650th Anniv. of the Death of Stjepan II Kotromanic

Ban Stjepan II began his reign as the vassal to Mladen Šubić, and later continued as an independent ruler after forming an alliance with the Croatian-Hungarian King Karl and turning against Šubić. Taking advantage of the unrest to the east and the west, he battled successfully to turn the small country of Bosnia into a great Banovina and secured it contact with the sea. One of his greatest political successes was winning over Hrvatinići, which to that point was under the patronage of Šubić.

Though clever politics, marital ties and successful warfare, he became powerful and eminent. He married his daughter Elizabeth to the Croatian-Hungarian King Ludovik and offered the land of Hum as her dowry. Under his rule, the Franciscan order received special status in Bosnia. As a Catholic, he built churches and monasteries. He was buried in the Franciscan monastery in Mile near Visoko, where his nephew Tvrtko succeeded him.