Жұбайлар Бранковичтің серб деспоты Дюрадж: Өмір және билеуі

Despot of the Serbian Kingdom of Rascia (1377 1456) (ruled 1427 1456)

Đurađ Vuković Branković (; 1377 – 24 December 1456) was the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456. He was one of the last Serbian medieval rulers. He was a participant in the battle of Ankara (1402) and Ottoman Interregnum (1403–1413). During his reign, the despotate was a vassal of both Ottoman sultans as well as Hungarian kings. Despot George was neutral during the Polish Lithuanian (1444) and Hungarian Wallachian (1448) crusades. In 1455, he was wounded and imprisoned during clashes with the Hungarians, after which the young Sultan Mehmed II launched the siege of Belgrade and its large Hungarian garrison. Despot Đurađ died at the end of 1456, due to complications stemming from the wound. After his death, Serbia, Bosnia and Albania became practically annexed by sultan Mehmed II, which only ended after centuries of additional conquests of Byzantine lands. Đurađ attained a large library of Serbian, Slavonic, Latin, and Greek manuscripts. He made his capital Smederevo a centre of Serbian culture. He was the first of the Branković dynasty to hold the Serbian monarchy.

He was the son of lord Vuk Branković and Mara Lazarević, the daughter of Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović. His wife, Eirene Kantakouzene, a granddaughter of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, was a Byzantine princess. Her brother Thomas was the commander of Smederevo. Despot Stefan had appropriated for himself properties that were part of the hereditary lands of Vuk, which resulted in Vuk joining the opposition. Vuk entered a pact with the Ottomans when Stefan had left Ottoman service and joined Hungary, fueling the domestic conflict between the two cousins; Vuk befriended Musa, only for revenge. The conflict went on for 10 years. Once reconciled, Stefan tried to make the most benefit of Đurađ, Vuk's son. Being childless, despot Stefan Lazarević made Đurađ his heir. When Đurađ succeeded Stefan, he was mature with rich experience, aged 50 in 1427.

Following the conflicts that concluded 1443, Đurađ Branković had a significant role in the Battle of Niš and Battle of Zlatica and consequently in facilitating the Peace of Szeged (1444) between Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottomans. Murad II, who also desired peace, was married to Đurađ's daughter Mara. On March 6, 1444, Mara sent an envoy to Đurađ; their discussion started the peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire. This peace restored his Serbian rule, but Đurađ was forced to bribe John Hunyadi with his vast estates. On 22 August 1444 the prince peacefully took possession of the evacuated town of Smederevo.

The peace was broken in the same year by Hunyadi and king Władysław III of Poland during the Crusade of Varna, which culminated in the Battle of Varna. A crusading army led by Regent John Hunyadi of Hungary was defeated by Sultan Murad II's forces at Kosovo Polje in 1448. This was the last concerted attempt in the Middle Ages to expel the Ottomans from southeastern Europe. Although Hungary was able to successfully defy the Ottomans despite the defeat at Kosovo Polje during Hunyadi's lifetime, the kingdom fell to the Ottomans in the 16th century. Branković also captured Hunyadi at Smederevo for a short time when he was retreating home from Kosovo in 1448, due to their personal feud.

Following Hunyadi's victory over Mehmet II at the siege of Belgrade on 14 July 1456, a period of relative peace began in the region. The sultan retreated to Adrianople, and Branković regained possession of Serbia. Before the end of the year, however, the 79 year old Branković died. Serbian independence survived him for only another three years, when the Ottoman Empire formally annexed his lands following dissension among his widow and three remaining sons. Lazar, the youngest, poisoned his mother and exiled his brothers, and the land returned to the sultan's subjugation.

His portrait in the illuminated manuscript of Esphigmenou (1429) depicts him with a mild beard, while the French nobleman Bertrandon de la Broquière who guested Đurađ in 1433 said of him "nice lord and large [in person]". He was deemed by contemporaries as the richest monarch in all of Europe; Broquière stated that his annual income from the gold and silver mines of Novo Brdo amassed to about 200,000 Venetian ducats. Among other sources of income, there were possessions in the Kingdom of Hungary, for which expenses were covered by the Hungarian crown. The annual income from them alone was estimated to 50,000 ducats.

He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The character of Đurađ Branković is portrayed by Baki Davrak in the Netflix original historical docudrama Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020).

"Despot of the Kingdom of Rascia and Lord of Albania" (Nos Georgius dei gracia Regni Rascie despotus et Albanie dominus and illustres principes, dominus Georgius, regni Rascie despotus et dominus Albanie). "Despot of all of the Kingdoms of Rascia and Albania" (illustris princeps, dux et despotus totius regni Rascie et Albanie), by Sigismund in 1427. "Despot and Duke of Rascia" (illustris Georgius despotus seu dux Rascie), by Sigismund in 1429. "Lord of Rascia [and] Albania" (Georgius Wlk Rascie Albanieque dominus), in 1429. "Lord, Despot of the Serbs" (gospodin Srbljem despot), by Constantine of Kostenets in 1431. "Lord of the Serbs and Pomorije and Podunavije" (Господин Србљем и Поморију и Подунавију), in several official documents. "Despot, Lord of the Serbs and the Zetan Maritime" (господин Србљем и поморју зетскому). "Prince, Despot of the Kingdoms of Rascia and Albania" (illustrissimus princeps Georgius despotus regni Rascie et Albanie, Rive et totius Ussore dominus), in 1453.