Bosnian Church
| Bosnian Church Crkva bosanska/Црква босанска |
|
|---|---|
| Governance | Banate of Bosnia, Kingdom of Bosnia |
| Origin | 12th century |
| Separated from | Roman Catholic Church |
| Other name(s) | Crkva dobrih Bošnjana (Church of the Good Bosnians) |
The Bosnian Church (Bosnian: Crkva bosanska/Црква босанска Latin: Ecclesia bosniensis) was a Christian church in Medieval Bosnia that was independent of and considered heretical by both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox hierarchies.
Historians have traditionally connected the church with the Bogomils, although this has been challenged. Adherents of the church called themselves simply krstjani ("Christians") or dobri Bošnjani ("Good Bosnians"). The church's organization and beliefs are poorly understood, because few if any records were left by church members, and the church is mostly known from the writings of outside sources, primarily Roman Catholic ones.
Christian missions emanating from Rome and Constantinople had since the ninth century pushed into the Balkans and firmly established Catholicism in Croatia and most of Dalmatia, while Orthodoxy came to prevail in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and eventually most of Serbia. Bosnia, lying in between, remained a no-man's land due to its mountainous terrain and poor communications.
The bid to consolidate Roman Catholic rule in Bosnia in the 12th to 13th centuries proved difficult. The banate of Bosnia held strict trade relations with the Republic of Ragusa, and Bosnia's bishop was under the jurisdiction of Ragusa. This was disputed by the Hungarians, who tried to achieve their jurisdiction over Bosnia's bishops, but Bosnia's first ban Kulin averted that. In order to conduct a crusade against him, the Hungarians took to Rome, complaining to Pope Innocent III that the Kingdom of Bosnia was a centre of heresy, based on the refuge that some Cathars (also known as Bogomils or patarenes) had found there. To avert the Hungarian attack, ban Kulin held a public assembly on 8 April 1203 and affirmed his loyalty to Rome in the presence of an envoy of the People, while the faithful abjured their mistakes and committed to following the Roman Catholic doctrine. Yet, in practice this was ignored. On the death of Kulin in 1216 a mission was sent to convert Bosnia to Rome but failed.
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