page_title: Stefan Lazarević
section_title: Battle of Tripolje
hierarchical_section_title: Stefan Lazarević / Later years / Battle of Tripolje
caption_attribution_description: Gracanica Monastery, Kosovo
context_page_description: Stefan Lazarević, also known as Stefan the Tall, was the ruler of Serbia as prince and despot. The son of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, he was regarded as one of the finest knights and military leaders at that time. After the death of his father at Kosovo, he became ruler of Moravian Serbia and ruled with his mother Milica, until he reached adulthood in 1393. Stefan led troops in several battles as an Ottoman vassal, until asserting independence after receiving the title of despot from the Byzantines in 1402.
  Becoming an Hungarian ally in 1403–04, he received large possessions, including the important Belgrade and Golubac Fortress. He also held the superior rank in the chivalric Order of the Dragon. During his reign there was a long conflict with his nephew Đurađ Branković, which ended in 1412. Stefan also inherited Zeta, and waged war against Venice. Since he was childless, he designated his nephew Đurađ as heir in 1426, a year before his death.
  On the domestic front, he broke the resistance of the Serbian nobles, and used the periods of peace to strengthen Serbia politically, economically, culturally and militarily.
context_section_description: In late October, Stefan's army from Bar, moved across the country of Balšić and Venetian lands, from Shkoder to Kosovo. Avoiding the main roads controlled by his opponents, Stefan's forces arrived at Gračanica November 21 near Tripolje, in the following battle the forces of Branković, strengthened by Ottoman detachments, were defeated.
  Stephen broke his army in two, with orders sent by his mother, before the battle, and his opponents did the same. Most of the troops were placed under the command of his brother Vuk and directed them against the forces commanded by Đurađ Branković, while he, with a smaller part of the army attacked the Ottomans. Forces under his command had won a victory, but the significance it played was small Caesar Uglješa Vlatković. He was still an Ottoman vassal, but he reported to Stefan with their war plan, and during the battle was joined at his side. As a reward for this, Stefan gave him authority over Vranje, Inogoštem (Surdulica) and Preševo, which had previously belonged to his father and that area was connected to the Serbian despotate. Lazarević, having retreated after the battle in Novo Brdo, came into a verbal conflict with Vuk. The despot's younger brother accused him of ignorance of war casualties and his weak leadership skills, because the bulk of their forces, commanded by Vuk, were defeated in the battle with the army led by Đurađ Branković.
  Victory in Battle of Tripolje, enabled Stefan to regain his throne and influence in Serbia, which was further strengthened in the coming years. However, the fight with Branković had not ended and in a sense, further complicated by the conflict that arose between Stefan and Vuk. His younger brother in the summer 1403 left Serbia and headed to Suleiman, to ask him for help and force his older brother to cede part of the state administration. He was in fact told to stop by their mother, who followed him, but she failed to reach him before he arrived at the court of Suleiman. During his time at his court, she was able to reconcile the brothers prior to October 1404 and she succeeded in smoothing relations between Stefan and Suleiman. During the next year, Stefan tried to avoid the renewal of hostilities with the Ottomans.
  In 1403, Suleiman was in Gallipoli negotiating with a number of Christian states (Byzantium, Genoa, Venice, Knights Hospitaller and Naxos) in the Balkans in order to secure an agreement with them and start an offensive against his brothers in Asia Minor. The terms of the agreement were that Byzantium was to cease being a vassal of the Ottoman, while in the territorial sense, regain Thessaloniki and a number of cities on the coast of the Bosphorus and Black Sea. One of the provisions of this contract referred to Stefan, although he probably did not take part in its conclusion. Stefan kept his former possessions, but had to still pay tribute and send the Sultan support militarily, although he was not obliged to lead them himself.
  The Kingdom of Hungary at that time was in a crisis, King Sigmund I had lost the throne because part of the nobility was captured April 1401 in Buda. He was released in late 1401 and retired to Bohemia, where he spent the next year.
caption: Gračanica monastery built in 1321 by King Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia.
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