cluding the principality of Tribunia. In 1376 Tvrtko was
crowned as "Stephen I., king of Bosnia, Servia, and all the Sea-coast,"
although Lazar retained his own title and a diminished authority. The
death of Louis in 1392, the regency of his widow Elizabeth, and a fresh
outbreak in Croatia, enabled Tvrtko to fulfil his predecessor's designs
by establishing a maritime state. With Venetian aid he wrested from
Hungary the entire Adriatic littoral between Fiume and Cattaro, except
the city of Zara; thus adding Dalmatia to his kingdom at the moment when
Servia was lost through the Ottoman victory of Kossovo (1389). At his
coronation he had proclaimed his purpose to revive the ancient Servian
empire; in 1378 he had married the daughter of the last Bulgarian tsar;
and it is probable that he dreamed of founding an empire which should
extend from the Adriatic to the Black Sea. The disaster of Kossovo,
though fatal to his ambition, did not immediately react on Bosnia
itself; and when Tvrtko died in 1391, his kingdom was still at the
summit of its prosperity.

Decline of the Bosnian kingdom.

Kotromanic and Tvrtko had known how to crush or conciliate their
turbulent magnates, whose power reasserted itself under Dabisa (Stephen
II., 1391-1398), a brother of Tvrtko. Sigismond of Hungary profited by
the disorder that ensued to regain Croatia and Dalmatia; and in 1398 the
Turks, aided by renegade Slavs,[5] overran Bosnia. Ostoja (Stephen III.,
1398-1418), an illegitimate son of Tvrtko, proved a puppet in the hands
of Hrvoje Vukcic, duke of Spalato, Sandalj Hranic,[6] and other leaders
of the aristocracy, who fought indifferently against the Turks, the
Hungarians, the king or one another. Some upheld a rival claimant to the
throne in Tvrtkovic, a legitimate son of Tvrtko, and all took sides in
the incessant feud between Bogomils and Roman Catholics. During the
reigns of Ostojic (Stephen IV., 1418-1421) and Tvrtkovic (Stephen V.,
1421-1444) Bosnia was thus left an easy prey to the Turks, who exacted a
yearly tribute, after again ravaging the country, and carrying off many
thousands of slaves, with a vast store of plunder.

Turkish conquest.

The losses inflicted on the Turks by Hunyadi Janos, and the attempt to
organize a defensive league among the neighbouring Christian lands,
temporarily averted the ruin of Bosnia under Thomas Ostojic (Stephen
VI., 1444-1461). Hoping to gain active support from the Vatican, Ostojic
renounc