Ottoman Bulgaria

Ottoman Bulgaria
History of Bulgaria
St. Theodor.jpg

Glossary
This box: view · talk · edit

The Second Bulgarian Empire was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the period 1365-1396. The Bulgarian terriotries became an Ottoman province, the Rumelia Eyalet. As a result of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Ottoman was divided into the Principality of Bulgaria, a self-governing Ottoman vassal state, and the vilayet of Eastern Rumelia. Bulgaria was reunified as the independent as the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1908.

Contents

Organization

The Ottomans reorganized the Bulgarian territories dividing them into several vilayets, each ruled by a Sanjakbey or Subasi accountable to the Beylerbey. Significant part of the conquered land was parceled out to the Sultan's followers, who held it as benefices fiefs (small timars, medium ziyamet and large hases) directly from him, or from the Beylerbegs. That category of land could not be sold or inherited, but reverted to the Sultan when the fiefholder died. The lands were organized as private possessions of the Sultan or Ottoman nobility, called "mülk", and also as economic base for religious foundations, called vakιf and other people. Bulgarians gave multiple regularly paid taxes as a tithe ("yushur"), a capitation tax (jizyah), a land tax ("ispench"), a levy on commerce and so on and also various group of irregularly collected taxes, products and corvees ("avariz").

Condition of the Bulgarian population

Christian born Devşirme, would later serve in the elite Jannisary. In this miniature Janissaries march to the tunes played by the Mehter.

In the Ottoman Empire, Christian subjects (known as “gavurs”, deformed version of "kuffar" plural form of Arabic kafir, i.e. non-believers) had a legal, tributary and judicial status different from those of Muslims

The Ottomans did not normally require the Christians to become Muslims. Nevertheless, there were many cases of individual or mass conversion, especially in the Rhodopes.[1] According to Thomas Walker Arnold Islam was not spread by force in the areas under the control of the Ottoman Sultan.[2] Rather, Arnold concludes by quoting a 17th century author who stated:

Meanwhile he (the Turk) wins (converts) by craft more than by force, and snatches away Christ by fraud out of the hearts of men. For the Turk, it is true, at the present time compels no country by violence to apostatise; but he uses other means whereby imperceptibly he roots out Christianity...[2]

Non-Muslims did not serve in the Sultan's army. The exception to this were some groups of the population with specific statute, usually used for auxiliary or rear services, and the infamous blood tax (кръвен данък), also known as devşirme, whereby every fifth young boy was taken to be trained as a warrior of the Empire. These boys went through harsh religious and military training that turned them into an elite corps subservient to the Sultan. These corps were called Janissaries (yeni çeri or "new soldier") and were an elite and loyal unit of the Ottoman army. Recruits were sometimes gained through voluntarily accessions, as some parents were often eager to have their children enroll in the Janissary service that ensured them a successful career and comfort.[2]

After the Ottoman conquest all major centers of Bulgarian culture were destroyed, most of the written works were lost and the educated clergy that survived escaped to other Slavic countries.[3] Bulgarian culture entered a long period of slumber, during which it was isolated from many of the processes that occurred throughout the rest of Europe.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The Sultan regarded the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Constanstinople Patriarchate as the leader of the Orthodox Christian peoples (millet) of his empire. The independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was suppressed, and the Patriarch of Constantinople given control of the Bulgarian Church. The autonomous Ochrid Archbishopric was abolished in 1767. This remained a source of discontent throughout the Ottoman period. Since few outside the church were literate, the dominance of the Greek clergy led to the decline of Bulgarian elite culture. There was not a single pure Bulgarian-language modern school in the country until 1835.

First revolts and the Great Powers

While the Ottomans were ascendant, there was overt opposition to their rule. The first revolt began in 1408 when two Bulgarian nobles, Konstantin and Fruzhin, liberated some regions for several years. The earliest evidence of continued local resistance dates from before 1450. Radik (alternatively Radich) was recognised by the Ottomans as a voyvoda of the Sofia region in 1413, but later he turned against them and is regarded as the first haydut in Bulgarian history. More than a century later, two Tarnovo uprisings occured - in 1598 (First Tarnovo Uprising) and 1686 (Second Tarnovo Uprising) around the old capital Tarnovo. Those were followed by the Catholic Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688 and insurrection in Macedonia led by Karposh in 1689, both provoked by the Austrians as part of their long war with the Ottomans. All of the uprisings were unsuccessful and were drowned in blood. Most of them resulted in massive waves of exiles, often numbering hundreds of thousands. In 1739 the Treaty of Belgrade between Austrian empire and the Ottoman Empire ended Austrian interest in the Balkans for a century. But by the 18th century the rising power of Russia was making itself felt in the area. The Russians, as fellow Orthodox Slavs, could appeal to the Bulgarians in a way that the Austrians could not. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of 1774 gave Russia the right to interfere in Ottoman affairs to protect the Sultan's Christian subjects.

National awakening

Following the rise of Bulgarian nationalism and cultural revival in the 18th and 19th century as part of a region-wide trend, an autonomous Bulgarian Church was established in 1870, the Bulgarian Exarchate, which was the result of a decade-long struggle with the Ottoman and Greek authorities and paved the way to the Bulgarian independence.

Armed resistance to the Ottoman rule escalated in the third quarter of the 19th century and reached its climax with the massive April Uprising of 1876 that covered much of the ethnically Bulgarian territories of the empire and was suppressed by Ottoman troops, taking the lives of many. The uprising was a reason for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 that ended with the establishment of an independent Bulgarian state in 1878, albeit far smaller than what Bulgarians had hoped and what was projected by the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano of 1878.

See also

  • Treaty of San Stefano
  • Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
  • A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria" by Dimana Trankova, Anthony Georgieff and Professor Hristo Matanov; published by Vagabond Media, Sofia, 2011 [[1]]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Petrov Petar. Fateful centuries for the Bulgarian ethnicity (in Bulgarian). Sofia, 1975
  2. ^ a b c The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 135-144
  3. ^ Jireček, K. J. (1876) (in German). Geschichte der Bulgaren. Nachdr. d. Ausg. Prag 1876, Hildesheim, New York : Olms 1977. ISBN 3-487-06408-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=VBhThVLpc4MC&pg=PA88&dq=isbn=3487064081&hl=bg&sig=fAZ7WUtHdEDBNEJos4IeObUcFyY. 

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • History of early Ottoman Bulgaria — After falling almost entirely under Ottoman rule in the end of the 14th century, the Bulgarian state ceased to exist as an independent entity and remained part of the Ottoman Empire for nearly five centuries until 1878. The period is widely… …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman Conquest of the Balkans — The weaknesses of the fragmented Balkan states following the death of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1355 opened wide the door to the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula by the Ottoman Turks. The Balkan states proved no match for those militantly …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman architecture — Culture of the Ottoman Empire Visual Arts …   Wikipedia

  • OTTOMAN EMPIRE — OTTOMAN EMPIRE, Balkan and Middle Eastern empire started by a Turkish tribe, led by ʿUthmān (1288–1326), at the beginning of the 14th century. This entry is arranged according to the following outline: sources …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Ottoman–Hungarian Wars — Ottoman Hungarian Wars Part of the Ottoman Wars in Europe Battle of Nándorfehérvár (now Belgrade …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman dynasty — Country Ottoman Empire Titles Sultan Caliph Founder Osman I …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre — Founded in March 1997 by the Ottoman Bank in collaboration with the History Foundation (Turkish: Tarih Vakfi), the Ottoman Bank Archives and Resear …   Wikipedia

  • BULGARIA — BULGARIA, East Balkan republic located along the Black Sea. Ancient Period A Jewish settlement is known to have existed in Macedonia in the time of Caligula (37–41 C.E.; Philo, Embassy to Gaius, par. 281). A late second century Latin inscription… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Ottoman Syria — سورية في العصر العثماني Territory of the Ottoman Empire ← …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman Iraq — Provinces of the Ottoman Empire ← …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”