JAJCE (pronounced Yaitse)

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 129 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: INV-JED

JAJCE (pronounced Yaitse) , a town of Bosnia, situated on the Pliva and Vrbas rivers, and at the terminus of a branch railway from

Serajevo

SERAJEVO (pronounced SERAJEVO, " the city of palaces "; Turkish, Bosna Serai; Ger. Sarajewo; Ital. Seraglio)

, 62 m. S.E. Pop. (1895), about 4000.

Jajce

JAJCE (pronounced Yaitse)

occupies a conical hill, overlooking one of the finest waterfalls in Europe, where the Pliva rushes down into the Vrbas, too ft. below. The 14th century citadel which crowns this hill is said to have been built for Hrvoje, duke of Spalato, on the model of the

Castel

CASTEL, LOUIS BERTRAND (1688-1757)

del' Uovo at Naples; but the resemblance is very slight, and although both

jajce

JAJCE (pronounced Yaitse)

and uovo signify " an egg," the town probably derives its name from the shape of the hill. The ruined church of St Luke, said by legend to be the Evangelist's burial place, has a fine Italian belfry, and

dates

DATES

from the 15th century. Jezero, 5 M. W. of Jajce, contains the Turkish fort of Djol-Hissar, or " the Lake-Fort." In this neighbourhood a line of waterfalls and meres, formed by the Pliva, stretches for several miles, enclosed by steep rocks and forest-clad mountains. The power supplied by the main fall, at Jajce, is used for industrial purposes, but the beauty of the town remains unimpaired.
From 1463 to 1528 Jajce was the

principal

PRINCIPAL

outwork of eastern Christendom against the Turks. Venice contributed money for its defence, and

Hungary

HUNGARY
HUNGARY (Hungarian Magyarorszdg)

provided armies; while the

pope

entreated all Christian monarchs to avert its fall. In 1463 Mahomet II. had seized more than 75 Bosnian fortresses, including Jajce itself; and the last independent king of Bosnia, Stephen Tomasevic, had been beheaded, or, according to one tradition, flayed alive, before the walls of Jajce, on a spot still called Kraljeva Polje, the " King's Field." His coffin and skeleton are still displayed in St Luke's Church. The Hungarians, under King Matthias I., came to the rescue, and reconquered the greater part of Bosnia during the same year; and, although Mahomet returned in 1464, he was again defeated at Jajce, and compelled to flee before another Hungarian advance. In 1467 Hungarian bans, or military governors, were appointed to

rule

RULE

in north-west Bosnia, and in 1472 Matthias appointed Nicolaus Ujlaki king of the country, with Jajce for his

capital

CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

. This kingdom lasted, in fact, for 59 years; but, after the death of Ujlaki, in 1492, its rulers only bore the title of ban, and of vojvod. In 1500 the Turks, under Bajazet II., were crushed at Jajce by the Hungarians under John Corvinus; and several other attacks were repelled between 1520 and 1526. But in 1526 the Hungarian power was destroyed at Mohacs; and in 1528 Jajce was forced to surrender.
See Brass, " Jajce, die alte Konigstadt Bosniens," in Deutsche geog. Bldtter, pp. 7185 (Bremen, 1899).

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