Princess Milica Hrebeljanoviànée Nemanjià( ÷ ca. 1335 â November 11, 1405) also known as Empress (Tsaritsa) Milica, was a royal consort of Serbia by marriage to Prince Lazar, who fell in the Battle of Kosovo. After her husband's death, she took the role as queen regent of Serbia from 1389 to 1393, until her son, despot Stefan Lazareviàcame of age.
She later became a Serbian Orthodox nun under the name Jevgenija. She is the author of "A Mother's Prayer" () and a famous poem of mourning for her husband, My Widowhood's Bridegroom ().
She was the daughter of Prince Vratko Nemanjià(known in Serb epic poetry as Jug Bogdan), who as a great-grandson of Vukan NemanjiÃÂ, Grand Prince of Serbia (ruled 1202âÂÂ1204), was part of the collateral, but elder branch of the Nemanjiàdynasty. She was the fourth cousin once removed of Duà ¡an the Mighty, Emperor of Serbia. An inscription indicates that Milica had a single brother, the à ¾upan Nikola, a son of Vratko NemanjiÃÂ, who was buried in 1379 in the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Kurà ¡umlija. She was married to Prince Lazar HrebeljanoviÃÂ. Through female lineage, her children with Prince Lazar, members of the Lazareviàdynasty, are direct descendants of Nemanjiàdynasty.
Tsaritsa Milica was particularly known for her strong personality.
After the death of her husband at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Milica ruled Serbia until 1393 when her son, Stefan LazareviÃÂ, came of age to take the throne. The aftermaths of the Battle in Kosovo were considered very turbulent times for Serbia. Almost immediately in her reign, in November 1389, she was attacked by the Hungarians under Sigismund, who hoped to take advantage of Serbia's weakness after the Battle of Kosovo. The Hungarians took a series of the Serbs' northern fortresses and penetrated as far south as Kragujevac. Scholars disagree on the results of this attack and of the further fighting that occurred between Hungary and Serbia in the ensuing years. It is possible that Hungarians abandoned those lands, making it possible for Milica to regain some of it.
Vuk BrankoviÃÂ, one of the leaders led by Prince Lazar in the Battle of Kosovo, became an issue for Milica's reign. BrankoviÃÂ had prior to the battle accepted Lazar as his overlord, and now that Lazar was dead and his son wasn't of age, he attempted to overthrow Milica. As a result, the queen regent found herself caught between two ambitious enemies, the Hungarians and BrankoviÃÂ, who were now negotiating together and on the verge of forging an alliance. The pressure continued when Ottomans had reached Milica's border in the summer of 1390, in which she saw no other choice than accepting Ottoman suzerainty and allowed the Turks free passage through her lands.
This quarrel between BrankoviÃÂ and Milica, though very short-lasting, seems to have led Milica to unleash a propaganda campaign of slander. Therefore, it has made scholars to believe it might have influenced the early sources about Battle of Kosovo, in which BrankoviÃÂ is accused of alleged treachery against Prince Lazar by having secret negotiations with Sultan Murad.
She founded the Ljubostinja monastery around 1390 and later took monastic vows at her monastery and became the nun Eugenia (ÃÂõòóõýøÃÂð, later abbess Euphrosine, ÃÂõÃÂÃÂþÃÂøýð) around 1393.
In later diplomatic negotiations with Sultan Bayezid I, Eugenia and Euphemia, the former Vasilissa of Serres, both travelled to the Sultan's court in 1398/99.
In 1403, Eugenia went to the Sultan at Serres, arguing in favour of her son Stefan LazareviÃÂ in a complicated dispute that had emerged between her two sons and BrankoviÃÂ.
Princess Milica was also a writer. She wrote several prayers and religious poems. In 1397 she issued the "A Mother's Prayer" together with her sons at the DeÃÂani monastery. She commissioned the repairing of the bronze horos of DeÃÂani.
She was buried in Ljubostinja, her monastery. She was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
With Prince Lazar she had eight children, three sons and five daughters:
Several streets throughout Central Serbia are named after the Princess. In the once thriving industrial city of Trstenik, Serbia, the main street that runs directly through city center is named Kneginje Milice. Trstenik, Serbia, is the closest major city to her burial site at Ljubostinja Monastery.
There is a Kneginje Milice street also located in Lazarevac, in the neighbourhood of Lukavica. The street is about 250 m long.