Croatian History

Since the whisper of Croatian tongueCan growCan tieEast and West, poem and mind Jer hrvatskog jezika sumMoze da gojiMoze da spojiIstok i zapad, pjesmu i um Safvet-beg Basagic (1870-1934) Outstanding Muslim-Croatian poet and orientalist The aim of this article is to indicate deep connections between the Croats and Muslim Bosniaks (= Bosnjaci – Muslimani). In order to avoid misunderstanding we shall rather use their descriptional name – Muslim Slavs. The reason is that the Croats in Bosnia are also Bosniaks….

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On Capitoline Hill in Rome is a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is customarily called Aracoeli church. According to legend it was built above a pagan altar, which had Haec ara fili Dei est written on it. Greek monks were in it from the beginning, after them the Benedictines, and in 1250 it was given to the Franciscans, who had their general residence next to it. Since the Middle Ages, Aracoeli church has been considered to be…

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Katarina Vukcic-Kosaca (1424-1478), the last Queen of Bosnia, ardent Catholic, wife of the Bosnian King Stjepan Tomasevic (1461-1463), is still one of the most beloved personalities among the Croats living in Bosnia. When Bosnia fell under the Ottoman rule in 1463, her two children (a boy and a girl) had been taken to slavery and educated in the spirit of Islam, her husband decapitated. She managed to escape to Dubrovnik, and then to Rome, where she had been deeply involved…

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Bosnia and Herzegovina is full of very interesting, mysterious tombstone monuments called stechak (the older names are bilig = sign,  mramor = marble, priklopnik or priklopnica = folding). The most famous collection is in Radimlja in Herzegovina: Here are a few stechak monuments in the vicinity of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia: In the middle stechak one can see a lily, which is a very old symbol of Bosnia. In Croatia there are also numerous stechak monuments. Some of them are…

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Franjo Glavinic (1585 – 1652), Croatian Franciscan born in Istria, whose parents were noblemen exiled from Bosnian Kingdom (Glamoc), wrote several important books, among which we cite L’origine della Provincia di Bosna Croatia (The Origine of the Province of Bosnia Croatia), two editions, Udine 1648 and 1691; the Province of Bosnian Croatia has been separated from the Province of Bosnia Argentum in 1514 by a decision which took place in the convent of Cetin in Upper Croatia; Historia Tersattana, Udine…

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The territory between Una and Vrbas (former Turkish Croatia) has been ceded to the Serbian entity by the Dayton agreement in 1995. Truly a great success of Milosevic and his apprentices Karadzich and Mladich. The area itself, as well as the fertile region of Bosanska Posavina along the right bank of the Sava river (now also within the Serbian entity), had a large Muslim and Croatian majority in 1991. The region has been almost completely cleansed from the Croats and…

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Let us continue our story on the history of medieval Bosnia. The tax in blood (devshirma) was the most tragic for Bosnian Catholics. It meant that every three or four years 300 to 1000 healthy boys and young men had to be taken by force to Turkey, converted to Islam and educated for military profession or religious disciplines. Some desperate mothers even mutilated their children trying to save them.On the above photo you can see an interesting cross from the…

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In 1526 the disastrous defeat of Hungarian and Croatian army took place in the Mohac field in southern Hungary. Let us mention by the way that since 1991 this area has offered refuge to 45,000 exiles, mostly Croats from Serbia and occupied parts of Croatia.The territory of western Bosnia, that was occupied by the Turks only after the battle on the Mohac field, was called Croatian Bosnia or Turkish Croatia (Bosna hrvatska or Turska Hrvatska) until the Berlin Congress in…

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The earliest mention of a Catholic diocese in Bosnia dates from 1089 (i.e. from the 11th century). It was called Bosnian Diocese, and its center was in Vrhbosna (today’s Sarajevo). Deep traces were left by the Bosnian Franciscans, present on Bosnian soil since 1291 (only 80 years after the foundation of the Franciscan order). They were beloved by people, for being educated and humble, for keeping the national and religious identity of the Croats. In 1376 they had 35 Catholic…

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An important and interesting phenomenon of Bosnian history are Krstyans, members of the mysterious Bosnian Church – a Christian religious sect. Krstyans are also known under the name of Good Christians (Dobri Krstyani). According to studies of fra Leon Petrovic, reports of Hungarian clergy to the Pope in 13th century about the “heresy” of Bosnian Krstyans were unfounded. The “heresy” of Bosnian Krstyans was invented by church authorities in Budim in order to subjugate Bosnia to Hungary first in ecclesiastic,…

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