King Vukasin and the Disastrous Battle of Marica
Essay from the year 2007 in the subject History Europe - Other Countries - Middle Ages, Early Modern Age, grade: keine, language: English, abstract: It is a historical fact that the two armies - Turkish and Serbian - clashed near the village Černomen (Chirmen, Chernomen, Chermanon) at the River Marica (Mariç, Ebros, Hebros) on Friday the 26th, September 1371, and that a slaughter beyond description took place. The Serbian army suffered a true massacre in which both brothers King Vlkasin and Despot Ugljesa were slain. The battle is today commonly called the Battle of Marica (after the river Marica in today's Bulgaria) or the Battle of Chernomen (after a nearby small village on the lower Marica River). In trying to accurately convey the course of the battle one has to be contented with the contradictory assertions of the chronicles. What we can say with certainty is that Sultan Mūrad "did not participate in the clash, as he was not yet in Rumili. It seems that he was occupied with matters concerning Anatolia." Elizabeth Zachariadou points out that the battle was not fought by the regular Ottoman army but by the army of the gazis. Vlkasin was surprised by the greatly outnumbered Ottomans. Namely, led by Sultan Murad I's Lieutenant Lala-Şâhin-Bey - Beylerbeyi (governor) of Rumeli - the Osmanlis attacked the Serbian camps in a night raid and managed to achieve victory against all odds. After this defeat, the Mrnjavčevics virtually vanished from the political scene. Not the Ottomans, but Manuel Palaeologus made use of this defeat of the Serbs to add Serres (Despot Ugljesa's land) to his appanage at Thessalonica.
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accept According accounts action advance alliance Altomanoviü appeared army attempt Aúikpaúazade Balkan Battle of Marica became Bosnians brothers Bulgaria Byzantine Byzantium called Cambridge century Christian chronicles Church conquests Constantin Constantinople Count court crusade daughter death decisive defeat Despot Uglješa died dominion Dušan’s dynasty Edirne Emperor empire Europe event fact followed further Gazi Geschichte Greek GRIN happened History Hungarians Hungary important independent issued Jireþek John King King Vlkašin known Kraljeviü Kydones Lala lands Lazar London Louis Macedonia managed matter Mavro means mentions military Monastery Mrnjavþeviüs Nemanjiü Nikola nobles Orbini Ottomans Patriarch points Popoviü powerful prevent Prince Marko question Ragusa Rascia refer reign river Rule ruler Serbian Serbs Serres Shaw similar Soucek sought sources speaks Stefan success territories thing throne Today translation Tsar Uroš Turkish Turks Uroš’s vassal Verlag Vladislav Vlkašin Vlkašin and Uglješa Vukasin wanted writes