Stanoje Glavaš
Quick Facts
Biography
Stanoje Stamatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Станоје Стаматовић), known as Stanoje Glavaš (Станоје Главаш; 21 February 1763 – 25 February 1815) was a Serbian hajduk and hero in the First Serbian Uprising.
Life
Glavaš was born in 1763 in the village of Salevac (now Glibovac), near Smederevska Palanka, at the time part of the Sanjak of Smederevo, Ottoman Empire. He was the co-leader, with Stanko Arambašić and Lazar Dobrić, of a hajduk company based in Austrian-held Syrmia, which frequently crossed the Ottoman border, and attacked Ottoman forces and caravans in the Sanjak of Smederevo in the 1790s (including Koča's frontier rebellion).
In 1804, at the eve of the First Serbian Uprising, Glavaš, Karađorđe and several other leaders gathered at Orašac to organize the revolt (see Serbian Revolution). He refused the offer to become its leader, instead opting for Karađorđe. In December 1806, commanders Vujica, Mladen Milovanović and Glavaš commanded an army of 18,000 soldiers to defend the Serbs at the Battle of Deligrad. The fight ended in Serbian victory, with Ibrahim Bushati, pasha of Shkodër, signing a 6-week truce. He led a company of around 3,000 men which liberated Prokuplje and Kuršumlija. His company guarded the Morava Valley and fought the Ottomans in the mountains of Niš and Novi Pazar for two months before being captured. He was killed by the Ottomans on 25 February 1815, after the demise of Hadži-Prodan's Uprising. His severed head was on display at the Kalemegdan along with other Serbian leaders.
Legacy
In his home town, there is a street and an elementary school named after him. He is the subject of a Serbian screenplay written by Đura Jakšić, which was widely shown throughout Serbia.