The Braničevci were a medieval South Slavic

South Slavs

The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...

 tribe that existed in the 9th century that lived in the Eastern Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, east of the Morava river in the region of Braničevo

Branicevo

Braničevo can refer to:* Braničevo , a geographical region in Serbia.* Braničevo District, a district in Serbia.* Braničevo , a village in Serbia, in the Golubac municipality....

.

They were conquered by Bulgar

Bulgars

The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

ian khan Krum in 805 AD together with the Timočani

Timocani

The Timočani or Timochani were a medieval South Slavic tribe that lived in the territory of present-day eastern Serbia, west of the Timok River, as well as in the regions of Banat, Syrmia and west Moesia....

 and Obodrites. The Khan annexed the territories that would serve as a frontier to Rascia

Rascia

Rascia was a medieval region that served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. The term has been used to refer to various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages...

 and the Franks

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

, he replaced their leaders with Bulgar administrators.

In 818 during the rule of Omurtag

Omurtag of Bulgaria

Omurtag was a Great Khan of Bulgaria from 814 to 831. He is known as "the Builder".In the very beginning of his reign he signed a 30-year peace treaty with the neighboring Eastern Roman Empire which remained in force to the end of his life...

 (814-836) they, together with other tribes of the frontier, revolted because of an administrative reform that deprived them of much of their local authority and seceded from Bulgaria.

They came under Frankish

Franks

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...

 rule in 822. Timok and Branicevo would be of dispute between the Franks and Bulgars, the Khan sent embassies in 824 and 826 seeking to settle the border dispute, but was neglected. The Bulgarian Empire subsequently annex the region again.

al-Mas'udi mentions the tribe when enumerating the Slavs in his historical works as Branicabin.

The etymology is from braniti se ("to defend"); Proto-Slavic *borniti, related to bòriti se ("to fight, struggle").