Situated on the very margins of the Western Catholic world in the Middle Ages, Bosnia was relatively late in accepting and adopting heraldic symbolism. In fact, Bosnian rulers were the first to use coats-of-arms on their coins and seals from the 1330’s and 1340’s, while the highest nobility of the realm was quick to follow them by embracing their own armorial achievements which were displayed on a variety of different objects. Therefore, by the mid-fifteenth century the Bosnian Kingdom had a firmly established and recognizable repertoire of royal and noble heraldry.

And even though the ruling dynasty and the most important noble families lost all power and significance after the Ottoman conquest of the Bosnian Kingdom in 1463, their arms were nevertheless used in order to legitimize and validate a whole new artificial heraldic system that was devised in the sixteenth century. This was the semi-fictitious heraldry of the “Illyrian armorials” that was fabricated on the initiative of a Ragusan nobleman in the service of King Philip II of Spain.

This presentation will seek to describe the origins and development of “Illyrian heraldry” with a particular focus on the inspirations its artists drew from original medieval sources. Among other things, it will also try to define and explain key terms and issues pertaining to the heraldry of the late medieval and early modern Balkans by attempting to identify and differentiate the segments of these armorials which relied on original examples from those that were obviously invented. In this sense, the talk will rely on a number of images in order to show how the authors of “Illyrian armorials” used medieval heraldic designs in their efforts to provide the entire project with a distinct aura of credibility.

About the author

Emir O. Filipović is associate professor of Medieval history at the University of Sarajevo and the head of the University’s History Department. He has written and published extensively about the history of medieval Bosnia, with a particular focus on the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, heraldry, chivalry and the social elites of the Bosnian Kingdom.