Drina (župa)

Drina ([drǐːna]; Serbian Cyrillic: Дрина) was a medieval župa (county) located somewhere in what is now Podrinje (the Drina valley) in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina and western Serbia. Its location and spread is unclear. The region was part of the first Serbian Principality, in the Early Middle Ages. John Kinnamos (1143–1185) noted that the Drina separated Bosnia from Serbia, although a 1187 Papal document still identified Bosnia as part of Serbia. When Bosnia became separated politically from Serbia is unclear. The Drina župa was mentioned in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (CPD, ca. 1300), as the site of a battle and the fief of Serbian nobleman Tihomir during Prince Časlav's reign (927–960). The CPD, in chapter IX, holds that Serbia is made up of two provinces, Raška and Bosnia. In 1359, veliki čelnik Dimitrije (fl. 1349–59) is mentioned as holding Gacko, Drina, Dabar, and Rudine. Drina is mentioned as an area with the fortified town of Sokol-grad in 1444, as a dominium (lordship, knežina) in 1448, as a lordship with Falcone (Soko) in 1454. It was part of the dominion of the Kosača noble family.