Jakša ( sr-cyr, Јакша; 1452–53), was a military commander (''vojvodа'') in the service of
Serbian Despot
The Serbian Despotate () was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is mistakenly considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and Moravian ...
Đurađ Branković
Đurađ Vuković Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Ђурађ Вуковић Бранковић, ; 1377 – 24 December 1456) served as the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456, making him one of the final rulers of medieval Serbia.
In 1429, Branković was form ...
(r. 1427–56). Jakša is the eponymous founder of the
Jakšić noble family
In 1452, he was sent as a deputy of the Despot to the
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...
. As an Ottoman vassal, Đurađ was forced to send 500 cavalry to participate in the
Siege of Constantinople (1453)
The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which ha ...
. Sultan
Mehmed II
Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.
In Mehmed II's first reign, ...
did not tell Đurađ of his intentions, but notified Đurađ that Jakša's cavalry squadron would travel to
Karaman
Karaman is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the seat of Karaman Province and Karaman District.[Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...]
. Janissary
Konstantin Mihailović
Konstantin Mihailović, also known as Constantine of Ostrovica, born in 1430, was a Serbian soldier and author of a memoir of his time as a Janissary in the army of the Ottoman Empire. Mihailović was born in the village of Ostrovica, near Ru ...
was part of this army; he wrote a memoir in which he mentioned these events. He had two sons,
Stefan and
Dmitar, who became highly respected noblemen in Kingdom of Hungary.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaksa
15th-century Serbian nobility
People from the Serbian Despotate
Medieval Serbian military leaders
15th-century soldiers