Katarina Branković

{{Infobox noble

| name = Katarina Branković

| title = Countess of Celje

| CoA = 30px

| image = Katarina Esfigmen.jpg

| caption = Portrait from Esphigmenou monastery (1429){{cite web|url=http://www.novosti.rs/%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8/%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%82_+.505.html:512139-Katarina-Brankovic-Kantakuzin---lepa-i-nesrecna-grofica-Celjska|title=Катарина Бранковић Кантакузин- лепа и несрећна грофица Цељска|format= |access-date=17 April 2016}}

| more = no

| reign = County of Celje

|tenure=|predecessor=|successor=| reign-type = Holding(s)

| issue = Hermann IV
Elizabeth of Cilli
Catherine
George
Albert

| noble family = Branković

| father = Đurađ Branković

| mother = Irene Kantakouzene

| spouse = {{marriage|Ulrich II, Count of Celje|1434|1456|end=dead}}

| birth_date = 1418

| birth_place = Vučitrn

| death_date = {{death date and age|1492|1418|df=yes}}

| death_place = Konče

| religion = Serbian Orthodox

}}

Katarina Branković ({{lang-sr-Cyrl|Катарина Бранковић}}, {{langx|el|Καταρίνα Μπράνκοβιτς}}; 1418–1492), also known as Kantakuzina ({{lang|sr|Кантакузина}}, Kantakouzena) was the Countess of Celje, through the marriage with Count of Celje Ulrich II. A Serbian princess, she was the daughter of Despot Đurađ Branković and Byzantine princess Irene Kantakouzene.{{cite web|url=http://www.blic.rs/kultura/vesti/biografija-katarine-kantakuzine-grofice-celjske/z9jpl36|title=Biografija Katarine Kantakuzine, grofice Celjske|format= |access-date=17 April 2016}} She is remembered for writing the Varaždin Apostol (1454), and her endowment of the Rmanj Monastery.

Biography

Katarina married Ulrich II, Count of Celje (1406–1456) on 20 of April 1434. This was a political marriage with intent to ensure western support to Serbian Despotate.{{cite web|url=http://www.srpskagimnazija-zg.org/?page=povijest_skole/biografija_k_k_b|title= Povijest Škole - K. K. Branković|format= |access-date=17 April 2016}} Her sister Mara Branković was married to Sultan Murad II to ensure support from the east. Kantakuzina Katarina Branković gave birth to five children, Hermann (1439–1452), George (1444–1445), Albert (†1448) and the twin Elisabeth (1441–1455) and Catherine (1441-1441).{{Cite book |last=Habjan |first=Vlado |title=Mejniki slovenske zgodovine |date=1997 |publisher=Založba 2000 |isbn=978-961-90349-7-2 |location=Ljubljana |pages=66}} Pope Pius II once said that Kantakuzina was beautiful and fair (lat. alioquin facie et moribus honestam). In 1453 or 1454 she entrusted the creation of Varaždin Apostol, hand-written Orthodox liturgical book and oldest preserved text in Cyrillic from the territory of today's Croatia, to a group of three transcribers. File:Medvedgrad 1.jpg was one of Katarina's possessions]]

After Ulrich II was killed in the Siege of Belgrade in 1456, Katarina gave up all of her possessions in modern-day Croatia and Slovenia except of Krško in exchange for yearly allowances of 2,000 Ducats, and in 1460 she sold all of her possessions in Slavonia to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III for 29,000 Goldguldens. She decided to start traveling across Italy, Corfu, Dubrovnik and in the end came back to Old Serbia (modern-day North Macedonia) to visit her sister Mara Branković that was widow of Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Together with her sister she helped in the conclusion of Treaty of Constantinople after the Ottoman–Venetian War. To that end, she was sending her delegates to Venice between 1470 and 1472, and along with her sister she led the Venetian envoys to Istanbul. After the death of her sister Mara in 1487 Katarina took the care about Mount Athos monasteries. Prior to her death Katarina relinquish her possession of Krško and right on yearly allowances. She died in 1492 in village Konče where she was buried in local church of Saint Stephen.

File:Sv.Stefan-Konche.jpg, North Macedonia]]

Endowments

Rmanj Monastery in Martin Brod, dedicated to St. Nicolas Mirlikijski. The monastery got its name in honor of Hermann IV, Katarina's early deceased son.https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/612903/Rmanj-najzapadniji-pravoslavni-manastir-u-BiH

Legacy

Kantakuzina Katarina Branković Serbian Orthodox Secondary School in Zagreb is a coeducational gymnasium of Serbian Orthodox Church that bears Katarina's name. Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana was also awarding Order of Kantakuzina Katarina Branković.

The character of Katarina Branković is portrayed by Eva Dedova in the Netflix original historical docudrama Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020).{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9244578/e |title=Rise of Empires: Ottoma |access-date=6 September 2020|publisher=IMDb}}

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel

|collapsed=yes |align=center

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|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;

|1= 1. Katarina Branković

|2= 2. Djuradj Branković

|3= 3. Irene Kantakouzene

|4= 4. Vuk Branković

|5= 5. Mara Lazarević

|6= 6. Theodore Kantakouzenos{{Cite book|title=Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday|last=Brook|first=Lindsay L.|publisher=Salt Lake City, Utah : Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy|year=1989|pages=5|chapter=The Problematic Ascent of Eirene Kantakouzene Brankovič}}

|7= 7. Helena Ouresina Doukina{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Kelsey Jackson|date=2006|title=A Genealogy of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond|url=https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/8570/Jackson_Williams_Grand_Komnenoi.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Foundations|volume=2|issue=3|pages=171–189|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608211537/https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/8570/Jackson_Williams_Grand_Komnenoi.pdf|archive-date=8 June 2019}}

|8= 8. Branko Mladenović

|9=

|10= 10. Lazar Hrebeljanović

|11= 11. Milica Nemanjić

|12= 12. Matthew Kantakouzenos

|13= 13. Irene Palaiologina

|14= 14. John Uroš

|15= 15. Unnamed daughter of Radoslav Hlapen

|16= 16. Mladen

|17=

|18=

|19=