A further problem is to be found in the fact that Bosnia has in modern times not had its own house of lords and the nobles of Bosnia have thus, not been organised along strict lines of heritage or clearly defined letters of patent. This does not mean that Bosnia has not had its nobility nor does it imply that society in Bosnia was bereft of nobles.

Today the nobility could play a modifying role after the disastrous civil war recently fought as a political institution and a guardian of Bosnia's heterogeneous heritage.

Before studying more closely the nobility as such let us at first ask ourselves who the Bosnians are. Such a definition shows that unlike its neighbours Bosnian identity rests upon a link to a specific geographical area. The first references to Bosnia can be found during the days of the Roman Empire. The region, which then lay in Illiria carried the name Bosnia.

While Croatia and Bosnia refer to specific peoples, a Bosnian identity cannot build upon any such principles as Bosnia during several centuries was a place of refuge for a number of peoples throughout the Balkans. During Roman times we find Illyrians, Greeks and Celts within the area as well as ethnically highly divergent Roman legions.

In the formative centuries of the middle ages Bosnia was assailed by Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Italians and Byzantines opening the way also for Avars, Vlachs, Germans and Armenians who all settled in some numbers within present Bosnia. Recent history also shows influences from the Turks and the Austrians.

A diversity of peoples has thus contributed to the creation of the present Bosnian people.

While the Germanic countries have largely adopted a dual system based upon partilineal rights to titles yet blood ties as proof of nobility itself. The Turkish system on the other hand did not formally recognise any nobility by birth yet a sort of nobility did emerge in Turkish Europe largely on its own accord.

In everyday use we find certain stereotype views of noble privilege yet history shows that the nobility have by all means enjoyed privileges but that these privileges have varied and have at times even been limited to the use of a title rather than to any economic or political prerogatives.

The first nobles thus to be found were not unlike the clan chiefs of Scotland. Extended families were headed by chiefs who in most of Bosnia had the title zupan.

Nobility based on feudal laws, as in most of eastern Europe, came some time later than in the west. In fact the first indications of noble titles of a western sort are to found in the monarchy itself when the banate of Bosnia became a kingdom proper.

In 1446 the duchy was created when Stephan Vukcic declared himself herceg of Hum (present Hercegovina). The title was recognised by the king of Bosnia and was also inherited by Stephen's son Vlatko in spite of the Turkish conquest of Bosnia.

The title of herceg is derived from the German word Herzog, duke. The duchy itself was later not to be known as Hum but simply as the duchy (Hercegovina).

There is some debate regarding the position of other created nobility since the regions of Bosnia were under diverse influences, such a Byzantine practices, Norman feudal principles, Italian participates, Hungarian barons and so on.

During the 15th century individual nobles holding higher office were known as veomoze, which corresponds to the Italian or Spanish grandees or magnates. There is no clear indication that the veomoze would during the age of the Kingdom of Bosnia actually have corresponded to the later groff (from German Graf), counts.

The knez and the veomoze were lords over lands often tilled and cared for by serfs which in Bosnia were known as kmets.

Below the veomoze we find local lords bearing the title knez. There is some indication that this title was used mainly in the eastern areas of Bosnia. It has been suggested that the knez was approximately equivalent to a German baron although a knez in several Slavic languages has been translated as prince.

Similarly Byzantines, Italians, Normans and others could not rank as Bosnian nobles without the recognition of the king of Bosnia even if such persons may as nobles have held land in what today is Bosnia.

The nobility itself was diminished at several stages. Many Bosnian nobles fled with the Catholic population westwards after the conquest by Turks and during the wars of the following 200 years large numbers thus left Bosnia. Some were also sold as slaves by the Turks during the first decade of Turkish rule while others remained border nobles Northwest of Turkish Bosnia.

Before we comment further on the Turkish order it should be noted that parts of Bosnia were under Austrian rule for periods of time prior to 1878 when Turkish rule came to an end. Nobles holding land in these areas were also in part recognised by the Austrian Empire and as such became part of the Austrian nobility.

Turkish society did not build on nobility and titles were normally not only personal but linked to a specific office. Thus, the title of prince, naziri, was in fact only held as long as the person held one of three ministerial positions. Other titles were handled much in the same way including the title of pasha. Although the Turks did not encourage landed gentry a certain landed nobility did develop.

By the time of the Peace Treaty of Passarowitz in 1736 a certain landed gentry had appeared holding land from father to son. The title of aga was used in this context to denote a landholder of some substance while the lower gentry used the title of beg.

If comparable to the kings and rulers of Ireland and Scotland we would be able to translate the Aga into a count within a unified state. Another alternative would be to translate Aga as prince yet Here too we must observe that the word prince is in some contexts a title but in most contexts an indication that the person holds certain sovereign rights. Within a unified state such a recognition of power would be contrary to the interests of state.

No indication seems to exist of the title Pasha, with all its various strata (there were at least three levels of pashas) being used in connection with landholding or as a title of nobility. Titles of position during the Turkish era were not until the late 18th century hereditary in fact rather than by law. Thus, titles during the Turkish era were honorific for a specific purpose and devoid of any blue blooded associations. The Pasha or the Beg often convey a picture of oriental opulence and nobility yet these titles were not hereditary. The same applies to the timar-holders and the spahis if not by fact then by law. The last mentioned institutions were however abolished in Bosnia prior to the end of Turkish rule.

It would seem this chapter in Bosnian history started with the pan-slavic Russian plans for the Balkans. Prince Pavel Demidoff did also belive that Bosnia could not constitute a state of its own on account of the strife between the various groups in the country. This strife had to some degree been encouraged by the neighbours of Bosnia who all geographical interests in the matter.

Bosnia was between 1878 and 1908 officially a part of Turkey administered by Austria-Hungary, which in 1910 received its own government. This implies from the point of view of nobility that the Austrians did not create any Bosnian nobility although Croatian nobles were found in Bosnia at the time. At least prior to 1908, grant Bosnian titles of nobility although persons from Bosnia with holdings in Bosnia could carry Austrian titles.