PRINCE LAZAR AND PRINCESS MILICA - the most beloved Serbian emperor and empress

" It's better that the grandchildren remember us dead, than that the sons forget us while living"

If there are personalities and events related to them that every Serb knows, who are in the myths and legends known to all, who are believed to have determined the history and destiny of this country, then it is Prince Lazar and Princess Milica and countless times mentioned Battle of Kosovo.

Also known as Tsar Lazar and Empress Milica, we meet them in numerous epic songs that have been passed down from generation to generation for a long time.

The beginning of marriage at the time of Dušan's greatest power

According to historians, Milica's relationship with the Nemanjic family was real and of key importance for the fact that she became the wife of Lazar Hrebeljanovic at the beginning of the sixth decade of the 14th century, most likely in 1353.

At that time, the greatest power of Emperor Stefan Dušan Lazar was a groom of aristocratic origin, but not a member of the most prominent nobility, so he sought his reputation and social position in marriage with a woman who had roots in the famous holy dynasty. Milica's non-monastic origins were, if not decisive, then certainly a great political pledge and the basis of the future state legitimacy of Moravian Serbia.

Not lagging behind the good nature of her husband (Prince Lazar), Milica is adorned with good virtues, glorious, manly, merciful, conciliatory and filled with every good quality, says the writer and patriarch Danilo the Third in the famous book "Word about Prince Lazar".

They started their marriage at a time when it turned out that Uroš could not lead his father's great state, many great men began to seize territories for themselves, and internal conflicts and divisions of territories followed. At some point, Lazar also became the regional lord, increasingly powerful after the sudden death of the last emperor of the Nemanjic dynasty.

Lazar's reign

Endangered by the Turks, exposed to the constant danger of being attacked by Nikola Altomanović, fearing the attack of the Hungarians, Prince Lazar had to work energetically and wisely to strengthen the defense power of his country.

Since he had a large number of female relatives, mostly through marriage, he managed to gather his powerful neighbors around him. He married his sister Draginja to the leader Musa, the lord of the mining area around Kopaonik, the town and parish of Brvenik, and his daughter Mara, in 1371, to Vuk Brankovic. Prince Lazar handed over his two younger daughters to the wedding party in Kruševac. Jelena married Djurdje Stracimirovic Balsic - "Lord of all Zeta and the sea", and Teodora married Nikola Gorjanski Jr., a prominent feudal lord in Southern Hungary (Macva).

From the time of Lazar's reign, there is not much historical information about his wife. During that period, she was dedicated to creating offspring and ensuring the extension of the new dynasty.

According to historical sources, they had seven children: five daughters - Mara, Dragana, Jelena, Teodora and Oliver, and two sons - Stefan and Vuk.

That image of a harmonious family was replaced by a harsh reality after only six years: after the Battle of Kosovo and the loss of her husband, a time of big family, personal and state temptations came for Milica.

Vidovdan, year 1389.
 

When Sultan Murat raised an army against Prince Lazar and Serbia, Prince Lazar convened nobles, subjects and friends before the battle, to help him defend Serbia. Some rulers responded to the prince's call, primarily his sons-in-law, on Vidovdan on June 28, year 1389., they went to the field of Kosovo to defend Serbia from the invasion of the Turks. Prince Lazar was killed in that battle. Prince Lazar and several other Serbian nobles were captured by the Turks and cut down.

"This battle was on the 15th day of June 6897. And then, then, there were no places in the whole country where the sad voice of sobbing and crying could not be heard, which cannot be compared to anything, so that the air was filled ... "

After the battle

After the death of Prince Lazar in Kosovo, his son Stefan inherited his father's title, and Princess Milica energetically accepted the regent's position.

In turbulent and difficult times, the wise and enterprising widow of Emperor Lazar found solutions that were good for her family and Serbia. The acquisition of the nobles was somewhat slower, but it was also successful. In court affairs related to finances, treasury, court and office, Princess Milica had trusted people.

From that summer of 1389 until the end of her life on November 10, 1405, Milica, as a princess and then as a nun Jevgenija, was in certain situations more politically prominent than her son Stefan, even when he became a despot.

Tsar Lazar and Empress Milica - a story for eternity

In the field of Kosovo "the martyr of Christ became the great prince Lazar" (Despot Stefan: the inscription on the marble pillar in Kosovo), by choosing and choosing heavenly, fulfill His words.

"There is nothing greater than this love until someone lays down his life for his neighbors" Jn 15:13.

To the one who made a choice worthy of the Heavenly King, the people unwaveringly add to the name - the king - and crown him with a halo of holiness, and the Church canonizes him, a few years after his death.