УЧЕШЋЕ СРБА У БИЦИ КОД АНГОРЕ 1402. ГОДИНЕ У СВЕТЛУ ОРИЈЕНТАЛНИХ ИЗВОРА
THE ROLE OF SERBS IN THE BATTLE OF ANKARA (1402) ACCORDING TO ORIENTAL SOURCES

Summary/Abstract: Oriental, Persian and Ottoman chronicles enclose significant and distinctive records on involvement of Serbian feudal lords and their military in the Battle of Ankara. Some of them, especially Persian, written at the court of Timur just a couple of years after the battle, provide relevant and vivid, yet formal and substantial information about the Serbian role on the battlefield. Although the earliest recollection on the battle, Zafername chronicle written by the Timurid royal court historian Nizameddin Şami gives blurry and vague information about Serbian lords engaged in the battle. He mentions only Đurađ Branković, while the omission of his uncle Stefan Lazarević could be interpreted either as accidental mistake, or confusion regarding identities of the highest Serbian aristocracy usual for the Ottoman historians and chroniclers as well, when referring to this particular historical period. Oriental sources bring interesting but not entirely reliable information regarding the numbers of Serbian troops, their appearance and role at the battlefield, as well as some exceptional descriptions like the one where the face of Đurađ Branković was compared to the image of an owl. One of the major differences in contrast to Christian sources is the account of Đurađ Branković’s role in the battle, who, according to several oriental sources remained by the side of Ottoman sultan Bayezid I until the very end of the clash. It is important to stress that those records and perceptions enclosed in the oriental sources contain information that need to be prudently analyzed and taken with certain caution. The broader and more comprehensive reconstruction of the perception, appearance and engagement of Serbian auxiliary troops as the part of the great Ottoman army in the battle of Ankara can be realized only in comparison with Byzantine and Serbian medieval sources.

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