Un caso di uso politico della storia: la Battaglia della Piana dei Merli (1389)

This paper focuses on the importance of the medieval Battle of Kosovo in the Serbian national narrative. The Battle, fought in 1389, is the main subject of the most important serbian epics, collected during the 1800 by the romantic writer Vuk Karadzić. The poems enclose mythical, religious and patriotic themes, commonly confused with the real history of the Battle. By the 80s intellectuals and politicians fuelled a general understanding of the crisis of Yugoslavia as the chance to realize the legacy left by the myth, in terms of re-building a strong Serbia and avenging past and present suffering, making the battle an archetype of Serbian destiny and identity.