Stjepan Berislavić

Stjepan Berislavić (, ; 1505 – 1535) was a Croatian noblemanBerislavići - Croatian Biography Lexicon
Biography of Petar Berislavić (reprint from 1620). Croatian Institute for History, Zagreb. and titular Despot of Serbia from 1520 until his death in 1535. He was a prominent nobleman in several counties (Syrmia, Vukovar and Požega) of Kingdom of Hungary.

Family

Stjepan Berislavić was member of the noble family Berislavići Doborski, that expanded from Bosnia into the Požega County of Kingdom of Hungary. According to the family tradition Ban Borić of Bosnia, who ruled from 1154 until c.1167, was an ancestor of the family.

Their royal title was Ban of Bosnia (''Ban de Bosna''), while noble titles were Lord of Posavina (''Signor de Posava'') and Perpetual Count of Dobor (''Comes Perpetuus de Dobor'').

Stjepan was the elder son of Ivaniš Berislavić (d. 1514), who was Ban of Jajce (1511–1513) and titular Despot of Serbia (1504–1514).

Stjepan's mother was Jelena Jakšić, a member of the Serbia's prominent Jakšić noble family, who had previously been married to Jovan Branković, the last Serbian Despot of the Branković dynasty (1496–1502). As Jelena and his first husband had no male issue, the title of Serbian Despot became vacant upon Jovan's death in 1502. When Jelena remarried to Ivaniš Berislavić in 1504, he received the title, from king Vladislaus II (d. 1516), and held it until his death in 1514.

Regnal ascensions

From 1529, he has controlled regions in Slavonian Posavina, centered in Brod. During 1532 and 1533, he negotiated with king Ferdinand Habsburg, but no agreement was reached.

Serbia (titular)

Since Stjepan was nine years old when his father died, the title of Serbian Despot was granted to him only in 1520, by king Louis II (d. 1526). After the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade in 1521, he tried to hold his fortress of Kupinik in Syrmia county, but the region was eventually lost to Ottoman invasion.

After the defeat at the Battle of Mohács (1526), Kingdom of Hungary became divided between two rival fractions, one led by King Ferdinand Habsburg and the other by John Zápolya, the Duke of Transylvania, who was also proclaimed King. At first, Stjepan Berislavić supported Zápolya (1526), but then pledged allegiance to Ferdinand, at the beginning of 1527. Learning of that, Zapolja tried to suppress Stjepan's authority over Serbs by appointing Serbian nobleman Radič Božić as titular Despot (1527–1528). In spite of that, Stjepan continued to act as Serbian Despot, and was recognized as such by King Ferdinand. In 1529, Stjepan fell out of Ferdinand's favor and was confined in Buda, but soon escaped.

At that time, Ferdinand's territories in Hungary were invaded again by the Ottomans, who acted as allies of rival king John Zápolya, ruler of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. Stjepan decided to join them, and in return received confirmation of his domains.

Death and legacy

During the invasion, Stjepan was killed by janissary on the orders from the Turkish governor of Bosnia Gazi Husrev Bey, and his domain was conquered by the Ottomans.

In a letter written from Stoni Beograd, dated 1 May 1542, his widow, Catherine Batthyany (d. after 1542), former Despotess of Serbia informs her brother, Ferenc Batthyány, former Ban of Croatia, that Murat Bey Tardić already conquered Orahovica and that she fears she will soon fall into the hands of the Ottomans.https://d-nb.info/366893718/04

Ancestors

Annotations

*Name: Serbian historiography uses Stefan or Stevan, while Croatian historiography uses Stjepan. In Hungarian historiography, his full name is written as ''Beriszló István''.

References

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefan Berislavic
Berislavić noble family
Despots of Serbia
16th-century Croatian nobility
16th-century Hungarian nobility
16th-century Serbian nobility

1500s births
1535 deaths