Stefan Lazar Hrebeljanovic von Servien

1329 - 1389  (60 years)    Has one ancestor and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

• Name	Stefan Lazar Hrebeljanovic von Servien
  Birth	1329	Prilepac
  close to Novo Brdo
  Gender	Male
  Death	28 Jun 1389
  Person ID	I669518	Geneagraphie | Ahnen BvS
  Last Modified	15 Nov 2009

  
  

  Father	Pribac Hrebeljanovic   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F294630	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Milica   d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	+ 1. Mara Lazarevic   d. 12 Apr 1426   2. Vuk von Servien   d. 6 Jul 1410 + 3. Dragana von Servien   d. Bef Jul 1395 + 4. Teodora von Servien   d. Bef 1405 + 5. Jelena von Servien   d. Mar 1443   6. Olivera Despina von Servien,   b. 1372   d. Aft 1444 (Age 73 years)   7. Stefan Lazarevic von Servien,   b. Abt 1377   d. 19 Jul 1427 (Age 50 years)
  Family ID	F294626	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Nov 2009

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  Lazar was born to a family originating for the Grbalj coastal clan . He was educated at Tsar Dušan 's court in Prizren . He was later promoted to knez by Dušan's successor Tsar Stefan Uroš V . Despite his imperial title, Uroš was a weak and ineffectual leader, allowing local nobles to gain power and influence at the expense of the central authority. Lazar left Prizren in the early 1370s, and devoted himself to the consolidation of his power in the northern Serbian regions around his court in Kruševac . Although a pledged vassal to Stefan Uroš, in 1371 he refused to participate in the Battle of Marica , at which the bulk of the imperial Serbian army was destroyed by an Ottoman force. Soon afterwards, Stefan Uroš died. He had been the last of the Nemanjic emperors. Through a combination of diplomacy, military action, and family alliances, Lazar emerged from the resulting power vacuum as the most powerful Serbian noble not in the Ottomans ' service. He acquired dynastic legitimacy by marrying Milica Nemanjic , and despite retaining only the minor title of knez, he nevertheless used the imperial name of 'Stefan' as well as the designation " autocrator ". At the same time, he took no issue with Bosnian ban Tvrtko (whose Nemanji lineage was in any case much stronger than Lazar's) proclaiming himself "King Stefan of Serbs and Bosnia". In this way Lazar could retain the de facto power, while ceding only a ceremonial title to Tvrtko, who never managed to revive the old Nemanji institutions of central power. The first mention of any Ottoman movement into Lazar's territory is from a chronicle entry of 1381, when two of Lazar's subjects, Vitomir and Crep, defeated the Turks on the Battle of Dubravnica River near Paracin . After that there is no record of any hostility between Lazar and the Turks until 1386. Lazar mobilized several other Serbian nobles, including Tvrtko, King of Bosnia, and in 1386 smashed Murad 's general Timurtash at Battle of Plocnik , forcing the Ottomans south to Niš . in 1388 , many Serbian troops were present at the Battle of Bileca where the combined Serbian-Bosnian forces heavily defeated the Turks.[ citation needed ] Around 1380 Lazar founded the monastery of Ravanica and around 1388 Ljubostinja . By 1387 he was raising a massive force to meet the invading forces of the Ottoman Empire, which would include every Serbian knight in his kingdom . The two large forces met in the 1389 battle of Kosovo , and Lazar was one of those killed during that battle, along with much of Serbia's political elite. Following Lazar's death, his widow assumed control of Serbia . Lacking in military or economic strength, she pledged suzerainty to Murad I 's successor, his son Bayezid , who had taken as his wife the daughter of Lazar. Meanwhile, Milica turned to internal matters, where she dealt with her few remaining political opponents. It was her propaganda campaign, via the epic poetry composed at her court, that resulted in Lazar's quick resurrection , and the subsequent portrayal of their son-in-law Vuk Brankovic as the traitor responsible for the Serbian defeat. In Serbian tradition , Lazar is said to have been visited by an angel of God on the night before battle, and offered a choice between an earthly or a Heavenly kingdom, which choice would result in a peaceful capitulation or bloody defeat, respectively, at the Battle of Kosovo. "... Prophet Elijah then appeared as a gray falcon to Lazar, bearing a letter from the Mother of God that told him the choice was between holding an earthly kingdom and entering the kingdom of heaven..." Lazar opts for the Heavenly kingdom, which will last "forever and ever", but has to perish on the battlefield. "We die with Christ , to live forever", tells he to his soldiers. That Kosovo's destination and that Testament, it is a union which Serb people made with God - and sealed it with martyrs' blood. On Kosovo, Serbs voted with their souls for Kingdom of Heaven and that was and has been their right destination. Since then all Serbs truthful to that Testament are becoming people of God, Christ's New Testament nation, heavenly Serbia, part of God's New Israel. This is why sometimes Serbs refer to themselves as the people of Heaven (" Serbian Orthodox Church canonised Lazar as Saint Lazar. He is celebrated on June 28 [ O.S. June 15] ( Vidovdan ). Several small Serbian Orthodox churches and missions throughout the world are named after him. His alleged remains are kept in Ravanica Monastery where miraculous cures have been attributed to them.