Kingdom of Bosnia
Kingdom of Bosnia Bosansko Kraljevstvo | |||||||||||||
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| 1377–1463 | |||||||||||||
Coat of arms
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 A map of the Kingdom of Bosnia. | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Old town of Visoki Jajce | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Christianity | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
• 1377 - 1391 | Stephen Tvrtko I | ||||||||||||
• 1461-1463 | Stephen Tomašević | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Coronation of Tvrtko I | 1377 | ||||||||||||
| 1463 | |||||||||||||
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| History of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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 Bosnia and Herzegovina portal |
The Kingdom of Bosnia or the Bosnian Kingdom was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Balkans, that emerged as a political autonomous entity in the late 12th century, elevating to the kingdom in the late 14th century.
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
In the Middle Ages, the region known as Bosnia was a much smaller territory than the modern day state. It appears to have been located in what is now central-eastern Bosnia, in the pre-Drina region. The first actual reference to "Bosnia" comes from the tenth century De Administrando Imperio, where it was defined as a chorion (ie province) of Serbia. Present day northwestern/ western Bosnia was organized into zhupas (eg Livno) which were subordinate to Croat dukes and princes from as early as the 9th century. Virtually nothing is known about the remaining, northern part of present-day Bosnia; J Fine argues that, if populated at all, it might have been ruled by local Slavic chiefs, with the northernmost areas (ie Usora, Sol) possibly falling under nominal Bulgarian control. In what is now coastal Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia Croatia, three Slavic principalities - Travunia, Zachlumia and Neretvia - existed from the 9th century. Subsequently in the 10th century, influence over these small principalities was contested between Prince Mihailo of Zachlumia and princes from central Serbia.
By the latter tenth century, it appears that Caslav Klonimirovic from Serbia consolidated ruled over most of these areas, including the coastal principalities and "Bosnia". After Samuel's offensives through the northwestern Balkans, the Byzantines secured control of virtually the entire Balkans - Bosnia included- in 1018. Petar Krešimir IV of Croatia is mentioned to have ruled Bosnia during his reign, but with his death in 1074 Croatian control of Bosnian region had failed. An indepdent Bosnian zhupan is mentioned as part of a Byzantine-forged alliance including Prince Liutevid of Zachlumia and a zhupan from Rascia against the expansive plans of Grand Prince Mihailo Voislav from Duklja. Voislav defeated this alliance and was ordained King by Pope Gregory VII in 1077. Mihailo's son Constantin Bodin came to conquer Bosnia in 1082 and installed Stephen, one of his courtiers, as Prince. After King Bodin's death in 1101, discords erupted, and by the end of the 12th century, Bosnia would find itself detached from the Byzantium. Some attempts to reunite Bosnia and Serbia were made, especially by King Kočopar (1102–1103) of Duklja who forged an alliance with Bosnia against Rascia and Zahumlje, but utterly failed with his death.
After Croatia entered personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, most of Bosnia became vassal to Hungary as well, although this might not have occurred until several years later. Since 1137, King Bela II of Hungary claimed the Duchy of Rama, a region of northern Herzegovina. His title included "rex Ramae" since the Council at Ostrogon 1138, likely referring to all of Bosnia. However, by the 1160s, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus defeated Hungary and restored Bosnia to the Eastern Roman Empire for a while.
During the 12th century, rulers within Bosnia acted increasingly autonomously frm Hungary and/or Byzantium. Realistially, outside powers had little control of the mountainous and somehwat peripheral regions which made Bosnia. Notably, Ban Borič appears as a prominent figure in 1154, as an ally of the King of Hungary. He was involved inb offensives against the Byzantines, in alliance with Hungary and Rascia, reaching as far south as Braničevo.
Reign of Kulin Ban
Eventually, 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 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 Stephen, who seems to have remained aligned with the Catholic Church. Stephen 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 Stephen 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 Croatian 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.
Ban Stephen II Kotromanić used the word "Bosnian" to describe his language in a letter of his dated 1333.
During Stephen 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 Serbs held predominance in the 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 indegenous 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 Stephen 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 fairly 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 apparently 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.
- 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.
Stephen 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 conquest of Europe and posed a major threat to the Balkans throughout the first half of the 15th century. Finally, under King Stephen 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
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Bosnia kingdom in the XIV c -
Bosnia in the XIV c
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References
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2009) |