Kingdom of Bosnia

Kingdom of Bosnia Bosansko Kraljevstvo
← 1377–1463 →
Coat of arms
A map of the Kingdom of Bosnia.
Capital	Old town of Visoki Jajce
Religion	Catholic Church, Bosnian Church (Bogomilism), Eastern Orthodox Church
Government	Monarchy
King
- 1377 - 1391	Stjepan Tvrtko I
- 1461-1463	Stephen Tomašević
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Coronation of Tvrtko I	1377
- Ottoman conquest	1463

History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
This article is part of a series
Early History
Prehistory and Roman era
Slavic peoples
Monarchy
Bosnian Kingdom
Ottoman era
Austro-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
World War II
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Contemporary
War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina Portal v · d · e

The Kingdom of Bosnia or the Bosnian Kingdom was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Balkans, existing between 1377 and 1463.

History

Establishment

By the mid-14th century, Bosnia reached its peak under ban Tvrtko I of the House of Kotromanić, who had himself crowned on 26 October 1377. By doing so, he became a ruler of an independent kingdom.

Prologue

During the 12th century, rulers within Bosnia acted increasingly autonomously from Hungary and/or Byzantium. Realistically, outside powers had little control of the mountainous and somewhat peripheral regions which made Bosnia. Notably, Ban Borić appears as a prominent figure in 1154, as an ally of the King of Hungary. He was involved in offensives against the Byzantines, in alliance with Hungary and Rascia, reaching as far south as Braničevo.

The valley of Visoko, the location of the first political and cultural centre of the Bosnian medieval state

Reign of Kulin Ban

The Byzantine Empire under Manuel I Comnenus conquered Bosnia from the Hungarians in 1166 and brought the native ruler Ban Kulin (1180–1204) to Bosnia. Kulin was second Bosnian ban, and he led Bosnia successfully to a war in 1183 together with its Béla III of Hungary, Prince Miroslav of Zahumlje, and Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja. This war eventually liberated Bosnia from Byzantine rule, but it returned it under the Hungarian crown. The rest of Kulin's rule seems to have been peaceful for Bosnia, and so the period of Kulin's reign has traditionally been remembered as the Age of peace and prosperity. In 1189, Ban Kulin issued the first written Bosnian document, in Bosančica, regarding the trade relations with Dubrovnik (Ragusa).^[1]

Kulin's rule also marked the start of a controversy with the Bosnian Church, an indigenous Christian sect considered heretical by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church.

In 1203, the Serbian Prince Vukan of Duklja and Zeta accused Kulin of heresy and lodged an official appeal to the pope. Kulin cunningly saved Bosnia from a Crusade that the pope was preparing to launch, stating that he was always a faithful Catholic. In response to Hungarian attempts to use church politics regarding the issue as a way to reclaim sovereignty over Bosnia, Kulin held a council of local church leaders to renounce the heresy in 1203. Despite this, Hungarian ambitions remained unchanged long after Kulin's death in 1204, waning only after an unsuccessful invasion on Bosnia in 1254.

Kulin's policy was poorly continued since the Ban's death in 1204 by his son and heir, Ban Stjepan Kulinić, who seems to have remained aligned with the Catholic Church. Stjepan was eventually deposed in 1232.

The Bosnian Krstjani under the Byzantium influence placed as a new ban - a nobleman called Matej Ninoslav (1232–1250). Around this time, a relative of Matej, Prijezda I, converted back to Catholicism (he previously switched to the Bosnian Church for a short period of time). Matej Ninoslav quickly changed his fanatical Catholic and anti-Bosnian Church attitude and eventually became a protector of the Krstjani. In 1234 King Andrew II of Hungary gave the Banate of Bosnia to herceg Coloman. To make matters worse, the legitimate successor for the Bosnian throne of the House of Kulinić, Count Sibislav of Usora, son of former Ban Stjepan started to attack Ninoslav's positions attempting to take Bosnia for himself. Pope Gregory IX replaced the Bosnian Bishop that was a member of the Bosnian Church in 1235 by Johann, a member of the Dominican Order, and confirmed herceg Coloman as the new legitimate Ban of Bosnia. The crusaders led by Dominican Bishop Johann and Hungarian herceg Coloman invaded Bosnia and led a long war that lasted for full five years. The war only funnelled more support to Ban Matej Ninoslav, as only Count Sibislav took the Pope's side in the Crusade. Matej issued an edict to the Republic of Dubrovnik on 22 May 1240, stating that he placed it under his protectorate in the case of a Serbian attack from Rascia by King Stephen Vladislav I of Serbia. The support from Dubrovnik was essential to support Matej Ninoslav's warfare.

It was also a response due to the very bad relations between Bosnia and Serbia, as Serbia sent no aid to Matej contrary to the traditional alliance. Coloman passed the title of ruler of Bosnia to Matej's distant cousin, Prijezda, but Prijezda managed to govern Bosnia only for two or three years. In 1241, the Tartars have invaded Hungary, so Coloman had to fall back from Bosnia. Matej Ninoslav immediately retook control over Bosnia, while Prijezda fled to Hungary in exile. The edict to Dubrovnik was re-issued in March 1244. Matej involved in the civil war that erupted in Croatia between Trogir and Split, talking Split's side. King Bela IV of Hungary was greatly frustrated and considered this a conspiracy, so he sent an Army to Bosnia, but Matej subsequently made peace. In 1248, Ban Ninoslav cunningly saved Bosnia from yet another Pope's Crusade requested by the Hungarian Archbishop.

Questionability of the Bosnian throne

The question of inheriting the Bosnian throne was brought. Ninoslav's sons fought valiantly for the title, but the King of Hungary managed to reinstall Prijezda I (1250–1287) as Ban of Bosnia. Ban Prijezda ruthlessly persecuted the Bosnian Church. In 1254 the Bosnian Ban shortly conquered Zahumlje from King Stephen Uroš I of Serbia during Hungary's war against Serbia which was joined to Bosnia, but the peace restored Zahumlje to Serbia.

During Stjepan II's reign, all three Churches were present in Bosnia. Roman Catholic Christians lived in the urban parts of his realm, while the minority which was made of adherents of the Bosnian Church inhabited some of the rural areas. Orthodox Christians held predominance in the eastern parts of Hum and in the eastern border regions of Podrinje.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Herzegovina was made up of separate small duchies: Zahumlje (Hum), centered around the town of Blagaj and Travunia-Konavli, centered on the town of Trebinje. These states were sometimes ruled by semi-independent Princes, mostly under actual control of Serbian Princes or in some cases Bulgarian. Over the course of several centuries, they were under Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian rule. Their territories included modern Herzegovina and parts of Montenegro and southern Dalmatia. The name Herzegovina was adopted when Duke (Herceg) of St. Sava Stjepan Vukčić Kosača asserted its independence in 1435/1448.

The religion of the original Slavic population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was mixed: there were Catholic and Orthodox Christians, but most of the indigenous population simply called themselves a "Good Christians" (Bosnian: Dobri Krstjani) and belonged to the indigenous Bosnian Church. This church was very similar to Catholicism and Orthodoxy but under a separate bishop, and it was accused by the Catholic and Orthodox authorities of being a dualist heresy and linked to the Bogomils (Patarens).

The bans and kings of Bosnia were Catholics during their reign, except for Stjepan Ostoja who showed some interest in the Bosnian Church while he was on the throne. There were, however, several important noblemen who were Krstjani, such as Hrvoje Vukčić, the Radenović-Pavlović family, Sandalj Hranić, Stjepan Vukčić, and Paul Klešić. It was common for the Holy See to have the Bosnian rulers renounce any relation to the Bosnian Church or even perform conversions, in return for support.

Tvrtko I

By the mid-14th century, Bosnia reached a peak under Ban Tvrtko I who came into power in 1353. Tvrtko I made Bosnia an independent state and is thought by many historians to have been initially crowned in Mile near today city of Visoko where was a state residency by that time.

• 1377, he was crowned in a Franciscan monastery in Mile, in the city of Visoko near what is today Sarajevo.

• by 1390, Tvrtko I expanded his realm to include a part of Croatia and Dalmatia, and assumed the title of King of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and the Littoral.

Stjepan Tvrtko I's full title listed subject peoples and geographical dependencies, following the Byzantine norm. At the peak of his power, he was King of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hum, Usora, Soli, Dalmatia, Donji Kraji etc.

Decline

After the death of Tvrtko I, the power of the Bosnian state slowly faded away. The Ottoman Empire had already started its invasion of Europe and posed a major threat to the Balkans throughout the first half of the 15th century. Finally, under King Stjepan Tomašević Bosnia officially fell in 1463 and became the westernmost province of the Ottoman Empire. Herzegovina fell to the Turks in 1482. It took another century for the western parts of today's Bosnia to succumb to Ottoman attacks.

Maps

• 

  Bosnian Kingdom and neighbours in the 14th century

• 

  Bosnia in the 14th century

References

1. ^ F.Miklosich, Monumenta serbica spectantia historiam Serbiae, Bosnae, Ragusii, Viennae 1858, p.1-2

See also

• History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• List of rulers of Bosnia