Stephen II (; 14th century – September 1353) was the Bosnian Ban from 1314, but in reality from 1322 to 1353 together with his brother, Vladislav Kotromanić in 1326–1353. He was the son of Bosnian Ban Stephen I Kotromanić and Elizabeth, sister of King Stefan Vladislav II. Throughout his reign in the fourteenth century, Stephen ruled the lands from Sava to the Adriatic and from Cetina to Drina. He was a member of the Kotromanić dynasty. He was buried in his Franciscan church in Mile, near Visoko, Bosnia.
Early life When his father died in 1314 and Croatian Ban Mladen II Šubić emerged as Count of Zadar, Princeps of Dalmatia and Second Bosnian Ban, Stephen's mother Elizabeth took him and his siblings and fled with them into exile to the Republic of Dubrovnik. Mladen was not popular in Bosnia and had fought bloody but losing wars against the Serbian Kingdom (under Stephen Uroš II Milutin), and the Venetians (to whom he lost Zadar in 1313), along with numerous internal opponents of his regime. Mladen came to the idea to impose Stephen Kotromanić as his vassal in Bosnia, for he was sure that he would be well accepted in Bosnia. The Šubić, vengeful enemies of the House of Kotromanić now became their protectors. Mladen decided to keep Stephen II under his firm grip and to use him to eradicate the Bosnian Church, so he arranged a marriage between Stephen and a Princess from the family of the Count Meinhard of Ortenburg that ruled in Carniola. The Pope was against the marriage since both families were related, but it would give Stephen certain advantages, so he convinced the Pope to allow it.
Reign
Ascent Ban of Croatia, Mladen II, member of the Šubić noble family, became Ban of Bosnia in 1305, following his uncle, who was appointed Ban of Bosnia by his brother Paul I and was killed in fighting "Bosnian heretics" in 1304. Paul I referred to himself as Lord of all of Bosnia in a charter from 1305, but it is doubtful that he held all Bosnia at any time.
Until 1319 Mladen's II army had already entirely retreated from Bosnia, as he had found himself stuck in numerous troubles and conflicts with revolting cities in Dalmatia. This disorder greatly helped Stephen II as he gained influence and the chance to rule on his own and build up his realm opened up, all the while his supreme liege, the Hungarian king Charles I Robert, had plans which required Ban's help. Charles I went on a campaign to eradicate the Croatian magnates in order to become the sole ruler of the realm. He isolated Matthew III Csák and destroyed the Kőszegi family. The time had come for the Šubićs. Near the end of 1321, he ordered Stephen II to act from Bosnia supported by Ban John Babonić from Slavonia, encircling and isolating Croatia. Stephen II now fell under King Charles Robert's direct command. Due to the fact that he wanted to get revenge and get rid of the Šubićs, this was useful to him for the time being, since he could then rule Bosnia uninterrupted without incursions from Dalmatia, and practically entirely by himself as Charles I would be too far away to watch his every move. Besides that, he also got a chance to expand his influence in Croatia. The decisive battle happened near Mladen's capital Skradin in 1322, where he was defeated decisively. Mladen II fell back to Klis Fortress and waited for Charles I to come, blindly believing that he would somehow retain his power because of Šubić's loyal service during King's ascension to tron. However, Charles I came to Knin and invited Mladen to meet him there where he was immediately arrested and sent to a dungeon in Hungary where he died.
Early reign and other marriages Immediately after the death of Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin in 1321, he had no problem in acquiring his lands of Usora and Soli, which he fully incorporated in 1324. He helped his uncle Vladislav of Syrmia to regain all Serbia, but after the fall of Ostrvica at Rudnik at the hands of Stefan Dečanski, there was no more point in supporting him during the struggles for the Serbian throne, so he took Usora and Soli for himself. The hostility caused by this between Bosnia and Serbia would lead to Stephen II Kotromanić's war against Dečanski several years later.
When his uncle Vladislav died, he gained some parts of his realm of Syrmia. After this, Stephen II spent the first years of his reign in relative peace. He gave numerous privileges to the local nobility to increase popularity. One of the most famous was the edict in which he gave some župe) to Prince Vukoslav. In the edicts he refers to his brother Vladislav with the title Prince of Bosnia sharing equal rule with him since 1326, although Stephen had, being Ban, the real rule.
In 1323 Hungarian King Charles Robert wanted to increase influence over Ban Stephen II Kotromanić. He offered Stephen the hand of his wife's distant relative, Elizabeth of Kuyavia, daughter of Duke Kazimierz III of Gniewków and received from the King as a gift with the marriage the lands to the west formerly held by Mladen I Šubić Bribirski and Usora and Soli in the north formerly held by Stephen Dragutin and his son, Vladislav II of the Nemanjić. The marriage was legalized by 1339. Up to 1339 Stephen was still married to the daughter of the Bulgarian tsar and had been previously married to a countess of Ortenburg.
Conflicts in Dalmatia
The Hungarian king Charles I Robert had asked Stephen II again, around 1323, to join the new Ban of Slavonia Nicholas Felsőlendvai and launch a joint offensive against Nelipić in Croatia. Nikola's expedition eventually failed, but it did rise up Juraj II Šubić (brother of Mladen II Šubić) against Nelipić, and, eventually, Bosnian Ban Stephen II himself. The movement wanted to return the Šubić to power in Croatia with Juraj II on the throne. When an all-out war broke out between the armies of Prince Ivan Nelipić and Juraj II Šubić in the Summer of 1324, Ban Stephen II contributed considerable support to the Šubićs, without involving his forces into clashes. It turn out to be good move, because the Šubić's party was massacred near Knin and Juraj II Šubić himself was captured by Prince Nelipac. Stephen II had attempted to liberate Juraj II from imprisonment, but without success.
Ivan Nelipić immediately pushed the fight against Ban Stephen II, and managed to capture city of Visuća, but Stephen's shrewd politics and willingness to bestow his nobility with privileges had paid off, as Vuk of Vukoslavić family had helped him to retake the city. Although Stephen's military ambitions were only relatively successful he continued to wage war against the enemies of the Šubić. His target was the city of Trogir which was one of the major supporters of Nelipić's campaigning. Stephen adopted a harsh tactic. His forces raided Caravans from Trogir, which eventually forced its denizens to humbly sign a peace and addressed him as the high and mighty lord Stephen free ruler and master of Bosnia, Usora and Soli and many other places and Prince of the Hum. It is because of this that Stephen started a conflict with the Republic of Ragusa regarding trade. Stephen was shown as a very tough negotiator and the negotiations finally ended in 1326.
After seeing that Ban Nicholas Felsőlendvai was unable to weaken the position of Nelipić, Hungarian King Charles I deposed him. The new man for the job was one of his most trusted men, Ban Mikac Mihaljević. Ban Mikac advanced toward Croatia in the summer of 1325. Bosnian Ban Stephen II sent several squadrons to assist him in his offensive. In 1326, after taking Babonić family cities Mikac advanced deeper into Croatia, where he meet Stephen's reinforcements. The expedition eventually had little success, so Mikac sent a portion of his army to Bihać which would serve as defence against Nelipić's possible counterattacks and retreated to Hungary.
Ban Stephen II gained territories, expending his realm to the coast by annexing space between mouths of the Cetina and the Neretva rivers, and all in between Bosnia main proper and the coast, namely vast expanses of karst poljes of Livanjsko, Duvanjsko and Glamočko, which will from that point on be known as Završje (also "Western Sides", ), until territorial reconfiguration under Ottomans. Ban also annexed towns and forts of Imotski, Livno, Duvno, Glamoč, Grahovo. In just a year from this point Stephen II will turn to Zahumlje and annex it for Bosnian realm as well.
Conflict with Serbia By 1326 Ban Stephen II attacked Serbia in a military alliance with the Republic of Ragusa and conquered Zahumlje (or Hum), gaining more of Adriatic Sea coast, from mouth of the Neretva to Konavle, with areas significant Orthodox population under Serbian Orthodox Church and mixed Orthodox and Catholic population in coastal areas and around Ston. He also expanded into Završje, including the fields of Glamoč, Duvno and Livno.
These parts of the province of Hum, that Ban conquered and annexed for Bosnia, were ruled by the Serbian vassalage family the Branivojevićs and their overlord Crep, Stefan Dečanski's viceroy for Trebinje and coastal areas around Ston, whom Branivojević attacked and killed. The King Stefan had no desire to defend this family and their lands from Ban Stephen's forces claiming their past sins, but in reality he assessed Bosnians to strong for his forces. Bosnia controlled the coast from the border with Ragusa across Neretva to Omiš. Ban Stephen himself killed two members of the Branivojević, while Branko Branivojević fled to Serbia and sought help from King Stefan and then headed to Ragusa, from where he proceeded to Ston. Ban Stephen pursued the chase of Branko, but eventually the Ragusan forces caught the last of the four brothers from the Branivojević. The Bosnian titles included Lord of the Hum Land ever after. Ban Stephen became the ruler of all the lands from Cetina to Neretva with the exception of Omiš which was taken by the Hungarians.
In 1329, Ban Stephen II Kotromanić pushed another military attempt into Serbia, assaulting Lord Vitomir of Trebinje and Konavli, but the main portion of his force was defeated by the Young King Dušan who commanded the forces of King Stefan Dečanski at Priboj. The Ban's horse was killed in the battle, and he would have lost his life if his vassal Vuk had not given him his own horse. By doing so, Vuk sacrificed his own life, and was killed by the Serbian troops in open battle. Thus the Ban managed to add Nevesinje and Zagorje to his realm.
Although the Zahumljans mostly accepted the Ban's rule, some resisted, like Petar Toljenović who ruled the Seaside from his capital in Popovo; he was the grandson of the famous Andrija, Prince of Hum. Petar raised a rebellion, wishing either more autonomy or total independence and the eventual restoration of the conquered territories to Serbia. He lost a battle against Ban Stephen II and was imprisoned and put in irons. Stephen had him thrown with his horse off a cliff. Peter survived for a full hour after the fall.
The Ban's vassal that governed Hum started to raid Ragusa's trade routes, which worsened Bosnian-Ragusan relations that were very high during the conquest of Hum. To make matters worse, he (Ban's vassal) asked Ragusa to pay him the old traditional mogorish tax that it traditionally paid to the Hum and Serbian rulers and even asked it to recognize his supreme rule. The Republic of Ragusa refused outright.
Religious tensions in Bosnia The Pope was enraged by the religious tensions that grew in Bosnia, installed Fabian of the Franciscan Order as the Inquisitor in Slavonia and gave him the task of rooting out heresy in Bosnia. The Pope requested Stephen II's full assistance. In 1327 the Dominicans and Franciscans argued over who would be granted the task of burning the heretics. Although Fabian eventually took over the leadership over the movement, he utterly failed. Then the Pope wrote to the Hungarian King for a military intervention in Bosnia.