Tvrtko I Kotromanić: During his reign, Bosnia was the strongest in its history

Bosnian Ban Stjepan Tvrtko I Kotromanić was crowned King of Bosnia on 26 October 1377 in Mile near Visoko (present-day Arnautovići), thereby establishing the independent Kingdom of Bosnia, and Tvrtko I Kotromanić became the first Bosnian king, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

During Tvrtko's reign, political stability was achieved, along with significant cultural and spiritual progress, which made Bosnia the strongest South Slavic country and Tvrtko the greatest ruler in the history of medieval Bosnia and beyond. At that time, Bosnian cities, trade and mining developed, and the first gold coin in the South Slavic regions was minted.

On that coin, the heraldic symbol of the lily appeared for the first time, which would become the emblem of the Bosnian kings.

After the death of the Hungarian king in 1382, unrest broke out in the areas of the Dalmatian coast, and King Tvrtko used this opportunity to send the Bosnian army to that part of Dalmatia, taking full control of all of Dalmatia, including the islands, thus annexing Split, Trogir, Šibenik, and the islands of Brač, Korčula and Hvar to Bosnia.

During the reign of King Tvrtko I Kotromanić, the borders of Bosnia were the largest and strongest in its history.

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