THE MEDIEVAL BOSNIAN Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate were two different political, religious, and cultural state organizations. Relations between the states led to border interactions, alliances, conflicts, and affiliation to the same or a broader opposing political camp over a period of time between 1402 and 1459. Because they were not connected by such common medieval relations as vassalage and suzerainty, the contacts between Bosnia and the despotate were of low intensity with ongoing issues. Such contacts often included a wide range of neighbouring states, thereby creating significant moments that left their mark on everyday life in the wider area of Southeast Europe. The specific geographical positions of these states initiated a continuous overlapping of strong influences of eastern and western factors. The mutual relations between the Bosnian Kingdom and Serbian Despotate in the fifteenth century cannot be observed from today's perspective without accepting the political picture of the wider region. At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the South Slavic countries, and most of all, Bosnia and the Serbian Despotate, found themselves in the gap between the political ambitions of the Ottoman Empire and Hungary. Those were two powerful states in different religious and political positions. While the Ottoman expansion was the strongest, Hungarian policy towards the southern neighbours took on an increasingly defensive character. In addition to them, Ragusa, which has always been an interested factor in gaining economic and political profit from the neighbouring countries, was another active participant in the creation of an image of mutual relations between Bosnia and the despotate. The character and quality of the relations of these countries towards Bosnia and the despotate greatly influenced their position in the regional policy, which directly reflected on the mutual relations of these two countries.

The thematic framework of the neighbouring states’ roles in the formation of the political relations between the Bosnian Kingdom and the Serbian Despotate has not been adequately represented in previous historiography. So far, this problem has been treated in monographs on Bosnian relations with Hungary and Venice, unpublished doctoral theses on Bosnian relations with the Ottoman Empire and the city of Ragusa, studies on the relations of Ragusa with the Hungarians and the Ottomans, and on the relations between the Balkan states and the Ottomans.