Ottoman-Serbian Relations (1347-1521)

In the year 1352, the Ottomans became a party to the crown struggles of the Byzantine Empire and herewith settled in Rumelia permanently and afterwards they hastened performing conquests in Rumelia. Serbs were one of the nations with whom the Ottomans had to struggle the most in the course of the conquests performed in Rumelia. The Ottoman-Serbian relations followed a fluctuating course due to political, military, economic, social, cultural and even marital means. The Ottomans first conquered the land of Serbs in the year 1371 when the Ottoman army was charged under the command of Lala Sahin Pashaduring the reign of Sultan Murat I. From then on, the Ottoman-Serbian relations continued either fighting against each other or becoming allies or founding blood relations between each other. In particular, the Serb soldiers’ fighting against the army of Timur Khan being side by side with the Ottomans in the course of the struggle between Sultan Bayezid I and Timur Khan (Ankara Fight, 1402) have been tracked by Ottoman resources. By contrast with this fact, when an ally between Magyars and Karamanoglu people was founded because the Ottomans was struggling with the Magyars in the Balkans and with the Karamanoglu people in the Anatolia, the Serbs were involved in the ally between Magyars and Karamanoglu people. On the other side, reinforcing the Ottoman-Serbian relationships through blood relations was started at the era of Sultan Bayezid I and Sultan Murat II. Both Ottoman sultans married daughters of Serbian kings. Such marriages were based on political reasons, and the Serbs aimed at preventing the Ottoman invasions through marriage whereas the Ottomans aimed at legitimating their ambitions with respect to their sovereignty on the Serbian land. The Ottoman-Serbian relations entered into a new phase when Sultan Soliman I conquered Belgrade in the year 1521. The conquest launched the Ottoman sovereignty which would last long on the Serbian land as well.