Ban (title) - Medieval Bans

Medieval Bans

Ban was the title of local rulers in Croatia and Bosnia since the Slavic population migrated there in the 7th century. References from the earliest periods are scarce, but history recalls the Croatian bans Ratimir in the 9th century (827, under Bulgarian sway) and Pribina in the 10th century (in 949 and in 970). Earliest mentioned Bosnian bans were Borić (1154-1163) and Kulin (1163–1204).

The meaning of the title was elevated to that of provincial governor in the medieval Croatian state (for example, Dmitar Zvonimir was originally a ban in 1065 serving under King Peter Krešimir IV).

Bans were also provincial administrators in the Kingdom of Hungary, where each of the provinces was called banat; the Croatian word for province was banovina. Bans usually administered regions outside the kingdom, but within the realm.

After the Croats elected Hungarian kings as kings of Croatia in 1102, the title of ban acquired the meaning of viceroy because the bans were appointed by the king, though Croatia, remaining a kingdom in personal union with Hungary, was not referred to as a banovina (banate). Croatia was governed by the 'viceregal' ban as a whole between 1102 and 1225, when it was split into two separate banovinas: Slavonia and Croatia. Two different bans were occasionally appointed until 1476, when the institution of a single ban was resumed. The institution of ban in Croatia would persist until the 20th century (see below).

When the medieval Bosnian state achieved a certain level of independence in the 12th century, its rulers were once again called bans, and their territory banovina, likely because of the similar suzerain status that it had towards the king of Hungary. Nevertheless, the Bosnian bans weren't viceroys in the sense they were appointed by the king. Sometimes their title is translated as duke. Kulin came to prominence in Bosnia 1163 as he was under the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus who was just taking the country from the Hungarians earlier, although it would not be until 1180 that he would place Kulin as his vassal as Ban.

The rule of Ban Kulin is often remembered as Bosnia's golden age, and he is a common hero of Bosnian national folk tales. Bosnia was autonomous and mostly at peace during his rule. As an ordered and economically prosperous soon became de facto independent state.

The region of Mačva (now in Serbia) was also ruled by bans. Mačva (Macsó) was part of the medieval Hungarian kingdom though under various levels of independence; some of the bans were foreign viceroys, some were native nobles, and one even rose to the status of a royal palatine.

Ban was also the title of the medieval rulers of parts of Wallachia (Oltenia and Severin) since the 13th century. The Wallachian bans were military governors; their jurisdictions in Wallachia were called banat or bănie. The main Wallachian ruler was titled voivod, the position bans aspired to.

The title ban was also awarded in the Second Bulgarian Empire on several occasions, one example being the 14th-century governor of Sredets (Sofia) Ban Yanuka.