Grand Duke of Bosnia

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Grand Duke of Bosnia (Serbo-Croatian : veliki vojvoda rusaga bosanskog, [1] Latin : Bosne supremus voivoda / Sicut supremus voivoda regni Bosniae) [2] [3] was a court title in the Bosnian medieval state, with its first holders being recorded around the middle of the 14th century. The title was bestowed by the monarch to its highest military commander, rarely two, usually reserved for the most influential and most capable among the highest most prominent Bosnian nobility highest Bosnian nobility. [4] [5] [6] [7] It was very much different from the Grand duke title found in Europe at the time. To interpret it as an office post rather than a court rank could be equally accurate, and although it was retained for life by a nobleman who gained it, it was not meant to be hereditary, at least not at first. although it was not hereditary at first, it served both purposes and was retained for life by a nobleman who gained it. However, in the last several decades of the Bosnian medieval state it became hereditary, which means it became more than just an office or a court rank. [8] [9]

Contents

History

Unlike usage in Western Europe or Central Europe, as well as in various Slavic lands from Central to North-East Europe, where analogy between grand duke and grand prince was significant, with both titles corresponding to sovereign lower than king but higher than duke, in the Kingdom of Bosnia the title of grand duke corresponded more to the Byzantine military title megas doux . [9] [10]

Generally, the Slavic word knez often referred to the ruler, sometimes analogous to the king, thus veliki knez was more like a high king than a grand duke. [11] In that sense, although like in the rest of South Slavic neighbouring states and among its nobility, in Bosnia also existed the title knez and veliki knez, nominally analogous to prince and grand prince, it was ranked as a medium to major feudal landlord, with corresponding influence in the Bosnian Stanak (also Great Bosnian Rusag (Serbo-Croatian : "veliki bosanski rusag"), Whole of Bosnia (Serbo-Croatian : "sva Bosna")), which was institute of assembly of all Bosnian nobility, regardless of rank and status. [9]

However, in neighbouring countries, title duke, in Slavic vojvoda, also had military signification, but in that sense "grand duke" was specifically, even exclusively, a Bosnian title. [8]

Accordingly, the title Grand Duke of Bosnia was explicitly given by Bosnian rulers, whether ban, king or queen, to their highest-ranking military commander. [11] As such, it was an actually more like an office rather than a court rank, although it was also a grade in the court order of precedence, and was often held by one individual at the time, rarely two. [8]

Title-holders

Some of the most significant title-holders were:

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hrvatinić noble family</span> Bosnian medieval noble family

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<i>Humska zemlja</i> Historical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Humska Zemlja, also Hum, is a historical zemlja that arose in the Middle Ages as well-defined administrative unit of medieval Bosnia ruled by the Kosača dynasty. It included most of today's Herzegovina, in Bosansko Primorje including Konavle, territories on the south of Dalmatia between Omiš and Neretva Delta, in Boka Kotorska and south to Budva. The name for this zemlja derived from the earlier name for the region, Zahumlje. The seat of Kosače family was in the town and fortress of Blagaj and during the winter seasons, Novi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radoslav Pavlović Radinović</span> 15th century Bosnian nobleman

Radoslav Pavlović, sometimes spelled Radislav, Radisav or Radosav, was a Bosnian nobleman of the noble family Pavlović-Radinović. He inherited title of knez from his father Pavle Radinović upon his father death, while his older brother Petar (1415–1420), being the first in order of precedence, was bestowed a title of duke by the Bosnian throne. He and his brother also inherited their father's estates in the eastern parts of the Kingdom of Bosnia. After the murder of his father Pavle Radinović on Parena Poljana, near Sutjeska and Bobovac, in 1415 by the hand of Grand Duke of Bosnia, Sandalj Hranić (1392–1435), Radosav together with his older brother Peter, started a war against Sandalj Hranić and his Kosača clan, as those responsible for the murder. After the death of his older brother Petar in the conflict with the Ottomans in 1420, Radosav assumed leadership over the Pavlović's clan and took over the title of duke, and around 1421 he was bestowed a title of Grand Duke of Bosnia by the throne. He ended the conflicts with the Kosača and sealed the peace with a marriage with the daughter of Vukac Hranić, princess Teodora, the sister of the future Kosača's clan chieftain, Stjepan Vukčić (1435–1466), with whom he had three sons. In 1426, he sold his part of Konavle to the Republic of Ragusa for 18,000 perpers, but in 1430 he started the so-called First Konavle War over the sold territories, which ended in 1432 with the recognition of the situation from the beginning of the conflict. In 1435, after the death of Duke Sandalj Hranić, he tried to take advantage of the new situation, but in a conflict with his wife's brother Stjepan, he eventually lost the southern parts of his zemlja around Trebinje. He died in 1441, and was succeeded by his son Ivaniš Radoslavić Pavlović (1441–1450).

Katarina Vuković, from the medieval Bosnian noble lineage of Hrvatinić, was the second wife of Grand Duke of Bosnia, Sandalj Hranić.

Radin Jablanić was a powerful Bosnian nobleman, the oldest known member of the Pavlović noble family and the father of Pavle Radinović, who rose to prominence during the reign of Tvrtko I. His power and wealth made him one of the most powerful magnates and his family one of the most influential in Bosnian Banate and later the Kingdom of Bosnia, ruling the area around between Drina and Vrhbosna, and between Krivaja and Prača.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petar I Pavlović</span> 15th century Bosnian nobleman

Petar I Pavlović was a knez, and then a Grand Duke of Bosnia, from the noble family of Pavlović, which had its possessions in the eastern parts of the Kingdom of Bosnia. After the murder of his father Pavle Radinović on Parena Poljana near royal court in Sutjeska and below a Bobovac in 1415, after the stanak at which whole Pavlović family was present at, Petar took over the leadership of the Pavlovići and with his younger brother Knez Radosav (1420–1441) started a war against Sandalj Hranić (1392–1435) and Kosača klan. In that conflict, he relied on the help of the Ottomans, whose help he paid for by recognizing vassal relations to the sultan, which also resulted in successful campaigns against Sandalj, who was completely suppressed. However, the Ottomans changed sides and arrived in the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1420 as Sandalj's allies against Pavlović. In the conflict with them, Petar himself was killed, and his younger brother Radosav succeeds him as the leader of Pavlović and the Grand Duke of Bosnia.

References

  1. ↑ Esad Kurtović (2009). Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača (PDF) (in Bosnian) (Book 4 of Historijske monografije ed.). Sarajevo: Institut za istoriju. pp. 159, 233, 409. ISBN   978-9958-649-01-1 . Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Sulejmanagić, Amer (30 November 2012). "Novac Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića" [Coins minted by Duke Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića]. Numizmatičke Vijesti (in Serbo-Croatian). 54 (65): 54–85. ISSN   0546-9422 . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  3. ↑ Vatroslav Jagić; Lajos Thalloczy; Franz Wickhoff (1899). "Missale Glagoliticum Hervoiae ducis Spalatensis". archive.org (in Latin). Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Miller, William (2014). Essays on the Latin Orient. Cambridge University Press. p. 481. ISBN   9781107455535 . Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  5. ↑ Preveden, Francis Ralph (1962). A history of the Croatian people from their arrival on the shores of the Adriatic to the present day: with some account of the Gothic, Roman, Greek, Illyrian, and prehistoric periods of the ancient Illyricum and Pannonia. Philosophical Library. pp. 98, 99, 100. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  6. ↑ Zlatar, Zdenko (2007). The Poetics of Slavdom: The Mythopoeic Foundations of Yugoslavia. Peter Lang. p. 544. ISBN   9780820481357 . Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. ↑ Cvetković, Branislav (19 December 2014). "The Header to the Ten Commandments in the Hval Codex: a Contribution to the Semantics of Medieval Illumination". Ars Adriatica (in Croatian and English) (4). hrcak.srce.hr: 155–172. doi: 10.15291/ars.493 . Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 Kurtović, Esad (2009). Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača (PDF) (in Bosnian) (Historijske monografije; knj. 4 ed.). Institut za istoriju Sarajevo. ISBN   978-9958-649-01-1. Archived from the original (.pdf) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press.
  10. ↑ Filipović, Emir O. (2010). "Viteske svecanosti u Budimu 1412. godine i ucesce bosanskih predstavnika (Festivities held in Buda in 1412 and the participation of Bosnian magnates)" (.pdf/.html). Spomenica Akademika Marka Šunjića (1927-1998), Filozofski Fakultet U Sarajevu (in Bosnian and English). Filozofski fakultet u Sarajevu. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 Malcolm, Noel (2002). Bosnia: A Short History. Pan Books, Pan Macmillan of Macmillan Publishers Ltd. ISBN   978-0814755617.
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