Founder of the House of Branković

Branko was a Serbian magnate who served to king and emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331-55), and emperor Stefan Uroš V (r. 1355-71), with the titles of sluga and later sevastokrator. A member of an old and respectable family, possibly descending from the Serbian dynasty itself, Branko began his royal service in the nearest circle of the ruler. After the elevation of the Serbian state to the Empire (1346), Branko received the second-highest court title, sevastokrator, usually given to relatives. He governed the Ohrid region (in Macedonia). Branko had three sons and a daughter, of whom Vuk Branković would become an important person in the period of the Fall of the Serbian Empire.

Origin and early life

Branko's father Mladen (fl. 1319-26) was a great dignitary that served the Serbian kings Stefan Milutin (r. 1282-1321) and Stefan Dečanski (r. 1321-31). He first held the title of župan (count), then after successfully performing civil affairs (as a judge) and excelling in military affairs, he became a vojvoda (general), during the reign of Stefan Dečanski. It is unknown whether Mladen lived to serve King Stefan Dušan, as is the case with many other magnates such as vojvoda Vojin and čelnik Gradislav Vojšić. Branko's paternal uncle Nikola (fl. 1329) also had the title of župan, most likely serving as a governor of Lezhë (in northern Albania).

The family was old and respectable. In 1365, Branko's sons stressed that their villages in Drenica (in Kosovo) that they granted to the Hilandar monastery, were "the patrimony of our great-grandfathers, grandfathers, parents, and ours until today", which means that they held it at least in the fourth generation. M. Spremić concluded that the family's hereditary land was Drenica and that it doubtlessly hailed from Kosovo. Spremić also stressed the possibility of the family originating from the Nemanjić dynasty itself; Branko's later appearance as sevastokrator, a title usually given to relatives, points to this. Sources from the period when the Branković dynasty ruled the Serbian Despotate, and later, speak of the family as descending from the Nemanjić dynasty. M. Blagojević maintained that Mladen's ancestry could not be reliably determined, but mentioned the fact that he had a namesake in the son of Grand Prince Vukan Nemanjić (r. 1202-04).

Branko is mentioned with the title of sluga, serving Stefan Dušan when he was still a king (1331-45). The sluga (or peharnik) was the equivalent of the "cup-bearer" (domestikos), and thus, the bearer was in the nearest circle of the monarch, expected to have had a strong influence on the ruler.