Dabiša of Bosnia

Dabiša
King of Bosnia
Reign	10 March 1391 – 8 September 1395
Predecessor	Tvrtko I
Successor	Jelena Gruba
Born	after 1339
Died	6 September 1395 Bobovac
Burial	Bobovac
Spouse	Jelena Gruba
Issue	Stana
House	Kotromanić
Father	Vladislav Kotromanić
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]

Stephen Dabiša^[a] (fl. 1391 – died 1395), was the King of Bosnia from 1391 to 1395 as a member of the Kotromanić dynasty. He was an illegitimate son of Vladislav Kotromanić and thus half-brother of King Stephen Tvrtko I.

Early life

Dabiša was an illegitimate son of Vladislav Kotromanić, born after his half-brother and King Stephen Tvrtko I (1338).

Reign

Stephen Dabiša's charter by which he granted a village to his daughter and heirs

Dabiša succeeded Tvrtko I in 1391. At the time of his ascension to power, Bosnia was already decentralized by the semi-independent nobility. Beljak and Radič Sanković ruled independently in the Hum and Popovo. The Sankovići gave Konavle to the Republic of Ragusa, which then started to rile up Kotor and other Dalmatian cities from the Bosnian King's rule, asking them to reaccept the supreme rule of the Hungarian King Sigismund, but they refused. King Stephen Dabiša dispatched vojvoda Vlatko Vuković and knez Pavle Radenović to Konavle in 1391, where they kicked out the Sankovići and shared their lands among themselves. Beljak died and Radič was thrown into captivity, and this marked the end of the Sanković family. The Ottoman Empire started to invade Bosnia again and in 1392, King Stephen Dabiša dispatched Hrvoje Vukčić, who decisively defeated the Ottomans.

The rest of his reign, Dabiša spent quarrelling with the Hungarian King Sigismund and the King of Naples Ladislaus for control over Croatia and Dalmatia. King Ladislaus managed to win the Vukčić family to his side. Vuk Vukčić, Dabiša's Ban, took Ostrovica and Vrana from Ivaniš Paližna. Dabiša desired to put Zadar under his supreme rule, but Vuk worked for Ladislaus. Hrvoje Vukčić recognized Dabiša's supreme rule, stating that he would serve him as long as he breathed, after which he would serve the Hungarian King Sigismund.

At the beginning of 1394, the nobility under Ivaniš Horvat, a subject of Ladislaus, refused to serve King Dabiša. Dabiša dispatched Prince Ivan Radivojević to take Omiš from Horvat as a punishment. The Hungarian King Sigismund moved to destroy both Horvat and Dabiša. The Hungarian Army besieged and burned to the ground Dobor in the lower stream of Bosna. Dabiša arrived there, recognized King Sigismund's supreme rule and gave up Dalmatia and Croatia in his name. in turn, the Hungarian King nominated him Prince of the Szomod Principality.

King Stephen Dabiša died of disease on 8 September 1395 and King Sigismund took over most control over Bosnia, but the Rusag elected that his wife, Queen Jelena Gruba should ascend the throne.

Marriage and children

Dabiša was married to Jelena Gruba, who belonged to the Nikolić noble family which ruled a part of Zachlumia.^[2] They had one known child, a daughter named Stana, whose own daughter Vladava married Đurađ Radivojević.

Annotations

1. ^ His name was spellt in Early Cyrillic as Стєфань Дабиша (Serbo-Croatian: Stefan Dabiša), and in Latin as Stephanus Dabissa.^[3] In modern Bosnian, his name is spellt Stjepan Dabiša, while in Serbian it is spellt Stefan Dabiša (Стефан Дабиша).

References

1. Fine 1994, p. 281
2. Fine 1994, pp. 458-9
3. Miklošič, Franc (1858). Monumenta serbica spectantia historiam Serbiae, Bosnae, Ragusii ed: Fr. apud Guilelmum Braumüller.

Sources

• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.