The Branković family was a Serb noble family based in the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. The family traced its nobility back to Đorđe Branković (1645–1711), who was created an Imperial Count in 1688. After his death, his title was passed on to his relative Jovan Branković (1675–1734), who served as an officer in the Habsburg army in the Military Frontier, as did most of his male descendants. They participated in various wars waged by the Habsburgs. The last Count of Podgorica died in 1856, ending the male line of Jovan Branković.
Jovan Branković
Đorđe Branković, born in 1645, was a Transylvanian Serb diplomat, writer, and self-proclaimed descendant of the medieval Serbian Branković dynasty. In 1688, the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I created him an Imperial Count, but had him arrested in 1689. From 1690 until his death in 1711, Đorđe Branković lived as a captive in Vienna and Cheb. Since at least 1700, his personal attendant was his relative Jovan Branković born in around 1675 in the Transylvanian town of Lipova. The exact kinship relation between Jovan and Đorđe, who had no children, remains unclear. As Jovan was not a descendant of Đorđe, the latter's title could have been officially passed on to Jovan only through a special grant by the Habsburg emperor, but no document to that effect is known to have existed. Regardless of that, Jovan came to be tacitly recognized as a count.
After Đorđe Branković's death in 1711, Jovan Branković joined the Serbian Militia, a unit of the Habsburg army that was mostly active in the Military Frontier of the empire. He distinguished himself in battles with the Ottomans and rose through the army ranks. In 1717 he was appointed commander of the city of Sombor. He was first mentioned as a count in the Treaty of Passarowitz, signed in 1718 between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs. In the same year, Jovan began to build his mansion, which would be turned into the city hall of Sombor in 1749. The south-eastern part of the mansion is still preserved in the modern-day building. Jovan married Marija of the Kostić family, with whom he had a daughter, Jelena, born in 1721, and two sons: Nikola born in 1729, and Jovan born in 1733. Jovan senior died of an illness in 1734.
Jovan Branković's children
The daughter of Jovan Branković, Jelena, married Đorđe Čarnojević from Futog, who was an adopted son of Mihajlo Čarnojević, Count of Mačva. Jovan's widow, Marija, moved in 1749 with her sons to the village of Boljevci near Zemun. In December of the same year, her eldest son Nikola joined the Syrmian Hussar Regiment, with which he participated in the Seven Years' War. Nikola married Ana of the Putnik noble family. Mojsije Putnik, the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Karlovci, and Avram Putnik, a general in the Habsburg army, were Ana's uncles.
In 1766, Ana and Nikola moved from Boljevci to the nearby village of Ugrinovci. They had six sons and three daughters; their third son, Petar, died at an early age. After his hussar regiment was disbanded in 1786, Nikola was transferred to the Petrovaradin Infantry Regiment, and given the rank of captain first class. He retired in 1800, after fifty years of active service in the Habsburg army. Nikola died in Ugrinovci in 1804.
The second son of Jovan Branković from Lipova, also named Jovan, joined at the age of sixteen the Syrmian Hussar Regiment, together with his brother Nikola. Jovan participated in several wars, including the Seven Years' War and the War of Bavarian Succession. He married in 1763 and had three children: the daughters Pulherija and Jelisaveta, and the son Mihajlo. Jovan suddenly died at the age of 54, in 1787, three years after his wife's death. His minor children were adopted by their uncle Nikola. Jovan was posthumously promoted to the rank of major.
Jovan Branković's grandchildren
The first son of Nikola Branković, Đorđe Branković, was born at the beginning of 1766. His army career started in 1784 in the Petrovaradin Regiment. Afterwards, he served in several units of the Habsurg army, including the Serbian Freikorps, and the Slunj, Brod, and Gradiška Regiments. He retired in 1824 in the rank of colonel, the highest rank obtained by any of the Brankovićs. Army documents describe Đorđe as a courageous and deserving officer who participated in sixteen wars. He never married and had no children. After his retirement, Đorđe lived in Karlovac, Novi Sad, and Laćarak, where he died in 1830.
