Lazar of Serbia in the context of "Murad I"

The fall of the Serbian Empire was a decades-long process in the late 14th century. Following the death of the childless Emperor Stefan Uroš V in 1371, the Serbian Empire was left without an heir and the magnates, velikaši, obtained the rule of its provinces and districts (in so-called feudal fragmentation), continuing their offices as independent with titles such as gospodin, and despot, given to them during the Empire. This period is known as the dissolution or the beginning of the fall of the Serbian Empire.

Between 1365 and 1371, King Vukašin was the co-ruler of Emperor Uroš, ruling the southern half, thus the Empire may be viewed as a de facto diarchy. Before 1371, the nobility were either directly subordinate to Emperor Uroš or to Vukašin. Vukašin died in the Battle of Maritsa (1371) against the invading Ottoman Empire, and southern Serbian provinces became nominal Ottoman vassals. Four months later, Uroš died. The lords could not agree on the rightful ruler; they dismissed Prince Marko, the son of Vukašin, and conflicts started between the nobles within a year. An assembly was held in 1374 without any success since the nobles were unable to agree on whether Marko or Prince Lazar would head the Serbian confederation as the Serbian king and the state continued as before, fragmented and without central authority.

The Battle of Kosovo took place on 15 June 1389 between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Murad I. It was one of the largest battles of the Late Middle Ages.

The battle was fought on the Kosovo field in the territory ruled by Serbian nobleman Vuk Branković, in what is today Kosovo, about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) northwest of the modern city of Pristina. The army under Prince Lazar consisted mostly of his own troops, a contingent led by Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Additionally, Lazar was also supported by a Christian coalition from various European ethnic groups. Prince Lazar was the ruler of Moravian Serbia and the most powerful among the Serbian regional lords of the time, while Branković ruled the District of Branković and other areas, recognizing Lazar as his overlord.

Kosovo field (Albanian: Fusha e Kosovës; Serbian: Косово поље, romanized: Kosovo polje, lit. 'Blackbird Field') is a large karst field, located in the middle part of Kosovo. It is mostly known for being the site of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) between the Balkan Alliance led by Lazar of Serbia and Ottoman armies led by Murad I, and many other battles.

Vuk Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Бранковић, pronounced [ʋûːk brǎːnkoʋit͡ɕ], 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, entire Kosovo, the northern part of present-day Republic of North Macedonia, and northern Montenegro. His fief (and later state) was known as Oblast Brankovića (District of Branković) or simply as Vukova zemlja (Vuk's land), which he held with the title of gospodin (lord, sir), under Prince Lazar of Serbia. After the Battle of Kosovo (1389), Vuk was briefly the de facto most powerful Serbian lord.

Pavle Orlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Павле Орловић) is a semi-mythological hero of the Kosovo cycle of Serbian epic poetry; he was a Serbian knight, one of the military commanders under Prince Lazar that fell at the Battle of Kosovo (1389) against the Ottoman Empire. According to folklore, Orlović was the son of voivode Vuk Orle, the Lord of Soko Grad on the Drina. After the death of Stephen Uroš V the Weak, Orlović held the mining town of Novo Brdo, as well as his father's possessions on Mount Rudnik in central Serbia.

According to legend, Pavle Orlović's four sons escaped their hometown to Čarađe, near Gacko, after the death of their father and fled to Velimlje, a village in Banjani (modern-day Montenegro). After the Ottoman conquest of Banjani, they established several families of the Orlović clan at Čarađe, Bjelice and Cuce.

Toplica Milan (Serbian Cyrillic: Топлица Милан) or Milan Toplica (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Топлица), also known as Milan from Toplica (Serbian: Милан из Топлице, romanized: Milan iz Toplice), was a legendary Serbian knight who was allied to Prince Lazar and died during the historical 1389 Battle of Kosovo, according to Serbian epic poems.

Jelena Lazarević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Лазаревић; 1365/1366 – 1443), also known, by marriages, as Jelena Balšić or Jelena Hranić or Jelena Kosača, was a medieval Serbian princess, daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia and Princess Milica Nemanjić. She had a very strong personality and significantly influenced the way her husbands, first Đurađ II Balšić and second Sandalj Hranić Kosača, and her son Balša III governed their realms. Jelena encouraged them to resist Venetian encroachment on territory belonging to Zeta, the medieval state ruled by Đurađ II and, upon his death, by Balša III. She is also known as a writer in epistolary literature, particularly her correspondence with Nikon of Jerusalem, a monk in the Gorica Monastery on Lake Skadar (Montenegro). Her three epistles are part of the Gorički zbornik, a medieval manuscript collection.

The Kosovo Myth (Serbian: Косовски мит / Kosovski mit), also known as the Kosovo Cult (Косовски култ / Kosovski kult) and the Kosovo Legend (Косовска легенда / Kosovska legenda), is a Serbian national myth based on legends about events related to the Battle of Kosovo (1389). It is rooted in Prince Lazar's apocryphal choice during the battle at the Kosovo Polje, where he is said to have rejected an earthly victory over the Ottoman Sultan Murad I and chose to die as a Christian martyr in favor of a "heavenly kingdom". This choice, as the narrative suggests, was intended to position Serbs as a chosen people and secure a spiritual covenant with God and a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

It has been a major subject in Serbian folklore and literary tradition and has been cultivated through oral epic poetry and guslar poems. The final form of the legend was not created immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions. In its modern form it emerged in 19th-century Serbia and served as an important constitutive element of the national identity of modern Serbia and its politics.