Đorđe Branković (count)
Đorđe Branković Count of Podgorica | |
---|---|
Born | 1645 |
Died | 19 December 1711 |
Resting place | Krušedol Monastery, Serbia 45°07′10″N 19°56′43″E / 45.11944°N 19.94528°E |
Occupation(s) | Dragoman, diplomat, writer |
Years active | 1663–1711 |
Known for | claim of descent from the Branković dynasty, attempt to restore the medieval Serbian state, influence on early modern Serbian historiography |
Notable work | Slavo-Serbian Chronicles |
Signature | |
Đorđe Branković (
Life
Transylvanian phase
Đorđe Branković was born in 1645 in the town of
Sava developed the idea that the Brankovićs of Arad County descended from the medieval
Shortly after he returned from Russia, Branković was again in the service of Prince Apafi, who entrusted him with diplomatic and intelligence assignments.
Wallachian phase
After his release from prison, Branković left Transylvania and moved to Bucharest, the capital of Wallachia, another vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. He kept close relations with the lord of Wallachia, Șerban Cantacuzino,[12] who persuaded Apafi to release Sava from prison. Sava died shortly afterwards, at the end of 1681.[13][14]
The leader of Apafi's opponents in Transylvania, Count Ladislaus Csáky, kept contacts with Cantacuzino and Branković. In 1683, when the Great Turkish War was about to start, Cantacuzino sent him to the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I in Vienna. Csáky communicated to the Emperor that Cantacuzino and Branković were willing to become his allies. Csáky also gave to the emperor a letter in which Đorđe Branković presented himself as a descendant of the Branković dynasty, and requested the title of Hungarian Baron, which had been born by members of the dynasty. On 7 June 1683, Branković was given the requested title, and recognized as the hereditary lord of Herzegovina, Syrmia, and Ineu.[15]
Wallachia was predominantly Orthodox, as was its ruler Cantacuzino. Letters from Cantacuzino and Serbian Patriarch
Becoming a count
At the end of May 1688, Cantacuzino sent Đorđe Branković and two more emissaries to Emperor Leopold, to relate his support for the Christian fight against the Turks.
All in all, the text of the memorial was confused and unrealistic. However, the Habsburg Empire was at that time in a difficult position: it was about to wage a war with France, in addition to the Great Turkish War; and its finances were greatly diminished. Leopold's counsellors regarded that Branković could be used to motivate the Serbs south of the Danube and Sava Rivers to join the Imperial Army after its deeper advances into the Ottoman Empire. Any help was welcome, and the Banat Serbs had recently proved helpful.[18] On 20 September 1688, two weeks after Belgrade was captured from the Turks, Branković was given the title of Imperial Count.[19] He was referred to in Latin as Comes Georgius Brankovich de Podgoricza.[20] His alleged ancestor, Vuk Branković, was thought to hail from the town of Podgorica in Montenegro.[19]
Towards Serbia
Count Branković went to Wallachia and set about gathering men whom he would lead against the Turks. He proclaimed Captain Novak Petrović from Banat as the commander of his army. With his help, he gathered 800 armed men, with whom he went to the town of Orșova on the left bank of the Danube, across the area of Kladovo in eastern Serbia. Serb insurgents were already active in western and central Serbia anticipating an offensive of the Imperial Army. Branković intended to raise an insurgency in eastern Serbia. On 12 June 1689, Đorđe proclaimed his alleged subjects, the "peoples of eastern and northern Illyria, Thrace, Moesia, and other countries", calling them to rise against the Turks. He sent two monks across the Danube to spread his proclamation and call Serb elders to muster around him in Orșova. The monks were well received by the elders, but none of them appeared in Orșova; Branković was practically unknown among the Serbs outside Transylvania. After this failure, Branković went to a monastery in Wallachia.[21]
In the meantime, counselors of Emperor Leopold learned of the correspondence between Cantacuzino, Čarnojević, and the Russian Tsar. The Habsburgs were apprehensive of Russian involvement in the Balkans, and the role which Branković played in that correspondence made them suspicious of him. They then checked historical records and concluded that his claim of descent was unfounded.[22] Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, who was in command of the Habsburg troops fighting in Serbia, gathered information on Branković's activities, and he concluded that they were against the interests of the Empire. In a letter dated 5 August 1689, Emperor Leopold instructed the Margrave to coax Branković into visiting him, and, if necessary, to arrest him.[23] On 24 September, Louis William captured Niš with the help of Serb insurgents under Pavle Nestorović Deak, and then he returned toward the Danube.
Captivity
Branković, who was still staying at the monastery, was invited in October to visit Louis William at his camp near Kladovo. As soon as he came there, Branković was arrested and after an interrogation sent to a prison in Sibiu, Transylvania.[24][25] An independent state in the Balkans, as apparently Branković's ambition was to create, was not wanted by the Habsburgs.[26] They intended to take Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria from the Ottomans, and to annex these lands to the Kingdom of Hungary as part of their empire.[19] In June 1690, Branković was transferred to Vienna, where he was placed under civilian supervision, and accommodated in a poorhouse.[27][25]
By the end of 1690, the Ottomans recaptured Serbia, and many Serbs, including Patriarch Arsenije III, emigrated to the Habsburg-held southern Hungary. Branković became more widely known among the Serbs after a Serbian bishop met with him in Vienna in August 1690.[28] In March 1691, Serb elders assembled in Buda to discuss formation of the Serbian Militia in Hungary. The elders elected Count Branković by acclamation as the Chief of the Serbs.[29] As he was confined, Jovan Monasterlija was elected as his deputy, which was confirmed by Emperor Leopold on 11 April 1691.[30]
In May 1692, Branković was moved from the poorhouse and accommodated at an inn named Zum goldenen Bären,[31] where he remained until the end of 1703. From then on, he was kept at a house in the Bohemian town of Cheb.[32][33] The Habsburg authorities refused all petitions for his release. He died on 19 December 1711.[34] In 1743, his remains were transported from Cheb and buried at the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Krušedol.[35]
Đorđe Branković's title was passed on to his relative Jovan Branković, who was born in around 1675 in the town of
Works
While he resided in Bucharest, Branković wrote Istoriile domnilor Ţării Româneşti, a world history in the Romanian language with a special emphasis on Wallachia,
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Radonić 1911, pp. 51–54
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 43
- ^ Čuljak 1998, p. 12
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 55–60
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 73–78
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 88–95
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 98–117
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 128–137
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 145–148
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 205–210
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 227–28
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 241
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 252
- ^ Čuljak 1998, p. 15
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 262–270
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 315–18
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 323
- ^ a b Radonić 1911, pp. 336–49
- ^ a b c Radonić 1911, pp. 352–54
- ^ Freiherr von Czoernig 1857, p. 76
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 377–82
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 371–75
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 387–92
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 396
- ^ a b Čuljak 1998, p. 14
- ^ Fine 2006, p. 542
- ^ Radonić 1911, pp. 404–6
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 425
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 450
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 454
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 472
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 562
- ^ a b Čuljak 1998, pp. 17–20
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 600
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 615
- ^ Čuljak 1998, p. 39
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 621
- ^ a b Kosta Milutinović (1971). Živan Milisavac (ed.). Jugoslovenski književni leksikon [Yugoslav Literary Lexicon] (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad (SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia): Matica srpska. pp. 48–49.
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 631
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 617
- ^ Mihaljčić 2001, pp. 96–97
- ^ Radonić 1911, p. 731
References
- Čuljak, Milan (1998). Српски грофови Бранковићи (PDF). Zbornik Matice srpske za istoriju (in Serbian). 57. Novi Sad: ISSN 0352-5716.
- Fine, John Van Antwerp (2006). When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11414-6.
- Freiherr von Czoernig, Karl (1857). Ethnographie der oesterreichischen Monarchie (in German). Vol. 3. Vienna: K. und k.Direction der administrativen Statistik.
- Mihaljčić, Rade (2001) [1984]. Лазар Хребељановић: историја, култ, предање (in Serbian). Belgrade: Srpska školska knjiga; Knowledge. ISBN 86-83565-01-7.
- Serbian Royal Academy.