Kosovo curse
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The Kosovo curse (Serbian: Косовска клетва / Kosovska kletva) or Prince's curse (Serbian: Кнежева клетва / Kneževa kletva), is according to legend, a curse said by Serbian Saint Lazar Hrebeljanović before the Battle of Kosovo. Lazar curses those Serbs who ignored his call for war against the Ottoman Empire.[1] Constantine of Kostenets recorded that Lazar issued an "invitation and threat" to Serbian states which is preserved in the Serbian epic poetry in the form of a curse.[2]
From 1778 to 1781, Avram Miletić composed a miscellany of 129 songs (Serbian: Песмарица/Pesmarica) which also included the song "A history of Musić Stefan" containing a form of the Kosovo curse.[3] One form of the curse appeared in the 1845 edition of the collection of Serbian folk songs by Vuk Karadžić. It is an updated version of a 1813 text by Karadžić with stronger nationalist overtones.[4]
Karadžić's "Kosovo curse" is inscribed on the Gazimestan monument, where the Battle of Kosovo was fought.
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