Kerajaan Beraja Bosnia

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Banate Bosnia adalah sebuah kerajaan pada Zaman Pertengahan yang kemuncaknya terdiri daripada wilayah (kini) Bosnia dan Herzegovina, selain sebahagian daripada kawasan Dalmatia (kini di Croatia), Serbia dan Montenegro. Meskipun buat waktu singkat ia berada di bawah naungan Hungary, Bosnia merupakan sebuah negara de facto merdeka. Banate Bosnia wujud sehingga tahun 1377, apabila ia menjadi sebuah kerajaan beraja dengan pertabalan Tvrtko I.

Tvrtko I's reign

Bosnia reached its peak under Ban Tvrtko I, a member of the Kotromanić dynasty, who came to power in 1353. In 1372, Tvrtko formed an alliance with Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, one of the regional lords in the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empire. The next year, Tvrtko and Lazar attacked the domain of Nikola Altomanović, who was the most powerful Serbian noble at the time. After defeating Altomanović, they divided his lands, except for his littoral districts of Dračevica, Konavle, and Trebinje, which were seized by Đurađ I Balšić, the Lord of Zeta. Tvrtko received parts of Zahumlje, the upper reaches of the Drina and Lim rivers, as well as the districts of Onogošt and Gacko. This acquisition included the important Serbian Orthodox monastery of Mileševa (which held the relics of Saint Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop).
In 1377, Tvrtko took the littoral districts from Balšić. That year, on 26 October, he was crowned King of 'Serbia, Bosnia, the Primorje (Seaside), and the western lands'. The acquisition of Serbian territory, including the important Monastery of Mileševa, combined with the fact that Tvrtko's grandmother had been a member of the Nemanjić dynasty prompted Tvrtko into also having himself crowned 'King of Serbia' thus asserting his pretensions to the Serbian throne. This was made possible by the royal Nemanjić line having died out with Uroš in 1371. The crown was sent to him by Hungarian king Louis of Anjou. According to plurality of recent works, in historiography represented by scholars like Čošković, Anđelić, Lovrenović, Filipović, ceremony itself was conducted in Mile near Visoko in the church which was built in time of Stephen II Kotromanić's reign, where he was also buried alongside his uncle Stjepan II. In contrast, some earlier historiographers, mostly represented by scholars from Serbia, consider that he was crowned in the Orthodox Monastery of Mileševa, by the Metropolitan of Mileševa.
However, after the defeat of Nikola Altomanović, Prince Lazar had emerged as the most powerful lord on the territory of the former Serbian Empire. He wanted to reunite the Serbian state, and the Serbian Orthodox Church saw him as most fitted to succeed the Nemanjić dynasty. The Church, which was the strongest cohesive force among the Serbs at the time, did not support Tvrtko's aspirations in this regard.
By 1390, Tvrtko I expanded his realm to include a part of Croatia and Dalmatia, and expanded his title to King of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, Croatia and the Littoral. Tvrtko's full title listed subject peoples and geographical dependencies, following the Byzantine norm. At the peak of his power, he was "King of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Hum, Usora, Soli, Dalmatia, Donji Kraji".

Kejatuhan

Selepas kematian Tvrtko I, kekuasaan dan pengaruh Bosnia jatuh perlahan-lahan. Empayar Uthmaniyyah telah memulakan perluasan kuasa di Eropah dan memberi ancaman kepada Balkan sepanjang penggal pertama kurun ke-15. Akhirnya, semasa pemerintahan Raja Stjepan Tomašević, beliau telah dikhianati dan dibiarkan berseorangan untuk mempertahankan diri oleh kuasa-kuasa Eropah. Secara rasminya, Bosnia ditakluk pada tahun 1463 dan menjadi wilayah Empayar Uthmaniyyah paling jauh di barat. Wilayah Herzegovina jatuh kepada Uthmaniyyah pada tahun 1482. Sekurun selepasnya, bahagian-bahagian barat Bosnia lainly jatuh sepenuhnya kepada Uthmaniyyah. Selepas kejatuhan kerajaan beraja ini, Catherine dari Bosnia melarikan diri ke Rom dengan menunggang kuda. Beliau memperdayakan Uthmaniyyah dengan mengatakan beliau meninggalkan negara untuk melawat anak lelaki beliau atau melawat Holy See.

Budaya

Agama bagi penduduk asal Bosnia dan Herzegovina bercampur-campur: terdapat Kristian Katolik dan Ortodoks, tetapi kebanyakan penduduk asli memanggil mereka secara ringkas sebagai orang Bosnia (atau "Bošnjani"), tergolong dalam Gereja Bosnia. Pengetahuan majoriti berkenaan akan gereja ini datangnya daripada sumber-sumber luar di mana asal sebenarnya masih menjadi perdebatan oleh para sarjana.
Para Ban dan raja Bosnia mengistiharkan mereka beragama Katolik semasa waktu pemerintahan mereka, kecuali untuk Stjepan Ostoja yang menunjukan minat pada Gereja Bosnia semasa beliau masih di atas takhta. Walaubagaimanapun, terdapat beberapa bangsawan penting yang beragama "Krstjani" (atau "Kristian"), seperti Hrvoje Vukčić, keluarga Radenović-Pavlović, Sandalj Hranić, Stjepan Vukčić, dan Paul Klešić. Ia menjadi kebiasaan bagi Holy See kepada para pemerintah Bosnia menolak sebarang hubungan dengan Gereja Bosnia atau keluar daripadanya sebagai balasan di atas sokongan yang diberikan.