[79] Spicilegium, &c., De Bosniæ Regno, p. 51; Farlati, Ep. Bosn. &c. Schimek (op. cit. p. 84).
[80] Henceforth he is generally known as Stephen Myrza.
[81] Thoemmel, Vilajet Bosnien, p. 12.
[82] For an account of the collection of Bishop Strossmayer I am entirely indebted to Canon Liddon, who visited Diakovar in the summer of this year. As a slight monument of mediæval art in Bosnia I may refer the reader to the Great Seal of King Tvartko III. engraved on the title-page of this book.
[83] See [p. 384] for the Župa Canawlovska and the Roman aqueduct from which it derived its name. Tribunja or Terbunja is, of course, Trebinje, the Roman Terbulium.
[84] Jireček (op. cit. p. 338), who brings out clearly the prominent part played by King Tvartko in the last great South-Sclavonic struggle against the Turks.
[85] Rački, Pokret na Slavenskom jugu, koncem XIV. i pocetkom XV. stolieca (cited in Jireček, loc. cit.)
[86] The English reader will find a full and graphic account of the battle of Kóssovo Polje (or the field of Thrushes) in The Slavonic Provinces of Turkey in Europe, by G. Muir Mackenzie and A. P. Irby, ch. xv. Some extracts from some of the Servian Pjesme on this subject are translated by Sir John Bowring in his Servian Popular Poetry. There is also an interesting account of the battle in Knolles’ Turkish History, 1610, which shows how great was already the poetic influence on the story. ‘The brightness of the Armor and Weapons,’ writes our English historian, ‘was as it had been the Lightning, the multitude of Launces and other horsemen’s staves shadowed the light of the Sun. Arrows and darts fell so fast that a man would have thought they had poured down from Heaven. The noise of the Instruments of War, with the neighing of Horses and outcries of men was so terrible and great that the wild Beasts of the mountains stood astonied therewith; and the Turkish Histories, to express the terror of the day (vainly say) that the Angels of Heaven amazed with that hideous noise for that time forgot the heavenly hymns wherewith they always glorifie God.’ It is possible that the thunder of cannon was now heard for the first time in the Balkan peninsula. In 1383 the Venetians had sold King Tvartko a Falconus.
[87] Zinkeisen, (I. 290) cited in Jireček (op. cit. p. 344).