BOSNIA’S FIRST KNOWN INTERNATIONAL TREATY FROM 1189 IN THE CONTEXT OF DUBROVNIK - BOSNIA RELATIONS

Abstract

In medieval Bosnia’s relations with the Mediterranean world, Dubrovnik occupied a special place as its natural outlet to the sea. The correlation of these relationships was two-way. From the time of the Bosnian Ban Kulin, the political-economic stabilization and expansion of Bosnia began, its trade opening and the shift of cultural life.

At this time, the Kulin Charter to the Dubrovnik Merchants of 29 August 1189 also appeared, allowing them to trade freely in Bosnia. To attract them, Kulin guarantees the people of Dubrovnik the freedom to trade and move around the country they rule. This charter is, in fact, Bosnia’s first international treaty.
The charter shows that at that time Bosnia was a relatively regulated state with a government office and representatives of the banking authorities throughout the country who could guarantee the safety of Dubrovnik merchants. An important feature of this contract is the fact that it is written in Bosnian language and script (Cyrillic variant, known as “Bosnian”).

Otherwise, this letter writes three large groups of monuments: church books, acts of administration, and epigraphic inscriptions. Ban Kulin’s Charter, the oldest preserved act of state administration, is also the oldest document written in a living, modern vernacular in the entire Slavic world.