Marko Dragišić

Marko Dragišić was the son of Duke Ivaniš Dragišić and the grandson of Dragiša Vukčić, brother of the Grand Duke of Bosnia and Split Duke Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić. In historical sources, he appears three times in the charters of the last two Bosnian kings, Stjepan Tomaš and Stjepan Tomašević. He appears for the first time in the charter of King Stjepan Tomaš, issued on August 22, 1446 in Vranduk, by which he and his brothers, princes Pavle and Juraj, confirmed the possessions of their father Duke Ivaniš Dragišić as inheritance. These are the towns of Ključ, Glaž and Mrin and 60 villages in the counties of Banica, Sana, Glaž and Uskoplje. As can be seen from the text of the charter, the aforementioned possessions were assigned to the brothers for their enjoyment as a whole, without additional splitting into smaller portions where each brother would take part. Like his brothers, Marko was titled as a prince and mentioned after Pavle and before Juraj, which suggests that he was the middle child of Ivaniš Dragišić. Since he is the only one of the brothers mentioned after this charter, it is obvious that it was Marko who acted on behalf of the Dragišićs, that is, he was the most prominent representative of this branch of the Hrvatinići. 

The charter with which Prince Marko Dragišić was recognized was issued immediately after the conclusion of peace between the Bosnian Grand Duke Stjepan Vukčič Kosača and King Stjepan Tomaš, who on that occasion married Stjepan’s daughter Katarina. The newly created situation was not favorable to Duke Ivaniš Pavlović, who was in conflict with the Kosačas, so he turned against King Tomaš, with whom he had previously fought against Grand Duke Stjepan. Although Duke Ivaniš’s reaction was expected, it remains unclear why the Duke of Donji Kraji – Petar Vojsalić, who became one of the king’s main opponents in this period, also turned against the king. Thus, in the efforts to explain the king’s motives for issuing the charter to the Dragišić brothers, the unsettled relations with Duke Petar were also revealed. Based on certain assumptions, the charter was either meant to offer a hand of reconciliation to Duke Petar, as good relations had been established with his relatives the Dragišići, or to distance the Dragišići from his influence. However, different understandings of the context of issuing the charter assume that the war merits of the Dragišić brothers during the king’s capture of Srebrenica ultimately resulted in a reward in the form of confirmation of possessions.

The charter issued to the Dragišić brothers is accompanied by an interesting detail, djed, the head of the Bosnian Church, appears as its guarantor, which seems a bit confusing if you bear in mind the religious turn of King Tomaš, who accepted the teachings of the Catholic Church. It is not possible to completely solve this enigma, but two things are absolutely certain, the charter represents the last testimony of the good relationship between the adherents of the Bosnian Church and the Bosnian king, and secondly, the appearance of djed, the head of the Bosnian Church clearly points to the religious commitment of the Dragišić brothers, who were probably followers of the teachings of this Church.

The next time we encounter Prince Marko Dragišić thirteen years later, in the charter that King Stjepan Tomaš issued on February 19, 1459 to the sons of Ivan Jurčinić, Pavle, Matija and Juraj, as a reward for the service rendered by their father Tomaš during the military campaign of King Tvrtko II in Usora. In addition, they received the villages of Gornje and Donje Vlasine as well as Nozdrvce in the district Jajce. There were only three witnesses listed on the charter, which alludes to the fact that it was issued without much preparation – on the fly, and one of them was Marko Dragišić with the title of court prince. The title of court prince appeared in medieval Bosnia and probably denoted the administrator of the ruler’s court. Thus, Prince Marko’s progress in the feudal hierarchy is noticeable, progressing from being a prince to a court prince, since these were separate titles, and the title of court prince was ranked higher.

Prince Marko Dragišić was last mentioned in the charter of King Stjepan Tomašević dated November 23, 1461, in which he confirmed to the Ragusans the right to rule over Primorje and Konavle and trade privileges, while the Ragusan side undertook to pay the St. Demetrius tribute in the amount of 2000 perpers as well as the tribute for Ston in the amount of 500 perpers. On this occasion, Prince Marko was listed as a witness with other family members (“s bratijom”). By the way, it is a charter that is claimed to be the last official Bosnian charter.

After the aforementioned charter, the further fate of Prince Marko Dragišić is unknown. In addition, his marital relations as well as any offspring are completely unknown based on the sources.

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