Jajca (Jajce, meaning “egg”) is a city in Bosnia-Hercegovina and it is famous for its huge castle and for the Hungarians, for its siege of King Matthias Corvinus. Its huge castle is situated near the great waterfalls which were painted by Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar.
Jajca was first built in the 14th century and served as the capital of the independent Kingdom of Bosnia during its time. The town has gates as fortifications, as well as a castle with walls that lead to the various gates around the town. The first references to the name of Jajca in written sources are from the year 1396, but the fortress had already existed by then.
Photo: Milo van Kovacevic
It was Lord Tallóci Matkó (Matko Talovac) who took it in 1434 for the Hungarian King Zsigmond but it returned to King Stjepan Tomasevic (István Tamás) of Bosnia before 1449.
Photo: Julian Nyca
Jajca was the residence of the last Bosnian king Stjepan Tomasevic; the Ottomans besieged the town and executed him in 1463 but King Matthias Corvinus took it back on 25 December of the same year, during his Bosnian campaign.
The town belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary between 1464 and 1527 and it was the center of the Dukedom (Bánság or Banovina) of Jajca. The Ottomans besieged it again in 1464 but they were defeated by King Matthias Corvinus. In 1499, Korvin János (John Corvinus), the illegitimate son of King Matthias Corvinus, was appointed Ban of Croatia. Corvinus was an experienced military leader who defeated the German mercenaries near Zagreb in 1491 and the Ottomans near Šibenik in 1499.
Photo: Julian Nyca
Battle of Jajce, early November 1501
In that period, the Ottoman Empire did not bother with the conquest of Croatian regions but instead focused on the economic exhaustion of its opponents by devastation, raiding, and capture of slaves. The demographic and strategic disaster on the Krbava field in 1493 caused the emigration of the population to Hungary, Italy, and the Austrian lands, thus leaving the southern Croatian regions without a demographic source for defense and economic support. The Jajce banate thus remained seriously threatened by the weakened western wing.
Find Jajca Banate on the map
In September 1501, the governor of the Bosnian sanjak İskender Pasha Mihaloğlu besieged Jajce with 12,000 soldiers (20,000 soldiers were mentioned in the report to the king in Buda on November 18), and troops from the Smederevo sanjak arrived to help him. The Ottoman army consisted of Sipahis, irregular cavalry (Akinci, Deli), and a considerable number of irregular “martolóc” infantry (recruited from among the Orthodox Wallachian and Serbian populations).
Irregular Akinji cavalry
Korvin János (John Corvinus) had his Ban’s banderium, royal troops under Cobor Imre, 200 heavy cavalry, and two detachments of infantry sent by Palatine Geréb and banderiums of Croatian noblemen (Karlovići, Frangepani, Zrinski, etc.) and headed to help the besieged city. The Ottoman army met the Christian army in battle formation north of Jajca.
Prince Korvin János (the drawing of Cserna Károly, after the mural in the church of Lepoglava)
Korvin János arranged his army in a square with the infantry in the center protected by wagons carrying food and ammunition for the city garrison. The light cavalry was on the wings and the heavy cavalry was in reserve. The Ottomans started the battle by surrounding and attacking the defensive formation. After more than four hours of fighting, the Ottoman attacks were repulsed. Seeing a favorable moment, Korvin sent the cavalry from the reserve to counterattack. As a result of the weakened morale and weak discipline of the irregular troops, the Ottoman ranks disbanded and fled to the nearby forests.
Jajce (Source: Mario Markovic)
Part of Korvin’s cavalry pursued the Ottomans, and the main part of the army plundered the abandoned Ottoman camp. 4,000 Ottomans died, mostly during the escape, but the Christians also suffered great losses, 1,000 dead and the same number of wounded soldiers. After the victory, Corvinus supplied Jajce with supplies and went to repair the damaged walls.
Croatian cavalrymen, early 16th century
As the castle was a key strategic point of the southern line of the Hungarian Borderland chain at that time, the Ottomans wanted to get it by all means. Due to its strategic importance, Jajce would be the scene of battles in 1502, 1518, and 1525 until its final fall in 1528. They were repelled in 1516 by Zrínyi Miklós (Nikola Subic Zrinski, the great-grandfather of the poet-warrior Zrínyi Miklós who died in 1664) and by Frangepán Kristóf in 1524.
Photo: Julian Nyca
Eventually, in 1527, Jajca became the last Bosnian town to fall to Ottoman rule after being taken by Gházi Huszrev. The town then lost its strategic importance as the border moved further North. Several churches and mosques were built at different times by different rulers, making Jajce a rather diverse town in this aspect.
