Stefan Brankovià(; c. 1417 â 9 October 1476), also known in historiography as Stefan the Blind (áÃÂõÃÂðý áûõÿø), was briefly the despot (ruler) of the Serbian Despotate between 1458 and 1459. He was the last ruling member of the Brankoviàdynasty.
Stefan and his relations are named in Dell'Imperadori Constantinopolitani (also known as the "Massarelli manuscript" after the work was found in papers of Angelo Massarelli, the general secretary of the Council of Trent), a manuscript held in the Vatican Library. This manuscript names him a son of ÃÂuraÃÂ BrankoviÃÂ and Eirene Kantakouzene. D. M. Nicol (1994) questioned his maternity, suggesting ÃÂuraÃÂ 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.
On 11 September 1429, ÃÂuraàmade a donation to Esphigmenou Monastery at Mount Athos. The charter for the document names his wife Irene and five children. The Masarelli manuscript also names the same five children of ÃÂuraàand Eirene. Other genealogies mention a sixth child, Todor BrankoviÃÂ. He could be a child who died young and thus not listed with his siblings. The oldest sibling listed in the Massarelli document was Grgur BrankoviÃÂ. The 1429 document mentions him with the title of Despot. Grgur was appointed governor of territories of southern Serbia associated to the House of BrankoviÃÂ. He was reportedly appointed by Murad II of the Ottoman Empire in 1439. In April 1441, Grgur was accused of plotting against Murad and his governorship terminated. He was imprisoned in Amasya and blinded on 8 May 1441. Grgur and his brothers co-signed a charter by which ÃÂuraàconfirmed the privileges to the Republic of Ragusa Grgur retired to a monastery under the monastic name "German". According to Fine, Grgur resurfaced in 1458, claiming the succession of the vacant throne of Serbia for himself or his son. The Massarelli manuscript mentioned Grgur as unwed. Later genealogies name his wife as "Jelisaveta". Vuk GrgureviÃÂ, a son of Grgur, was later a titular Serbian despot (1471âÂÂ1485). He was possibly an illegitimate.
The Massarelli next names an older sister of Stefan, Mara BrankoviÃÂ. She was one of the wives of Murad II. Stefan himself is listed third. His younger sister is listed as Cantacuzina, the Latinized version of their mother's last name. Later genealogies give her name as Katarina. She married Ulrich II of Celje. The last and youngest sibling listed was Lazar BrankoviÃÂ, successor to their father.
According to Nicol, Stefan had become a citizen of the Republic of Venice. He was blinded alongside his brother Grgur in 1441. Both blind brothers seem to have been omitted from considerations as possible heirs to their father. They could only claim the throne in 1458, since the death of Lazar left them the only male representatives of the BrankoviÃÂ.
According to Fine, Stefan secured the throne by co-operating with his sister-in-law Helena Palaiologina, widow of Lazar. She was a daughter of Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, and Catherine Zaccaria of the Principality of Achaea. Helena however arranged the marriage of one of her daughters to Stjepan Tomaà ¡eviÃÂ, prince of Bosnia. She thus managed to secure the throne for her new son-in-law. Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and Stjepan Tomaà ¡ KotromaniÃÂ, King of Bosnia and father of Tomaà ¡eviÃÂ, dethroned Stefan on April 8, 1459. They enthroned Stjepan Tomaà ¡eviàas his replacement. At the end of 1459 Stefan decided to travel to Albania, where he had relatives. In mid-1460 he travelled to Albania where he married Angelina Arianit Komneni in November 1460. Angelina was the sister of Donika, who married Skanderbeg. Skanderbeg gave to Stefan Brankoviàan unknown estate as apanage. At the beginning of 1461 Stefan Brankoviàwent to Italy with Skanderbeg's written recommendation.
He gained ( 1462) the Castle Belgrado, in the region of Friuli (northern Italy), where he lived with his family, until his death in 1476.
In 1461, Stefan married Albanian princess Angelina Arianiti, daughter of the Arianiti Principality's ruler, Prince Gjergj Arianiti and Princess Maria Muzaka, eldest daughter of Despot Andrea III of Mosacchia. The couple had several children:
He is venerated as a Saint Stefan the Blind by the Serbian Orthodox Church.