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| Battle of Sırpsındığı | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSerbian–Ottoman wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Serbian Empire Bulgarian Empire Principality of Wallachia |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Vukašin MrnjavčevićUglješa MrnjavčevićIvan Alexander | Hacı İlbey | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000 to 60,000 | 5,000–10,000[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Over thousands killed and drowned, remainder of the army escaped | Unknown | ||||||
Sırpsındığı was according to Ottoman sources, a sudden night raid by anOttoman force led byHacı İlbey on a Serbian contingent at the banks of theMaritsa river about 15 kilometres from the city ofAdrianople. It occurred in 1364 between an expeditionary force of theOttomans and a Serbian army that also includedcrusaders, sent by the Pope. The Ottomans destroyed the Serbian army, which is why the battle was known as "sırp sındığı" (destruction ofSerbs). The battle was the first attempt to throw the Ottomans from the Balkans with an allied army. There is no record of this battle in any Serbian, Hungarian, papal, or other European sources.
InOttoman TurkishSırp means "Serbian" andsındı means "destruction", hencesırpsındığı means "destruction of Serbs"[2] or 'Rout of the Serbs'[3][4] that symbolises the casualties of Serbian soldiers in this battle.
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When the Ottomans capturedAdrianople in 1362, a strategic main road from Constantinople to Europe was cut. A large number of nomadicTurkoman immigrants began to settle inThrace very quickly. The Ottomans also attacked Serbian, Bulgarian andByzantine lands. The enlargement policy of the Ottomans caused fear and counter reactions of the other nations in theBalkans. When the Ottomans capturedPlovdiv in 1363, theByzantine garrison commander inPlovdiv fled to Serbia. He constantly advised and encouraged the Serbians and Bulgarians to attack the outnumbered Ottoman forces quickly with an allied force before the Ottomans fortified their positions. The Serbians and Bulgarians therefore agreed to send an allied force to push the Ottomans from theBalkans. With the encouragement and efforts of the PopeUrban V, thePrincipality of Wallachia and theBan of Bosnia agreed to send some troops to support that allied force. TheKingdom of Hungary, which was also fighting for leadership in the Balkans, supported that army by sending troops.
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Acrusading army consisting of 30,000–60,000 troops began to move onAdrianople; at that time the Ottoman sultanMurad I was fighting the Catalan mercenaries in theByzantine army atBiga, (Çanakkale). Most of the Ottoman army was in Asia Minor. Lala Sahin Pasha who was the firstBeylerbey ofRumelia, demanded Sultan to send him some reinforcements. Lala Şahin Paşa appointed “Hacı İlbey” to be the commander of an expeditionary force that was supposed to monitor and slow down the allied army.
Despite all efforts, the allied army crossed the Maritsa river very easily without any important resistance, and made a camp inSarayakpinar (old name: Sirpsindiği) village in Edirne near the banks of Maritsa river. They were very near to Adrianople. The army leaders made an early feast that night. They hoped to take Adrianople with ease. They neglected to take any measures that might protect the camp, but the camp was being monitored by expeditionary forces. Hacı Ilbey decided to make a surprise attack without waiting for any reinforcements. Ottomanakinjis attacked the allied camp in the darkness of night, and they each carried two torches for the purpose of deceiving the enemy into thinking that they had double their actual numbers. The trick worked, and this surprise attack threw the allied army into a panic given that they were drunk or asleep because of the feast. They supposed that the Ottoman SultanMurad I had arrived there with a large army. Most of the allied troops tried to retreat back to the road where they came from, though many of them were drowned in the Maritsa river while trying to swim to the opposite side. A majority of the soldiers were Serbians.
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Despite his victory, Hacı İlbey lived only one year after that battle for in 1365 he was poisoned by Lala Sahin Pasha who was jealous of his victory. Adrianople became a capital of the Ottomans. The Bulgarians agreed to pay tribute to the Ottomans and this battle hastened the fall of Bulgaria because the Ottomans started to occupy upper Bulgaria. The high number of Serbian casualties in this battle was one of the main reasons for theBattle of Maritsa, a battle where the Serbs and their allies would attempt to avenge the loss for this battle.
At the instigation of Pope Urban V, a crusading army of Hungarians, Serbians, Bosnians and Wallachians was formed and in 1364 it set forth to recapture Adrianople. It marched undisturbed to the Maritsa, but there it was surprised by a night attack and cut to pieces. ...Nevertheless the Serbs resolved to stop Turks in the valley of the Maritsa and marched as far as "Chernomen" between Philippolis and Adrianople. There at dawn on September 26, 1371, a greatly inferior Turkish force surprised them and slaughtered large numbers...[2]
There is no single record of this battle in Serbian and Hungarian sources. All information about the battle of 1364 is based on Ottoman sources. Some of that information collisions with the medieval history of Hungary, Bosnia,Wallachia, and Serbia. According to European sources, kingLouis I of Hungary was in the war against banTvrtko I of Bosnia andBosnian heretics in 1363. The army under Louis's personal command besiegedSokolac in Bosnia in July 1363.[6] According to Ottoman sources, both of them participated in battle of 1364. It is accepted thatVukašin of Serbia became a co-ruler of Serbia and king in August or September 1365.[7] According to Ottoman sources, he is a king and the leader of Christian forces, even though they claim that king of Hungary participated in the battle. Louis signed a treaty with Emperor Charles and Rudolf IV of Austria in Brno in early 1364, which ended their conflicts. Around September 22–27, 1364, Louis participated at theCongress of Krakow,[8] where the European monarch discussed possible crusade against Turks.
... esnada, Papa V. Urbain'in teşviki ile hareket eden ve çoğunluğu Sırp olan bir Haçlı ordusu 1364 tarihinde Sırp-Sındığı denilen mahalde Hacı il Bey kumandasındaki 10.000 kişilik Türk ordusunun ani bir gece baskını sonunda yok edilmişti.