The Legacy of Serbian Heroes

at the end of the sixteenth century, and in the poem Starina Novak
and Duke Bogosav he becomes a haiduk around the time of the rise of
Smederevo, or to be more precise, a century before it. around the time
when people were slaved to work for free, pay enormous taxes and su-
ffer while the city was built. Who wanted to explain to the people the
strategic importance of this fortress that would keep them safe from
the Turkish invasion? at that time the Serbian province, under Djuradj
Brankovic, was still a big country, from the Danube to the adriatic Sea;
however, it was also a “body without a backbone.” The Hungarians had
settled in Belgrade, the Turks in nis, Kragujevac, golubac… while Dju-
radj was building a new capital with a fortress, as he was left without
any strong Serbian cities to support him. The Big and Small towns of
Smederevo, with twenty-four towers at twenty meters tall, with walls
from two to four meters thick, covering the surface of ten hectares we-
re built quickly – “between 1428 and 1430. The nation had to pay heavy
taxes and do even heavier “city-building” labour.”
“The Serbian state at the time of the collapse raised its greatest fort-
ress of the middle ages”, – so great that it could be compared to Du-
brovnik. Very rarely, if ever, did Serbian noblemen and people oppose
each other in our folk poems, even though it is known how difficult
common life was during the times of feudalism. oppressed by the
Turkish invaders, the poet did not have time to elaborate on social in-
justice; he sought for his own ancient heroes among the nobility, par-
ticularly those killed in battles. In the poem mentioned above, the poet
even puts the blame for the barbarous disposition on the foreigner –
“the damn Jerina”.  Historically she is known as the greek princess
Irina of the family Kantakuzin, who was married to despot Duradj
Jankovic. However she was also known as a dedicated and gracious
leader as well as an unfortunate mother: her sons – grgur and Stefan,
were blinded by the Turks, while her daughters – Mara and Katarina,
in order to acquire unattainable political alliances, were given away to
be married to foreigners and enemies – Emperor Murat II and Count
ulrik of Celje. However, the main purpose of Starina novak’s poems is
the revenge of the Turks and the preparation of the nation for the mas-
sive and powerful resistance in the future. That is indeed the essence of
all epic poems of haiduks and ambushers. His son, grujo novakovic,
“the child grujica” helps him bravely and skillfully fulfilling his duty
however he could, even through jokes and laughter.  He is more beauti-
ful than any girl but he cuts throats like a thunderbolt in the sky:

…still, he waited and saw Hussein the servant,
he hit him on his right shoulder,
cut him in half right on his saddle,
the saddle on a gray horse,
even the gray horse standing on the black earth,
he even cut little of the black earth!
Starina Novak calls to him:
“Great, child Grujica!
When I was your age,
I could have cut like that.

The two of them were ruthless to many invaders (in the songs Starina
Novak and deli-Radivoje, Novak and Radivoje selling Grujica, Grujica
and Pasha from Zagorje.)

But here you have Starina Novak,
On him is a mighty suit:
On him is the skin of a bear,
and a hat of wolf-skin on his head,
and on the hat swan wing:
his eyes are two cups of wine
eyelashes as owl’s wing;
and he carries the old caliber sword
when they stormed on the Turks,
dividing the Turks into piles,
one relying on another:
what deli-Radivoj misses,
the young Tatomir takes on;
What misses young Tatomir
Grujica, the child takes on,
what misses Grujica the child,
this, Starina Novak takes on.

They both deliver the same message: fight for your existence constan-
tly and with no hesitation, stay together forming smaller groups until
the time comes for the whole nation to rise as one.
Ivo Senkovic is the youngest Serbian hero; he is “not even sixteen
years old.” The poem Ivo Senkovic and the Aga from Ribnik, even tho-
ugh still an epic poem is heartfelt, filled with father-son love and de-
votion. a Turk challenges Ivo’s aged father for a duel, or else he will
make him “knit” underwear and undershirts for him. The old hero is
in trouble and his son decides to trade places with him at the duel. The
father is worried about his young and inexperienced son who is about
to have his first battle with the famous duelist. However, they were
both aware they would not choose humiliation. The father gives advice
to the son how to guard himself in the duel, gives him his clothes and
weapons, his battle-trained gray horse and his blessing:

(Gray’s) Dor’s saddle kiss under the mane:
“Ah, my (gray) dor, my very dear one!
We have, my (gray) dor, always fought so well,
the heads of the Turks we brought!
Now, my (gray) dor, I got quite old,
I cannot fight any longer,
now I send you with an unreasonable head,
with Ivan, with my only son:
Ivan, oh (gray) doro, an unreasonable head,
take care of him, (gray) doro, of my son Ivo!”
“Oh, Ivo, my dear child!”
Go son, go it’s the good time for it!
there, my son, let the good faith await you!
May God carry you peacefully and healthy,
and may he take you away from the devil’s hands,
from awful wounds and devilish hands!
and may your right hand be robust!
May your eyes be free from the Turk!”…

With such allies, like his father’s love, his inherited heroism and the
good horse that will shield him with his own body at a crucial moment;
Ivo returns in good health, wearing aga’s Turkish suit, on a Turkish
horse to prove that he was at the battlefield and that he won. neither
his mother nor his father recognized him, and the old man, thinking
that a Turk is approaching his home after he has killed his only child,
regains all of his old strength. He stormed out on the bare horseback
with a sword, full of parental grief and anger, ready to commit venge-
ance. There is no hero that could resist him. The recognition will come
in a later time. our poet did not cross the line when he raised a topic that
is well known in international epic poetry: the father, due to his ignora-
nce caused by shock, kills his only son (germanic poem The Lay of Hild-
ebrand, or as rostam and Sohrab in Ferdowsi’s and in the Iranian Shah-
nameh.) We needed all of our sons and fathers, for we would never
have enough of us to overpower the sea of invaders, we need their
mu-tual respect and love, so we can pass on their legacy. from such
feelings of strong morals comes the saying: this world is for the young.
Stojan Jankovic is a known historical figure. Several songs have
been sung about him and about two other real ambushers (uskoks):
Ivo Senkovic or the Senjanin, or more precisely Ivan Vlatkovic who
was the leader of the Senjin “uskoks” and Tadija Senjanin or more
precisely, Tadija Petrovic, of whom, on the contrary, little is known
to history. They both lived in the late sixteenth, early seventeenth
centuries. among the “uskoks”, Stojan Jankovic is a great historic-
al figure, leader of the uskoks’s group from Kotor in many battles
against the Turks in the second half of the seventeenth century. He
has also been captured by the Turks and this event had been echoed
in the beautiful poem The Slavery of Jankovic Stojan. He was killed
during the conquest of Danube in 1687.  as a warrior, he earned a
noble title and estate.  In a small town of greek Islam, near Benko-
vac, his tower stood until very recently. It was property of the writer
Vladan Desnica (Stojan’s female line descendent) up until the war
that started in 1990. The tower was demolished in 1993, along with the
church that was built in the XVII century in which Stojan Jankovic
was buried. few years before it was destroyed, Vladan Desnica was
also buried in the same church. Both of their graves were desecrated.