Maria of Serbia, Queen of Bosnia
| Maria of Serbia | |
|---|---|
| Queen consort of Bosnia | |
| Tenure | 10 July 1461 – 5 June 1463 |
| Despoina consort of Serbia | |
| Tenure | 1 April 1459 – 20 June 1459 |
| Born |
c. 1447 Smederevo, Serbia |
| Died |
c. 1500 Çorlu, Ottoman Empire |
| Spouse | Stephen Tomašević of Bosnia |
| House | Branković dynasty |
| Father | Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia |
| Mother | Helena Palaiologina |
Maria of Serbia (Serbo-Croatian: Mara Branković/Мара Бранковић; c. 1447 – c. 1500), christened Helena (Jelena/Јелена), was the last Queen of Bosnia and Despoina of Serbia. As the eldest daughter of the deceased Despot of Serbia Lazar Branković, she was given in marriage at the age of twelve to the Bosnian prince Stephen Tomašević, who obtained the title to Serbia through her. The country was lost to the Ottomans within a few months, and the couple fled to Bosnia. They became king and queen of Bosnia in 1461, but two years later the kingdom too fell to the Ottomans, with Maria becoming a widow upon her husband's execution. She avoided capture by fleeing to the coast. Having spent a few years in Venetian Dalmatia and possibly Hungary, Maria settled in Ottoman Greece at the court of her aunts Mara and Kantakouzene. Her string of conflicts and legal disputes with Kantakouzene, the Republic of Ragusa and Athonite monasteries earned her an ill reputation, with the monks describing her as an "evil woman".
Maria was the eldest of three children born to Lazar Branković, son of the Despot of Serbia Đurađ Branković, and his wife, Helena Palaiologina. Born probably in 1447, she was christened Helena. Two sisters followed her: Milica and Irene. Lazar succeeded his father as despot on 24 December 1456, but died on 28 January 1458. Despoina Helena and Lazar's brother Stefan seized power and began negotiating a marriage between her eldest daughter and Stephen Tomašević, the elder surviving son of King Thomas of Bosnia. The intent was to consollidate an alliance against the threat of the expanding Ottoman Empire, which had already reduced the Despotate of Serbia to a strip of land governed from the Smederevo Fortress. Stephen Tomašević arrived to Smederevo during the Holy Week of 1459, taking over the fortress and the government on 21 March. The marriage was celebrated on 1 April, the first Sunday following Easter, and the bride soon afterwards adopted the name Maria.
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