Battle of Rovine
| Battle of Rovine | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and Ottoman–Wallachian wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Principality of Wallachia |
Ottoman Empire Moravian Serbia Lordship of Prilep Principality of Velbazhd Lordship of Zeta | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Mircea I |
Bayezid I Stefan Lazarević Marko Mrnjavčević † Konstantin Dejanović † Andrijaš Mrnjavčević † Konstantin Balšić | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Less than 10,000 | 48,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy | Heavy | ||||||
The Battle of Rovine took place on 17 May 1395.[1] The Wallachian army led by Voivod Mircea the Elder opposed the Ottoman invasion personally led by Sultan Bayezid I the Thunderbolt. The Turkish force heavily outnumbered the Wallachian troops. The legend says that on the eve of the battle, dressed as a peace emissary, Mircea cel Bătrân talked to Bayezid asking him to leave Wallachia and promised him safe passage back. The Sultan proudly insisted on fighting and later suffered a humiliating loss.
Location
Idris Bitlisi referred to the battlefield as a "mountainous and dangerous place", but most sources suggest the battle occurred near the Arges River.[2][3]
Battle
During the battle, a key tactical role was played by the Wallachian archers who severely depleted the Ottoman ranks during their initial attack.[4] Bayezid's vassals, the Serbian lords Stefan Lazarević and Marko Mrnjavčević, two of the greatest knights of the time, participated and fought bravely; Stefan showed great courage, Marko was killed in action.
An alternative historical view is that the dramatic confrontation lasted not just a single day, but an entire week, being in the first stage of a war of positions. The fierce battle ended with heavy casualties for both sides, eventually, each army withdrew from the battlefield. Although the Wallachians pushed back the enemy, the Ottomans were able to defend their resulting position, relying on the personal guard of the Sultan composed of Janissaries. This was the impregnable position of the Ottoman defence a year later, in the famous Battle of Nicopolis. This tactical innovation became a fundamental element of the Ottoman war strategies until the 18th century. The army of Mircea, sustaining heavy casualties, and unable to break the defense of the Sultan's camp, was finally obliged to withdraw. Because the Ottoman Empire was not able to conquer Wallachia at this time, Rovine remains one of the most important battles in Romanian history.[2]
An epic description of the confrontation is presented in the poem "Scrisoarea a III-a" ("The Third Letter") written by the Romanian national poet, Mihai Eminescu. The Dečani chronicle describes the battle and reports that Prince Marko and Constantine Dragaš died fighting.[5] The same source mentions that Marko's brother, Andreja Mrnjavčević, also perished during the fight.[6]
Result of battle
Some historians record the battle as a Wallachian victory.[7][8][9][10][11] Whereas, Halil İnalcık and Jean Sedlar state the battle was an Ottoman victory.[12][13] Lucian Boia states the battle may have been inconclusive.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Ostrogorsky, George. History of the Byzantine State, p. 551. Published by Rutgers University Press, 1969. ISBN 0-8135-1198-4.
- ^ a b Mureşan 2004.
- ^ Panaite 2019, p. 106-107.
- ^ Cronica bulgară la I. Bogdan, Ein Beitrag zur bulgarischen und serbischen Geschichtschreibung, în Archiv für slavische Philologie, p. 530. The historical sources mention that the sun was blocked out by a vast number of arrows.
- ^ Ђурић, Иван (1984). Сумрак Византије: време Јована VIII Палеолога (1392–1448). Народна књига. p. 78.
У Дечанском летопису је, уз вест о боју на Ровинама, забележено како су тамо погинули Марко Краљевић и Константин Драгаш.
- ^ Successors of the Mrnjavčević family and territories under their power 1371–1459, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, PhD thesis of Aleksić Vladimir (2012), p. 147.
- ^ Bradbury 2004, p. 177.
- ^ Brackob 2023, p. 106.
- ^ Fine 1994, p. 424.
- ^ Forter & Rostovsky 1971, p. 64.
- ^ Grumeza 2010, p. 75.
- ^ Inalcik 1992.
- ^ Sedlar 2013, p. 482.
- ^ Boia 2001, p. 65-66.
Sources
- Boia, Lucian (2001). Romania:Borderland of Europe. Reaktion books.
- Bradbury, Jim (2004). The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-22126-9.
- Brackob, A.K. (2023). Dracul – Of the Father: The Untold Story of Vlad Dracul. Histria Books.
- Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.
- Forter, Norman L.; Rostovsky, Demeter B. (1971). The Roumanian Handbook. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-405-02747-5.
- Grumeza, Ion (2010). The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe C.E. 500-1500. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Inalcik, Halil (1992). "Bayezid I". Islam Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish).
- Mureşan, Dan Ioan (2004). Avant Nicopolis: observations sur la campagne de 1395 pour le contrôle du Bas-Danube.
- Panaite, Viorel (2019). Ottoman Law of War and Peace: The Ottoman Empire and Its Tribute-Payers from the North of the Danube (2nd ed.). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-40637-7.106-107
- Sedlar, Jean W. (2013). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. Vol. 3. University of Washington Press.