| Battle of Maritsa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSerbian–Ottoman wars | |||||||
 Map showing Serbian and Ottoman movements and allied territories prior to the Battle of Maritsa. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Serbian Empire |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Vukašin Mrnjavčević †Uglješa Mrnjavčević † | Shahin PashaHacı İlbey | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 50,000–70,000 | 800–4,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Extremely heavy[1] | Unknown | ||||||
TheBattle of Maritsa, also known as theBattle of Chernomen (Serbian:Marička bitka / Маричка битка;Turkish:Çirmen Muharebesi, İkinci Meriç Muharebesi; "Second Battle of Maritsa"[a]), was fought on 26 September 1371 near theMaritsa River, close to the village of Chernomen (present-dayOrmenio, Greece). The conflict pitted theOttoman forces underLala Şahin Pasha andHacı İlbey against a coalition ofSerbian lords, led by KingVukašin Mrnjavčević and his brother DespotJovan Uglješa who sought to halt the Ottomans' westward advance. The battle ended in a decisive Ottoman victory in which both Serbian commanders were killed, marking the decline of Serbian power inMacedonia and paving the way for Ottoman expansion into the central Balkans.
The Battle of Maritsa took place during the formative phase of theOttoman Empire's expansion into the Balkans. In 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe and seizedGallipoli. From there, they advanced throughThrace, capturingDemotika,Philippopolis, and finallyAdrianople by 1369.[3] From the Ottoman perspective, these campaigns were regarded as part of aholy war for the spread of Islam and were accompanied by the settlement of Turkish nomads and the creation of frontier provinces under commanders such asLala Şahin Pasha.[4] By 1370, most of Thrace, stretching from theRhodope to theBalkan Mountains, was under Ottoman control, bringing them into direct contact with the lands of the Serbian lords.[5]
TheSerbian Empire had entered a period of decline following the death of EmperorStefan Dušan in 1355. His successor,Stefan Uroš V, was unable to maintain central authority, and the empire fragmented as its vassals asserted independence.[6] Recognising the growing Turkish threat, DespotUglješa, the Serbian ruler ofSerres, sought to form a coalition to drive them out of Europe, but his efforts to secureByzantine andBulgarian support failed.[b] Most otherSerbian nobles were preoccupied with internal rivalries, and only his brotherVukašin joined him.[5]
In the summer of 1371, Vukašin marched to thePrincipality of Zeta to support his relativeĐurađ Balšić in a conflict withNikola Altomanović. His army was in Skadar (modernShkodër) preparing for action when Uglješa summoned him. Believing Ottoman control in the region was weak whileMurad I was inAsia Minor, Uglješa saw an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Ottoman capital, Adrianople (modernEdirne).[8] Vukašin left Skadar to join him, and the combined Serbian forces advanced east across the Thracian plain, meeting the Ottoman army near theMaritsa River at Chernomen (modernOrmenio).[9] The Ottoman force was not a centrally led imperial army, as Sultan Murad was campaigning elsewhere, but a mixed provincial contingent under the command ofLala Şahin Pasha andHacı İlbey.[10]
Estimates of the armies' sizes vary widely and are regarded as unreliable, as no contemporary source provides dependable figures for the battle.[11] The 14th-century SerbianMonk Isaiah claimed 60,000 Serbs, a figure generally treated by modern historians as rhetorical exaggeration. In the 15th century, the Byzantine scholarLaonikos Chalkokondyles wrote of 800 Ottomans under a commander named "Süleyman", an anachronism likely derived from later Ottoman narrative traditions.[12] Later Ottoman chroniclers similarly offered highly asymmetrical figures, often claiming 60,000 Serbian troops against 4,000 Ottomans.[10]
John Fine argues that while the Christian coalition was probably large by contemporary standards, it was "nowhere near" Isaiah's total.[13] Aleksandar Šopov regards medieval numerical claims as exaggerated, observing that in the late 14th century even armies of a few thousand men were considered large and that the forces at Maritsa most probably did not exceed ten thousand soldiers.[14]
The battle took place near theMaritsa River, about 20 miles west of Adrianople.[10] Ottomanghazi warriors attacked the Serbian camp at night while most of the soldiers were asleep. The army was massacred along with its commanders.[15][c] The engagement resulted in the annihilation of the Serbian forces, described by Fine as a crushing defeat attributed in later accounts to the Serbs being caught unprepared.[13]
Donald Nicol characterises the engagement as a catastrophic blow for the Serbs and for the whole cause of eastern Christendom, citingKonstantin Jireček, who wrote that both princes perished and that their men were slaughtered "in such numbers that the river ran red with their blood."[10]Alexander Mikaberidze similarly concludes that, despite the Serbs' attempted surprise attack, superior Ottoman tactics produced a decisive victory.[8] Turkish historian and Ottomanist Abdülkadir Özcan notes that Ottoman accounts claiming that Şahin Paşa and Hacı İlbey defeated the Christian army by a sudden raid are questionable.[17] Nicol also argues that "it is hard to maintain that this was a victory for the Ottomans", even though it proved disastrous for the Serbs.[10]
The Battle of Maritsa marked a significant stage in the Ottoman expansion across the Balkans. With the forces of King Vukašin and Despot Uglješa defeated and both leaders killed, Ottoman troops advanced into Macedonia and parts ofcentral Serbia. According to historian Ion Grumeza, the Serbian Empire lost a large proportion of its ruling aristocracy as a result of the battle.[18] In the aftermath, several regional lords, including Vukašin's sonPrince Marko, becameOttoman vassals, obliged to provide tribute and military service.[10]
The defeat deepened the political fragmentation of the Serbian lands. EmperorUroš V died childless later that year, ending theNemanjić line, while nobles such as PrinceLazar, theBalšići and theBrankovići established their own principalities.[19] Ottoman expansion continued into Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece, where some rulers also accepted vassalage.[20][21] Over the following decades, fragmented resistance continued among regional rulers, culminating in Prince Lazar's stand against the Ottomans at theBattle of Kosovo in 1389.[22]
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