The Life of the Holy and Right-Believing Stefan the Tall, Despot of Serbia

"Süleyman (Bayezid's son), having learned what had happened with Stefan and knowing that he intended to return and land somewhere in the western regions, himself set out toward those regions with an army … in order to bar Stefan's passage. But God decided better concerning Stefan, that he might be glorified the more. For the Despot, setting out by ship from the island of Mytilene, arrived among the Albanians (i.e. on the Zeta coast). There the lord of those parts, his brother-in-law, met him with great love. This Albanian lord, by the name of Đurađ Stracimirović, had taken Jelena, his sister, as wife, of whom was born a son Balša, who also became lord of that land and shone with every good deed. Moreover, the Despot had informed also his pious lady mother of his coming, and his aforementioned brother-in-law gave him troops, as far as he was able, to escort him on the way. And so he drew near to the Serbian regions, where the first Serbian archbishopric is."18 With his own and his brother-in-law's military escort, which was joined on the way also by the army sent to his aid by his mother Milica - Jevgenija, Stefan arrived in November 1402 in Kosovo, near the metropolitan church of Gračanica, the endowment of the Holy King Milutin. By then Süleyman's army had also arrived with Đurađ Branković. And in that army, out of necessity, was also the Serbian caesar Uglješa, the Turkish vassal lord of Vranje and Preševo. He secretly informed the Despot of the number and disposition of the Turkish army, and during the battle which then ensued he himself went over to the Serbian side. The Despot's clash with the Turks in Kosovo took place near the village of Tripolje near Gračanica, on November 21, 1402. Here the tragedy of Kosovo was not repeated, for Lazar's holy son was aided by the prayers of his Great Martyr father and gloriously defeated the Turks in Kosovo: "For having come to Kosovo, where his father too had been, and having learned that there were many Turks there, he divided the army that was with him into two parts, as once the forefather Jacob did (Gen. 32:7–8), so that if one of the brothers were cut down, the other might be saved. If one brother falls, the other will remain a shepherd to the pious flock. And the army from his mother had come with the greatest haste, though with some delay and insufficiently armed. Stefan gave the greater part of the soldiers to his brother Vuk, and himself with the smaller part went into battle. Moreover, the Ishmaelite army was farther off. Stefan himself ascended a place called Gračanica, where he found Đurađ Branković with the Turks. He struck at them very bravely; and they, when they saw him, cried out to one another: 'Look, look, Lazar's son!' And at once they took to flight. And the Despot bloodied his right hand with the blood of his enemies. And then could be said that prophetic word: 'Thy right hand, O Lord, has wrought might, Thy right hand, O Lord, has been glorified in strength, and in the multitude of Thy glory Thou hast overthrown the enemies in war' (Ex. 15:6–7). And so he alone chased a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. From then on the Turks were seized with fear and trembling before him. And his younger brother Vuk struck at his nephew Đurađ, and the Christian army, having routed Đurađ, pursued him. And with Đurađ his nephew (who was afterwards despot of all the Serbian land) there was also a certain great Ishmaelite commander, to watch over Đurađ's loyalty to the Turkish tsar. With the Turkish army at that time there was also the caesar Uglješa, who sent the pious Stefan a secret embassy, informing him of