Peace Corps in Macedonia: The Chuck Norris of Macedonia

Karli Marko, or Prince Marko, is somewhat of a national legend in Macedonia. Some HCNs call him the “Chuck Norris of Macedonia.” Luckily for me, his former abode is only about a 2.5 KM hike from my home. Two weekends ago, my site mate Nick, Ted, and an EVS volunteer named Maud climbed the mountain with me for a leisurely Sunday hike. I appreciate the fact that the ruins of Karli Marko’s castle, or Маркови Кули (Marko’s Tower) as it is called in Macedonia, are accessible to locals and tourists. Posted below are some pictures of our Sunday hike (for my family and friends who are Facebook friends with me, you probably have already seen many of these photos). But I assume that some of you want to know more about Karli Marko and his legend in Macedonia.

So let’s start with the oral tradition: what do modern Macedonians say about Karli Marko? Well, as I mentioned before, to them Karli Marko is a Macedonian hero and is described as a sort of demi-god. According to Macedonians, he would reign over his kingdom from his tower in the mountain. When the Turkish armies would invade the poor, helpless people of his kingdom, he would rush down from his mountain on his horse with his giant spear and single-handedly defeat the “Black Rape” brought about by the Turkish invaders. Macedonians never forget to mention that he had a manly mustache, and his legend is so important to the national culture that a crappy light beer produced in Prilep is named after him.

However, according to historic sources (read: Wikipedia), many of the assumptions about Karli Marko are incorrect. He was not a Macedonian king but a Serbian king from 1371 to 1395. Although the death of his father and of another Serbian lord resulted in his coronation as the King of Serbia, his reign was limited to the western half of Macedonia since the other lords of Serbia did not recognize his authority in their territories. Eventually his ability to rule extended to only the small territory surrounding his castle in Prilep. Due to his weakness and the rise of other lords in the remaining lands in Serbia, the Serbian kingdom was fractured and would occasionally result in conflicts against each other.

These conflicts made it easier for the Ottoman Empire to invade the Balkans. It is true that the Serbian kingdoms were able to band together to face the Ottoman armies at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, but that battle drained much of the manpower of the Serbian armies, allowing the Ottoman Empire to continue its invasion into the region. When all was lost, many of the Serbian lords fled their kingdoms to Hungary.

While Karli Marko may have initially opposed the Turks, he eventually decided to remain a vassal and joined the Ottomans in battles against other Christian kingdoms. For example, he aided the Ottoman armies in the battle against the Kingdom of Wallachia (in modern-day Romania) in 1395. During this battle, Karli Marko was killed, and the Ottoman Empire annexed his lands into their kingdom.

So, as history shows, Karli Marko was actually a weak lord who saw the uprising of other Serbian lords within his kingdom. He did not stand up to the Turks but actually chose to remain a vassal for the empire in his lands. But the ruins of his castle and the oral legends continue to represent him as a regional hero.