Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages
The history of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages refers to the time period between the Roman era and the 15th-century Ottoman conquest.
The Early Middle Ages in the Western Balkans saw the region reconquered from barbarians (Ostrogoths) by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), followed by raids and migrations carried out by Slavic peoples in the 6th and 7th centuries.
The kingdom faced internal and external conflicts, eventually falling under Ottoman rule in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
[6][7][8] By the late 9th and early 10th century, Bosnia was mostly Christianized by Latin priests from the Dalmatian coastal towns, though remote pockets remained unreached.
[15] Croatian king Tomislav reintegrated parts of Western and Northern Bosnia,[14][16] battling the Bulgarians in the Bosnian highlands (926).
[19] Based on semi-mythological Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (13th century), according to some scholars the earliest known ruler of Bosnia was Ratimir in 838 AD.
[13]Serbian princess ruled in Zahumlje, and later, after integrating with Raška in the 1070s under Constantine Bodin, expanded to conquer all of eastern Bosnia in the 1080s.
[27] Under the pressure of the Byzantines, a subsequent King of Hungary appointed Kulin as a Ban to rule the province under the eastern vassalage.
His sister married the ruler of Hum, Miroslav brother of Stephan Namanja, founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, with whom he also established a positive diplomatic relationship.
Miroslav died in 1198 and Andrew, brother of the King of Hungary and appointed by him to be duke of Croatia and Dalmatia as well as Hum, jumped at the opportunity.
He took northwestern Hum after defeating a local force but he withdrew in 1203 either because his brother, King Emeric, declared war on him or he was pushed out by Peter.
It is likely that Hungary was putting political pressure on the papacy to invade Bosnia for territorial gain, as there is no concrete proof of Bosnian heresy at this time, just ignorance of certain catholic practices.
The commander of the crusaders, Koloman, brother of the king, was slaughtered by the Tartars along with his army at Sajó river on April 11, 1241, thus allowing the Bosnian Ban, prince of Split Matej Ninoslav to regain control of all Bosnia.
In the 1280s a minor noble from northern Bosnia named Stephan Kotroman married the daughter of Stefan Dragutin, son-in-law to the King of Hungary.
The ruler of Mačva gained control of northern Bosnia, under the supervision of the Croatian Šubić family who were eventually ousted from power during a war with Venice over the town of Zadar.
Stjepan II had not properly consolidated his banate, so when he died, his state fractured as the nobles felt no obligation to young Tvrtko I.
In 1388 an Ottoman raiding party was wiped out in Hum by a local noble named Vlatko Vuković, who was later sent along with a Bosnian army to help Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo Polje.
Ostoja returned with a Hungarian army and retook part of the country, and for ten years slowly regained authority in Bosnia.
Between 1433 and 1435 southern parts of central Bosnia was taken from the Hungarians by the Turks with the help of Stephen Vulkčić, Sandalj's nephew and lord of Hum.
War ended when they came to an agreement but Vukčić still supported the Serbian ruler George Brancović, a semi independent vassal of the Ottoman Turks who was contesting the Bosnian king for Srebrenica.
King Matthias of Hungary then invaded and took parts of northern and northwestern Bosnia by besieging and taking both Jajce and the nearby fortress of Zvečaj.
In 1526, the Turks obliterated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohács and year later took Jajce, finally crushing the last hold out of Hungary in Bosnia.
