Нови подаци о војводи Милошу Белмужевићу и његовој породици
New Data about voivode Miloš Belmužević and His Family

Summary/Abstract: Voivode Miloš Belmužević was a significant figure in 15th century Serbian history. He was born to a noble family, whose members performed admi-nistrative duties in Zeta and northern Serbia during the reign of despot Đurađ Branković (1427–1456). He is usualy considered as identical to voivode Miloš, the despot’s last commander in Zeta prior to the Ottoman conquest (1452–1456). This identification is questionable, because the mother of Miloš Belmužević was still alive in 1503. Shortly before the downfall of the Serbian medieval state, Belmužević supported the pro-Ottoman faction of Michael Angelović. Due to this fact, he fell into disgrace at the court and was deprived of his property in 1458. After the fall of Smederevo (1459) he entered into Ottoman military service and became the sipahi. Despite some wavering (in 1464 he sought refuge in Dubrovnik), he was still in Ottoman service in 1476/7, when he held Jagodina in the Morava valley as a timar. He moved to Hungary most probably during the great Hungarian offensives against the Ottomans in northern Serbia in 1480 and 1481, when tens of thousands of Serbs were taken across the Sava and the Danube and settled in southern Hungary. After moving to Hungary, Belmužević fought the Ottomans along the border, but also on other battlefields, as the commander of a large detachment of light cavalry – hussars. He was wounded serving king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) in Silesia, but the time and circumstances under which that happened are unknown. He distinguished himself during the wars of king Wladislas II Jagello (1490–1516) against Maximilian Habsburg and Jan Albrecht in western and northern Hungary (1490–1491). For his loyal service and military merits, Belmužević was rewarded by king Matthias in several occasions, starting from 1483, with estates in Temes, Csanád and Bács counties. It is after one of these estates that he was given the noble apellation “de Saswar“. In 1496, king Wladislas II confirmed to Miloš Belmužević and his sons Vuk and Marko the earlier donations of Matthias Corvinus. Vuk was presumably named after his grandfather, the de-spot’s nobleman Vuk Belmužević. However, voivode lost both of his sons in the next few years: Marko died under unknown circumstances before 1498, while Vuk was killed in battle against the Ottomans. This occured on Easter, most probably in 1499 or 1500, during an Ottoman incursion into the territory of southern Hungary. In this conflict voivode Miloš was also wounded. Later, in order to avenge his son, he ravaged the surroundings of Smederevo. Left without a male heir, Belmužević got permission from king Wladislas II to leave his estate to his mother Olivera (until now, it was mistakenly believed that this was the name of his wife), his wife Veronica and his underage daughter Milica.

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