Vuk Brankovic, Prince of Kosovo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Vuk Branković (born 1345 - died October 6, 1397) was a Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n medieval nobleman who during the Fall of the Serbian Empire

Fall of the Serbian Empire

Following the death of child-less Uroš the Weak, the Serbian Empire was left without an heir and the military commanders obtained the rule of the past provinces and districts , continuing their offices with titles such as gospodin and despot etc., given to them during the Empire...

inherited a province in present day south and southwestern Serbia

Serbia

(including Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

and Metohija

Metohija

Metohija , is a large basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of Kosovo.It encompasses three of the seven districts of Kosovo, namely the historical :* District of Peć * District of Đakovica * District of Prizren...

), the northern part of present day Macedonia and northern Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

. His fief (and later state) was known as Oblast Brankovića (District of Branković) or simply as Vukova zemlja (Vuk's land) which he held with the title of gospodin (lord, sir), under Prince Lazar of Serbia

Lazar of Serbia

Lazar Hrebeljanović , was a medieval nobleman that emerged as the most powerful Serbian ruler after the death of the previous, childless, Emperor Uroš the Weak, which resulted in years of instability in the Serbian realm. As Stefan Lazar, he was Prince of Serbia from 1371 to 1389, ruling what is...

. After the Battle of Kosovo

Battle of Kosovo

The Battle of Kosovo took place on St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, between the army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the leadership of Sultan Murad I...

Vuk was briefly de facto most powerful Serbian lord.

Origins

Vuk Branković belonged to a noble Serbian family which held a prominent role in 13th and 14th century Serbia under the house of Nemanjić

House of Nemanjic

The Nemanjić was the most important dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages, and one of the most important in Southeastern Europe. The royal house produced eleven Serbian monarchs between 1166 and 1371. It's progenitor was Stephen Nemanja, who descended from a cadet line of the Vukanović dynasty...

. Vuk was a son of Branko Mladenović

Branko Mladenović

Branko Mladenović was a 14th-century Serb feudal lord in the Lake Ohrid border region in 1346 between the Serb lands ruled by Stefan Dušan and Albanian lands ruled by Matarango...

(died before 1365), who received the high court title of sebastokrator

Sebastokrator

Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers whose states bordered the Empire or were within its sphere of influence. The word is a compound of "sebastos" Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used...

from Emperor Stefan Dušan (1331–1355) and served as governor of Ohrid

Ohrid

Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

(present day Macedonia). Vuk's grandfather was Mladen (died after 1326), who was župan

Zupan

Żupan was a long garment, always lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the 16th to half of the 18th century, still surviving as a part of the Polishnational dress.- Derivation :The name żupan has...

(count) in Trebinje

Trebinje

Trebinje is the southernmost municipality and town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity and is located in southeastern Herzegovina, some from the Adriatic Sea....

under king Milutin (1282–1321) and vojvoda (duke) under king Stefan Dečanski (1321–1331). Later chronicles derived origin of Branković family from Vukan Nemanjić, son of the founder of Nemanjić dynasty Stefan Nemanja

Stefan Nemanja

Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Prince of the Grand Principality of Serbia from 1166 to 1196, a heir of the Vukanović dynasty that marked the beginning of a greater Serbian realm .He is remembered for his contributions to Serbian culture and...

, however this can't be taken with certainty.

Expansion

After their father's death, Vuk and his brothers Grgur and Radonja Nikola were forced by the usurper king Vukašin to leave their land in western Macedonia (Ohrid), and they retreated to their ancestral lands in Drenica

Drenica

Drenica also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering . Located west of the capital Prishtina, its population of 110,000 is largely ethnic-Albanian....

in the area of present day Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

. From there Vuk, who only held the humble title of gospodin (lord, sir), started to expand his realm and to create his own state. He took advantage of the death of king Vukašin Mrnjavčević

Vukašin Mrnjavcevic

Vukašin Mrnjavčević was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371. According to 17th-century Ragusan historian Mavro Orbin, his father was a minor noble named Mrnjava from Zachlumia, whose sons Vukašin and Uglješa were born in Livno in western...

in the Battle of Maritsa

Battle of Maritsa

The Battle of Maritsa, or Battle of Chernomen, took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Murad I's lieutenant Lala Şâhin Paşa and the...

(1371) and occupied his lands in the southern part of Kosovo and northern Macedonia with the city of Skopje

Skopje

Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

. The turning point of Vuk's ascension to power in post-Nemanjić Serbia was his marriage with Mara, daughter of the most powerful Serbian nobleman prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, which brought him substantial lands in Kosovo and the city of Zvečan

Zvecan

Zvečan is a town and municipality in the Kosovska Mitrovica district of Kosovo. It is a part of North Kosovo, a region with an ethnic Serb majority that functions largely autonomously from the remainder of the ethnic-Albanian-majority Kosovo and Metohija. The municipality covers an area of , and...

as dowry. This marriage sealed the alliance between two houses and secured Lazar's assistance for Vuk's future plans, although Vuk in return had to acknowledge Lazar as his feuadal senior. Soon after the marriage, Lazar, Vuk and king Tvrtko I of Bosnia

Tvrtko I of Bosnia

Stjepan Tvrtko I was a ruler of medieval Bosnia. He ruled in 1353–1366 and again in 1367–1377 as Ban and in 1377–1391 as the first Bosnian King....

attacked župan Nikola Altomanovic

Nikola Altomanovic

Nikola Altomanović was Serbian župan from 14th century. He ruled vast areas from Rudnik, over Polimlje, Podrinje, east Herzegovina with Trebinje, till Konavle and Dračevica, neighboring the Republic of Dubrovnik...

, who ruled in the western part of Serbia, and conquered and divided his lands in 1373. In the partition of Altomanović's land, Vuk got areas of Raška

Raška (state)

Principality of Serbia or Serbian Principality was an early medieval state of the Serbs ruled by the Vlastimirović dynasty, that existed from ca 768 to 969 in Southeastern Europe. It was established through an unification of several provincial chiefs under the supreme rule of a certain Višeslav,...

(including the old Serbian capital Ras) and lands in Polimlje in present day northern Montenegro. The formation of the Realm of Branković was finished in 1378. After the death of Djuradj I Balšić, Vuk captured his cities of Prizren

Prizren

Prizren is a historical city located in southern Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.The city has a population of around 131,247 , mostly Albanians...

and Peć

Pec

Peć or Pejë is a city and municipality in north-western Kosovo and Metohija - Serbia, and the administrative centre of the homonymous district. Governor of city is Ali Berisha....

and the area of Metohija

Metohija

. At its peak, the realm of Branković stretched from Sjenica

Sjenica

Sjenica , is a town and municipality in the Zlatibor District of Serbia. The population of the town, according to 2011 census, is 13,056 inhabitants, while the municipality has 25,448.-History:...

in the west to Skopje in the east, with the cities of Priština and Vučitrn

Vucitrn

Vučitrn or Vushtrri is a city and municipality in north-eastern Kosovo. It is the seat of the Kosovska Mitrovica District. The name of the city means "wolf's thorn", the name of the spiny restharrow plant in Serbian....

serving as its capitals. The most important cities in Vuk's Realm were Priština, Prizren, Peć, Skopje and Ras, as well as the rich mining settlements of Trepča, Janjevo, Gluhavica and others.

Battle of Kosovo

After the Battle of Maritza, Ottomans forced the southern Serbian feudal lords (in present-day Macedonia and Greece), Konstantin Dragaš, king Marko, Toma Preljubović

Thomas II Preljubovic

Thomas II Preljubović or Komnenos Palaiologos , was ruler of Epirus in Ioannina from 1366 to his death on December 23, 1384. He also held the title of Albanian-slayer .-Family:...

and others, to become their vassals, and started to attack the northern Serbian lands ruled by prince Lazar and Vuk. After initial Serbian successes at the battles of Dubravnica

Battle of Dubravnica

The Battle of Dubravnica was fought in the summer of 1380 or December 1381, on the Dubravnica River near Paraćin in today's central Serbia, between the Serbian forces of Prince Lazar of Serbia led by commanders Vitomir and Crep and the invading Ottoman Turks of Sultan Murad I...

(1381), Pločnik

Battle of Plocnik

The Battle of Pločnik was fought in 1386 , at the village of Pločnik, near Prokuplje in today's southeastern Serbia, between the Serbian forces of prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and the invading Ottoman Turks of sultan Murad I.It was the second clash between the Ottomans and forces commanded by Lazar,...

(1386) and Bileća

Battle of Bileca

The Battle of Bileća was fought on 27 August 1388 between Bosnian forces led by Duke Vlatko Vuković and the Ottomans under the leadership of Lala Shahin Pasha...

(1388), the Ottomans launched a full-scale attack on Serbia aiming at the very heartland of Vuk's realm in central Kosovo. In the epic Battle of Kosovo

Battle of Kosovo

(1389), which ended with a strategic Serbian defeat, Vuk participated along with his father-in-law Lazar and a contingent of King Tvrtko's army. Unlike Lazar, who died in the battle along with most of his army, Vuk managed to survive and preserve his army, which later gave material for a popular Serbian folk tradition (represented in folk epic poems and tales) that he betrayed Lazar in order to become supreme ruler of Serbia, a theory that is rejected by modern day Serbian historians. Despite the consensus of modern historiography in Serbia

Serbia

that Vuk Branković was not a traitor in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Momčilo Spremić

Momčilo Spremić

Momčilo Spremić is a Serbian historian and member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts. He is professor of General history of the Middle Ages at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy...

emphasized that there is a possibility that Vuk really betrayed his Serbian allies.

Last Years

After the Battle of Kosovo, Vuk refused to become an Ottoman vassal (unlike prince Stefan Lazarević

Stefan Lazarevic

Stefan Lazarević known also as Stevan the Tall was a Serbian Despot, ruler of the Serbian Despotate between 1389 and 1427. He was the son and heir to Prince Lazar, who died at the Battle of Kosovo against the Turks in 1389, and Princess Milica from the subordinate branch of the Nemanjić dynasty...

, son of prince Lazar, who became an Ottoman vassal in late 1389), and started to plan anti-Ottoman action together with the Hungarian king Sigismund. However, Vuk was unable to resist the Ottomans for long. In 1392, they captured Skopje and forced Vuk to become their vassal and pay tribute. Even after that Vuk showed some resistance to Ottomans, refusing to participate on the Ottoman side in the battles of Rovine

Battle of Rovine

The Battle of Rovine took place on 17 May 1395 between the Wallachian army led by Voivod Mircea cel Bătrân against the Ottoman invasion led by sultan Bayezid I. The Ottoman army, numbering approximately 40,000 men, faced the much smaller Wallachian army, which was about 10,000 men...

(1395) and Nicopolis

Battle of Nicopolis

The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied army of Hungarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German and assorted troops at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising of the siege of the Danubian fortress of Nicopolis and leading to the end of the...

(1396), unlike other Serbian lords such as prince Stefan, king Marko and Konstantin Dejanović. He also maintained contacts with Hungary. Finally the Ottomans ended this situation by attacking Vuk in 1395-1396, seizing his land and giving most of it to prince Stefan Lazarević, while Vuk himself was imprisoned and died in an Ottoman prison. A small part of Vuk's land with the towns of Priština and Vučitrn were given to his sons to hold it as Ottoman vassals.

Family

He married Mara, the daughter of Lazar Hrebeljanovic and Milica Nemanjić in 1371, she died on April 12, 1426. They had three sons:

Grgur Branković, died 13 March 1408.
Despot Djuradj Branković, died 24 December 1456.
Lazar Branković, died 12 July 1410.

In epic poetry and popular culture

Folk tradition

Serbian epic poetry

Serb epic poetry is a form of epic poetry written by Serbs originating in today's Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The main cycles were composed by unknown Serb authors between the 14th and 19th centuries...

portraits Vuk as a traitor: supposedly, Vuk tarnished the family name when he betrayed Prince Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo

Battle of Kosovo

, which he survived in 1389. This tradition may be apocryphal.

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