Ottoman Serbs

Ottoman Serbs (Template:Lang-tr) were ethnic Serbs who lived in the Ottoman Empire (1453–1921). Ottoman Serbs, who were Serbian Orthodox Christian, belonged to the Rum Millet (millet-i Rûm, "Roman Nation"). Although a separate Serbian millet (Sırp Milleti) was not officially recognized during Ottoman rule, the Serbian Church was the legally confirmed representative organization of the Serbs in the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

History

Early modern period

The Serbs had taken an active part in the wars fought in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire, and also organized uprisings.^[2] Because of this, they suffered persecution and their territories were devastated.^[2] Major migrations from Serbia into Habsburg territory ensued.^[2]

In early 1594, the Serbs in Banat rose up against the Ottomans.^[3] The rebels had, in the character of a holy war, carried war flags with the icon of Saint Sava.^[4] After suppressing the uprising, the Ottomans publicly incinerated the relics of Saint Sava at the Vračar plateau on April 27, 1595.^[4] The incineration of Sava's relics provoked the Serbs, and empowered the Serb liberation movement. From 1596, the center of anti-Ottoman activity in Herzegovina was the Tvrdoš Monastery in Trebinje.^[5] An uprising broke out in 1596, but the rebels were defeated at the field of Gacko in 1597, and were forced to capitulate due to the lack of foreign support.^[5]^[6]

After allied Christian forces had captured Buda from the Ottoman Empire in 1686 during the Great Turkish War, Serbs from Pannonian Plain (present-day Hungary, Slavonia region in present-day Croatia, Bačka and Banat regions in present-day Serbia) joined the troops of the Habsburg Monarchy as separate units known as Serbian Militia.^[7] Serbs, as volunteers, massively joined the Austrian side.^[8] In 1688, the Habsburg army took Belgrade and entered the territory of present-day Central Serbia. Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden called Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević to raise arms against the Turks; the Patriarch accepted and returned to the liberated Peć. As Serbia fell under Habsburg control, Leopold I granted Arsenije nobility and the title of duke. In early November, Arsenije III met with Habsburg commander-in-chief, General Enea Silvio Piccolomini in Prizren; after this talk he sent a note to all Serb bishops to come to him and collaborate only with Habsburg forces.

A large migration of Serbs to Habsburg lands was undertaken by Patriarch Arsenije III.^[9] The large community of Serbs concentrated in Banat, southern Hungary and the Military Frontier included merchants and craftsmen in the cities, but mainly refugees that were peasants.^[9] Serbia remained under Ottoman control until the early 19th century, with the eruption of the Serbian Revolution in 1804.

1900s

The Serb Democratic League was an Ottoman Serb political organisation established on August 13, 1908, at the First Serb Conference (August 10–13), immediately after the Young Turk Revolution. It included the Serb elite of Old Raška, Kosovo and Metohija, and Vardar Macedonia and Aegean Macedonia.^[10]

Serbian Patriarchate

The Serbian Orthodox Church (as the Patriarchate of Peć) was re-established in 1557.^[11] The Patriarchate of Peć was abolished in 1766.

Nationality status

In 1826, an addendum to the Akkerman Convention mentioned the Serb Millet.^[12] Since given autonomy in 1830, the Principality of Serbia urged the Ottoman government to recognize the Serb nation outside the principality, in Ottoman territories.

In 1906, the Ottoman government recognized the Serb Millet in Macedonia.^[13]^[14] This decision was made independently from the Serbian government.^[13]

References

^ Serbian Studies. Vol. 9–10. North American Society for Serbian Studies. 1995. p. 91.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ga ́bor A ́goston; Bruce Alan Masters (1 January 2009). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. pp. 518–. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7.
^ Rajko L. Veselinović (1966). (1219-1766). Udžbenik za IV razred srpskih pravoslavnih bogoslovija. (Yu 68-1914). Sv. Arh. Sinod Srpske pravoslavne crkve. pp. 70–71.
^ ^a ^b Nikolaj Velimirović (January 1989). The Life of St. Sava. St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-88141-065-5.
^ ^a ^b Ćorović 2001, Преокрет у држању Срба
^ Samardžić et al. 1993, p. 324.
^ Gavrilović, Slavko (2006), "Isaija Đaković", Zbornik Matice Srpske za Istoriju (pdf) (in Serbian), vol. 74, Novi Sad: Matica Srpska, Department of Social Sciences, Proceedings i History, p. 7, retrieved 21 December 2011
^ Janićijević, Jovan (1996), Kulturna riznica Srbije (in Serbian), IDEA, p. 70, Велики или Бечки рат Аустрије против Турске, у којем су Срби, као добровољци, масовно учествовали на аустријској страни
^ ^a ^b Jelavich 1983, p. 145.
^ Tatomir P. Vukanović (2001). Enciklopedija narodnog života, običaja i verovanja u Srba na Kosovu i Metohiji: VI vek - početak XX veka : više od 2000 odrednica. Vojnoizdavački zavod. p. 449. Српски прваци
^ Dušan T. Bataković (2007). Kosovo and Metohija: living in the enclave. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Balkan Studies. The re-establishment of the Serbian Orthodox Church under as the Patriarchate of Pec in 1557 marked the beginning of a vigorous religious renaissance of the Serbian millet. The reassembling of the Christian Orthodox into one religious ...
^ Bernard Lewis (11 June 1991). The Political Language of Islam. University of Chicago Press. pp. 132–. ISBN 978-0-226-47693-3. As early as 1826, an addendum to the Akkerman Convention signed in that year spoke of the "Serb Millet" (Turkish text in Mecmua-i Muahedat [Istanbul, a.h. 1294-98], vol. 4, p. 69).
^ ^a ^b Lazo Mojsov (1979). The Macedonian Historical Themes. Jugoslovenska stvarnost-Medjunarodna politika. p. 91.
^ Prince Stephan Lazar Eugene Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich; Eleanor Hulda Princess Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich (1910). The Servian People: Their Past Glory and Their Destiny. Charles Scibner's Sons. p. 365.

Sources

Samardžić, Radovan; Veselinović, Rajko L.; Popović, Toma (1993). Radovan Samardžić (ed.). Istorija srpskog naroda. Treća knjiga, prvi tom: Srbi pod tuđinskom vlašću 1537-1699. Belgrade: Srpska književna zadruga.
Ćorović, Vladimir (2001) [1997]. Историја српског народа (in Serbian). Belgrade: Јанус. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)