Saint Milica Hrebeljanović

Princess Milica Hrebeljanović née Nemanjić (Serbian: Милица Немањић Хребељановић · ca. 1335 – 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 Lazarević came of age. She later became a Serbian Orthodox nun under the name Jevgenija. She is the author of "A Mother's Prayer" (Serbian: Молитва матере) and a famous poem of mourning for her husband, My Widowhood's Bridegroom (Serbian: Удовству мојему женик). She was the daughter of Prince Vratko Nemanjić (known in Serb epic poetry as Jug Bogdan), who as a great-grandson of Vukan Nemanjić, Grand Prince of Serbia (ruled 1202–1204), was part of the collateral, but elder branch of the Nemanjić dynasty. She was the fourth cousin once removed of Dušan the Mighty, Emperor of Serbia. An inscription indicates that Milica had a single brother, the župan Nikola, a son of Vratko Nemanjić, who was buried in 1379 in the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija. She was married to Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. Through female lineage, her children with Prince Lazar, members of the Lazarević dynasty, are direct descendants of Nemanjić dynasty. 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 Lazarević, 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.