Tvrtko Kotromanic
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Tvrtko Kotromanić (1338?-1391) was an important native ruler of medieval Bosnia who transformed the country from an autonomous banate into an independent kingdom.
He was the son of Vladislav Kotromanić and Jelena Šubić, and was descended from the founder of Serbia's Nemanjid dynasty. Tvrtko became Ban of Bosnia in 1353 upon the death of his uncle, Ban Stjepan (Stephen) Kotromanić, when Tvrtko was 15 years old. During the first part of his reign as Ban he had to contend with intrigues, revolts, and seizures of Bosnian territory by Hungary. In 1366 he was forced to seek refuge in the Hungarian court when a group of Bosnian nobles placed his brother Vuk on the throne. He was restored as Ban the following year with the assistance of the King Louis I of Hungary.
Tvrtko assisted Knez Lazar Hrebeljanović in neighboring Serbia, in consolidating his control of the Serb territories to the east; in return, Tvrtko was able to expand his own territory to include parts of Zahumlje (Herzegovina), Zeta (Montenegro), and Serb territories to the east of the present Bosnian border, including the monastery of Mileševo, an important site to Serbs because it contains the relics of Saint Sava, an central figure in the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Tvrtko had himself crowned King of Serbs and Bosnia at Mileševo in 1377. He created a Byzantine-style court at his capital at Bobovac. Although he had declared himself King of Serbs, he only controlled a small part of Serbia, and made no serious attempts to extend his kingdom further east into Serb lands. He maintained his alliance with Prince Lazar, and sent an army, headed by Vlatko Vuković, which fought alongside Prince Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo Polje in June 1389.
Tvrtko continued to expand his kingdom to the south and west. His predecessor, Ban Stephen Kotromanić, had added part of the Dalmatian coastline between Ragusa and Split to the Bosnian Kingdom, and Tvrtko expanded northwards and southwards along the coast, from south of Zara to the Bay of Kotor, with the exception of Ragusa, which remained independent. He established the port of Novi (modern Herceg Novi on the Bay of Kotor), and in the last few years of his reign called himself King of Croatia and Dalmatia too.
Tvrtko died in 1391, and by the end of his reign the Medieval Bosnian state reached its greatest power and territorial extent. He married Dorteja Vidinska, and had a daughter, Katarina, and a son, Ostoja Kotromanić, who succeeded him as King upon his death. His illegitimate son was Tvrtko II, who was later King of Bosnia.