THE TURKISH CONQUEST 239
raise funds for him, and enjoined Kosaca to help him.1 Stephen began to attack the Turkish garrisons in Servia, but after taking a few towns he came to terms with the Sultan early in 1458, and paid him a tribute of 9000 ducats. On the death of Lazar, the Despot of Servia, the King of Hungary conferred the despotate on Stephen the Younger, or Tomasevic, the Bosnian king’s son, who had married Lazar’s daughter, Helena. Thus Bosnia acquired the Danubian region of Servia, including Semendria. But Mohammed determined to conquer even these districts once for all, and to punish Stephen Thomas for his audacity. The Servians themselves were dissatisfied with their new ruler, because he was a devout Catholic, and they regarded him simply as a Hungarian viceroy. When in June 1459 Mohammed approached Semendria the inhabitants opened their gates to him. Owing to its position at the confluence of the Morava and the Danube it was the key to the whole country, and its fall, which spelt the end of Bosnian rule in Servia, caused consternation throughout Europe. It was attributed by Matthew Corvinus to Stephen Thomas and his son. While this quarrel was going on and the Hungarian king was at war with Germany, the Turkish general, Hassan Pasha, had obliged the King of Bosnia to let him pass through the country with a large army. The next year hostilities broke out between Paul Sperancic, Banus of Croatia, and Stephen Thomas, in the course of which the latter was killed. His Son, Stephen Tomasevic, succeeded to him, and was the last King of Bosnia (1461).
1 Klaic, 401.