Braničevo Fortress

Medieval Braničevo developed in the area of the former Roman and Early Byzantine city and legionary fort Viminacium.{{sfn|Spasić-Đurić|2016|p=109}} The fortress was located on an ancient Roman road that was still in use during the Middle Ages. The main road known as Via Militaris connected the medieval cities of Belgrade, Braničevo and Niš.{{sfn|Theotokis|Yildiz|2018|p=189}} Braničevo was of great importance from the 10th to the 13th centuries.{{sfn|Ivanišević|2018|pp=114-115}} For most of that period, since it was located on the Danube frontier, it was the subject of the Byzantine-Hungarian conflicts (1127–1129, 1149–1155, 1162–1167).{{sfn|Ivanišević|2018|pp=114-115}} The fortresses of Belgrade, Morava and Braničevo on the Danube border were of great importance as Byzantine strongholds. The emperors John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos stayed in Braničevo.{{sfn|Spasić-Đurić|Jovanović|2018|p=152}} Also, Braničevo and the other two towns were used as bases for military campaigns in Hungary. The town of Braničevo became the main strategic defensive point of the region, while the Braničevo fortress' purpose was to defend the Morava valley, a central access point leading to Constantinople and Thessaloniki.{{sfn|Madgearu|2013|p=100}}

After the death of Emperor Manuel I, the Hungarian King Béla III first seized the areas between Belgrade and Braničevo.{{sfn|Madgearu|2016|pp=31-32}} Then, utilizing the road Via Militaris,{{sfn|Kalić|1984|p=39}} he led a successful military campaign in 1183 and captured Niš to Sofia.{{sfn|Madgearu|2016|pp=31-32}}{{sfn|Kosztolnyik|1987|p=208}} At the end of the 12th century, Byzantium regained Braničevo and the Danube border, but finally lost this territory after the 4th Crusade and the First Fall of Constantinople.

During the 11th and 12th centuries; Braničevo, the road Via Militaris and the Balkans played a significant role for western travelers and pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land.{{sfn|Petrović|2013|p=284}}

In 1147, the two armies of the Second Crusade led by German king Konrad III Hohenstaufen and Louis VII of France passed through via Braničevo.{{cn|date=July 2021}} During the Third Crusade, Barbarossa's army passed through via Braničevo and Via Militaris. One of the more significant Via Militaris travelers of that time was Muhammad Al-Idrisi, a great scholar. Idrisi describes the relatively large trading towns on the Roman Military Road or the Byzantine Imperial Road from Belgrade to Constantinople.{{cn|date=July 2021}}

An excavation of the site in 2011 revealed a set of marver purple glass vessels dating back to the 12th century.{{sfn|Spasić-Đurić|Jovanović|2018|pp=151-152}} Seals belonging to Byzantine administrators were also documented.{{sfn|Ivanišević|2018|pp=114-115}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book |last1=Spasić-Đurić |first1=Dragana |editor1-last=Bikić |editor1-first=Vesna |title=Byzantine Heritage and Serbian Art I: Processes of Byzantinisation and Serbian Archaeology |date=2016 |publisher=Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences |isbn=978-8-6519-2005-2 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28504043 |chapter=A Note on New Archaeological Explorations in Byzantine Braničevo}}
• {{cite journal |last1=D’Amato |first1=Raffaele |last2=Spasić-Đurić |first2=Dragana |title=The Phrygian Helmet in Byzantium-Archaeology and Iconography in The Light of Recent Findings from Braničevo |url=https://www.academia.edu/41423491 |journal=Acta Militaria Mediaevalia |date=2018 |volume=14 |pages=29–67}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Ivanišević |first1=Vujadin |trans-title=New Byzantine Seals from Morava (Margum) and Braničevo |title=Novi vizantijski pečati iz Morave (Margum) i Braničeva |journal=Starinar |date=2018 |issue=68 |pages=111–124 |doi=10.2298/STA1868111I |url=https://www.academia.edu/38114144 |doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_11881 |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Spasić-Đurić |first1=Dragana |last2=Jovanović |first2=Sonja |title=A 12th century set of marvered purple glass vessels from Braničevo (Serbia) |journal=Starinar |date=2018 |issue=68 |pages=151–173 |doi=10.2298/STA1868151S |url=https://www.academia.edu/38056495 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite book |last1=Theotokis |first1=Georgios |last2=Yildiz |first2=Aysel |title=A Military History of the Mediterranean Sea: Aspects of War, Diplomacy, and Military Elites |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0043-6204-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGZjDwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kosztolnyik |first1=Z. J. |title=From Coloman the Learned to Béla III (1095-1196): Hungarian Domestic Policies and Their Impact Upon Foreign Affairs |date=1987 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=088033116X }}
• {{cite book |last1=Madgearu |first1=Alexandru |title=Byzantine Military Organization on the Danube, 10th-12th Centuries |date=2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0042-5249-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24S4DkCsjz8C }}
• {{cite book |last1=Madgearu |first1=Alexandru |title=The Asanids: The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1280) |date=2016 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9-0043-3319-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9nzDQAAQBAJ }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Kalić |first1=Jovanka |title=Niš au Moyen Age |journal=Историјски часопис |date=1984 |volume=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMhqCgAAQBAJ |trans-title=Niš during the Middle Ages |publisher=Istorijski institut Beograd}}
• {{cite book |last1=Petrović |first1=Vladeta |title=The World of the Slavs : Studies of the East, West and South Slavs: Civitas, Oppidas, Villas and Archeological Evidence (7th to 11th Centuries AD) |date=2013 |publisher=Istorijski institut |isbn=978-8-6774-3104-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLJCCwAAQBAJ |chapter=Terrestrial Communications in the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages}}

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{{Castles, fortresses and palaces in Serbia}}

Category:Forts in Serbia