the Turks into the district.
Constantinople fell in 1453, and left the Sultan free to complete
the conquest of the Balkans. The Hungarians, led by the great
Hunyadi, opposed him. But the Orthodox Serbs, led by their Despot
George Brankovitch, whose ancestor had deserted to the Turks at
Kosovo, hated Catholicism more than Islam, and sided with the Turk
against Hunyadi.
The end soon came. The last King of Bosnia, Stefan Tomashovitch, a
Catholic, asked help of the Pope, and endeavoured to raise troops
among the Catholics of Dalmatia and Croatia. This enraged his
Bogumil subjects, who preferred the Turks. The Sultan's army met
little resistance; Stefan was taken prisoner and beheaded by the
Turks in 1463, and soon all Bosnia was included in the Turkish
Empire. As in other Balkan lands, the rights of the Christians were
recognized. The Franciscans were appointed as their spiritual head,
and several Franciscan monasteries date from these early days.
The Bogumils in large numbers adopted Islam, with which, in its
abhorrence of ikons and images, and in its Monotheism, they were in
greater sympathy than with either of the Christian Churches, both of
which had persecuted them. But Bogumilism lasted into the nineteenth
century, possibly into the twentieth, for a case was reported to me
in 1911.
Those Christians who objected to Turkish rule fled south into
Montenegro, especially from the Herzegovina, which was finally
overthrown by the Turks in 1484.
Nor did the enmity between the Bosniaks and the Serbs cease now that
they were under a common foe. Throughout the histories of Serbia and
Montenegro we find that the Moslems of Bosnia and the Herzegovina
were their bitterest enemies and that the armies, sent against them
by the Sultans were very largely recruited from these districts. The
sense of nationality did not begin to develop until very much later.
Under the Turk the feudal system of the pre-Turk days continued. We
get a clear idea of the pre-Turk social conditions from the laws of
Tsar Stefan Dushan, which show the strongly marked class difference
of noble and serf. The noble was almost tax-free, but had to supply
troops. The serf was tied to the land, and could only leave it with
his lord's permission. Different punishments were inflicted upon
nobles and serfs, the nobles' being naturally the lighter. So
independent was the noble that he could build his own church or
monastery in his land and chose its bishop. T
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