Vuk Branković

Infobox Emperor
name =Vuk Branković
title =Knez of Rascia


caption =Realm of Vuk Branković in the 14th century
reign =14th century
coronation =
predecessor =
successor =Đurađ Branković
heir =
consort =Marija Lazarevic
issue =Đurađ Branković
royal house =Brankovići
royal anthem =
father =Branko Mladenovic
mother =
date of birth =14th century
place of birth =Kosovo
date of death =October 6, 1397
place of death =Kosovo
place of burial=
religion =Serbian Orthodox Christian

Vuk Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Бранковић) (died October 6, 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman, Knez (Prince) of Raška-Kosovo, who ruled from his capital Priština to Prizren in the West and Skopje in the South of Balkans, during the 14th century. He was a member of House of Branković.

The Branković family was very powerful, with ancestors holding the Serbian throne and the family as the right-hand of the Tsar. Vuk himself married Mara, the eldest daughter of Milica of Nemanja and Prince Lazar, ruler of southern Serbs after the end of the Nemanjić dynasty. Vuk was even a general in Prince Lazar's army.

Folk tradition portraits Vuk as a traitor: supposedly, Vuk tarnished the family name when he betrayed Prince Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo, which he survived in 1389. History doesn't consider that this is true. [ISBN 86-447-0006-5: Dušan Bataković: [http://www.rastko.org.yu/kosovo/istorija/kosovo_chronicles/index.html The Kosovo Chronicles] : [http://www.rastko.org.yu/kosovo/istorija/kosovo_chronicles/kc_part1b.html Part One: History and Ideology] ]

After Vuk's death, his son Đurađ, Prince of Kosovo, claimed the throne of Serbia and clashed with Prince Stefan Lazarević, his cousin and Prince Lazar's son. They made peace and fought successfully against the Turks in 1413. Đurađ became Prince of all Serbian lands and was officially acknowledged in 1429, after his cousin Stefan Lazarević's sudden death in 1427.

References