Search


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services



Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
313, Lot: 589. Estimate $75.
Sold for $165. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SERBIA. Vuk Brankovic. Vojvoda of Kosovo, circa 1371-1396. AR Dinar (14mm, 0.67 g, 7h). Struck circa 1389-1395/6. +BΛЬ/KЬ ('VLK' in Serbian in two lines), ivy vine (control symbol) to lower right, three groups of three pellets in fields, ornaments above and below / Christ, nimbate, enthroned facing, holding Gospels; degraded IC XC flanking head. Jovanovic 33.18 var. (no pellets); Ivanisevic 31.8; Dimitrijevic 198.35; D&D 30.1.5. VF, toned. Rare.


Vuk Brankovic was knez (prince) of the Kosovo region, and controlled a number of important cities: Pristina (his capital), Vucitrn, Trepca, Zvecan, Pec, Prizren, Skoplje, and Sjenica. He was one of the local nobles who married a daughter of Knez Lazar, becoming an integral part of Lazar's family alliance. In the Battle of Kosovo, Vuk commanded either the right wing or the reserve of the army led by Lazar. The details of the battle are not clear, but the Serb epics written in the centuries afterward vilified Brankovic, portraying him as abandoning the field of battle and leaving Lazar to die. More recent research, though, has vindicated Vuk, revealing that his forces fought valiantly, only retreating once the center of the Serbian forces, led by Lazar, were defeated, making any further fighting futile. Vuk returned to his domains, and prepared for further conflict with the Ottomans. Beyazid's withdrawal of the Ottoman army from the region after the battle enabled Brankovic to strengthen his position, and he was able to successfully defend the region until 1392. It is uncertain whether it was at this time or later that Vuk was captured by the Turks, but he was in their captivity when he died in 1397.