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- BIOGRAPHY
Prijezda was a Bosnian ban as a vassal of the Hungarian kingdom, ruling from 1250 to 1287. He was the founder of the house of Kotromanic. Of his four children, only Stjepan is recorded with progeny.
Prijezda was originally Catholic, but he later converted to Bogomilism, a Gnostic sect which believed in one God rather than the Trinity and in Jesus as a prophet, and called for a return to early Christianity and the rejection of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. According to the Pope's letter to Ban Matej Ninoslav, Prijezda converted back to Catholicism during Matej's reign. As he could not be trusted because of his previous conversion, he was forced to send his eldest son Prijezda II to the Dominican Order in Rome as a guarantee. Although Ninoslav petitioned Rome for the release of Prijezda II with the assurance that he and his father were faithful Catholics, Prijezda II was not released at that time.
During the Crusades in Bosnia (1234-1239) against Matej Ninoslav, Herzeg Coloman, commanding the Christian armies, conquered most of Bosnia and temporarily pushed out Matej and his forces. He gave the title of Bosnian Ban to Prijezda, who was Ninoslav's closest living relative. Prijezda ruled for only two years, because Matej managed to restore control over most of Bosnia after the Hungarian defeat by the Tartars Prijezda then fled to Hungary.
After the death of Matej Ninoslav in 1250, his sons fought to keep Bosnia independent, but eventually King Béla IV of Hungary subjugated Bosnia and appointed Prijezda as its ban, and he swore to rule as a Hungarian vassal.
After he became ban, Prijezda started a campaign to exterminate the Bogomil sect in Bosnia. In light of Prijezda's ruthless attack on the Bogomils, the Pope ordered the Dominicans to return his son to him. On 11 November 1253 the Hungarian king Béla IV wrote how Prijezda had fiercely fought against the Bosnian 'heretics'. Bela partitioned Bosnia, giving Bosnia proper (the area between the valleys of the rivers Vrbas and Bosna) to Prijezda as his hereditary demesne. Out of the areas of Usora and Soli he created separate banates ruled by bans appointed by Béla, whom he later subjected to the banate of Macva which he had raised to a dukedom. The king appointed his grandson Béla as the duke of Macva. Eventually Bosnia proper was subjected to the dukedom of Macva.
Because of his efforts against the Bogomil sect, Prijezda received the title 'Fidelis Noster' (Our Faithful) from the Hungarian king, as well as several lands outside Bosnia, around Gornji Miholjac. Béla IV attacked the Serb kingdom of Stefan Uros I 'the Great', and in 1254 he conquered Zahumlje, which he gave to Prijezda's Bosnia. However the eventual peace between Hungary and the Serbs returned Zahumlje to Serbia. In 1255 Béla granted new lands in Slavonia to Prijezda. However he had to send Bosnian forces in 1260 to fight in the Hungarian army against Przemysl Ottokar II, king of Bohemia.
In 1270 King Béla IV died and was succeeded by his son Stephan V. The powerful duke of Macva was killed in a war in 1272, and in the same year King Stephan V died and was succeeded by his son Lászlo IV. As he was too young to rule, his mother Erzsebet of the Cumans acted as regent. During these turbulent times Prijezda's power fell considerably. Not only did several Hungarian nobles, including Ugrin of Severin, Hungary's treasurer, include Bosnia in their titles, but the nobleman Stjepan (Stephen) II of Bribir appeared in Bosnia with high influence and prestige, greatly surpassing that of Prijezda.
In 1284 Prijezda arranged a marriage between the Serbian princess Jelisaveta, daughter of Stefan Dragutin, king of Serbia, and his son Stjepan, in an attempt to forge a lasting alliance with Dragutin. Prijezda was forced to withdraw from the throne in 1287 due to old age. He spent his last days on his estate in Zemljenik.
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Est 1220 - Aft 1287 (~ 67 years)
