THE TURKISH ADVANCE. 307 the Turks as treating the peasants kindly, promising them free- dom, and thus winning them over, and he adds that the mag- nates cannot defend their castles when thus abandoned by the peasants.* As regards the Cathari, the Turkish advance produced two contrary effects. On the one hand there was the danger that per- secution would drive them to seek protection from the enemy. On the other hand there was absolute need of assistance from Christendom, which could only be obtained by submission to Kome, and obedience to her demands for their extermination. Both of these influences worked to the destruction of Bosnia, for when toleration was practised aid was withheld, and when at last perse- secution was established as a policy the Cathari welcomed the invader, and contributed to the subjugation of the kingdom. In 1420 Stephen Tvrtko II. reappeared upon the scene, and the next year he was acknowledged. There followed a breathing- space, for the Turkish general Isaac was defeated and killed dur- ing an incursion into Hungary, and Mahomet I., involved in strife with Mustapha, had no leisure to repair the disaster. This did not last long, however, for in 1424 the sons of Ostoja endeavored, with Turkish help, to win back their father's throne, the only re- sult of which was a war ending with the surrender of a portion of Bosnian territory to Murad II. Again, in 1433, when Tvrtko was fighting with the Servian despot, George Brankovic, he was sud- denly called to the south to withstand a Turkish inroad invited by Radivoj, one of the sons of Ostoja, and this was immediately followed by the rising of Sandalj Hranic, the powerful magnate of Herzegovina, who drove Tvrtko to seek refuge with Sigismund. His absence lasted three years, during which the wildest confusion reigned in Bosnia, the Turks being constantly called in to partici- pate with one side or the other.f Meanwhile the rise of the Observantine Franciscans was re- storing to the Church some of its old missionary fervor, and fur- nishing it with the necessary self -devoted agents. In spite of the preoccupations arising from the contest between Eugenius lY. and the Council of Basle, an effort was made to win back Bosnia to the faith. If anything could accomplish this there might be
- Klaic, p. 416. f ibid. pp. 335-8, 344-6. 351-3.
