The Role of Hungarian Kingdom in the formation of Banja Luka

The traces of original settlement at the space of contemporary Banja Luka were connected with the
era of Romans, when the settlement by the name of Castra was important place with city walls at
the Roman trade route from Salona (Split) to Servitium (Gradiška). Besides of trade role, the
settlement was important for Romans because of the use of the healing springs they discovered
there. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Slavs took over the city. Slavs settled in the Balkans in the
6th century.

Presence of Hungarian rule over the parts south of the rivers Una and Sava was secured already in
12th century. In the 15th century Hungarians managed to build the defensive line against the
expansion of Ottomans from the southeast. This line mainly consisted from the towns with the high
stone walls. Banja Luka was part of this Hungarian defensive line in the second half of 15 th century.

The city with the name of Banja Luka was first mentioned in a document dated to 6 February 1494,
by the Hungarian King Vladislav II. This King, with the Hungarian name Ulászló (Laslo), from the
Jagiellonian dynasty, ruled from 1490 to 1516. It was logical that Hungarians built main structures of
Kastel fortress in Banja Luka, at the end of 15th and beginning of 16th century, although the fortress
was situated on the site of previous fortifications going all the way back to Roman and even pre-
Roman times.

The origin of the name Banja Luka is unclear until today. The name perhaps may be derived from the
words Ban and Luka. Ban or Banj was a ruler title, Luka means port or "place of rest", so the name
can be compared with "King's port". The name is sometimes interpreted as the 'Ban's meadow',
from the words ban and luka ('valley' or 'meadow'). On the other side, in Hungarian, "bánya" means
mine. A different interpretation is suggested through the example of the Hungarian name
Lukácsbánya, in English 'Luke's Mine'.

Immediately after a defeat of Hungarian Kingdom in the Battle of Mohács (Mohač), fought against
the Ottomans on 29 August 1526, a political vacuum was created in the context of the further rule
over the Kingdom. This vacuum was relatively quickly filled by the Habsburgs, in accordance with the
succession decisions adopted at the Vienna Congress in 1515. Banja Luka fell to the Ottomans in
1527. Through next several centuries they have drastically changed the face of previous Hungarian
city.