Kosovo Myth

Left: The proposed Vidovdan Temple by Ivan Meštrović
Right: The Battle of Kosovo, Serbian Orthodox Church's icon

The Kosovo Myth (Serbian: Косовски мит / Kosovski mit), also known as the Kosovo Cult (Косовски култ / Kosovski kult) and the Kosovo Legend (Косовска легенда / Kosovska legenda), is a Serbian national myth based on legends about events related to the Battle of Kosovo (1389). It has been a major subject in Serbian folklore and literary tradition and has been cultivated through oral epic poetry and guslar poems. The final form of the legend was not created immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions. In its modern form it emerged in 19th-century Serbia and served as an important constitutive element of the national identity of modern Serbia and its politics.

The Serbian ruler Lazar was challenged by the Ottoman Sultan Murad I to the battle at the Kosovo Polje. According to the Myth, Lazar chose to die as a martyr, with the aim of providing Serbs with a place in the Kingdom of Heaven, instead of the "earthly kingdom" and victory in the battle. In the myth, as opposed to what actually happened in reality, Vuk Branković withdrew his troops at crucial moments, thus becoming a symbol of a betrayal, while Miloš Obilić assassinated the Sultan Murad I and then was executed. In fact, Branković fought valiantly to the end.

In Ottoman Serbia, the myth was interpreted as a fatalistic ideological acceptance of the Ottoman Empire and originally was not linked to the Serbs as a people, but to the downfall of Serbian feudal society. In the modern narratives of the myth, defeat in battle was characterized as the downfall of the glorious medieval Serbian state and a subsequent long-lasting Ottoman occupation and slavery. According to legend the sacrifice of Lazar and his knights resulted in the defeat, while the Serbs were presented as the chosen people who signed a Covenant with God. The Kosovo Myth is modeled on well-known Christian symbols, such as the biblical Last Supper, Judas' betrayal and numbers that have religious associations. It pictures Serbia as essentially a variant of the Antemurale Christianitatis motif (bulwark of Christianity) against the Ottoman Empire.

One of the earliest records that contributed to the cult of Lazar's martyrdom was found in the Serbian Orthodox Church, primarily written by Danilo III, Serbian Patriarch (1390–1396) and a nun Jefimija. Over the following centuries, many writers and chroniclers wrote down the oral legends they heard in the Balkans. In 1601, Ragusan chronicler Mavro Orbini published the Kingdom of the Slavs, which was important for the reconstruction and development of the myth, combining the records of historians and folk legends, while the Tronoša Chronicle (1791) also significantly contributed to the preservation of the legend. The development of myth was also influenced by French chanson de geste. The final form of the Kosovo Myth was constructed by philologist Vuk Karadžić, who published the "Kosovo Cycle" after collecting traditional epic poems.

Many South Slavic literary and visual artists were influenced by Kosovo legends, including some highly internationally recognized. The most significant ones who have perpetuated the Kosovo Myth are the poet Petar II Petrović-Njegoš with his epic drama The Mountain Wreath (1847) and the sculptor Ivan Meštrović, while one of the main artistic representation is the painting Kosovo Maiden (1919) by Uroš Predić. Since its establishment, the myth and its poetic, literary, religious, and philosophical exposition was intertwined with political and ideological agendas. It became a central myth of Serbian nationalism used in the 19th century, and its importance was especially raised since the Congress of Berlin (1878). The myth was widely promulgated in Montenegro as well and it served advocates of Pan-Slavism and Yugoslavism before the creation of Yugoslavia in early 20th century. It was evoked at times of major historic events such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, World War I, creation of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav coup d'état, and especially to bolster a Serbian victimization narrative during the rise of Serbian nationalism in 1980s, the breakup of Yugoslavia and Kosovo War.