Sibinjanin Janko: History, tradition, legend

The aim of the paper was to provide historical background of the so-called second battle of Kosovo that has occurred in October 1448, as well as the oral tradition that came out from the battle. In the battle, Janos Hunyadi (Sibinjanin Janko in the Serbian oral epic tradition) fought and lost against the Turks at the very same place where prince Lazar had encountered the same enemy in 1389. From the historical point of view, the most important facts about this event are the following: Hunyadi led the army of Hungarians, Czechs, Germans, Poles and other Christians who had encountered the Ottoman army of Sultan Murat II; the Christians were defeated; Janko's nephew Szekely Janos lost his life; and Hunyadi himself escaped. Later on, Hunyadi became one of the most prominent heroes of the Serbian folk tradition and epic songs about heroic deeds. Beside him, Janos Szekely, who governed Slavonia and Croatia also become an epic legend, under the name of Sekula Banović. A part of the tradition of the battle of Varna, which took place in the year 1444, also came into the tradition of the Kosovo battle, from which emerged one complex oral memory of the heroic fights against the Ottoman conquerors. Even though there are a lot historically vague facts, even a lot of fictional characters, the tradition of Hunyadi's valiant clashes with the Turks on the field of Kosovo has remained and survived through different epochs.