The book ‘Bosnian Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate (1402 -1459)’ by Dr. Enes Dedić

The book "Bosnian Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate (1402 -1459)" by Dr. Enes Dedić, published by the Institute of History of the University of Sarajevo, was promoted on 16 February in the ceremonial hall, University of Sarajevo Rectorate. The book is an amended version of his doctoral dissertation, which he defended in 2017 at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo.

The author is a research associate at the UNSA Institute of History, and the book covers the period from 1402-1459 political, economic, economic, religious, cultural and other problems that could be addressed given the available sources.

As the author emphasized, in dealing with the topic of relations between Bosnia and Serbia in the 15th century, he faced a number of problems. One of the problems was the lack of sources, since, as he said, neither in Bosnia nor in Serbia have any archives from the Middle Ages been preserved. Thus, he drew knowledge about that topic from the archives and knowledge from other countries in the region that were interested in that area.

- In the book, these relations are followed as a submerged river which in one period dives and then rises to the surface, given the available sources. I also referred to the events of the 10th century to show, on the basis of available first-class archival sources, that this is not one state, that Bosnia is not part of the Serbian state, but two separate states. This is shown by the fact that the relations between the two countries in the 15th century were less active than, say, Bosnia's relations with Hungary or with some other countries with which it bordered - he stressed.

As particularly interesting, Dedić pointed out the episode from 1459, taking over the despotic title of Bosnian heir to the throne Stjepan Tomašević, son of King Tomaš, the later Bosnian king.

- He, through marriage and with the help of Hungary, managed to exercise power over the Despotate. However, that rule lasted only a few months and the Ottomans then conquered the Serbian Despotate. Thus, the Bosnian rule over the Despotate is over - he said.

It remained unclear what the sources did not allow him to cover, the daily life of a man on the border between Bosnia and the Despotate.

- What we have in the book, as the relations between Bosnia and Serbia, are only fragments of those relations - the author points out.

The promoters of the book ‘Kingdom of Bosnia and the Serbian Despotate (1402 - 1459)’ were, also reviewers of the book, prof. dr. Vesna Mušeta Ašćerić and Prof. Dr. Esad Kurtović, mentor Dr. Dedić and Dr. Elmedina Duranović, research associate at the Institute of History. The promotion was moderated by Dr. Dženita Sarač-Rujanac, senior research associate at the Institute of History.