History of Bosnia and Herzegovina (958–1463)

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Visoko valley, where was first early political and cultural centre of bosnian medieval state

The Byzantines restored control over Bosnia at the end of 10th century, but not for long as it was soon taken by the Czar of Bulgarians Samuil. 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 Bosnia & Serbia were made, especially by king Kočopar of Duklja who forged an alliance 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 aligned to it. In 1203 the Serbian Prince Vukan of Duklja/Zeta accused 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 churches. 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 crusaders 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 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 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 attempt to root out the Bosnian Church. In 1254 the Croatian Ban shortly conquered Zahumlje from the Serbian 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 "Bosnian" to describe his language in a letter of his dated 1333.

Bosnia in 10th century
Bosnian state during Ban Kulin 1180-1204
Bosnian state during king Tvrtko 1353-1391
Borders of Bosnian state in second part of 15th century
Bosnia and Herzegovina in second part of 19th century

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 acctual control of Serbian Princes or in 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 bans 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.

Bosnian Christian Hval's Miscellany, ca. 1400

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 where was a state residency by that time.

He went on to claim not only Bosnia and Hum, but the surrounding lands as well:

• in 1377 he was crowned Bošnjanski kralj Srbljem i Bosni i Pomorju i Zapadnim stranama¹ in a Franciscan monastery in Mile, in the city of Visoko. This coronation is believed to have happened as a token of reaffirmation of his suzerainty over Serbia, and some believe he adopted the name Stephanus (Стефан/Stefan) to emulate the Nemanjić dynasty. The exact location of the coronation is disputed, as some historians claim that this actually occurred in the Serb Orthodox Mileševo monastery by the grave of Serb patron saint St. Sava.
• by 1390, Tvrtko I expanded his empire to include a part of Croatia and Dalmatia, and assumed the title of Bosnian King of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and the Littoral.

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.