| Venerable Mother Angelina, Despotess of Serbia | |
| Honorific Prefix: | Saint |
| Birth Date: | 15th century |
| Death Date: | Beginning of the 16th century |
| Feast Day: | July 1, July 30 or December 10 |
| Venerated In: | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Birth Place: | Berat, Ottoman Empire (present day Albania) |
| Death Place: | Krušedol Monastery, Ottoman Empire (present day Serbia) |
| Titles: | Saint, Venerable, Queen |
| Major Shrine: | Krušedol Monastery, Serbia |
Angelina Branković (sq|Angjelina Arianiti, Serbian: Ангелина Бранковић, cu|Преподобная Ангели́на Сербская (Бра́нкович), королева;[1] ca. 1440–1520), née Arianiti, was an Albanian princess who served as Despotess Consort of Serbia through her marriage to Despot Stefan Branković (r. 1458–1459). She was a daughter of Prince Gjergj Arianiti, an important military leader against Ottoman invasion, and Princess Maria Muzaka, his first wife. For her pious life she was proclaimed a saint and venerated as such by the Serbian Orthodox Church as Venerable Mother Angelina (sr|{{lang-sr-Cyrl|Преподобна мати Ангелина).
Angelina, born as a member of the Albanian Arianiti family, was the sixth daughter of Gjergj Arianiti (1383–1462), and Maria Muzaka (1410s–1440s), eldest daughter of Despot Andrea III Muzaka and his wife Anna Zenevisi, Lady of Grabossa.[2] [3] [4] [5] In 1460, she married exiled Serbian ruler Stefan Branković (r. 1458–59), son of the former Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456). They met when Stefan came to Northern Albania, to visit Skanderbeg, who was married to Angelina's elder sister Andronika Arianiti.[6] They lived in Shkodër, at the time under Albania Veneta. In 1461, she gave birth to her eldest son Đorđe (anglicised: George), who was named after Skanderbeg and her father Gjergj Arianiti.
Eventually, the couple left Albania for Northern Italy, and acquired castle Belgrado in the region of Friuli. Stefan died in 1476, at family estate in Belgrado. At first, Angelina and their children remained in northern Italy. In 1479, emperor Friedrich III granted them castle Weitensfeld, and Angelina with her children moved to Carinthia.
In 1485, their cousin, titular Serbian Despot Vuk Branković died, and Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus invited Angelina's sons to take over their dynastic inheritance. Angelina and her family went to the Kingdom of Hungary, where her elder son, George, became new titular despot of the Serbian Despotate (1486). 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.[6]
Angelina and Stefan were married from 1461 until his death in 1476. They had children:
Members of the Branković dynasty were known among contemporaries for their devotion to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and Angelina belonged to the same tradition. 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.[7] [6] She wrote a hagiography known as Hagiography of Mother Angelina (sr|Житије мајке Ангелине/Žitije majke Angeline).