RELATIONS BETWEEN THE Bosnian state and the Roman Curia during the medieval period had several layers. There was a predominance of anti-heretic discourse in which Bosnia was a pawn in a political game between the Hungarian Kingdom, its nearest neighbour, the main aspirant to its territories, and the papacy, which was seeking to protect its interests and needed a strong ally such as Hungary on the border with Orthodox Christianity. Therefore, Bosnia, its rulers, and its population were subjected to various threats of spiritual and military punishment, crusades were raised, and economic sanctions were enforced, which resulted in the eventual cessation of all official relations. This situation lasted until the 1440s, when the papacy became aware of the threat that the spread of the Ottoman Empire deep into Eastern and Central Europe was becoming a reality. From this point, anti-Turkish discourse came to overshadow that against heretics and Bosnia became an important player in the plans to stop the expansion of the greatest enemy of Christian Europe, thus becoming a close ally of the Roman Curia. Despite this, the quality of relations between Bosnia and the curia did not change substantially. Political themes remained prevalent, with an increase of concern regarding the state of faith in the region. No detailed accounts exist telling whether the papacy had any influence on the areas of everyday life, urban and economic development or on the cultural and civilizational development of the Bosnian state. The only exception to this before and after 1440 was the issue of marriage. The peculiar treatment of marriage in medieval Bosnia intrigued the curia for a long time, primarily because the theological stance on marriage in the Christian world was still in the process of development and dogma was not fixed until the Tridentine council in the sixteenth century, when marriage became listed as one of the holy sacraments of the Roman church.

During the early medieval period in regions dominated by Latin Christianity, marriage was mostly a secular matter and the church merely meddled in these customs from afar. Marriage existed on the brink of sacral life and was considered rather a process than an event. Only when the kingdoms turned sacred, because of the need of the ruling class to have divine recognition of their position, did a slow but progressive sacralization of marriage begin.