her way through the carnage. She reverently checks each of the armored men, providing water to the survivors, and gently tends their wounds. Once she has done all she can, she moves to the next man. As if hypnotized, you approach her.) "Hello, stranger," she says shyly. "Welcome to The Field of the Blackbirds. I apologize for my poor hospitality, but Kosovo has just fallen to the invading Turks." (You look around at the battlefield with an expression of shock on your face.) "I know. It is difficult to comprehend how, with God on our side, we could have been defeated in such a great battle. But, before you judge us too harshly, you must understand that it was not God's wrath that cost us our nation on this great day. Rather it was the treachery of that villain, Vuk Brankovich!" (She turns an spits on the ground, clearly uncomfortable with the crude gesture. She slowly points to a wooded area to the west.) "There," she sobs, "there is where the treason was committed! It was from that position that Vuk Brankovich abandoned his lord in his greatest hour of need. He fled with twelve thousand knights, leaving the blessed Prince Lazar to his death! Lazar! Betrayed by his own son-in-law!" "Why you ask? To save his own sorry hide, the coward! May the demons of Hell pursue him for the rest of his days!" (She pauses to examine a soldier who is clearly dead. She looks hard into his face before moving to the next man.) "If only Prince Lazar, blessed be his name, had listened to his men - had listened to Milosh Obilich! Milosh the brave and gallant tried to warn him. Last night, a great feast was held. At the feast, Lazar was toasting each of his greatest generals. Milosh, ever the loyal servant, returned the toast, but with a dire warning. He told Lazar that Vuk Brankovich would betray him at the battle. Brankovich, seated at Lazar's left, as Judas was to Jesus, denied it, but Milosh swore that he would kill the Sultan in the battle, and return for the traitor's head!" (The young maiden bows her head and begins to cry softly.) "But Great Lazar would not listen. He trusted Brankovich the Devil, even to the end. I was there when the great general Vladeta delivered the news to the Tsaritsa Militsa that her husband Lazar would not be coming home ever again. Poor Militsa! Who will protect her from the Turks - or worse, from Brankovich the Deceiver!? Indeed, who will protect us all?" "Walk with me a while longer, stranger. This tale is full of woe, but I will also tell you of the glory, tarnished as it may be." (She walks on, continuing her grim task, aiding those she can, and closing the eyes of those she cannot.) Author's note: This story is adapted from several poems of the Battle of Kosovo, including Supper in Krushevats, Tsar Lazar and Tsaritsa Militsa, and Tsaritsa Militsa and Vladeta the Voyvoda [general]. Vuk Brankovich is remembered in these poems and in Serbian culture as the traitor represented here, in spite of the fact that history has exonerated him. In reality, Brankovich fled once the battle was clearly lost, but he continued to fight the Turks, becoming one of the last Serbians to surrender to Turkish rule. This shows how easily myths and legends can become incorporated into a group's collective culture. In this instance, the Serbians needed Brankovich to fill the role of villain to believe that God had not abandoned them, and to provide a lesson to future generations that unity was the only way to survive. Sadly, cultural traditions such as this can also lead to an overblown sense of nationalism. It was this dangerous nationalism that violently tore Yugoslavia apart at the seams in the 1990s. Despite all of this, the Battle of Kosovo remains an integral part of Serbian culture. Its position in their cultural history is so important that the image above (Holy Communion Before the Battle of Kosovo) is a mural in a Serbian Orthodox Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. It is the only mural in the church that does not depict a biblical event. Bibliography: John Matthias and Vladeta Vuckovic, translators (1987), The Battle of Kosovo: Serbian Epic Poems. |