Angelina of Serbia


Angelina Branković, née Arianiti, was the despotess consort of Serbian Despot Stefan Branković, and a daughter of Albanian nobleman Gjergj Arianiti. For her pious life she was proclaimed a saint and venerated as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina.

Life

Early life

Angelina was the sixth daughter of Albanian nobleman Gjergj Arianiti. She married Serbian ruler Stefan Branković, son of the former Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković. Her sister Donika married Skanderbeg.

Exile

The couple fled to Albania and then to Italy.
In 1485, at the death of her husband, Angelina went to the Kingdom of Hungary, where her son, George, had become a titular despot in exile of the Serbian Despotate. The territory of the Despotate had been under the Ottoman Empire since its collapse in 1459. Later Angelina retired in the Krušedol Monastery, in the Fruška Gora mountain of Syrmia, where she died in the beginning of the 16th century.

Marriage and children

Angelina and Stefan were married from 1461 until his death in 1476. They had children:
She is venerated as a saint by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina and her feast day is July 30, while she is also venerated on December 10, together with her husband, St. Stephen, and her son, St. John. She wrote a hagiography known as Hagiography of Mother Angelina.

Annotations