Miloš Obilić

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For other uses, see Obilić (disambiguation).

Miloš Obilić
Милош Обилић

Painting by Aleksandar Dobrič, 1861.

Born Unknown

Died 15 June 1389

Kosovo Polje, District of Branković

Cause of death Killed

Other names Miloš Kobilac, Miloš Kobilović, Miloš

Kobilić
 Known for The assassination of Ottoman
Sultan Murad I

Title Knight

Miloš Obilić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милош Обилић, pronounced [mîloʃ ôbilit͡ɕ]; died June 15, 1389) is said to
have been a Serbian knight in the service of Prince Lazar, during the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. He
is not mentioned in contemporary sources, but he features prominently in later accounts of the Battle of
Kosovo as the assassin of the Ottoman sultan Murad I. Although the assassin remains anonymous in
sources until the late 15th century, the dissemination of the story of Murad's assassination in Florentine,
Serbian, Ottoman and Greek sources suggests that versions of it circulated widely across the Balkans
within half a century after the event.

It is not certain whether Obilić actually existed, but Lazar's family – strengthening their political control –
"gave birth to the myth of Kosovo", including the story of Obilić.[1] He became a major figure in Serbian
epic poetry, in which he is elevated to the level of the most noble national hero of medieval Serbian
folklore. Along with the martyrdom of Prince Lazar and the alleged treachery of Vuk Branković, Miloš's
deed became an integral part of Serbian traditions surrounding the Battle of Kosovo. In the 19th
century, Miloš also came to be venerated as a saint in the Serbian Church.

Contents

 1Name

 2Earliest sources

 3Ottoman and Greek sources

 4Serbian traditions

 5Later legends

 6Legacy

 7See also

 8Annotations

 9References

 10Sources

 11Further reading
Name[edit]

The hero's first name, Miloš, is a Slavic given name recorded from the early Middle Ages among
the Bulgarians, Czechs, Poles and Serbs. It is derived from the Slavic root mil-, meaning "merciful" or
"dear", which is found in a great number of Slavic given names.[2]

Several versions of the hero's surname have been used throughout history.[a] In his History of
Montenegro (1754), Vasilije Petrović wrote of one Miloš Obilijević, and in 1765, the historian Pavle
Julinac rendered the surname as Obilić.[3] According to Czech historian Konstantin Jireček, the surname
Obilić and its different renderings are derived from the Serbian words obilan ("plenty of")
and obilje ("wealth, abundance").[4] The surname Kobilić could come from the Slavic word kobila (mare),
and means "mare's son", as in Serbian legends the hero is said to have been nursed by one.[3][5][6] K.
Jireček connected the surname to two noble families in medieval Ragusa and Trebinje, the Kobilić
and Kobiljačić in the 14th and 15th centuries, and noted that they altered their surnames in the 18th
century because they considered it "indecent" to be associated with mares.[4] Based on a 1433
document from Ragusan archives, the historian Mihailo Dinić concluded that Miloš's original surname
was indeed Kobilić (Latin: Cobilich).[7] The rendering Obilić has universally been used by Serbian writers
in modern times.

Miloš is often referred to in the epic poems as "Miloš of Pocerje", and according to local legends, he
came from the western Serbian region of Pocerina. In Pocerina there is a spring known as "Miloševa
Banja" (Miloš's spring) and an old grave that is claimed to be the grave of Miloš's sister.[8]