Taken from Etto.ba. Authored by Avdo Huseinović. Translation Petrit Latifi

The Serbian painting “Kosovo Girl” painted by Uros Predic in 1919 appears to have been inspired by Ferd Kikerecs painting “Sister of Vucjeg Dola” from 1879, according to a publication by Avdo Huseinovic. The article, titled “Fictional Obilić and the Kosovo Girl” goes on to discredit the Serbian propaganda myth of Milos Obilic, stating that this characters heroism and alleged sacrifice was exaggerated through a Russian monks rumor. Obilic was unknown for centuries in Serbian society.

Cited from the article:

“At the end of the Battle of Kosovo, Kosovo remained in the hands of the Ottomans. Everything else about the event is uncertain: who participated, how many armies there were, how the battle unfolded, what were the main turning points in the battle, when and how death befell Lazar and Murat?

The Serbian scenario goes like this. Lazar Hrebeljanović gathers the Serbs. They go against a far stronger opponent because “the sacred place they are defending is important” and “the kingdom of heaven”. The night before the battle, Vuk Branković accuses the greatest hero among them, Miloš Obilić, of betraying Lazar on the battlefield. Obilić swears that he will kill Murat. After that – Obilić, under the guise of surrender, approaches Murat and kills him, Branković withdraws from the battle, Prince Lazar is captured and killed, and Bayezid kills his brother Jakub.

“Everything that was worth in Kosovo perished”, says the Kosovo Vidovdan myth.

“Prince Lazar died when, during the battle, Bayezid captured him and then executed him. We do not know where exactly this happened, while Murat was sentenced by the hands of Serbian warriors who broke through the Turkish ranks.

When talking about the murder of Emir Murat, all historical sources that were written immediately after the battle mention 12 Serbian nobles who vowed to kill him, and that they did it. In the 15th century, Constantine the Philosopher mentions 1 for the first time instead of 12 nobles, but does not give his name.”

“In the 16th century, the nobleman was given the name Miloš, and in the 18th century he was given the surname Obilić, Kobilić, Obiljević and the like. What is certain is that the identity of these nobles is unknown, so Obilić certainly cannot have “credit” for the death of Emir Murat. Early Ottoman historians provide very little information about the Battle of Kosovo. The first rumor is spread by a Russian monk, who 12 days later passes through the site of the battle, providing information that both rulers lost their lives.”

“Miloš Obilić himself is not a historical figure at all. The name Miloš himself appears among Serbs about 100 years after the Battle of Kosovo, and the surnames Obilić, Kobilić, Kobilović much, much later – says Serbian historian Aleksandar Uzelac.

Miloš Obilić is in became famous among the Serbian people only when Njegoš included him in his verses, 457 years after the Battle of Kosovo. In “Gorski vijenac”, Miloš Obilić is a hero who inspires and ennobles new Serbian generations.

“Obilić, fiery dragon, whose eyes shine when he looks at you, heroes will always celebrate you”.

Just as no one in Serbia knew about St. Vid’s Day until the second half of the 19th century, so no Serbian or Russian source from the 16th and 17th centuries knows the name of the murderer of the Turkish emperor Murat in Kosovo. No travel writer states that Miloš was mentioned by folk singers in Serbia at that time.

In “Gorski vijenac”, Njegoš will produce Obilić’s cult of light. At a time when the Kosovo myth became a “core national myth”, it was accompanied by the killer slogan “For the honorable cross and golden freedom!” The book “The Battle of Kosovo in the Albanian Epic” by sociologist, journalist and political analyst Anna di Lelio caused a real sensation when it was published in 2010.

In this primarily professional literature, citing a wealth of sources, the author explains not only how the Battle of Kosovo looked like according to Albanian historians, intellectuals, teachers, writers, but also the oldest inhabitants of Kosovo, but also why certain Albanian structures consider Miloš Obilić, or as the Albanians call him Miloš (sometimes also Mileš) Kopilić – an Albanian hero.

In today’s Kosovo textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education of Kosovo, according to Anna, Obilić is presented as Miloš Kopilić, a hero of Albanian origin, born in the village of Kopilić.

Literary historian Miodrag Popović, establishing a chronology variant of Miloš’s name, says that the name Miloš Obilić appears only after 1723, and in the printed text, as Ilarion Ruvarac established, he is mentioned under that name in the history of Pavle Julinac, published in 1765, eleven years after Vasilije’s “History of Montenegro”, which means that his name has been around for centuries.

Obviously, when things are like this – the first Serbian documents do not mention the existence of Murat’s murderer, the place of the hero’s birth is unknown, and his name has been around for centuries – the question remains open whether Miloš Obilić existed at all or was invented by Turkish folk tradition, which needed the cursed infidel, as a cruel murderer, in order to save the knightly honor and dignity of the Turkish emperor.

According to Turkish folk tradition, which was also accepted by chroniclers, Murat was killed on horseback, like a true warrior. He does not die on the eve of battle, as in the Serbian legend, but after the victory over the infidels. The Padishah falls as a victim of his generosity; he allows the defeated infidel to approach him, who then kills him agonizingly.

Doubts about Miloš and his feat as a historical fact are particularly aroused by the fact that none of the first Serbian documents mention Miloš. Only forty years after the Battle of Kosovo, Constantine the Philosopher will mention the knight who killed Murat, but he will not tell him his name.

Why does the “Chronicle of Peć” not mention this knight which was written before 1405 or some of the earlier Serbian sources about the Battle of Kosovo? Miloš’s name will not be found in later Serbian sources either. Serbian chronicles until the 18th century or, to be more careful, until the last decade of the 17th century, do not mention Miloš Obilić, nor do they speak of Murat’s killer – concludes Miodrag Popović.

Painting “Kosovo Girl”

The Kosovo Girl is the main character in the Serbian folk song of the same name. In the mythological setting, she is a young girl who, after the battle in Kosovo, wanders around the battlefield, sings and sees the wounds of wounded warriors, looking for her fiancé, best man and brother-in-law – Toplica Milan, Miloš Obilić and Kosančić Ivan.

Finally, she comes across a seriously wounded warrior, according to the folk song of the knight Pavle Orlović, and while she helps him, he reveals to her that all three heroes she is looking for were killed in battle. After the confession, Pavle also dies in her arms.

Kosovo myth

The poem “The Kosovo Girl” served as inspiration for the painter Uroš Predić, who presented the painting of the same name to the world in 1919. It should not be particularly noted that this is another fictional character. A contemporary Serbian historian from the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy and author of several books, the late Olivera Milosavljević, has devoted her research to the role of national myths. Milosavljević reminds us that “the Kosovo myth was not created by the people, but by the elite in order to manipulate the people”.

A part of the Serbian nobility was in a vassal relationship with the Ottomans, so they fought on their side. After the Battle of Kosovo, along with the rest of the Balkans, Serbia fell under Ottoman rule. Rarely, when and where, in recent decades, Serbian historians have mentioned the Battle of Nikopolje, which was much more important for the Ottomans than the one at Gazimestan.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Serbs fought continuously as allies of the Ottomans. The Ottoman vassal Despot Đurađ Branković, with his troops, contributed to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In 1396, the famous Battle of Nikopol took place. The Ottomans and Serbs fought together against all of Christian Europe. Then, from the right flank, the Serbian army came to the aid of Sultan Bayezid, under the command of his brother-in-law Despot Stefan Lazarević.

In the decisive battle, which took place on September 28, 1396, the Ottomans turned their defeat into victory and defeated the Crusader army. The Battle of Angora, today Ankara. In 1402, Despot Stefan Lazarević again voluntarily participated on the side of the Ottomans and fought for them until the last drop of blood. Will Durant, in his monumental work “The History of Civilization”, gives more space to the Battle of Nikopol than to any other battle of that time in Europe: “A united Christian army of 60,000 men passed through Serbia and besieged the Turkish garrison in Nikopol.

When the French knights, intoxicated with wine and women, were warned that Bayezid was coming with an army from Asia to lift the siege, they promised to destroy it. For his part, Bayezid swore to tie his horse to the altar of St. Peter in Rome… The French knights rushed through the Turkish ranks, but 40,000 spearmen awaited them on the other side of the hill.

Stefan Lazarevics battle against the Christian armies in 1396

The Hungarians and Germans somehow managed to push the Turks back, but then the Serbian king Stefan Lazarević led 5,000 Christians against the Christian army and won the decisive battle of Nikopol (1396) for the sultan. From that day until 1878 (when and Serbia) was a province of the Ottoman Empire” – writes Djurant.