Some Notes on Marko Kraljevic (Prince Marko)

Abstract or Introduction

Kraljević Marko is the epic name of King Marko Mrnjavčević. The word 'Kraljević' means “the young king” or “the king’s son" in English. Marko was the regional king of a small principality in present-day Macedonia. As a Turkish vassal, he had to serve Bāyezid I Yildirim, the ‘Thunderbolt,’ in various military campaigns and he paid regular dues in tribute. It is widely accepted that King Marko accompanied Sultan Bāyezid in the campaign against a much smaller Wallachian army led by Voivode Mircea cel Bătrân and that he was killed at the battle of Rovine while fighting on the side of the Ottomans, a historical fact hardly likely to win him recognition and high regard from his fellow countrymen. That is to say, although he did not feel in duty bound to die in a battle against the Ottomans as his ‘mates’ did at the battle of Kosovo plain in 1389, people praised this petty lord as the greatest national hero ever and rewarded him with immortal epic songs throughout the five centuries of Ottoman rule and ever since. It is a psychological puzzle which has stirred historians and literary critics alike to investigate the matter till the present day.