The Process of Bordering at the Late Fifteenth-Century Hungarian-Ottoman Frontier

Following the Ottoman conquest of the Despotate of Serbia in 1459 and the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, a new phase of Hungarian-Ottoman relations was introduced. With the disappearance of the Hungarian "buffer" towards the Ottoman-held areas, the territories of the two states became adjacent, and their mutual frontier had to be negotiated afresh. By looking into all available material, Latin, Slavonic, and Ottoman, this paper aims to trace negotiations between the two sides in the period of King Matthias Corvinus’ reign and discern their content and application with regard to borders. It tackles the demarcation of the border between the two sides, and highlights the mechanisms employed for its institutional maintenance