Sources from the earliest periods are scarce, but existing show that since Middle Ages ""ban"" was the title used for local land administrators in the areas of Balkans where Southern Slavic population migrated around the 7th century, namely in Duchy of Croatia (8th century–c. 925), Kingdom of Croatia, Hungarian kingdom and Croatia in union with Hungary (1102–1526), the Banate of Bosnia (1154–1377), and Banate of Macsó (1254–1496). According to Noel Malcolm, usage of the Croatian title "ban" in Bosnia indicates that political ties with the Croatian world was from the earliest times, while supreme leader of the Serbs has always been called the Grand Prince (Veliki Župan) and never the "ban".