Ban Borić

Ban Borić was the first known Bosnian Ban (1154-1164).

Borić was a local landlord from Gabarje near Brod. He belonged to a strong Brotherhood and had possessions on both sides of the river Sava. As the Hungarian crown's domination over Bosnia grew, Borić became its supporter and was eventually made a Hungarian Viceroy of Bosnia and instated the title of Ban of the newly created Banate of Bosnia.

At the end of the fall of 1154, Ban Borić led his troops and assisted his liege together with some mercenaries, Hungary's Palatin and Ban Beloš of the Serb House of Vojislavljević, to conquer Braničevo from the Byzantines. Byzantine Emperor Manuel I dispatched a squadron of troops towards Belgrade, to cross the river Sava and chase the Bosnian Army. With Hungarian assistance the Bosnian Army defeated the Byzantines, ending their attempt to cut off the Kingdom of Hungary's military power.

In 1162-1163 internal struggles for the succession of the Hungarian crown erupted between an anti-Byzantine candidate and the pro-Byzantine Stephen IV, son of King Geza. Borić supported the anti-Byzantine bloc, owing loyalty to his former superior - Beloš who now served as the Ban of Croatia and feeling a threat to his throne in the return of Imperial dominance to Bosnia. King Stephen IV eventually won and dispatched a German Knight - Gotfried, the founder of the dynasty of Kelad to subject Bosnia and dethrone its Ban, Borić. Gotfried beat the Bosnian Ban in battle in 1163. One of his most prolific fighters was Prince "Cotroman the Goth", the ancestor of the future Bosnian ruling House of Kotromanić.

See also

* List of Bosnian rulers
* History of Bosnia and Herzegovina