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Bosnia-Hercegovina
The origin of the arms with the argent between 6 fleur-de-lys,
which is now on the flag of the republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina, has long
puzzled me, but they are in fact the arms of the Kotromanic family, which
ruled Bosnia in the 14th and 1 5th centuries. Other arms have also been
attributed to Bosnia in the 19th century.
I finally thought of a way to get at this question of the origin
of the current Bosnian flag: numismatics, of course. I found a book by one
Ivan Rengjeo, Corpus der mittel-alterlichen Mnnzen von Kroatien, Slavonien,
Dalmatien und Bosnien, Graz, 1959, which is as exhaustive as you can get
on the topic (coins from those regions, that is). I have also consulted an
article by Pavao Andelic on Medieval Seals of Bosnia-Hercegovina, in the
monograph series of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia-Hercegovina
(Sarajevo, 1970),but it is in Serbo-Croat, so I can only look at the
(numerous) illustra tions. What follows is a historical/heraldic account,
pieced together from these sources, and a few encyclopedias. Bosnia was
dominated alternatively by Serbia and, from the 12th c. onward, by Croatia
(in personal union with Hungary) until the early 14th c. Typically, the
king of Hungary and Croatia appointed bans, or local governors; and, in
typical medieval fashion, these bans took advantage of any weakness of the
central monarchy to carve out territories for themselves.
In the early 14th c., the ban of Croatia was Pavao (Paul) Subic of
Brebir or Breberio (a town in Dalmatia which was given to the family in
1222): his father and grandfather were counts or Trau or Trogir, his
cousins were counts of Spalato or Split. This p owerful man titles himself
ban of Croatia and dominus Bosniae, and appoints his brother Mladen I
Subic (1302-04) and later his eldest son Mladen II (1312-14) as ban of
Bosnia. His second son Georg was count of Trau and Split, his third son
Pavao was count of Trau. By the third generation, however, the family had
lost its power. This first dynasty of bans issued byzantine-style coins,
with no heraldry. Their seals, however, show the Subic arms: an eagle wing
displayed, and 5 flowers with stems as crest (mi sread by Siebmacher as
ostrich-feathers). The style of the arms is very German, with the shield
tilted to the left, a German helm, lambrequins, and a crest. There are no
tinctures, but a junior branch issued from Pavao count of Trau, the Subic
de Zrin, bo re Gules, two wings sable (an interesting violation of the s
-called tincture rule).
Pavao Subic was forced to cede control of Southern Bosnia to
Stjepan otromanic (died 1353); and, in 1314, Mladen II ceded the banate
of Bosnia to him. This established the Kotromanic dynasty in Bosnia.
Stjepan styles himself dei gratia Bosniae banus, which asserts a fair
measure of independence. Stjepan's brother married Helena, daughter of
Mladen II Subic, and his son Stjepan Tvrtko 1353-91) succeeded Stjepan. In
1377, Tvrtko assumed the title of King of Racia and Bosnia. His seals show
the following a rms: a bend between six fleurs-de-lys, the helm is a hop-
flower on a long stem issuant from an open crown of fleurs-de-lys. The
Kotromanic were close to the Hungarian kings, and Stjepan's daughter
Elisabeth married Louis I of Hungary (reigned 1342-82). Trvtko I was
succeeded by Stjepan Dabisa (1391-98) and Stjepan Ostoja (1398-1404, 1409-
18). The latter's seal shoes different arms, namely an open crown of
fleurs-de-lys and the same helm and crest as before. Tvrtko's son Tvrtko
II (1404-09, 1421-43) used a seal similar to his father's, with the arms
of the Kotromanic family itself, which are the bend between 6 fleur-de-lys,
a crowned helm with thesame crest.
New coins are issued starting in 1436, markedly Western in style,
which display a full-blown achievement: an escutcheon bearing the letter T,
crowned with an open crown of fleur-de-lys. The helm is crowned and the
crest is a hop-flower on a long stem. The letter T seems to stand for the
name of the king. Later, around 1450, impressive new gold coins show the
Kotromanic arms. The last kings are Stjepan Tomas Kotromanic (1444-61) and
Stjepan Tomasevic Kotrmomanic (1461-63). The kingdom disappears in 1463
when he is killed by the Turks. In the southern region called Hum or Chelm,
a local ban called Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca (died 14 66) had proclaimed
himself duke or herceg in 1448, and is recognized by the Holy Roman Empire
as duke of Saint-Abbas or Saint-Sava in some texts (whence the name
Hercegovina for that area). Siebmacher says that the family was descended
from the Byzantine Comneno. The Vukcic family arms appear on the seal of
Stjepan Vukcic, and his successors Vladislav Hercegovic (died 1489),
Vlatko Hercegovic (died 1489) and Stjepan Hercegovic (died 1517). namely
Gules, three bends argent, crest: a lion issuant holding in its two paws a
banner gules with a double cross argent (the Hungarian state banne,
according to Siebmacher). The same arms appear on coins issued by a self-
proclaimed duke of Split in the early 15th c., namely on a bend between
two crosses, three fleur-de-lys ben dwise. The remaining question is:
where did the fleur-de-lys in the Kotromanic (and the Vukcic) arms come
from? One distinct possibility is Byzantium, whose style the first
Bosnian coins imitate closely. Byzantine emperors started using the fleur-
de-lys on their coinage soon after the creation of the empire of Nicaea,
after the fall of Constantinople in 1204.
But more realistically, the connection would be with the Hungarian
dynastic struggle which broke out in 1302 with the end of the Arpad
dynasty. The kings of Naples claimed the throne, and it was during the
struggle that, by pledging alliegance to one side and to the other, the
Bosnian bans managed to carve out their independent fief. The Bosnian
dynasty became quite close to the Angevins, and the daughter of Stjepan,
king of Bosnia, married Louis I, king of Hungary. The kings of Naples were
the Anjou fami ly, a junior branch of the French royal family, and bore
France differenced with a label gules. I can well imagine the Kotromanic
adopting, or being granted, fleur-de-lys on their coat of arms as reward
for taking the Angevin side. For the moment, Bosnian history books are
hard to come by, so I can't easily confirm my hunch. For some reason,
these arms were forgotten after the 16th century. A 18th c. French
genealogy of the Angevin kings of Hungary blazons the arms of Louis' wife
as: Or, issuing from the sinister flank an arm embowed proper, vested
Gules, holding a sabre Arge nt. These are also the arms attributed by the
Austrians to Bosnia-Hercegovina after it was annexed from Turkey in 1908.
However, a number of 19th century encyclopedias give yet another coat of
arms (for example, the French Larousse), namely: Gules, a cres cent Argent
beneath an 8-pointed star of the same. The crown over the shield is an
Eastern crown, i.e. with "spikes". These arms recall the old symbol of
Croatia on its early coinage. They are also the arms attributed to the old
kingdoms of Illyria and Bo snia in Siebmacher. There is some evidence for
a medieval use of the shield with the arm holding a saber. William Miller,
in Essays on the Latin Orient (Cambridge, 1921, p.510) describes the arms
displayed in Rome on the tomb of Catherine (died 1478), da ughter of
Stjepan Vukcic duke of Saint-Abbas, and married in 1446 to Stjepan Tomas
Kotromanic, last king of Bosnia (d. 1461): his description is
unfortunately imprecise, but he mentions two horsemen (which he says is
the Kotromanic emblem) and a "mailed arm with a sword in the center"
(which he says represents Primorje, or the Coastland).
Word Count: 1249
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