With the death of the last Bosnian king, Bosnia lost its independency and became the Turkish Bosnian Sandžak.
Stjepan Tomašević Kotromanić was the last king of Bosnia and the last despot of Serbia.
Stjepan Tomašević came to power in Bosnia after his father’s death on 10th of July 1461. Aware of the danger which threatened him, already in 1461 in an epistle to the Pope Stjepan Tomašević foresaw a large scale Turkish invasion and asked for help.
Since the Ottomans were invading more and more, the new king reconciled with the Herzog Stjepan and asked for help in defending Bosnia from European rulers. As a sign of support, Pope Pius II sent the crown with which he was crowned as the Bosnian King by a Pope’s delegate in the Church of Holy Mary in Jajce in November 1461.
Stjepan Tomašević acknowledged the predominance of the Hungarian-Croat king Matthias Corvinus, hoping for the promised help. Thus, on the 3rd of June 1462 he cancelled the tax payment to the Sultan. In early 1463, he addressed the Venetians and warned them that the Ottomans intend to take over the entire Bosnia that summer and that after that they will threaten the Venetian estates in Dalmatia.
Huge Ottoman army led by Mehmed II gathered in Edirne in the spring f 1463 and headed towards Bosnia. The king escaped from the royal town of Bobovac, which was surrendered by the commander Radak on 20th of May 1463 without resistance. Stjepan first hid in Jajce and then in the fortified town Ključ na Sani. That is where Mehmet pasha Anđelković in a written form pledged to spare his life and let him freely go wherever he wants if he surrenders the town. When Stjepan surrendered after negotiations, Mehmet pasha captured him and took him to the Sultan Mehmed in Jajce. The Sultan then forced him to sign the order to all commanders to surrender their towns to the Turks. At the same time, the Sultan declared Medmed pasha’s oath invalid and executed the king in his headquarters in Jajce on June 5, together with his uncle Radivoje and many other Bosnian noblemen. With the death of the last Bosnian king, Bosnia lost its independency and became the Turkish Bosnian Sandžak.
Remains of the king Stjepan are buried in the Franciscan Monastery in Jajce and memory of him is still alive among the people, many of whom visit the King’s Tomb on a hill above Jajce.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba/photo: wikimedia.org)
