Herceg Novi in the context of "Bay of Kotor"

The siege of Castelnuovo was an engagement during the Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for control of the Mediterranean, which took place in July 1539 at the walled town of Castelnuovo, present-day Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Castelnuovo had been conquered by elements of various Spanish tercios the year before during the failed campaign of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire in Eastern Mediterranean waters. The walled town was besieged by land and sea by a powerful Ottoman army under Hayreddin Barbarossa, who offered an honourable surrender to the defenders. These terms were rejected by the Spanish commanding officer Francisco de Sarmiento and his captains even though they knew that the Holy League's fleet, defeated at the Battle of Preveza, could not relieve them. During the siege, Barbarossa's army suffered heavy losses due to the stubborn resistance of Sarmiento's men. Even the Venetian refused the promised naval link to Castelnuovo with the supplies and reinforcements; after a general troop parliament, the commanding officer Francisco de Sarmiento asked his captains what his answer should be to Barbarossa's offer to surrender. The captains responded: "Que vengan cuando quieran" (Let them come whenever they want). However, Castelnuovo eventually fell into Ottoman hands and almost all the Spanish defenders, including Sarmiento, were killed. The loss of the town ended the Christian attempt to regain control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The courage displayed by the Old Tercio of Naples during this last stand, however, was praised and admired throughout Europe and was the subject of numerous poems and songs.

Stjepan Vukčić Kosača (1404–1466) was a powerful Bosnian nobleman who was politically active from 1435 to 1466; the last three decades of Bosnian medieval history. During this period, three kings acceded to the Bosnian throne: Tvrtko II, Thomas (Tomaš), Stephen Tomašević (Stjepan Tomašević) and anti-king Radivoj—the older brother of King Thomas—before the country was conquered by the Ottomans.

Stjepan, a son of the Knez of Drina, Vukac Hranić, and Katarina, whose ancestry is unknown, was probably born in 1404. Stjepan's father held hereditary lands in the Upper Drina region. Stjepan was a member of the Kosača noble family and became its chieftain in 1435 when he succeeded his uncle, Duke Sandalj, as Duke of Humska zemlja and the Grand Duke of Bosnia. Stjepan influenced the development of the late Bosnian medieval state more than any other person of his era.

The Humska Zemlja, also Hum (Serbo-Croatian: Humska Zemlja, or Hum; Хумска Землја or Хум), is a historical zemlja that arose in the Middle Ages as well-defined administrative unit of medieval Bosnia ruled by the Kosača dynasty. It included most of today's Herzegovina, in Bosansko Primorje including Konavle, territories on the south of Dalmatia between Omiš and Neretva Delta, in Boka Kotorska and south to Budva. The name for this zemlja derived from the earlier name for the region, Zahumlje. The seat of Kosače family was in the town and fortress of Blagaj and during the winter seasons, Novi.

Herceg Novi Municipality (Montenegrin: Opština Herceg Novi, Општина Херцег Нови) is one of the municipalities in southwestern Montenegro. The administrative center is Herceg Novi.

Operosa is an annual classical music and opera festival. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental music. Operosa is active in the Balkan region with the main festival event in Herceg Novi in Montenegro.