Tinto Maps #9 - 5th of July 2024 - Carpathia and the Balkans

[Mingmung]

I have some suggestions for improving the density and accuracy of the map, particularly in Hungary:

• Add Tokaj Location: Please create a new Tokaj location out of south Zemplén and assign wine as its raw resource. Although the town is small, Tokaj wine's economic impact is significant.
• Add Villány Location: Establish Villány as an independent location out of south Pécs, again with wine as a resource.
• Wine Resources: Change Eger, Buda, and Veszprém's raw materials to wine to better reflect historical production. I am a bit too much into wine.
• Add Žilina Location: Divide Trencin into East and West and name the eastern half Žilina.
• Add Trnava/Nagyszombat Location: Create Trnava (Nagyszombat) out of the eastern part of Pressburg and some slices of surrounding locations.
• Borsod Renaming: Rename Borsod to Diósgyőr or Miskolc if we are naming locations after towns.
• Hlohovec Adjustment: Remove horses as a raw resource from Hlohovec. Hungary should have horses on the plains.
• Rename Leibitz to Kežmarok: Kežmarok was a more important city historically.
• Rename Beregovo to Berehovo/Beregszász: Split it into Southern Berehovo and Northern Mukacsevo/Munkács.
• Change Yasine to Maramureș (Máramarossziget): This area was historically significant as a center for logging and salt mining.
• Split Northwestern Nagyakálló: Create Szabolcs and assign fruit as a raw resource.
• Split Bihar: Create an eastern Nagyvárad (one of the most important cities in Hungary) and Berettyóújfalu.
• Rename Várda to Kisvárda.
• Split Csanád: Create a southern Szeged with salt as a raw resource (it was a center of salt trade) and a northern Hódvásárhely (today's Hódmezővásárhely) with livestock.
• Split Eastern Vasvár: Create Szombathely (one of the oldest towns in Hungary, also known as Savaria from the Romans).
• Split the very eastern part of Baranya: Create Mohács with livestock.
• Create a new location called Banská Štiavnica/Selmecbány: Located at the border of Óbars, Hont, and Banská Bystrica. This was one of the first royal free towns and a significant source of silver and gold.
• Split Northern Prešov: Create Bardejov/Bártfa, an important commercial city on the trade route from Hungary to Poland.
• Split Western Levoča: Create Poprad/Poprád with copper and a German population.
• Split Northern Sopron: Create Kismarton/Eisenstadt.
• Split Jakeb-Szállás: Create a southern Kecskemét and a northern Cegléd.
• Rename Bodrog to Baja.
• Split Zalavár: Create a northern Egerszeg (Zalaegerszeg today) and southern Kanizsa.
• Split Segesd and Somogyvár: Create Kaposvár.
• Split Eastern Eger: Create Gyöngyös.
  
  
  These changes would enhance the historical accuracy and economic representation of Hungary.

This basically adds all Hungarian locations I would like to see! Great list. Slovakia could maybe use even a bit more love.

Also, I think there's something wrong with the placement of Radna/Beszterce; Pretty sure Radna should be north-east of Beszterce and I don't think the current position allows this.

 

[Timoteus-SWK]

First two points have been suggested, but I think it should be underlined:

1. Preßburg should be divided into two parts: Trnava (Nagyszombat) should be created: it was the first city in the territory of Slovakia to become a royal free city, later in the 17th century it was an important place of anti-reformation and humanism in Hungary (there was a Jesuit university).

2. Trenčín should be divided into two parts: Žilina (Zsolna) should be created: its history is quite well documented, it was a privileged city, a bit important also for Slovak history, as it was granted Privilegium pro Slavis.

3. This may be rejected by some Hungarians, but... I believe that the Slovak minority line (shaded territory) should be moved at least + 1 or 2 provinces down to Pannonia, as there were minorities of Slavs/Slovaks in medieval Pannonia. There is an opus magnum of Slovak slavist Ján Stanislav: Slovenský juh v stredoveku I. – II. (1948; ²1999, 2004; fr. Les régions Slovaques méridionales au moyen âge, lit. transl. Slovak South in Medieval Age) which on the base of etymology of toponyms shows, there were Slovaks near Balaton in 14rd-15th century. The first volume is expert text on the topic, the second volume is a thorough dictionary analysis of various geographical names (toponyms) from the territory of Hungary. Stanislav wrote (Vol. I., p. 11-12)
"Our research has shown that the settlements of the Slovaks in Pannonia went past Lake Neusiedl to the west, then the Slovene-Slovak border curved through the Rabice area (Hungarian Répce, German Rafnitz) to the southeast, and then along the left side of the Ráby River to the south. In the Zalán county it followed the Krka (Hungarian: Kerka) basin in the west, better said, perhaps, rather, the watershed of the Krka and Zala, in the south it follows approximately the watershed of the Drava and Zala. In the Šomod county, the border between the Slovaks and the southern Slavs follows the watershed of the Drava and Lake Balaton, at the watershed of the right tributaries of the Kapoš and the eastern tributaries of the Drava. In the Baranya and Tolna county this direction is also maintained. On the Danube the Slovaks met the southern Slavs between Bogyiszló (*Buďislav), which still has a Slovak spelling, and Szeremle (*Srěmľani), which already has a South Slavic feature. This is, of course, just an ideal line between Slovaks and southern Slovenes. We follow it according to the spelling features of the various local names. We can see that this boundary has its justification also in geographical terms. We observe that the Slovak population kept to the tributaries of the Danube and Lake Balaton, but did not descend any further into the Drava area, which naturally belongs to the sphere of interest of the southern Slavs. This line may have deviated or diverged somewhat in places. It would be difficult to ascertain today. However, its general direction is more or less certain. Inside this territory we find several typically Slovak features. In some places Slovaks still live today. We have not ascertained whether they are a continuation of the old Slovaks, and whether they are perhaps a new colony. The continuation of the old Slovaks would certainly be the Slovak villages along the Danube around Esztergom, etc. In a word, the largest part of Pannonia was inhabited by Slovaks [...]
The development of the name Zobor shows us that the Hungarians in the 10th cent. did not stay in Nitra. The charter of the Zobor abbey from 1111 does not record 'not a single church dignitary with a Hungarian name. Apart from Christian and some German names, these dignitaries have Slovak names. These names, together with the development of the name Zobor, show that the Slovaks held their position in the cultural and ecclesiastical history of Nitra even after the great epoch of the 9th century. Only 25.7% of Hungarian settlements were found in the vicinity of Nitra in the XIIth century. The compact Slovak settlement reached as far as the Danube and from there it went, admittedly, further south. Along the Danube, from Vacov or so, a belt of Slovak villages stretches even today. In the past there were more of them. Below Pest, much to the south, around Kaloča, etc., there were also Slovaks, but there were not many of them. It seems to have been an infiltration from across the Danube, from Pannonia; Matra and Bakonyerdő were also quite densely populated by Slovaks before the arrival of the Hungarians. Their settlements extended as far as the Tisza. The Tokaj hills and the whole area between Tisza and Košice had a fairly regular Slovak settlement, i.e. as far as the terrain allowed it. Further to the east, the Slovaks reached far to the east along the Tisza. They also lived in today's Carpathian Ukraine, even from Uzhhorod eastwards, but mostly occupied important communication and strategic points. The guards on these borders of "old Slovakia" were the Central Slovak dialect. Russians were also encountered in eastern Slovakia before the arrival of the Hungarians. They settled on their present territory and also among the Slovaks. Some of the regions, today Rusyn, are originally Slovak. This is just an interesting finding. (p. 16)

In the dictionary volume he shows how names from the old Slovak dialect were used in medieval manuscripts from Pannonia also in the 14th-15th century. There is also a map appendix to the books, which is difficult to reproduce here due to its size, division and the density of toponyms on it.

 

[eddin2]

It's abosuletly non sensical to believe that Bosnia menaged to convert entire new region to Bogumilism in span of 11 years let alone for it to spread to Trebinje or Western Serbia. As stated John A. Fines work, Hum was a Orthodox province.

I didn't said anything about converting the whole province, we spoke about mebmers of Bosnian church, aka Krstjani, being present in those provinces, and they surelly were.
East part of Hum, known as Zahumlje, was majority Orthodox, that's true.

 

[Teekesslchen]

It is such a delight to see my little hometown represented on the map. I suppose it's too early to provide feedback on Austria? Some towns need to get back to the right side of the Danube where they belong. I'm getting my notes ready for the Tinto Maps on the HRE!

In anticipation of that, I can make some suggestions for the Austro-Hungarian borderlands (modern Burgenland). If you want to increase the location density in this region, there are plenty of notable locations that can be added. Following the border south from modern Bratislava, I believe the locations along the border should be: Köpcsény (Kittsee in German), Kismarton (Eisenstadt), Sopron (Ödenburg), Kőszeg (Güns), and Németújvár (Güssing). If that's too much, Köpcsény is negligible, but I consider Kismarton and Németújvár (the seat of the Batthyány magnates) almost necessary additions.

All of these locations make sense as hills, except Köpcsény, which should be Flatland or perhaps Marshland. The entire area was quite heavily fortified as part of the Gyepű line, so placing castles or other medieval fortification-style buildings in these locations would be very appropriate. I'm not as firm on the area's settlement history as I'd like to be, but all of these locations would have a large Bavarian population and in some places perhaps even a Bavarian majority. I would guess maybe Köpcsény or Kismartin, but that's 100% speculation. Historically, those two became a home to major Jewish communities - the Siebengemeinden - in the 17th century, but I'm not sure how that could be represented in the game.

And some miscellaneous notes on the region:
- Szombathely (Steinamanger) is a shoo-in for a missing location and its absence is quite surprising. Following my other suggestions, it would be south of Kőszeg and east of Németújvár.
- The localisation for Bratislava seems to be inconsistent right now. As a location it is named in German (Preßburg) and as a province in Hungarian (Pozsony).
- I believe the Neusiedler See/Fertő would be large enough to represent on the map. Especially because it presents an interesting obstacle that makes the Western Hungarian border even more defensible.
- For most of the timeline of the game, the Neusiedler See was unregulated and extended into a much larger marsh region to the east and southeast, the Hanság. I don't have a specific location to suggest for this area, but the area should have at least a single Marsh location. Perhaps Kapuvár? Ideally someone who knows Hungary better than I do could weigh in.

 

[hightowel]

Nobody talkted about Bogumilism, at all, and stećci were cultural specifis of medieval Bosnia, not strictly religious.

I won't even comment the Coca Cola comparison

You just said that the presence of stećci coincide with Bogumilism, it is quite literally in you last post.

 

[eddin2]

You just said that the presence of stećci coincide with Bogumilism, it is quite literally in you last post.

No, I didn't, you obviously can't read.

 

[Mingmung]

FEEDBACK ON LOCATION NAMES

Please note: this post will not address any redrawing of the borders (of which there will be many necessary), I will do that later. This post exclusively concerns the names of locations as they are presented in the OP.

Before everything, I'll start with the current Romanian alphabet. It's made up of the standard 26 Latin letters + the letters Ă (A-breve), Â (A-circumflex), Î (I-circumflex), Ș (S-comma) and Ț (T-comma). My naming suggestions will be based on transliterations of names from the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet to the current one (see this table of correspondence). That also means that all instances of Ǎ (A with caron) and Ş (S-cedilla) present on the map are incorrect.

Some sources I've used for the identification of Cyrillic names include: geography manuals from 1835, 1838, 1840, 1841, 1847), various texts written in Romanian with Cyrillic letters, found on this website, and an index of all Wallachian towns and villages written in 1850.

WALLACHIA:
Lichirești - all good
Oraşul de Floci - rename to just Floci

Spoiler: reasoning (excerpt from Rădvan, At Europe's Borders)

View attachment 1158679

Brǎila - rename to Brăila (a-breve instead of a-caron)
Râmnicu Sǎrat - well, this one was called Râmnic for most of its existence (including the early 19th century), but I understand the need to differentiate the two towns named the same; as such, it should be renamed to Slam Râmnic, which is the name it had before being changed to Râmnicu Sărat (it also happens to be the name of the județ - jurisdiction, district, commonly but improperly translated to county - it was part of)
Buzǎu - rename to Buzău (a-breve instead of a-caron); this one was a bit complicated, because I've seen the form Buzeu as well, and sometimes the two spellings were even present on the same page; I have decided to be conservative about it however, as I have not managed to find a text from early enough to confirm either spelling
Sǎcuieni - that's the name of the județ, but not the name of any town or village in it; two options to replace it with: Văleni (attested in 1431, but quite up north and not on the road connecting the locations west and east of it), and Bucovu (modern spelling Bucov; attested later than Văleni, in 1473, however it links the neighbouring locations); of the two, I prefer the latter
Ploești - thank you for taking my earlier feedback about it, but now I'd like to revise my thoughts: the settlement was first mentioned in documents in 1503, and it only started gaining relevance in 1597, becoming the main settlement in its location sometimes during the 17th century; I recommend replacing it with Târșoru (modern spelling Târgșor); this was the important trade post before the rise of Ploești

Spoiler: excerpt from At Europe's Borders

View attachment 1158710

Târgoviște - I would recommend renaming it to Târgoviștea (Тѫрговіщѣ)
Bucureşti - this one is very tricky, because the first mention of it in documents was in 1459, during Vlad the Impaler, when he only started building fortifications there; given that the city will later go on to become the capital of Wallachia, it's jarring to see it present on the 1337 map; as such, my strong recommendation is to replace it with Sneagovu (modern spelling: Snagov), after the monastery attested during Mircea's reign, and have the location change its name to București through event; either way, that s-cedilla needs to be replaced with s-comma
Comana - all good
Giurgiu - all good
Zimnicea - all good
Ruşii de Vede - rename to Rușii de Vede (with s-comma)
Câmpulung Muscel - rename to Câmpulungu (I know about the need to differentiate it from the other one; I'll bring a solution when I talk about it)
Argeş - rename to Argeș (s-comma)
Slatina - all good
Turnu Mǎgurele - rename to just Turnu; Turnu Măgurele is what it started getting called after the original settlement was moved to the nearby Măgurele in the 19th century
Râmnicu Vâlcea - rename to Râmnic, as it was known for most of its existence; doing this is safe as the other one will be Slam Râmnic
Caracal - all good
Craiova - all good
Calafat - rename to Calafatu
Strehaia - all good
Severin - all good
Strimba - rename to Strâmba
Târgu Jiu - this one is a pain in the neck, because I've seen it spelled Târgujiu, Târgujiului, Târgu-Jiului, Târgu-Jiiului (Тѫргꙋ-Жіюлꙋĭ); Cantacuzino's chronicle seems to call it Jiiului as well, so let's go with Târgu Jiiului
Târgu Bengǎi - wow this one is incredibly tricky, undergoing a lot of name changes; I guess keeping it as Târgu Bengăi (with A-breve) could be fine, but I'm leaning towards Târgu Gilort, which was an earlier name (1484)

Moldova in another post, I'm taking a break for now.
@Pavía Thanks for the screenshot, but could you please also post one of the areas (as in the things made up of provinces in the game)?

Great list! I think some slightly anachronistic locations are fine, as replacements are sometimes hard to find/very obscure. That's why I'd be fine with Bucuresti and Ploesti and the likes (the devs could juggle with the amount of population/development before their historical growth and all that), but otherwise great feedback.

 

[Kondio_patrona]

Can some German pops be added to the locations of Vidin and Kutlovitsa. They were miners. I don't even have approximate numbers but maybe 2-3000 people. Source:

Germans in Bulgaria - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[SolarMaster]

Could you change the colors of Bulgarian, Greek, and Turkish? They are currently way too similar. Maybe make Greek a light blue or purple, Bulgarian gray, and Turkish a red or green?

 

[hightowel]

As already said, spread of stećci are proof for that. Map of stećci almost 100% coincide with Bosnian medieval state, spreading to the surrounding area too.
So, to claim there were no Krstjani ever in western Serbia or Hum, you should have bulletproof evidence.

Insult me as much as you want, you say that the spread of stećci almost 100% coincide with the borders of the Bosnian medieval state and based on that you say that Bogumils existed in western Serbia and Hum. According to you, thus, the logical conclusion is that stećci coincide with the spread of Bogumils.

 

[jesus_christ123]

This is awesome so far, but I cant help but have some issues with the demographics:
1. There should be more Albanians in Old Herzegovina/Montenegro, documents as early as the 13th century mention the presence of Albanian tribes in these regions, such as the Mataguzi, Mataruge, Shpani, Bukumiri, Hoti, Bytadosi, Macurri to name a few.
2. Thesprotia and Himara was inhabited by Albanians as early as 1210, to quote the Venetian document "The land facing the Corfu is inhabited by Albanians". Not saying they were the majority, but some of the most prominent tribes in the region were the Zenebishi (later a principality), Malakasioi, Mazreku, Ljosha, etc.
3. Northern Albania, the region in the game being Komani, should be staunchly Catholic (a document to support the claim http://www.albanianhistory.net/1332_Making-the-Passage/index.html) due to Latin influence.
Other than that, you have done a fantastic job so far, keep it up!

 

[Pescavelho]

If you are able te get better names for the Baltic and Silesian Germans, we might have a deal.

Germanic Silesian is sometimes called "Lower Silesian" in contrast with the Slavic "Upper Silesian" but I think this is a result of those languages being confined to these regions in modern times.
As for Baltic Germans I'd have no idea of any separate terms for them, maybe "Saks" which is an old-timey Estonian term for Germans in general.

I do like the current "Baltic/Silesian/Transylvanian/Carpathian German" arrangement (I think they especially work better as umbrella terms since Transylvanian and Carpathian Germans have many subgroups like Soxen, Zipsers, Satu Maru), if you decide to do the right thing and have "Prussian German" as a culture so you can finally get rid of the awkward "West Baltic" culture then I say just keep it.

 

[FleetingRain]

To be honest, we aren't completely happy with the concept either, as we have four different cultures for the 'Germans of the East': Baltic German, Silesian German, Carpathian German, and Transylvanian German. But we think that it's the 'less bad' solution to portray the cultural melting pot that these places were for the different German settlers.

Wikipedia calls them Soxen (from their endonym Såksesch); couldn't you just use it, similar to how you use endonyms for Jewish minorities? The other three probably have some one-word terminology for themselves too.

 

[Koppel235]

This is awesome so far, but I cant help but have some issues with the demographics:
1. There should be more Albanians in Old Herzegovina/Montenegro, documents as early as the 13th century mention the presence of Albanian tribes in these regions, such as the Mataguzi, Mataruge, Shpani, Bukumiri, Hoti, Bytadosi, Macurri to name a few.
2. Thesprotia and Himara was inhabited by Albanians as early as 1210, to quote the Venetian document "The land facing the Corfu is inhabited by Albanians". Not saying they were the majority, but some of the most prominent tribes in the region were the Zenebishi (later a principality), Malakasioi, Mazreku, Ljosha, etc.
3. Northern Albania, the region in the game being Komani, should be staunchly Catholic (a document to support the claim http://www.albanianhistory.net/1308_Anonymous-Description/index.html) due to Latin influence.
Other than that, you have done a fantastic job so far, keep it up!

Can you provide the Venetian document for Thesprotia ? I knew the bulk of the Albanians started to migrate to Thesprotia during the time period of the game.Peter Losha became lord at 1350.

 

[Cotoshky]

Farmlands--> CONSTATINOPLE!!!

 

[Zerodv]

First two points have been suggested, but I think it should be underlined:

1. Preßburg should be divided into two parts: Trnava (Nagyszombat) should be created: it was the first city in the territory of Slovakia to become a royal free city, later in the 17th century it was an important place of anti-reformation and humanism in Hungary (there was a Jesuit university).

2. Trenčín should be divided into two parts: Žilina (Zsolna) should be created: its history is quite well documented, it was a privileged city, a bit important also for Slovak history, as it was granted Privilegium pro Slavis.

3. This may be rejected by some Hungarians, but... I believe that the Slovak minority line (shaded territory) should be moved + 1 or 2 provinces down to Pannonia, as there were minorities of Slavs/Slovaks in medieval Pannonia. There is an opus magnum of Slovak slavist Ján Stanislav: Slovenský juh v stredoveku I. – II. (1948; ²1999, 2004; fr. Les régions Slovaques méridionales au moyen âge, lit. transl. Slovak South in Medieval Age) which on the base of etymology of toponyms shows, there were Slovaks near Balaton in 14rd-15th century. The first volume is expert text on the topic, the second volume is a thorough dictionary analysis of various geographical names (toponyms) from the territory of Hungary. Stanislav wrote (Vol. I., p. 11-12)
"Our research has shown that the settlements of the Slovaks in Pannonia went past Lake Neusiedl to the west, then the Slovene-Slovak border curved through the Rabice area (Hungarian Répce, German Rafnitz) to the southeast, and then along the left side of the Ráby River to the south. In the Zalán county it followed the Krka (Hungarian: Kerka) basin in the west, better said, perhaps, rather, the watershed of the Krka and Zala, in the south it follows approximately the watershed of the Drava and Zala. In the Šomod county, the border between the Slovaks and the southern Slavs follows the watershed of the Drava and Lake Blatná, at the watershed of the right tributaries of the Kapoš and the eastern tributaries of the Drava. In the Baranya and Tolna county this direction is also maintained. On the Danube the Slovaks met the southern Slavs between Bogyiszló (*Buďislav), which still has a Slovak spelling, and Szeremle (*Srěmľani), which already has a South Slavic feature. This is, of course, just an ideal line between Slovaks and southern Slovenes. We follow it according to the spelling features of the various local names. We can see that this boundary has its justification also in geographical terms. We observe that the Slovak population kept to the tributaries of the Danube and Lake Balaton, but did not descend any further into the Drava area, which naturally belongs to the sphere of interest of the southern Slavs. This line may have deviated or diverged somewhat in places. It would be difficult to ascertain today. However, its general direction is more or less certain. Inside this territory we find several typically Slovak features. In some places Slovaks still live today. We have not ascertained whether they are a continuation of the old Slovaks, and whether they are perhaps a new colony. The continuation of the old Slovaks would certainly be the Slovak villages along the Danube around Esztergom, etc. In a word, the largest part of Pannonia was inhabited by Slovaks [...]
The development of the name Zobor shows us that the Hungarians in the 10th cent. did not stay in Nitra. The charter of the Zobor abbey from 1111 does not record 'not a single church dignitary with a Hungarian name. Apart from Christian and some German names, these dignitaries have Slovak names. These names, together with the development of the name Zobor, show that the Slovaks held their position in the cultural and ecclesiastical history of Nitra even after the great epoch of the 9th century. Only 25.7% of Hungarian settlements were found in the vicinity of Nitra in the XIIth century. The compact Slovak settlement reached as far as the Danube and from there it went, admittedly, further south. Along the Danube, from Vacov or so, a belt of Slovak villages stretches even today. In the past there were more of them. Below Pest, much to the south, around Kaloča, etc., there were also Slovaks, but there were not many of them. It seems to have been an infiltration from across the Danube, from Pannonia; Matra and Bakonyerdő were also quite densely populated by Slovaks before the arrival of the Hungarians. Their settlements extended as far as the Tisza. The Tokaj hills and the whole area between Tisza and Košice had a fairly regular Slovak settlement, i.e. as far as the terrain allowed it. Further to the east, the Slovaks reached far to the east along the Tisza. They also lived in today's Carpathian Ukraine, even from Uzhhorod eastwards, but mostly occupied important communication and strategic points. The guards on these borders of "old Slovakia" were the Central Slovak dialect. Russians were also encountered in eastern Slovakia before the arrival of the Hungarians. They settled on their present territory and also among the Slovaks. Some of the regions, today Rusyn, are originally Slovak. This is just an interesting finding. (p. 16)

In the dictionary volume he shows how names from the old Slovak dialect were used in medieval manuscripts from Pannonia also in the 14th-15th century. There is also a map appendix to the books, which is difficult to reproduce here due to its size, division and the density of toponyms on it.

is there a map of what the author claims was the Slovak linguistic area?

 

[Zanetich]

It would be cool if in Project Caesar, unlike EU4, the Balkan Slavic countries had some flavor, like their own events and some monuments (if this mechanic is in the game)

Obviously I'm not suggesting that they have the same amount of flavor as the prominent nations at the time, but having something would be nice.

It's an interesting period for Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia. For example, in Croatia and Dalmatia we have some interesting figures in the renaissance, Serbia could have special events about its collapse, and also the Alemannic Guard. In the context of the Ottoman invasions, there are many things that could be explored, such as the Hajduks, the Uskoks, the military border, the election in Cetin, the conversion of part of Bosnia, the Serb militias, etc. However, even though EU4 took place precisely during this period, this was practically not represented.

I only mentioned the southern Slavs because I don't know much about the other countries in the region, but for example, Albania is also in a very interesting period shortly after the game's start date.
I don't know, I think that in EU4 the region gives the impression that nothing happened there during that period, which was not the case.

 

[Cephei80]

Bosnia as a culture or ethnic group did not exist in 1337. It was only after religious conversion and turkification of the locals that they appear that too after 1460. I am being impartial because I am neither from the Balkans nor follow any form of christianity or islam. So having bosnian appear so many years ago is like having Russian identity in 1300

how can you be so wrong in 2 lines only
Bosnia was the name of the region , it appeared on texts since 10th century this mean 900s and was known as Bosona . it became known as kingdom of Bosnia in 1377.
as for Russia of course the identity exist . the Term Russia exist in medieval texts since 900s aswell and even the various principalities were known as Russias in plural and the tsar from any principality doesnt matter if kyiv/kiev or novgorod or Ryazan or smolensk etc would be known as " Tsar of all of Russias" in plural again.
if you go to the historic document of the rulers of Kievan Rus you will find the name Russia written and easy to read . Rus we use here in eastern europe wasnt just Rus but was literally Rusija .

sorry but i think you are only following a hateful agenda here trying to deny existence of some entities just because of modern day reasons as so many try to achieve like those who call Russia as moscovy out of spite

 

[Kn19hte]

As a few people have pointed out so far, it doesn't make sense to not have Bulgaria border Hungary on the Danube near Orșova. Every map I've found seems to indicate this:

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teodoro_Svetoslav https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bulgarian_Empire

Serbian Empire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The last time Serbia and Bulgaria were at war was in 1330, when Byzantium allied with Bulgaria to try and squash the rising Serbian power. In the battle of Velbazhd (modern-day Kyustendil), the Serbians scored a victory against the Bulgarian army, leading to the negotiation of a peace treaty in which Bulgaria did not lose any territory. One should therefore consider Bulgaria's 1337 border with Serbia to be the same as that of 7 years prior (above). After this, the two nations would remain on good terms until the Ottoman conquests, with there even being a marriage pact sealed between them.

Battle of Velbazhd - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian–Serbian_wars_(medieval)

Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The locations of Višesav, Kozelj and Svrljg should belong to the Despot of Vidin (along with the remainder of the Vidin province) at the start of the game, which would either be a vassal of Bulgaria, or its own independent polity. There are sources which describe Svrljg as being Bulgarian as far back as 1278:
The Late Medieval Balkans A Critical Survey From The Late Twelfth Century To The Ottoman Conquest by John v. A. Fine Jr. (pgs 183-184).

In 1291, the deposed king of Serbia, Dragutin, allied with Hungary to wage war on the boyar princes, Darman and Kudelin, who controlled the principalities of Braničevo and Kučevo. After their annexation, Shishman of Vidin declared a retaliatory war against Dragutin, but was ultimately pushed back and his seat of power, the city of Vidin, was sacked, whilst he himself fled across the Danube into friendly Tartar lands. Ultimately, Dragutin and his Hungarian allies chose to reinstate Shishman rather than annex his lands, causing the Despotate of Vidin to become a Serbian client state until Shishman's death in ~1308 when his son was elected to the Bulgarian throne. This was the only war (besides Darman and Kudelin's failed incursion in 1284) between Serbia and Bulgaria from the year 1278 to 1330, which suggests, given the earlier sources regarding Bulgarian possession of Svrljg, that the territory never changed hands in that time. And nor was it exchanged after the battle of Velbazhd, as was already established. Thus Svrljg should be a Bulgarian territory in 1337, alongside the far minor territory of Kozelj, which can also be assumed to belong to the Despotate of Vidin. As for Višesav, it is stated that Shishman's domains extended as far west as the Iron Gates gorge.

Serbian conflict with the Nogai Horde - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Shishman of Vidin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Now, as for the locations themselves, I would argue that Višesav is an incredibly obscure name to use for the location. The only source I could find that cites this name is:
URBANIZATION AND TRADE AT THE TURBULENT BORDER: SERBIAN TOWNS ON THE DANUBE 1402-1459, Aleksandar KRSTIĆ, The Institute of History Belgrade (pg 368)
and even then, the paper highlights that the exact location of this fortified town is uncertain, not to mention its ultimate fate. The first time the name appears is in the 1400s, and it only seems to have lasted a couple of decades before being conquered and forgotten. I would argue that Negotin is a far better candidate, as it is at least a city that exists in the modern day with some historical significance (an alternative choice would be Rogljevo, which once was a Roman settlement called Selište).

Negotin - Wikipedia

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The other thing missing from the map is the city of Orșova, which is also a location of historical significance (was once a Roman port city), and which controls the passage into Hungary. I would also argue that, by the same logic, Negotin should be split in two to allow for Kladovo to serve as the opposite side of Trajan's bridge at the Iron Gates (several different names can be chosen for Kladovo, see the source below).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orșova

Kladovo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here's what I propose:

 

[Duke of Bosnia]

It would be cool if in Project Caesar, unlike EU4, the Balkan Slavic countries had some flavor, like their own events and some monuments (if this mechanic is in the game)

Obviously I'm not suggesting that they have the same amount of flavor as the prominent nations at the time, but having something would be nice.

It's an interesting period for Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia. For example, in Croatia and Dalmatia we have some interesting figures in the renaissance, Serbia could have special events about its collapse, and also the Alemannic Guard. In the context of the Ottoman invasions, there are many things that could be explored, such as the Hajduks, the Uskoks, the military border, the election in Cetin, the conversion of part of Bosnia, the Serb militias, etc. However, even though EU4 took place precisely during this period, this was practically not represented.

I only mentioned the southern Slavs because I don't know much about the other countries in the region, but for example, Albania is also in a very interesting period shortly after the game's start date.
I don't know, I think that in EU4 the region gives the impression that nothing happened there during that period, which was not the case.

The Hundred Years Croatian-Ottoman war for example needs to be a situation, it went on from 1493 to 1593 and had a major impact on the region and Europe in general. The establishment of the Military Frontier was one of the most important things that the Austrians did and it had a crazy impact on the 30 years war and on the Austrian war of succession.

The effects of this period are massive, I have already outlined the possible mechanics and the history behind it all when the situations diary came out.