The term ''Vlachs'' ( hr, Vlasi) was initially used in medieval Croatian and Venetian history for a
Romance-speaking
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
pastoralist community, called "
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...
" and "
Morlachs
Morlachs ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Morlaci, Морлаци or , ; it, Morlacchi; ro, Morlaci) has been an exonym used for a rural Christian community in Herzegovina, Lika and the Dalmatian Hinterland. The term was initially used for a bilingual Vlach p ...
", inhabiting the mountains and lands of the
Croatian Kingdom and the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
(
Venetian Dalmatia
Venetian Dalmatia ( la, Dalmatia Veneta) refers to parts of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated f ...
) from the early 14th century. By the end of the 15th century they were highly
assimilated with the
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
and lost their language or were at least bilingual, while some communities managed to preserve and continue to speak their language (
Istro-Romanians
The Istro-Romanians ( ruo, rumeri or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to se ...
).
Later in the 16th and 17th century with the
Ottoman conquest and mass migrations, the term was primarily used for a socio-cultural and professional segment of the population rather than to an ethnicity, and referred to the mostly
Slavic-speaking emigrants and refugees from Ottoman-held territories to the
Habsburg Empire
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
(such as
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
) and the Republic of Venice (Dalmatia), mostly of
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") ...
faith, and to a lesser degree,
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. With the
nation-building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. According to ...
in the 19th century this population played a significant part in the national ideologies in Croatia and Serbia, and according to religious confession espoused either
Croat
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Ge ...
or
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
ethnicity.
In Croatia today, the Vlachs are a recognized national minority (along with 22 other ethnic groups), with 29 individuals declared as Vlachs in the
2011 Croatian census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
, making them the smallest recognized minority in Croatia. Other ethnic groups that were also traditionally referred to as Vlachs in Croatia now identify by their respective ethnic names – namely
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
,
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 ...
,
Aromanians
The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Alba ...
and
Istro-Romanians
The Istro-Romanians ( ruo, rumeri or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to or associated with the Istrian Peninsula. Historically, they inhabited vast parts of it, as well as the western side of the island of Krk until 1875. However, due to se ...
(which are native to modern Croatia's
Istria County
Istria County (; hr, Istarska županija; it, Regione istriana, "Istrian Region") is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula ( out of , or 89%).
Administrative centers in the county are Pazi ...
).
Appellation
The meaning of the term ''Vlach'' within the territory of present-day Croatia (like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia) differed over time and had multiple meanings. In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
it was primarily an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
that referred to Romance-speaking pastoralist communities in the mountains, or rarely other
Romance-speaking
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
people like Italians. Due to their specific lifestyle, the term acquired a social-professional (shepherd) connotation. In the 13th and 14th centuries the shepherds of the Balkans were called Vlachs (''Vlasi''), including Slavic-speakers. Initially it was used for shepherds and transporters in the hinterland regardless of ethnicity and religion (though often Romance-speaking), strangers and newcomers as opposed to natives (in Istria, for speakers with
Shtokavian
Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...
traits), for hinterlanders by Dalmatian island inhabitants, for rugged villagers by the townspeople, and later for Orthodox Christians (with time mostly identified with Serbs). From the 16th century, with the Ottoman conquest and mass migrations of Slavic-speaking people, the term ''Vlach'' was primarily used for a socio-cultural and professional segment of the population, rather than for an ethnicity.
Regardless of their religious affiliation that is the entire population of Generalate which came from the Ottoman and Venetian territories were called Vlachs; they were distinguished by their semi-nomadic pastoral way of life as economically
transhumant
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower vall ...
shepherds
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
, mainly of sheep, goats and horses. Also, their characteristics were cultural traits: wearing dark clothes, use of the ''
gusle
The gusle ( sr-cyrl, гусле) or lahuta ( sq, lahutë) is a single-stringed musical instrument (and musical style) traditionally used in the Dinarides region of Southeastern Europe (in the Balkans). The instrument is always accompanied by s ...
'' musical instrument (that accompanied epic singing), and
Ojkanje singing
Ojkanje is a tradition of polyphonic folk singing in Croatia, characteristic for the regions of the Dalmatian hinterland, Velebit, Lika, Kordun, and Karlovac. As described in ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'': "The ojkanje is a particular style ...
. Such a lifestyle allowed specific socio-cultural traits, like learning about the area, orientation during multi-day movement, organization and wartime skills, which was recognized and used by the Late Medieval nobility and kings. They lived in extended families (as per the Western Balkan type), and were organised into local communities (), and were bearers of a strongly patriarchal culture associated with the
Dinaric Alps
The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herz ...
.
While the Slavic communities managed to form national identities founding regional provinces and kingdoms, Romance-speaking Vlachs did not manage to form a national identity and were prone to assimilation. However, even if they were prone to national, linguistical and cultural assimilation with the Slavs, they did contribute to their respective communities. The problems the Vlachs faced with the creation of the national identity did not differ very much from what other rural communities face. Rural people comprised the majority of the population in the Middle Ages, and the centuries of war, conquest, regional boundaries, migrations, religious conversions, cultural blending and socio-economic problems affected the belonging of a population to a specific South Slavic national group. The regions of
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by ...
(which mostly involved the
Croatian Military Frontier
The Croatian Military Frontier ( hr, Vojna krajina or ') was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the Habsburg monarchy, first during the period of the Austrian Empire and then during Austria-Hungary.
History
Founded in the late 16 ...
) and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
were the border area between
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
,
Ottoman and
Venetian empires, a place of mass migrations and mixing of communities.
In the area, the confessional, socio-cultural and geo-regional characteristics had a crucial impact on the creation of an ethnic identity. The equalization between religious confession and ethnicity began in the middle of the 16th century when the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
(Patriarchate of Peć), which had a significant religious and political influence on Serbs, started since 1557 to identify Orthodoxy with
Serbdom
Serbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, und ...
. Gradually in the 17th century, as Croatian culture was preserved by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Senj-Modruš The Diocese of Senj-Modruš (german: Zengg-Modrus, it, Diocesi di Modruš, lat, Dioecesis Modrussensis) was located in the historical Kingdom of Croatia, while it was in personal union with Kingdom of Hungary, and it was suffragan of Zagreb.
The ...
in Croatia, and the
Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena
Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena (also ''Bosna Argentina''; officially la, Provincia OFM Exaltationis S. Crucis - Bosna Argentina) is a province of the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their headquarters ...
in Ottoman Bosnia, Roman Catholicism was identified with the Croatian national name. The socio-cultural difference was a lifestyle distinction between the natives (Catholic, peasant, smaller families) and the newer migrants (Orthodox, pastoralist, larger families) from Ottoman and Venetian territory who were referred to as Vlachs in the social sense, and their "Vlach" identity was mainly in the context of claiming the traditional legal rights and privileges of their social class by the state.
Medieval usage
The Vlachs mentioned in medieval documents up until the 16th century, before the Ottoman invasion and migrations, were the progeny of Romanized
Illyrians
The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo ...
and
Thraco-Roman The term Thraco-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Thracians under the rule of the Roman Empire.
The Odrysian kingdom of Thrace became a Roman client kingdom c. 20 BC, while the Greek city-states on the Black Sea coast came under Roman contro ...
s, other pre-Slavic
Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
-speaking people, and after arrival in the 6th-8th centuries also of Slavic people. Some Romance-speaking groups were autochthonous in Croatia and assimilated with Slavs, some were assimilated but preserved their identity and name, while some other groups migrated from Herzegovina to Dalmatia in very late 14th century.
With the arrival of Slavs, Vlachs began to assimilate with them, and being exposed to the Slavic language, they gradually began to adopt it as their own.
Raymond D'Aguilers and
William of Tyre
William of Tyre ( la, Willelmus Tyrensis; 113029 September 1186) was a medieval prelate and chronicler. As archbishop of Tyre, he is sometimes known as William II to distinguish him from his predecessor, William I, the Englishman, a former ...
, during the passage of the
Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in the 11th century, contrasted the people who lived in the hilly hinterlands, spoke Slavic and dealt with cattle grooming with those on the coast who still spoke the Latin language (probably the extinct
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian () or Dalmatic (; dlm, langa dalmata, link=no or simply ; it, lingua dalmatica, dalmatico; sh, dalmatski) was a Romance language that was spoken in the Dalmatia region of present-day Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Monteneg ...
) and had different customs. In documents from Lika (1433), Cetina (1436), and Zrmanja (1486–1487), a century after their first mention in Croatian historical documents, the Vlachs had mostly non-Christian, traditional South
Slavic names
Given names originating from the Slavic languages are most common in Slavic countries.
The main types of Slavic names:
* Two-basic names, often ending in mir/měr (''Ostromir/měr'', ''Tihomir/měr'', '' Němir/měr''), *voldъ (''Vsevolod'', ...
and surnames. On that note, the Vlachs mostly differed from the Croats who usually had Christian names. The Vlachs were called , "good Vlachs" (), "good men from ''katuns''" (), or "royal Vlachs" (, ).
However, despite this cross-pollination of language, some groups of Vlachs may have remained distinct from the Slavs; historical sources from the 14th and 15th centuries differentiate Slavs and Vlachs in the area of Kotor, Dubrovnik, Bosnia and Croatia (, , ). In 1345, in Cetina are differentiated, while in a 1436 document, Catholic Vlachs of the county of Cetina (around the town of
Sinj
Sinj (; it, Signo; german: Zein) is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,478 and the population of the administrative municipality, which includes surrounding villages, is 24 ...
) were represented as distinct from both the Croats and the Serbs inhabiting the county. In 1450, in the area of Šibenik, were differentiated. In a book by Ragusan historian
Ludovik Crijević (1459–1527), ''Writings on the Present Age'', Vlachs (''Valachos'') were distinguished from other people, and were mentioned as "nomadic Illyrians who in the common language are called Vlachs" and there is also the mention of the present-day surname Kožul/lj in "Cossuli, a kind of Illyrian people considered Romans". During the Orthodox migration to
Žumberak in 1538, general commander
Nikola Jurišić
Baron Nikola Jurišić ( hu, Jurisich Miklós; – 1545) was a Croatian nobleman, soldier, and diplomat.
Early life
Jurišić was born in Senj, Croatia.
He is first mentioned in 1522 as an officer of Ferdinand I of Habsburg's troops deployed ...
mentioned the Vlachs who "in our parts are called as Old Romans" separate from the Serbs and Rascians.
During the 14th century, Vlach settlements existed throughout much of today's Croatia, but centres of population were focused around the
Velebit
Velebit (; it, Alpi Bebie) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the nor ...
and
Dinara
Dinara is a long mountain range in the Dinaric Alps, located on the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. It has four major mountains or peaks, from north-west to south-east:
* Ilica or Ujilica (1654 m)
* Sinjal or Dinara (1831 m), ep ...
mountains and along the
Krka and
Cetina
Cetina () is a river in southern Croatia. It has a length of and its basin covers an area of . From its source, Cetina descends from an elevation of above sea level to the Adriatic Sea. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia.Naklada Naprijed ...
rivers. The Vlachs were divided into ''common'' Vlachs from Cetina and ''royal'' Vlachs from Lika. The Vlach population lived on the territory of noble families: the
Nelipić family (Cetina–Knin),
Šubić family (
Pokrčje),
Gusić family (
Pozrmanje), and
Frankopan
The House of Frankopan ( hr, Frankopani, Frankapani, it, Frangipani, hu, Frangepán, la, Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croati ...
family (Lika). Between 1400 and 1600 many Vlach families had settled Istria and island of Krk.
The Frankopans settled Vlachs on the island of Krk (
Dubašnica
Dubašnica ( it, Dubasnizza) was a village in the northwestern part of the island of Krk, now in Croatia, at the south of Malinska and near Poljica. It was first mentioned in the 15th century and became extinct in the 18th century as a result of ...
,
Poljica) in the 15th century, and later around Učka. The Venetian colonization of Istria started not later than the early 1520s,
and there were several cases when they returned to Dalmatia.
![Drawing of an Istro-Romanian from 1891](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Drawing_of_an_Istro-Romanian_from_1891.jpg)
The Vlach people distinctively lived a nomadic life as shepherds and as traveling merchants on trading routes. They lived in villages, and
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
called ''katun'' (ro. ''
cătun''), smaller village-like places in the mountains and lower areas where they dwelled during the transhumant period. The 1436 document (
Vlach law
The Vlach law (, ro, legea românească, "Romanian law", or , "customs of the land", ) refers to the traditional Romanian common law as well as to various special laws and privileges enjoyed or enforced upon particularly pastoralist communities ...
) confirmed in
Klis
Klis ( hr, Klis, it, Clissa, tr, Kilis) is a Croatian municipality located around a mountain fortress bearing the same name. It is located in the region of Dalmatia, located just northeast of Solin, Croatia, Solin and Split, Croatia, Split near ...
by
ban Ivan Frankopan Ivan VI Frankopan or Ivan Anž Frankopan (also known as Ivaniš; died 20 November 1436) was a Croatian nobleman who ruled as Ban of Croatia from 1432 to 1436. He was one of the nine sons of the Croatian viceroy, Nikola Frankopan.''Kalmarunionens t ...
, beside clear ethnic diversity in the county of Cetina, showed that there were two social groups of Vlachs: those with villages who pay tax, and those without villages who are nomads and thus obligated to serve in the army as horsemen.
According to Stjepan Pavičić (1931), the Romance Vlachs or Morlachs of the Dinara and Velebit lost their Romance language by the 14th or 15th century, or were at least bilingual at that time. The so-called Istro-Romanians, who called themselves ''Rumeri'' or ''Vlasi'', continued to speak their language on the island of
Krk
Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kota ...
(extinct in the 20th century; recorded
Pater Noster
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
) and villages around the Čepić lake in
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...
, while other communities in the mountains (Ćićarija) above the lake preserved the Shtokavian-Chakavian dialect with Ikavian accent from the southern Velebit and area of Zadar. The documents about Vlachs from Cetina county indicate Chakavian dialect with Ikavian accent.
The evidence of their Romance language are toponyms throughout the Dinaric Alps, and many anthroponyms (surnames) with specific Romance or Slavic word roots, and Romanian ending suffixes found among South Slavic people.
The "Vlach" or "Romanian" traditional system of counting sheep in pairs ''do'' ('two'; cf. Rmn. ), ''pato'' ('four'; cf. Rmn. ), ''šasto'' ('six'; cf. Rmn. ), ''šopći'' ('eight'; cf. Rmn. ), ''zeći'' ('ten'; cf. Rmn. ) has been preserved in Velebit,
Bukovica Bukovica may refer to:
Croatia
*Bukovica, Dalmatia, a geographical region in Croatia
* Bukovica, Sisak-Moslavina County, a village near Topusko
* Bukovica, Brod-Posavina County, a village near Rešetari
*Nova Bukovica, a village and municipality i ...
,
Dalmatian Zagora, and
Ćićarija
Ćićarija ( sl, Čičarija; it, Cicceria, Monti della Vena; ruo, Cicearia; german: Tschitschen Boden), is a mountainous plateau in the northern and northeastern part of the Istria peninsula, long and wide. It mostly lies in Croatia, while its ...
to the present day.
Early modern usage
Socioculturally, there were two main ethnic divisions in the Croatian Military Frontier, those of the "native" Croats and "immigrant" Vlachs. The Croats were Catholics, Habsburg subjects, made up of an agrarian population concentrated around frontier towns, of
nuclear families
A nuclear family, elementary family, cereal-packet family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of parents and their children (one or more), typically living in one home residence. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, the larger ...
, and linguistically predominantly
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...
-speaking (or Chakavian-based speech). The Vlachs, regardless of their religious affiliation, were refugees from Ottoman and Venetian territories, holders of
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...
-
pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
culture of the Dinaric, of
extended families
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household. Particular forms include the stem a ...
, and linguistically
Neo-Shtokavian-speaking. The holders of Balkan Patriarchate were mostly three socio-ethnic groups: Albanian, Vlach and Slavic.
The Vlachs from Lika were predominantly Orthodox Christian by religion, and also, the traditional social grouping of Vlachs was the Orthodox group itself. The Orthodox Vlachs from Lika area spoke the
Eastern Herzegovinian ijekavian dialect while the Catholic Vlachs (the
Bunjevci
Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavic sub-ethnic group living ...
), spoke the
Western Herzegovinian
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
ikavian dialect. The Vlachs were also called on some occasions and , which was an exonym for the Serbs or Orthodox Christians. In the period 1500–1800 in Europe, religious differences were one of the main cultural differences in ethnic groups. The state triangle at Lika in what is today Croatia was an area in which Roman Catholicism, Serbian Orthodoxy, and Islam met. Orthodox Vlachs from the middle of the 16th century gradually became part of the Serbian ethno-confessional identity, but this identity was fully consolidated only after 1695.
Croatian historian Marko Šarić notes that the Lika-Krbava Vlachs can be seen as one of the sub-ethnic groups of the pre-modern Serb ethnic group. The Serb–Rascian attributes point to the attachment of Vlach Orthodox communities to the wider pre-modern Serb ethnocultural corps. However, although some documents from the 16th and 17th centuries in the Habsburg Imperial Court used the terms ''Vlachs, Rascians'' and ''Serbs'' as synonyms (indicating their Orthodox confession), the socio-cultural and ethnological evidence on the ground does not support such a simplified interpretation of the ethnic identity of Orthodox Vlachs. According to Mirko Markovic, the Vlach population from
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...
needs to be well-distinguished from ethnic Serbs who come to
Srijem
Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exce ...
,
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
,
Backa and eastern Slavonia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries as fugitives from southern Serbia.
J. W. Valvasor, in his 1689 work which described the Carniolan–Croatian area of the Croatian Military Frontier and the
Maritime Frontier, differentiated between Croats and Vlachs (whom he also called
Uskoks
The Uskoks ( hr, Uskoci, , singular: ; notes on naming) were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a g ...
and Morlachs), and called the latter's Shtokavian language "Vlach" () which he said was close to the "Dalmatian" () and "Slavonian" () languages. In Venetian usage for Dalmatia, the Slavic language was called
Illyrian () or Serbian (). At the time of the
Morean War
The Morean War ( it, Guerra di Morea), also known as the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, was fought between 1684–1699 as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military ...
(1684–89) Vlachs fled Ottoman-held Lika and temporarily settled as 1,700 families in
Venetian Dalmatia
Venetian Dalmatia ( la, Dalmatia Veneta) refers to parts of Dalmatia under the rule of the Republic of Venice, mainly from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Dalmatia was first sold to Venice in 1409 but Venetian Dalmatia was not fully consolidated f ...
, and 530 families in the Karlovac Generalate (Croatian Military Frontier). Since 1690, they, and some Vlach families from Dalmatia and Bosnia, began to return to their original provinces in Lika and Krbava. With them in 1694 arrived Serbian Orthodox metropolitan
Atanasije Ljubojević who established the Lika–Krbava () and Zrinopolje () eparchies.
Anthroponymy
The data on Lika and Krbava in the 1712–1714 censuses was studied by Croatian historian Marko Šarić who also divided pre-modern ethnic groups () into Orthodox Vlachs (Serbian Orthodox) listed in the census as Schismatics (, ''Walachi'', ''Wolochi''), Catholic Vlachs (''Bunjevci''), Carniolans (''Kranjci''), Croats and Turks (Catholicized former Muslims), based on Zagreb bishop Martin Brajković's earlier groupings. The statistical categories were minimal to socio-religious and military and economic aspects of the population, but including a list of 713 surnames it is an important source for
onomastics
Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...
, and to comprehend the ethnic identity of the population.
The majority of nobility in Lika consisted of Catholic Croats, while the vast majority of population were Vlachs (Serbian Orthodox). By confessional affiliation the Serbian Orthodox (Vlachs) numbered 71% of the total population in Lika and Krbava while Catholics overall 29%. According to the dual model of ethnic structure, 87% of the Lika-Krbava population belonged to the Vlachs of social and cultural history. According to the five nations model of ethnic structure, Orthodox Vlachs numbered 71%, Bunjevci (Catholic Vlachs) 16%, Carniolans 6%, Croats 4% and Turks (Muslims converted to Catholicism) 2%. Future studies have found that at the beginning of the 20th century only 60–64% of the surnames were preserved, with mostly Carniolan surnames having vanished. The "Turk" surnames indicate an Islamic-"Oriental" influence, and most are Muslim-patronymic. The "Carniolan" surnames indicate a
Kajkavian
Kajkavian (Kajkavian noun: ''kajkavščina''; Shtokavian adjective: ''kajkavski'' , noun: ''kajkavica'' or ''kajkavština'' ) is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats in much of Central Croatia, Gorski Kotar and nort ...
cultural and regional sphere, and are characteristically mostly occupational, many linguistically Germanic, some permeate with other dialects, and they have the smallest share of the ending suffix "-ić". The "Croats" show an archaic age, many are mentioned in the Middle Ages and the 15th and 16th centuries before the
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...
, while some are from the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries and of Dinaric origin.
The anthroponymic structure in the surnames of Orthodox Vlachs and Catholic Bunjevci was very similar, while the pastoral (Dinaric) culture, Neo-Shtokavian speech, and social and military role in the frontiers created uniform anthroponymic forms. Religious confession was not crucial to the pattern of surnames as
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
surnames of Catholic or Orthodox character were also found in the opposite confessional group of those mentioned. A very large number of surnames were derived from the Slavic word roots ', ', and ', and it was also noted that
matronymic
A matronymic is a personal name based on the given name of one's mother, grandmother, or any female ancestor. It is the female equivalent of a patronymic. Around the world, matronymic surnames are far less common than patronymic surnames. In som ...
surnames and nicknames were more present in the Vlach group than in the others. Some 20% were of "Old Balkanic" origin, of Romance root words (and Slavic suffixes ', ', ', ', ') or Romance suffixes (', ', ', ', ', ', '), and also some found derived from
Illyrian–Thracian root words or with
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
suffixes (' and ').
Despite the fact that Velebit Vlachs (Morlacs) were mostly Croats and Catholics, among them are Romanians; this can be seen from their surnames such as ''Bučul, Čutul, Prendivoj, Hamet, Kapo, Sebikoč, Cako, Delebrajde,'' and ''Čepulado.''
Religion
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...
, in his letter of 14 November 1234 to King
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father ...
, noted that the "Vlachs, although by name are considered Christians... have rituals which are hostile to the Christian name".
Pope Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pope ...
, in his letter from 1372 to the Franciscans in Bosnia, ordered them to convert the Vlachs who lived in tents and pastures (), also relating to the activity of the
Bosnian Church
The Bosnian Church ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Crkva bosanska, Црква Босанска) was a Christian church in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that was independent of and considered heretical by both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox ...
(see also
''stećaks''). Scholar Bogumil Hrabak emphasized that there is no need to insist on the religious affiliation of the pastoralist communities in the Balkan, especially the Vlachs. Living in closed transhumance communities, they changed religious affiliation according to the regional religion (
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
or
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
) where they lived for a prolonged time, and if they were not followed by the specific priest. Their ignorance and lack of Christian Church commitment are seen in the case of the Vlachs who were settled in
Žumberak (in the 1530s), who begged commander
Johann Katzianer
Johann Katzianer ( sl, Ivan Kacijanar), or Hans Katzianer, Freiherr zu Katzenstein und Fledingen (1491, Begunje (german: Vigaun) – 27 October 1539, Hrvatska Kostajnica) was a Carniolan aristocrat and an Imperial Army commander.
History
He ...
to be Christianized. Orthodoxy as such was also more akin to them rather than feudal Roman Catholicism, whose dogma did not allow them to embrace as many pagan beliefs as in the Orthodox Church.
History
Middle Ages
Reference to the existence of Vlachs or Romance-speaking people in Medieval Croatia dates from the early Middle Age; One of the first mention of Vlachs is the 1071 charter by the Croatian King Krešimir IV about the
Rab
Rab âːb( dlm, Arba, la, Arba, it, Arbe, german: Arbey) is an island in the northern Dalmatia region in Croatia, located just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea.
The island is long, has an area of and 9,328 inhabitants (2 ...
diocese, when on the island of
Pag the village ''Wlasici'' (today village Vlašići) was mentioned,
but is considered a forgery from the late 12th and early 13th century. The ''Libellus Policorion'', a church
cartulary
A cartulary or chartulary (; Latin: ''cartularium'' or ''chartularium''), also called ''pancarta'' or ''codex diplomaticus'', is a medieval manuscript volume or roll (''rotulus'') containing transcriptions of original documents relating to the fo ...
dated to the mid-14th century that includes transcriptions of older collected documents about the estates of the now extinct Benedictine Abbey of St John the Evangelist in
Biograd
Biograd na Moru (), shortened to simply Biograd (), is a town in northern Dalmatia, Croatia and is significant for being another capital of the medieval Kingdom of Croatia. Biograd is administratively part of the Zadar County. It is located on t ...
and Saints Cosmas and Damian on the island of
Pašman
Pašman () is an Adriatic island off the coast of northern Dalmatia in Croatia with an area of 60.11 km2,
located to the south of Zadar, surrounded by the islands of Ugljan to the northwest, Iž to the west, and Dugi Otok and Žut to the ...
, mentions one ''Kutun'' (Katun) district. Vlachs can be traced by personal names and peculiarly by the suffix ' in Dalmatian city documents since the 10th century.
The sudden appearance of the Vlach name in the historical documents is due to the official introduction of specific rights in the notary books for taxation and trade only from 1307.
![Morlachia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Morlachia.jpg)
The first collective reference to Vlachs, or
Morlachs
Morlachs ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Morlaci, Морлаци or , ; it, Morlacchi; ro, Morlaci) has been an exonym used for a rural Christian community in Herzegovina, Lika and the Dalmatian Hinterland. The term was initially used for a bilingual Vlach p ...
in some Latin and mostly Venetian and Italian documents, dates from the early 1320s (almost 900 years after Slavic migration); in 1321, a local priest from
Dobrinj
Dobrinj is a village and municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia, on the island of Krk. There are 2,078 inhabitants in the municipality, with 91% Croats.
Geography
Dobrinj and the municipality of the same name are ...
on the island of
Krk
Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kota ...
granted land to the church ("to the lands of Kneže, which are called Vlach"), while in 1322 they and the people of
Poljica were allied with the Ban of Croatia,
Mladen Šubić, who fought against Croatian pretenders at the
Battle of Bliska
The Battle of Bliska (present day Blizna in the hinterland of Trogir called Zagora, southern Croatia) was fought in 1322 between the army of a coalition of several Croatian noblemen and Dalmatian coastal towns (with the support of the king Cha ...
in the hinterland of
Trogir
Trogir (; historically known as Traù (from Dalmatian, Venetian and Italian: ); la, Tragurium; Ancient Greek: Τραγύριον, ''Tragyrion'' or Τραγούριον, ''Tragourion'') is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in S ...
. In 1344 ''Morolacorum'' were mentioned in lands around
Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
and
Krbava
Krbava (; ) is a historical region located in Mountainous Croatia and a former Catholic bishopric (1185–1460), precursor of the diocese of Modruš an present Latin titular see.
It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as th ...
, within the conflict of counts from Kurjaković and
Nelipić families, and that they could shelter their livestock on the islands of Rab,
Hvar
Hvar (; Chakavian: ''Hvor'' or ''For'', el, Φάρος, Pharos, la, Pharia, it, Lesina) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately long,
wi ...
, and
Brač
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of ,
making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide. The island's talle ...
. In 1345 they are mentioned in the charter by king
Louis I of Hungary
Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370 ...
to the Nelipić family, to whom was confiscated
Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
in exchange for
Sinj
Sinj (; it, Signo; german: Zein) is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The town itself has a population of 11,478 and the population of the administrative municipality, which includes surrounding villages, is 24 ...
and other fortresses in Cetina county with all "with their inhabitants, Croats and Vlachs".
In 1352, in the agreement in which
Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...
sold salt to the Republic of Venice, in which Zadar retained part of the salt that ''Morlachi'' and others exported by land. In the 1357 charter of
Šibenik
Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...
was imposed a provision that Vlachs must not use the city lands for pasture without authority. In 1362, the ''Morlachorum'', unauthorized, settled on
Trogir
Trogir (; historically known as Traù (from Dalmatian, Venetian and Italian: ); la, Tragurium; Ancient Greek: Τραγύριον, ''Tragyrion'' or Τραγούριον, ''Tragourion'') is a historic town and harbour on the Adriatic coast in S ...
land but were allowed to use it for pasture for a few months.
In 1383, Vlachs around Šibenik, which partially belonged to Queen
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
and the noble
Ivan III Nelipić, were causing problems, and citizens wrote to the queen asking for help. The queen warned the Ban of Croatia, Emerik, and ordered him to send Vlachs away from the city lands and take fines from them, from which a part was to be given to the citizens. In 1387, when nobles from the Budislavić family from Krbava confirmed with a charter the privileges of the citizens of the city Pag, it was determined that Vlachs must not use the city lands for pasture. In the Statute of
Senj
Senj (; it, Segna, la, Senia, Hungarian language, Hungarian and german: Zengg) is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains.
The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress ( hr, Tvr ...
dating to 1388, the Frankopans mentioned ''Morowlachi'' and defined the amount of time they had for pasture around river Gacka when they descended from the mountains.
![Stećak ploča](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Ste%C4%87ak_plo%C4%8Da.JPG)
Some scholars consider that the alleged Vlach migration in the 14th century to the Dalmatian Zagora was preceded by the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
, which enabled permanent Vlach colonization and the pasture of animals on desolated land. This migration would be followed with the sudden appearance of tombstones in Cetina county, showing the cultural specificity of the newly arrived communities. The particular appearance of the indicates a separate socio-cultural identity, to whom the afterlife was important, as well as socio-professional prosperity for such valuable burials.
In the 1376 and 1454 documents by the
Republic of Dubrovnik
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century
, currency = ...
regarding trade with Bosnian lands, are distinguished. In Bosnian documents they are first mentioned in c. 1234 by Ban
Matej Ninoslav
Matej Ninoslav ( sr-cyr, Матеј Нинослав; died 1250) was the Ban of Bosnia in the period of 1232–50. Most of Bosnia was under the Kingdom of Hungary from 1235 to 1241. Ninoslav was also a Prince of Split in 1242–1244 during the loc ...
, and from 1361 to 1417, royal Vlachs of Bosnian bans and kings were mentioned. On 13 April 1411,
Bosnian Duke
Sandalj Hranić
Sandalj Hranić Kosača ( cyrl, Сандаљ Хранић Косача; 1370 – 15 March 1435) was the most powerful Bosnian nobleman whose primary possessions consisted of land areas between Adriatic coast, the Neretva and the Drina river ...
sold the Croatian town
Ostrovica, which was a gift from King
Ladislaus of Naples
Ladislaus the Magnanimous ( it, Ladislao, hu, László; 15 February 1377 – 6 August 1414) was King of Naples from 1386 until his death and an unsuccessful claimant to the kingdoms of Hungary and Croatia. Ladislaus was a skilled political and m ...
to the Republic of Venice. A year later on 10 April 1412, the ''Murlachos'' (probably in service of King
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
) captured the
Ostrovica Fortress
Ostrovica Fortress (; hr, Tvrđava Ostrovica) is a ruined medieval fortification on a solid rock jutting from the top of the hill above the village of Ostrovica in Zadar County, Croatia. It is located between the two historical and geographical ...
from Venice. In August 1417, Venetian authorities were concerned with the "Morlachs and other Slavs" from the hinterland, that were a threat to security in
Šibenik
Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...
.
In 1405 and 1421, ''morolakis seu olakonibus'' and ''wolachos sugari'' lived on the lands of Ostrovica Lička, today near
Gospić
Gospić () is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj County. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field ( Ličko Polje).
Gospić is the ...
in Lika. During the 15th century, the Vlach population in Croatia expanded so significantly that they were sometimes mentioned as a distinct entity along the Croatians. In 1412 King Sigismund bestowed the Sinj county and
Travnik
Travnik is a town and a municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the administrative center of Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, west of Sarajevo. As of 201 ...
fortress to Ivan III Nelipić, and mentioned that Croats and Vlachs were at his disposal (). In the so-called Pašman Breviary (1431) Croats and Vlachs enslaved by the Turks were distinguished. On 6 August 1432, the Ragusians reported to King Sigismund that the Turks had invaded the Croatian lands and captured many Croats and Vlachs. In 1432, on the order of King Sigismund, Morlachs were required for military service and to gather at the ban's camp where they were joined by the "whole of the Croatian Kingdom and co-existing forces of the Vlachs". In 1433 a document was released which defined the relations between "good Vlachs" and the Church of St. Ivan on the Hill in Lika, mentioning the Vlach judicial court, and that "not one Vlach among us brother Croat Vlachs will carry out any evil on the said property".
The sale of Dalmatia on 7 April 1433 by King Sigismund to the Republic of Venice earned him the enmity of Ivan Frankopan. With the death of the last Nelipić in 1435, Frankopan convinced the Vlachs to side with him by promising them the resurrection of old "Vlach laws" (previously given by the Nelipić family). The parish of Cetina law given by Ivan Frankopan on 18 March 1436 distinguishes Vlachs from Croats and Serbs and determines that the Vlachs have their own
''knez''. These laws dated from the middle of the 14th century and included many personal rights for the Vlachs. According to the "Vlach laws", Vlachs that chose to follow Frankopan received various privileges, such as serving under Vlach commanders instead of Croatian ones, crimes committed in the town of Sinj would be judged by a Vlach magistrate rather than a Croatian one, the Croatian prince of Cetina would not be permitted to appoint a
voivode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...
(prince) over them, and Croats would be restricted to having only one Vlach as their shepherd. Encouraged by these promises, the Vlachs attacked nearby littoral towns under Venetian control, but in 1436 on behalf of King Sigismund, the Ban of Croatia
Matko Talovac
Matko Talovac ( la, Mathkoni de Thallowcz, hu, Tallóci Matkó) or Matija Talovac, was a Croatian nobleman, a member of the Talovac noble family. He served as Ban (Viceroy) of Slavonia from 1435 and Ban of Croatia from 1436, until his death in ...
waged war against Ivan Frankopan who did not manage to survive.
As they previously supported Frankopan, the Vlachs from Cetina now were persecuted, resulting the Vlachs being informed on 2 July 1436 of a signed peace treaty between Talovac and Venice that forbade further attacks on Venetian towns, but it was not always respected. The persecution was also in part due to the new conflict between Talovac and
herzog
''Herzog'' (female ''Herzogin'') is a German hereditary title held by one who rules a territorial duchy, exercises feudal authority over an estate called a duchy, or possesses a right by law or tradition to be referred to by the ducal title. T ...
Stjepan Vukčić Kosača
Stjepan Vukčić Kosača ( sr-Cyrl, Стјепан Вукчић Косача; 1404–1466) was the most powerful Bosnian nobleman whose active political career spanned the last three decades of medieval Bosnian history, from 1435 to 1465. D ...
who at the time had capital in
Imotski
Imotski (; it, Imoschi; lat, Emotha, later ''Imota'') is a small town on the northern side of the Biokovo massif in the Dalmatian Hinterland of southern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imotski, like the surrounding inland D ...
. Kosača managed to conquer in 1440
Omiš
Omiš (, Latin and it, Almissa) is a town and port in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County. The town is situated approximately south-east of Croatia's second largest city, Split. Its location is wh ...
and
Poljica, but lost them to Venice in 1444. From this time are dated
''stećaks'' from
Bisko
Bisko is a village in Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, ma ...
. In 1444 conflicts between Talovac and Vlachs again re-emerged, with the estates of Vlachs Mikul Dudanović, Radoj Gerdanić and their siblings being given to the widow of Šimun
Keglević. This resulted with the migration of Morlachs from the Talovac estates in Cetina to Poljica under Venice control in 1446.
The Vlachs of Lika were ruled by Croatian princes and bishops, while Vlachs who lived along the Cetina river were more autonomous and were governed by Vlach princes, dukes and judges. They also paid more favorable taxes and were free from paying for pasture for their cattle. However, they were not completely free citizens and faced restrictions such as prohibitions on becoming court witnesses, jurors and officers. Their rights were contained in the "Vlach Paper" from 1476, which itself is an extension of the "Vlach Laws" from 1436. Both of these were written in
Cyrillic
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
and kept in the Franciscan monastery in
Trsat
Trsat ( it, Tersatto, la, Tarsatica) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trsa ...
. Also, during this period, large numbers of Vlachs were traded or used as gifts between Croatian nobles, and local churches.
In the summer of 1448 during warfare around Šibenik, the city's authority complained in Venice about Morlachs and Croats who were subordinate to the Ban of Croatia. In 1463, Vlachs from the ''de genere Thwlich'' (Tulić) in the
župa
A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly translate ...
of
Vrlika
Vrlika is a small town in inland Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The closest large towns are Sinj, Knin, and Drniš. Vrlika was given the status of town in 1997. Vrlika is an underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the ...
were mentioned, gifted by King
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
to the local Croatian nobel Ivan Čubretić. In 1481, some Vlachs were settled in Lika by the king. In 1486 and 1487 Vlachs were mentioned at the Zrmanja river region, around the Kegalj-grad, because of land disputes with Keglević nobles. In the late 1480s they were mentioned in Dubašica and Poljica on the island Krk: . In 1504 a document from Krk mentions "...every Christian, nobleman and peasant, Vlach or Croat". In the 1504 document about war tributes, besides from Vrlika, Vlachs from Knin (''Tinninienses''),
Obrovac (''Obrowacz'') and
Nutjak were also mentioned.
Another group or Vlach term besides Morlachs was ''
Ćići
Ćić (plural Ćići, sl, Čiči, german: Tschitschen, it, Cicci, Chicchi, Ciccio, Cici), is an ethnonym and Exonym and endonym, exonym in a broader sense for all the people who live in the mountainous Ćićarija area in Croatia and Slovenia. Al ...
'' (Ger. ). In the early 15th century it was mentioned as a surname in Istria, while in 1463 it was mentioned by priest Fraščić as a group who, under Ivan Frankopan, plundered Istrian territory below the
Učka
The Učka ([], it, Monte Maggiore) is a mountain range in western Croatia. It rises behind the Opatija riviera, on the eastern side of the Istrian peninsula.
It forms a single morphological unit together with the Ćićarija range which stretches ...
mountains.
In 1499, the Carinthian parish priest Jakob Urnest mentioned a ''Czyschnlandt'' territory between the Croatian and Bosnian kingdoms, which some consider to be the Cetina river region in southern Croatia.
In penal records of Trieste from the year 1500, there is an inscription of an accused who, when asked of his home country, replied ''Ciccio da
Segna'' (Senj), while another man declared himself as ''Ciccio da S. Michele di
Leme (Lim valley in Istria)''.
In 1523 and 1527, were settled in the estate of
Lupoglav were settled. In 1528, were mentioned regarding the possible settlement of Modruš and other lands as a resistance against ''Martolosi''. In 1530, they were prohibited from purchasing grain in
Novo Mesto
Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered t ...
and
Metlika
Metlika (; german: Möttling''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 10.) is a town in southeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municip ...
in
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region.
Geography
Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the no ...
. In 1539, royal commissioner Erasmo von Thurn submitted a request by Ćići to King Ferdinand to give them some deserted
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
land in Istria. Also, previously in 1530, general commander Nikola Jurišić mentioned Vlachs who were commonly called Ćići (),
while Slovenian diplomat
Benedikt Kuripešič in his travel through Bosnia mentioned his use of ''Zitzen'' and ''Zigen'' as exonym, along with ''Vlach'' and ''Martolosi'', for the Serbs and Orthodox immigrants in Bosnia which came from
Smederevo
Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
According to ...
and Greek Belgrade (Smedraw and ).
In October 1538 the captain of Bihać, Erazmo Thurn, wrote to King
Ferdinand I that Ćići from Istria (), who were around Ottoman-occupied Obrovac, moved to the king's land with many men and 40,000 cattle.
Ottoman conquest and the Austrian Empire
Vlach migrations to the Austrian Empire from the Ottoman Empire, and vice versa, were generally caused by the loss of financial status or privileges of
Vlach law
The Vlach law (, ro, legea românească, "Romanian law", or , "customs of the land", ) refers to the traditional Romanian common law as well as to various special laws and privileges enjoyed or enforced upon particularly pastoralist communities ...
s, rather than from any form of ethnic or religious persecution. Usually the migrations were caused by turbulent events or occurred in periods afterwards, like the
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...
(1526), the conquest of Dalmatia (1522), Lika and Krbava (1527–1528), and subsequent battles. Many Vlachs served in Ottoman armies during their conquests. As part of the military, they often served either as light cavalry or infantrymen, or irregular soldiers (''
martolos
The ''martolos'' was an internal security force of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans ('' Rumelia''), mostly active between the 15th to 17th centuries. It initially constituted out of the local mostly Christian populations (Rum Millet), but over ti ...
i''). However, since the movements of large Ottoman armies towards Inner Austria were rarely routed through
Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...
, and military actions were focused on the vicinity of
Jajce
Jajce (Јајце) is a town and municipality located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 2013 census, the town has a population of 7,172 inhabitants, with ...
and
Bihać
Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
, the role of the
Uskok
The Uskoks ( hr, Uskoci, , singular: ; notes on naming) were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought ...
-Vlachs spying on the Ottomans was particularly important. In the 15th century after the fall of the
Bulgarian Empire
In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...
under the Sultan's rule, many of the Vlachs arrived in the area between
and
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally th ...
(Slavonia at that time) and part of them continued their journey across the Drava to Hungary. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, Christians on the Balkan Peninsula fled from the Ottomans to Austrian, Hungarian and Venetian territories; Orthodox Slavs and Vlachs fled into Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia or they fled across the Danube. Ottoman Vlachs who colonized Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, western parts of Bosnia and Hungary to some extent were Catholic, which can be seen in Venetian and Habsburg sources (''Morlachi Catholici'' in Dalmatia and ''Rasciani catolici, Katolische Ratzen, Meerkroaten, Illiri, Horvati'' etc. in Croatia and Hungary).
The Serb, Vlach and Uskok colonization of Žumberak started between 1526 and 1538, at the same time when in Ottoman-conquered lands Vlach laws were partially or completely repealed until 1550, causing migration due to social and financial status. In June 1531, around 1,000 Vlachs, advised by Ivan Katzianer, settled in
Kostel and
Polajna, along the
Kupa
The Kupa () or Kolpa ( or ; from la, Colapis in Roman times; hu, Kulpa) river, a right tributary of the Sava, forms a natural border between north-west Croatia and southeast Slovenia. It is long, with its border part having a length of and th ...
River near Žumberak, of which 700 were fit for military service. King Ferdinand I in September 1538 responded to general commander Nikola Jurišić, who informed him about some Servian or Rascian captains and dukes who were willing to come with their people to serve in military service, and that they were given privileges. In October of the same year, Jurišić informed the King that Ban
Petar Keglević
Petar Keglević II of Bužim (died in 1554 or 1555) was the ban of Croatia and Slavonia from 1537 to 1542.
Career
Keglević was captain from 1521 to 1522 and later ban of Jajce. In 1526, some months before the Battle of Mohács, he got the '' ...
and other nobles came from Ottoman-conquered territory around the river Cetina with many ''Sirfen'' (Serbs). In the same letter, Jurišić informed the king about the Vlachs who "in our (Croatian) parts are called as Old Romans" (), and who came with others from Turkish areas (the river Zrmanja), to be given the same promises and privileges which were given to the Serbs. In November, Ferdinand wrote to Keglević about "captains and dukes of the Rasians or the Serbs, and the Vlachs who are commonly called the Zytschy (Ćići)". Serbs from the Cetina part of the 1538 migration were taken care of by the captain of Bihać, Erazmo Thurn, and his men, Croatian Ban
Petar Keglević
Petar Keglević II of Bužim (died in 1554 or 1555) was the ban of Croatia and Slavonia from 1537 to 1542.
Career
Keglević was captain from 1521 to 1522 and later ban of Jajce. In 1526, some months before the Battle of Mohács, he got the '' ...
, and the counts of Slunj,
Zrinski
Zrinski () was a Croatian- Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union with the Kingdom of Hungar ...
, and Blagaj. Military service became the main occupation of the new population.
![Croatian Military Frontier-1868](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Croatian_Military_Frontier-1868.png)
In 1530, Vlachs from Lika and Srb,
Unac and
Glamoč
Glamoč ( sr-cyrl, Гламоч) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the foothills of Staretin ...
came under Turkish rule. Catholic Vlachs in Prilišće and Rosopajnik settled in 1538, while in 1544 they came under the protection of
Nikola Šubić Zrinski
Nikola IV Zrinski or Miklós IV Zrínyi ( hu, Zrínyi Miklós, ; 1507/1508 – 7 September 1566), also commonly known as Nikola Šubić Zrinski (), was a Croatian nobleman and general, Ban of Croatia from 1542 until 1556, royal master of the tr ...
. Around 1530, some Vlachs settled in the lands of Stjepan Frankopan from Ozalj, in Otok and Hreljin, who in 1540 were mentioned for receiving a reward from King Ferdinand for their success in spying on the Turks. With the growing number of the Ottoman Vlachs passing over the Christian side, the Vlach leader from Glamoč, Ladislav Stipković, traveled to Ljubljana to offer his service, and those of his forces, to the Austrians. In a later battle, the combined forces of the army from Bihać and the Vlachs defeated an Ottoman army at Bihać.
In 1551, General
Ivan Lenković
Ivan Lenković (died 22 June 1569) was a Habsburg Croatian army general and the leader of the Uskoks. He carried the title of baron. He is noted for the construction of Nehaj Fortress and as a captain of the Senj area.Bousfield (2003), p. 227. H ...
reported to Ferdinand how Turks settled thousands of Morlachs and Vlachs around
Srb and ''Kosovo field'' near the town of Knin. In 1560, the towns of Lišnica and
Novigrad along with large parts of the
Una
Una and UNA may refer to:
Places
* 160 Una, the asteroid "Una", an asteroid named after the Faerie Queene character
* Una River (disambiguation), numerous rivers
* Una, Himachal Pradesh, a town in India
** Una, Himachal Pradesh Assembly constit ...
valley, Bušević and the Krupa river, were captured, and settled with newcomers from Bosnia. In 1560, some Vlachs were settled around
Ivanić-Grad
Ivanić-Grad or Ivanić Grad ( is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of Moslavina.
Geography
Ivanić-Grad is located south-east from Zagreb, connected:
* by highway A3 (Bregana-Zagreb-Ivanić-Grad-Slavonski Brod-Lipovac)
* by train ...
,
Križevci
Križevci (; la, Crisium; hu, Kőrös ; german: Kreutz ) is a city in central Croatia with a total population of 21,122 and with 11,231 in the city itself (2011), the oldest city in its county, the Koprivnica-Križevci County.
History
The f ...
and
Koprivnica
Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of the Koprivnica-Križevci county. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total popu ...
.
Orthodox Vlachs were also directed to settle in Lika when Arnaud Memi-Bey became commander of Lika
Sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησι ...
. The
Beylerbey
''Beylerbey'' ( ota, بكلربكی, beylerbeyi, lit=bey of beys, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords') was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks ...
of Bosnia,
Hasan-Pasha Predojević, himself an Islamized Orthodox "Vlach" from
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
, received the support of these Orthodox Vlachs and many served in his armies. At Predojević's order, Vlachs, as well as some Turkish nobility, settled near the towns
Brekovica
Brekovica ( sr-cyrl, Брековица) is a village in the municipality of Bihać
Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzeg ...
, Ripča,
Ostrvice and Vrla Draga near
Sokolac
Sokolac ( sr-Cyrl, Соколац) is a municipality of the city of Istočno Sarajevo located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 12,021 inhabitants, while the town of Sokolac has a populat ...
in such numbers that they formed a significant population in the region. In 1579, Vlachs in Turkish service wanted to transfer the towns of
Cazin
Cazin ( sr-cyrl, Цазин) is a city located in Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Bosanska Krajina region, near the border ...
and
Ostrožac to Christian, that is Croatian, ownership. In 1599, many Vlachs emigrated from
Korenica
Korenica is a village in Lika, Croatia, located in the municipality of Plitvička Jezera, on the D1 road between Plitvice and Udbina. According to 2011 census it has 1,766 residents. It is the seat of the Plitvička Jezera Municipality.
In SF ...
and
Bihać area to Gomirje.
In 1585, the general from Karlovac, Josip Turn, proposed Vlach settlement in
Moravice, and later in 1597 General Lenković led Vlachs from Lika to
Gorski Kotar and lands owned by the Frankopan family. In the Frankopan estate, Vlachs arrived yet again in 1609 and 1632. In 1605, General Vid Kisel brought Vlachs from Ostrožac to
Ogulin
Ogulin () is a town in north-western Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 7,389 (2021) (it was 8,216 in 2011), and a total municipal population of 12,251 (2021). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle, known as Kula, and the ...
and Bosiljevac, and some time later, Vlachs from Uzorac and Turje settled in
Karlovac
Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. According to the 2011 census, its population was 55,705.
Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located on the Zagreb- Rijeka highway and railway line, south-west of Zagre ...
. In 1609, two burgs, Brlog and Gusić-Grad, were given by Senj captain and Croatian nobleman Sigismund Gusić to accommodate the newly arrived Vlachs in exchange for their military service. In 1639, Nikola Frankopan of
Tržac accused Senj captain Albrecht Herberstein of settling Catholic Vlachs (Bunjevci) on his deserted estates in
Jablanac
Jablanac is a village in Lika-Senj County, Croatia, located on the Adriatic Sea underneath the Velebit mountain, overlooking the island of Rab. The village used to have a ferry port that connected it to Rab, but that moved up the coast to Stinica ...
,
Starigrad, and Orthodox Vlachs in
Brinje
Brinje is a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia, located about 35 miles from Gospić.
The town is formed around a castle called ''Sokolac'', which contains one of the most well preserved Gothic chapels in Croatia, St. Marys, which dates b ...
and Brlog, without his permission. The same happened with Zrinski in
Ledenice
Ledenice is a market town in České Budějovice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants.
Ledenice lies approximately south-east of České Budějovice and south of Prague
Prague ( ; cs, ...
. Under the Ottomans during the bishopric of Marcijan Lišnjić (1661–1686) around Blato and Broćno/Brotnjo in Herzegovina were mentioned "Croatian Vlachs".
After the Ottomans were defeated in Vienna in 1683, the Vlachs scattered throughout the Croatian Military Frontier. Concerned, the Turks decided to settle them on the south side of the Una river, but were unable to execute this plan. During this period, the Ottomans were vulnerable to Vlach raids from
Banija
, settlement_type = Geographic region
, image_skyline = Banovina-Banija-Банија.jpg
, image_caption = Collage of Banovina Photos
, image_shield =
, shield_size ...
and Karlovac. Vlachs, under the protection of the Ban of Croatia
Miklós Erdődy
Miklós Erdődy de Monyorókerék et Monoszló ( hr, Nikola III Erdödy) (1630 – 7 June 1693) was a Croatian ban of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the Erdődy noble family and a Hungarian count.
He succeeded Petar Zrinski as ban in 167 ...
and General Ivan Josip Herberstein, were also settled around
Petrinja
Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County.
On December 29, 2020, the town was hit by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 , causing ...
,
Glina Glina is a word of Slavic origin, meaning "clay". It may refer to:
*Glina (river) in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Glina, Croatia, a town in Croatia
**Glina massacres, 1941
* Glina, Piotrków County in Łódź Voivodeship (central Poland)
*Gl ...
,
Skradin
Skradin ( it, Scardona; grc, Σκάρδων) is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, with a population of 3,825 (2011 census). It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, from Šibenik and ...
,
Vojnić
Vojnić ( sr-Cyrl, Војнић) is a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. There are 4,764 inhabitants, 45% of whom are Serbs and 37% of whom are Croats. The municipality is part of Kordun. Vojnić is underdeveloped municipality which is sta ...
, Krstinje and
Budačko. After the
magnate conspiracy
The Magnate conspiracy, also known as the Zrinski-Frankopan Conspiracy ( hr, Zrinsko-frankopanska urota) in Croatia, and Wesselényi conspiracy ( hu, Wesselényi-összeesküvés) in Hungary, was a 17th-century attempt to throw off Habsburg mon ...
(1670), executions and the confiscation of the Frankopan and Zrinski families' estates, Vlachs were settled under the permission of frontier generals. The abandoned village of
Plaški
Plaški ( sr-Cyrl, Плашки) is a village and a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is part of Lika.
Geography
Plaški is situated in the lower part of the Ogulin-Plaški valley. Together with Gorski kotar and Lika, the Ogulin-Pla ...
was settled in 1666, while 120 families settled below the
Budački fortress, in approximately 200 houses between
Skrad
Skrad is a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. There are 1,062 inhabitants, with 97% Croats (2011).
See also
*Zeleni Vir Hydroelectric Power Plant
Zeleni Vir Hydroelectric Power Plant is a hydroelectric powe ...
,
Slunj
Slunj ( Hungarian ''Szluin'', old German ''Sluin'', Latin ''Slovin'', archaic Croatian ''Slovin grad'') is a town in the mountainous part of Central Croatia, located along the important North-South route to the Adriatic Sea between Karlovac and ...
, Veljun, and Blagaj in 1686. With the liberation of Lika and Krbava in 1689, Vlachs from
Kupres
Kupres ( sr-cyrl, Купрес) is a town and municipality located in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 5,057 inhabitants, while the town of Kupres has ...
,
Grahovo and Plavno near Knin returned to the region. Thirty individuals from Plaški were transferred to
Jasenice in 1705, and 158 families were settled in the vicinity of Budački in 1711. In 1791, after the
Treaty of Sistova
The Treaty of Sistova ended the last Austro-Turkish war (1787–91). Brokered by Great Britain, Prussia and the Netherlands,''The Peace Treaties of the Ottoman Empire'', Karl-Heinz Ziegler, Peace Treaties and International Law in European Histo ...
, Orthodox Vlachs settled in new territory from
Maljevac
Maljevac is a village in Croatia, lying on the Glina River. It is connected by the D216 (Croatia), D216 highway. It houses a mosque attended to by the local Bosnian Muslim population.
{{Karlovac-geo-stub
Populated places in Karlovac County
Bos ...
to Srb and the triangle border of Lika regiment, noted as the last of such migrations.
In the
Ban's Croatia Vlachs mostly settled in the 17th century. In 1680 around 120 families were settled. In 1688 Vlachs settled in
Bović,
Kirin, and Gradišće. In 1718, noblewoman Marija Magdalena Drašković settled some Vlachs on her estate between the Tršca stream and village of Utinja. In 1750, an Orthodox priest and witnesses confirmed Vlachs had not previously lived around Kupa, Steničnjak,
Petrova Gora and Slavsko Polje, but only around
Hrvatska Kostajnica
Hrvatska Kostajnica (; ; ), often just Kostajnica, is a small town in central Croatia. It is located on the Una (Sava), Una river in the Sisak-Moslavina County, south of Petrinja and Sisak and across the river from Kostajnica, Bosnia and Herzegovi ...
. They numbered around 4000 people.
In Slavonia, Friedrich Wilhelm von Taube wrote in the 18th century that there were many Vlachs mixed with "Illyrians" (Croats and Serbs) and who have adopted their "Illyrian" (Slavic) language.
In Dalmatia the Morlachs were immigrants who settled in the Venetian-Ottoman border, on the outskirts of coastal cities, and entered Venetian military service, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1593, ''
provveditore The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in gr, προνοητής, προβλεπτής; sh, providur), "he who sees to things" (overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the exten ...
generale'' Cristoforo Valier mentioned three nations constituting the Uskoks, the "natives of Senj, Croatians, and Morlachs from the Turkish parts". At the time of the
Cretan War (1645–1669)
The Cretan War ( el, Κρητικός Πόλεμος, tr, Girit'in Fethi), also known as the War of Candia ( it, Guerra di Candia) or the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies (chief among ...
and
Morean War (1684–1699), a large number of ''Morlachs'' settled inland of the Dalmatian towns and
Ravni Kotari of Zadar. According to Venetian censuses, in 1761, Orthodox Christians made up 31,211 of the total population numbering 220,287; in 1771, 38,652 out of 223,765; in 1781, 51,996 out of 236,997.
The settlement of the Vlachs in Croatia was beneficial to the Austrian Empire as the Emperor was reluctant to return the Military Frontier to Croatia. Further settlement of Vlachs was encouraged by the Austrian government, but this antagonised the
Sabor
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor ...
(the Croatian Parliament) and resulted in the passing of various laws on 21 February 1629, guaranteeing certain privileges to the Vlachs. For example, any Vlach willingly becoming a subject of the Kingdom of Croatia was exempt from becoming a
serf
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
, rendering Vlachs almost equal with native Croatians. The laws enacted by the Emperor of the Austrian Empire and Sabor are collectively known as ''
Statuta Valachorum
''Statuta Valachorum'' ("Vlach Statute(s)", sh, Vlaški statut(i)) was a decree issued by Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsburg monarchy on 5 October 1630 that defined the rights of "Vlachs" (a term used for a community of mostly Orthodox refugees, ...
''. The exemption of the Vlachs from serfdom can be compared to the same exemption for native Croats, which was not applied until 1848 during the rule of
Josip Jelačić
Count Josip Jelačić von Bužim (16 October 180120 May 1859; also spelled ''Jellachich'', ''Jellačić'' or ''Jellasics''; hr, Josip grof Jelačić Bužimski; hu, Jelasics József) was a Croatian lieutenant field marshal in the Imperial-Roy ...
. To ensure cooperation from the Vlachs, Austrian generals conducted a propaganda campaign focusing on Vlach serfdom under Croatian rule. This activity prevented the Croatian envoy to the Austrian court,
Benedikt Vinković
Benedikt Benko Vinković ( lat, Benedictus II Vinkovich) (1581 – 2 December 1642) was a Croatian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Pécs (1630-1637) and the bishop of Zagreb (1637-1642).
Early life
Vinković wa ...
, who was there to consult on the "Vlach question", from pursuing a union of the Vlach-settled Military Frontier with Croatia.
Legacy
Many scholars consider that ''Vlachs'' since the 16th century has referred to pastoralists (social status), being a common name for Serbs and other Slavs in the Ottoman Empire and later.
Tihomir Đorđević considered that the term ''Vlach'' did not only refer to genuine Vlachs or Serbs but also to cattle breeders in general.
Bogumil Hrabak
Bogumil Hrabak (Serbian Cyrillic: Богумил Храбак; Zrenjanin, Serbia, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 11 January 1927 - Belgrade, Serbia, 12 December 2010) was a Serbian historian, university professor and pedagogue. With a pr ...
emphasized that not all cattle breeders and shepherds in the Balkans were called Vlachs, an example being the
Arbanasi. According to Zef Mirdita, there is a clear distinction between the Serb ethnic community and the Vlachs as seen in Serbian
medieval documents mentioning "Vlachs" separately from "Serbs", and for example, the prohibition of intermarriage between Serbs and Vlachs by Emperor
Stefan Dušan
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gr ...
(in ''
Dušan's Code
Dušan's Code ( sr-cyr, Душанов законик, ''Dušanov zakonik'', known historically as ''Закон благовјернаго цара Стефана'' – Law of the pious Emperor Stefan) is a compilation of several legal systems th ...
'').
However, as argued by
John V. A. Fine Jr., "a more detailed examination of the code shows that it was in fact occupational". Mirdita noted that the Vlachs were always mentioned as an ethnic group and were in the process of Slavicization which was not completed in the 15th century. According to
Sima Ćirković
Sima Ćirković (Serbian Cyrillic: Сима Ћирковић; 29 January 1929 – 14 November 2009) was a Serbian historian. Ćirković was a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the subsequent Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin a ...
, documents from the 13th to the 15th centuries show that the Vlachs were considered by the Serbs as "others" i.e. different from themselves, while documentation on that particular issue is scarce, so it is very difficult to conclude how the difference was perceived.
Orthodox Vlach groups whose migrations were not accompanied by an ecclesiastical infrastructure were Catholicised and assimilated. According to Marko Šarić, the Serb identity was finalized among the Orthodox Vlachs in Lika and Krbava after the establishment of the Serbian Orthodox eparchies of Zrinopolje and Lika-Krbava in 1695, which would be later unified into the
Eparchy of upper Karlovac
The Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac ( sr-Cyrl, Епархија горњокарловачка, hr, Eparhija gornjokarlovačka; "Eparchy of Upper Karlovac") is an eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church seated in the city of Karlovac, Croatia. It cover ...
. He noted that the Catholic Vlachs (i.e. Bunjevci) were integrated into the Croatian nation. In a study on Western Balkan households and families, Austrian historian of
historical anthropology
Historical anthropology is a historiographical movement which applies methodologies and objectives from social and cultural anthropology to the study of historical societies. Like most such movements, it is understood in different ways by differe ...
Karl Kaser also noted that the Catholic Vlachs (Bunjevci) were absorbed by the Croat community while Orthodox Vlachs were absorbed by the
Serbian community. Some scholars like
Noel Malcolm
Sir Noel Robert Malcolm, (born 26 December 1956) is an English political journalist, historian and academic. A King's Scholar at Eton College, Malcolm read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received his doctorate in history from Trinity Col ...
consider Bosnian Serbs to have a large element of non-Slavic ancestry (Vlach) and that the national concepts of Croats and Serbs are 19th- and 20th-century constructs.
Historian has a similar view, who also considers the Serbisation of the Vlachs connected to the system of the Ottoman state through military duty which was indirectly supported by the Ottoman rule because the Vlachs belonged under the civil authority of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch.
The exact ethnic identity of the Frontier Vlachs (and in part the ancestors of the Krajina Serbs) is complex and at present unexplained without at least some national ideologies and mythologization which emerged in the 19th century. The dispersion of Orthodox Vlachs and Serbs in the present-day territory of Croatia, who mostly inhabited the historical borderland Military Frontier (''Krajina''), was a cultural, linguistic, and political factor used by extreme ideologies from both Serbia and Croatia. Drago Roksandić and Marko Šarić noted that the modern South Slavic national revival and historiography since the 19th century tried to see and interpret its own national history through the present-day situation, like an "ethnocentric mirror that shows the present". The picture they tried to present of the Vlachs was most commonly simplified, uncritical, and acted constructed, resulting in historiographic disputes. In the work ''About the Vlachs'' from 1806, Metropolitan
Stevan Stratimirović
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
stated that Roman Catholics from Croatia and Slavonia scornfully used the name ''Vlach'' for "the Slovenians (Slavs) and Serbs, who are of our, Eastern confession (Orthodoxy)", and that "the Turks in Bosnia and Serbia also call every Bosnian or Serbian Christian a Vlach". Scholars like
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić,
Ferdo Šišić
Ferdo Šišić (9 March 1869 – 21 January 1940) was a Croatian historian, the founding figure of the Croatian historiography of the 20th century. He made his most important contributions in the area of the Medieval Croatian state (disambiguation) ...
,
Vjekoslav Klaić
Vjekoslav Klaić (21 June 1849 – 1 July 1928) was a Croatian historian and writer, most famous for his monumental work ''History of the Croats''.
Klaić was born in Garčin near Slavonski Brod as the son of a teacher. He was raised in German s ...
, and
Petar Skok
Petar Skok (; 1 March 1881 – 3 February 1956) was a Croatian linguist and onomastics expert.
History
Skok was born to a Croatian family in the village of Jurkovo Selo, Žumberak. From 1892 to 1900 he attended the Higher Real Gymnasium in Rako ...
vaguely argued according to the ideologies of the time that the Vlachs lacked national consciousness, belonged to the Serbs or Croats, that Orthodoxy made them Serbs, or that due to them being mainly Orthodox, Roman Catholic priests began to identify them with the Serbs and
Rascians
Rascians ( sr, Раши, Рашани / ''Raši, Rašani''; la, Rasciani, Natio Rasciana) was a historical term for Serbs. The term was derived from the Latinized name for the central Serbian region of Raška ( la, Rascia; sr-Cyrl, Рашка). ...
, which was eventually adopted. Hrabak emphasized that South Slavic scholarship and Serbian nationalists tried to neglect or minimize the contribution of Vlachs in their ethnogenesis and history because the old-Balkan element insulted their idea of
''pure'' Slavs. Jaroslav Šidak pointed out that after the term received a new derogatory connotation in ("History of the Peoples of Yugoslavia II", 1959) the issue was avoided by writing ''vlachs'' in lowercase, in the sense of a social term. Ben Fowkes argues that to apply the term Vlach to someone, was to say that they were either nomads or free peasant-soldiers. It did not imply a definitive conclusion about their ethnic group and that the Krajina Serbs who lived in Croatia until driven out recently, were also described officially as Vlachs
Extreme Croatian historiography (including
Ustashe propaganda)
tries to completely neglect the Serb component, contribution, or origin of Vlachs. In Croatian historiography, other theories have been proposed. According to
Ivo Banac
Ivo Banac (; 1 March 1947 – 30 June 2020) was a Croatian-American historian, a professor of European history at Yale University and a politician of the former Liberal Party in Croatia, known as the Great Bard of Croatian historiography. , Banac ...
, Orthodox Slavicized Vlachs gradually acquired Serb national consciousness because most South Slavic Orthodox Christians belonged to the
Serbian Patriarchate of Peć
The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć ( sr, Српска патријаршија у Пећи, ''Srpska patrijaršija u Peći'') or just Patriarchate of Peć ( sr, Пећка патријаршија, ''Pećka patrijaršija''), was an autocephaly, a ...
with whom these Vlachs assimilated through their church organization. Others like
Mirko Valentić claim that the Vlachs were
Serbianized only in the 19th century. The Vlach origin of the Roman Catholic Bunjevci due to their well-integration in the Croatian population was ignored. The term ''Vlach'' was weaponized by some Croatian nationalists during the
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...
by applying it to Serbs in order to diminish Serbian territorial and historical claims to Croatia.
Extreme
Serbian historiography
Serbian historiography ( sr-Cyrl, српска историографија, srpska istoriografija) refers to the historiography (methodology of history studies) of the Serb people since the founding of Serbian statehood. The development can b ...
claims that all Dinaric and Shtokavian cultural-linguistic attributes are without exception Serbian, and also often stresses the ethnic-demographic discontinuity, wanting to prove that the Croatian Military Frontier lost its native Croatian population and received a new Serbian majority, and also downplays the Croatian and overemphasizes the Serbian role in the history of the Military Frontier. Likewise to the Croatian claims during the 1990s, tendentious Serbian claims to certain rights are argued based on historical privileges granted to them (or to Vlachs) by the Habsburgs.
Serbian historiography strongly considers that the term Vlach indicated status and not ethnos, and that they did not exist in later centuries as an ethnic group, yet were true Serbs.
Sima Ćirković
Sima Ćirković (Serbian Cyrillic: Сима Ћирковић; 29 January 1929 – 14 November 2009) was a Serbian historian. Ćirković was a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and the subsequent Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin a ...
noted that the name was maintained due to different crafts, their way of life and distinct form of social organization until the differences lost their meaning, with the Slavicization process lasting centuries; he considered Serbs to have absorbed many Vlachs and other ethnic groups. According to Zlatko Kudelić, the term ''Vlach'' has a broader meaning and denotes the entire Krajina population but is also a confessional label for Orthodox Grencers who are referred to as Serbs in Serbian historiography.
In recent decades, the extent in which Orthodox Vlachs and Serbs lived in previous centuries (Military Frontier, Srijem, Baranja, etc.) by Serb separatists was seen as a borderline between Croatia and self-proclaimed autonomous regions within Croatian territory, the
SAO Krajina
The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Srpska autonomna oblast Krajina, Српска аутономна област Крајина) or SAO Krajina () was a self-proclaimed Serbian autonomous region (oblast) wit ...
,
SAO Western Slavonia
The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Western Slavonia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srpska autonomna oblast Zapadna Slavonija, Српска аутономна област Западна Славонија) was a Serbian self-proclaimed autonomous region (oblast) ...
and
SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia
The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srpska autonomna oblast Istočna Slavonija, Baranja i Zapadni Srem, Српска аутономна област Источна Славонија, ...
, and the eventual
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...
(1991–1995), during the Croatian international recognition and
War in Croatia
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...
which lasted from 1991 until 1995. Croatian historian Drago Roksandić claimed in 1991, before the war escalated, that until today, the "Vlach question" () had caused and still caused many disagreements between experts and non-experts in ex-Yugoslavian countries, as well as in the other Balkan countries with Vlach communities. Vlach heritage has had a remarkable impact on modern Serbs, Croats and Bosnians.
In 1948, one person was registered as ''Vlach''; in 1953, two; in 1961, 34; in 1971, 13; in 1981, 16; in 1991, 22; in 2001, 12; and in 2011, 29.
Stanovništvo Hrvatske od 1931.-2001.
/ref>
See also
*Statuta Valachorum
''Statuta Valachorum'' ("Vlach Statute(s)", sh, Vlaški statut(i)) was a decree issued by Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsburg monarchy on 5 October 1630 that defined the rights of "Vlachs" (a term used for a community of mostly Orthodox refugees, ...
(Vlach law
The Vlach law (, ro, legea românească, "Romanian law", or , "customs of the land", ) refers to the traditional Romanian common law as well as to various special laws and privileges enjoyed or enforced upon particularly pastoralist communities ...
)
*Vlachs in medieval Serbia In medieval Serbia a social group known as "Vlachs" ( sr, / ) existed. While the term Vlachs had more meaning, primarily denote the inhabitants of Aromanian origin and also dependent shepherds in the medieval Serbian state.
Background Romance el ...
*Vlachs in medieval Bosnia
Vlachs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are a Balkans, Balkan population who descend from Romanization (cultural), Romanized Illyrians (Illyro-Romans), Thracians (Thraco-Romans) and other pre-Slavs, Slavic Romance language, Romance-speaking peoples and th ...
*Vlach (Ottoman social class)
Vlachs ( la, Valachi; Ottoman Turkish language, Ottoman Turkish: ''Eflak'', ''Eflakân''; Serbo-Croatian: / , / ) was a social and fiscal class in several late medieval states of Southeastern Europe, and also a distinctive social and fiscal cla ...
References
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External links
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{{Romanian diaspora
Eastern Romance peoples in Croatia
Historical ethnic groups of Europe
Ethnic groups in Croatia
History of the Serbs of Croatia
South Slavic history
History of Dalmatia
Military Frontier
History of the Aromanians