Jajce: The story of a Nation

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   JAJCE bosnia and herzegovina

T H E  S T O R Y  O F  A  N A T I O N

The history of Jajce begins just three
centuries after the birth of Jesus Christ. Illyrians, the original
inhabitants of this part of the world, built a temple to god Mitras
during the most prosperous era, locally, of the Roman Empire.

This temple attracted pilgrims from across the region and when Slavic
tribes first arrived in the Balkans two centuries later, this sacred
site was one of the first places they decided to stop, and decided to
stay.

As the gods of the Roman Empire fell to Jesus Christ and Christianity,
so too did the Slavic settlements surrounding the ancient temple. In
these early years, Rome maintained considerable power over this part of
the world and official Church doctrine, the doctrine that would come to
be known as Roman Catholicism, was widely known and strictly enforced.

The territory that would one day become Bosnia and Herzegovina was
split between several Roman provinces that would one day become
Croatia. During this era, the Bosnian national identity had not yet
come into existence. While there is evidence to suggest Slavic
residents in the this region were viewed as being somewhat distinct by
the 'Croatian' population as whole, these differences were at best
regional - similar to Southerners in the United States.

However, Rome's power and influence eventually began to fade across the
Empire and this part of the world gradually became more and more
isolated; not just from the rest of the Empire as a whole, but
specifically from the regions of the Roman Empire that would one day
constitute Croatia.

Without the Church's heavy hand to guide the evolution of religion,
Roman Catholicism in this region began to change. The process was slow
and took many generations to complete - but once it did, a new identity
was established and a new nation was born.

At this time, Bosnia and Herzegovina went through a myriad of changes. These Bosnians came to profess a faith they termed Bogumil and refer to themselves as Bosnjacki but
one of the most significant developments was the creation of a written
language completely unique to this nation. It was called Bosancica.

With close ties to Croatia, and an often warm relationship with Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina thrived.

By the time the 1000th anniversary of the construction of Mitras'
temple came around, the Slavic people in that same valley had fully
established themselves as a nation independent of outside powers and
neighborly influence.

The Kingdom of Bosnia and Herzegovina became the most powerful state in
the Balkans - and the tiny Slavic settlements surrounding the old
Mitras' temple became the capital, Jajce.

Hrvoje Vukcic Hrvatinic was chosen by
the Bosnian royal family to build the fortress that became the medieval
town of Jajce. It was not completed until the end of 14th century and
has an underground, Bogumil church that contains the remains of the
generations of the Hrvatinic family who built it.

The Bosnian royal family made great use of the fortress and engraved
the crest of its powerful member, Tvrtko Kotromanic, into the entrance.
King Tvrtko was responsible for medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina's most
celebrated military conquest: Serbia and Montenegro. The man who
touched the gates of the Jajce with his own hands rose to become the
King of Bosnia and Serbia.

No one knew then how briefly peace would
last. The Islamic expansion into the Balkans had already claimed Greece
and the Bosnian royal family sent its best soldiers to southern Serbia,
to Kosovo, in an attempt to eliminate the threat before it reached
their territory. 

In the year 1389, they lost. Serbia and Montenegro fell to the Ottoman
Empire and Bosnia and Herzegovina was left alone. For almost a century,
Bosnia savagely fought off invading forces - including Roman forces
intent on exterminating the pagan Bogumils - but completely fell in
1463.

Well, almost.

Ottoman records reveal how powerful the Bosnian monarch of the time
really was. Muslim soldiers actually thought the city of Jajce was
defended by a being with God-given, divine powers. This ruler was no
King, no man.

It was the child Queen Katarina Velika (Catherine the Great). Once a
day she ventured out onto the city's protective walls to address the
Ottoman soldiers scrambling below.

"Ovo je Bosna!" (This is Bosnia!) she cried, "And I am her Queen!"

And so the city remained Bosnia, and she remained Queen, until she was
so old and weak that the Ottomans finally found the strength to
overtake her - in 1525. Jajce, and indeed the whole of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, was dead - or so they thought.

Once the siege of Jajce was lifted, residents - for the first time in
more than a century - were able to venture outside the protective walls
of King Tvrtko's fortress and see what changes had taken place
elsewhere in the country since the Ottoman Empire arrived.

Soon the same changes began to take place in Jajce.

Tired of war with the Ottomans - and with the forces of Roman
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy - the people of Bosnia had long ago
decided to accept fate, convert to Islam, and view the Ottoman Empire
as their own. This was made all the more rewarding as the Ottoman
authorities spared no expense in giving Bosnia and Herzegovina
elaborate fortresses, mosques, bridges, and more.

Bogumilism faded much more slowly in Jajce and a significant portion of
the city's population chose not to convert to Islam. Because so many
had given themselves to the Ottomans, many others emmigrated to Croatia
or Italy and converted to proper Roman Catholicism. They considered it
to be a more acceptable compromise.

By 1584, King Tvrtko's fortress surrounded a busy, Ottoman town. To
this day the Jajce carsija, or marketplace, remains unique in the
country. Although the buildings were constructed in a traditional,
Bosnian style - they were arranged in a way best suited to Ottoman
purposes.

Soon mosques were built to accommodate the many converts who chose the
crescent as their route to God. Again, the mosques were built in a
traditional Bosnian style - making them unique.

Jajce continued its peaceful existence
well out of the spotlight for centuries. Its population of 44,000
remained constant even as other cities, mere settlements compared to
Jajce's centuries of tremendous important - like Sarajevo, Mostar,
Tuzla, Zagreb, New York, Toronto, etc. - grew and surpassed it.

It was not until WWII that Jajce made headlines once again. The city
was chosen to host the second convention of the Anti-Fascist Council of
National Liberation of Yugoslavia in 1943. That particular meeting set
the foundation for the creation of Yugoslavia in 1945.

In 1992, the Bosnian Serb army targetted the city with a special
enthusiasm. Jajce was bombarded for months and finally fell to Serbian
nationalists in October of that year. The city's population was
completely expelled and survivors made their way to Travnik, from which
a counter-offensive was organized and - with help from the Croatian
army - the city was liberated in 1995.

Jajce is often called the 'capital of Bosnian hearts' and thank God
this important city, which in its history reflects the entire history
of the Bosnian people, has survived.