Sigismund of Luxembourg and the Veterans of the “Bosnian Wars”

Isailović, Neven (2026) Sigismund of Luxembourg and the Veterans of the “Bosnian Wars”. In: Der Hof Kaiser Sigismunds. Personelle Bühne und internationales Zentrum. Böhlau, Wien, pp. 325-338. ISBN 978-3-205-20391-9 (print); 978-3-205-22390-0 (online)

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Abstract

Since the beginning of his 50-year reign in Hungary, king Sigismund of Luxemburg was entangled in conflict with the Kingdom of Bosnia. Almost continuous strife lasted for nearly 30 years from 1387 to 1415, ending in disastrous defeat of the Hungarian army by the Ottoman Turks summoned by a prominent Bosnian marcher lord Hrvoje Vukčić. Although Bosnia was never the main interest of Sigismund’s long-term external policy, he did pay attention to the issue of its submission to Hungary. This goal was never fully achieved, but the king did not forget the key players of the Bosnian Wars – those who distinguished themselves were rewarded (sometimes lavishly) and those who betrayed were punished (at least if they did not repent). Some nobles built their successful careers on participation in the “Bosnian Wars”, becoming Sigismund’s trustees and courtiers. Members of the Bosnian nobility and gentry who switched sides during the wars were also given estates and titles, usually in Slavonia, which practically became a march towards Bosnia and the Turks. Hungarian defeat in the Battle of Lašva (1415), after which many prominent nobles were taken in Turkish captivity, provoked a vast series of Sigismund’s charters that dealt with either ransom demands or rewards given to the survivors of the battle and the families of captured nobles. Even in the last years of his reign, the king counted on the services of some of the “veterans”. He also did not forget that the Bosnian nobles continuously threatened the stability of his reign and therefore he named them one of possible enemies (along with the Turks and Hussites) in his military plans from 1430’s

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