Battle of Pločnik

Central Balkans in 1373-1395. The battle was fought near Prokuplje.

Date	Sometime between 1385 and 1387
Location	Pločnik
Result	Decisive Serbian victory

Belligerents

Moravian Serbia

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Lazar Hrebeljanović

Lala Şahin Pasha or Şahin Bey

Strength

c. 30,000

c. 20,000

Casualties and losses

few

c. 15,000

Coordinates: 43°12′07″N 21°21′20″E / 43.20194°N 21.35556°E / 43.20194; 21.35556

The Battle of Pločnik (Serbian: Битка код Плочника/Bitka kod Pločnika, Битка на Плочнику/Bitka na Pločniku) was fought sometime between 1385 and 1387 near the village of Pločnik (near Prokuplje in today's southeastern Serbia), between the Serbian forces of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the invading Ottoman Army of Sultan Murad I.

The Ottoman army penetrated Pomoravlje and neighbouring areas, killing and looting, then clashed with the subjects of Lazar at Dubravnica (1381), where they were successfully fought off. With a larger force, the Ottoman Sultan Murad I attacked Serbia in 1386, when according to some sources Niš was conquered.

Murad I had campaigned against the Karamanids and defeated their army near Konya. Serbian soldiers from some vassal Serbian lords had accompanied the Ottoman army. Some of the soldiers (including some Serbian soldiers) were executed because of looting civilian property, disobeying the Sultan's order. Many of the vassal Serbian lords now began to support Lazar against the Ottomans. At that time, one lord in Shkodër wrote a letter to the Sultan and promised to recognise Ottoman sovereignty and aid the Ottoman army if Ottoman troops were to be sent to protect him.Murad I thus ordered a akinji commander, Kula Şahin Bey, to prepare his troops (according to Kemal Namık, this was not Lala Şahin Paşa, as is commonly believed).

...
Wikipedia