King Thomas died in July 1461. According to later accounts, Thomas's death was plotted by Stephen and Radivoj, and even Matthias and Mehmed were implicated. Historians dismiss these allegations, however, pointing out that the King had been ill since June. Stephen ascended the throne without difficulty. He ensured that his uncle would not contest the succession by generously endowing him with land. The new monarch assumed the pompous title inherited from Tvrtko I, the first Bosnian king, styling himself as, "by the Grace of God, King of Serbia, Bosnia, the Maritime Lands, Zachlumia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and the Western lands" – regardless of the fact that Serbia had by then become an Ottoman pashaluk, that Croatia had been lost to Hungary in the 1390s, and that he had to beg the government of the Republic of Venice to allow him to take refuge in Dalmatia in case of an Ottoman attack.