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Katarina Kosaca

Female 1424 - 1478  (54 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and 3 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Katarina Kosaca 
    Birth 1424 
    Gender Female 
    Death 25 Nov 1478  Roma, Latium, Italia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial Ara Coeli Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 2 Siblings 
    Person ID I669556  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 15 Nov 2009 

    Father Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca,   b. 1404   d. 1466 (Age 62 years) 
    Mother Jelena Balšic   d. 1453 
    Marriage 1424 
    Family ID F294644  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Stjepan Tomaš von Bosnien   d. 10 Jul 1461 
    Marriage 26 May 1446 
    Children 
     1. Sigismund von Bosnien,   b. 1449   d. Yes, date unknown
     2. Katarina von Bosnien,   b. 1459   d. Yes, date unknown
     3. NN von Bosnien   d. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F294651  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 15 Nov 2009 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 25 Nov 1478 - Roma, Latium, Italia Link to Google Earth
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  • Photos Photos (Log in)Photos (Log in)

  • Notes 
    • Growing up in Blagaj , Katarina was said to have spent her childhood reading poetry, playing the organ, and entertained by buffo performances of actor Mrvac and travelling actors from Florence and Dubrovnik on her father's court. Legend has it that Mrvac was Katarina's first love.
      On 26 May 1446, she was given in marriage to the illegitimate son of Stjepan Ostoja , Stjepan Tomaš , to strengthen the ties between the Bosnian royal house and Bosnia's nobility at the time when Count Herman II of Celje and Zagorje, son of Herman I of Celje and Katarina of Bosnia (who, in turn, was a daughter of Vladislav Kotromanic ), was poised to claim the Bosnian throne, and the Ottoman threat to Bosnia was looming.
      Stjepan Tomaš was in a difficult position. His own brother, Radivoj Ostojic , supported by the Ottomans , was also claiming rights to the throne, referring to himself as Bosnian king, while Bosnian nobility considered his origins and marriage to a commoner, Vojaca , unfit for a king. Tomaš sought support from the Pope , and in exchange for recognition of himself as a legitimate ruler of Bosnia and denunciation of the heretic Bosnian Church , he was crowned in 1445. In another political masterstroke, he married Katarina in a Catholic ceremony in May of 1446 ensuring, at least for a short while, the support of the most powerful nobleman in the kingdom and a staunch supporter of the Bosnian Church , Stjepan Kosaca .
      Having moved to Kraljeva Sutjeska , the seat of Bosnian kings , Katarina gave birth to son Sigismund (also referred to as Šimun), in 1449, and daughter Katarina in 1459. During this time, her husband, under pressure from the Catholic Church , embarked on widespread persecution of the followers of the Bosnian Church once again colliding with the Bosnian nobility and people. Some 40,000 followers of the Bosnian Church found refuge in the lands controlled by Katarina's father, who, having received the title of Herzeg from the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III in 1448 and with the blessing of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, once again found himself on the collision course with his son-in-law.
      Tomaš died on 10 July 1461 and was succeeded by his son, Stephen Tomaševic , who recognised Katarina as queen mother. Tomaševi wife, Mary of Serbia , replaced Katarina as Queen of Bosnia. Tomaševi reign was short, as he was beheaded on 5 June 1463.

      While Queen Katarina escaped to Kozograd , and then to Konjic , Ston and Dubrovnik , her children were taken to Turkey and converted to Islam. It appears that she never heard from them again, but hoped until the end of her days that they would be freed. Other sources claim it was her half-brother, Ahmed-pasha Hercegovic , son from Stjepan Vuk marriage to Cecilia and later son-in-law of Bayezid II , who organised for the children to be taken to Istanbul and under whose patronage Katarina's son, now called Ishak-beg Kraloglu (Kraljevi became quite influential. Her daughter Katarina died in Skoplje , where Isa-beg Ishakovic , founder of Sarajevo and Novi Pazar , erected her a tombstone. It stood there until the earthquake of 1963, but has not been repaired since. However, the tradition of visiting the young Katarina's grave and lighting candles there remains alive.
      The unfortunate Queen Katarina carried with her the symbols of the Bosnian royal house, hoping her kingdom was eventually going to be restored. Having spent some time in Dubrovnik , she travelled back to her parental home in Blagaj , but found her ailing father feuding with her brothers Vlatko and Vladislav. With Herzeg Stjepan, she, once again, left for Dubrovnik . Herzeg Stjepan , however, died in 1466 in Novi (today Herceg Novi ), and Katarina accepted the invitation of the Catholic Church to move to Rome . In Dubrovnik , she is said to have left the sword of her late husband to be delivered to her son if he comes back from captivity. Her younger sister, again by Stjepan Vuk marriage to Cecilia, married the ruler of Zeta and Montenegrin epic hero Ivan Crnojevic .
      The Roman Catholic Church seems to have been the only institution that still recognised Katarina as the 'legitimate queen'. However, her influence through noble connections seems to have been wider, since she is noted to have attended the wedding of Serbian Princess Jelena and Russian Duke Ivan III , also known as Ivan the Great .
      In Rome , she lived in a house near the Church of St Mark, with her 'court' consisting of Radi Kleši Juraj Abraham Radi Pavla Mirkovi Jelena Semkovi and Marija Mišljenovi They served her until her death, on 25 October 1478. And edict was issued in Rome marking her death, calling her "Catherine Queen Bosnian of Duke of Saint Sava Stephen, of the birth of Helen and the House of Emperor Stephen kin, wife to Bosnian King Thomas".
      In her will she left all of the kingdom to the Holy See , but only should her children 'not return to the Christian faith'.
      Catholics from the region (mostly Croats ) often visit her tomb in the Roman church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli . Her tombstone features a life-size portrait with the emblems of the houses of Kotromanic and Kosaca to each side. The inscription, originally written in Croatian Cyrillic ., but in 1590 replaced with a Latin one, reads:
      Catharinae Reginae Bosnensi
      Stephani ducis santi sabbae sorori
      et genere Helene et domo principis
      Stephani natae Thomae regis Bosane
      vsori Qvanrum vixit annorum LIIII
      et obdormivit Romae anno Domini
      MCCCCLXXVIII dei XXV oteobris
      monumentum ipsus scriptis positiv.
      The memory of Queen Katarina, who was beatified after her death, is still alive in Central Bosnia, where Catholics traditionally mark 25 October with a mass in Bobovac 'at the altar of the homeland'. Some of the artifacts belonging to the Queen and the Kotromanic family were taken in 1871 by Josip Juraj Strossmayer from the Franciscan monastery in Kraljeva Sutjeska to Croatia for safekeeping until 'Bosnia is liberated'. They have never been returned.

      Various sources are giving similar reasons for calling Katarina Kosa last Bosnian queen. After death of her stepson, king Stjepan Tomaševic in 1463, Katarina tried to obtain help to restore Kingdom of Bosnia, where she will be a queen. Apparently, Mary of Serbia agreed to support her claim, or, at least did not object



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