Serbian medieval coins

Serbian Vojvoda (Duke) Ivaniš Kovacevic (circa 1450-1459)

Silver “3 lines” type. 14mm, 0.950g

Obverse: in 3 lines Serbian description: ВОЕВ ДА НВА NHШb (VOJVODA (DUKE) IVANIS).

Reverse: Lion rampant (Brankovic family emblem), facing left. Serbian description: P ꙋ Д Н Ψ Α (RUDISTE) around.

Reference: Jov 45 1, J 45 1, I 49 1, D 338.

Comment: Lovely, very well preserved and extremely rare coin in uncleaned condition found only around 50 miles from the place of minting, Rudiste, in the area of Kovin.

Rudiste is a city southwest from Avala near the village Ripanj, in Belgrade's municipality of Voždovac. It was one of four centres where coins were minted: Smederevo, Rudnik, Novo Brdo and Rudiste.

According to Jovanovic, duke Ivaniš was most likely governor of the city of Rudiste during the rule of despot Stefan Brankovic the Blind from January 19th 1458 to March 21st 1459. Its is not known if despot has minted money, none is found so far. After him Stefan Tomasevic only ruled for about a month before the fall of Serbian Despotate.

Money of despot Lazar Brankovic is probably last know minted medieval despot money, minted in Serbian Despotate 1456-1458.

Money of king Stefan Tomasevic is probably last minted serbian medieval money, even though he briefly ruled Serbian Despotate in 1459 he didn’t mint any money at that time but minted in the Serbian state of Bosnia as a king between 1461-1463.

Duke Ivaniš money if minted between 1458-1459 during the rule of despot Stefan Brankovic is most likely the very last Serbian medieval money minted in the state of Serbian Despotate.

However, Dimitrijevic wrote in his book “Nove Vrste Novih Serija Srpskog Srednjovekovnog Novca” (New Types of New Series of Serbian Medieval Money) on page 138 and 139 that duke Ivaniš was a governor of the city of Rudiste during the rule of despot Djuradj Brankovic 1427-1456 and from well known Dinjicic - Kovacevic duke family that lived in Srebrenica region.

In any case, very interesting fact is that this coin is not just the first known coin of the duke Ivaniš but it is the only know coin of any Serbian medieval duke, ever!

There are two more men in medieval history with Ivanis name.

First one was also duke and was called duke Ivaniš Pavlović. He was member of Serbian medieval noble family with property in east Bosnia. He became duke in November 1441 after death of his father duke Radoslav Pavlović. Ivaniš Pavlović was born in June 1423 and died at the age of just 27 in November 1450 during the rule of Serbian despot Djuradj Brankovic and Stefan Tomas king of medieval Bosnia who even minted joint money.

Second Ivaniš is Ivaniš Berislavić. After the death of despot Jovan Branković in 1502, Vladislaus II of Hungary made Ivaniš Berislavić the interim despot of Serbia. With no male successor to the Branković dynasty, the position was given to the Berislavić family. The official act of making Ivaniš the despot was confirmed in January 1504. He died 10 years later in 1514. There is no record that he was duke but only despot.

After considering all we know duke Ivaniš was either a governor of the city of Rudiste during the rule of despot Djuradj Brankovic 1427-1456 or a governor a bit later during the rule of despot Stefan Brankovic the Blind 1458-1459. Maybe it’s both, maybe he was a governor during the rule of all despots in the final years of Serbian Despotate including Lazar Brankovic 1456-1458.

Having marching lion, Brankovic family emblem, on reverse proves that coin is definitely issued during Brankovic family rule and with their approval.

Only 4 registered examples!

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