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 so-
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). 
 
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