Vrhbosna ( sr-cyrl, Врхбосна, ) was the medieval name of a small region in today's central

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, centered on an eponymous settlement (

župa A župa, or zhupa, is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavs, South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "county" or "parish". It was mentioned for the first t ...

) that would later become part of the city of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. The meaning of the name of this Slavic

is "the peak of Bosnia". The only known fortification in the area at the time was Hodidjed. The existence of a significant individual settlement of Vrhbosna was recorded in the 14th and 15th centuries. Vrhbosna was first attacked by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1416, and it was finally taken in 1451. Vrhbosna persisted shortly after the

Ottoman conquest of Bosnia The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a process that started roughly in 1386, when the first Ottoman attacks on the Kingdom of Bosnia took place. In 1451, more than 65 years after its initial attacks, the Ottoman Empire officially es ...

in the name of local ''vilayet'', but soon the name went out of use. In 1550, a Venetian traveller Caterino Zeno was the first westerner to use the term ''Sarraglio'' (Italianized form of Sarajevo) instead of Vrhbosna to describe the place. It is nowadays known as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, which is the archdiocese that currently serves the Catholics of Sarajevo.

References

Literature

* {{Historical regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina Historical župas of Bosnia and Herzegovina 14th century in Bosnia 15th century in Bosnia History of Sarajevo Župas of the medieval Bosnian state Principality of Bosnia (early medieval)