Tvrtko I of Bosnia
Tvrtko I | |
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Roman Catholic |
Stephen Tvrtko I (
As the Kingdom of Bosnia continued to expand, Tvrtko's attention shifted to the
Tvrtko is widely considered one of Bosnia's greatest medieval rulers, having enlarged the country's borders to their greatest extent, left a strong economy, and improved the living standards of his subjects. He was survived by at least one son,
Minority
Tvrtko was the elder son of
The death of Tvrtko's maternal uncle
The state assembled by Tvrtko's uncle Stephen broke apart on Tvrtko's accession,
Initial difficulties
Little is known about internal affairs in Bosnia between 1357 when Tvrtko started ruling on his own and 1363. His religious policy came into focus in this period, as the
At the start of his personal rule, the young Ban somehow considerably increased his power.
The unity of the Bosnian magnates waned as soon as the Hungarians were defeated, weakening Tvrtko's position and that of a united Bosnia. In 1364, Tvrtko, his mother, and his brother were granted citizenship of the Republic of Venice, an honour that guaranteed them sanctuary in Venice in case of necessity but also obligated Tvrtko to protect Venetian merchants. Various charters issued by the previous bans of Bosnia, and confirmed by Tvrtko on his accession, promised the same protection to Ragusan merchants. In late 1365, however, both republics complained to Tvrtko about the treatment of their merchants by his vassals. Evidently, the Ban had lost control over his feudatories.[14] The anarchy escalated, and in February of the following year, the magnates revolted against Tvrtko and dethroned him.[6][14] Little is known about the circumstances under which Tvrtko was deposed. Accusing the magnates of treachery against "foremostly God" and himself, Tvrtko fled Bosnia with his mother.[14] He was replaced by his younger brother,[14][6] who had hitherto functioned as "junior ban".[14] Vuk's personal role in the rebellion is uncertain.[10][14]
Tvrtko acted resolutely and efficiently.
Conquests in Serbia and marriage
The death of
The ambitious Nicholas soon started inciting rebellions against Tvrtko; Sanko Miltenović rose against his lord again and was once more defeated and pardoned in 1369. Tvrtko and Nicholas made peace in August 1370, but the latter's belligerence soon earned him the enmity of all his neighbours. Entering into a coalition with Venice and the
In 1374, Tvrtko married
The division of Nicholas Altomanović's lands created friction between Tvrtko and
Coronation
Uroš the Weak, the last of the
The idea of restoring the Serbian Empire nevertheless persisted. George discussed it in one of his charters, but the Serbian regional lords were not considered suitable. They had only recently risen to prominence and lacked illustrious family backgrounds and formal titles to their lands; they were mere "lords". Tvrtko not only controlled a significant portion of Serbia but was a member of the dynasty which had ruled as bans of Bosnia from time immemorial and – most importantly – could boast descent from the Nemanjić dynasty. A genealogy published in Tvrtko's newly conquered Serbian lands emphasized his Nemanjić ancestry, derived from his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of King Dragutin.[25] A Serbian logothete named Blagoje,[25] having found refuge at Tvrtko's court, attributed to Tvrtko the right to a "double crown": one for Bosnia, which his family had ruled since its foundation, and the other for the Serbian lands of his Nemanjić ancestors, who had "left the earthly realm for the heavenly kingdom". Arguing that Serbia had been "left without its pastor", Tvrtko set out to be crowned as its king.[26][27]
Tvrtko's
Writing to Ragusa shortly after his coronation, Tvrtko successfully claimed Saint Demetrius' income, which had been paid to the kings of Serbia since the 13th century.[35] Although he presented himself as the heir to the Nemanjić crown, Tvrtko decided to assume the royal title of his great-grandfather, rather than continue Dušan's unpopular claim to an imperial style, thus becoming "by the Grace of God king of the Serbs, Bosnia, Pomorje and the Western Areas". In addition to the royal title, Tvrtko also adopted the symbolic name Stephen in order to associate himself with the Nemanjić kings; his successors followed suit. Tvrtko, at times, completely omitted his birth name and used only the honorific.[26] Tvrtko's right to kingship was derived from his right to the Serbian throne,[36] and was likely recognized by Lazar Hrebljanović and Vuk Branković. Still, Tvrtko never established authority over the regional lords of Serbia.[37] Tvrtko's new title was also approved by Louis and by his successor Mary. Venice and Ragusa consistently referred to Tvrtko as king of Rascia, Ragusa even complaining, in 1378, about Tvrtko's preoccupation with his new kingdom.[37] Despite his cordial relations with its clergy,[10] Tvrtko's claim to Serbia did not enjoy the support of the Orthodox Church, severely hindering Tvrtko's efforts.[38]
Economy
Having taken as much Serbian land as he could, King Tvrtko turned his attention to the coast. The rapid economic growth of Bosnia, having begun during the reign of Tvrtko's uncle, continued unabated even during the political upheavals that followed Tvrtko's accession.[39] The export of metal ores and metalwork (mainly silver, copper and lead) formed the backbone of the Bosnian economy. These goods were transported over the Dinaric Alps to the seashore, where they were bought chiefly by the Republics of Ragusa and Venice.[40] The maritime cities of Ragusa and Kotor also depended on Tvrtko's realm for food, a dependency the King leveraged to increase the initially low and, for the Bosnians, disadvantageous prices.[41] Yet, Bosnia could not make economical use of its share of the Adriatic coast, from the river Neretva to the Bay of Kotor, which lacked any major settlements. The three major cities in the area were all controlled by Hungary: Drijeva (which Tvrtko was forced to cede to Louis in 1357), Ragusa, and Kotor. [42]
The
The failure to seize Kotor, the damage to the Bosnian economy from the Ragusan embargo, and the need for easier access to maritime trade led Tvrtko to found the youngest medieval town on the eastern Adriatic coast. In early 1382, Tvrtko constructed a new fortress in the Bay of Kotor and decided that it should form the basis of a new
Hungarian succession crisis
Tvrtko's yielding in the legal dispute with Ragusa may have been brought about by another major change: the death of King Louis I on 11 September 1382. Without a male heir, the Hungarian crown passed to Louis's 13-year-old daughter Mary and the reins of government to his widow, Tvrtko's cousin Elizabeth. The great unpopularity of the queens led to rebellions and presented an opportunity for Tvrtko, not only to reclaim Drijeva and other lands lost to Louis in 1357 but also to seize Kotor. When exactly or how this took place is not known. Already in the spring of 1383, Tvrtko started building a navy: he bought a galley from Venice, ordered two more to be built, and employed a Venetian patrician as his admiral with the consent of the republic. Around the same time, he erected a new town, Brštanik, near present-day Opuzen. [48]
In 1385, Tvrtko still formally recognized Hungarian supremacy, although it no longer had any practical meaning. He emphasized his loyalty to the queens, "his dearest sisters", and cited his oath of fealty to them. Mary and Elizabeth, however, had no power to enforce their suzerainty over him.[49] In fact, they so respected his strength that they made concessions to win his favour: one of the concessions being their recognition of Tvrtko's possession of Kotor in the spring of 1385.[50][51] The incorporation of the trade centres of Drijeva and Kotor did not result in a significant expansion on the coast, but it was of great importance to the Bosnian economy and the King's finances.[49]
The capture of Kotor earned Tvrtko the enmity of George I of Zeta's brother and successor, Balša II, who also desired the city. Nothing is known about Balša's military conflict with Tvrtko except that the latter asked Venice, whose trading opportunities were threatened by the clashes, to mediate with the Lord of Zeta. The mediation was thwarted by Balša's death in the 1385 Battle of Savra against the invading Ottomans. Balša's nephew and successor, George II, maintained Zeta's hostility toward Bosnia.[52]
The revolt against Elizabeth and Mary culminated in late 1385 when Mary was deposed in favour of her kinsman, King Charles III of Naples. Elizabeth had Charles assassinated the following February, and Mary was restored to the throne. On 25 July, however, both women ended up imprisoned by the supporters of the murdered monarch's son, King Ladislaus of Naples.[49] Civil war engulfed Mary's realm. Her betrothed, Sigismund, invaded Bohemia with the intent to liberate her and ascend her throne.[53] The neighbouring countries took sides: Venice opted for the queens and Sigismund,[53] but Tvrtko chose to support their opponents and Ladislaus's claim to Hungary,[53][54] thus tacitly renouncing vassalage that had in any case been only nominal since c. 1370.[51] Elizabeth was strangled in prison, while Sigismund's coronation as King of Hungary in March 1387 and subsequent liberation of Mary prompted Tvrtko to act more resolutely. From Ragusa, still loyal to Queen Mary, exacted a promise of support against everyone but the Queen. From then on, he was free to attack Dalmatia,[53] ostensibly in the name of the king of Naples. [54]
By 1388, the devastation of Dalmatia by the Bosnian army had become so severe that the authorities of the cities pleaded with Sigismund to either help them or to allow them to save themselves by submitting without being labelled as traitors. Neither Sigismund's army nor an alliance of Dalmatian cities and noblemen was able to counter Tvrtko's advances. Split, Zadar, and Šibenik having lost all hope, Tvrtko called upon them to negotiate their surrender in March 1389. Each city asked to be the last one to submit and even to be allowed to request Sigismund's assistance.[56] Tvrtko granted their wish and decided that Split should be the last to submit by 15 June 1389.[52]
Ottoman attacks
During his campaign in Dalmatia and
15 June 1389, the date by which Tvrtko had intended to complete his conquest of Dalmatia, was also the day when the Ottoman army met the forces of a coalition of Serbian states at the Battle of Kosovo. Tvrtko, feeling it is his duty as king of Serbia, ordered his army to leave Dalmatia and assist the lord's Lazar Hrebljanović and Vuk Branković.[58][4] He resented the Milanese ruler, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, for selling weaponry to the Ottomans in wake of the battle.[59] The highest ranking among the casualties, which also included Bosnian noblemen, were Lazar and the Ottoman ruler Murad I. The outcome of the battle was difficult to ascertain,[58] but Vlatko's letters from the battlefield convinced Tvrtko that the Christian alliance came out victorious.[59] Tvrtko, in turn, informed various Christian states of his great triumph; the authorities of the Republic of Florence responded praising both the Kingdom of Bosnia and its king for achieving a "victory so glorious that the memory of it would never fade". The triumph, however, was hollow. Tvrtko's Serbian title lost what little actual significance it had when Lazar's successors accepted Ottoman suzerainty, while Vuk Branković turned to Tvrtko's enemy Sigismund. Since the Battle of Kosovo, the Bosnian claim to the Serbian throne was merely nominal.[60]
Final achievements and aftermath
Tvrtko's engagement in the east allowed Sigismund's forces to reverse some of his gains in Dalmatia. Klis was briefly lost in July, the Dalmatian cities again refused to surrender, and Tvrtko was forced to relaunch raids. A series of battles and skirmishes from November to December resulted in a decisive Bosnian victory and the retreat of the Hungarian army.
In the last months of his reign, Tvrtko devoted himself to solidifying his position in Dalmatia and to plans for taking Zadar, the only Dalmatian city that had evaded his rule. He offered an extensive alliance to Venice, but it did not suit the republic's interests.[65] Meanwhile, Tvrtko was also fostering relations with Albert III, Duke of Austria. By the late summer of 1390, a marriage was expected to be contracted between the recently widowed Tvrtko and a member of the Austrian ruling family, the Habsburgs. Hungary remained the focus of Tvrtko's foreign policy, however. Although they did not recognize each other as kings, Tvrtko and Sigismund started negotiating peace in September. Sigismund was in a weaker position and likely ready to make concessions to Tvrtko when his ambassadors arrived at Tvrtko's court in January 1391. The negotiations were probably never concluded, as Tvrtko died on 10 March.[66] He is buried in Mile alongside his uncle Stephen II.[67]
Tvrtko I left at least one son,
Assessment
Tvrtko I is considered one of the greatest medieval rulers of Bosnia, having "left behind a country larger, stronger, politically more influential and militarily more capable than the one he inherited." His political achievements were aided by the feudal anarchy in Serbia and Croatia, while the Ottomans were still not close enough to threaten him seriously. The Bosnian economy flourished, new settlements and trade centres appeared, and his subjects' living standards improved.[4]
Vladimir Ćorović noted that, compared with Dušan, who had also left a considerably extended state, Tvrtko was not an overly ambitious conqueror as much as he was an able statesman. Tvrtko, he wrote, used force when necessary but otherwise took care to appear to Serbians as the legitimate heir rather than as a foreign subjugator and to the Croatians as the preferable ruler. Emphasizing his patience and diplomacy, Ćorović calls Tvrtko a man capable of making the most out of his opportunities. [59]
Family tree
Simplified family tree illustrating Tvrtko's connections to the royals and nobles of Bosnia and its neighbors | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- ^ a b c d e Ćirković 1964, p. 122.
- ^ Fine 1994, pp. 284–285.
- ^ a b Fine 1994, p. 284.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ćošković 2009.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 123.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Fine 1994, p. 369.
- ^ a b c d e f Ćirković 1964, p. 124.
- ^ Fine 2007, p. 161.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, pp. 124–125.
- ^ a b c d e f Fine 1994, p. 370.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 125.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 128.
- ^ a b c Ćirković 1964, p. 129.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ćirković 1964, p. 130.
- ^ a b c d Ćirković 1964, p. 131.
- ^ a b c d e f Ćirković 1964, p. 132.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 126.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 127.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 133.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 134.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 135.
- ^ a b Fine 1994, p. 367.
- ^ Fine 2007, p. 165.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 139.
- ^ a b c Ćirković 1964, p. 136.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 137.
- ^ Ćirković, Sima. The Double Wreath, A Contribution to the History of Kingship in Bosnia (PDF). p. 108.
- ^ Lovrenović 1996, pp. 26, 27, 31.
- ^ Lovrenović 1999, p. 228.
- ^ Lovrenović 1996, p. 31.
- ^ a b c Lovrenović 1999, pp. 227–230.
- ^ Zadro 2006, pp. 45–48.
- ^ Lovrenović 1996, pp. 26, 27, 31, 32.
- ^ Lovrenović 1999, p. 235.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 150.
- ^ Fine 1994, p. 386.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 138.
- ^ Ćirković 1964a, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 140.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 141.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 142.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 144.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 145.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 146.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 147.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 148.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 149.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 151.
- ^ a b c Ćirković 1964, p. 153.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 152.
- ^ a b Fine 1994, p. 396.
- ^ a b c Ćirković 1964, p. 157.
- ^ a b c d Ćirković 1964, p. 154.
- ^ a b c Fine 1994, p. 398.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 155.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 156.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 158.
- ^ a b Ćirković 1964, p. 159.
- ^ a b c Ćorović 2001, part 3, chapter 12.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 160.
- ^ Vego, Marko (1957). "Historijska karta Srednjevjekovovne Bosanske Države". kolekcije.nub.ba (in Bosnian). Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ Marko Vego. "Historijska karta srednjevjekovne bosanske države / sastavio Marko Vego ; izrada i reprodukcija Geokarta". digitalna.nsk.hr. Digitalne zbirke Nacionalne i sveučilišne knjižnice u Zagrebu. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 161.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 163.
- ^ a b c Ćirković 1964, p. 164.
- ^ Ćirković 1964, p. 165.
- ^ Anđelić 1980, p. 230.
- ^ Fine 1994, p. 454.
Bibliography
- Anđelić, Pavao (1980). Anđelić, Pavao, Krunidbena i grobna crkva bosanskih vladara u Milima (Arnautovićima) kod Visokog" 183–247 (in Serbo-Croatian). Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja XXXIV/1979., Zemaljski muzej Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo, 1980.
- Ćirković, Sima (1964). Историја средњовековне босанске државе (in Serbo-Croatian). Srpska književna zadruga.
- Ćirković, Sima (1964a). "Зборник радова Филозофског факултета". Сугуби венац: прилог историји краљевства у Босни (in Serbo-Croatian). University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy.
- Ćorović, Vladimir (2001). Istorija srpskog naroda. Janus.
- Ćošković, Pejo (2009), Kotromanići (in Serbo-Croatian), Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography
- ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
- Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (2007). The Bosnian Church: Its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Century. Saqi. ISBN 978-0-86356-503-8.
- Jireček, Konstantin (1891). Istorija Srba (in Serbian).
- Lovrenović, Dubravko (1996). "Bosanski mitovi" [Bosnian Myths] (pdf). Erasmus – časopis za kulturu demokracije (in Bosnian) (18). Erasmus Gilda: 26–37. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- Lovrenović, Dubravko (1999). "PROGLAŠENJE BOSNE KRALJEVSTVOM 1377" [The proclamation of Bosnia as the kingdom in 1377] (pdf). Forum Bosnae (in Bosnian) (3–04). Međunarodni forum Bosna: 227–287. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
- Malcom, Noel (1996). Bosnia: A Short History. NYU Press.
- Zadro, Dejan (8 January 2006). "Grobovi bosanskih srednjovjekovnih vladara u crkvi srpsko-pravoslavnog manastira Vaznesenja Gospodnjeg u Mileševi?". Pro Tempore (in Croatian) (3): 45–50. ISSN 1334-8302.
External links
- Media related to Tvrtko I of Bosnia at Wikimedia Commons
- Emir O. Filipović: 'Creatio Regni' in the Great Seal of Bosnian King Tvrtko Kotromanić. In: A Companion to Seals in the Middle Ages, (ed. Laura Whatley), Brill, Leiden, 2019, 264–276.