The ban's own ground is the old core of Bosnia: the basin of Visoko on the middle Bosna, the Sarajevo field (Vrhbosna), the Lašva and Fojnica valleys and the field of Bilino Polje by Zenica, where the Bosnian priors would meet the papal legate in 1203.
Here the ban kept his household and his scribe, here the Kulin plate records a church he built, and here, in the 14th century, the bans held their assemblies and were buried at Mile by Visoko. No residence or castle of Kulin is named in a document of 1199-1200.
Who he is
- Name
- Kulin
- Title
- Ban of Bosnia
- Since
- about 1180 (first named in a papal legate's letter of 1180)
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Sister: the widow of Miroslav of Hum (died about 1198), living at Kulin's court. Wife: name not in the contemporary record. Son: one known, who went to the Hungarian court in April 1203 (later tradition: Stjepan Kulinić).
- Confidence
- high
FMG Medieval Lands (Bosnia); English Wikipedia (Ban Kulin; Charter of Ban Kulin).
Overlord
King Emeric of Hungary (nominal)
What it holds
- The counties (župe) of Bosnia proper: Vrhbosna, the Visoko basin, Lašva, Brod (Zenica), Fojnica and Lepenica, with Rama on the upper Neretva (see Bosnia).
- The ban's household. Usora and Soli to the north are not yet his (Usora and Soli).
How it was acquired
Ban about 1180, succeeding to Borić's banate after the Byzantine interlude of 1167-1180.
Allies and rivals
See Bosnia: Ragusa (1189 charter), the Hum kin by marriage; Vukan of Dioclea and Archbishop Bernard of Split against him.
How things stand that morning
Rules undisturbed on 1 January 1200; the heresy charge of September 1199 is pending at Rome.
Wealth
Cattle, horses, hides, wax and honey; the trade with Ragusa free of toll for Ragusans.
Military
The ban's retinue; no castles named. Served in 1183 with Béla III and Nemanja against Byzantium.
Threats
- A Hungarian expedition sanctioned by the pope.
- Unrest among the counts if the king takes up the heresy charge.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 11 October 1200Innocent III tells Emeric to investigate Kulin's protection of the Patarenes driven from Split and Trogir.Depends on: The charges standing. Stopped by: Kulin's own submission to Rome.
Places of note
- Kulin plate: Stone inscription of Ban Kulin recording a church, found at Biskupići near Visoko; its date within his reign is not fixed.
- Bilino Polje: Assembly field of the abjuration of 8 April 1203.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The ban is well attested; his residences and the counts of his counties are not.
On the map: A sketch of the core counties; the line between the ban's own land and the counties under local counts is not known for 1200.
Primary sources for Bosnia
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
- The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
- Charters of the kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, volume 2, 1101 to 1200 (documents of 1101 to 1200, edited 1904). The Croatian and Dalmatian charters to 1200: the acts of Duke Andrew as lord of Croatia and Dalmatia (1197 to 1204), the Hungarian kings' grants, the Templars and the bishops of Zagreb, Split, Zadar and Trogir, the communal statutes of the coastal towns, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about Ban Kulin of Bosnia and heresy. Read online
- Hungarian royal charters: Fejér's Codex diplomaticus and Szentpétery's critical calendar of the Árpád kings (documents of the 11th to 13th centuries; Fejér published 1829 to 1844, Szentpétery vol. 1 in 1923). The documentary base for Hungary in 1200: King Emeric's grants to Pannonhalma, the bishops, the Templars and Hospitallers, Duke Andrew's acts in Croatia and Dalmatia, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about his brother's rebellion and about heresy in Bosnia. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.