Battle of Maritsa

Coordinates: 41°43′N 26°13′E / 41.717°N 26.217°E / 41.717; 26.217
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Battle of Maritsa
Part of the
Serbian-Ottoman Wars

Balkans in September of 1371
Date26 September 1371
Location
Maritsa River (near Chernomen; present-day Ormenio, Greece
)
Result Ottoman victory[1]
Belligerents
 Serbian Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Vukašin Mrnjavčević †
Uglješa Mrnjavčević †
Alexander Komnenos Asen †
Evrenuz
Strength

50,000–70,000[2][3][4][5][6]

Modern estimate:

20,000[7]		 800–4,000
Casualties and losses
Heavy combat losses[8]
thousands drowned[9]		 Unknown

The Battle of Maritsa or Battle of Chernomen (

Jovan Uglješa.[10][11][12][13]

Background

In 1354, the Ottomans acquired

Adrianople
in 1369. They reached the borders of Uglješa's lands. Uglješa tried to create a coalition against them, but failed to secure support from the Byzantines and the Bulgarians. Most of the Serbian lords were occupied fighting each other and the only Serbian lord who supported Uglješa's ideas was his brother Vukašin.

In the summer of 1371, Vukašin marched to Zeta, to support his relative

Skadar, waiting for naval support from the Republic of Ragusa. Uglješa received information that the majority of Ottoman forces left Europe and marched to Anatolia. He decided it was a good time to execute his offensive plans and asked Vukašin for help. Vukašin left Skadar with his army and joined Uglješa. They marched against Adrianople.[11]

Battle

The Serbian army numbered between 50,000

Byzantine Greek scholar Laonikos Chalkokondyles[2] and different sources[15] give the number of 800 up to 4,000 men,[16] but due to most of the Serbian soldiers becoming intoxicated, Şâhin Paşha conducted a night raid on the Serbian camp, slaughtering a large part of the Serbian Army, killing King Vukašin and despot Uglješa. Thousands of Serbs were killed, and thousands drowned in the Maritsa river when they tried to flee. After the battle, it was said, the Maritsa ran scarlet with blood.[9][17]

Aftermath

South Serbia fell under Ottoman power after this battle. The battle was a part of the Ottoman campaign to conquer the

Serrai (today in Greece) in the 1380s. The battle also preceded the later 1389 Battle of Kosovo, and was one of many in the Serbian–Turkish wars
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sedlar, Jean W., East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, (University of Washington Press, 1994), 385.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-3-640-49264-0
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-85229-571-7
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7618-5134-9
    .
  5. ^ a b DeVos, Julius Emil. Fifteen hundred years of Europe. O'Donnell Press, 1924, p. 110.
  6. ^ a b Kaemmel, Otto. Spamer's Illustrierte Weltgeschichte: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Kulturgeschichte, O. Spamer, 1902, p. 740 (in German)
  7. ^ Boskovic, Vladislav. King Vukasin and the disastrous Battle of Marica (англ.). — GRIN Verlag, 2009. — P. 11. — ISBN 978-3-640-49264-0.
  8. ^ Rossos, Andrew, Macedonia and the Macedonians. Hoover Institution Press Publications, 2008. p. 40.
  9. ^ a b Hertzberg, Gustav Friedrich. Geschichte Griechenlands: Th. Vom lateinischen Kreuzzuge bis zur Vollendung der osmanischen Eroberung (1204–1740). F.A. Perthes, 1877, p. 323 (in German)
  10. ^ Jirecek, Konstantin. History of the Bulgarians, p. 382
  11. ^ a b Fine, J. V. A. The Late Mediaeval Balkan's, p. 379
  12. ^ Stavrianos, L. S., The Balkans since 1453, p. 44
  13. ^ Jirecek, Konstantin. Geschichte der Serben, pp. 437–438
  14. ISBN 978-0-85229-571-7
    .
  15. ISBN 978-3-7003-0007-6
    .
  16. ^ Donald MacGillivray Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261–1453; Hart-Davis, 1972, p. 286.
  17. ^ Temperley, Harold William Vazeille. History of Serbia, H. Fertig, 1917, p. 97.

References

  • Rossos, Andrew, Macedonia and the Macedonians, Hoover Institution Press Publications, 2008.
  • Sedlar, Jean W., East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, University of Washington Press, 1994.
  • Stavrianos, L. S. The Balkans Since 1453, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000.
  • Turnbull, Stephen R. The Ottoman Empire 1326–1699, Osprey Publishing, 2003.

Further reading

  • Reinert, Stepen W. (2021). "Maritsa, Battle of". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online.
    ISSN 1873-9830
    .

External links

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41°43′N 26°13′E / 41.717°N 26.217°E / 41.717; 26.217

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