Ključ // The Inherently Pessimistic Last King of Bosnia
© Ahmet27 // Shutterstock.com
I put off writing this. Not the actual article itself, I likely smashed that out in an hour or two. What I mean is that I put off starting the thing. Nothing unusual there, writers are practically defined by procrastination, but this wasn’t procrastination. I just didn’t want to write about it.
Writing and finality are no fun. Admittedly, most of the best books aren’t fun, but I digress. Finality came to Tvrtko I in 1391, and the Bosnian Kingdom rolled itself almost immediately onto the head of a cartoon snake, tumbling back down the board into tumult and fear. The 15th century seas were rough, and I’m not talking “the sea was angry that day, my friends.” I’m talking ‘which of the armies on our borders will take over’ rough. 15th-century French travel writer Gilles Le Bouvier rolls off this flattering review; “they live purely on wild beasts, fish from the rivers, figs and honey, of which they have a sufficient supply, and they go in gangs from forest to forest to rob people who are travelling from one country to another.” Times have changed.
Which of those armies ended up conquering Bosnia? Spoiler alert, it was the Ottomans. The final nail was driven into the coffin in 1463 when the Last King of Bosnia was captured in Ključ and beheaded in Jajce. Thus began four centuries and change of Ottoman rule. Is it really a spoiler if it happened 559 years ago? No, it isn’t. Spoilers are easy to avoid. Don’t look at social media. Simple. In 1463, the Ottomans captured the Last King of Bosnia and lopped off his bonce in Jajce. It bears repeating. It was inevitable.
In some regards, it was a pick-your-poison situation, and the Bosnians were happier choosing the remote and ephemeral Turks over the damn Hungarians, a nation that had been moithering the Bosnians for what felt like forever. The Hungarians had caused the Bosnian Church all sorts of bother, pleading with the Pope to denounce them as heretics and send armies to crush them. Proper snitching. Pathetic, really, but 15th century Hungary never claimed to be anything less. The snitching worked, and by the 1430s, the Pope had a bee in his bollock about Bosnian heresy. The Bosnian Church was accused of all sorts, and the clergy were offered the handy options of conversion or expulsion. A rock and a hard place. It didn’t really matter, because the real choice was Hungarian rule or impending Ottoman rule. That wasn’t a choice either, because the Ottomans had the momentum. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević knew this, writing to his neighbours and telling them that the Ottomans were coming. Nobody cared enough to reply. In hindsight, ‘Last King of Bosnia’ was a pessimistic title.
© Makic Slobodan // Shutterstock.com
What do we know about Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević? Bloody loads, mate. He had taken over from his father in 1461, and the frequent mention of 1463 a couple of paragraphs ago should tell you that he didn’t wear the crown for too long. That he wore a crown at all was part of the problem. You see, his father (Penultimate King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomaš, another pessimistic title, if you ask me) had refused a formal crown, fearing that it would do little more than incite the Ottomans. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević took the opposite approach, believing the crown would help save him from impending Ottoman obliteration. Stevie Boy wrote to the Pope, telling him that he had been baptised (honest), that he knew Latin (double honest), that he was super Catholic, seriously mate, super Catholic. He wasn’t afraid of the crown. On November 11, 1461 (424 years and nine days before my own birth, coincidence?), Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević was crowned in Jajce, taking the title ‘King of Serbia, Bosnia, Hum, Dalmatia and Croatia’. Like clockwork, the interest of the Hungarians and the Ottomans was piqued. He asked the Pope to send bishops to Bosnia, what with Bosnia having none living on its territory at the time. Bosnia did have one bishop, but he lived in Đakovo (Croatia). Nice place, all things considered.
The crown makes fools of us all. Well, that isn’t true, I have never worn a crown, Burger King crowns notwithstanding, but the crown definitely made a fool of Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević. In June 1462, presumably drunk on gumption, Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević refused to pay the Ottomans the tribute that had kept them at bay to date. What’s more, he invited the Ottoman ambassador to see the pile of cash that usually came their way, informing the diplomat that Stevie Boy intended to use the money to fight. That or live off in exile. Either way, the Ottomans could jog on, as far as Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević was concerned.
The Ottomans did not jog on.
© John Bills
At the behest of Sultan Mehmed II, the Ottomans marched on Bosnia in 1463. Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha Angelović was at the head of the army, and Bobovac fell by the middle of May. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević naively believed the fortified city could last a few years under siege. The fortified city lasted a few days.
All of this leads us to the fortress in Ključ, a small town 92km southeast of Bihać. First mentioned in 1322, there really isn’t much to say about the place. Regional travel writing tsar Evliya Celebi didn’t have anything to say about Ključ, which says a lot. Still, it has this famous fortress. The views from the fortress in Ključ spread across the land, stunning vistas of green that scream security. Slobodan and I had stopped here briefly on our way from Bihać to Banja Luka. I had somehow managed to get cigarette ash in his car, and he wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy either, although that has more to do with self-loathing than anything else.
© John Bills
But there we were, looking out from the fortress in Ključ. I tried to put myself in the shoes of Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević, but my rudimentary knowledge of 15th-century Bosnian footwear rendered the exercise futile. Not just that, but I soon realised that putting yourself in the shoes of someone facing impending obliteration isn’t the best idea.
Impending obliteration is exactly what Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević had on his plate in the summer of 1463. He had taken refuge in this fortress, hoping to escape the clutches of the Ottomans and find his way to exile, the conquering of his country inevitable at this point. He would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids. Not kids, but meddling locals. There are many rumours and myths about the betrayal of Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević, but the use of the term ‘rumours and myths’ says a lot. Legend has it that a man from Ključ was offered a significant payday to tell the Ottomans where Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević was hiding. The likely truth is that the Ottomans took Ključ, found Steve, and did what they did. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomaševic gave himself up, was ostensibly promised safety, and was led away by the new overlords. There was a misunderstanding over the word ‘safety’, obviously. One famous comment from an eye-witness says a lot; “When the King’s servants saw that their lord had been taken, they gave themselves up. The Sultan took possession of the fortress and ordered that the King and his companions should be beheaded. And he took his entire country into his possession.”
And, just like that, it was over. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević was executed in a field near Jajce, and Bosnia officially became a part of the Ottoman Empire. It stayed that way for 445 years. The people of Bosnia weren’t too bothered initially, unhappy with how Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević had been running the show. Last King of Bosnia Stjepan Tomašević died convinced that Christianity would save him. It did not.
