Grgur Branković

For the earlier Grgur of the same family, see Grgur Golubić.

Grgur Branković (1415 – 16 October 1459) was a 15th-century Serbian nobleman. Grgur was the eldest son of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković and Eirene Kantakouzene. In 1439, after the Ottomans captured Smederevo, the capital of the Serbian Despotate, they appointed Grgur as governor of his father's captured estates. Because he plotted against the Ottomans, they dismissed him and put him in prison in April 1441. In May 1441 the Ottomans blinded Grgur and his brother Stefan. In 1458, during the struggle for the throne of the Serbian Despotate, Grgur resurfaced claiming it for himself or his son. In 1459 he retreated to Hilandar Monastery, where he took monastic vows and the name German (Germanus).^[1][2] Grgur died in Hilandar on October 16, 1459.

Grgur Branković
Grgur Branković in the Esphigmenou charter (1429)
Born	1415
Died	16 October 1459(1459-10-16) (aged 43–44) Serbian Orthodox monastery Hilandar in Mount Athos
Noble family	Branković
Spouse(s)	Jelisaveta (?)
Issue	Vuk Grgurević
Father	Đurađ Branković
Mother	Irene Kantakouzene
Occupation	Serbian nobleman

Family

See also: Branković family tree

He was the eldest son of Đurađ Branković and Eirene Kantakouzene. He had three brothers (Todor, Stefan and Lazar) and two sisters (Mara and Catherine Cantacuzena).

After the Ottomans captured Smederevo in 1439, Grgur was allowed to govern his father's former estates in southern Serbia, as Ottoman vassal.^[3] During the winter 1440, Grgurs' father and Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković traveled to Zeta with his wife and several hundred cavalry through the Ottoman province governed by Grgur. Đurađ had intention to mobilize forces to recover his lost territories of Serbian Despotate. In April 1441 the Ottomans, probably justifiably, accused Grgur for treason and dismissed him from his governorship. On 8 May 1441 both Grgur and his brother Stefan were blinded, based on the order of Sultan Murad II.^[4][5] According to John Van Antwerp Fine, Jr. and Sima Ćirković, Grgur resurfaced in 1458, claiming the succession of the vacant throne of Serbian Despotate for himself or his son.^[6][7] Branković retreated to Hilandar where he took monastic vowes and monastic name German. He soon died there on 16 October 1459.^[8][9] His son was Vuk Grgurević the titular Despot of Serbia from 1471 until his death in 1485.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Grgur Branković

16. Mladen 8. Branko Mladenović 4. Vuk Branković 2. Djuradj Branković 20. Pribac Hrebeljanović 10. Lazar Hrebeljanović 5. Mara Lazarević 22. Vratko Nemanjić 11. Milica Nemanjić 1. Lazar Branković 24. John VI Kantakouzenos 12. Matthew Kantakouzenos 25. Irene Asanina 6. Theodore Kantakouzenos[10] 26. Demetrios Palaiologos 13. Irene Palaiologina 27. Theodora Komnene? 3. Eirene Kantakouzene 28. Simeon Uroš 14. John Uroš 29. Thomais Orsini 7. Helena Ouresina Doukina[11] 30. Radoslav Hlapen 15. Unnamed daughter of Radoslav Hlapen 31. Irene?

References

1. Bogdanović, Dimitrije; Djurić, Vojislav J.; Đurić, Vojislav J.; Medakovi ́c, Dejan; Radoǰci ́c, Svetozar (1997). Chilandar. ISBN 9788674131053.
2. Cirkovic, Sima M. (15 April 2008). The Serbs. ISBN 9781405142915.
3. Fine, John V. A.; John Van Antwerp Fine (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 531. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
4. umetnosti, Srpska akademija nauka i (1929). Godišnjak - Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, Belgrad. Srpska akademija nauk i umetnosti. p. 286.
5. Новаковић, Стојан (1972). Из српске историjе. Matica srpska. p. 201. .. и како их је 8. маја ослепио, а потом како је јуна те године Хадом-паша узео Ново Брдо и све српске градове.
6. Fine 1994, p. 574
7. Raška baština. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Kraljevo. 1988. p. 143.
8. Raška baština. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Kraljevo. 1988. p. 153.
9. Veselinović, Andrija; Ljušić, Radoš (2008). Srpske dinastije. Službene glasink. p. 121. ISBN 978-86-7549-921-3. Гргур се повукао у Хиландар, где се замонашио, и као монах Герман убрзо умро, 16. октобра 1459.
10. Brook, Lindsay L. (1989). "The Problematic Ascent of Eirene Kantakouzene Brankovič". Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday. Salt Lake City, Utah : Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy. p. 5.
11. Williams, Kelsey Jackson (2006). "A Genealogy of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond" (PDF). Foundations. 2 (3): 171–189. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 June 2019.

Sources

• Fine, John V.A. (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, The University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0-472-08260-4