The Morlach troops was an

irregular military Irregular military is any non-standard military component that is distinct from a country's national armed forces. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military org ...

group in the Dalmatian hinterland, composed of

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 ...

, that was hired by 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 ...

to fight the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

during the

Cretan War (1645–69) Cretan War may refer to multiple wars involving the island of Crete, including: *Cretan War (205–200 BC), a war between King Philip V of Macedon and Rhodes * Cretan War (1645–69), a war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire See ...

and the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

(1683–99).

Leaders

The leaders, called '' harambaša'' (tr. "bandit leader") and ''

serdar Serdar may refer to * Serdar (given name) * Serdar (surname) * SERDAR, a stabilized remote-controlled Ukrainian weapon station * Serdar (city) in Turkmenistan, the capital of Serdar District * Serdar (Ottoman rank), a military and noble rank of t ...

'' ("commander-in-chief"), held several titles in Venetian service. ;Cretan War *Stjepan Sorić, Catholic priest, "governator delli Morlachi" * Ilija Smiljanić, "governator principale" * Petar Smiljanić, "capo" * Vuk Mandušić, "capo direttore" * Janko Mitrović, "capo principale de Morlachi" *Šimun Bortulačić, "governator" *Jovan Dračevac, "governator" *

Petronije Selaković Petronije Selaković ( sr-cyr, Петроније Селаковић; fl. April 1648) was a Serbian Orthodox monk of the Krka monastery who led a Morlach army during the Cretan War (1645–69) against the Ottoman Empire. His army came as far as the ...

, Orthodox monk

Etymology

Stanko Guldescu argued that the

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 Easte ...

, were Latin speaking and pastoral peoples who lived in the Balkan mountains since pre-Roman times Morlachs were Slavicized and partially Islamized during Turkish occupation. Silviu Dragomir wrote that the

were called Morlachs by Venetians and Velebit county was named Morlacca for a while and the naval channel in vicinity, the

Velebit Channel The Velebit Channel ( hr, Velebitski kanal, or ; it, Canale della Morlacca or ) is a channel in Croatia located between the lands at the foot of the Velebit mountain range and the islands of Pag, Rab Rab �âːb( dlm, Arba, la, Arba, it, ...

was called "Canale della Morlacca" Cicerone Poghirc showed that Morlach is an Italian translation of the Turkish name Caravlach. "Cara" means "Black" in Turkish but means North in Turkish geography. So Morlachs are Northern Vlachs in opposition with the Vlachs from Greece.

History

With the

, a solid organization was needed, with an officer commanding over several harambaše. At first this position was undetermined. Priest Stjepan Sorić is mentioned as "governator delli Morlachi", Petar Smiljanić as "capo", Vuk Mandušić as "capo direttore", and Janko Mitrović as "capo principale de Morlachi", Jovan Dračevac as "governator" etc. This "Uskok" or "Morlach" army had less than 1,500 fighters.

Legacy

The rebel fighters are enumerated Serbian epic poetry, of which there is a cyclus.

References

Sources