Lazar Branković

Lazar Branković
Despot
Lazar Branković from a charter held in Esphigmenou Monastery, Mount Athos
Reign	1456–1458
Predecessor	Đurađ Branković
Successor	Stefan Branković
Died	20 February 1458
Spouse	Helena Palaiologina
Issue	Marija, Milica, Jerina
House	Branković
Father	Đurađ Branković
Mother	Eirene Kantakouzene
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy

Lazar Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Лазар Бранковић; c. 1421 – 20 February 1458) was a Serbian despot, prince of Rascia from 1456 to 1458. He was the third son of Đurađ Branković and his wife Eirene Kantakouzene. He was succeeded by his elder brother, despot Stefan III Branković.

Both Grgur and Stefan, his older brothers, were blinded by orders of Murad II in 1441. Lazar apparently became the heir to their father as the only son not to be handicapped. Đurađ died on 24 December 1456. Lazar succeeded him as planned.

According to Fine, his brief reign mostly included family quarrels with his mother and siblings. In 1457, Lazar gave an oath of subservience to Mehmed II, son and successor of Murad II. Fine considers this to be an attempt to prevent an Ottoman invasion. His only other decision of consequence was to appoint Mihailo Anđelović, a member of the Angelos family, as his chief official. Mihailo would briefly serve as head of a regency council following the death of his lord.

Lazar died on 20 February 1458. George Sphrantzes recorded the date but not the cause.

Lazar and his relations are named in "Dell'Imperadori Constantinopolitani", a manuscript held in the Vatican Library. The document is also known as the "Massarelli manuscript" because it was found in the papers of Angelo Massarelli (1510–1566). Masarelli is better known as the general secretary of the Council of Trent, who recorded the daily occurrings of the council.

The Massarelli manuscript names him as a son of Đurađ Branković and Eirene Kantakouzene. "The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits 1250-1500" (1994) by D. M. Nicol questioned his maternity, suggesting Đurađ had a prior marriage to a daughter of John IV of Trebizond. However his theory presented no sources and failed to take into account that John IV was born between 1395 and 1417. He would be unlikely to be a grandparent by the 1410s.