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The Slavs , who had originated in areas spanning modern-day southern Poland , were subjugated by the Eurasian Avars . Together, they invaded the Byzantine Empire in the 6th and 7th Centuries , settling in what is now Bosnia , Herzegovina , and the surrounding lands. The two powerful Slav's tribes, Serbs and Croats , came later settleing in the lands surrounding Bosnia, probably around 630s , as explained in '' De Administrando Imperio ''. They were invited by Emperor Heraclius to drive the Avars from Dalmatia. The Serbs settled somewhere in the northwest of Rascia while the Croats established themselves somewhere in eastern Croatia . In the early Middle Ages , the term Bosnia described the region of the upper Bosna river valley, roughly ''Bosnia proper''. Later this term spread to cover most of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina. Around this time dates the earliest preserved mention of the name ''Bosnia''. The book ''De Administrando Imperio'', Heading 32, mentions one of the territories under Serbian control as a "small region" (χοριον) of "Bosona" (Βοσωνα), in which lie the two inhabited cities, Kotor and Desnik . Though the location of Desnik is still unknown, Kotor was located to the south of present day Sarajevo (not to be confused with Kotor at the seaside). Vrhbosna arised out of Kotor. The '' Chronicle Of The Priest Of Duklja '' from 1172 - 1196 also names Bosnia, and references an earlier source from the year 753 . According to the work known as '' De Regno Sclavorum '' (''Of the Realm of Slavs'') from 753 , Bosnia was ruled by local Bans and together with Rascia forming ''Zagorje'', which was referred to as ''Surbia'' in Latin . Modern knowledge of the political situation in the west Balkans during the Dark Ages is patchy and confusing. Upon their arrival, the Slavs brought with them a tribal social structure, which probably fell apart and gave way to Feudalism only with Frank ish penetration into the region in the late 9th century. Bosnia probably originated as one such pre-feudal Slavic entity. It was also around this time that the south Slavs were Christianized . Bosnia, due to its geographic position and terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through this process, which presumably originated from the urban centers along the Dalmatian coast. Bosnia and Herzegovina was in control of the many kingdoms, Serbia , Croatia , and Bulgaria in the 9th and 10th Century , and also Kingdom Of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. Ljudevit Posavski , duke in Pannonian Croatia, initiated a movement for uniting Slavs in his rebellion against the Frankish Empire ( 819 – 822 ). In 822 he was pushed to western Bosnia by the Frankish forces, where he was accepted to the court of the Serbian Prince, but tricked him, killed him and took his area for himself. It later turned out that the Serbian ruler was a Frankish ally, seeing in the Franks the only way to liberate himself from Byzantine rule and Ljudevit thought that he was going to betray him. The Serbs soon fell under the control of the Bulgarians . Croatian duke Trpimir I (845–864) has fought successful wars against the Bulgarians, under Boris I , and their Serbian subjects. He succeeded to expand his realm to the Drina River and include the entire Bosnia into his state. Bosnia was part of Croatian state and at the beginning of the 10th century. Tomislav (910–928), first King of Croatia, held Bosnia to the Bosna River and Croatian Kingdom was bordering in the east with the First Bulgarian Empire , ruled by Simeon I . Simeon I annexed Serbian lands into his Empire, and attacked Croatia. Tomislav decisivly defeated the Simeon I in Battle Of The Bosnian Highlands , where the Croatian army were assisted by expelled Serbs. Large parts of Bosnian territories was incorporated in Croatian state until the reign of King Miroslav (945–949), when Croatia fell into civil war. Serbian ruler Časlav Klonimirović (927–950) re-established Serbian state, after the death of Simeon I in 927. He liberated the Serbs from Bulgarian empire, and voluntary confederation of Bosnains had also joined his state. By 949 , the Bosnian territories to the River of Vrbas seceded from Croatia that was torn by civil war and joined Česlav. The Hungarians invaded Serbia on several occasions, and hard, long fights occurred like near modern Doboj . Česlav's death in a battle against the Hungarians north of Bosnia meant the end of his realm, as it was subjected by the Byzantine Empire, while the territories of Bosnia dissolved into independent statelets ruled by various Bosnian chiefs. Technicly, Bosnia became a part of the '' Theme of Serbia '' with Constantin Diogenes as its first '' Strategos ''. In 968 , most of Bosnia was conquered by the Croatian king Mihajlo Krešimir II in his war against the Byzantine Empire and after the Bosnian chiefs were put down, it was incorporated into the Croatian state. It is unclear whether it remained so during the rule of his son Stjepan Držislav , and during the dynastic struggle that arose after his death in 997 . The Byzantines restored control over Bosnia, but not for long as it was soon taken by the Czar of Bulgarians Samuel . In 1019 the Byzantine Emperor Basil II , after he defeat of Samuilo, forced Serbian and Croatian rulers to acknowledge Byzantine sovereignty. Croatian king Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) exerted his influence over Bosnia in 1060s. Grand Prince Mihailo Voislav from Duklja was crowned as King of Serbia by Pope Gregory VII in 1077 . Mihailo's son Constantin Bodin conquered Bosnia in 1082 - 1085 and implaced Stephen, one of his courtiers as Ban. After King Bodin's death in 1101, discords erupted, and by the end of the 12th Century , Bosnia would find itself completely detached from Serbia . Some attempts to reunite the former Serbian lands were made, especially by king Kočopar of Duklja who forged an allience with Bosnia against Rascia , but utterly failed. After Croatia became part of the Hungarian Kingdom in 1102 , most of Bosnia became vassal to Hungary as well. 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 time. Beginning from the 12th Century , Bosnia found itself outside the control of various forces and emerged as an independent state under the rule of local bans. Beginning with the reign of ban Borić in 1154 , Bosnia was a semi-independent Banate under the sovereignty of the King of Hungary . It waged war against the Byzantine Empire and Borich reached Braničevo with his forces, but the later involvements in Hungary's dynastic struggles have eventually brought Hungary's wrath on Bosnia as the Hungarian forces deposed him. This is the first appearance of the ancestors of the House Of Kotromanić , Bosnia's greatest Dynasty . Eventually, the Byzantine Empire under Manuel I Comnenus conquered Bosnia against the Hungarians in 1166 and brought native Ban Kulin (1180–1204) to Bosnia. Kulin was first notable Bosnian ban, and he led Bosnia successfully to a war in 1183 together with its Hungarian liege, Prince Miroslav Of Zahumlje , and Serbian allies under Srebian ruler Stefan Nemanja . This war eventually liberated Bosnia from Byzantine rule, but it returned it under Hungarian crown. The rest of Kulin's rule was majorily peaceful for Bosnia, and so the period of Kulin's rule became ever since remember as the ''Age of Peace and Prosperity''. In 1189 Ban Kulin issued the first written Bosnian document written in Bosnian Cyrillic , where he described Bosnia's statehood and referred to its people as Bosnians (''Bošnjani''). The Bosnian Church spread greatly during Kulin's rule as Kulin was himself alligned to it. In 1203 the Serbian Prince Vukan of Duklja / Zeta acused Kulin for heresy and lodged an official appeal to the '' Pope ''. Kulin cunningly saved Bosnia from a Crusade that the pope was preparing against it, stating that he was always a faithful Catholic . Kulin strengthened the country's economy through treaties with Dubrovnik and Republic Of Venice . 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 es. 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 was very unpopular among Bosnians and remained strictly aligned with the Catholic Church . Stephen was eventually deposed in 1232 by the Bogomils . The Bogomils placed as a new ban nobleman 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 Catholic fanatical and anti-Bogumil attitude and eventually became a Bogumil protector. In 1234 the Hungarian King Andrew II gave the Banate of Bosnia to '' Herceg '' Coloman. To make matters worse, the legitimate successor for the Bosnian throne of the House Of Kulin , 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 Crusade rs led by Dominican Bishop Johann and Hungarian herceg Coloman have invaded Bosnia and led a long war that lasted for full five years. The war only funelled 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 May 22 1240 , stating that he puts it under his proctetorate in the case of a Serbian attack from Rascia by King Stefan Vladislav I . He referred to the people of Bosnia as Serbs (''Srblyns'') in the edict. 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 allience. 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 eruptd 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 . The question of inheriting the Bosnian throne was brought. Ninoslav's sons fought valiantly for the title, but the Hungarian King managed to reinstall Prijezda I ( 1250 - 1287 ) as Ban of Bosnia. Ban Prijezda ruthlessly prosecuted the Bogumils in an atempt to root out the Bosnian Church . In 1254 the Croatian Ban shortly conquered Zahumlje from the Serbia n King of Rascia Stefan Uroš I during Hungary's war against Serbia which was joined to Bosnia, but the peace restored Zahumlje to Serbia. Ban Stjepan II Kotromanić used the word "Serbian" to describe his langugage in a letter of his dated 1333 , and then used the word "Croatian" for the same thing in another letter of his dated 1347 . from 1180-1204 Peach – Bosnia during Stjepan II from 1322-1353 Orange – Bosnia during king Tvrtko I from 1353 -1391]] In Stephen II of Kotromanćs reign, all three Churches were present in Bosnia. Roman Catholic Christians lived in the urban parts of his realm, while the Bogumil adherents of the Bosnian Church inhabited the rural areas. Orthodox Serbs held predominence in the Hum and in the some areas of the country ( 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 real control of Serbian Princes or at some cases Bulgarian . Over the course of several centuries, they were under Croatian, Bosnian, 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 also many were Krstjani ("Christians"), an 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 Bosnian Ban s and kings were Catholics, except for the single exception of king Ostoja Kotromanić who showed some interest in the Bosnian Church. There were, however, several important noblemen who were Krstjani, such as Hrvoje Vukčić, the Radenović-Pavlovići, Sandalj Hranić, Stjepan Vukčić, 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 military or other support. By the mid-14th century, Bosnia reached a peak under ban Tvrtko Kotromanić who came into power in 1353 . Tvrtko made Bosnia an independent state and is thought by many historians to have been initially crowned in Mile near today city of Visoko . He went on to claim not only Bosnia and Hum, but the surrounding lands as well:
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. 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 the king Stjepan Tomašević Bosnia officially "fell with a whisper" (''šaptom pala'') 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. |
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