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Serbian Despotate
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The Serbian Despotate (Serbian: ?????? ??????????? or Srpska despotovina) was among the last Serbian states to be conquered by the Ottoman Empire. As the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered as the end of the medieval Serbian state, Despotovina, the successor of the Serbian Empire and the state of prince Lazar survived for 70 more years, experiencing a cultural and political renaissance in the first half of the XV century before it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1459.
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The Serbian Despotate (Serbian: ?????? ??????????? or Srpska despotovina) was among the last Serbian states to be conquered by the Ottoman Empire. As the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered as the end of the medieval Serbian state, Despotovina, the successor of the Serbian Empire and the state of prince Lazar survived for 70 more years, experiencing a cultural and political renaissance in the first half of the XV century before it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1459. Even then, it continued in the Hungarian exile until the mid 1500s.
Origin of the Despotate
After prince Lazar was killed in the Battle of Kosovo on June 28, 1389, his son Stefan Lazarevic succeeded him. Being a minor, his mother princess Milica ruled as his regent. A wise and diplomatic woman, she managed to balance the Ottoman threat as Ottoman Empire was in a turmoil after the Battle of Kosovo and killing of sultan Murad I. She married her daughter, Olivera, to his successor, sultan Bayezid I.
Sometime after the battle, in 1390 or 1391, Serbia became a vassal Ottoman state, so Stefan Lazarevic was obliged to participate in battles if ordered by the Ottoman sultan. He did so in the Battle of Rovine in May 1395 against the Wallachian prince Mircea I and the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 against the Hungarian king Sigismund. After that, sultan Bayezid awarded Stefan with the majority of the Vuk Brankovic's land on Kosovo, as Brankovic sided with the Hungarian king at Nicopolis.
When Mongols entered the Ottoman realm, Stefan Lazarevic participated in the Battle of Angora in 1402 when Ottomans were defeated and sultan Bayezid was captured. Returning back to Serbia, Stefan visited Constantinople where the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos granted him the title of despot. In previous years, title would mean that the despot would rule some vassal state, but as the Byzantine Empire was too weak to assert such a rule and Serbia was not its vassal state, Stefan Lazarevic took this title as the personal style of the Serbian monarchs, thus the Principality of Serbia became Serbian Despotate.
Stefan Lazarevic
Consolidation
Already in Constantinople, Stefan had a dispute with his nephew Đurad Brankovic, son of Vuk Brankovic who was accompanying him and got arrested by the Byzantine authorities. Đurad would later succeed Stefan. Stefan's brother Vuk Lazarevic was also in his escort and as they were returning over the Kosovo, they were attacked by the Brankovic army at Tripolje, near the Gracanica monastery. Vuk headed the Lazarevic army, which was victorious, but reaching Novo Brdo, the brothers had a quarrel and Vuk went to the Ottoman side, to the new sultan Suleiman Çelebi.
Counting on unrests in Ottoman empire, in early 1404 Stefan accepted vassalage to the Hungarian king Sigismund, who awarded him with Belgrade, until then in Hungarian possession, so Belgrade became capital of Serbia for the first time in history as all the old capitals of Serbia (Skopje, Priština, Prilep and Kruševac) were already taken by the Ottomans.
Next few years are marked by events in Stefan's personal life. He managed to liberate his sister and Bayezid's widow Olivera. In 1404 he made peace with his brother Vuk, in 1405 he married Katilina Gatiluzzi, daughter of Francesco II Gatiluzzi, ruler of the Greek island of Lesbos. Also in 1405 his mother Milica died.
In 1408 brothers disputed again and Vuk, together with sultan Suleiman and the Brankovic family, attacked Stefan in early 1409. Being besieged at Belgrade, Stefan agreed to give southern part of Serbia to his brother and to accept again Ottoman vassalage. Suleiman's brother Musa rebelled against him and Stefan took Musa's side in the battle of Kosmidion in 1410, near Constantinople. Musa's army was defeated and Suleiman sent Vuk and Đurad Brankovic's brother Lazar to come to Serbia before Stefan returns, but they both were captured by Musa's sympathizers and got executed in July 1410. Through Constantinople, where emperor Manuel II confirmed his despotic rights, Stefan returned to Belgrade and annexed Vuk's lands.
When Musa became self-proclaimed sultan in European part of the Ottoman empire, he attacked Serbia in early 1412 but was defeated by Stefan near Novo Brdo in Kosovo. Stefan then invited ruler of the Anadolian part of the empire, sultan Mehmed I to attack Musa together. Securing Hungarian help, they attacked Musa at Çamorlu, near the Vitosha mountain (modern Bulgaria) and defeated him, with Musa being killed in the battle. As a reward, Stefan received the town of Koprijan near Niš (but Niš itself remained in Ottoman hands) and the Serbian-Bulgarian area of Znepolje. For the rest of his rule, Stefan remained in good relations with Mehmed, which made the recovery of medieval Serbia possible.
On April 28, 1421, Stefan's nephew and ruler of Zeta (modern Montenegro) Balša III died and bequeathed his lands to his uncle. With this and territorial gains from Hungarians (Belgrade, Srebrenica, etc), Serbia restored majority of its ethnic territories it occupied before the Battle of Kosovo.
Renaissance
The rule of the poet, thinker and artist, despot Stefan Lazarevic, was a period of renewed artistic development in Serbia. Despot himself was a poet, writing one of the major medieval Serbian literary works, Slovo ljubve ('The word of love') and one of the largest libraries in the Balkans at that period. Apart from political stability as a result of Stefan's ability to keep a distance from both the Ottomans and Hungarians, stability was also helped by the very rich silver mines, Srebrenica and Novo Brdo, some of the wealthiest in Europe at that time. Belgrade, at that time became one of the largest cities in Europe, numbering over 100,000 people.
Đurad Brankovic
First rule
As despot Stefan had no children of his own, already in 1426 he bequeathed the despotate to his nephew, Đurad Brankovic who succeeded him upon his death on July 19, 1427. Already the second most important figure in the despotate for the last 15 years, he was confirmed as despot by the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus in 1429.
As an immediate result of Stefan's death, Serbia had to return Belgrade to the Hungarians which gave it to Stefan as a personal gift to him. As the southern wealthy cities (like Novo Brdo) were too close to the Ottomans to be declared new capitals, Đurad decided to built a new one, a magnificent fortress of Smederevo on the Danube, close to the Hungarian border. Constructed 1428-30, Smederevo was a source of many future misinterpretations of the history, especially concerning Đurad's wife Jerina. Being a Greek and with her brothers very influential to the new despot, people began to dislike her, attributing to her many vicious and evil characteristics including that building of Smederevo was her caprice(in folk poetry she's been dubbed Prokleta Jerina (the Damned Jerina), but nothing of this can't be confirmed from historical sources.
Temporary Ottoman occupation
Period of relative peace ended in 1438 when Ottoman army, headed by the sultan Murad II himself, attacked and sacked Serbia. Despot Đurad fled to Hungary in May 1439, leaving a regency of two, his son Grgur Brankovic and Jerina's brother Toma Kantakuzin to defend the country. After three-months siege, Smederevo fell on August 18, 1439, while Novo Brdo, 'mother of all cities' was conquered on June 27, 1441. At this point the only free remaining part of the despotate was Zeta. First Ottoman governor of Serbia was Ishak-Beg who in 1443 was replaced by Isa-Beg.
Đurad Brankovic restored
In Hungary, Đurad Brankovic managed to talk Hungarian leaders to expel the Ottomans, so a broad Christian coalition of Hungarians (under John Hunyadi), Serbs and Romanians (under Vlad II Dracul) advanced to Serbia and Bulgaria in September 1443, and Serbia was fully restored by the Peace of Szeged on August 15, 1444. How hard it was to balance between such a strong powers in the region may be seen from the fact that in 1447-48 despot Đurad helped Byzantines to make city walls of Constantinople stronger, but being officially Ottoman vassal, he had to send an army to help sultan Mehmed II to conquer Constantinople on May 29, 1453. Immediately next year, Mehmed II attacked Serbia, taking finally Novo Brdo in 1455 and in 1456 despot Đurad handed over to the sultan entire southern section of Serbia, before he died on December 24, 1456 in Smederevo.
Lazar Brankovic
Despot Lazar Brankovic, who succeeded his father Đurad, seeing that Serbia is too weak and that it is impossible to defeat the Ottomans on the battlefield, managed to make a deal with sultan Mehmed II on January 15, 1457. According to this, he was granted back most of his father's lands and a promise that Serbia will not be disturbed by the Ottomans until Lazar's death, who in turn had to pay a tribute. Being relieved of the southern threat, Lazar turned to the north and Hungarian internal battles, managing to capture the town of Kovin on the left bank of the Danube in 1457, which was the first time in Serbian history that Serbia stretched across the Danube. Despot Lazar died on January 20, 1458.
Regency and Stefan Brankovic
As despot Lazar Brankovic had no sons, a three-member regency was formed after his death. It included Lazar's brother, the blind Stefan Brankovic, Lazar's widow Jelena Palaeologus and Mihailo Andelovic, the 'governor of Rascia'. After Andelovic secretly let one company of Ottomans into Smederevo, he was imprisoned in March 1458 and Stefan became despot in his own right. Year later, Stefan opted to marry his niece, late despot Lazar's daughter, Marija, to the heir apparent of Bosnia, Stefan Tomaševic. Even before Stefan married Marija, he declared himself new despot on March 21, 1459 and expelled ex-despot Stefan to Hungary on April 8, 1459.
Stefan Tomaševic and fall of the Despotate
Stefan Tomaševic is considered to be the unluckiest Serbian ruler in the Middle Ages as he managed to lose two countries to the Ottomans: Serbia in 1459 and Bosnia in 1463. His appointment as new despot was highly unpopular but pushed hard by his father, Bosnian king Stefan Tomaš. Since by this time Serbia was reduced to only a strip of land surrounding Smederevo, sultan Mehmed I decided to conquer Serbia completely and arrived at Smederevo, new ruling suite didn't even try to defend the city. After negotiations, Bosnians were allowed to leave the city and Serbia was officially conquered by Turks on June 20, 1459.
Despotate in Hungarian exile
Vuk Grgurevic Brankovic
Đorde Brankovic
Jovan Brankovic
Jelena Jakšic Brankovic
Ivaniš Berislavic
Stefan Berislavic
Radic Božic
Pavle Bakic
Tables of Despotate rulers
Rulers of the Serbian Despotate
| Name | Ruled from | Ruled until | Remark |
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| Stefan Lazarevic (1374-1427) | August, 1402 | July 19, 1427 | Lazarevic dynasty | | Đurad Brankovic (1375-1456) | July 19, 1427 | August 18, 1439 | Brankovic dynasty | | Grgur Brankovic (1416-59) | May, 1439 | August 18, 1439 | co-regent for Đurad | | Toma Kantakuzin | May, 1439 | August 18, 1439 | co-regent for Đurad | | Ishak-Beg (+1443) | 1439 | 1443 | Turkish governor | | Isa-Beg | 1443 | June 12, 1444 | Turkish governor | | Đurad Brankovic (1375-1456) | June 12, 1444 | December 24, 1456 | restored | | Lazar Brankovic (1421-58) | December 24, 1456 | January 19, 1458 | Brankovic dynasty | | Mihailo Andelovic (+1464) | January 19, 1458 | March, 1458 | co-regent | | Jelena Paleolog (1432-73) | January 19, 1458 | March, 1458 | co-regent | | Stefan Brankovic (1420-76) | January 19, 1458 | March 21, 1459 | co-regent to March 1458 | | Stefan Tomaševic (1438-63) | March 21, 1459 | June 20, 1459 | Kotromanic dynasty | |
Titular rulers of the Serbian Despotate in Hungarian exile
| Name | Ruled from | Ruled until | Remark |
|---|
| Vuk Grgurevic Brankovic (1438-85) | 1471 | April 16, 1485 | "Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk" | | Đorde Brankovic (1461-1516) | February, 1486 | July, 1497 | Brankovic dynasty | | Jovan Brankovic (1462-1502) | 1492 | December 10, 1502 | Brankovic dynasty | | Jelena Brankovic (d.1530) | December 10, 1502 | 1503 | Jovan's widow; acting | | Ivaniš Berislavic (d.1514) | 1503 | January, 1514 | Berislavic dynasty | | Stefan Berislavic (1504-36) | January, 1514 | 1536 | Berislavic dynasty | | Jelena Brankovic (d.1530) | January, 1514 | 1522 | second time; acting for her minor son Stefan | | Radic Božic (d.1528) | June 29, 1527 | September, 1528 | Božic dynasty | | Pavle Bakic (d.1537) | September 20, 1537 | October 9, 1537 | Bakic dynasty | |
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