While Crusades were mounted intermittently over the
next two centuries, and though they had some initial
success, they did little to stem the tide of jihad. Then in
1345, the Byzantine Emperor John VI, dynastic disputes
having rendered him shortsighted, asked for help from the
Turks to further his own cause. They arrived in Europe to
help him – and decided to stay. On June 15, 1389, they
engaged Christian forces in battle at a place that has fresher
associations of horror in the modern mind: Kosovo. Once
again, the battle was a religious one, for the strategizing on
the Muslim side had a strong theological flavor. On the
night before the battle:
The grand vizier opened the Koran at random seeking inspiration. His eyes
fell upon the verse that said, ‘‘Oh Prophet, fight the hypocrites and
unbelievers.’’ ‘‘These Christian dogs are unbelievers and hypocrites,’’ he said.
‘‘We fight them.’’[35]
Fight the Christians they did, and ultimately prevailed
against a stronger, larger force — making June 15 a day of
mourning for Serbs ever after. This battle inaugurated the
religious and ethnic fissures of the Balkans that continue to
plague that unhappy region to this day.
Seven years later, in 1396, the Muslims defeated a
French force that had traveled across Europe to come to the
aid of the Hungarians; but now Hungary lay within the
grasp of the Sultan. At this point, however, the onslaught of
jihad against Christendom was slowed by an internal matter:
the Ottoman Sultan had to fight off the Mongols from the
East, who by this time were also Muslims. This was only a
temporary delay, however. In 1444 Muslim armies again