Jovan Kursula

Jovan Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Јован Петровић, 1768–16 August 1813), known as Jovan Kursula (Јован Курсула), was a Serbian vojvoda (commander) that participated in the Serbian Revolution.

Portrait of Kursula
Statue in Varvarin.

Biography

Petrović was born in Donja Gorevnica, in the Rudnik okrug,[1] near Čačak, at the time part of the Sanjak of Smederevo (now Serbia). Both his parents, Velimir and Magdalena, had ancestry from Drobnjaci in what is today Montenegro. After his father's death his mother remarried in the village of Cvetke near Kraljevo, bringing Jovan with her. Kursula had brown hair, light skin, full cheeks, youthful looks, broad shoulders and was slow-witted.[1] He did not carry his sabre from his waist, as did most others, but "over his shoulder, as it was easier to pull out", as he was a master of swordsmanship.[2] He was one of the Rudnik nahija commanders, alongside Lazar Mutap, Arsenije Loma, Milić Drinčić and Milan Obrenović. At the Battle of Varvarin he had a duel against an Ottoman commander known as the "Black Arab" (Crni arapin). He died from wounds from the Battle of Deligrad.

Kursula's Street in Vračar, Belgrade.

Legacy

A Yugoslav Partisan detachment in Kraljevo named after him was established in 1941.[3] He has several primary schools named after him throughout Serbia, as well as streets in Vračar, Niš, Užice, Gornji Milanovac, Zaječar and Zrenjanin.

See also

References
  1. Marković & Pantović 1996, p. 119.
  2. Predrag Milošević (1989). Sveti ratnici : borilacke vestine u Srba. ISBN 9788636702611. Тако Јован Курсула није носио сабљу онако како се носи - о бедрима »него затурену на раме, како му је лакше по- тегнути је«
  3. Srboljub Đ Stamenković (2002). Geografska enciklopedija: naselja Srbije. Geografski fakultet. p. 280. ... коме је на месту званом "Партизанске колибе" јула 1941. год. формиран Кра- љевачки партизански одред "Јован Курсула"

Sources
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