Europe · High and late Middle Ages
Serbian Despots
1402–1459
1402–1459. After Kosovo (1389), Stefan Lazarević (son of Prince Lazar) received the Byzantine title of despot from Manuel II Palaiologos and, following the Ottoman defeat at Ankara (1402), gained autonomy; the Despotate is dated from 22 February 1402.
- Existed
- 1402–1459
- Shown on the map
- 1375–1421
- Peak area
- 30k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
1402–1459. After Kosovo (1389), Stefan Lazarević (son of Prince Lazar) received the Byzantine title of despot from Manuel II Palaiologos and, following the Ottoman defeat at Ankara (1402), gained autonomy; the Despotate is dated from 22 February 1402. A notable ruler and writer, he made Belgrade his capital. His nephew and successor Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456) built the great fortress of Smederevo (1427–1430) as capital. The Despotate maneuvered between Hungary and the Ottomans until Mehmed II conquered it: after the Siege of Smederevo (1459) it fell (20 June 1459), its last (brief) ruler being Stephen Tomašević of Bosnia. Titular despots continued in Hungarian exile until Pavle Bakić fell in 1537.
Common questions
- What were the Serbian Despots?
- 1402–1459. After Kosovo (1389), Stefan Lazarević (son of Prince Lazar) received the Byzantine title of despot from Manuel II Palaiologos and, following the Ottoman defeat at Ankara (1402), gained autonomy; the Despotate is dated from 22 February 1402.
- When did the Serbian Despots exist?
- The Serbian Despots existed 1402–1459. On this map they are drawn 1375–1421.
- How large were the Serbian Despots?
- At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Serbian Despots covered about 30,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, academic works (John Fine on the Balkans, Halperin and Martin on Muscovy, Rady and Veszprémy on Hungary) and, for a few entries, the medieval Livonian Chronicle of Henry itself. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Serbian Despotate en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Despotate
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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