Vuk, Ban of Bosnia

Stephen Vuk (Serbo-Croatian: Stjepan Vuk/Стјепан Вук; died after 31 October 1374) was a member of the House of Kotromanić who was Ban of Bosnia from 1366 until 1367. His name comes from the Serbo-Croatian word vuk, meaning "wolf".

Vuk was the younger son of Vladislaus of Bosnia and Helena of Bribir. Vuk's brother, Tvrtko I, became Ban of Bosnia following the death of their paternal uncle, Stephen II, in 1353. "Ban Tvrtko of Bosnia, Count Wolf and their mother Helena" were granted Venetian citizenship by Doge Lorenzo Celsi on 7 September 1355.[1]

In February 1366, Tvrtko faced a major revolt by his discontent vassals. He was forced to flee to the court of King Louis I of Hungary, husband of their cousin Elizabeth, while Vuk replaced him on the ban's throne.[2] While he did take his role as ban seriously, it is not clear if Vuk instigated his brother's dethronement or if he was only a puppet installed by nobility. Within a month, however, Tvrtko came back to Bosnia but this time aided by the Hungarian army. By the end of March, Vuk had lost some of Bosnia to his brother. The nobleman Sanko Miltenović defected from Vuk to Tvrtko in the second half of 1367, bringing much of Zachlumia back under Tvrtko's control. Vuk was finally deposed and exiled in late 1367.[2]

Once exiled, Vuk attempted to gain help against Tvrtko from the outside. He particularly pleaded with Pope Urban V, as the Papacy had been advocating a crusade against the Bosnian Church for some time. The King of Hungary's protection of Tvrtko rendered Vuk's chances of regaining the throne of Bosnia slim. By 1374, the brothers had reconciled, possibly on the occasion of Tvrtko's marriage to Dorothea of Bulgaria. Vuk remained in Bosnia, functioning as a junior ban and endorsing his brother's charters.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Actæ Bosnæ", Monumenta Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium 23: 33
  2. 1 2 3 Van Antwerp Fine, John (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, pp. 369–370, ISBN 0472082604
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Tvrtko I		 Ban of Bosnia
1366–1367 		Succeeded by
Tvrtko I
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