JAJCE (pronounced Yaitse)  , a town of Bosnia, situated on the Pliva and Vrbas rivers, and at the terminus of a branch railway from Serajevo, 62 m . S.E . Pop . (1895), about 4000 . Jajce occupies a conical hill, overlooking one of the finest waterfalls in Europe, where the Pliva rushes down into the Vrbas, too ft. below . The 14th century citadel which crowns this hill is said to have been built for Hrvoje, duke of Spalato, on the model of the Castel del' Uovo at Naples; but the resemblance is very slight, and although both jajce and uovo signify " an egg," the town probably derives its name from the shape of the hill . The ruined church of St Luke, said by legend to be the Evangelist's burial place, has a fine Italian belfry, and dates from the 15th century . Jezero, 5 M . W. of Jajce, contains the Turkish fort of Djol-Hissar, or " the Lake-Fort." In this neighbourhood a line of waterfalls and meres, formed by the Pliva, stretches for several miles, enclosed by steep rocks and forest-clad mountains . The power supplied by the main fall, at Jajce, is used for industrial purposes, but the beauty of the town remains unimpaired . From 1463 to 1528 Jajce was the principal outwork of eastern Christendom against the Turks . Venice contributed money for its defence, and Hungary provided armies; while the pope entreated all Christian monarchs to avert its fall .

In 1463

Mahomet II. had seized more than 75 Bosnian fortresses, including Jajce itself; and the last independent king of Bosnia, Stephen Tomasevic, had been beheaded, or, according to one tradition, flayed alive, before the walls of Jajce, on a spot still called Kraljeva Polje, the " King's Field." His coffin and skeleton are still displayed in St Luke's Church . The Hungarians, under King Matthias I., came to the rescue, and reconquered the greater part of Bosnia during the same year; and, although Mahomet returned in 1464, he was again defeated at Jajce, and compelled to flee before another Hungarian advance . In 1467 Hungarian bans, or military governors, were appointed to rule in north-west Bosnia, and in 1472 Matthias appointed Nicolaus Ujlaki king of the country, with Jajce for his capital . This kingdom lasted, in fact, for 59 years; but, after the death of Ujlaki, in 1492, its rulers only bore the title of ban, and of vojvod . In 1500 the Turks, under Bajazet II., were crushed at Jajce by the Hungarians under John Corvinus; and several other attacks were repelled between 1520 and 1526 . But in 1526 the Hungarian power was destroyed at Mohacs; and in 1528 Jajce was forced to surrender . See Brass, " Jajce, die alte Konigstadt Bosniens," in Deutsche geog . Bldtter, pp . 71—85 (Bremen, 1899) .