The Ottomans and Islam

The Ottomans and Islam

The Ottoman invasion was unleashed towards Bosnia, but Bosnian aristocrats at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century, such as Hrvoje Vukcic Hrvatinic and Stjepan Kosaca, were almost solely preoccupied with their parochial power games and preservation of influence spheres.

Pre-history: Indo-European and Slavic languages

Pre-history: Indo-European and Slavic languages

2000 B.C.E.- the formation of Balto-Slavic linguistic family.

ROMANESQUE

ROMANESQUE

Romanesque impulses arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Adriatic Coast and from the territory of Hungarian-Croatian state. Having in mind that these provinces alone represented outskirts of the West, they acted as a filter when it comes to style, taste and ideas. Bosnia on the other hand tended to isolate itself politically from the territories ruled by Hungarian Arpadovic dynasty, and this political orientation is reflected in lower level of cultural and artistic osmosis. Fund of Romanesque monuments in these parts, similar to the rest of Europe, is curtailed by great losses.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Once a Dominican church of St.Anthony's, and nowadays mosque Fethija in Bihac, is the oldest edifice of Gothic style on the territory that Bosnia and Herzegovina covers today. The church was built around 1266 as the village gained rank of the free royal city (1262). The church of St. Nicholas in Mile near Visoko was in the forties of the 14th century constructed upon the ruins of the above mentioned Romanesque edifice. The building contained a wide square space intended for worshippers and an elongated choir stalls with trilateral end pointing towards East.The corners were reinforced with counterphore and windows with pointed apses were perforated with stone lace. Great deal of churches had a rectangular choir-stalls: the church of St. Mary in Srebrenica, Zvornik, Olovo,Jajce,the church of St. Catherine in Kresevo and the church of St. Gregory in Kraljeva Sutjeska. They all belonged to the same type called preaching churches and according to regulations of the order they were all modestly equipped. Close connections with Dalmatia are visible on the monuments in Jajce; the parts of richly sculptured Phial from the church of St. Mary can be ascribed to the Bonino Circle from Milan (1429), and an unknown edifice on the fortress was adorned in a manner resembling to the work of Andrija Alesi (1430 - 1504).

CROATS AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1463 - 1878)

CROATS AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1463 - 1878)

In the dynastic crisis and the wars that followed the death of King Louis I Angevin in 1382, the Croatian nobility played the leading role. Nevertheless, the members of the Croatian nobility did not have enough power to turn that crisis to their own advantage by supporting a king of their own choice to mount the throne. The alliance with the Bosnian king was in that respect of little use since Stephan Tvrtko I availed himself of the opportunity of the existing political conflicts to extend his power to the Dalmatian cities and the areas in the south of Croatia. The party disunion, dissension and irreconcilableness with the crowning of Sigismund Luxembourgian King of Hungary and Croatia was silently supported by the Venetian Republic that wished to regain its power and rule over the Dalmatian cities and the coastal part of Croatia. New developments of the situation were turning gradually to the advantage of Venice, which inevitably lead to the destruction of unity of the Croatian territories, which in turn could not be opposed by either the nobility or King Sigismund. The separation of this area from its hinterland was disastrous for Croatia, while at the same time its north-eastern part was under even greater threat. The defeat suffered by the Serbian army at Kosovo polje in 1389 smoothed the way for the Ottoman Empire toward Hungary and Croatia, the targets of their future campaigns and military expeditions. Already in 1391 the area between the rivers Drava, Danube and Sava was exposed to violent attacks of the Ottoman light cavalry, which plundered, devastated and annihilated everything along their way, showing thus what kind of an enemy was to fight. Thanks to personal courage and decisiveness of Ivan Morovic Viceroy of Macva, this attack was repulsed; however, the whole region became deserted and the frightened population evacuated from their settlements.