Đurađ Branković struck these dinars during the decade he held Kosovo as a fief under his father Stefan Lazarević, who had accepted Ottoman suzerainty after Kosovo Polje in 1389. The political arrangement was genuinely complex: Stefan held the Serbian despotate as a vassal of both the Ottomans and, intermittently, Hungary, while Đurađ administered Kosovo semi-independently — which is precisely why he issued coinage in his own name at all.
The 1402 start date coincides with Timur's destruction of the Ottoman army at Ankara, which briefly relaxed Turkish pressure on the Balkans and gave Serbian lords unusual room to maneuver.
Đurađ Branković struck these dinars during the decade he held Kosovo as a fief under his father Stefan Lazarević, who had accepted Ottoman suzerainty after Kosovo Polje in 1389. The political arrangement was genuinely complex: Stefan held the Serbian despotate as a vassal of both the Ottomans and, intermittently, Hungary, while Đurađ administered Kosovo semi-independently — which is precisely why he issued coinage in his own name at all.
The 1402 start date coincides with Timur's destruction of the Ottoman army at Ankara, which briefly relaxed Turkish pressure on the Balkans and gave Serbian lords unusual room to maneuver.