| 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 † | Lala Şahin 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 inShkodër 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 Shkodër 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 battle took place near the Maritsa River, about 20 miles west of Adrianople.[10] Ottomanghazi warriors underLala Şahin Pasha andHacı İlbey attacked the Serbian camp at night while most of the soldiers were asleep. The army was massacred along with its commanders.[11][c] The engagement resulted in the annihilation of the Serbian forces, described byJohn 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.[14]
Estimates of the armies' sizes vary widely. 14th-century SerbianMonk Isaiah claimed 60,000 Serbs, while 15th-centuryByzantine Greek scholarLaonikos Chalkokondyles wrote of 800 Ottomans led by "Süleyman", an anachronism likely based on a later Ottoman source.[15] Fine notes that the allied army was "large but probably nowhere near the sixty thousand claimed by the monk Isaiah",[13] Aleksandar Šopov, citing Byzantine accounts, notes that for this period even armies numbering only a few thousand men were regarded as large, and that no contemporary source provides reliable figures for the battle.[16] Nicol adds that later Ottoman chroniclers claimed there were 60,000 Serbian soldiers to 4,000 Ottomans, but argues that, since Sultan Murad was absent and the Turkish force was a mixed body under Hacı İlbey and Lala Şahin, "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. 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.[17] Ottoman expansion continued into Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece, where some rulers also accepted vassalage.[18][19] 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.[20]
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