Catherine of Bosnia (princess)
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Catherine of Bosnia ( sh, Katarina Tomašević Kotromanić/Катарина Томашевић Котроманић; born in 1453) was a member of the House of Kotromanić and the last Bosnian princess. She was captured during 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 ...
, converted to Islam and spent the rest of her life in 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) ...
.


Childhood

Catherine was the only daughter of
King Thomas Stephen Thomas ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Stefan Tomaš, Стефан Томаш, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, label=none, Stjepan Tomaš, Стјепан Томаш; 1411 – July 1461), a member of the House of Kotromanić, reigned from 1443 ...
and Queen Catherine, who also had a son named Sigismund. When Thomas died, in July 1461, the Bosnian crown devolved upon her older half-brother,
Stephen Tomašević Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
. Catherine and Sigismund are popularly said to have moved at that time with their mother to the castle of Kozograd above
Fojnica Fojnica ( sr-cyrl, Фојница) is a town and municipality located in Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located west of the capital Sarajevo, in the valley of the Fojn ...
. It is likely, however, that they remained at the royal court in
Jajce Jajce (Јајце) is a town and municipality located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2013 census, the town has a population of 7,172 inhabitants, with ...
, being they were their half-brother's closest family and potential heirs. In 1463, the
Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
led by
Mehmed the Conqueror Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
invaded Bosnia. The royal family apparently decided to split and flee towards Croatia proper and the coast in different directions to confuse and mislead the invaders. Sigismund and Catherine, separated from their mother, were nevertheless captured in the town of Zvečaj, close to Jajce. Their half-brother the King was deceived into surrendering in Ključ, and was executed shortly afterwards. Queen Catherine succeeded in escaping and eventually settled in Rome.


Uncertain fate

The fate of Sigismund following the fall of Bosnia is relatively well-known – he embraced
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, becoming known as Ishak Bey the King's Son, and built a career as a high-ranking Ottoman statesman. Very little is known about Catherine, however, besides the fact that she too became Muslim. The siblings' conversion, as well as Ottoman education, may have been instigated by their uncle,
Hersekzade Ahmed Pasha Hersekzade or Hersekli Ahmed Pasha ("Ahmed Pasha, son of the Herzog"; Serbo-Croatian: ''Ahmed-paša Hercegović''; Aхмед-паша Херцеговић; 1459 – 21 July 1517), born as Stjepan Hercegović, he was the youngest son of the Duke ...
, a half-brother of their mother who had also converted and attained highest-ranking posts in the Ottoman Empire. According to a hypothesis of the Serbian historian
Gligorije Elezović Gligorije Elezović ( sr-Cyrl, Глигорије Елезовић; 18 January 1879 — 17 October 1960) was a Serbian historian and member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scie ...
, the guardianship of the princess was entrusted to Isa-Beg Isaković, the
sanjakbey ''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' ( ota, سنجاق بك) () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''sanjak' ...
of
Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
who may have been her maternal granduncle, in whose household she converted. In Rome, Queen Catherine worked to have Sigismund and Catherine "released from Turkish captivity". In 1470, she mentioned her daughter as being 10 years old, but this probably meant that the princess was 10 at the time of her capture. Four years later, Queen Catherine travelled to the Ottoman border to negotiate a ransom, likely with her Muslim half-brother as proxy, but failed. Shortly before her death in 1478, the Queen devised a will in which she named Catherine the heir to the Bosnian throne, in case she returned to Christianity and her brother did not. Elezović surmised that Catherine changed her name upon conversion from Catholicism, married and spent the rest of her life in Skopje. His identification of Catherine as the person buried under the Kral Kızı Türbe, a 15th-century mausoleum in a Muslim cemetery in Skopje, is widely accepted. The name of the ''türbe'' – "the King's Daughter's" ( tr, Kîrâl Kîzî) – strongly suggests that it contained the remains of an Islamized princess. Catherine was determined to be the likeliest. It is thus possible that Catherine remained unmarried, since a married Muslim woman at the time would have been buried under her husband's name. Elezović, however, noted that a Muslim aristocrat family from
Tetovo Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...
claimed descent from a certain "Kuturman" from Skopje, which he associated with the name of the Kotromanić dynasty.


References


Sources

* * * {{citation , last1=Regan , first1=Krešimir , title=Bosanska kraljica Katarina : pola stoljeća Bosne, 1425-1478 , date=2010 , location=Zagreb , isbn=978-9-5370-3655-3 , language=sh 1453 births Kotromanić dynasty Converts to Sunni Islam from Catholicism Bosnia and Herzegovina former Christians People from the Ottoman Empire of Bosnian descent Bosnia and Herzegovina prisoners of war 15th-century women from the Holy Roman Empire 15th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 15th-century women from the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Bosnian nobility