August – November 1402
Tripolje, 1402
After Ankara, Stefan Lazarević and his brother Vuk retreat by Bursa to Constantinople. In August 1402 John VII, who governs the city while Manuel II is in the West, gives Stefan the title of despot, the highest Byzantine rank after the emperor. There Stefan has his nephew Đurađ Branković imprisoned, suspecting that he means to join Süleyman. Đurađ escapes in September and asks Süleyman for troops.
Near Edirne part of the Serbian troops returning from Anatolia are attacked and destroyed on the orders of an Ottoman commander. Stefan and Vuk sail with about 260 men by Lesbos to Zeta, where their brother-in-law Đurađ II Balšić receives them at Ulcinj, and their mother Milica raises an army in Serbia. Branković and an Ottoman force sent by Süleyman hold the roads of Kosovo, so Stefan’s army moves inland in late October by side roads.
The armies meet on 21 November 1402 at Tripolje, near the monastery of Gračanica. Vuk with the larger part of the army fights Branković and suffers heavy losses, while Stefan with the smaller part breaks the Ottomans. Uglješa Vlatković, an Ottoman vassal who had shown Stefan their plans, goes over to him during the battle and receives Vranje and Preševo as a reward. The brothers withdraw to Novo Brdo.
The monastery of Gračanica, near which the battle of Tripolje was foughtWikimedia Commons, Sasa Micic, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Gračanica Monastery 0709.jpg)
Sources
- Konstantin the Philosopher, Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević (1431).
- Mavro Orbini, Il regno de gli Slavi (1601).
- Jovanka Kalić, “Veliki preokret”, in Istorija srpskog naroda, vol. 2 (1982), 64–74.
- Miodrag Purković, Knez i despot Stefan Lazarević (1978).
- Dimitris J. Kastritsis, The Sons of Bayezid (2007).
- John V. A. Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans (1987).
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