The first known member of this family who appeared in written documents at the end of the 12th century is Stephen I, known as Babon († at the beginning of the 13th century). The original possessions of Babonić were located on the right bank of the Kupa river between today's Karlovac and Sisak. Their first important stronghold was the town of Steničnjak. They built a stronghold in Blagaj on the Sana in 1240, and the Blagaj Castle in Blagaj on the Korana around 1266.
The family divided their properties in 1313 and 1314 between brothers Ivan (d. after 1334), Stjepan IV (d. 1316) and Radoslav II (fl. 1284–1314). Radoslav received the town and estate of Blagaj on the Sana (Blagay), and his sons stopped using the family name, rather referring to themselves as Counts of Blagay.[2]
Family tree
Below is the complete family tree based on Hungarian historian Pál Engel's Medieval Hungarian Genealogy (2001)[6] and Attila Zsoldos' archontology (2011):
Godemir
Stephen I
Babonega I
Stephen II (fl. 1243–1256), Ban of Primorje (banus maritimus) (1243–1249)
Stephen III (fl. 1273–1300), Ban of Slavonia (in or before 1295), Krajna branch
Ladislaus (fl. 1293)
Stephen V (fl. 1293)
Henry (fl. 1345)
Stephen VI (fl. 1345)
Radoslav I (fl. 1273–1294), Ban of Slavonia (1288, 1292, 1294)
Babonega II (fl. 1249–1256)
Nicholas I (fl. 1278–1292)
Stephen IV (fl. 1278–1316), Ban of Slavonia (1299; 1310–1316), Krupa branch (Krupski)[7]
^S.170 (počeli nazivati „od Krupe“ ili knezovi Krupski), 172, 182-183 «Knezovi od Krupe» (Rodoslovlje), Hrvoje Kekez, Plemicki rod Babonica do kraja 14 stoljeca, Zagreb, 2012.
Fine, John V. A. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN0-472-08260-4.
Koszta, László (1994). "Babonić". In Kristó, Gyula; Engel, Pál; Makk, Ferenc (eds.). Korai magyar történeti lexikon (9–14. század) [Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History (9th–14th centuries)] (in Hungarian). Akadémiai Kiadó. p. 73. ISBN963-05-6722-9.