[4] His brother was Matija or Matko Talovac, who served at the Serbian[5][6][7] court of Stefan Lazarević who was a Hungarian vassal at that time.

[8] Talovac became castellan of Nándorfehérvár, then Hungarian-held modern-day Belgrade, in 1440 at the time his brother Matko served as Ban of Slavonia (from 1435).

[9] His brother Franko Talovac (Hungarian: Frank Thallóczi alias de Ragusio) succeeded him in the position of castellan of Nándorfehérvár.

[11] In 1440 Talovac was a successful military officer as the commander of Hungarian forces mostly consisting of local Serbs during the Ottoman siege of Belgrade.

The local Serb population also assisted defenders[12] Ivan was not immediately aware of the size of the Ottoman forces and initially had intention to defeat them on the open battlefield.