Stjepan Tomašević

Stjepan Tomašević kneels before Christ (detail from a painting by Jacopo Bellini , 1460)

Stjepan Tomašević (alternatively Stefan Tomašević ; * 1438 ; † June 1463 in Carevo Polje near Jajce ) was the last despot of Serbia in 1459 and the last king of Bosnia from 1461 to 1463 .

Live and act

Tomašević was the son of King Stjepan Tomaš . His mother was Vojača, his father's first wife. Katarina Kosača-Kotromanić , the second wife, was his stepmother. His paternal grandfather was Stjepan Ostoja . Ostoja was a member of the house of Kotromanić, possibly an illegitimate son of King Tvrtko I.

Despot of Serbia

Lazar Branković of Serbia died in 1458. His successor was his older brother Stefan Branković , a blind man. Stjepan Tomaš took the opportunity to campaign against Serbia, during which Srebrenica and a number of other towns that had previously belonged to the house of Branković passed into the possession of the King of Bosnia. In 1459 Tomaš negotiated with Helena Palaiologina, Lazar's widow. The result of the negotiations was the marriage of Tomašević to Helena Branković, the eldest daughter of Lazar and Palaiologina. The marriage took place on April 1, 1459 in Smederevo . The younger Helena changed her name to Maria. Tomašević ascended the throne of Serbia after Stefan's deposition.

His reign in Serbia was short-lived. On June 20, 1459, Mehmed II's troops captured Smederevo and annexed the remains of the Serbian state. Tomašević and Maria fled to Bosnia and sought refuge at his father's court. In addition, the Croatian-Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus Stjepan could not forgive the loss of Smederevo.

King of Bosnia

coronation

Silver dinar with the coat of arms of Stjepan Tomašević

On July 10, 1461 Tomaš died ; Tomašević was his successor. He was crowned king in Jajce in 1461 by the papal legate Nikola von Modruš , a Dalmatian humanist . For the first time in Bosnian history, a coronation with legitimation from Rome took place. As a result, the Croatian-Hungarian king, as overlord of Bosnia, felt his rights were curtailed. In view of the Turkish threat , the dispute with Corvinus and Stjepan Vukčić Kosača , the father of the second wife Katarina, was settled. When Kosača had a dispute with his son Vladislav in 1462 , the Ottomans took advantage of the opportunity and interfered in Bosnia.

Ottomans

In the same year Tomašević asked Pope Pius II for help in the face of an impending Ottoman invasion .

In 1463 Tomašević asked the Venetians for help, but without success. In 1463 Sultan Mehmed II led an army into the country. The royal town of Bobovac soon fell, so that Tomašević was forced to retreat to Jajce and later to Ključ . The Bosnian kingdom was soon conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The king was captured in Ključ, brought back to Jajce despite promises to the contrary, and beheaded near the field now known as Carevo Polje (Tsar's Field) . He had handed over the fortress because of the assurance that his life would be spared.

Maria survived the flight to the Adriatic coast. She later allegedly entered the harem of an unnamed Turkish general. The Massarelli manuscript from the 16th century reports that Tomašević and Maria had children, none of whom were mentioned by name. Their eventual fates are unknown.

Aftermath

Coffin with the presumed remains of Stjepan Tomašević

In 1888 the Croatian archaeologist Ćiro Truhelka excavated a place in Jajce known as "Kraljev Grob" (royal tomb) and found the skeleton of an adult, decapitated man. Although there is no direct evidence that these are the remains of Stjepan Tomašević, based on folk traditions and circumstantial evidence, it is believed to be his. Since then, the remains have been in the Franciscan monastery in Jajce with short interruptions.

source

• Frank fighter : Tomašević, Stefan . In: Mathias Bernath, Karl Nehring (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-42421-1 , p. 338 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables: family tables for the history of the European states. 1978.
2. ↑ JVA Fein: The late medieval Balkans, a critical study from the late twelfth century to the Ottoman conquest. 1994.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Frank fighters : Tomašević, Stefan . In: Mathias Bernath, Karl Nehring (Ed.), Gerda Bartl (Red.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of Southeast Europe . Volume 4. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-42421-1 , p. 338 f.
4. ↑ JVA Fein: The late medieval Balkans, a critical study from the late twelfth century to the Ottoman conquest. 1994.
5. ↑ Steven Runciman: The Fall of Constantinople 1453. 1965.