UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY 191
his misfortunes from the mountain tops, he ended by descending into the plain to declare himself the vassal of the powerful invader.” 1 He was certainly less cruel than most of his neighbours, and, unlike them, was guilty of no particularly heinous murders. The result of his ambitious schemes was the formation of the Duchy afterwards called of St. Sava or the Herzegovina.2 In 1396 he meditated a descent on Cattaro in order to round off his dominions. This town was also coveted by Radic Crnoevic, lord of what is now Montenegro. Radic got into trouble with Balsa, by whom he was defeated and killed, while Sandalj, although he could not take Cattaro, took Budua, probably at the secret instigation of Venice, who did not wish Balsa to advance further north. Sandalj was granted the honorary citizenship of Venice.
   In the meanwhile, in spite of several set-backs, Turkish raids into Bosnia continued. Small bands were sent forward as feelers to ravage and plunder and prepare the way for their grand advance. We find the Ragusan Senate asking the King of Hungary to recommend them to Venice for protection against the Turks,3 while they gave asylum in Stagno and Sabbioncello to many Slaves and Vlachs who were flying from the terrible enemy. On September 28, 1396, Sigismund, King of Hungary, at the head of a confederate force of 100,000 Christians, was totally defeated by the Sultan Bayazet at Nikopolis on the Danube. The King himself managed to escape down the river on a Venetian galley to the Black Sea to Constantinople, across the iEgean, and up the Adriatic
    1	Gelcich, Balia, 183. 2 I.e. “ the Duchy,” from Herzeg or Herzog.
3	Ref., in Dipl. Rag., March 20, 1392.