Journal articles on the topic 'Kosovo, Battle of, Kosovo, 1389'

The corresponding song received this name because the fighting between the forces of the Balkan coalition and the invading Ottoman army took place in this space, near today's Pristina, the capital of the Republic of Kosovo. The Albanian variants of this theme convey in an original and special way the general picture of the Kosovo War. In this sense, we would say that the songs about the Kosovo War, 1389, among the Albanians, although in different variants, with significant differences, come as a specific creativity of the Albanians, distinct from the other variants of the peoples who sang them this major event in the history of the Balkans. The true purpose of the creators and the circulating media of the songs about the Kosovo War has been the reflection of a concrete historical event, with real characters, historically documented, in addition to created figures, which is a completely legitimate phenomenon for folkloric artistic creations in generally.

In contemporary Serbian Orthodox texts, Kosovo is often referred to as the Serbian “Jerusalem”: a city calling for a Christian defense. All Serbs are bound to heed the call in keeping with the Kosovo “covenant” or “pledge” dating back to the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, when Serbian troops, led by Prince Lazar, were defeated by the invading Muslim Ottoman army. The battle and Kosovo in general have since then assumed a central symbolic role in Serbian nationalism and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, it has been claimed that the imagery and narratives of Kosovo were the ideological backdrop for the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s. This article investigates the development of the Serbian narratives and imagery pertaining to Kosovo and their modern form in the Serbian Orthodox Church in order to trace what type of imagery is dominant. The main focus will be on whether and to what extent the narratives of Christian defense and holy Serbian warriors fighting in the name of Christ are dominant. This investigation seeks to discuss whether the Kosovo imagery and narratives are formed upon and influenced by a broader Christian European antemurale myth.

This paper seeks to examine the epic and canonical status of the lute and songs of the Kosovo Cycle in both, Albania and Serbia. The interplay of epics with national identity and political aims will be scrutinized, with a particular focus on the nexus of imagination, identity, and history. Moreover, the Kosovo Cycle of Serbs, takes a central position concerning the fall of the medieval state following from the Battle of Kosovo (1389). On the other hand, the Albanian Cycle is more consecrated to the hero as an individual, a brave loyal nobleman and honest chevalier who fights for his besa as code d’honeur. Millosh Kopiliqi/Miloš (K)obilić, the hero of the Battle of Kosovo, is without doubt the most chevaleresque figure of the cycle, in Albanian and Serbian songs. Why the lute became an identity corner stone of Albanians, Serbs, and the other nations in the region? Figuratively speaking, it is the lute epic space of the Kosovo Cycle in Albanian and Serbian where Millosh encounters Miloš and historical truth and imaginary encounters fiction.

In "The Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature" on Harvard University out of 131 epic songs recorded from Milovan Vojicic, several are dedicated to the popular theme of the Serbian and Balkan epic - the Kosovo Battle 1389 (Prince Lazar and Milos Obilic, The Defeat of Kosovo, ?he Kosovo Tragedy, The Kosovo Field after the Battle, The Death of Mother Jugovici, The Death of Pavle Orlovic at Kosovo, noted in 1933-34 in Nevesinje). The paper examines Vojicic?s Kosovo songs from the perspective of textual, stylistic and rhetoric criticism, poetics, and memory studies. An analysis of Milovan Vojicic?s Kosovo epic poetry leaves an impression of an active singer who has internalised tradition, and on this foundation composes new works in the traditional manner and "in the folk style". Vojicic is a literate singer who was familiar with the collections of Vuk Karadzic, Bogoljub Petranovic, the Matica Hrvatska, and the songbooks of the time. He did not hesitate to remake or rewrite songs from printed collections or periodicals, which means that his understanding of authorship was in the traditional spirit. Vojicic?s compilations lie on that delicate line between oral traditional and modern literary poetry; he is, naturally, not alone in this double role - the majority of the gusle-players who were his contemporaries could be similarly described. In the body of Kosovo epic poetry Vojicic?s songs stand out (The Death of Pavle Orlovic at Kosovo, The Kosovo Tragedy), where he abandons the printed model and achieves the kind of originality which is in fact part of tradition itself. Vojicic highly valued oral tradition and the opportunity to perform it, as part of the process of creating an image of himself as a folk gusle-player in modern terms. For this reason, his repertoire includes both old and new themes. They are sung according to the epic standard, but also in accordance with the modern standard of epic semi-literary works. In Vojicic?s world, oral tradition is an important component in viewing the historical past, and in perceiving reality and the singer?s place in it. The epic is a form of oral memory and the guardian of remembrance of past events; however it also provides a space for surveying and commenting on modern historical situations in a popularly accepted manner, at times in an ideological key, as seen in songs which gather together major historical events. This perception of the epic tradition and history is mirrored in the heterogeneity of the corpus and in the repertoire of songs, and is all a consequence of vastly changed conditions of origin, existence and acceptance, i.e. the consumption of oral works in the first half of the 20th century, in a process of interaction between literature and folklore.

The aim of the paper was to provide historical background of the so-called second battle of Kosovo that has occurred in October 1448, as well as the oral tradition that came out from the battle. In the battle, Janos Hunyadi (Sibinjanin Janko in the Serbian oral epic tradition) fought and lost against the Turks at the very same place where prince Lazar had encountered the same enemy in 1389. From the historical point of view, the most important facts about this event are the following: Hunyadi led the army of Hungarians, Czechs, Germans, Poles and other Christians who had encountered the Ottoman army of Sultan Murat II; the Christians were defeated; Janko's nephew Szekely Janos lost his life; and Hunyadi himself escaped. Later on, Hunyadi became one of the most prominent heroes of the Serbian folk tradition and epic songs about heroic deeds. Beside him, Janos Szekely, who governed Slavonia and Croatia also become an epic legend, under the name of Sekula Banović. A part of the tradition of the battle of Varna, which took place in the year 1444, also came into the tradition of the Kosovo battle, from which emerged one complex oral memory of the heroic fights against the Ottoman conquerors. Even though there are a lot historically vague facts, even a lot of fictional characters, the tradition of Hunyadi's valiant clashes with the Turks on the field of Kosovo has remained and survived through different epochs.

This article is devoted to the Polish edition of a collection of Serbian folk songs, which was published in 1962 by the Polish publishing house Nasza Księgarnia under the title Bitwa na Kosowym Polu (The Battle of Kosovo). It is the first and only complete edition of the songs of the Kosovo cycle in Polish, translated for young readers by Zygmunt Stoberski, an outstanding translator and promoter of Serbian literature in Poland. The article is divided into several parts. In the first one, attention is focused on the battle itself, which took place in 1389, the folk songs commemorating this event and the importance of the Kosovo myth. In the second part, the focus is on the fascination with the Serbian Middle Ages in Serbian literature for children and youth. In the following parts, Polish‑Serbian literary contacts after World War II and the history of translations of texts for children, the translation and popularization activities of Zygmunt Stoberski, and the reception of Serbian folk song in Poland were reviewed. The main purpose of the article was to show how the translator and the publishing house Nasza Księgarnia adapted the Serbian epic to the perceptual abilities of young readers. It also shows how Bitwa na Kosowym Polu can be seen against the background of Polish historical prose for children, which was written in the 1950s and 1960s.

A large part of our public is familiar with the name of the British-Irish author Rebecca West. Domestic journalism abounds with texts about the author due to her extremely positive writing about Serbs and Serbian culture. In the travelogue Black Lamb and the Gray Falcon, West expresses great admiration for our cultural heritage and understanding of our identity, which she identifies with the poem The Fall of the Serbian Empire. During her stay in Macedonia, she was introduced to Bishop Nikolaj, whom she considered one of the most extraordinary people she had ever met. In her travelogue, the author draws a comparison between the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and England in 1939. In this paper, we will try to present her experience of monasteries in Kosovo, pointing to the fact that she considered herself different from other Western authors who, like herself, wrote about the Balkans.

Comparisons between the epic Mahabharata, the world's largest literary work, and the quantitatively modest corpus of epic poems referring to the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, have drawn scholarly attention mainly focused on the larger and the better-known example of epic poetry. The lesser attention paid to the epic Kosovo poems prefers a genetic approach, i.e. identifying the common traits and tracing their variations back to their common Proto-Indo-European origin and, presumably, the common protomyth. The overlaps typically include the heroic characters, motifs and plot segments. The article highlights and analyses similarities that do not necessarily share the same historical and geographical background but still include expressive, stylistic and aesthetic parallelisms and elements that rather point towards common archetypal origins in the human imagination generally. The differences between the corpora are then easily interpreted as simply as many adaptations and autonomous expressions of separate cultures. This paper bypasses the shared characteristics that are typical of epic poetry as such, and focuses on the various stylistic devices like the hyperbole, descriptions of nature, lyrical sections and motifs. A factor crucial for adequately understanding the two epic corpora, and their relationship, is the fact that they stand at two poles of the history of the epic: while the discourse of the Mahabharata is fascinating in its primitiveness, the Kosovo poems show a high degree of aesthetic self-awareness.

After the restoration of Serbia in 1830, the areas of medieval Serbia left out of her borders were dubbed Old Serbia - Kosovo, Metohija, Rascia (the former sanjak of Novi Pazar and the neighbouring areas). Old Serbia (from 1877 onwards the vilayet of Kosovo) was dominated by local Albanian pashas, whereas the Christian Orthodox Serbs and their villages were attacked and pillaged by Muslim Albanian brigands. The religious antagonism between Muslims and Christians expanded into national conflict after the 1878 Albanian League had claimed the entire ?Old Serbia for Greater Albania?. The position of Christian Orthodox Serbs, who accounted for a half of the population at the end of the nineteenth century, was dramatically aggravated due to Muslim Albanians' tribal anarchy, Austria-Hungary's pro-Albanian agitation and, after 1908, frequent Albanian rebellions. All efforts of Serbia to reach a peaceful agreement with Muslim Albanian leaders in Old Serbia before the First Balkan War had ended in failure. The First Balkan War was the most popular war in Serbia?s history as it was seen as avenging the 1389 Battle of Kosovo which had sealed the Ottoman penetration into the Serbian lands. In October 1912, Serbia liberated most of Old Serbia, while Montenegro took possesion of half of the Rascia area and the whole of Metohija. While the decimated and discriminated Serb population greeted the Serbian and Montenegrin troops as liberators, most Albanians, who had sided with the Ottomans, saw the establishment of Serbian rule as occupation.

Francesco Filelfo (Tolentino 1398 ? Florence 1481) was one of the humanists to gain a thorough knowledge of Greek in Constantinople, where he lived in the 1420s. The young learned man was integrated into the Byzantine establishment. In particular, the heir and joint emperor John VIII Palaiologos appointed him as his personal secretary. On behalf of John, Filelfo attended the international congress in Buda in 1423; he met personally with the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, Despot of Serbia Stefan Lazarevic and other European leaders. He also went to Kovin on his return to Constantinople. In his Letters to Roman popes, kings and princes, the Italian humanist proposed to serve as an alter Nestor, a man who would give better advice on the war against the Turks. He is particularly interested in Serbian history. In this respect, he mentions the most important events relating to the Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire, such as the sacrifice of Lazar in the Battle of Kosovo polje (1389), the legendary defense of Belgrade in 1456, and the fall of the fortress of Smederevo in 1459. Filelfo?s Letters represent an extraordinary testimony on Western Balkan history.

The prominent Serbian and Yugoslav composer Petar Konjovic (1883-1970) wrote five operas between 1900 and 1960. Konjovic?s operatic opus represents his homeland and his spiritual spectrum: in the first place, indelible memories of his childhood and youth focused on the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, in particular its heroic repertoire of Serbian literature. Consequently, three out of five of Konjovic?s music dramas are derived from Serbian epic and theatre plays. In addition to Ivo Vojnovic?s Death of the Jugovic Mother, these are Dragutin Ilic?s Wedding ofMilos Obilic and Laza Kostic?s Maksim Crnojevic. Therefore three of Konjovic?s operas can be conditionally brought together as being in many ways related, not only by their content but also by music and the scope of time they were created: The Fairy?s Veil (based on Wedding of Milos Obilic)during World War I, The Fatherland (based on Death of the Jugovic Mother)during World War II, and between them The Prince of Zeta (based on Maksim Crnojevic). The last of them, subtitled ?A sacred festival drama? (following with its subtitle the idea of Wagner?s Parsifal) had its gala performance in Belgrade National Theatre on 19 October 1983. The structure of the musical composition was inspired by the ?Kosovo mystery play? by Vojnovic (1857-1929), an outstanding dramatist from Dubrovnik. In this case, the playwright was a narrator of the historical-legendary past of the Serbs. Drawing on Serbian national epic poetry which deals with the downfall of the Serbian medieval empire caused by the Turkish invasion, Vojnovic constructed his play on the basis of the central poem of the epic cycle about Kosovo, The Death of the Jugovic Mother. Both the epic and Vojnovic?s play present the tragedy of Serbian people in the figure of the Mother. She dies with a broken heart after the loss of her heroic husband, Jug-Bogdan, and her nine sons, the Jugovici, in the decisive battle against the Turks in the Kosovo field in 1389. Vojnovic?s play was performed in Belgrade and Zagreb in 1906 and 1907 respectively, as well as in Trieste (1911) and Prague (1926); and several Serbian and Croatian composers wrote incidental music for it. Slovenian composer Mirko Polic was also inspired by it and his work was performed in Ljubljana in 1947, while Konjovic?s ?festival drama? finished in 1960 was staged much later. Its premiere in 1983 was scrupulously prepared by the father-son duo, Dusan Miladinovic (conductor) and Dejan Miladinovic (director), who paid special attention to the visual aspect of the performance. The director, together with the scenographer Aleksandar Zlatovic created for The Fatherland a semi-permanent set of symbolical characters, with an enormous raven, made of jute, replacing the backdrop. The costume designer was influenced by medieval frescoes from Serbian monasteries in Kosovo. The director himself conceived a ?mute? and motionless appearance of figures of Serbian warriors in ?tableaux vivants? by placing them in attitudes of combat on the edge of the revolving stage during the curtain music between the acts. What the composer Konjovic aimed for with his last music drama was to eternalize in music the beautiful Serbian epic, depicting the tragic history of his people and thus reminding Serbs of their roots. In this sense The Fatherland was Konjovic?s Ninth Symphony and his oath of Kosovo.

While the first two chapters of Doucas's historical work present a meagre outline of world history - a sketch which becomes a little more detailed from 1261 on, when the narration reaches the history of the Turks and their conquests in Asia Minor - the third chapter deals with the well-known battle of Kosovo, which took place in 1389. From that point on, the Byzantine historian gives much important information on Serbia, as well as on the Ottoman advances in the Balkans, and thus embarks upon his central theme - the rise of the Turks and the decline of Byzantium. Doucas considers the battle of Kosovo a key event in the subjugation of the Balkan peoples by the Turks, and he shows that after the battle of Kosovo the Serbs were the first to suffer that fate. At the beginning, Doucas says that after the death of Orhan, the ruler (o archgos) of the Turks, his son and successor Murad conquered the Thracian towns, Adrianople and the whole Thessaly, so that he mastered almost all the lands of the Byzantines, and finally reached the Triballi (Triballous). He devastated many of their towns and villages sending the enslaved population beyond Chersonesus, until Lazar, son of King Stefan of Serbia (Serbias), who ruled (kraley?n) in Serbia at that time decided to oppose him with all the might he could muster. The Serbs were often called Triballi by Byzantine authors. For the fourteenth century writers Pachymeres, Gregoras, Metochites and Kantakouzenos the Serbs were Triballi. However, Pachymeres and Gregoras refer to the rulers of the Triballi as the rulers of Serbia. Fifteenth century writers, primarily Chalcondyles and Critobulos, use only that name. It seems, nevertheless, that Doucas makes a distinction between the Triballi and the Serbs. As it is known, the conquest of the Serbian lands by the Turks began after the battle on the river Marica in 1371. By 1387. the Turks had mastered Serres(1388) Bitola and Stip (1385), Sofia (1385), Nis (1386) and several other towns. Thus parts of Macedonia, Bulgaria and even of Serbia proper were reduced by the Turks by 1387. For Doucas, however, this is the territory inhabited by the Triballi. After the exposition of the events on Kosovo, Doucas inserts an account of the dispute of John Kantakouzenos and the regency on behalf of John V, which had taken place, as it is known, long before 1389. At the beginning of his description of the civil war, Doucas says that by dividing the empire Kantakouzenos made it possible for the Turks to devastate not only all the lands under Roman rule, but also the territories of the Triballi Moesians and Albanians and other western peoples. The author goes on to narrate that Kantakouzenos established friendly relations with the king Stefan Du{an, and reached an agreement with him concerning the fortresses towns and provinces of the unlucky Empire of the Romaioi, so that, instead of giving them over to the Roman lords, he surrendered them to barbarians, the Triballi and the Serbs (Triballoys te kai Serbous). When he speaks later how the Tatars treated the captives after the battle of Angora in 1402, Doucas points out that the Divine Law, honored from times immemorial not only among the Romaioi, but also among the Persians, the Triballi and the Scythians (as he calls Timur's Tatars), permitted only plunder, not the taking of captives or any executions outside the battlefield when the enemy belonged to the same faith. Finally, when he speaks of the conflict between Murad II and Juneid in Asia Minor, Doucas mentions a certain Kelpaxis, a man belonging to the people of the Triballi, who took over from Juneid the rule over Ephesus and Ionia. It seems, therefore, that Doucas, when he speaks of the land of the Triballi he has in mind a broad ethnical territory in the Balkans, which was obviously not settled by the Serbs only or even by the Slavs only. According to him Kelpaxis (Kelpaz?sis) also belonged to the Triballi, although the name can hardly be of Slavonic, i.e. Serbian origin. On the other hand, he is definitely aware of Serbia, a state which had left substantial traces in the works of Byzantine authors, particularly from the time when it usurped (according to the Byzantine view) the Empire. Writing a whole century after Dusan's coronation as emperor, Doucas is not willing, as we shall see later to recognize this usurpation. Although he ascribes to Serbia, in conformity with the Byzantine conception of tazis, a different rank, he considers Serbia and the Serbs, as they are generally called in his work (particularly when he describes the events after the Battle of Kosovo) an important factor in the struggle against the Turks. Therefore he makes a fairly accurate distinction between the Serbs and the other Triballi. In his case, the term may in fact serve as a geographical designation for the territory settled by many peoples, including the Serbs. When he uses specific titles and when he speaks of the degrees of authority conveyed by them in individual territories Doucas is anxious to prove himself a worthy scion of the Romaioi, who considered that they had the exclusive right to the primacy in the Christian hierarchy with the Roman emperor at its top. He makes distinctions of rank between individual rulers. The Emperor in Constantinople is for him the only emperor of the Romans (basileys t?n R?mai?n). King Sigismund of Hungary is also styled emperor, but as basileys t?n R?man?n, meaning Latin Christians. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Dragas Palaleologus is not recognized as an emperor, and the author calls his rule a despotic rule (despoteia). He has a similar view of the Serbs. Thus he says, erroneously that Lazar was the son of King Stefan of Serbia (yios Stefanoy toy kral? Serbias) and that he ruled Serbia at that time (o tote t?n Serbian kraley?n). Elsewhere, Doucas explains his attitude and says that o t?n Serb?n archgos etolm?sen anadusasthai kratos kai kral?s onomazesthai. Toyto gar to barbaron onoma exell?nizomenon basileys erm?neyetai. Lazar exercises royal power (kraley?n) in Serbia, which is appropriate, for the author thinks erroneously that Lazar was the son and successor of King Stefan Du{an. It is significant that he derives the werb kraley? from the Serbian title 'kralj', i.e. from the title which never existed in the Byzantine Empire. Moreover, there is no mention of this werb in any other Byzantine text. When he narrates how Serbia fell under the Turkish rule in 1439, Doucas says that Despot Djuradj Brankovic seeing his ravaged despotate (despoteian), went to the King of Hungary hoping to get aid from him. There can be no doubt that the term despoteia here refers to the territory ruled by Despot Djuradj Brankovic. Doucas correctly styles the Serbian rulers after 1402 as despots. The space he devotes to Serbia in his work, as well as the manner in which he speaks of it, seems to indicate, however, that he regarded it, together with Hungary as a obstacle of the further Turkish conquests in the Balkans. Doucas's text indicates that Serbia, though incomparably weaker than in the time of Dusan's mighty empire, was in fact the only remaining more or less integral state in the Peninsula. The riches of Serbia and, consequently, of its despots, is stressed in a number of passages. Almost at the very beginning Doucas says that Bayezid seized 'a sufficient quantity of silver talents from the mines of Serbia' after the Battle of Kosovo. When Murad II conducted negotiations with Despot Djuradj for his marriage with the Despot's daughter Mara, Doucas writes, no one could guess how many 'gold and silver talents' he took. Doucas also says that the Despot began to build the Smederevo fortress with Murad's permission. The building of a fortress has never been an easy undertaking and if we bear in mind that Despot Djuradj built the part of the Smederevo fortress called 'Mali Grad' (Small fortress) in two years only, we realize that his economic power was really considerable. When Fadulah, the counselor of Murad II, sought to persuade his lord to occupy Serbia, he stressed the good position of the country, particularly of Smederevo, and the country's abundant sources of silver and gold, which would enable Murad not only to conquer Hungary, but also to advance as far as Italy. After Mehmed II captured Constantinople, the Serbs undertook to pay an annual tribute of 12.000 gold coins, more than the despots of Mistra, the lords of Chios Mitylene or the Emperor of Trebizond. Already in 1454 the Despot's men brought the tribute to Mehmed II and also ransomed their captives. Critobulos's superb description of Serbia is the best testimony that this was not only Doucas's impression: 'Its greatest advantage, in which it surpasses the other countries, is that it produces gold and silver? They are mined everywhere in that region, which has rich veins of both gold and silver, more abundant than those of India. The country of the Triballi was indeed fortunate in this respect from the very beginning and it was proud of its riches and its might. It was a kingdom with numerous flourishing towns and strong and impregnable fortresses. It was also rich in soldiers and armies as well as in good equipment. It had citizens of the noblest rank and it brought up many youths who had the strength of adult men. It was admired and famous, but it was also envied, so that is was not only loved of many, but also disliked by many people who sought to harm It'. It is no wonder that George Sphrantzes once complains that Christians failed to send aid to Constantinople and that he singles out for particular blame that 'miserable despot, who did not realize that once the head is removed, the limbs, too disappear'. It may be said, therefore, that Doucas regarded Serbia as one of the few remaining allies of at least some ability to stem the Turkish advances, and that this opinion was primarily based on its economic resources. Serbia was clearly distinguished as a state structure, as opposed to most of the remaining parts of the Peninsula, inhabited by peoples which Doucas does not seem to differentiate precisely. According to him, the authority over a particular territory issued from the ruler's title, the title of despot, which was first in importance after the imperial title, also determined the rank of Serbia in the Byzantine theory of hierarchy of states. Doucas's testimony also shows that this theory not only endured until the collapse of the Empire, but that it also persisted even in the consciousness of the people who survived its fall.

The fact that ban Tvrtko of Bosnia had maternal ties with Nemanjic dynasty and seized certain areas of the former Serbian Empire was used as a basis for him to be crowned king of the Serbs and Bosnia in 1377 in the monastery of Mileseva over the grave of Saint Sava. His charter issued to the Ragusans in 1378 contains the term ?double wreath? which figuratively symbolized the rule of Tvrtko I over two Serb-inhabited states, Bosnia and Serbia. Tvrtko?s choice not to annex the conquered territory to his own state, Bosnia, but to be crowned king of Serbia as well required the development of a new ideology of kingship and a new form of legitimation of power. Although his royal title was recognized by his neighbours, including probably the rest of the Serbian lands, that the project was unrealistic became obvious in the aftermath of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. What remained after his death was only the royal title, while the state ruled by his successors became exclusively related to Bosnia. Yet, echoes of his coronation in medieval Bosnia can be followed in the further development of the title and of the concept of crown and state. Interestingly, an attempt to revive the double crown concept was made in the early fifteenth century by the king Sigismund of Hungary, who requested that the Bosnians crown him the way Tvrtko had been crowned.

In two post-conflict societies (Serbia and Cyprus), the authors investigated how people cope with in-group historical transgression when heroes and villains relevant for their collective identity are made salient in it. The authors set the events in foundational periods for Serbian (Experiment 1) and Greek Cypriot (Experiment 2) ethnic identity—that is, historical representations of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and the Liberation Struggle (1955–1959), respectively. In both experiments, a between-subjects design was used to manipulate group membership (in-group or out-group) and representation of the salient character (hero, villain, or neutral) in fictitious but historically plausible accounts of transgressions. In Experiment 1 ( N = 225), the participants showed more moral disengagement in the case of in-group historical transgressions than in the case of identical transgressions by an out-group, while the in-group hero was rejected less than all the other historical characters. Social identification based on in-group superiority moderated both observed effects in such a manner that they were more pronounced for participants perceiving their ethnic group as superior. In Experiment 2 ( N = 136), historical transgression involving the in-group hero provoked the most moral disengagement and the least rejection of the group deviant. In-group superiority and in-group importance as distinct modes of social identification moderated these effects in such a way that they were more pronounced for high-identifying individuals. Taken together, the experiments show that the in-group hero, as a highly valued ethnic symbol, is exempt from the black sheep effect and the sanctions of critically attached group members. The authors discuss the implications of in-group heroes for political and educational communication.

The article explores a virtually unknown episode in the history of Gracanica Monastery, a late nineteenth-century restoration of the monastery church. The results of this undertaking were still visible during the conservation of the church conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s. At that time the nineteenth-century interventions were only partially recorded before some of them were removed and permanently lost. The nineteenth- century refurbishing of the frescoes in the main dome was signed by one Mihail Iourokosk Debrel and is dated 1898. More significant, now lost and hitherto unpublished, was the refurbishing probably by the same Mihail, of an arcosolium in the south wall of the church. This arcosolium, whose original function is unknown, was painted and inscribed with a lengthy inscription indicating that the remains of Prince Lazar (who died in the Battle of Kosovo, on June 15, 1389) was temporarily deposited in this tomb before being moved to the monastery of Vrdnik - Ravanica on Fruska Gora. While the content of the inscription is a total fabrication, its implications are nonetheless interesting in several ways. The mastermind behind the project was probably the Metropolitan of Ra{ka - Prizren, Dionisije, who died on Dec. 5, 1900. In accordance with his own wishes, he was buried in the very arcosolium identified as the ?temporary burial place? of Prince Lazar. The rising importance of the cult of the Saintly Prince Lazar around 1900 provides the background for this historical fabrication whose construction was actually made up of several disparate elements, each marked by a degree of historical accuracy in its own right thus collectively contributing to its general relevance.

After the Kosovo battle in the year of 1389 and the new Ottomans' breach into the Serbian lands, the positions of the Serbian provinces founded on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian empire underwent certain geopolitical changes. Unlike prince Lazar's direct successors, the Serbian regional landlord Vuk Brankovic, Lazar's son-in-law, continued to resist the Ottomans strongly opposing resuming the vassal deployment towards sultan Bayezid I. Only after his town of Skopje's fall late in the 1391, or early in 1392 did Vuk start losing his strategic control over the territory being in that way exposed to an even greater Ottoman pressure. Such Balkans' situation denouement forced Vuk Brankovic until the November 1392 to recognize the Ottoman sovereignty that was justified in one charter for monastery Hilandar. By the end of that year, sultan Bayezid I moved from the empire's Anatolian to the European part in order to consolidate his authority and firm the rule. The Byzantine historian Laonikos Chalcocondyles testifies on the measures taken by the sultan regarding subordinating the new Christian vassals and the conquered territories' colonization. These measures might refer to Vuk Brankovic and his province. There is no direct news considering Vuk Brankovic's political steps during the period from the end of 1392 to the spring of 1394. A dramatic meeting of sultan Bayezid I with his Christian vassals in the town of Serres in the fall-winter of 1393/1394 remained noted in the Byzantine sources. The remnant sources unequivocally of the Serbian meeting members mention only Stefan Lazarevic, the later Byzantine despot and Constantin Dragas, the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus' father-in-law, though by being imprecise they leave an open space for the probable participation of some other renowned persons from Serbian side. The hitherto Serbian historiography predominant opinion was that Vuk Brankovic did not respond to the invitation addressed to the vassals concerning the Serres meeting. Apart from Vuk, the sources do not name as the meeting participants neither king Marko, nor his brothers Andreas and Dmitar, who may have been present as well. The sultans' resolution to execute the Christian vassals in Serres, withdrawn at the last moment, caused the split of the vassal relations of some Christian aristocracy to Bayezid I. Vuk's activity from the year 1394, and 1395 connected with gaining Venetian citizenship and moving the treasury in Dubrovnik in accordance with the politics of those Christian vassals who denied their obedience to the sultan after the meeting at Serres. Because of Vuks' conduct from the year of 1394 and the provenance of the preserved Byzantine sources asserting the events at Serres, a possibility of Vuk Brankovic's presence a the Ottomans's vassal by the side of the king Vukasin's sons, remains in spite of silence evident in relevant sources.

The article deals with consequences of the parliamentary and presidential elections in Serbia (May 6–20, 2012), which led to a reversal power shift. Preconditions of the old cabinet reversal as well as domestic and foreign policy problems, the stance on the independence recognition of Kosovo and on accession to the EU are analyzed.

Abstract This article examines the role, status and perceptions of the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo from both Kosovo Albanian and Serbian perspectives. The analysis focuses on two cases, which attracted particular resistance on each of the two sides: the passing of legislation in the Kosovar parliament in 2012 that aimed to protect Serbian cultural heritage and the 2015 unsuccessful Kosovo bid for unesco membership. Both moments demonstrate how cultural heritage is primarily approached from the statehood perspective and used to additionally deepen inter-ethnic distances. The authors shed more light on the discrepancies between the international peacebuilding efforts and the internationally imposed legal framework, challenging the reduction of the peacebuilding efforts to institutional design, while dominant discourses of both Serbian and Albanian elites essentially deepen the enmity and serve as resistance mechanisms to the international peacebuilding strategies.

The paper aims to show what Nušić's intentions were in writing this unusual documentary demographic-ethnographic book about Kosovo and Metohija. At the centre of this cultural and folkloric-rhetorical interpretation is the legend about the (first) Battle of Kosovo, as well as the ways explored by the author to select and represent particular motifs from the legend of the Battle of Kosovo. The analysis shows that the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, in Nušić's opinion, is not only the territory that covers the historical core of the feudal Serbian country (Old Serbia), or the geographical zone located on the periphery of the crumbling Ottoman Empire during the last decade of the 19th century, which records the increasing migratory movements of the Serbian population towards the Kingdom of Serbia. It is not only the spiritual and physical homeland of our ancestors, nor is it simply an area of the centuries-old Serbian cultural heritage. It is all of this at the same time. In this context, to the author, the Kosovo legacy, Lazar's sacrifice, Miloš' feat, for example, represent the embodiments of the Christian archetype of the martyr and an exemplary model of heroism, valued by the price of life laid down for the freedom of one's own people. The folklore narrative, supported by material evidence and based on the rhetorical strategy of credibility, joined and connected through the legend about the Battle of Kosovo, to Branislav Nušić, becomes the national and identity-defining category.

Abstract The author explores the creation of public opinion in Serbia in the late 1980s and the (ab)use of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo on 28 June 1989. As a result of Serbian president Slobodan Milošević’s carefully planned propaganda, a negative image of Albanians as well as a positive perception of Serbian nationalism were enforced. The media and popular culture played a particularly important role in reviving the Kosovo Myth, together with the leading Serbian (academic) institutions and influential intellectuals. Thirty-some years after 1989, the Kosovo Myth is presented in the media in a largely unchanged manner, while for Serbia the Kosovo problem remains unsolved.

This article examines the evolution of Belgrade's official position on the Kosovo issue. The author explores such aspects as the importance of Kosovo in the historical consciousness of the Serbian political elite, the stages of the current attitude towards Kosovo on the part of the Serbian leadership, as well as the significance of historical events on the Kosovo for modern Serbia. The object of the study is the Kosovo crisis, the subject is the vision of the presidents and senior officials of Serbia of the fate of Kosovo. Special attention is paid to the historical stage of the formation of national ideas among Serbs and Albanians, in which the battle on the Kosovo field played a key role. Studying the positions of the presidents and senior officials of Serbia on Kosovo allows to track the process of folding the current position, and also allows to see the trajectory of the formation of attitudes towards Kosovo. The main conclusion of the study is the idea that the struggle for Kosovo in Serbia is a central national idea that serves as a unifying principle and builds patriotism around itself. A special contribution of the author is the systematic tracking of the evolution of Belgrade's position on the Kosovo issue. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that the article consistently and constructively describes the approach of various Serbian presidents to the problem based on their speeches, statements and actions in the international arena.

Nationalismus und Leiden Die Erinnerung an die Schlacht am Amselfield in Kosovo (1389-1989) In der Einführung behandelt der Autor kurz die Entstehungsgeschichte der vielen Nationalitäten, die es im heutigen Jugoslawien gibt. Auf der Lage einer Definierung der verwendeten Grundbegriffe werden im folgend en die Bildung der serbischen nationalen Identität im Mittelalter, der serbische Nationalismus im 19. Jh. und d ie Nationalitätenfrage Jugoslawiens im 20. Jh. beschrieben. Das führt zu einer Formulierung d er wichtigsten Axiomen d er heutigen serbischen nationalen Ideologie. Im zweiten Teil wird d ie Nationalitätenproblematik in Kosovo näher analysiert: das Entstehen dieser Problematik und ihre umfassende Bedeutung für die aktuelle politische und religiöse Verhältnisse in Jugoslawien. In diesem Jahr steht d as kirchliche Leben der serbischen orthodoxen Kirche völlig im Zeichen der 6. Jahrhundertfeier von der Schlacht in Kosovo.

Albanian culture coexisted for a period of over 500 years with Ottoman culture, at the turn of the new century, along with the Balkan troubles that led to the continued embrace of the transition from an old culture to the ideology of the Young Turk movement, and the continuation of joint Albanian-Turkish actions, in order to protect the Albanian Vilayets from the Serbo-Montenegrin occupiers. Early nineteenth-century Turkey emerged from bloody wars on all sides of its borders and from a weak government led by Abdul Hamid II faced a new war in 1915 now in defense of the Dardanelles in the bloodiest battle "The Battle of Canakkale". The First World War found Albanians divided and occupied in some of its territories, however, from 1912 Albania had declared Independence, but Kosovo, Skopje and Bitola, Ulcinj and Bar had remained outside the borders, while Chameria - the South of Albania had been invaded by Greece. During the First World War a large number of Albanians remained in the Turkish military service, many others joined the Turkish army, mainly Albanians who had migrated to Turkey from the violence of the Serbo-Montenegrin invaders, as well as some more from Kosovo, Skopje, Tetovo, Presevo, Shkodra, Ulcinj, etc who volunteered to help the Turkish army. According to history, oral literature and written documents, many Albanians died heroically, it is said that about 25,000 martyrs had died in this battle. In their honor, the Albanian people composed songs, it is worth mentioning the "song dedicated to the Battle of Canakkale" by the most prominent folklorists of the Albanian nation. Our research was done through a semi-structured interview with: 5 teachers of Albanian literature (at the same time master’s students at the University "Kadri Zeka" in Gjilan, Kosovo); 5 history teachers (at the same time master’s students at the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”, Prishtina, Kosovo); 2 independent researchers from the Institute of History "Ali Hadri" Prishtina, Kosovo.

Abstract This article examines the memory of the Battle of Košare/Koshare fought between the Yugoslav Army and Kosovo Albanian forces during the NATO intervention of 1999. The analysis is based on articles from the daily press published in Belgrade and Pristina on the anniversaries of the battle during the last two decades. The author focuses on how the narratives of the same event have been generated in the respective media, as well as their main characteristics and functions. Finally, she addresses the tensions among different memory actors who engaged in reshaping the narratives of the battle, generating both exclusive and intersectional traits in the diverging narratives of the Battle of Košare/Koshare. Thereby she sheds a comparative light on commemorative practices and memory politics of Kosovo and Serbia, while also bringing new insights into the transitional justice process.

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has played a role of paramount importance in the country’s recent history. The author uses a comparative analysis to discuss the role of the Court in light of the work and history of other European constitutional courts. This approach sheds light on the Court’s current role by analyzing Kosovo’s constitutional history, which shows that there has been a radical break with the past. This approach reveals the fact that Kosovo’s current Constitution does not reflect the material culture of the society of Kosovo. This radical break with the past is a result of the country’s tragic history, in which case the fight for constitutionalism means a fight for human dignity. In this battle for constitutionalism, the Court has been given very broad jurisdiction and a role to play in paving the way for Kosovo to move toward Euro-Atlantic integration in all spheres of life. Before reaching this conclusion, the author discusses the specificities of Kosovo’s transition, comparing it with other former communist countries. Among the specific features of constitutionalism in Kosovo are the role and position of the international community in the process of constitution-making and the overall design of constitutional justice in Kosovo. Throughout the article, a conclusion emerges that puts Kosovo’s Constitutional Court at the forefront of the fight for the rule of law and constitutionalism of liberal Western provenance.

This paper emphasizes the authority of the medieval text over the expression developed as a form of folk creation. Taking certain elements of medieval poetics into account – insepara- bility of Christianity from the written text, the meta historical concept of factography and the sacredness of the word (Word) – this paper compares the narrative rationalization of the key motivational elements in the two frameworks – Saint Prince Lazar’s choice of the Kingdom in Heavens. Although the martyrly summary of the events of the Battle of Kosovo initiates the creation of numerous texts belonging to different genres, a special review of the text on Saint Prince Andonija Rafail Epaktit is undertaken. By building the narrative character of his text, Andonije Rafail intervenes as the author in multiple ways. The emphasis is on the specific- ity of the intertextual connection during the description of the martyrly death, in a way and through symbols different from those used by other authors of the age who wrote about Prince Lazar and the Battle of Kosovo.

The paper discusses the continuity of Serbian folk epic poetry since the Early Middle Ages in relation to the discontinuity of Albanian folk epic poetry, in both cases determined by the historical and cultural setting. The research foregrounds the songs of Kosovo Albanians about the Battle of Kosovo, and a cycle of songs about borderland warriors (krajisniks) as well. In terms of motifs and ideological orientation, the former remained on the crossroads between the Serbian-Christian and Moslem-Turkish conceptions, whereas the latter conformed to the Moslem conception. The greatest similarities to the Serbian ?non-historical? epic poetry were demonstrated by the so-called Italo-Albanian songs, brought from Albania to Italy by the Albanian refugees fleeing the Turks. The paper is also an attempt at using scholarly arguments to refute the non-scholarly interpretations of epic techniques, characters and motifs, constructed for the purposes of political pretensions to the territory of the Serbian province as an exclusively Albanian land.

Of the world filled with the recorded history of western wars, Mahabharata is one of the prominent just war fought in the Indian history. It satisfies the principles of the theory of just war, namely, jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Jus ad bellum applies to the episodes of Mahabharata prior to the 18 days’ war- Kurukshetra. Notably, Kurukshetra known as the “dharma yuddha-the battle for just,” satisfies the principles of jus in bellus. However, the modern relevance of the theory is analysed with the case of Kosovo war. The intentions behind NATO’s intervention resembles the principles of jus ad bellum. While the element of jus in bello is witnessed amidst the Operation Allied Force. Apparently, this paper examines the above cases through the factor of just and not based on the stands of parties involved. It attempts to compare and assess the convergences Kurukshetra of Mahabharata and Kosovo war through the lens of principles of theory of just war.

Gazimestan June 28, 1989 – Phraseology of the Speech of Slobodan Milošević In 2019, the thirtieth anniversary of the famous speech of Slobodan Milošević delivered on the day of St. Vitus (Vidovdan) on June 28, 1989, on 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, was marked. This speech was considered ominous and as an announcement of a future bloody war by many citizens of Yugoslavia and, above all, Albanians and Croats. The author of the article undertook to analyze this speech in terms of phraseology.

It has been long and widely forecast that the security situation in the Balkans — indeed, in South-Eastern Europe generally — would become delicate, and would fracture, during the final stages of the Albanian quest for independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. The Kosovo region is now a lawless area. It has been ethnically-cleansed of Serbs, and re-populated by Albanians who have progressively and illegally, over the past decades, migrated into the area. Years of so-called peacekeeping by the international community count for nothing. Kosovo’s presence as a nominally independent state, without any of the essential foundations to meet the true criteria for sovereignty, can in no way further the stability of the region, or of Europe. Neither can it serve US strategic interests, unless US interests can be defined as a breakdown of viability of Eastern and southern Europe. Not only Kosovo, but all of Albania and other Balkan communities have become captive of the criminal-political movements which owe their power to their alliance with Al-Qaida, Iran, and the Saudi-funded Wahhabist movements. Therefore, new warfare will be supported by many elements of the international Јihadist movements which work closely with Albanian groups such as the KLA along the so-called Green Transversal line (or Zelena Transverzala) — really a clandestine highway or network — which not only carries jihadists but also narcotics and weapons along international supply lines crossing from Turkey and the Adriatic into the Balkans and on into Western Europe. So, the broader battle is now being joined in South-East Europe, in Kosovo, Rashka, the Preshevo Valley, in FYROM, Montenegro, and Epirus being in large part proxy warfare which is symptomatic of the emergence of a new Cold War on a global scale. One can only imagine the negative consequences for Balkan stability if, for example, Turkey’s status changes and Ankara no longer feels obliged to temper its activities, or its use of Islamist surrogate or proxy groups to further pan-Turkish ambitions. On the other hand, we have not yet seen the completion of the break-up of Yugoslavia, and even the wrenching of Kosovo may not complete it. We will then see the dismemberment of some of the Yugoslav parts already independent, perhaps even the dismemberment of FYROM and Bosnia. Perhaps those State Department officials will be surprised, too, to see — a decade or two hence — the claims of autonomy emerging for parts of Arizona, Southern California, or Texas, citing the same pretext of “self-determination” now being claimed by those who moved across the borders to occupy Serbia’s Kosovo province. The Balkans region and the Eastern Mediterranean generally are entering a further period of crisis, insurrection, and possibly open conflict. None of the regional states, but particularly Serbia, are doing enough to address the security ramifications of the coming de facto independence of Kosovo. Finally, conflict issues in the Middle East, and specifically in Iraq, and relating to Iran, will continue to have a profound impact on the stability of the Balkans, and vice-versa

The construction of a Roman Catholic church dedicated to St Peter in Stari Trg near Trepča can be related to the presence of Catholic migrants, Saxon miners and merchants from Dubrovnik and Kotor, who colonized the area around the rich mine during the medieval period. This article focuses on the role of the Ragusan colony in the construction and furnishing of the Kosovo church. Judging from the remnants of the church, it may be presumed that it was a three-nave structure, with a dome above the last bay of the central nave, same as the cathedrals of Dubrovnik and Kotor, and that a workshop from the littoral probably also decorated the church with paintings. The fact that in 1487 the parish priest at St Peter's church commissioned the altar polyptych from the Ragusan painter Stjepan Ugrinović shows that architects and painters may have been invited from Dubrovnik in the earlier centuries as well, and that there may have been continuity in their work on St Peter’s church in Trepča.

The War in Former Yugoslavia The causes of the war and the role of religion and the churches in former Yugoslavia are discussed. History is often mentioned as an explanation for the war. However, not history itself but the current interpretation of historical events has caused great division between the peoples of former Yugoslavia: for example, the different opinions about the Battle of Kosovo Polje and about the Archbishop Stepinac. The churches have not been able to enter into a real dialogue and to prevent the exploitation of history.

Abstract Justice is not only about punishing the perpetrators but also protecting the rights of their victims. Corruption is not a victimless crime! Therefore, the main intention of this paper is to enlighten that protecting the rights of the victims of corruption is one of the crucial battles in the war against corruption. Wining this battle during the pandemic Covid-19 is grinding but of vital importance at the same time! Corruption has already been a remaining concern in the Republic of Kosovo. Notwithstanding, the situation with the pandemic Covid-19 has made the justice system, and not only, more fragile. Consequently, we are currently living in a perfect environment for corruption acts where the victims of corruption are not acknowledged and sometimes even “garbled” with the victims of Covid-19! It is important more than ever to ensure effective remedies for persons who have suffered from corruption acts including the possibility of compensation for their damage. Indeed, the Republic of Kosovo is not a state party of the Civil Law Convention on Corruption. Yet this convention shall be the guide for establishing such legal avenues while the good practices of the United Kingdom and the French Republic shall be the aim and motivation for this.

The article is devoted to the formation of the contemporary Vidovdan tradition in the Socialist Republic of Serbia in 1985-1991. Beings the key date in modern Serbian national history, 28 June was used to provide commemorative practices by various Serbian forces during the decomposition of centralised power in Yugoslavia in that period. The process of codifying of a new national mythology precipitated by the disintegration processes in the SFRY after the death of Tito, is examined on the background of the political discourse in Serbia. The research uses sources such as the public speeches and writings of leading political figures (above all Slobodan Milosevic), which are openly available, for example the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and which were published in the three most popular newspapers in the Socialist Republic of Serbia: Борба (Struggle), Политика (Politics) and Вечерње новости (Evening News) and the two main newspapers of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo: Rilindja (Revival) and Jeдинство (Unity). The research concludes that it is obvious that the establishing of a tradition of celebrating the anniversary of the Kosovo Battle as an annual public holiday is directly related to the interests of the political forces in SR Serbia.

The initial scenes of the hagiographic cycle of St. Demetrius on the north wall of the naos of the eponymous church in the complex of the Patriarchate of Peć, created in 1322-24, thanks to the atelier of the Greek painter Ioannes, are followed by frescoes painted during the restoration of 1619/20 by Georgije Mitrofanović, one of the most talented painters of his time. The episodes with Saint Nestor who kills the gladiator Lyaeus in a duel and the martyrdom of Saint Demetrius, preserved legends, have a source in the texts of the Passions of Saint Demetrius. They are separated from the other scenes by red separation frames and belong entirely to the painting from a later period. Certain formal elements reinforce the previously expressed opinion that Mitrofanović used older paintings as a model, although certain changes could have been made. The composition St. Nestor Kills Lyaeus exhibits several peculiarities. Compared to other scenes from the hagiographic cycle, this theme is presented in several iconographic variations, used at the same time. Scholars have expressed an opinion that there are two traditions in portraying the young Christian Nestor who kills the pagan gladiator Lyaeus. The scene with Lyaeus pierced by a spear is considered to be the older iconography, and the younger one, created in the art of the Palaeologus, shows the gladiator killed by throwing him on the mangana. As previously unknown monuments have been published in the meantime, it is possible to suggest a somewhat different typology. Moreover, the presentation of the emperor, as one of the protagonists of the event, must be taken into account in the analysis. Chronologically, the representation of the already ended battle is older, with Nestor over Lyaeus's body, regardless of whether the gladiator is killed by a spear (the miniature in Theodore Psalter from 1066) or by a spear and on the mangana, while the emperor is watching the spectacle behind the parapet of the lodge (the fresco in the church in Mistras from 1270-85 and on the reliquary from Vatopedi, from the 14th century). In the later version, Lyaeus is lying on the mangana (the damaged fresco in the church of Our Lady of Ljeviš in Prizren from 1309-1313, in Kosovo and Metohija, and in the church of Marko's Monastery from 1376/77, the Republic of North Macedonia), and the emperor is sitting in an open lodge, alone or accompanied by soldiers and guards. In the miniature of the Menologion of Despot Demetrius Palaiologos (1330-1335), the gladiator is pierced by mangana, but due to the uniqueness of the iconographic solution, it is possible that it presents a special artistic tradition. The extensive damage done to the frescoes in the churches in Kitti (1286) and in Thalames (the end of the 13th century or around 1300) makes the identification of this theme uncertain. The younger and much rarer is the illustration of the moment before Lyaeus falls on the mangana (the fresco in the Visoki Dečani Monastery, Kosovo and Metohija, from around 1337-47/48 and silver tiles from London, 14th century). The fight takes place on a high platform, at the foot of which there are deadly blades, while the bust of the emperor can be seen in a high lodge. A special variant is represented by the scene on silver tiles from London (14th century), which differs from the Dečani fresco by a sword buried in the gladiator's chest, while the ruling couple is situated in the high lodge. The ruling couple is painted on an icon from Sofia (14th century), but the composition with the duel is lost. On the fresco in the Peć cycle a part of the motif originates from the older tradition, but it has the most similarities with later iconographies in the treatment of Lyaeus (the fresco in Dečani and on London tiles), and the appearance of the high arena with mangana at the foot (the frescoes in Dečani and in Marko's Monastery, as well as on London tiles). There are no analogies in the preserved scenes for the movement of Nestor, who is holding a long spear with both hands, thrusting it into the body of the enemy, and the broken weapon in Lyaeus's hand. The same goes for a three-story wooden arena. Although this iconography may be the intervention of Mitrofanović himself, it is more likely that it was created by copying an older fresco by a previous artist - yet it must be emphasized that Maximian's representation in the lodge with the suite was copied from the scene of Demetrius before Maximian - supported by Ioannes's inventiveness shown in painting a church in the Patriarchate of Peć. The Martyrdom of St. Demetrius marks the end of a frieze of scenes on the north wall of the naos. When considering the iconography of this theme, in addition to hagiographic cycles, independent depictions must also be taken into account, most often created as illustrations of the martyrdom of saints in menologion for the date of October 26. According to the accepted opinion for the development of the martyrdom of St. Demetrius, it is believed that the original model with the saint raising his hands in prayer while standing replaced the sitting type, with a transitional variant with hands in prayer, and then with a raised right hand. At the beginning of the 14th century, a new form appeared with the introduction of the representations of the saint's servant Lupus and the angel bringing the martyr's crown to Demetrius. However, the views expressed must be reconsidered. There is no doubt that the oldest known iconography depicting a standing figure of the saint (the miniature in the Menologion of Basil II, from around 1000), which was used later with some alterations (the miniature in the cycle of the church calendar in the Menologion from Oxford and the Vatopedi reliquary). The iconography with Demetrius sitting with his right hand raised high appeared earlier than stated by scholars. It is witnessed on a Sinai icon depicting a menologion from the second half of the 11th century. The damage to the frescoes in the Peloponnesian churches in Kitti and in Thalames makes it impossible to iconographical analysis the scene of martyrdom. Preserved examples show that there was a parallel type with Demetrius sitting in two versions, raising his right hand or in a prayer gesture (the fresco in the church in Mistras and the miniature from Demetrius's life cycle in Menologion in Oxford), or high above his head (the fresco in the Church of Our Lady Ljeviška and as a part of the menologion on the frescoes in the church in Stari Nagoričin from 1315-1317/18, the Republic of North Macedonia; in the narthexes in the church of the Dečani Monastery and the Vlach monastery in Cozia, from around 1391; also on the icon from Sofia and on the money of John V Palaiologos, between 1365-1376). The developed type, with the figures of Lupus and angels, is illustrated in the Thessaloniki Church of the Holy Apostles around 1314, and then on the frescoes (in the church of the Gračanica Monastery in Kosovo and Metohija as a part of the menologion 1318-21 and in the Dečani church as a part of the hagiographic cycle of a saint; also, the remains of the fresco in the parecclesion of St. Demetrius in the monastery Xenophontos on Athos, a second-third quarter of the 14th century) and an icon (from the monastery Great Lavra on Athos, the end of the 14th and early 15th century). Other elements of iconography, such as the number of soldiers carrying out the emperor's order, which is thought to increase over time, are treated more freely. The building in the background is interpreted as the saint's basilica in Thessaloniki or the chamber of the public bath, where the event took place. In fact, it is a generally accepted way of marking the area where the martyrdom occurred, in this case copied from an older scene in which St. Demetrius blesses St. Nestor in prison. It can be concluded that the iconographic types did not substitute one another, yet were used simultaneously, although in the final phase of development the sitting type prevailed. The solution found in Peć was well-known in late Byzantine art from where it was taken over by the ateliers of post-Byzantine painters. That Ioannes used the same pattern we see on the wall of the church in Peć today is indirectly evidenced by the illustration of the same theme, created as a part of the menologion in the narthex of the Patriarchate of Peć complex in 1565. These artists often used the frescoes they encountered as inspiration for their own pictures which is most probably the case with this scene, as well, copied from the original composition from the Church of St. Demetrius in Peć.

The article examines a short extensive report in the 16th-century Belyakovets’ Chronicle (NLCM 309), which combines prophesies and facts. The information, which has not been a subject of a special study so far, tells of an eclipse and a comet as harbingers of the death of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović in the battle of Kosovo. Some of the information is contained in other short chronicles but the prophesy is not derived from them. The note uses hagiographic works as a source, including the Lives of Lazar Hrebeljanović and of Stefan Lazarević. The supplement shows the attitude of the writer, who seeks to enrich the text and looks for the reasons for the described events. It is also a testimony to the dynamics of the Bulgarian-Serbian literary relations and to the respect for the Serbian saints, conceived as martyrs for the faith.

The Medical Service of the Hungarian Defence Forces (HDF) has been playing and taking an important role in the elimination and medical stabilization of several regional crisis areas since 1991. These medical protection and “back-ups” literally mean the medical support of our military forces take part in different tasks besides this fulfilling the special tasks of preventive medicine. The medical data collected from the different tasks and missions have been gathered systematically in order to be informative. From 2008 on we manage data collection with a real-time surveillance report system, the so called EPIHUN (Hungarian Epidemiological and Patient Turnover Report), which have been collected from different aspects and analysed from force health protection aspects. With the DNBI data from the system the authors are analysing the preventable diseases morbidity state and tendencies of the EUFOR (European Union Force), KFOR (Kosovo Force), MFO (Multinational Force and Observers) and UNFICYP (United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) missions on a 2013 data base. It could be surprising that the morbidity data are very similar to the values seen among military collectives living in barracks during the conscription era of the armed forces. Most DNBI are acute respiratory diseases and diseases of the digestive system, which is important information in medical preparation training before deployment.