Reflektor
Spotlight
princess Milica
Na braniku porodice i otadžbine / In defence of the family and homeland Uticajne žene srednjovekovne Srbije Influential women of medieval Serbia O majci Svetog Save malo se zna, o žrtvi koju je podnela Mara, poslata u harem sultana, malo više, ali se možda najviše poznaje život najvoljenije srpske carice Milice / Little is known about the mother of Saint Sava, while a little more is known about the sacrifice that Mara made when joining the sultan’s harem, but perhaps the most is known about Serbia’s most beloved empress, Milica Kneginja Milica
garian king. Still, the price paid by the Serbian princess for this alliance was too great. Apart from making Serbia a vassal Ottoman state, it al- so required that she make a great personal sacrifice. She had to marry off her youngest daughter, Olivera, to Turkish Sultan Bayezid. With wisdom and diplomatic prowess, Princess Milica managed to have the mortal remains of Lazar the Great Martyr of Kosovo transferred from the Church of the Holy Ascen- sion in Pristina to Ravanica Monas- tery, the prince’s own endowment, in February 1391. Her name is also associated with donations to numer- ous monasteries and churches. To- gether with her son Stefan and Patri- arch Danilo III, she issued a charter to Hilandar monastery in 1392, in the process donating a church and several villages. The crowning glory of this princess’s endowment will al- ways be Ljubostinja Monastery near Trstenik, where she became a nun in 1393 and spent the last years of her life, as the nun Yevgenija, together with her friend Jefimija. Before ex- changing her robes of state as the people’s most beloved lady ruler for a nun’s habit, Milica convened a con- vocation at which she handed over power to her son, Stefan.
Remaining forever remembered among her numerous acts of cour- age are her trips to Constantino- ple, to Emperor Bayezid, her son- in-law – firstly when she went to save her son Stefan from certain death (Bayezid was preparing his execution), and secondly when she begged that same powerful and ar- rogant ruler for the relics of Saint Petka, which she brought from Vi- din to Serbia as an offering for the salvation of her country. The vir- tues, deeds and eminence of Prin- cess Milica left an indelible mark on the epic memory of the Serbi- an people, who in return forever “crowned” her together with her husband, Prince Lazar, who when given a choice between two empires (enslavement and conversion to Is- lam), the earthly and the heavenly, chose the “kingdom of heaven” and the fight for Christianity. We encounter Tsar Lazar and Tsaritsa Milica in numerous epic poems that have long been passed down from generation to genera- tion. Princess Milica died on 11 th November 1405 at Ljubostinja Mon- astery, where her relics are still kept in a sarcophagus. She remains the most beloved Serbian empress to this day.
Born in 1335, during the reign of Emperor Dušan, Princess Mili- ca hailed from the ruling Nemanjić family. Her father was Prince Vratko, who is better known in folk tradi- tion as Jug Bogdan, the great-grand- son of the glorious Stefan Nemanja. Milica often spent time at the impe- rial court, which is also where she met her future husband: Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, whom she married in 1353. Milica gave birth to eight children with Lazar, namely five daughters: Mara, Dra- gana, Jelena, Teodora and Olivera, and three sons: Stefan, Vukan and Dobrivoj, who died as an infant. Following the great tragedy of the Serbian nation that came with the 1389 defeat in the Bat- tle of Kosovo, during which Serbi- an prince Lazar was killed together with all his knights and army, Mili- ca opted for the more difficult path (despite receiving an offer to move to Dubrovnik with her children) of remaining in Serbia, which was then wounded, desolate and devastated by the slaughter and pillaging of the Turks in their revenge campaign. Confronted by the imminent collapse of the Serbian state, with an unclear vision of the future that brought her more anxiety and fear than hope, Princess Milica was forced – alongside her maternal con- cerns and obligations (her sons were then still young boys) – to devote herself to state affairs, in which she displayed excep- tional wisdom despite extreme- ly unfavourable and difficult circumstances. Specifically, ob- serving shortly after the Koso- vo tragedy (just three months after the battle) that Hungar- ian King Sigismund was pre- paring to attack Serbia after having made lengthy prepara- tions, Milica accepted to form an alliance with the Turks. And thanks to their help, she even managed to recover lands pre- viously conquered by the Hun-
Kneginja Milica, rođena 1335. godine, u vreme vladavine cara Du- šana, bila je poreklom iz vladarske porodice Nemanjića. Njen otac bio je knez Vratko, u narodnoj tradiciji poznatiji kao Jug Bogdan, praunuk slavnog Stefana Nemanje. Milica je često boravila na carskom dvo- ru, gde je i upoznala svog budućeg muža Lazara Hrebeljanovića, srp- skog kneza, za koga se udala 1353. godine. Sa Lazarom Milica je izro- dila osmoro dece, i to pet kćeri: Maru, Draganu, Jelenu, Teodoru i Oliveru, i tri sina: Stefana, Vuka- na i Dobrivoja, koji je umro u naj- ranijem detinjstvu. Posle velike tragedije srpskog naroda i poraza na Kosovu 1389, gde je zajedno sa svim svojim vi- tezovima i vojskom poginuo i srp- ski knez Lazar, Milica je (iako joj je nuđeno da sa decom ode da živi u Dubrovniku) izabrala teži put – ostala je u Srbiji, izranjavanoj, opu- steloj i opustošenoj od pogibije i haranja koje su činili Turci u svom osvetničkom pohodu. Suočena sa propašću srpske države, sa nejasnom vizijom bu- dućnosti koja joj je donosila više strepnje i straha nego nade, knegi- nja Milica je bila prinuđena da se, pored majčinskih briga i obaveza (njeni sinovi su bili još uvek malo- letni), posveti državničkim poslo- vima, gde je u veoma nepovoljnim i teškim okolnostima iskazala izu- zetnu mudrost. Uvidevši, naime, da nedugo posle kosovske trage- dije (samo tri meseca posle bitke), ugarski kralj Sigismund posle dužih
priprema sprema napade na Srbiju, Milica prihvata savez sa Turcima. Uz njihovu pomoć uspelo joj je čak da povrati predele koje je ugarski kralj osvojio. Cena kojom je srp- ska kneginja platila ovaj savez bi- la je prevelika. Pored vazalnog od- nosa Srbije u odnosu na Tursku, značila je i njenu veliku ličnu žr- tvu. Svoju najmlađu ćerku Olive- ru morala je da uda za turskog sul- tana Bajazita. Mudrošću i diplomatijom kne- ginji Milici je uspelo da februara 1391. godine prenese mošti kosov- skog velikomučenika Lazara iz Cr- kve Svetog Vaznesenja u Prištini u manastir Ravanicu, kneževu za- dužbinu. Njeno ime vezuje se za dobročinstva brojnim manastiri- ma i crkvama. Sa svojim sinom Stefanom i patrijarhom Danilom III izdala je 1392. godine povelju manastiru Hilandaru, darivajući pritom jednu crkvu i nekoliko se- la. Kruna kneginjinog zadužbinar- stva ostaće zasigurno manastir Lju- bostinja kod Trstenika. Tu se 1393. godine zamonašila i kao monahi- nja Jevgenija, zajedno sa svojom družbenicom Jefimijom, u ovom manastiru provela poslednje godi- ne svog života. Pre nego što je mo- naškom rizom zamenila haljine na- rodu omiljene vladarke, Milica je sazvala sabor na kome je predala vlast svom sinu Stefanu. Među njenim brojnim po hra- brosti zapamćenim podvizima, ostaće njeni odlasci u Carigrad ca- ru Bajazitu, svom zetu. Prvi kada odlazi da spase od sigurne smrti
svog sina Stefana (Bajazit je pri- premao njegovu likvidaciju) i drugi kada od istog tada moćnog i oho- log vladara moli mošti Svete Petke, koje iz Vidina prenosi u Srbiju kao zalog spasenja svoje zemlje. Vrli- ne, dela i zasluge kneginje Milice ostavile su dubok trag u epskom pamćenju srpskog naroda. Zato ju je zauzvrat on zauvek „krunisao“ zajedno sa njenim suprugom, kne- zom Lazarom, koji se birajući iz- među dva carstva (porobljavanja i prelaska u islam), zemaljskog i ne- beskog, opredelio za carstvo nebe- sko i borbu za hrišćanstvo. Cara Lazara i caricu Milicu sre- šćemo u brojnim epskim pesma- ma koje su dugo prenošene s ko- lena na koleno. Kneginja Milica je umrla 11. novembra 1405. godi- ne, u manastiru Ljubostinja, gde se u sarkofagu čuvaju njene mo- šti. Ostala je do dan-danas najvo- ljenija srpska carica.
74 | Moćne žene » Powerful women
Powerful women » Moćne žene | 75
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator