Angelina Brankovià(; ; ; âÂÂ1520), née Arianiti, was an Albanian princess who served as Despotess Consort of Serbia through her marriage to Despot Stefan Brankovià(). She was a daughter of Prince Gjergj Arianiti, an important military leader against Ottoman invasion, and Princess Maria Muzaka, his first wife. For her pious life she was proclaimed a saint and venerated as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina ().
Angelina, born as a member of the Albanian Arianiti family, was the sixth daughter of Gjergj Arianiti (1383âÂÂ1462), and Maria Muzaka (1410sâÂÂ1440s), eldest daughter of Despot Andrea III Muzaka and his wife Anna Zenevisi, Lady of Grabossa. In 1460, she married exiled Serbian ruler Stefan Brankovià(), son of the former Despot ÃÂuraàBrankovià(). They met when Stefan came to Northern Albania, to visit Skanderbeg, who was married to Angelina's elder sister Andronika Arianiti. They lived in Shkodër, at the time under Albania Veneta. In 1461, she gave birth to her eldest son ÃÂorÃÂe (anglicised: George), who was named after Skanderbeg and her father Gjergj Arianiti.
Eventually, the couple left Albania for Northern Italy, and acquired castle Belgrado in the region of Friuli. Stefan died in 1476, at family estate in Belgrado. At first, Angelina and their children remained in northern Italy. In 1479, emperor Friedrich III granted them castle Weitensfeld, and Angelina with her children moved to Carinthia.
In 1485, their cousin, titular Serbian Despot Vuk Brankoviàdied, and Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus invited Angelina's sons to take over their dynastic inheritance. Angelina and her family went to the Kingdom of Hungary, where her elder son, George, became new titular despot of the Serbian Despotate (1486). The territory of the Despotate had been under the Ottoman Empire since its collapse in 1459. Later Angelina retired in the Kruà ¡edol Monastery, in the Fruà ¡ka Gora mountain of Syrmia, where she died in the beginning of the 16th century.
Angelina and Stefan were married from 1461 until his death in 1476. They had children:
Members of the BrankoviÃÂ dynasty were known among contemporaries for their devotion to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and Angelina belonged to the same tradition. She is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church, being commemorated with feast days on 1 July and 30 July, also being commemorated on 10 December together with her husband, St. Stephen, and her son, St. John. She wrote a hagiography known as the Hagiography of Mother Angelina ().