rbarians,
Mahomet agreed to leave the King in possession of his throne on
condition of his paying an annual tax to the Porte. The payment of this,
as I have said, was evaded by his successor, although the old national
manuscripts do not even allow this apology for the barbarous treatment
which he experienced at the hands of the Turks. These affirm that the
King and all his troops, as well as the townspeople, were invited by
Mahomet to hear the official ratification of the agreement. But, at a
given signal, the Turkish soldiers, who had been in concealment, fell
upon the helpless assemblage, and massacred them in cold blood, shutting
up the King Stephen in a cage, where he subsequently died of despair;
and thus ended the Bosnian kingdom. That his position was sufficiently
hopeless to bring about this calamitous result, can scarcely be doubted;
but unfortunately the tomb of Stephen still exists, which proves
tolerably conclusively that his death was of a more speedy, if not of a
more cruel, nature. An inscription is upon it to the effect, 'Here lies
Stephen, King of Bosnia, without his kingdom, throne, and sceptre, and
without his skin.' Of all the family of the unfortunate monarch, the
only one who escaped was his Queen, Cattarina, who fled to Rome, where
she lies buried in the Chapel of Santa Helena.

After the death of Stephen Thomasovich the Turks destroyed Michiaz. The
nobles, driven from their estates, fled to Ragusa; and Stephen,
'Herzog' or Duke of Santo Saba, seeing that Turkish garrisons had
occupied Popovo, Rogatiza, Triburio, Tzeruitza, and Kerka, became so
alarmed, that he offered to pay increased tribute; when, his ministers
refusing to consent to this arrangement, he was obliged to send to
Ragusa for his eldest son Stephen, and give him up as a hostage to the
Porte: he having afterwards abjured Christianity, received the name of
Ahmet, married a daughter of Bajazet II., and was made a Vizier. The
Kingdom of Bosnia and the Duchy of Santo Saba from that time became
provinces of Turkey, the latter under the name of Herzegovina, which it
still retains, and which it had received from the title of 'Herzog' or
Duke, given by Tuartko to its first Governor.

The apostasy of the Bosnian nobles which occurred shortly after the
Turkish conquest, may be regarded as the only event of importance which
has since marked the history of these provinces. The deteriorating
effects which have ever followed the adoption of Islam