Stefan Lazarević received the title of Despot from Byzantine Emperor Manuel II in 1402, following the Battle of Ankara — the same engagement in which Timur's defeat of Bayezid I temporarily relieved Ottoman pressure on the Balkans and gave Serbia a brief window of relative autonomy. Stefan used that window shrewdly, repositioning Serbia as a vassal of Hungary rather than the Ottomans while retaining his Byzantine court title, an arrangement that held until his death in 1427.
Jovanović 45.1 places this issue within the earlier part of the despotate's coinage sequence, before the mint at Novo Brdo reached peak output in the 1420s.
Stefan Lazarević received the title of Despot from Byzantine Emperor Manuel II in 1402, following the Battle of Ankara — the same engagement in which Timur's defeat of Bayezid I temporarily relieved Ottoman pressure on the Balkans and gave Serbia a brief window of relative autonomy. Stefan used that window shrewdly, repositioning Serbia as a vassal of Hungary rather than the Ottomans while retaining his Byzantine court title, an arrangement that held until his death in 1427.
Jovanović 45.1 places this issue within the earlier part of the despotate's coinage sequence, before the mint at Novo Brdo reached peak output in the 1420s.