Editing Vuk Branković (section)

==Expansion==
[[Image:Central balkans 1373 1395.png|thumb|150px|States in the Central Balkans (including Realm of Vuk Branković) in 1373-1395]]
After their father's death, Vuk and his brothers [[Grgur Golubić|Grgur]] and [[Nikola Radonja]] retreated to the valley of [[Drenica]] (central Kosovo).{{sfn|Spremić|2005|p=330}} During the final years of [[Stefan Uroš V]]'s rule, Grgur and Vuk's governance was limited to their heritance in Drenica.<ref name="Emmert">{{cite web |last1=Emmert |first1=Thomas A. |title=Prologue to Kosovo: The Era of Prince Lazar |url=https://christian-heritage.eserbia.org/articles/06-Thomas-A-Emmert-Prologue-to-Kosovo-The-Era-of-Prince-Lazar.pdf |website=christian-heritage.eserbia.org |page=354}}</ref> Vuk took advantage of the death of [[Vukašin of Serbia|King Vukašin]] in the [[Battle of Maritsa]] (1371) and conquered [[Sjenica]], [[Zvečan]], and part of the [[Lim (river)|Lim River]] valley.<ref name="Emmert">{{cite web |last1=Emmert |first1=Thomas A. |title=Prologue to Kosovo: The Era of Prince Lazar |url=https://christian-heritage.eserbia.org/articles/06-Thomas-A-Emmert-Prologue-to-Kosovo-The-Era-of-Prince-Lazar.pdf |website=christian-heritage.eserbia.org |page=354}}</ref>

Vuk's marriage to Mara, the daughter of the most powerful Serbian magnate prince [[Lazar Hrebeljanović]], brought him substantial lands in Kosovo. This marriage sealed the alliance between two houses and secured Lazar's assistance for Vuk's future plans, although Vuk in return had to acknowledge Lazar as his feudal senior. Soon after the marriage, Lazar and King [[Tvrtko I of Bosnia]] attacked župan [[Nikola Altomanović]], who ruled in the western part of Serbia, and conquered and divided his lands in 1373.<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|1994|pp=384–385}}</ref> In the partition of Altomanović's land, Vuk got areas of [[Raška (region)|Raška]] (including the old Serbian capital [[Stari Ras|Ras]]) and lands in [[Polimlje]] (northern Montenegro). After the death of [[Đurađ I Balšić]] (13 January 1378), Vuk captured his cities of [[Prizren]] and [[Peja|Peć (Peja)]] and the area of [[Metohija]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|1994|pp=386–389}}</ref>

At its peak, the realm of Branković stretched from Sjenica in the west to [[Skopje]] in the east, with the cities of [[Pristina]] and [[Vushtrri]] serving as its capitals. The most important cities in Vuk's province were Priština, Prizren, Peć, Skopje, and Ras, as well as the rich mining settlements of [[Trepča Mines|Trepča]], [[Janjevo]], [[Gluhavica]], and others.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=79}}