The role of Bogomilism in the creation of Bosnian identity in the Middle Ages

• Main Author: Trako, Redzo
• Published: Queen's University Belfast 2008
• Subjects: 940
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486224

The subject of this thesis is the role of Byzantine-Bulgarian Bogomilism in the creation of Bosnian identity in the Middle Ages. The Bosnian primary sources and material culture - church architecture, stone monuments and ecclesiastic manuscripts - explored in this thesis do not support the claim that Bosnian identity in the Middle Ages was shaped by Bogomils. The thesis analyses the geo-political development of medieval Bosnia, the development of the Church of Bosnia, the sources about church-state relationship, the archaeological remains of about 40 excavated church building foundations; 22 stone 'thrones', some 70,000 standing stones and about 30 ecclesiastical manuscripts. Contrary to extant scholarship, on the basis of this research, no trace of Bogomilism could be found. The thesis concludes that Bosnian identity dtIr4lg the Middle Ages was formed, not through Bogomilism, but rather as an extension of the geography and history of the region situated on the fault line between Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Thus, if the question is 'Did medieval Bosnian identity manifest itself through Bogomilism?' the answer has to be no.