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

Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 H ...

, centered on an eponymous settlement (

župa A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly transl ...

) that would later become part of the city of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. 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 Hodidjed is a ruined medieval fort near Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hodidjed was the only known fortification in the area of Vrhbosna ''župa'' in the High Middle Ages. The fort, located at Han Bulog east of Sarajevo, was first taken by th ...

. 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, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1416, and it was finally taken in 1451. Vrhbosna persisted shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia 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 The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Vrhbosna (also known as the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Sarajevo) is an ecclesiastical archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its territorial remit includes the eastern parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entiret ...

, 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)