St. Gregory, the Patron Saint of Bosnia

Abstract

This paper attempts to shed light on the fluctuating identity of the patron saint of medieval Bosnia. Using available written sources and surviving contemporary numismatic material from the fourteenth and fifteenth century, it presents a curious situation whereby in the late Middle Ages at least three different saints of the same name were revered as patrons of the realm. The author argues that the choice of the specific saints and the changes in their identity were motivated by the peculiar religious conditions in Bosnia where, in light of the Ottoman expansion in the Balkans, the existence of the schismatic Bosnian Church increased external pressure on the ruling structures within the Kingdom of Bosnia to finally accept Latin Christianity as the official state religion.