Serbian Kingdom under King Constantine Bodin-sr

Stephen ( sh, / , / ; 1084–95) was the '' knez'' (" duke") of

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

mentioned in the '' Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja'' ("''Bosnam posuitque ibi Stephanum knezium''", according to Johannes Lucius), appointed in 1083–84 by his first cousin

Constantine Bodin Constantine Bodin (Bulgarian and sr, italic=no, Константин Бодин, ''Konstantin Bodin''; 1072–1101) was a medieval king and the ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from 1081 to 1101, succeed ...

, the

King of Duklja Duklja ( sh-Cyrl, Дукља; el, Διόκλεια, Diokleia; la, Dioclea) was a medieval South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana Ri ...

. He was the first Bosnian ruler known by name. Bodin had also appointed his relative Vukan at Rascia. Bosnia, Zachlumia and Rascia were never incorporated into an integrated state with Duklja; each principality had its own nobility and institutions, simply requiring a member of the Dukljan royal family to rule as prince or duke. According to Jacob Luccari's ''Annals of Ragusa'' (1605), Stephen participated in the siege of Ragusa in 1094–95, as Bodin's vassal. After Constantine died, the principalities seceded from Duklja, and Vukan became the most powerful Serb ruler, as grand prince. According to , after the death of Bodin ( 1099), one of the pretendants to the throne,

Kočapar Kočapar ( sr-cyrl, Кочапар) was the ''knez'' or ''župan'' of Duklja, a Serbian state, briefly in 1102–03 under the suzerainty of Grand Prince Vukan of Rascia. He was the son of Branislav, the Prince of Duklja. Following Bodin's death in ...

, tried to take the rule in Duklja, relying on Vukan. As Kočapar felt danger from that side as well, he took refuge in Bosnia, where he married the daughter of the "Bosnian ''

ban Ban, or BAN, may refer to: Law * Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item ** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...

''" in ca. 1100–01, though he died soon afterwards while fighting in Zachlumia. This Bosnian ban was most likely Stephen. Luccari and Orbini mention Stephen's son and successor Vukmir (''Vutïmir''). The territory governed by Stephen cannot be precisely known, apart from the fact that the name of Bosnia was identified with the region of the upper and middle basin of the

Bosna river The Bosna () is the third longest river in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is considered one of the country's three major internal rivers, along with the Neretva and the Vrbas. The other three major rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina are the Una, to ...

, with the area of the Sarajevo and Visoko fields.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{s-end Dukes of Bosnia Principality of Bosnia (early medieval) Bosnian monarchs 11th-century rulers in Europe 12th-century Bosnian people