Anna Di Lellio:
The Battle of Kosovo 1389
An Albanian epic
Translations by Robert Elsie
ISBN 978-1-84885-094-1
I.B. Tauris in association with the Centre for Albanian Studies, London 2009
199 pp.
The 1389 Battle of Kosovo holds enormous
significance in the formation and development
of the modern Balkan states. What has given
this single battle such resonance, more than six
centuries later, and what does it reveal about
the tangled complex of identity in the
contemporary Balkans?
The enduring power of the Serbian national
myth, inspired by the epic of the resistance
against the Ottomans on the Kosovan
battlefield, is still visible throughout the ruins
of Yugoslavia, is widely known and often told.
Robert Elsie’s beautiful new translation brings
a little-known Albanian account of the Battle
brilliantly to life. This is the tale of Sultan
Murat I’s campaign in the Balkans and his
assassination by the Albanian knight Millosh
Kopiliq, Miloš Obilić in the Serbian tradition.
Anna Di Lellio’s commentary explores the significance of the Albanian epic for post-war
Kosovo, where it reinforces a collective identity built on a myth of resistance against foreign
oppressors, and on a strong identification with a European, predominantly Christian,
civilization. The Battle of Kosovo 1389 argues for a critical reading of the poem as an
alternative narrative, not an alternative true story of the historical battle. It is an important
addition to our understanding of the Albanian debate on national and cultural belonging, as
well as the more general issues of national memory and identity.