Editing Vuk Branković (section)

==Battle of Kosovo==
{{See also|Battle of Kosovo}}
[[Image:Battle of Kosovo, disposition of troops.svg|thumb|150px|Kosovo Field with probable disposition of troops before the battle]]
After the Battle of Maritza, the Ottomans forced the southern Serbian feudal lords (in present-day Macedonia and Greece), [[Konstantin Dragas|Konstantin Dragaš]], [[King Marko]], [[Thomas II Preljubović|Toma Preljubović]], and others, to become their vassals and started to attack the northern Serbian lands ruled by prince Lazar and Vuk. After initial Serbian successes at the battles of [[battle of Dubravnica|Dubravnica]] (1381), [[Battle of Plocnik|Pločnik]] (1386), and [[battle of Bileca|Bileća]] (1388), the Ottomans launched a full-scale attack on Serbia, aiming at the very heartland of Vuk's realm in central Kosovo. In the epic [[Battle of Kosovo]] (1389), Vuk participated along with his father-in-law Lazar and a contingent of King Tvrtko's army.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=79-86}}

Unlike Lazar, who died in the battle along with most of his army, Vuk managed to survive and preserve his army, which later gave material for a popular Serbian folk tradition (represented in folk epic poems and tales) that he betrayed Lazar in order to become supreme ruler of Serbia, a theory that is rejected by modern-day Serbian historians but not by the Serb people.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=83–85}} Despite the consensus of modern historiography in [[Serbia]] that Vuk Branković was not a traitor in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, [[Momčilo Spremić]] emphasized that there is a possibility that Vuk really betrayed his Serbian allies.<ref>{{cite web |last=Zirojević |first=Olga |title=Bog ubio Vuka Brankovića... (Let God kill Vuk Branković...) |url=http://www.yurope.com/zines/republika/arhiva/96/153/153-45.html |access-date=14 May 2011 |quote=Momcilo Spremic kao da ponovo izvodi Vuka Brankovica na sud. »Uzimajuci u obzir« - kaze on - »celokupnu delatnost Vuka, ne bi se moglo reci da je bio bez predispozicije za izdaju. Konacno, sve sto je ovde izneto, ne na osnovu emotivnog narodnog predanja, vec iskljucivo na osnovu pouzdanih dokumenata, pokazuje da njegova izdaja na Kosovu nije bila nemoguca«... Momčilo Spremić is again taking Vuk Branković on the trial. "Taking into consideration - says he - the whole activities of Vuk Branković, it can not be said that he did not have prerequisites for betrayal. Finally, everything that was stated here, not based on an emotional popular narrative, but on the basis of reliable sources, shows that his betrayal at Kosovo was not impossible.}}</ref>