Until 1371 Marko was born about 1335 as the first son of
Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his wife
Alena. The
patronymic "Mrnjavčević" derives from Mrnjava, described by 17th-century
Ragusan historian
Mavro Orbin as a minor nobleman from
Zachlumia (in present-day
Herzegovina and southern
Dalmatia). According to Orbin, Mrnjava's sons were born in
Livno in western
Bosnia, where he may have moved after Zachlumia was annexed from Serbia by Bosnia in 1326. The
Mrnjavčević family may have later supported
Serbian Emperor (
tsar)
Stefan Dušan in his preparations to invade Bosnia as did other Zachlumian nobles, and, fearing punishment, emigrated to the Serbian Empire before the war started. These preparations possibly began two years ahead of the invasion, which was acquired by Serbia from
Byzantium in 1334 with other parts of
Macedonia. In 1355, at about age 47, Stefan Dušan died suddenly of a
stroke. Dušan was succeeded by his 19-year-old son
Uroš, who apparently regarded Marko Mrnjavčević as a man of trust. The new Emperor appointed him the head of the embassy he sent to Ragusa (now
Dubrovnik,
Croatia) at the end of July 1361 to negotiate peace between the empire and the
Ragusan Republic after hostilities earlier that year. Although peace was not reached, Marko successfully negotiated the release of Serbian merchants from
Prizren who were detained by the Ragusans and was permitted to withdraw silver deposited in the city by his family. The account of that embassy in a Ragusan document contains the earliest-known, undisputed reference to Marko Mrnjavčević. An inscription written in 1356 on a wall of a church in the Macedonian region of
Tikveš, mentions a Nikola and a Marko as governors in that region, but the identity of this Marko is disputed. Dušan's death was followed by the stirring of separatist activity in the Serbian Empire. The south-western territories, including
Epirus,
Thessaly, and lands in southern Albania, seceded by 1357. However, the core of the state (the western lands, including
Zeta and
Travunia with the upper
Drina Valley; the central Serbian lands; and Macedonia), remained loyal to Emperor Uroš. Nevertheless, local noblemen asserted more and more independence from Uroš' authority even in the part of the state that remained Serbian. Uroš was weak and unable to counteract these separatist tendencies, becoming an inferior power in his own domain. Serbian lords also fought each other for territory and influence. (from a fresco in the
Psača Monastery, North Macedonia) Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a skilful politician, and gradually assumed the main role in the empire. In August or September 1365 Uroš crowned him king, making him his co-ruler. By 1370, Marko's potential patrimony increased as Vukašin expanded his personal holdings from Prilep further into Macedonia,
Kosovo and
Metohija, acquiring Prizren,
Pristina,
Novo Brdo,
Skopje and
Ohrid. In late 1370 or early 1371, Vukašin crowned Marko "Young King", a title given to
heirs presumptive of Serbian kings to secure their position as successors to the throne. Since Uroš was childless, Marko could thus become his successor, beginning a new—Vukašin—dynasty of Serbian sovereigns, The ban and his mother approved of Vukašin's idea to join the Šubić princess and Marko, and the wedding was imminent. However, in April 1370
Pope Urban V sent Tvrtko a letter forbidding him to give the
Catholic lady in marriage to the "son of His Magnificence, the King of Serbia, a
schismatic" (
filio magnifici viri Regis Rascie scismatico). of the impending "offence to the Christian faith", and the marriage did not occur. During the spring of 1371, Marko participated in the preparations for a campaign against
Nikola Altomanović, the major lord in the west of the Empire. The campaign was planned jointly by King Vukašin and
Đurađ I Balšić, lord of
Zeta (who was married to Olivera, the king's daughter). In July of that year Vukašin and Marko camped with their army outside
Scutari, on Balšić's territory, ready to make an incursion towards
Onogošt in Altomanović's land. The attack never took place, since the
Ottomans threatened the land of
Despot Jovan Uglješa (lord of
Serres and Vukašin's younger brother, who ruled in eastern Macedonia) and the Mrnjavčević forces were quickly directed eastward. the bodies of Vukašin and Jovan Uglješa were never found. The battle site, near the village of
Ormenio in present-day eastern Greece, has ever since been called as
Sırp Sındığı ("Serbian rout") in
Turkish. The Battle of Maritsa had far-reaching consequences for the region, since it opened the
Balkans to the Turks.
After 1371 When his father died, "young king" Marko became king and co-ruler with Emperor Uroš. The Nemanjić dynasty ended soon afterwards, when Uroš died on 2 (or 4) December 1371 and Marko became the formal sovereign of Serbia. Serbian lords, however, did not recognise him, By 1377,
Vuk Branković acquired Skopje, and Albanian magnate
Andrea Gropa became virtually independent in Ohrid; however, he may have remained a vassal to Marko as he had been to Vukašin. The only sizable town kept by Marko was Prilep, from which his father rose. King Marko became a petty prince ruling a relatively small territory in western Macedonia, bordered in the north by the
Šar mountains and Skopje; in the east by the
Vardar and the
Crna Reka rivers, and in the west by Ohrid. The southern limits of his territory are uncertain. When Marko became an Ottoman
vassal is uncertain, but it was probably not immediately after the Battle of Maritsa. At some point, Marko separated from Jelena and lived with Todora, the wife of a man named Grgur, and Jelena returned to her father in Veria. Marko later sought to reconcile with Jelena but he had to send Todora to his father-in-law. Since Marko's land was bordered on the south by Hlapen's, the reconciliation may have been political. , known as
Markovi Kuli ("Marko's towers") Marko's fortress was on a hill north of present-day Prilep; its partially preserved remains are known as
Markovi Kuli ("Marko's towers"). Beneath the fortress is the village of Varoš, site of the medieval Prilep. The village contains the Monastery of Archangel Michael, renovated by Marko and Vukašin, whose portraits are on the walls of the monastery's church. The Monastery of St. Demetrius, popularly known as
Marko's Monastery, is in the village of
Markova Sušica (near Skopje) and was built from c. 1345 to 1376 (or 1377). Kings Marko and Vukašin, its
ktetors, are depicted over the south entrance of the monastery church. His silver
coins weighed 1.11 grams, and were produced in three types. In two of them, the
obverse contained a five-line text: ("In the Christ God, the pious King Marko"). In the first type, the reverse depicted
Christ seated on a throne; in the second, Christ was seated on a
mandorla. In the third type, the reverse depicted Christ on a mandorla; the obverse contained the four-line text ("Pious King Marko"), About 150 of Marko's coins survive in
numismatic collections. Although he called himself
Autokrator of all the
Serbs (), he was not strong enough to unite all Serbian lands under his authority. The
Balšić and Mrnjavčević families,
Konstantin Dragaš (maternally a Nemanjić), Vuk Branković and Radoslav Hlapen continued ruling their respective regions. in
Markova Sušica, near
Skopje On 15 June 1389, Serbian forces led by Prince Lazar, Vuk Branković, and Tvrtko's nobleman
Vlatko Vuković of Zachlumia, confronted the Ottoman army led by Sultan
Murad I at the
Battle of Kosovo, the best-known battle in medieval Serbian history. With the bulk of both armies wiped out and Lazar and Murad killed, the outcome of the battle was inconclusive. In its aftermath the Serbs had insufficient manpower to defend their lands, while the Ottomans had many more troops in the east. Serbian principalities which were not already Ottoman vassals became such over the next few years. Although Marko was not among them, his younger brothers Andrijaš and Dmitar refused to remain under Ottoman dominance. They emigrated to the
Kingdom of Hungary, entering the service of
King Sigismund. They travelled via Ragusa, where they withdrew two-thirds of their late father's store of of silver, leaving the remaining third for Marko. Although Andrijaš and Dmitar were the first Serbian nobles to emigrate to Hungary, the Serbian northward migration would continue throughout the Ottoman occupation. Three Serbian vassals fought on the Ottoman side: King Marko, Lord Konstantin Dragaš, and Despot
Stefan Lazarević (son and heir of Prince Lazar). The
Battle of Rovine, on 17 May 1395, was won by the Wallachians; Marko and Dragaš were killed. After their deaths the Ottomans annexed their lands, combining them into an Ottoman province centred in
Kyustendil. The chronicle goes on to state that Marko and Dragaš were killed in the battle. Another medieval source that mentions Marko's death at the Battle of Rovine is the
Dečani Chronicle. ==In folk poetry==