Written by Pietje Bel
I will try to write down everything I know about Bosnian history as objective possible as I can because I saw a lot of discussion is present about Bosnia. I will begin with the first Bosnian ban and I will end with our modern time. Because a lot was talked about whether or not the Bosnians are a race or whether or not Bosnians were serbs etc. I will try to explain this. All my statements I will support by old documents which I will translate and by old coins, flags poets etc. I hope that people all over the world will understand Bosnia better by reading this.
Because I saw that heavy discussion took place between Bosnians and Serbs here I will start with the assumption that only Serb tribes inhabited Bosnia in the 5. And 6. Century and I will follow this path till the year 1531. To be clear. I do not say that only Serb tribes inhabited Bosnia but that is what we will assume because in this way it will be easier to explain some things.
Let’s start walking trough the Bosnian history!
Bosnia became a banate somewhere in the 7.,8,9. Or 10. Century. We do not know it for sure. What we know for sure is that Bosnia was a banate by the year 968 because a Bosnian ban is mentioned in an old document. Altough not his name is mentioned it is mentioned that:”The Croatian king Kresimir II attacks the Ban of Bosnia”. This is the first known Bosnian ban. He rules a Bosnian banate which is a province or vazal stare of the Hungarian kingdom. After this first ban with unknown name we have the following Bans which are all bans of a vazal Bosnia or “dependent Bosnia”:
Ban with unknown name: 1042.
Ban Ivan Kotromanic: 1056
Ban Stijepan 1084
Ban with unknown name: 1103
Ban Boric: 1054- 1163
Ban Pavle: 1159
After these bans Ban Kulin came to the political scene of Bosnia in 1163. By 1180. Ban Kulin was considered as an independent ruler by Hungaria and Bosnia was not a Vazal state or a province anymore. About this the Croatian professor Nada Klaic wrote a book: “History of the medieval Bosnian state till the crownation of Tvrtko”. For those who understand Croatian the can read a big part of the book at this link:
http://www.sarajevo-x.com/forum/viewtop ... 49&t=52835
After this first independent ban of Bosnia other, also nondependent bans, ruled over Bosnia. Just to be complete I will mention them:
Ban Ninoslav: 1232-1250
Ban Prijezda: 1250-1290
Ban Stijepan Kotroman: 1290-1312
Vladislav: 1312-1354
As I said, they were bans of an independent Bosnian state but still they were Bans and not kings. To a king land was given by god according to the concept of the middle ages and there were only two ways to become a king:
1) To ask recognition from the pope or “Rome”.
2) To search for blood connections with an existing royal family in the neigbourhood.
After these Bans the most interesting Ban came: Ban Tvrtko Kotromanic. Tvrtko was an ambitious one and a smart one. Besides him ambitiousness he was also born lucky. He saw that neighboring Serbia was in some kind of political chrisis. The land of the Serbs was ruled not by the Serb king of the royal house of Nemanjic but by “Vlastela” ore nobleman who were also in war wit each other. Tvrtko Kotromanic, the independent ban of Bosnia, saw his chance to become a recognized Bosnian King. He went to Serbia and said to the king of the Serbs that he will take the responsibility of some serb provinces and help him. He will become king of the serbs and besides that he will also transform his Ban title into a title of a king. That is in simple words what Tvrtko said. The official tekst we will find here below from which I will translate the most important parts. This tekst Tvrtko sent to Dubrovnik to let his allies know that he had become king:
Translation:POVELJA DUBROVČANIMA IZ 1378 GODINE -KRALJ TVRTKO
10.aprila 1378
Blagočastivno i dostoljepno pohvaliti istin` noju vjeroju i željanoje slovo prinesti k`svojemu blagodjetelju,vladicje Hristu.Imže vsač`skaja s`tvorenja i javljenja biše na hvaloslovije Bož`stv`nago smotrenija.Ježe milosrdova o rode človč`scjem,jegože s`tvori v` prečisti obraz svojego Bož`stva.I dast jemu oblast i razum,jako biti jemu vsjemi zemlj`nimi jest`stvi i razumjeti i tvoriti sud i pravdu po srjede zemlje.Takožde že i mene,svojemu rabu,za milost svojego Bož`stva,darova,procisti mi otrasli blagosadnjej v` rode mojem.
I spodobi me sugubim vjencem,jako oboja vladić`stvija ispravljati mi,prveje ot isprva - v` blagodarovan`njej nam Zemlje Bosne.Potom,že Gospodu mojemu Bogu spodobl`šu me nasljedovati prjestol mojih prjeroditelj`,gospode srbske,za nje bo ti bjehu moji prjeroditeljije,v` zemlj`njem carstvje carstvovaše,i na nebesnoje carstvo preselili se.Mene že videštu zemlju prjeroditelj` mojih po njih ostavl`šu i ne imuštu svojego pastira.I idoh v` srbskuju zemlju,željaje i hote ukrjepiti prjestol roditelj` mojih.I tamo š`dšu mi,vjenčan bih Bogom darovanim mi vjencem na Kraljevstvo prjeroditelj mojih jako biti mi o Hriste Isuse blagovjernomu i Bogom postavljenomu Stefanu,Kralju Srbljem i Bosne i Pomoriju i Zapadnim stranam.I.potom,načeh s` Bogom kraljevati i praviti prestol srbskije zemlje,željaje padšaja sa v`zdvignuti i razoršaja se ukrjepiti.
I došadšu mi zemlje Pomorskije i tu priš`dšu pred slavni i dobronaročiti grad Dubrovnik,i tu izidoše pred Kraljevstvo mi vsepočteni vlastele Dubrovasci.s` vsakoju slavoju i č`stiju.
I upomenuše Kraljevstvu mi o svojih zakoneh i uvjeteh i poveljeh,koje su imali s praroditelji Kraljevstva mi,z gospodom Bos`nskom...
I spodobi me sugubim vjencem,jako oboja vladić`stvija ispravljati mi,prveje ot isprva - v` blagodarovan`njej nam Zemlje Bosne.Potom,že Gospodu mojemu Bogu spodobl`šu me nasljedovati prjestol mojih prjeroditelj`,gospode srbske,
I was crowned with two crowns. On one of the cwons I have the righr because this crown is related to our country of Bosnia. The right to become owner of the other crown is because my grandparents the nobleman serbs.
I idoh v` srbskuju zemlju,željaje i hote ukrjepiti prjestol roditelj` mojih.I tamo š`dšu mi,vjenčan bih Bogom darovanim mi vjencem na Kraljevstvo prjeroditelj mojih jako biti mi o Hriste Isuse blagovjernomu i Bogom postavljenomu Stefanu,Kralju Srbljem i Bosne i Pomoriju i Zapadnim stranam.
And so I went to the country of the Serbs to be crowned with those two crowns as a King of the Serbs, Bosnia and Pomorijum and Zapadnim-Stranam.
I.potom,načeh s` Bogom kraljevati i praviti prestol srbskije zemlje,željaje padšaja sa v`zdvignuti i razoršaja se ukrjepiti.
I upomenuše Kraljevstvu mi o svojih zakoneh i uvjeteh i poveljeh,koje su imali s praroditelji Kraljevstva mi,z gospodom Bos`nskom...
So I beagan to rule as a king of the Serb country and as a king of the Bosnian country because of my grandparents the nobleman Bosnians.
So it is clear that Tvrtko first said that he was crowned with two crowns (or Vijencem) after that the went to the country of the Serbs. When he explaines why he had the right to become king of the serbs as an argument he uses: “My grandparents the nobleman serbs.” When he explains why he has the right to let himself crown as a king of Bosnia then he uses as a argument:”My grandparents the nobleman Bosnians.” It is clear that Tvrtko didn’t consider his land, or Bosnia, as a Serb country despite the fact that may be only Serb tribes inhabited Bosnia in the 5 or 6 century.
To visualize the crownation of Tvrtko as a king I will show an old coin which is still preserved in the states museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As we see; right of Tvrtko the symbol of the Serb lands and left of him the symbol of the Bosnian lands.
Let's go further with our walk trough Bosnian history now. We've seen how Tvrtko managed to transform his "Ban Title" into the title of a recognized king. But did Tvrtko considered himself as a Bosnian or a Serbian king? And his people or "slaves"? To answer this question I will again use old documents or "povelje" and still we are assuming that Tvrtko had Serb blood. Not because of his grandmother from the house of Nemanjic who was a Serb but because we are assuming that only serb tribes inhabited Bosnia in the 5. and 6. century.
Let's look at these old documents now. I will mark the words which mean Bosnians, Bosnian king and Bosnian ethnicity:
As we see: Despite the fact that Tvrtko was crowned as the kingg of the Serbs and despite the fact that his title was: King of the Serbs, Bosnia and primorije, the son of Tvrtko already very clear writes to Dubrovnik about "His Bosnian Kingdom" and: "Who ever is a Bosnian or an inhabitant of the Bosnian Kingdom...". Now it is more clear to us that Tvrtko I really used the house of Nemanjic to become a king. All the kings and queen after Tvrtko call their kingdom "The Bosnian Kingdom" and their slaves:"Bosnjani" or Bosnians. To make this more clear we can look to coins from that time on which we see that only the Bosnian simbol is present. And on the flag only the Bosnian simbol is present too:POVELJA DUBROVCANIMA IZ 1405 GODINE - KRALJ TVRTKO II
(24. juna 1405)
U ovu nepravedni rat, Uchinih s gospodinom Hercegom i po svijetu s vlasteli Bosanscimi i vishe togaj, da je vidomo vsakome: Kto godi je Bošnjanin ali Kraljstva Bosanskoga prije rata bil dlzhan komu godi Dubrovcaninu, volja na viri mu uzeto na gospockoj, a moze Dubrovcanin tozi istinom pokazati - da se ima Dubrovcaninu vratiti i platiti.
I vsakoje ubistvo chlovichje, krviprolitje, koji su u ovuj i nepravednu rat uchinjena, i vsakoje rane i ubijenja i zle richi i hotinja zla, koja su bila meju Bosanscimi ljudmi i Dubrovchcimi, oboji obljubismo... i jednosrdno prostismo i blagoslovismo I takozi pravimo i povelivamo: Da nitko ne uzmozhe, niti smiti bude uspomenuti ni iskati krvi, ni ine osvete, ni vrazhde, ni u jedno vrijeme - dokoli stoji svijet. Kto li se obrite, potvoriv se - da je gospodstvu mi nevjeran, i da se raspe.
Sto sudije odluce nitko ne moze potvoriti. A shto je uzel vojevoda Sandalj i knez Paval Radinovich, volja ini Bosnjanin, ljubo Kraljstva Bosanskoga, komu godi Dubrovcaninu dobitak, volja ine richi u siju rat, tomuj uzetju da je sudja knez Vukac Hranich i sh njim vlastelin drugi Bosanski, koga sh njim Kraljevstvu mi poshlje.


Now before we continue with our walk trough Bosnian history; let's look to a Serbian movie "Boj na Kosovu" which in a moment shows to us that the Serbian king and queen were not happy with this behaviour of the Bosnian king Tvrtko. They felt that the Bosnian king let the serbs down and that he used them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJN6hlC ... t_locale=1
Serbian queen:"Will Tvrtko send help"
Serb king:"Tvrtko? Hhhhh, he will send one unit with Vlatko Vukovic as commander."
Serb queen: "Why the hell did he crowned himself as king of the serbs if he doesn't got time to defend the serb people?"
Serbia felt to the Turks in 1389 and Bosnia in 1463. Bosnia felt to the Turks after many years of small wars in which the moral of the Bosnians was weakened piece by piece. In the end the Bosnian king was captured in Kljuc and killed in Jajce. His wife, Katarina Kosaca, managed to escape to Dubrovnik with a small group of knights. Here she burried her husbands sword and went to Rome after that where she lived till her death, searching for her children who were captured by the Turks. She never found them. Still today every year the inhabitants of the Bosnian city of Kraljeva Sutjeska remember the last Bosnian King.
This invasion of the Turks had two consequences for Bosnia:
1. A very fast conversion to the Islamic faith in Bosnia
2. A coming of ethnical Serbs from Serbia to Bosnia
To visualize the situation in Bosnia after the invasion of the Turks we will use a document which is actually a small part of a book from the Sloven writer Benedikt Kuprichevich who got the mission from the Austrian king to visit Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria and to write a book about his experiences:
Translation:U spomenutom kraljevstvu Bosni nasli smo tri naroda i tri vjere. Prvo su starosjedioci Bosnjaci, koji su rimo-krscanske vjere. Njima je Turcin, kada je osvojio kraljevstvo Bosnu, dozvolio, da drze svoju vjeru i ostanu u zemlji. Drugo su Srbi, koje oni zovu Vlasima, a mi ih zovemo Cicima ili Martolozima. Ovi su dosli iz mjesta Smedereva i grckoga Beograda, a vjere su sv. Pavla... Treci narod su pravi Turci. Ti, narocito ratnici i cinovnici, s velikim tiranstvom vladaju objema prije spomenutim narodima, krscanskim podanicima.
As we can see, 120 years after the coming of the virst Serb refugees from Serbia to Bosnia we still got Bosniaks in Bosnia despite the fact that many Serbs are living among them. This means that it is not important fot them what kind of blood they got. If the Bosniaks really had Serb blood then it is clear that they called themselves still Bosniaks and not Serbs. For them that was very logical in that time. This whole blood case will become an issue many centuries later in the time of the "awakening of nations" in europe and, as we will see in our further journey trough Bosnian history, this will be nothing more than o political game.In the mentioned Kingdom of Bosnia we found three ethnicities (naroda) and three religions. The first ethnical group are the Bosniaks who are heirs of the Bosnian kingdom. They are of the roman-christian faith.When the Turks invaded the Bosnian kingdom they allowed the Bosniaks to stay in their country and to hold their religion.
The second ethnical group are the Serbs. The Bosniaks call them Vlahs and we call them Cicims or Matrolozims. They came from Smederava and Greek Belgrade and they are of the faith of holy Pavle. The thirth ethnical group are the Turks. They are soldiers who treat the christains with big Tiranee.
After the coming of this writer or traveler to Bosnia not much interesting hapenned. Bosnia was very often in war with Austria and a Turkish writer and traveller Evlije Celebi visited Bosnia. The only real interesting thing which is worth our atention is the first serious war against the Turks which was organized and leaded by a Bosniak: Husein Kapetan Gradascevic in 1831. He had the support of the christains and the muslims in Bosnia. H e managed to liberate Bosnia from the Turks and to hold the Turks far from Bosnia near the borders of Kosovo. An very touching conversation between the Turkish Beglerbeg and Husein Kapetan Gradascevic (also called "Dragon of Bosnia) took place:
Beglerbeg: "There is no Bosnia, Husein, you are dieing for a country that does not exist"
Husein Kapetan Gradascevic: "There is a Bosnia, Beglerbeg, and there are Bosniaks in Bosnia. They were here a long time before you Turks came here and if it is God's will; we will be here still after you."
After two years the Turks again occupied Bosnia and killed or expelled all the Bosniak-muslim intelektual elite which supported Husein Kapetan. Despite of the defeat of Husein he was respected. May be he was the reason why armies all over europe gave to small parts of their cavelery the name: "Bosniaks" and European countries like Sweden and Poland which are far from Bosnia clothed and equiped some of their cavelery just like the Bosniak army was equiped when they fought the Turks. This was a period of pride for Bosnia, unfortuanately this period was short.
http://www.grosser-generalstab.de/tafel ... e06_31.jpg

Before I go further in history let's look at a song from the time when Gradascevic fought the Turks at Kosovo:
''Mi idemo na Kosovo ravno,
Gde nam stari slavu izgubiše,
Staru našu slavu prađedovsku.
I mi ćemo na polju Kosovu
Il' izgubit vjeru i junaštvo,
Ili ćemo, ako Alah dade,
Dušmanina svoga pobjediti,
I u Bosnu vratiti se slavno'
Translation
"We are going to Kosovo
Where our grandfathers lost their battle
Our old battle from our grandparents
We too will at Kosovo
Or loose our religion and heroizm
Or we will if Allah wants it
defeat our enemy
And return to Bosnia victorious this time"
It is clear that the Bosnian-muslim intelektuals really good knew what they were and that they very good knew the history of their Bosniak people. There are a lot of other proofs of this in Bosnian literature and arhitecture. For example at the mosque where Hysein Kapetan Gradascevic was burried; at the entrance of this mosque, above the doorway a lilly was cut in stone. This mosque in Gradacac and a mosque in Sarajevo were the obly mosques in the world where a lilly was used because a lilly never was a simbol of Islam.
Then around 1850. the period of "national awakening" takes place in Europe. Serbs, Italians, French, Croatians; they all organize their intelektual elite to support the proces which will make clear and modern nations from their ethnicities.
Also Bosniaks organized theirselves to make an awekening of the Bosnian nation possible. First catholics like Fra Ivan Frane Jukic(1818-1857) and Nikola Lasvanin began with the awekening of the Bosniakship. They were supported by the muslim intelektual elite that managed to survive like Mehmed Ljubusak. This "Bosnian national movement" was a cultural one and not a political one till 1890. Let's look to a text of Fra Ivan Jukicic to understand what this was all about (see also my subscription):
Translation:Fra Ivan:
Mi Bošnjaci njekad slavni narod sad jedva da smo živi nas samo kao očenutu glavu od stabla slavjanskog gledaju priatelji naukah i žale nas…. Vrime je da se i probudimo od dugovične nemarnosti; dajte pehar, te carpite iz studenca pomnje mudrost, i nauk; nastojte da najpred naša serca očistimo od predsudah, fatajmo za knjige i časopise, vidimo što su drugi uradili, te i mi ista sredstva poprimimo, da naš narod prosti iz tminah neznanstva na svitlost isitne izvedmo.”
After the Austro-Hungarians came to Bosnia in 1891. they started to support this awakening of the Bosniakship. As we will see this prooved itself totaly contraproductive.We Bosniaks ones a proud and victorious ethnicity (narod); today hardly exist. Today only the friends of science look at us and shake their heads. It is time for us to wake up from many centuries of sleeping! Let's grab to the books and newspapers, let's look what other nations around us managed to achieve and let's stop with the prejudices among our religions. If we do this then it will become time that also we as a nation escape from the dark of unknowing and see the light of truth.
After this cultural national awakening, of Fra Ivan and Mehmed Ljubuski, of the Bosniakship a more political national awakening took place. A newspaper "The Bosniak" was spread for example and many other things were done. Of course the Serb national movement tried to converse the ethnical Serbs (which also called themeslves "Bosniaks" after many centuries of live in Bosnia) to the Serb nation and Croatia also wanted to use the religious division between Bosniaks to convert the Catholics to the Croatian nation. The Bosniak intelektuals sometimes very direct fought against this as we can see from a song which was relleased in the newspaper "The Bosniak" in 1891. This song has the name "Pjesma Bosnjaku" or in english "A song for the Bosniak" :
Safet Besagic
Translation:Znas Bošnjače, nije davno bilo, / Sveg’ mi sv’jeta nema petnaest ljeta, / Kad u našoj Bosni ponositoj, / I junačkoj zemlji Hercegovoj, / Od Trebinja do Brodskijeh vrate, / Nije bilo Srba ni Hrvata. / A danas se kroz svoje hire, / Oba stranca ko u svome šire. [...] Oba su nas gosta saletila, Da nam otmu najsvetije blago, Naše ime ponosno i drago.
Not only the religious division between Bosniaks and the lack of the muslim intelektual elite was the reason why the proces of the "national rebirth" went slow in Bosnia, but also the way Islam looks towards "nations" was a important factor. The Bosniak intelektuals which were left in Bosnia were afraid that with a strong Bosniak nation Islam would fade away. And Islam teached them: "There may not be important differences between people." And:"Islam has to be the main factor of identification" for a muslim.Do you know Bosniak that it was not long ago./ I would swear; it was not even fifteen summers from now, when in our proud Bosnia,/ and our heroic country of Herzegovina,/ from Trebinje all way to Brod,/ There were no Serbs nor Croats at all./ And look at them now/ Like two strangers they are spreading trpuogh something that the used to call their own(....)/ Both guest suprised us with their intensions to steal our most holy treasure: our proud and lovely name.
All these reasons together made the national rebirth of Bosniakship a bit difficult. But still it was possible and an important part of the christians still called themselves Bosniaks with pride.
In 1918 Bosnia became part of the kingdom of Slovens, Serbs and Croats. Bosniaks were brutally ignored as a nation. This was a revenge for the Turkish occupation of Serbia. And the Bosniaks were just too small to fight against this. Soon nobody talked about Bosniakship anymore. Bosniaks were forced to call themselves Serbs or Croats. The struggle between the Serb and Croat national movement began now for real after leaving of Austo-Hungaria. Some Serb writers explained not only Bosniaks as serbs but also Croatians and Slovenians. They wrote textes like: "This Slovenian really is a beautiful dialect of the Serb language." This strugle ended in a war between ustashas and chetniks. This war was a part of a bigger war : The WW2.
Tito made an end to this in 1945. when he created Yugoslavia. He recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina as one of the 6 republics inside Yugoslavia. Bosniaks no anymore had to call themselves Serbs or Croats but could call themselves Muslims. When the representative of these "Muslims" went to Belgrade to ask if his people can be constituve under the name "Bosniaks" he came back to Sarajevo with the following message:
This was too dangerous even for Tito. Bosniaks went trough live like Muslims. They had no choice and that is how the generations in Europe that followed after 1945. began to call them.We've asked them to give us our old ethnical name back but they still do not allow this.
In 1992 Bosnia declared herself independent from Yugoslavia. This was the beginning of the Bosnian war. In 1993 the Bosniak intelektuals decided that Muslims had to return their old name back in Bosniaks. That's what happened. We Bosniaks again got our old name bacl. For our flag we choose the flag with the simbol from the Bosnian kingdom. Our killed soldiers got a golden lilly on their grave just like Gradascevic did and the highest medal a soldier could get for his achievements in war was "a golden lilly". It seems that the rebirth of the Bosniakship has continued in 1993 after a break of 74 years. Acually the "Bosniak insititute" was founded in Switzerland in 1989. already by Adil Zufispasic.

