Branković dynasty

The House of Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранковић, pl. Brankovići / Бранковићи, pronounced [brǎːnkɔv̞itɕ]) is a Serbian medieval noble family and dynasty. According to genealogies created in the first half of the 15th century, the family descends via female lineage, through marriage with the Nemanjić dynasty. The family rose to prominence during the fall of the Serbian Empire. The original family domains were centered in the Kosovo region. Later family members extended their rule over all remaining unconquered regions of Serbia making them the last sovereign rulers of medieval Serbian state. The dynasty ruled the Serbian Despotate from 1427 to 1459 and their descendants continue to claim the throne of the Despotate Serbia, some having entered the ranks of the Hungarian aristocracy, while other descendants of the dynasty continue to go by a courtesy title.

Branković Бранковић
Parent house	Nemanjić dynasty (maternally)
Country	Serbian Empire District of Branković Serbian Despotate Kingdom of Hungary
Founded	before 1323 (1323)
Founder	Branko Mladenović (noble family), Vuk Branković (royal family)
Final ruler	Jovan Branković
Titles	Despot of Serbia (1427–1502; royal) Grand Prince of Rascia Prince of Zeta and the Zetan Maritime Lord of the Serbs and Pomorije and Podunavije Prince Branković (after 1502)
Style(s)	"Majesty" "Royal Highness" "Serene Highness"
Deposition	1502

Members of the family intermarried with other noble houses from neighbouring countries including Austrian and Hungarian nobility, and provided at least one wife to Ottoman Sultan. By the 17th century, Branković blood had entered into the House of Habsburg, providing more descendants into the ruling houses of Europe. One such descendant was Maria of Yugoslavia, the wife of Alexander I of Yugoslavia. With the ascension of her son Peter II of Yugoslavia in 1934, Branković, Lazarević, and Nemanjić blood returned to the Serbian throne.

Some of the family members were:

• Vuk Branković
• Đurađ Branković (1427–1456)
• Lazar Branković (1456–1458)
• Stefan Branković (1458–1459)
• Jelena Branković, the last Queen of Bosnia
• Mara Brankovic, daughter of Despot Đurađ, and stepmother of Mehmed II

Family tree

Main article: Branković family tree

Predecessors

• Unknown
  • Nikola, Serb župan in modern-day Northern Albania
  • Vojvoda Mladen, ruled Trebinje and Dračevica
    • Ratislava, daughter of Vojvoda Mladen, married Altoman Vojinović

Brankovići

• Branko Mladenović, son of Vojvoda Mladen, ruled Ohrid
  • Nikola Radonja, the eldest son of Branko Mladenović who governed an estate in Serres region, married Jelena Mrnjavčević and later became a monk on Hilandar
  • Vuk Branković, Prince of Raška and Kosovo, married Marija Lazarević
    • Đurađ Branković, Prince and Despot of Serbia (1427–1456)
      • Todor (died young)
      • Grgur Branković, married Jelisaveta N
        • (illegitimate) Vuk Grgurević, titular Despot of Serbia, married Barbara Frankopan
      • Stefan Branković, Despot of Serbia (20 June 1458 - 8 April 1459), exiled from Serbia 1459, a saint of the Serbian Orthodox Church, married Angelina Arianiti
        • Đorđe Branković, titular Despot of Serbia, later took monastic vows under the name Maksim, and became Metropolitan of Belgrade and Srem, died in 1516.
          • (uncertain) Jelisaveta, married Alessio Spani, Lord of Drivasto and Polog
        • Jovan Branković, Despot of Serbia, married Jelena Jakšić
          • Marija, married Ferdinand Frankopan, of the House of Frankopan
          • Jelena, married Peter IV Rareş, Prince of Moldavia
          • Ana, married Fiodor Sanguszko, Marshal of Volhynia
          • Marija Magdalena, married Iwan Wiśniowiecki, a noble from Volhynia
        • Marija, married Bonifacio III, Mongrave of Montferrat
        • (uncertain) Milica Despina, married Neagoe Basarab, prince of Wallachia
      • Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia (24 December 1456 - 20 June 1458), married Jelena Palaiologina
        • Jelena, married Stjepan Tomašević, King of Bosnia (1461–1463) and Despot of Serbia (1459),
        • Jerina, married Gjon Kastrioti II, son of Skanderbeg
        • Milica, married Leonardo III Tocco, Lord of Epirus
      • Jelena
      • Mara, married Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
      • Katarina Branković, married Ulrich II, Count of Celje
    • Grgur
    • Lazar
  • Grgur Branković, Lord of Polog under Vukašin Mrnjavčević
  • Teodora Branković, married George Thopia, Prince of Albania and Lord of Durazzo

Sources

• Andrić, Stanko (2016). "Saint John Capistran and Despot George Branković: An Impossible Compromise". Byzantinoslavica. 74 (1–2): 202–227.
• Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe [History of the Serbian People] (in French). Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme.
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• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
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• Ivanović, Miloš (2016). "Foreigners in the Service of Despot Đurađ Branković on Serbian territory". Banatica. 26 (2): 257–268.
• Ivanović, Miloš (2018). "The Nobility of the Despotate of Serbia between Ottoman Empire and Hungary (1457–1459)". Secular Power and Sacral Authority in Medieval East-Central Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 167–177.
• Ivić, Pavle, ed. (1995). The History of Serbian Culture. Edgware: Porthill Publishers.
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• Krstić, Aleksandar R. (2017). "Which Realm will You Opt for? – The Serbian Nobility Between the Ottomans and the Hungarians in the 15th Century". State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule. Belgrade: Institute of History, Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Turkish Cultural Centre. pp. 129–163.
• Paizi-Apostolopoulou, Machi (2012). "Appealing to the Authority of a Learned Patriarch: New Evidence on Gennadios Scholarios' Responses to the Questions of George Branković". The Historical Review. 9: 95–116.
• Pilat, Liviu (2010). "Mitropolitul Maxim Brancovici, Bogdan al III-lea şi legăturile Moldovei cu Biserica sârbă". Analele Putnei (in Romanian). 6 (1): 229–238.
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• Sedlar, Jean W. (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
• Spremić, Momčilo (2004). "La famille serbe des Branković - considérations généalogiques et héraldiques" (PDF). Зборник радова Византолошког института (in French). 41: 441–452.
• Spremić, Momčilo (2014). "Le Despote Stefan Lazarević et Sieur Djuradj Branković" (PDF). Balcanica. 45: 145–163.
• Stanković, Vlada, ed. (2016). The Balkans and the Byzantine World before and after the Captures of Constantinople, 1204 and 1453. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.
• Stojkovski, Boris; Ivanić, Ivana; Spăriosu, Laura (2018). "Serbian-Romanian Relations in the Middle Ages until the Ottoman Conquest" (PDF). Transylvanian Review. 27 (2): 217–229. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
• Wasilewski, Tadeusz (1963). "Przyczynki źródłowe do stosunków Polski ze Słowiańszczyzną południową w wiekach XIII-XVI" (PDF). Studia Źródłoznawcze. 8: 117–124.
• Zabolotnaia, Lilia (2010). "Câteva precizări despre dinastia Branković". Tyragetia. 4 (2): 115–122.
• Zečević, Nada (2014). The Tocco of the Greek Realm: Nobility, Power and Migration in Latin Greece (14th-15th centuries). Belgrade: Makart.

External links

• House of Brankovic, Marko Pistalo, No 3205, 2013.
• Holy line of the Brankovics by Željko Fajfrić