ntine
Porphyrogenitus, who gives a clear picture of this region as it was in
the 10th century.[2]

Religious controversies.

The schism between Eastern and Western Christendom left Bosnia divided
between the Greek and Latin Churches. Early in the 12th century a new
religion, that of the Bogomils (q.v.), was introduced, and denounced as
heretical. Its converts nevertheless included many of the Bosnian nobles
and the ban Kulin (1180-1204), whose reign was long proverbial for its
prosperity, owing to the flourishing state of commerce and agriculture,
and the extensive mining operations carried on by the Ragusans. An
unusually able ruler, connected by marriage with the powerful Servian
dynasty of Nemanya, and by treaty with the republic of Ragusa,[3] Kulin
perceived in the new doctrines a barrier between his subjects and
Hungary. He was compelled to recant, under strong pressure from Pope
Innocent III. and Bela III. of Hungary; but, despite all efforts,
Bogomilism incessantly gained ground. In 1232 Stephen, the successor of
Kulin, was dethroned by the native magnates, who chose instead Matthew
Ninoslav, a Bogomil. This event illustrates the three dominant
characteristics of Bosnian history: the strength of the aristocracy; the
corresponding weakness of the central authority, enhanced by the lack of
any definite rule of inheritance; and the supreme influence of religion.
Threatened by Pope Gregory IX. with a crusade, Ninoslav was baptized,
only to abjure Christianity in 1233. For six years he withstood the
Hungarian crusaders, led by Kaloman, duke of Croatia; in 1241 the Tatar
invasion of Hungary afforded him a brief respite; and in 1244 peace was
concluded after a Bosnian campaign against Croatia. A renewal of the
crusade proving equally vain, in 1247 Pope Innocent III. entered into
friendly negotiations with the ban, whose country was for the moment an
independent and formidable state. The importance attached to its
conversion is well attested by the correspondence of Pope Gregory IX.
with Ninoslav and various Bosnian ecclesiastics.[4]

Period of Hungarian supremacy.

On the death of Ninoslav in 1250, vigorous efforts were made to
exterminate the Bogomil heresy; and to this end, Bela IV., who appeared
as the champion of Roman Catholicism, secured the election of his
nominee Prijesda to the banate. Direct Hungarian suzerainty lasted until
1299, the bans preserving only a shadow of their former power. From 1299