638th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Kingdom of Bosnia

On Monday, it will be 638 years since Ban Tvrtko I was crowned King of Bosnia on October 26, 1377, thus establishing the independent Kingdom of Bosnia, and Tvrtko I Kotromanić became the first Bosnian king, writes the BH news agency Patria (NAP).

Tvrtko was crowned King of Bosnia in Mile near Visoko (present-day Arnautovići)

Tvrtko was crowned King of Bosnia in Mile near Visoko (present-day Arnautovići), which was the coronation site for all subsequent Bosnian kings.

During the reign of Tvrtko I, Bosnia was the most powerful in its history. Political stability was achieved, along with significant cultural and spiritual progress, which made the country the strongest South Slavic land, and Tvrtko the greatest ruler in the history of medieval Bosnia and beyond.

During Tvrtko's reign, Bosnian cities, trade, and mining developed, and the first gold coins in the South Slavic lands were minted.

The heraldic symbol of the lily, which would become the emblem of the Bosnian kings, first appeared on these coins.

After the death of the Hungarian king in 1382, unrest broke out in the Dalmatian coastal areas. King Tvrtko took advantage of this opportunity to send the Bosnian army to that part of Dalmatia and take full control of all of Dalmatia, along with the islands. In this way, he annexed Split, Trogir, and Šibenik, as well as the islands of Brač, Korčula, and Hvar, to Bosnia. 

In the last decade of his reign, King Tvrtko faced Ottoman incursions into Bosnia, first in the autumn of 1386, and then in the summer of 1388 near Bileća, when the Bosnians, led by Duke Vlatko Vuković, defeated the Ottomans.

Tvrtko I suddenly died on March 10, 1391. He was succeeded by his cousin, Stjepan Dabiša. However, after Tvrtko's death in 1391, an unstable political climate returned to Bosnia, partly caused by Hungarian-Byzantine rivalry, which once again pitted the Bosnian nobility against each other. This was followed by a period of frequent changes of Bosnian kings, writes NAP.