Cergău (german: Schergied; hu, Cserged) is a commune located in Alba County,

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It has a population of 1,747 and is composed of three villages: Cergău Mare (the commune centre; ''Magyarcserged''), Cergău Mic (''Bolgárcserged'') and Lupu (''Farkastelke''). Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Rider from Lupu Dacian Silver Hoard

Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Rider from Lupu Dacian Silver Hoard

Cergău Mic

The village of Cergău Mic was first mentioned in 1303 as ''Bolgarchergewd'' and in 1306 as ''Chergeod Bulgaricum''. The first reference is the earliest evidence to the presence of the village's

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

population. The prevalent theory is that Bulgarians arrived as refugees from the Vidin region (in modern northwest Bulgaria) and possibly from the

Svishtov Svishtov ( bg, Свищов ) is a town in northern Bulgaria, located in Veliko Tarnovo Province on the right bank of the Danube river opposite the Romanian town of Zimnicea. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Svishtov Municipalit ...

region (north central Bulgaria). These groups were originally of the Bogomil and

Paulician Paulicianism ( Classical Armenian: Պաւղիկեաններ, ; grc, Παυλικιανοί, "The followers of Paul"; Arab sources: ''Baylakānī'', ''al Bayāliqa'' )Nersessian, Vrej (1998). The Tondrakian Movement: Religious Movements in the ...

sects respectively and were subject to religious persecution by the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

authorities of the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

. With their settlement in

, the Bulgarians of Cergău Mic adopted

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and subsequently

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

(

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

) because they regarded these confessions as closest to their original beliefs among the denominations tolerated in Transylvania. As late as 1995, researcher Todor Balkanski reports that many of the locals were eager to identify as Bulgarians, even though they had undergone a complete

language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...

from Bulgarian to Romanian. The name "

Șchei ''Șchei'' ( bg, шкеи, ''shkei'') was an old Romanian and Albanian exonym referring to the Bulgarians, especially in Transylvania and northern Wallachia. As a name, it has been preserved in the names of towns colonized in the 14th century by ...

", an old Romanian ethnonym for Bulgarian people, was also in widespread use as a self-identifier, its meaning equated to "Bulgarian" by the locals. In 1995, a 75-year-old local, Linca Secel, was able to recite two prayers in a

Bulgarian dialect Bulgarian dialects are the regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatika'' (published 1835 in ...

by heart, with no understanding of the meaning. With some differences, one of the prayers was also recorded by Lyubomir Miletich in 1896 and by Ion Muşlea in 1927. The gradual linguistic

Romanianization Romanianization is the series of policies aimed toward ethnic assimilation implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th and 21st century. The most noteworthy policies were those aimed at the Hungarian minority in Romania, Jews and as ...

of the Bulgarians in Cergău Mic is attested in 1808 with the first reference to the modern Romanian name of the village, ''Cergău Mic''. In the 1930 census, the village had a population of 830, of whom 762 identified as

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

, 58 as Gypsies, 8 as

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, 2 as

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

and none as Bulgarians. Confessionally, 443 people were Lutheran, 351

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...

, 25

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

, 10 Orthodox and 1

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

. The historically Bulgarian population of Cergău Mic may be related to that of other historically Bulgarian villages in Transylvania proper, such as the commune centre Cergău Mare, Rusciori and Bungard in Sibiu County and the

neighbourhood of Brașov.

Toponymy

* historical

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

name: ''Cergău Șcheiesc'', "Cergău of the Șchei ulgarians; * hu, Bolgárcserged, "Bulgarian Cserged", from 1625 to 1911 ''Kis Cserged'' or ''Kiscserged'', "Little Cserged"; *

Transylvanian Saxon dialect ) , speakers = 200,000 , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = Irminonic , fam5 = High German , fam6 = West Central German , fam7 = Central Franconian , fam8 = Moselle Franconian , map = Deutschsiebenbür ...

: ''Schergit''; german: Klein Schergied, Kleinschergied, "Little Schergied"; * conjectured historical

name: Чергов, ''Chergov''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cergau Communes in Alba County Localities in Transylvania Bulgarian communities in Romania Bogomilism