Stjepan Vukčić Kosača

The coat of arms of the Kosača family

Stjepan Vukčić Kosača (* 1405 in Kosača near Goražde , † May 22, 1466 in Herceg Novi ) was a prince from the Herzegovinian - Bosnian noble family of the Kosače .

Stjepan Vukčićs rule began around 1435 as a Bosnian Großwoiwode and vassal of King Tvrtko II. Bosnia (around 1380-1443). He refused the subsequent King Stjepan Tomaš († July 1461), the followers and declared in 1448 finally its independence from the Kingdom of Bosnia . Vukčić gave himself the title of duke and ruled as sovereign over an area that was created by the union of the two principalities of Zahumlje (western part with the Neretva valley ) and Travunia (eastern part). Here maneuvered deftly between Catholicism , Orthodoxy and the Bosnian Church . However, his family was traditionally Roman Catholic .

Derived from Vukčićs noble title Herzog , established for this historic landscape , the term "Herzegovina" ( Herzog country ). The Ottomans conquered Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1465, with the exception of a small area around the port city of Novi , where Vukčić died in 1466. The power of the noble family Kosače was broken: Vukčić's sons went into Venetian and Turkish services and in 1482 Herzegovina was completely conquered by the Ottomans.

Life

Stjepan Vukčić was born in 1405 as the son of Vukac Hranić in Kosača near Goražde . He entered his rule in 1435 after the childless death of his uncle Sandalj Hranić Kosača (around 1370-1435), from whom he had long been entrusted with important tasks as the only one of his noble family. He successfully defended his rule against hostile neighbors who had occupied the country after his uncle's death. Vukčić took his ruler's seat in the fortress Stjepan grad, later named after him, above the town of Blagaj (Mostar) .

In 1448 Vukčić declared his independence from the Kingdom of Bosnia and put down his title " Grand Voivode of Bosnia", which identified him as the feudal man of the Bosnian King Stjepan Tomaš († July 1461). As a sign of his independence, he gave himself the title " Duke of Hum and the Coastal Country " instead . In the following year Vukčić changed this title to that of a duke "from Saint Sava " ( Latin Stefanus dei gratia dux Sancti Save ), named after the saint whose bones were buried in the east of his domain (the " Duchy of Saint Sava "). Despite the appeal to the Serbian national saint, Vukčić remained religiously indeterminate and representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox and Bosnian Churches stayed at his court. For example, the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Mileševo David and the dignitary of the Bosnian Church Gost Radin .

Vukčić probably assumed the title of duke in order to adorn his actual power with a title and to evade suspicion of being a follower of the Paterenen sect .

Herzegovina under Stjepan Vukčić Kosača

Vukčić appeared as ruler of the "area of ​​the duke" ( Hercegovina ), which reached from Prijepolje , Pljevlja , Nikšić and Boka Kotorska to Omiš and Poljica , Livno and the Upper Vrbas .

1451 came to war with the Republic of Ragusa after Vukčić had tried to acquire larger areas on the Adriatic and even bring Ragusa under his rule. Thanks to his superior diplomacy, Ragusa won the war in 1453.

After the death of Vukčić and the complete conquest by the Ottomans, Herzegovina became the Ottoman Sanjak Hersek with a Bosnian governor.

progeny

Vukčić had with his first wife Jelena Balšić († end of September 1453) the daughter named Katarina , who later became the last Queen of Bosnia, as well as the two sons Vladislav (* 1425 ) and Vlatko (* 1426 ), called Hercegović. After the Ottoman conquest, Vladislav and his entourage moved to Hungary. Vlatko fled to Ragusa in 1483 , and died in 1489 .

In March 1455 Vukčić is said to have married his second wife Barbara, who was an illegitimate Wittelsbacher . Barbara died after the birth of her son Stjepan in June 1459. Between June 14, 1473 and September 24, 1474, Stjepan is said to have adopted Islam at the age of 15 and was later appointed as Ottoman Grand Vizier and Grand Admiral under the name of Hersekoğlu Ahmed Pascha ( Ahmed -paša Hercegović ; † 1516) known. As early as 1478 he is said to have accompanied the sultan as Mir-i alem .

In 1460 Vukčić is said to have married for the third time. His wife Cecilie is said to have left their son Stjepan after the Duke's death in 1466. The young Stjepan should go into the care of his older brother Vlatko.

The grandson Ishak-beg Tomašević was an  Ottoman  military leader .

literature

• Sima Ćirković: Stefan Vukčić-Kosača i njegovo doba [Stefan Vukčić-Kosača and his time] . Belgrade 1964.

swell

• Frank Kämper : Kosače . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of Southeast Europe. Vol. 2 ed. Mathias Bernath / Felix von Schroeder. Munich 1976, pp. 485-486 [online edition]; URL: http://www.biolex.ios-regensburg.de/BioLexViewview.php?ID=1184 , accessed on June 4, 2017.
• John Van Antwerp Fine Jr .: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 , Bosnia from 1443, pp. 577 ff .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Holm Sundhaussen : Lexicon for the history of Southeast Europe . Ed .: Konrad Clewing, Holm Sundhaussen. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-78667-2 , Herzegovina, p. 386 .
2. ↑ Katharina Kosača-Kotromanić - Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints. Retrieved January 2, 2018 . 
3. ^ John Van Antwerp Fine Jr .: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest . University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 , pp. 578 .
4. ↑ Frank fighters: Kosače .
5. ^ Mustafa Imamović: Bosnia-Herzegovina until 1918 . In: Dunja Melčić (Ed.): The Yugoslavia War: Handbook on Prehistory, Course and Consequences . 2nd updated edition. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-33219-2 , p. 75 .
6. ↑ Ishak-beg | Hrvatska enciklopedija. Retrieved September 4, 2017 .