Vuk Branković

Vuk Branković
Gospodin (lord)
Vuk, 18 years old (ca. 1363), fresco work in the
Reign	1378-1389
Successor	Đurađ Branković
Born	1345
Died	October 6, 1397
Spouse	Mara Lazarević
Issue	Đurađ Branković
House	Branković
Father	Branko Mladenović
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy

Vuk Branković (Serbian Cyrillic: Вук Бранковић, pronounced [ʋûːk brǎːnkoʋit͡ɕ], 1345 – October 6, 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, the northern part of present day Macedonia, and northern Montenegro. His fief (and later state) was known as Oblast Brankovića (District of Branković) or simply as Vukova zemlja (Vuk's land), which he held with the title of gospodin (lord, sir), under Prince Lazar of Serbia. After the Battle of Kosovo (1389), Vuk was briefly the de facto most powerful Serbian lord.

Branković was born in 1345, and belonged to a Serb noble family which held a prominent role under the Nemanjić dynasty in the 13th and 14th century. Vuk was a son of Branko Mladenović (died before 1365), who received the high court title of sevastokrator from Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1355) and served as governor of Ohrid (present day Macedonia). Vuk's grandfather was Mladen (died after 1326), who was župan (count) in Trebinje under King Stefan Milutin (1282–1321) and vojvoda (duke) under King Stefan Dečanski (1321–1331). Later chronicles alleged that the Branković descended from Vukan Nemanjić, son of Stefan Nemanja.