Branković dynasty

Branković
Country	Serbian Despotate Kingdom of Hungary
Parent house	Nemanjić dynasty (maternally)
Titles	Despot of Serbia (1427–1502; royal)
Founded	before 1323 (1323)
Founder	Branko Mladenović (noble family), Vuk Branković (royal family)
Final ruler	Jovan Branković
Dissolution	1502 (1502)
Ethnicity	Serb

Branković (Serbian pronunciation: [brǎːnkɔv̞itɕ], pl. Brankovići) was a Serbian medieval noble family and dynasty. According to genealogies created in the first half of the 15th century, the family descend via female line through marriage from the Nemanjić dynasty. The family rose to prominence during the fall of the Serbian Empire. The original family domains were centred on Kosovo. 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 continued to claim the throne of Serbia well into the 16th century, having entered the ranks of the Hungarian aristocracy.

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.

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

Family tree

Main article: Branković family tree

Predecessors

• Unknown
  • Nikola, Serb župan in 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, Knez of Rascia-Kosovo, married Marija Lazarević

• • Đurađ Vuković Branković, Duke of Rascia (1427-1456) and Albania

• • • • Todor
      • Grgur, married Jelisaveta N

• • • • Vuk Grgurević, a Hungarian general, married Varvara Frangepan (illegitimate)

• • • • Stefan III "the Blind", Despot of Rascia (20 June 1458 - 8 April 1459), exiled from Serbia 1459, a saint of the Serbian church, married Angelina Araniti

• • • • Đorđe, Hungarian Despot of Rascia (Raitzen), Metropolitan of Belgrade

• • • • Jelisaveta, married Alessio Span, Lord of Drivasto and Polog

• • • • Jovan Branković, Despot of Rascia, married Jelena Jakšić

• • • • Marija, married Ferdinand Frangepan
      • Jelena, married Peter IV Rares, Lord of Siebenbuergen and the Moldau
      • Hanna
      • Maria Magdalena

• • • • Marija, married Bonifacio III, Mongrave of Montferrat
      • Milica, married Neagoe Basarab, prince of Wallachia

• • • • Lazar II, Despot of Rascia 24 December 1456 - 20 June 1458), married Jelena Palaiologina

• • • • Jelena, married Stjepan Tomašević
      • Jerina, married Giovanni Castriota, Duca di San Pietro
      • Milica

• • • • Jelena
      • Mara, married Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
      • Katarina, married Ulrich II, Count of Celje

• • Grgur
  • Lazar

• • Grgur Branković, Lord of Polog under Vukašin Mrnjavčević
  • Teodora, married Gjergj Thopia, Prince of Durazzo

Sources

• Spremić, M.M. 2004, "La famille serbe des Brankovic - considérations généalogiques et héraldiques", Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, no. 41, pp. 441–452
• Spremić, M. 2006, "The Branković line in Ohrid", Vardarski zbornik, no. 5, pp. 1–7.
• Tubić, D. 2006, "The Branković family from Srem in historiography", Spomenica Istorijskog arhiva Srem, no. 5, pp. 232–242.

External links

• Holy line of the Brankovics by Željko Fajfrić