[2] By the 12th century, Braničevo was the centre of a doukaton (duchy) governed by a doux (duke).

Béla III of Hungary occupied it in 1182, but turned it over as part of his daughter's dowry when she was betrothed to Emperor Isaac II in 1185.

[2] In July 1189, the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa passed through Braničevo on the Third Crusade.

Western sources accuse the duke of Braničevo (dux de Brandicz) of treachery.

[3] With the rise of the Second Bulgarian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia, Byzantium's position in Braničevo became untenable.