Ban Kulin
This article is about Medieval Bosnian ruler. For other meanings see Kulin (disambiguation).Ban Kulin (
1163-
1204) was a powerful
Bosnian Ban who ruled from
1180 to
1204 first as a
vassal of the
Byzantine Empire and then of the
Kingdom of Hungary. He was brought to the power by
Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus. He had a son,
Stevan; who succeeded him as
Bosnian Ban. Kulin founded the
House of Kulinić.
Kulin came to prominence in Bosnia 1163 as he was under the
Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus who was just taking the country from the Hungarians earlier, although it would not be until 1180 that he would place Kulin as his vassal as
Ban.
His rule is often remembered as Bosnia's golden age, and he is a common hero of Bosnian national folk tales. Bosnia was mostly in peace throughout his rule. Although, in
1183, he leads his troops with the forces of the
Kingdom of Hungary under King Bela that has just attacked the
Byzantine Empire together with the
Serbs led by Kulin's relative,
Duke of All Serbia Stefan Nemanja. The cause of the war was the new imposer to the Imperial throne Andronicus Comnenus that was not recognized as legitimate by the Hungarian crown. The united forces met little resistance in the eastern Serbian lands - the Greek squadrons were fighting among themselves as the local Byzantine commanders: Alexios Brannes supported the new Emperor, while Andronicus Lapardes opposed him - and deserted the Imperial Army, going onto adventures on his own. Without difficulties, the
Greeks were pushed out of the
Valley of Morava and the allied forces breached all the way to
Sophia, raiding
Belgrade,
Braničevo,
Ravno,
Niš and Sophia itself. With the Hungarian withdrawal from the conflict, so did Ban Kulin stand down. In Kulin's times, the term Bosnia encompassed roughly the lands of
Vrhbosna,
Usora,
Soli, the
Lower Edges and
Rama, which is approximately geographical
Bosnia.
The
Bosnian Church spread greatly during Kulin's reign. The
Dalmatian
King of
Zeta or
Duklja Vukan Nemanjić reported the Ban to the
Pope on
8 January 1199 for
heresy because of that, claiming that
evil stages are in store for the land of the Hungarian King. It appears that Kulin Ban and his wife, as well as his sister - the widow of Prince Miroslav - abandoned
Christianity in favour of
Bomulism together with 10,000 of their
Christian subjects. Kulin also gave protection to the banished heretics from
Split and
Trogir - which Vukan reported to the Pope. The Pope wrote to
King Emeric of Hungary to make Kulin prosecute the
Bogumils or depose him. Kulin subsequently, on
8 April 1203, organized a congress in
Bilino Polje which the Pope's emissaries attended - led by the Pope's legate for the Balkan peninsular, John de Kazemaris; where he officially declared his allegiance to the
Roman Catholic Church and declared that he was none other than a true pious
Catholic Christian. He claimed that he didn't understand where Heresy lied in Bosnia. This act seemed only political - as he only tried to save Bosnia from war and continued to practise heresy. The Pope's emissaries travelled to
Hungary with Kulin's son, confirming Kulin's loyalty to the Hungarian crown and the Catholic Church. Prince Vukan was enraged and complained to the Pope that he was, in fact, lying; and demanded that the Pope commands the Hungarian King to exterminate the Bosnian heretics.
At the end of his rule, in 1204, a certain Cotroman the German arrived to Bosnia, descendant of Cotroman the Goth from Ban
Borić's time. He settled permanently in Bosnia and is to become the founder of the
House of Kotromanić. Ban Kulin died in 1204 - he was succeeded by his son,
Stevan.
The Charter of Kulin is a symbolic birth certificate of Bosnian statehood, as it is the first written document that talks of Bosnian borders (between the rivers of
Drina,
Sava and
Una) and of the elements of the Bosnian state: its ruler, throne and political organization. It also noted
Bosnia's population -
Bosnianins. The Charter was a trade agreement between Bosnia and
Republic of Dubrovnik.
Kulin's sister married the brother of Grand Prince
Stefan Nemanja, the Serbian Prince
Miroslav of
Zachlumia in
Rascia and Kulin himself had two sons:
*
Stevan, the following
Ban of Bosnia* a son that went with the Pope's emissaries in 1203 to explain heresy accusations against Kulin
*
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina*
Byzantine Empire*
History of Hungary*
List of rulers of Bosnia*
List of Bosnians*
Bosnian history continued" The good Ban Culin*
The growth of the Bogomil churches under Culin " Their missionary zeal and success
