Марија, ћерка деспота Стефана Слепог, из куће Бранковића, била је удата за Бонифација Монфератског. Њен грб је сачуван и доноси нам много информација о њој, али и о хералдици Бранковића, као што нам и дефинитивно доказује боје на бранковићким хералдичким фигурама лавова.
Доста информација може се наћи у делу Dai Balcani al Monferrato: memorie araldiche di Maria di Serbia. Riletture e nuove attribuzioni ауторке по имену Luisa Clotilde Gentile. Овде ћу поставити делове који се тичу Маријиног грба.
When Maria of Serbia arrived in Casale in 1485, she brought with her the baggage of that fluid heraldry of the Balkan principalities which had drawn their legitimacy from Byzantium in its death throes. The Branković family had used a plurality of insignia from one generation to the next, and not even Maria used the same coat of arms as her father or brothers. The dominant element in the family coat of arms—at least from the second half of the fourteenth century—was the lion, usually depicted passant (walking), on coins and seals.
Maria’s grandfather, George I († 1456), adopted the lion on his coins, and—episodically—the double-headed eagle, the insignia of his dignity as Despot, which he had received from Emperor John VIII Palaiologos in 1429; the eagle also represented continuity with the ancient Nemanjić dynasty, founders of the Serbian monarchy, who had made it their insignia, and with the subsequent dynasty, the Lazarević, from whom the Branković would take over the mantle. These symbols alternated in various ways during the final years of the existence of the Despotate of Serbia. On a seal from 1445, George had a shield depicted with a bend flanked by two lilies (upside down, it would seem, due to the engraver's lack of familiarity with heraldry), surmounted by a helmet with the crest: a lion passant between two buffalo horns, derived from the Lazarević; another of his seals shows instead the double-headed eagle in the crest.
Овде нам Луиза говори о бранковићкој хералдици, као и свим оним нама добро познатим грбовима. Ту су стандардни елементи: лав, бивољи рогови; међутим спомиње и онај чувени "
наопаки грб" у ком се на штиту налази усправна трака са по једним љиљаном с обе стране. Она каже да штит наопак због непознавање хералдике, док је код нас уврежено мишљење да је наопак због вазалног односа према мађарском краљу.
In the next generation, Despot Lazarus—Maria’s uncle—affixed a wax seal under paper to a receipt given in Ragusa in 1457, in which the shield bore the lion—by now decisively rampant (rearing)—and was surmounted by the helmet with buffalo horns. At the same time, Maria’s father, Stefan Branković (Lazarus’s brother), not yet despot, used a small seal with a shield containing only the helmet with the lion crest between the horns in its field; but a rare coin of his is also known, depicting a shield with a single-headed eagle, surmounted by the usual horned helmet. The other sister, Catherine (Kantakouzene), widowed Countess of Celje, permanently used a shield with the lion rampant. Stefan’s wife, Angelina Arianiti, by then a widow, used a double-headed eagle, which probably came to her from her father's family; the sons John and George—Maria’s brothers—by then appointed titular despots of Serbia by the King of Hungary, innovated radically by using a shield with a bull's head, surmounted by the usual crest, on the seals they affixed together with their mother and Maria herself—though her seal is, alas, lost—to the homage of fidelity to Frederick III of Habsburg (1479). Only George transitioned late to the double-headed eagle (1492).
Овде се говори о наредној генерацији и како се полако усталио симбол лав рампарт између бивољих рогова. Спомиње се и Маријина мајка Ангелина из куће Аријанита. Симбол Аријанита је двоглави орао. Ангелина је бринула о деци након смрти Стефана Слепог, те је стога имала много утицаја на њих. Ангелинин брат је такође био уз њих.
Maria therefore had at her disposal a wide family repertoire of symbols to draw upon to represent herself as the bride of the Marquis of Montferrat. The coat of arms she used in her new country, and with which the objects we are going to discuss were marked, was quarterly: 1st and 4th gules (red), a double-headed eagle or (gold) (which had belonged to the Eastern Empire and the Serbian sovereigns of the fourteenth century); 2nd and 3rd argent (silver), a lion gules (for the Branković). Over all was placed an inescutcheon gules, with a pale argent, which could also be an echo of the bend—rotated—that stood out on the seal of her grandfather George.
Ауторка овде сматра да је златни двоглави орао у Маријином грбу ушао ту као симбол Источног Римског царства, као и симбол српских суверена из 14. века. Све то има смисла. Међутим,
мени лично, делује као да се златни двоглави орао у штиту налази као симбол Аријанита, подродице из које долази њена мајка, и која је имала велики утицај на саму Марију, вероватно и већи него што су то имали чланови породице Бранковић, којих готово да више није ни било.
Coat of arms of Maria of Serbia, Marchioness of Montferrat (1485–1495), early sixteenth century; bottom right, small shield of the Kingdom of Rascia, attributed to the city of Novo Brdo. Benvenuto Biandrate di San Giorgio, Ragionamento familiare... (Family Discourse), manuscript, State Archives of Turin, Countries, Montferrat, History and Genealogies.
