Page 331 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

thirteenth-century provincial work, naturally cannot be directly connected to later historical events. The images examined here serve only to demonstrate the existence of a generalized art genre depicting military conflicts. Bat- tles could be described either verbally or visually. Through this common tradition, the topoi, the earlier (Byzantine) and later (Turkish) chronicles seem related. Therefore, in any attempt to reconstruct the Battle of Kosovo one must firmly separate that which is common and general from that which is specific and exclusive to this battle.
Generalized battle themes can also be seen in an il- lustrated World Chronicle written in verse by Constan- tine Manasses.33 The codex in question, now in the Vati- can Library (Cod. vat. slav. ii), was copied in Cyrillic and decorated with sixty-nine miniatures for the Bulgarian Tsar ivan alexander (1331–71) around the middle of the four- teenth century.34 These miniatures illustrate battle scenes from the Trojan war through the conflicts between the Byzantine emperor Basil ii and the Bulgarian Tsar Sam- uel in 1014 (fols. 41–183). However, some of those images, the banquet scene included, could serve as illustrations for the events at Kosovo as described by various chroni- clers.35 a very similar claim can be made in regard to some illustrations from the Russian Radzivil Chronicle of the fourteenth century, especially the scene in which the Ku- man forces attack the army of Prince igor.36 This type of military illustration is reflected in the famous fifteenth- century Russian icon depicting the battle between No- vgorodians and the army from Suzdal.37 This representa- tion includes all the typical elements of this genre, from the processional carrying of icons and angelic protections, to the call of the trumpet, the wind-blown standards, the archers and the cavalry charges, including riders on the obligatory white horses.
even when battle scenes are illustrated in a religious text, their ferocity and bloodthirstiness are by no means mitigated. Some of the military scenes from the famous ninth-century Chludov Psalter in Moscow38 and also those from the eleventh-century Homilies of Gregory Nazian-
33 Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, pp. 376–80.
34 ivan Dujčev, The Miniatures of the Chronicle of Manasse (Sofia: Bulgarski Houdozhnik Publishing House, 1963), passim.
35 Dujčev, The Miniatures, No 17, fol. 41; No 65, fol. 183, No 60, fol. 172. For examples of written sources mentioning the meal of Prince Lazar on the eve of the battle, see: Milivoje M. Bašić (trans.), Iz stare srpske književnosti (Belgrade: S.K.Z. No 137, 1911), p. 184 (from: “Bој na Kosovu” iz Letopisa josifa Tronošca, pp. 183–87); also: Boj na Kos- ovu: mit, legenda i stvarnost, p. 96; Tomac, Kosovska Bitka, p. 187.
36 Serge a. Zenkovsky (ed.), Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles and Tales (New York: e. P. Dutton & Co., inc, 1974), figure on page 177. 37 Tamara Talbot Rice, A Concise History of Russian Art (New
York-Washington: Frederick a. Praeger, Publ, 1965), p. 71, fig. 56.
38 M. V. Shchepkina, Miniaturi Hludovskoi Psaltiri (Moskva: “is- kusstvo,” 1977), fol. 3, Ps. 3:1; fol. 50, Ps. 50:16; fol. 58, Ps. 59; fol. 58v, Ps.
59:6; fol. 78v, Ps. 77:58; fol. 110, Ps. 105:38.
Despot Stefan Lazarević, Church of the Holy Trinity, west wall, Resava (Manasija) Monastery near Despotovac, until 1418
zinus39 could be easily removed from their context and used to illustrate a secular history detailing a military cam- paign. Such representations share so many features that they appear almost prototypical and, therefore, applica- ble to any battle scene, be it within a secular or a religious context.
an illustrated alexandriad is another manuscript of interest here, particularly in regard to its images and their possible visual parallels to episodes from the Battle of Ko- sovo. This romanticized story of alexander the Great by pseudo-Callisthenes was popular during the Middle ages both in the east and the West.40 The codex in question was created in the artistic milieu of post-Kosovo Serbia (Moravska Srbija). it is written in Cyrillic and its decora- tion is attributed to the second quarter of the fifteenth
39
40 as a typical fourteenth-century Western illuminated manu- script of the Romance of alexander, the example preserved in the Bodleian Library can be cited: a. G. and Dr. W. O. Hassall, Treasures from The Bodleian Library (Hew York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 101–4, and pi. 23. as an eastern example, the Turkish version of the alexandriad, Iskendername, can be mentioned. it was com- posed as an epic poem by ahmedi for emir jacub ii in Kutahia in anatolia and finished in 1390; Tomac, Kosovska Bitka, p. 32.
The Battle of Kosovo (1389) and Battle Themes in Serbian art
Byzantine Art, An European Art, exhibition Catalogue, ii ed. (athens, 1964), p. 334, No 345, fol. 111v or fol. 111r.
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