Raci

:"For other meanings, see Raci/RACI and Rac/RAC (disambiguation pages)"

Raci (Раци, "Rác", "Rácok", "Ratzen", "Ratzians", "Rasciani", "Rascians") was a name used to designate Serbs, or sometimes, in a wider perspective, all South Slavs, [cite journal |title=The legal status of the Bulgarian colonies of Transylvania (1690-1848) |last=Trócsányi |first=Zs. |journal=Etudes historiques hongroises |year=1985 |language=English |pages=p. 542 ] in the Middle Ages and the early modern times. The name was primary used by Hungarians and Germans and it derived from the name of medieval Serbian principality – Raška (Rascia) [ [http://www.rastko.org.yu/istorija/srbi-balkan/jkalic-raska.html [Projekat Rastko Jovanka Kalic - Rascia - The Nucleus of the Medieval Serbian State ] ] . The southern parts of the Pannonian Plain were also named "Raška" ("Rascia" in Latin or "Ráczság" in Hungarian).

History of usage

Since the 15th century, the Serbs made up a large percentage of the population on the territory of present-day Vojvodina. Because of this, many historical sources and maps, which were written and drawn between 15th and 18th centuries, mention the territory of present-day Vojvodina under the names of "Rascia" (Raška) and "Little Raška". The name "Rascia" was also used to designate parts of Slavonia populated by Serbs.

According to one historical record from 1543, Timişoara and Arad were located in the middle of "Rascia" ("in medio Rascionarum").

In official Habsburg documents from the 18th century the people of Vojvodina were mentioned as "Nation Rasciana" ("Rascian nation").

During the Kuruc War (1703-1711) of Francis II Rakoczi, the territory of present-day Vojvodina was a battlefield between Hungarian soliders and Bunjevci who fought on the side of the Habsburg Emperor. Darvas, the prime military commander of these soldiers and knights, which fought against rebels in Vojvodina, wrote: "We burned all large places of Rascia, on the both banks of the rivers Danube and Tisa".

When the representatives of the Vojvodinian rebels negotiated with the Hungarian leader Lajos Kossuth in 1848, they asked him not to call them "Raci", because they regard this name insulting.

The initial name of the city of Novi Sad ("Ratzen Stadt") has also derived from the name "Raci". The Tabán quarter of Budapest was also called "Rácváros" in the 18th-19th centuries.

Since the 19th century, the term "Raci" is no longer widely used.

Literature

*Drago Njegovan, Prisajedinjenje Vojvodine Srbiji, Novi Sad, 2004.
*Milan Tutorov, Mala Raška a u Banatu, Zrenjanin, 1991.
*Rascia, Časopis o Srbima u Vojvodini, godina I, broj 1, Vršac, Maj 1996.
*Lazo M. Kostić, Srpska Vojvodina i njene manjine, Novi Sad, 1999.

ee also

* Serbs
* Raška (state)
* Rascia
* History of Vojvodina
* History of Serbia
* Rac Croats

References

External links

* [http://mapmogul.com/catalog/images/JR0195.jpgMap from 1661 showing name "Rascia" in Banat and Syrmia]
* [http://www.imus.org.yu/eimus0038.htm The Serbs outside Serbia - a preservation of cultural identity]
* [http://www.jasatomic.org.yu/?postid=1166 Jaša Tomić - Monografija mesta]

Maps