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Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:41 PM
e vako, ja se istorijom ni amaterski ne bavim, ali volim da chitam druge i da pokushavam nekom logikom da dodjem do neke „istine” jer na kraju istorija je nauka pretpostavki manje ili vishe potkrepljenih dokazima...

kažu porfirogenet zapiso, i tako mora biti...

e aj sad ovi ovde ochigledno nisu naklonjeni srbiji i srpskoj istoriji, al ne mogu od sramote neke stvari da ne pomenu pa se srbi i sloveni pominju poprilichno pre 7og veka s tim shto u jednom momentu i sami kažu da još nije s pouzdanjem utvrdjeno dali su doseljenici ili starosedeoci.

neke nelogichnosti se pojavljuju, koje sam ja uspeo svojim minimalnim znanjem i nekom zdravom logikom da primetim ali bih sada ka izvestan dokaz i potvrdu za svoje teze da mi neko od vas struchnjaka/istorichara
ivuche ukoliko ih vidi, primedbe na nelogichnosti i manipulacije u tekstu, malo sam u copy/paste zakachio i o hrvatima jer u prvoj rechenici se vidi kome su naklonjeni autori...

Volume VIII EASTERN EUROPE TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The Roumanians . The Albanians The Southern and Western Slavs Hungary . Poland . Russia

WESTERN EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Emerging of the Nations

NEW YORK . . THE GROLIER SOCIETY

LONDON . THE EDUCATIONAL BOOK CO.

http://www.cristoraul.com/ENGLISH/The-Book-of-History/HTML-Library/Volume-8.htm
THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

MOVEMENTS OF A WIDESPREAD RACE AND THEIR ABSORPTION INTO OTHER NATIONS

AS the history of the German races **■ emerges from obscurity only upon their contact with the Greeks and Romans on the Rhine, on the Danube, and in the Mediterranean territories, so also the early history of the Slav races has been preserved by the Graeco-Roman civilisation, which by degrees drew all peoples from darkness to light, and stirred them to new life as though by a magician’s wand. It was chiefly with the Romans that the Germans came into contact by reason of their geographical position ; for similar reasons the Slavs fell within the area of Greek civilisation, though here again by the intervention of the Roman Empire. Slav history is thus connected with Roman history. At the point where Slavs were the immediate neighbours of the Romans their annals reach back to the beginning of our era, though it was not until some 500 years later that the northern Slav race appeared upon the scene. It was upon the Adriatic and in the river of the Central and Lower Danube that the Slavs first came into contact with the Roman Empire ; on the Adriatic and on the classical ground of the Balkan Peninsula, which was saturated with Graeco-Roman civilisation, begins our earliest genuine knowledge of the Slavonic peoples.

The races which inhabited the districts on the Danube and southwards to the Peloponnesus are known in modern times as the Slovenians, Serbs, Croatians, and Bulgarians. They form collectively the South Slavonic group. As their origin is obscure, so also is their history confused ; it is a history the threads of which are lost in many provinces belonging to different states, and bearing even at the present day different names ; a history of tribes in which original divergences led in course of time to sharp distinctions of language, script, morals, religion and history, and which, even in political matters, are opposed as enemies.

The Slavs’

First Contact With Rome SyStem

Slav Races Under Other Names

Of their earliest history we know little enough. The Slavs were not so fortunate as the Germans, who found a historian in Tacitus as early as the first century. Modern inquirers agree upon the fact„ that the Slavs appeared in Europe ages ago, together with the other main European races, the Kelts, Greeks, Romans, and Germans, and that they settled in Eastern Europe some where about the spot where they are still to be found as the earliest known inhabitants. The Slavs and their settlements are known to Pliny, Tacitus and Ptolemy. More extensive accounts are given of them by the Gothic historian Jordanes and the Byzantine Procopius, both in the sixth century.

From that time onwards information as to the Slav races becomes more copious. They bear different names. The Greek and Roman authors call them Veneti, while to the Germans they are known as Wends ; another form is Antes. Procopius also informs us that the Antes were anciently known as Spores, which has been connected with the name Serb. The second name for the members of this race was Slavus—with variants—the name especially current among the Byzantines. Those tribes who settled in the old Roman provinces of Pannonia, Noricum, Rhaetia and Vindelicia were known collectively as Slavs or Slovenians. We hear of them in the sixth century as of some political importance, and as already waging war with the Bavarian race. It is

»t*War*with Pr°bable that some Slav king-the Slavs

doms existed in the sixth century in the modern Hungary, Slavonia, Croatia, Carinthia, Styria, Car-ni(Ma, Gorz, Gradiska, and on the coast line.

From these Slav peoples settled on each side of the Central Danube, on the Drave and Save; many migrated southwards after the fifth and sixth centuries, and settled in the Balkan Peninsula. The

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HISTORY OF THE WORLD

question arises whether they were the first Slav colonists in that district, or whether they found in the Balkan territories an older Slav population known under other names. On the solution of this question depends the problem of the Slav population of the Balkan Peninsula. Moreover, the Slavs from these districts R were not the only members

yzan me race wh0 went to the

xTaVm^*ID Balkan territories; we find

traces of Slav immigrants from Eastern and Northern Europe. Formerly the opinion was general that the immigration of the Slavs into the Balkan territories took place during the period between the fifth and seventh centuries. It is now believed that certain traces of a much earlier migration have been discovered. Evidence for this fact is to be found in the older Slav place-names. This new theory can also be harmonised with the earliest historical evidence before us, and provides a natural explanation of the fact that the Slavs suddenly appeared in these territories in such numbers that even the Byzantine emperors found themselves obliged to take measures to prevent them from over-running Greece. The theory further explains why history has nothing to tell us of any great immigration or occupation of these countries by the Slavs in historical times; only now and again does history speak of the settlement of new bands of colonists by the emperors.

So long, however, as it is impossible to ascertain the nationality of many peoples living in those districts in the Roman period, such as Thracians, Skordiskans, Dacians, Illyrians, and others, so long will this problem remain unsolved. Hence we must first decide whether they are to be regarded as ” immigrants „ or as ” indigenous „; only then can we discuss the question of earlier or later dates. It may be noted that the inhabitants of Bosnia Inheritor display certain ethnological

j pM °r* peculiarities which are ascribed Z. to the Thracians and Dacians

Civilisation , ” ,,

by Roman authors. Thus

Pliny states that among the Dacians the men paint their bodies. Tattooing is at the present day customary among the Bosnian people. Other national characteristics also point to some relationship.

However this may be, our first knowledge of the Slavs, both in the Danube territories and in the Balkan Peninsula, is

3°7° / lni/ Calif - ninitirt

gained from the Greeks and Romans when

they established their empire in those

directions. After the fall of the Roman

Empire the Slavs inherited the Roman

civilisation. The country was covered

with towns, trading settlements, and

fortresses. These territories were crossed

by admirable military roads. In Thracia

we find roads as early as the time of Nero,

who built post-houses along them. All the

emperors paid special attention to the

Balkan Peninsula, as it was from there

that they gained the most valuable recruits

for their legions. No Roman emperor

however, spread his glory so widely

throughout the countries on each side

of the Balkans as the conqueror of

Dacia, the great Flavian, Trajan. His

memory was and is still preserved among

the Slavs, and his name was even added

to the list of Slav deities. Bulgarian songs

still sing the praises of the „ Tsar Trojan.”

Many place-names still re-echo his name.

We constantly find a Trajan’s bridge, a

Trajan’s road, a Trajan’s gate, or a

Trajan’s town. Trajan is also in general

use as a proper name. All this is evidence

_ ,, . for the fact that Trajan must Goths and , • , J ,

„ . ” . have come into personal con-Huns in Search , , ... ,, 1 . .

, Dl . tact with the Slavs. As early of Plunder ,, , , J

as the fourth century the

Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:45 PM

as the fourth century the

provinces of the peninsula were wealthy and densely populated, as we are informed by the contemporary writer Eunapios. A disastrous period began for these territories in the fourth and fifth centuries, when the Goths and Huns attacked and repeatedly devastated them in the course of plundering raids ; possibly these assailants included some Slavonic bands. From this time onwards the Slavs on the far side of the Danube began to grow restless, especially in the old province of Dacia, and overflooded the whole of the Balkan Peninsula as far as the Peloponnese ; the Slav language was spoken at Taygatos as late as the fifteenth century.

The Byzantine emperors themselves, in their brilliant capital on the Bosphorus, were threatened with attack. At that time the Byzantine emperors had more important cares and heavier tasks than the protection of the Balkan Peninsula from these barbarians, whom they were inclined to despise . their faces, from the moment of the foundation of Constantinople, were turned towards the east. Hence, in spite of repeated defeats, the Slavs were able steadily to advance. Things became even

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THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

worse after tne death of the great Justinian. John of Ephesus, a Syrian chronicler of the sixth century, relates how „ in the third year after the death of the Emperor Justinian and the accession of Tiberius the Victorious, the accursed people of the Slavs entered and overran the whole of Hellas in the neighbourhood of Thessalonica and the whole of Thracia. They conquered many towns and fortresses, ravaged, burned, and devastated the country, and lived in it as freely as at home.”

In the year 575 the Avars, one of the peoples of the steppes formerly called in as auxiliaries by the Byzantines, began their invasions in the Byzantine Empire, and carried their plundering raids through the Balkan territories, alone or in alliance with the Slavs. The Slavs in Illyricum and the Alpine territories soon became restless. In Dalmatia, into which they had made incursions as early as the reign of Justinian, they began to advance with great energy about 600, and drove back the Roman power, which the Avars had already enfeebled, to the coast towns, to the mountains,and to the islands. The Graeco-Roman towns of

Slavs at the Siege of Constantinople

Influence of Country on Slav Immigrants

the interior were for the most part laid waste, while such new towns as Spalatro and Ragusa were founded by the fugitive Romans.

The Slav immigrants soon also learnt the art of seamanship. During the siege of Constantinople in 626, which they undertook in alliance with the Avars, they conducted the attack from the seaward # side in small boats. In the year 641 certain Slavs, probably from Epirus, landed on the Italian coasts and plundered Apulia. The Slav pirates traversed the Ionian and iEgean seas, penetrating even to the Cyclades and the coast towns of Asia Minor. Al-Achtal, an Arabian writer of the seventh century, speaks of the fair haired Slavs as a people well-known to his readers. The enterprise of the Slavs was further facilitated by the fact that the Byzantine Empire was now in difficulties with the Arabs, as it had formerly been with the Persians. Their chief attack was directed about 609 against Thessalonica, the second city in the Byzantine Empire. They repeatedly besieged this town by land and water, and on one occasion were encamped for two years before its gates. The Byzantine authorities where, however, invariably successful in saving this outpost. In the seventh century the Slav

colonization of the Balkan Peninsula was complete, and no corner remained untouched by them. The Byzantine authors of that period refer to the Balkan territories simply as Slavinia.

With regard to the influence which their change of domicile exercised upon the political development of the Slav immigrants and the course of their civilization, we are reduced to conjecture; generalization is easier here than detailed proof, but in this case the connection between geographical position and history is unmistakable. The position of the Balkan Peninsula, which brought the southern Slavs nearer than any other members of the race to the Graeco-Roman world, was of great importance for their future development. In the course of their historical career the southern Slav tribes wavered for a long time between Italy and Byzantium, until eventually the western portion became incorporated with Roman politics and civilization, and the eastern portion with the Byzantine world.

For other facts, however, in the life of the southern Slavs, deeper causes must be sought, originating in the configuration of the country. If we regard the peninsula of Haemus from the hydrographical and orographical point of view, we shall immediately perceive that the configuration of the country has determined the fate of its inhabitants. As the whole of the continent is divided from west to east by a watershed which directs the rivers partly to the Baltic and partly into the Danube, so also this south-eastern peninsula has its watershed which directs the streams partly towards the north and partly southwards. As the northern mountain range has divided the peoples, as well as the waters, which lie on each side of it, so, too, the same fact is apparent in the Balkans. The northern and the southern parts of the peninsula have run a different course of development with different results. The mountain range of the Balkans, rising to 12,146 feet, is difficult to cross, notwithstanding its thirteen passes, and many of the struggles between the northern and southern Balkan races were fought out on the ridges of these mountains. At the same time it must be said that other ethnographers have drawn different conclusions from these same orographical conditions.

Balkan Races and their Mountain Battles

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HISTORY OF THE WORLD

Apart from these facts, the whole peninsula is divided by mountain ranges running in all directions into districts each of which with certain efforts might develop independently of others, as was the case in Western Europe. In ancient Hellas this was the fact which favoured the development of so many independent territories, and during the

C,a* . Slav period it also facilitated Characteristics ,, • r i 1 • j

D - the rise of several kingdoms.

In so far as it is unjust to regard the Balkan Peninsula as part of Eastern Europe, in the strict sense of the term, it is incorrect to call it an East European peninsula. Balkan territories are in every respect more allied to Western Europe, and are somewhat Alpine in character.

Thus the immigrant Slavs were easily able to continue their separate existence in this district, a fact which entirely corresponded with their wishes. Hence the manifold nature of the southern Slav kingdoms ; for this reason, too, they were more easily accessible to influences which ran very diverse courses. Diversity of geographical configuration naturally produced diversity of civilization ;• some districts lay on the main lines of communication, while others, more difficult of access because more mountainous in character, were left far behind in the march of progress. Differences of climate must also be taken into account.

Upon the whole, the magnificent position of the Balkan territories on the Mediterranean has at all periods favored the development of the inhabitants. The fact that the Slavs here came into contact with the sea created new conditions of life and fresh needs. They learnt the art of seamanship, and rose to be a commercial nation. The southern Slavs show a different national type from the great mass of Slav nationality ; their environment and their neighbors have given them a special national character. The „ ... Slav races which settled in the

llOW Old the T-J II T'» • 1

_. . Balkan Peninsula were num-

alavs Oet 0

• )kj , erous. Such different names

lheir namesi . ”

• are known as Severane, Brsjakes or Berzetes, Smoljanes, Sagulates, Welesici, Dragovici, Milinci or Milenzes, Ezerites or Jeserzes, etc. In spite of numerous names applied to various Slav groups, we have practically no guide to tribal identity among them. These names are, however, of little importance for the determination of nationality. Apart from

307?

the fact that they have often been transmitted to us in a corrupt form, their value is purely topographical and in no way ethnographical. They coincide with the names of the lakes, rivers, and mountains about which the tribes settled. The question then arises: did the tribes give their names to these mountains and rivers, or, what is more probable, did they themselves borrow the old names of these rivers, etc ? The latter is the case with the names Timok = Timocane, Rorawa = Morawana, Narenta = Naren-tane, etc. The opinion of the Bulgarian scholar Marin St. Drinov appears to be correct, that at different times different tribes of the northern and western Slavs, or, rather, fragments of them, made settlements here ; a further proof of the theory is the divergent dialects of the Bulgarian language.

Historians state that of the Slavs in the western half of the Balkans the Serbs and Croatians were the most numerous, and that they alone founded kingdoms of their own side by side with the Bulgarian state. But this may mean no more . than that, as in the case of tfLrrif Bohemia, Poland, or Russia,

. n .. one small tribe was enabled, and Croatia , n f f ,

Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:46 PM
by the force of some favorable circumstance, gradually to subdue other tribes, and to include them under its own name, while itself becoming denationalized by the conquered tribes. This may be true of the Serbs and Croatians, as we have seen that it was of the Bulgarians. The whole group thus passed into one political unity, and then acquired some meaningless name, possibly taken from a river, mountain, lake, or town of the country, from a national leader, or perhaps from some totally different language. All, then, that can be said is this—that side by side with the Bulgarians in the east of the peninsula two important kingdoms, the Servian and Croatian, were afterwards formed on the west; though each of these, like the Bulgarians, included several tribes.

The numerous Slav races, then, bore for the moment different names. Three of these, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Servia, became important; and all others were included under these. The Greeks, however, gave them all collectively the one name of Slaveni, and knew the whole country as Slavinia. The Eastern Roman Empire was known as Romania by the

THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

Slavs. This name, however, they applied particularly to the Thracian plain. At the present day the mountain tribes on the borders of the Thracian plain call the inhabitants of the plain Romanec and the women Romanka, although the whole country up to the neighbourhood of Constantinople was entirely under Slav influence.

The Slavs of that period, like most of the European peoples, were at a stage of civilization which may be described as semi-nomadic. While cattle-rearing and hunting were their main sources of food, agriculture was also carried on, and, as among the Germans, was obligatory upon the women and slaves. An historian informs us that the Avars employed the Slav women for agricultural purposes and in place of drought-animals, which was no innovation on their part. Nomadic tribes periodically deserted the lands which they had ploughed, and removed to virgin soil.

Social and also civic life in the Balkan

Peninsula, and probably among all the

Slavs, is founded upon the family group

„ , or household (the sadruga),

Family Customs u^ u u • j

. ” which has survived there, as

in the Balkan • T -1 • j t-i •

n . . in Lithuania and Russia, to

Peninsula , , ,, ’

the present day, so that it cannot be regarded as a consequence of a Byzantine or Turkish system of taxation. Survivals of household organisation have also been demonstrated to exist among the Germans of that particular period. The married children do not leave the father’s house, but remain together under the government of the father or patriarch. All the members of such a family bear the name of the family chief ; thus the descendants of Radovan and the people of the district they inhabited were known as Radovanici. When the family had so increased as to make common life impossible some portion broke away from the union, founded a new settlement, took a new name, and formed a new sadruga, which, however, remained in connection with the original family and worshipped the same deity, who thus remained a common object of reverence to several branch settlements. A sadruga might contain from fifty to sixty members ; the chief was known as starosta, or starjesina, or gospodar, or wladyka, or djedo, or domakin.

The tribe originated in the union of several families. The family was administered by the elders, who apportioned the

work, performed the service of the gods during the heathen period, and represented the family in its external relations. Community of property made individual poverty impossible ; those only who had been expelled from the federation of the family were abandoned. The affairs of the whole tribe were discussed by an _ assembly of the elders. The £n*o aV* district inhabited by a tribe was pnjoy . known as Zupa, and its central rospen y which also contained

the shrine of the gods in the heathen period, was a citadel or grad. One of the elders or patriarchs was chosen as governor of & Zupa, and was then known as the Zupan, or, among the Croatians, as the Ban.

To this social organisation, which continued longer among the Slavs than among the Germans, are to be ascribed all the defects and the excellencies of the Slav tribes. The families did not readily separate from each other, but soon increased to the size of tribes. Hence, cattle-breeding and agriculture were conducted to a considerable extent under a system of communal labour and reached a high pitch of prosperity; consequently they were able easily to colonise and permanently to maintain their hold of wide tracts of country. Other conquering nations, such as the Goths and Huns, poured over the country, leaving behind them only the traces of the devastation which they had caused, and then disappeared, whereas the Slavs settled in the country which they occupied.

A further consequence was that the Slavs were in no need of extraneous labor for agricultural purposes, and therefore slavery was never so firmly rooted an institution among them as among the Germans. The Slavs usually made their slaves members of the household, as is related by the Emperor Mauricius. The Slavs were also able to carry agriculture and manufacture . to a higher point.. Their standard of morality was higher, an 11 ary ow-ng their close corporate ermans j.^ strong family discipline, a fact which also favored the increase of their population. On the other hand, the Germans, among whom agriculture was performed by slaves, devoted themselves entirely to hunting and military pursuits.

Still this family organisation enables us to explain why the Slavs were not successful as the founders of states. Their

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HISTORY OF THE WORLD

common family life, while implying reverence for their patriarch, also produced a democratic spirit which was entirely opposed to any strict form of constitution. No family was willing to become subject to another; all families desired to be equal; one defended the freedom of another. No family chief was willing to _ ,. acknowledge the supremacy of another, nor need Historians on the / , • n . .1

c, . we feel surprise that the

Slav Character , , , , , 1

blood feud was an institution which flourished upon such soil. Hence, among the Slavs it was far easier for an individual to secure the supremacy over a number of families or tribes if he stood outside them and was unshackled by their discipline.

It is, therefore, no mere chance that kingdoms of any importance could be founded among the Slavs only by foreign tribes, often invited for that purpose. This peculiarity of the Slav character struck the Byzantine historians. „ They have abundance of cattle and corn, chiefly millet and rye,” says the Emperor Mauricius; „ rulers, however, they cannot bear,” he says in another place, „ and they live side by side in disunion. Independence they love above all things, and decline to undergo any form of subjection.” Procopius also relates in the sixth century that the Slavs declined to submit to the rule of any one man, but discussed their common affairs in council. The pride and honor of individual families was to them more important than all else. Only under pressure of direst need did the Slav tribes join in choosing a common leader, and for this reason strangers were easily able to secure dominion over them.

Concerning the religion of the southern Slavs, our sources of information have little to tell us; they were polytheists,' their chief deities were the heaven and the heavenly bodies. Of Svantovit and Perun, the deities of the northern Slavs, no traces are to be found. They worshipped

The Religion thdr S°ds in groves> moun’ of the tainS> and r0cks- Victims

„ pi were offered to them with

Southern Sl.v, ^ Together with thegods

they reverenced other beings, such as the Vilen or Samovilen (in Thrajcia, Samodivy), Budenice, Rojenice, Judi, Vijulici, spirits and female wizards (brodnice). Research, however, has not said the last word upon this point, and the personalities of many heathen gods are doubtful.

”
Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:47 PM
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Jni

The districts south of the Danube and north of the Adriatic were under the rule of the Byzantine emperor, though Byzantine rulers were rarely able to exercise any real supremacy. Immigrant tribes from time to time nominally recognized the rights of the Byzantine emperors to these lands, and troubled themselves no further upon the matter. We may even question whether such immigrants always secured the consent of the emperor to their settlement upon Roman territory—a fact which the Byzantine historians continually reassert, for reasons easily intelligible. These peoples came into the country because they met with no resistance, and were the more readily inclined to acknowledge a vague supremacy, as they were themselves incapable of founding states.

It is not so much through their military power as through their diplomatic skill and wealth, and also through the disunion of the Slavs, that the Byzantines were able to retain, at any rate, a formal supremacy over these territories during many troublous periods. Notwithstanding the great success of the Slav colonisation, the Slavs Where never succeeded in founding the siavs an dependent state in the Failed Balkan territories; on this point both they and the Germans were far inferior to the Turco-Tartar races. Apart from the fact that these latter, by their introduction of cavalry service, with the use of the stirrup, possessed more formidable forces and obtained greater military success, they had also the further advantage of possessing the ideal of a strong state, though in roughest outline.

This they had learnt from the civilized nations of Asia. In Europe their appearance exercised some influence upon the military habits and constitutional organisation of the Germanic and Slav world, especially of the Goths ; evidence of the fact is the migration of peoples, which was brought about by their arrival. It is not until this that the Germans and Slavs united into larger groups—that is, into states. It was, then, no mere chance that these peoples were the first to found kingdoms in the districts inhabited by the Slavs. They were the Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Chazars, Magyars, Patzinaks, Polovzes, Tartars, and Ottomans.

We know practically nothing of the relations of the Slavs to the state of the Huns. On the other hand, we learn a good deal of the political life of the Slavs in the sixth

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THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

century, when the second Turkish people, the Avars, founded a considerable empire in the district occupied by the Slavs. The supremacy of the Avars seems to have extended over the whole district of modern Hungary, Bohemia, and Moravia, the whole of Austria proper, the northern districts of the Elbe and Saale, and also southwards to the Danube over modern Dalmatia and Servia. As they were a people of giants, they were called by their neighbours simply Avars, or giants. Their rule was exceedingly oppressive. Fredegar’s chronicle of the seventh century relates that the Slavs were forced to participate in every campaign of the Avars, and to fight, while the Avars drew up before the encampment. Agriculture was the sole work of the Slavs ; other historians inform us that they were often used as draught-animals and beasts of burden. The Avars were the first foreign people whose permanent supremacy over the Slavs is historically established for the sixth century.

About the beginning of the seventh century the position of the Slavs improved, in consequence of a great defeat experienced by the Avars in 626.

Independent a ' i/l i j j

ci • c* * The Avar Khan had under- Slavonic State , , , , . . ,

Established taken a plundering raid on the Byzantine Empire, apparently as early as 623, and besieged Constantinople, when the Emperor Heraclius began war against the Persians; the campaign must have lasted some years. At this time, about the year 623, the Slavs on the Danube in the districts of Bohemia and Moravia revolted and founded an independent kingdom under the leadership of a certain Samo. When the Avar bands before Constantinople were destroyed in 626, the Avar power was considerably weakened for a whole generation.

The Slav tribes who had been hitherto subdued were now able to assert themselves. They joined Samo, and appointed him their king in 627, the more easily to oppose the attacks of the Langobardi, Bavarians, and Avars. Then was founded the first important independent Slav kingdom known to history; it lay in the western part of the modern Austrian monarchy. Samo maintained his position until 662 (according to others, until 658)—that is to say, for thirty-five years. After his death his empire disappears from the scene. We hear later of the Karantani as waging war with the Bavarians, and finally coming under Bavarian supremacy,

The Slavs in the Balkan Territories

and, in the eighth century, of a Slovenian kingdom in Moravia and of another in Pannonia ; whence we may conclude that the kingdom of Samo had undergone a process of disruption.

The foundation of the Avar kingdom was, moreover, of importance to Slav history for another reason. The oppressive rule of the Avars induced the Slavs to abandon their homes in large bodies, to migrate northwards or southwards, and there to occupy new districts. It was, therefore, at that time that the immigration of the Slavs to the Balkan territories began upon a larger scale. In other respects also the Slavs were now able to assert themselves more strongly. The defeat of the Avars in the year 626 had been of decisive importance both for the Slavs and for the Byzantines. Whole provinces now broke away from the Avars and were occupied by the Slavs.

Thus it is no mere coincidence that at this period two numerous Slav tribes appear in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula. We hear that the Croatians, who are said, upon evidence of the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos, to have come from the north, defeated the Avars about the year 626, and appeared as independent inhabitants of the country which they occupied. Their territories were bounded on the north by the Save and by a line running parallel to this river from the Unna to the sea, on the west by the Adriatic, on the south by the mouth of the Cettina River and by the Lake of Imoshi, on the south-east by a line of mountains running from this lake to the sources of the Verbas, and finally on the east by the Verbas itself. Their chief centres were Biograd—the modern Zaza Vecchia—and Bihac. These boundaries exist at the present day, though their value is purely ethnographical. It must also be remembered that the whole of the territory ... _ A now occupied by the Croa-mon e ween f jang an(j name^ after them Slovenian and beJ d formerly tO the

Croatian tribes 01 • j 11 j

Slovenians, and was called

Slovenia. In course of time the Slovenian and Croatian tribes coalesced. Even at the present day a remembrance of these conditions is preserved by the name Slavonia, which denotes part of the Croatian kingdom, by the name of the Slovak tribe in Hungary, and by the old Pannonian-Slovenian kingdom. The Croatians thus

196

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Champions Found Refuge

absorbed the north-west of Bosnia and Dalmatia as far as Spalatro.

The Serbs soon followed the Croatians across the Save, and, according to the Byzantine chroniclers, demanded and obtained from the emperor a

place of settlement. They occupied the modern Bosnia with the exception of the Croatian portion, which is still known as Turco-Croatia. To them also belonged the greater part of Herzegovina, Southern Dalmatia, Northern Albania, Montenegro, Old Servia (Novi-Bazar), the northern districts of the Prizrend pashalik, and the modern Servia. At the present day we find the Serbs in these territories. Here they formed several larger and smaller principalities, mutually independent, known as Zupanates.

Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:48 PM
To begin with the most southern^ we have the principality of Zeta or Duklja— from Dioclea, which is named after the birthplace of the Emperor Diocletian. This was the original home of the ruling family of the Nemanjids, under whose supremacy Servia afterwards rose to the height of her power.

This district was at all times a place of refuge for the champions of Servian independence. It was here that Montenegro developed, and succeeded in maintaining her freedom until our own days; it was only during the blood-stained period of Turkish supremacy that she lost some part of her independence.

From Cattaro to Ragusa extended Travunia or Konavlia, more or less corresponding with the area of the modern Trebinje in Herzegovina.

From Ragusa to the Gulf of Stagno and inland as far as Narenta extended Zachluima, thus embracing a portion of Herzegovina about the Gatzko and Nevesinje. Neretva, o r Pagania, extended from the gulf of Stagno to the mouth of the Cettina.

The inhabitants, known as

3°76 Univ Ca

Neretshans or Pagans, because for a long time they declined to accept Christianity, were dreaded pirates, and often fought victoriously against Venice.

To the east of Zeta, Travunia, and Zachlumia lay Servia proper, the most extensive province of all, nearly corresponding to the modern Servia except for the fact that it included Bosnia, which broke away from it in course of time. Among the Zupanates belonging to Servia special mention may be made of that of Rasha or Rassa, the modern Novi-Bazar, known as Rascia in the mediaeval sources for the history of Western Europe. This Croatian and Servian district, the modern Istria, Bosnia, Servia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania, Herzegovina— roughly a third of the Balkan Peninsula— formed the Roman province of Dalmatia, with Salona as a central administrative point; under the Byzantine Empire

The Slavs Loše Their Nationality

THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

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these respective points bore the same name. The Slavs extended from this point over the whole peninsula, but were there to some extent deprived of their nationality. Only in Macedonia did they maintain their position, although the Bulgarian race was here again in predominance.

The Croatian and Servian tribal principalities of the north-west, the chieftains of which were known as Zupans, united only in case of great danger under a highZupan. After long struggles the position of high Zupan became permanent, and the foundation of a more important empire was thus laid. Accurate information concerning the Croatian and Servian races is, however, wanting until the second half of the eighth century, and especially until the final destruction, of the Avar kingdom by Charlemagne.

When the Avar supremacy was approaching its fall, another Finno - Ugrian people, the Bulgarians, crossed the Danube, entered upon a series of conquests among the Slavs of the peninsula, and even threatened

Constantinople. Their im- j

migration is of special import- the beginning of Slavonic literature

anCe for the history of the The light of religion and literature came to the Slavs from Byzantium, the

T?q1 Van Claire onrl nf +Vi^ apostles Constantine and Methodius, who went to Moravia in 863, inventing

# oidvb ^ dllU OI me a script for the writing of the Slav language and translating the Gospels for

Byzantine Empire. Neither the t*ie natives. This script is known as Glagolitic, and the above is a page

, th SI ' from the beginning of St. Luke’s Gospel in an ancient Glagolitic manuscript.

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able to offer any resistance. The Slavs, who lacked any bond of union, repeatedly surrendered. As early as the end of the seventh century a Bulgarian state was founded in the north-east of the peninsula, and not only maintained its position against the Greeks, but also seriously threatened the old imperial city. Until 627 the Persian danger had threatened Byzantium ; this was followed by the . Arab danger in 750; and now nlon the young Bulgarian kingdom becomes prominent among the enemies of the Byzantine Empire. The boundaries of the new state rapidly increased, and by degrees most of the Balkan Slavs were federated under its supremacy. Under Bulgarian leadership the Slav tribes gradually coalesced to form one people. The higher civilisation of the

of the Tribes

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Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:49 PM
Slavs, however, resulted eventually in the imposition of their nationality upon the Bulgarians, who were much inferior in numbers, amounting at most to thirty or fifty thousand, including women and children ; it was only their name that these . warlike conquerors gave to

a j ga/*k,'Sei the state and the people. A op e »v couple of centuries later there anguage Were no longer any distinctions between Slavs and Bulgarians ; all were called Bulgarians but spoke the Slav language.

About the period of the Bulgarian immigration, which closes for the moment the migrations of peoples south of the Danube, the Balkan Peninsula displayed a most motley mixture of populations. Side by side with the Romans and the Greeks, the latter of whom proudly called

3077

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HISTORY OF THE WORLD

themselves Romaioi, were the Slavs, who formed the majority, and among them for a considerable period remnants of the old inhabitants, the Thracians, from whom or from the Illyrians the Albanians are supposed to be descended. There are also to be found remnants of Goths and Gepids ; in Croatia there were remnants of the Avars, and to *i°Uq *,ng • these in the seventh century e u ganan were a(jcled the Finno-Turkish tribe of the Bulgarians. The process of unification then began. Many tribes were absorbed by others, with the result that new nationalities were formed, such as the Roumanians. By the founding of the Bulgarian state and the imposition of the Slav nationality on the Bulgarians, the Slavs became preponderant both politically and ethnographically. Formerly the individual tribes lived in somewhat loose dependence upon Byzantium, and were the more easily able to preserve their nationality ; now any member of the Slav kingdom was forced sooner or later to accept the Slav civilization.

The Avar people had brought disaster upon the southern Slav tribes, whereas the immigration of the Bulgarians secured the predominance of the Slavs in the peninsula. The political life of the Balkan Slavs now centres round three main points —in the east the Bulgarian kingdom, in the centre the Servian, and in the west the Croatian principalities. Of Byzantine supremacy hardly a trace remained, except that a scanty tribute was transmitted to Byzantium. Only when some more powerful ruler occupied the throne of Constantinople were the reins drawn tighter or did the flame of war blaze up. At a later period the dependence upon Byzantium came to an end. Some influence upon the political affairs of the north-west portion of the Balkan Peninsula was exercised by the appearance of Charles the Great, who waged r war with the Eastern empire

of°cTarles *n 7®^ concerning certain Byzantine possessions in Italy. e rea He conquered both Istria and Dalmatia, and the Slovenians between the Drave and the Save paid him tribute until 812, when he renounced his claims to the districts extending to the Drave, under a peace with Byzantium. At the present day monuments dating from the period of Charles’ supremacy over these countries are to be found in the museum at Agram.

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The position of the Slav territories brought with it the consequence that Christianity was imposed upon them from three sides : on the one hand from Aqui-leia by Italian priests ; on the northern side from Salzburg by Germans; and, finally, from Byzantium by Greek missionaries. There were other isolated attempts, but these may be neglected.

The original dissemination of Christian doctrine is here, as in other cases, wrapt in obscurity. Some missionaries came from the Frankish kingdom. Thus Colum-ban, according to the narrative of his biographer, Jonas, after his expulsion from Burgundy by King Theoderic about 610, is said to have conceived the plan of preaching the Gospel to the Slavs in Nori-cum. About 630 Bishop Amandus, of Utrecht, entering the kingdom of Samo, determined to win the martyr’s crown. He was followed about 650 by St. Em-meram with a priest, by name Vitalis, who was learned in the Slav language.

More fruitful in result was the activity of

Bishop Rupert, of Worms, who founded a

bishopric and monastery in the Noric

r J uvavia, Salzburg. Hence-

»/C 1 °#m- k forward the diocese of Salz-Work of Bishop , , , , ,,

v. ... burg undertook the conver

sion of the Alpine Slavs, naturally under the protection of the Bavarian dukes. Especially good service was done by BishopVirgilius, who occupied the see of Salzburg between 745 and 785. He sent out capable missionaries to Karantania and built churches there. The princes of Karantania themselves saw the necessity for accepting the Christian faith; Chotimir invited Bishop Virgilius to his court, though with no result.

The mission was energetically supported by Duke Tassilo II. (748-788) of Bavaria, the first duke to rule over Karantania. He cherished the idea of shaking off the Frankish yoke, and looked to Karantania for support, which he thought could best be gained by the dissemination of Christianity. He founded monasteries, or gave leave for such foundations under the express obligation of continuing the missions. Such foundations were Innichen and Kremsmunster. After the subjugation of Tassilo by the Franks in 788, the work of conversion was completed under Bishop Arno. He received the necessary full powers from the emperor and Pope, and completed the organisation of the Church by appointing a local bishop, by name

THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

Theodoric. Once again it was a Wendish prince, Ingo, who supported his efforts.

The patriarch of Aquileia suddenly raised an objection to these proceedings, alleging that those districts belonged to his own diocese. It is true that we know nothing of any missionary energy displayed by Aquileia in that quarter. Yet missions there must have been from Aquileia, for in 810 Charles the Great was able to secure a compromise on terms which made the Drave a frontier line for the two claimants. Thus thenceforward the Slavs were divided between two dioceses.

The whole position was altered in the course of the ninth century, when Byzantium took the work of conversion seriously in hand. The Slav nation had for a long time opposed the first Christian missions because these were supported by their princes ; when, however, they observed that by the acceptance of Christianity they had lost their freedom, they changed their opinion. If it were necessary to accept Christianity at all, it was better to take it from a quarter whence no danger of subjugation threatened. This was only possible _ , „ . by adherence to the Greek E”,„”.Emp,r'! Church. The East Roman Empire had in course of time fallen into enmity with Rome, a dissension which extended to ecclesiastical affairs. In the ninth century Byzantium had resolved to act decisively against the West. From that period her influence increased and extended in a wide stream over the Balkan Peninsula. The Greek language, Greek writing and coinage, Greek art and literature, Greek law and military science, were disseminated among the Slavonic tribes; and of even greater importance was the missionary activity of the East Roman Church.

Diesel_Boy
(indijanac u fazonu)
2014-03-11 02:49 PM
Of decisive importance for the fate of the Balkan Slavs and for the Slav nationality in general, indeed for Eastern Europe as a whole, was the moment when the patriarchal chair of Constantinople was occupied by Photius, one of the greatest scholars that the Byzantine state produced. Apart from the fact that he strove with all his might to further the revival of Greek antiquity and brought Byzantine culture to its zenith, his ecclesiastical policy was actuated by hostility to the Roman chair, and brought about the official division of the Byzantine Church from Rome. He won over many nations and vasts tracts of country for the Byzantine Church. During the imperial period, the Roman Empire had been divided into East and West only in respect of politics ; this division was now superseded by the ecclesiastical separation. The whole of the East, with its wide northern territories, occupied by the Slavs henceforth recognized the predominance of the Byzantine „ .. Church and sided with Churc^Succeeds Constantinople in the Where Ro»e F.il. feat struggle which now began. Of the movements called forth in Europe at that time and for centuries later by the action of Photius, we can form but a vague idea in view of the scantiness of our records. A rivalry of unprecedented nature between the two worlds broke out along the whole line, and the great and vital point at issue was the question, which of the churches would be successful in winning over the yet unconverted Slavs.

To the action of this great patriarch alone the Byzantine Church owes the success which it achieved over the Romans in this struggle. In vain did Rome make the greatest efforts to maintain her position ; success was possible for her only when German arms were at her disposal. Even to-day the Slavs reproach the Germans for attempting to secure their subjugation under the cloak of the Christian religion. But the German emperor and princes were only pieces upon the great chessboard, moved by unseen hands from Rome. At a later period the German princes marched eastward, not to convert, but to conquer.

Almost at this time two Slav princes sent ambassadors to Byzantium and asked that the work of conversion might begin ; they were the Moravian Ratislav and the Bulgarian Boris. It is possible that the prince of the Khazars had done the same two years earlier. Photius began the work of conversion with great prudence. Two brothers from Thessalonica, learned in the Slav language and experienced in missionary work, were chosen to preach the Gospel to the Slavs. It was decided, Preaching however, definitely to separate from Rome the nationalities won over to the Greek Church, and for this purpose Byzantium, in opposition to the Roman use, which allowed the liturgy to be recited only in Latin, laid down the principle that each people might conduct public worship in its own language. Thus, outside the three sacred languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the Slav was
recognized as of equal importance, as had been at an earlier period the Syrian, Coptic, and Armenian tongues.

Constantine and Methodius, the two Slav apostles, went forth to their destination, Moravia, in 863. They invented a special form of writing for the Slavs, that which is nowadays known as Glagolitic ;

they translated the sacred books into the Slavonic tongue, and thus became the founders of Slavonic literature. They organised the Slav Church, founded schools, had churches built, and travelled over the whole country, everywhere carrying the light of civilisation and of the new religion. ” And full of delight were the Slavs when they heard the wonders of God in their own language,„ says the old Slav legend concerning Methodius.

When, shortly afterwards, divine service was recited in the Slav language in the churches of Moravia and Pannonia, the German clergy were stricken with fear, as they now saw that the East, the field of their future missionary activity, was lost to them. They expostulated forthwith both to the German emperor and to Rome, enlarging upon the danger which might threaten both powers from this side. In order that their work might not be checked at its outset, the two apostles went to Rome to explain their position and to gain confirmation for their work. Upon their return journey they entered the Pannonian kingdom at Lake Platten, where Kozel was ruler. The two brothers were able to win over the prince to the Gospel so entirely that he began to read the Slav books and ordered several youths to do the same. When the apostles of the Slavs had won over the Pope to their cause, and Methodius was made Bishop of Moravia, Kozel sent an embassy to Rome requesting that the Pope would also place his principality under the new bishop. The Pope thereupon raised Methodius to the position ” .. , of archbishop, with a seat

Croatians and ■ 0 • j j

.he Christianity '? Syrmium, and united Of the Slavs *e new principality to the old diocese of Syrmia. Croatia on the Save was also placed under this Pannonian archbishopric. The Slav liturgy then extended with marvellous rapidity, and the prestige of the Bavarian clergy sank so low that their arch-priest was forced to return to Salzburg in 870.

The Bulgarian prince Boris hesitated for a long time between Rome and Byzantium;

and it is doubtful whether his final decision in favour of Byzantium was not dictated by the political object which had influenced Ratislav, the prospect of securing his independence of Germany. Apart from the advantage conferred by the Slav liturgy, his action was decided by the further fact that so many Greek Christians were contained among his people that the acceptance of Greek Christianity seemed inevitable. Finally, he may also have acted in the interests of that Bulgarian policy which aimed at the conquest of Constantinople. For the conversion of the Bulgarians, the advice of both missionaries seems to have been sought. At the same time the Croatians accepted the Slav form of Christianity. It was now impossible for the Servian tribes to stand aloof. We do not, however, know when they came over. Some are said to have accepted Christianity as early as the seventh century under the Emperor Heraclius ; but it was not until a new band of scholars and priests came into the country from Pannonia that the Slav Church became capable of development. After the death of Methodius, in 885, the Slav Church was

_ ... no longer able to maintain its Period of ... 0 • t* • c i,

,. position in Pannonia; Svato-

1 crary pjuj^ successor of Ratislav,

c ,V1 y drove out the disciples of Methodius and placed his country under the German Church. The Slav clergy from Moravia found a hospitable reception in Bulgaria, and their activity created the Bulgarian Slav literature. The Bulgarian throne was then occupied by Symeon, the son of Boris (893-927), who was able to turn the knowledge and the powers of the new arrivals to the best account. He lost no time in commanding Bulgarian translations of the Greek authors, ecclesiastical as well as secular. Thus, for instance, the monk Gregor translated the chronicle of John Malala, and added to it the Old Testament history and a poem upon Alexander ; fragments only survive of the Greek original, whereas the Bulgarian translation contains the whole work.

The existence of a Slav literature, the most important of that day in Europe after the Graeco-Roman, won over the whole of the Slav nationality to the Byzantine Church and facilitated its conversion. The remaining. Balkan Slavs now gave in their adherence to Bulgarian literature, and Bulgaria became the middleman of culture between Constantinople

THE SOUTHERN SLAV PEOPLES

and the northern Slavs. The Balkan Slavs gave the watchword to the other members of their great nationality. The connection of the Slavs with Greek civilisation was secured by the fact that the above-mentioned Constantine, Bishop of Velica (or Bishop Clemens of Dre-novica), replaced the inconvenient Glagolitic script by an adaptation of Greek writing made for the Slavs and augmented by the addition of several new signs representing sounds peculiar to the Slav language. This was the Cyrillic writing.

A common literature, civilization, and religion brought Greeks and Slavs closer together, until they formed one group united by a common civilization and divided from the West. This event was of decisive influence upon the future of the whole Slav nationality. The southern Slavs in particular inherited all the advantages and all the defects of the Greek character, nor was it politically alone that they shared the fate of the Byzantine Empire. The sloth, the indifference, the stagnation, and the other defects which characterised the Greek Church are consequently reflected in the society and culture of the Slavs at every turn. The want of organising power and of discipline which characterises the Greek Church has permanently influenced the political

life of the Slavs. For the Slavs were devoid of any leading political idea, and clung to the principles of the slowly decaying Byzantine Empire. Divided as they were into a number of tribes opposed to union, they were bound, sooner or later, to fall a prey to some powerful conqueror.

The only bond of union between the Slav races in the Balkan Peninsula was Christianity and the Graeco-Slav civilisation. The Bulgarian kingdom advanced with rapid strides, as it rose to power, towards the gates of Byzantium, until it entered upon a mighty struggle with the Emperor John Tzimisces in 971 and was finally conquered in 1018 by Basil II. ; meanwhile, the history of the Croatian and Servian tribes comes but slowly into view from the historical background of the north-west. The part played by the Servian and Croatian Zupans is but very small. For the purpose of maintaining their independence they wavered between Bulgaria and Byzantium, ranging themselves now on one side, now on the other. Many Servian and Croatian principalities were subjugated by the Bulgarians. After the conquest of Bulgaria they were forced to join the Byzantine kingdom, and to secure themselves against aggression from this side they turned to Rome!

SERVIAN BANDITS RESTING AT A MOUNTAIN INN

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3081

TiirkEya.Protected St^J es. showiit^ their extreme limits up to the peace of KaiioviU 1699.

HISTORICAL MAPS OF TURKEY AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES FROM THE 14th TO END OF THE 17TH CENTURY

EASTERN EUROPE TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

CROATIA AND ITS WARRIOR RACE (-samo naslov dovoljno govori :))

THE WORLD-RENOWNED REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA

HTHE history of Croatia begins at an earlier

* date than that of Servia ; especially is this true of the coast land occupied by the Croatians, which was also known to the Italians as Slavonia. The year 634 is the date generally given to the immigration of the Croatians. They were subdued by the Franks, and after the disruption of the Carolingian Empire they submitted to the Greek Emperor Basil I. about 877. About the year 900 they once again secured their independence. Prince Muntimir is said to have laid the foundation of this success. Among the Croatians of the coast land we find an independent prince as early as the ninth century, by name Borna, who bears the title Dux Liburniae et Dalmatise. The central point of this duchy lay in the North about Klis, Nona, Zara Vecchia, and Knin. In the ninth century Christianity was introduced with the Slav liturgy and the
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