On the Beginnings of Bosnia in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Until now it was considered that the earliest mention of Bosnia belonged to the period from the middle of the 10th century when the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (945-959) in his famous work De administrando imperio, listing the kastra oikoumena in Serbia, also mentioned two towns in the region of Bosnia: Katera and Desnik. On the other
hand, whilst listing Slav principalities in the former Roman province of Dalmatia, the educated Emperor registered: Croatia, Serbia, Zachlumi, Terbounia, Pagania and Dioclea, but not Bosnia. It was according to these writings that an overwhelming  opinion about Bosnia being an integral part of Serbia at that time was formed in historiography. This view was further
corroborated by the information provided by Einhard in his Annals from the year 822, when he said that Serbs were a people who ruled over a large portion of Dalmatia. Together with the already known borders of Southern Slav principalities, as recorded by Emperor Constantine VII, it was evident that Bosnia did not exist as a principality in the 9th century. The other important source for early Bosnian history is the Gesta regum Sclavorum, a work considered for too long as a creation from the middle of the 12th century. Since  this work belongs to the very end of the 13th century (1296-1300), it can be said that news  about Bosnia from that scripture, which concern the time before 1018, can almost completely be disregarded as untrustworthy.  It is also well known that the number of Slav principalities in the area of the modern Western Balkans was much bigger in the earlier period than in the time of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. At least two principalities – Moravia and  Canales – which existed in the 9th century, disappeared in the meantime. The same destiny also met the Obodrites and the Timochani when they were subdued by the Bulgarians. In other words, the number and the borders of Slav principalities
in the Balkans were not left unchanged during a 300 year long period. The key proof which undoubtedly points to the conclusion that Bosnia was an independent principality before 822 is the list of towns recorded in De administrando imperio: the kastra oikoumena. This list, as was shown recently, does not represent a list of ‘inhabited’ towns, but rather it lists the towns which were included in the ecclesiastical organisation of the Roman church. This list belonged to a Latin source
created around 878 in Rome. Namely, this is a registry of towns under Rome, not Aquileia, Salzburg, or some other ecclesiastical centre from the Frankish realm. Considering that the missionary work of the Franks on the Western Balkans is recorded since the middle of the 9th century, the list of the kastra oikoumena preserved in the De administrando imperio, is in fact key evidence that the ecclesiastical organisation on the Western Balkans is older than the Frankish missionary work. When this conclusion is confronted with Einhards’ statement about the political government of Serbs in a greater part of (Roman) Dalmatia, then we must conclude that Bosnia, having its own kastra oikoumena – Katera and Desnik – at the time the list was
created, was an independent principality. Bosnia later regained its independence between 950 and 1018, as can be concluded from the Gesta regum Sclavorum, or  rather from the part of the scripture that was based on the so-called „Slavonic template“, which was created around 1200 in Dioclea for the political intentions of Vukan Nemanjić. Even if Byzantium controlled Bosnia
after 1018, this was done via a local ruler, as was the case in Dioclea (toparch Stefan Vojislav), or in Zadar and Split (toparch Dobronja), which could, in due time, lead to a complete independence of Bosnia.