Assistant Professor Špoljarić at the Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America

Assistant Professor Luka Špoljarić, PhD, stayed in San Francisco from 19 to 21 February 2026, where he participated in the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America. He organised a session entitled “Venice’s Diplomacy and Espionage at the Ottoman Court in the Late Fifteenth Century”, which, in addition to himself, featured Stefan Stantchev from Arizona State University and Monique O’Connell from Wake Forest University.

As part of the session, Assistant Professor Špoljarić delivered a paper entitled “A Balkan Prince at the Ottoman Court: Ahmed Hersekzade and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1463–79”. In his presentation, he examined the early years of Stjepan-Ahmed Hercegović Kosača at the Ottoman court and reconstructed his gradual departure from traditional political concepts and his acceptance of the new imperial order.