Vranje (Врање, ʋrâɲɛ) is a city in Southern Serbia and the administrative center of the Pčinja District. The municipality of Vranje has a population of 74,381 and its urban area has 55,214 inhabitants.
Vranje is the economical, political and cultural centre of the Pčinja District in Southern Serbia. It is the first city from the Balkans to be declared UNESCO city of Music. It is located on the Pan-European Corridor X, close to the borders with North Macedonia and Bulgaria. The Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Vranje is seated in the city, as is the 4th Land Force Brigade of the Serbian Army.
The toponym Vranje is first attested in an 11th-century Byzantine text. The town's name is believed to be derived from vran, a word of Slavic origin meaning swarthy or dark, or the archaic Slavic given name Vran, which itself is derived from the same word.
The Romans conquered the region in the 2nd or 1st centuries BC. Vranje was part of Moesia Superior and Dardania during Roman rule. The Roman fortresses in the Vranje region were abandoned during the Hun attacks in 539–544 AD; these include the localities of Kale at Vranjska Banja, Gradište in Korbevac and Gradište in Prvonek.
During the Middle Ages, in the 9th-11th centuries, the territory of modern-day Vranje was a part of Bulgaria.
The first written mention of Vranje comes from Byzantine chronicle Alexiad by Anna Comnena (1083–1153), in which it is mentioned how Serbian ruler Vukan in 1093, as part of his conquests, reached Vranje and conquered it, however only shortly, as he was forced to retreat from the powerful Byzantines. The city name stems from the Old Serbian word vran ("black"). The second mention is from 1193, when Vranje was temporarily taken by Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja from the Byzantines. Vranje definitely entered the Serbian state in 1207 when it was conquered by Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić.
Some time before 1306, tepčija Kuzma was given the governorship of Vranje (a župa, "county", including the town and neighbouring villages), serving King Stefan Milutin.