2 Slave Labour in the Early Ottoman Rural Economy: Regional Variations in the Balkans during the 15th Century

2014 ◽  
pp. 29-43
Keyword(s):  
Rural Economy ◽  
Regional Variations ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century

The Influence of Islam on Albanian Culture

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 389-408
Author(s):  
Fatmir Shehu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Islamic Culture ◽  
Cultural System ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Of Greece

This paper examines the influence of Islam on Albanian culture. The Islamization process of the Albanian culture was very crucial for the Albanians themselves as it gave them a new identity, which they lacked since their settlement on the Adriatic shores. According to history, Albanians, the biggest Muslim nation dwelling in the Balkans, South-East of Europe, are believed to be the descendents of the ancient Illyrians, who settled in Europe around 2500 years ago. They lived a social life based on tribalism, where every tribe had established its own cultural system and way of life. Thus, their cultural differences disallowed them to unite. Such situation did not change, even when Christianity was introduced to them. Because, Christianity came to Albania through two great dominations: Christian Catholics of Vatican (the Northern part of Albanian) and Christian Orthodox of Greece (the Southern part of Albania). The continuous religious and political suppression faced by the Albanians from their Byzantine and Latin masters enabled them to be the first people of the Balkans, who welcomed openheartedly the Ottoman Muslims and embraced Islam as their new way of life in the 15th century. The study focuses on the following issues: (1) Historical background of Albania and Albanians; (2) The genesis of Albanian culture; and (3) The process of integration between Islamic culture and Albanian culture. This research attempts to provide important findings, which will be very helpful to the Muslims and others.

scholarly journals Serbian medieval law: From revenge to ruler’s prerogative

2012 ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Djordje Djekic
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Written Law ◽  
Court Orders ◽  
Medieval Law ◽  
First Time

Since legal norms have come a long way from revenge to the ruler?s prerogative in the period between the Slavic arrival to the Balkans and the 12th century, this paper is an attempt to offer solutions for the chronology of these events. As the ruler?s prerogative occurs for the first time at the end of the 12th century, it is clear that this process had to have been completed by then. In the pre-state period Serbs had revenge and pacification of blood (godfatherhood), which were retained even after the state was established. In the state period the phenomenon of blood brothers occured as another form of pacification of blood. The existence of the system of composition payments can be proven indirectly. At the end of the 12th century the Old Serbian Law was created, which proscribed that the ruler tried for murder and theft of church property. This is the evidence that revenge disappeared in the meantime. Revenge and the system of composition payments remained legally valid ways of settling disputes in Bosnia until the end of the 15th century. As Bosnia was part of Serbia until the end of the 10th century, this implies that until that time revenge was a legally valid way of settling disputes in Serbia. This would mean that the abolishment of revenge and the transfer of this dispute to the competence of the ruler, when a blood debt was settled, which had been a remnant of the system of composition payments, occurred in the period between the end of the 10th century and the end of the 12th century, when it became part of the written law. As for the theft of church property, it must be said that the decisions of the Split (Spalatum) Assembly of 925 AD lead to the conclusion that the state accepted to regulate the theft of church property, which indicates that the mention of the theft of church property could have been the record of the ruler?s prerogative. Finally, it was noticed that at least one more felony - treason - had to be the regulated by the ruler?s prerogative. It was a felony that could be committed only against the ruler and the throne, for which the ruler himself tried the guilty party. Examples have proven that this is the oldest ruler?s prerogative and a presupposition was made that other forms of court orders were introduced after this model.

scholarly journals Two orients in Rudolf Bruci's opera Gilgamesh

Muzikologija ◽  
2005 ◽  
pp. 153-165
Author(s):  
Branka Radovic
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
The Many ◽  
Place And Identity

The theme of this article is the ancient Orient as imagined by the Serbian composer Rudolf Bruci (1917-2002). The finale of his monumental opera Gilgamesh (1986; libretto by Arsa Milosevic), makes display of heterogeneous musical material based on different oriental scales. The modernity of the opera is affirmed through the usage of varied techniques of 20th century composition. It is hard to explain why Bruci introduced the well-known medieval church melody "Ninja sili nebesniye" ("Now the celestial powers") into the finale of his opera. The melody was signed by kir Stephan the Serb and has been preserved in a 15th century manuscript. The quotation of "Ninja sili" in the finale of Gilgamesh could be interpreted as an attempt at bridging the many centuries that divide the ancient times that gave birth to the Assyrian myth and our contemporary world, by making reference to the heritage of medieval Serbia when that state was a part of the Byzantine world stretching from the middle East to the Balkans. That compositional gesture of Rudolf Bruci seems to have the meaning of questioning the historical and cultural place and identity of the Serbs through the centuries. If that is correctly interpreted, the composer thus gave his own contribution to the often discussed question of the Serbian belonging to both the East and the West. The "two Orients" in the title of the article are an allusion to the pagan and the Christian Orients, but they can also provoke a discussion of the contemporary divisions between the East and the West.

scholarly journals Saint Sisoes above the grave of Alexander the Great. A monastic theme of post-Byzantine art and its examples from the 17th century Serbian painting

2013 ◽  
pp. 913-940
Author(s):  
Milos Zivkovic
Keyword(s):  
17Th Century ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Visual Interpretation ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Byzantine Art ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Textual Basis

The depiction of St. Sisoes above the grave of Alexander the Great was formulated at the end of the 15th century. The image in question is a visual interpretation of a short song (?I see you, grave?), and it was often painted in the churches throughout the Balkans during the next two centuries. With references to the textual basis of this iconographic theme, as well as its meaning, the article is devoted to insufficiently studied Serbian examples of frescoes of St. Sisoes above Alexander?s tomb, preserved on the walls of several churches painted in the first half of the 17th century.

scholarly journals A Greek Origin of the “Tarnovo” Version of the Hymnographic Office for St Paraskeva of the Balkans

Slovene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Sergejus Temčinas
Keyword(s):  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Manuscript Tradition ◽  
Reverse Translation

The hymnographic office for St Paraskeva of the Balkans (Paraskeva of Epivates, Petka of Tarnovo) is known in several versions, significantly different in their composition and set of hymns, primarily in canons. One of the most recent is the “(new, expanded) Tarnovo” version, known at least in sixteen copies, starting from the 15th century, and containing two canons with incipits Ѿврьзи ми ѹсне... (1st mode) and Въ свѣтъ невещьстьвни... (8th mode), which are characteristic of this version of the office. It was published by S. Kozhukharov who discussed its possible translated character (from Greek), but did not doubt its Slavonic origin and dated it to the decades preceding the Ottoman conquest of Tarnovo (1393). G. Popov established the translated character of its first canon, guided by the indication of the presence of an alphabetic acrostic in it, preserved in the manuscript tradition, and using the reverse translation of the troparia incipits from Slavonic into Greek (he published merely his conclusion, but not the reconstruction itself). This article presents a reconstruction of the original Greek acrostic of the first canon and demonstrates that the second canon of the same version is based on the Byzantine canon for St. Hilarion the New (†845, commemorated June 6). This reworking was made on Greek soil and only later translated into Slavonic. This version of the hymnographic office is chronologically associated with the transfer of St. Paraskeva’s relics from Kallikrateia to Tarnovo, which took place on July 26, 1231, and is to be dated to a moment prior to the introduction of the new date for venerating this saint (October 14).

scholarly journals From a market economy to a government monopoly precious metals of Serbia and Bosnia between Venice and the Ottoman empire (15th-16th century)

2013 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Bosko Bojovic
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Precious Metals ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Central Administration ◽  
European Monetary ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Monetary Economy

The production of precious metals in the Balkans reached its climax in the 15th century. It was exported mostly by Ragusa, basically for the Venice Mint. According to the available documents it can be estimated that the traffic of such metals carried out via Ragusa was between 11060 kg in 1425, and an optimum estimation of 25 tons annually for the first half of the century. The Ottoman occupation of Serbia and Bosnia in the middle of the century marks the end of the exportation of raw materials indispensable to the European monetary economy, which lacked precious metals for mints. The production as well as the coining of the Balkan precious metals took place within the closed circuit of the Ottoman economic autarchy. Notwithstanding all the efforts of the central administration, including a highly developed legislation, and in spite of the development of a big mining centre of Siderokapsia (Eastern Macedonia), the production of precious metals continued to decline in the 15th century. This economic phenomenon led to the financial crash that marked the beginning of the recurring financial and economic crises in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 16th century. The contribution of the precious metals from the Balkans to the European monetary economy at the end of the Middle Ages has not been sufficiently studied by the specialists in economic history, and it has not been taken into account regarding the spectacular decline of the Ottoman economy and power.

scholarly journals Despot Stefan and Byzantium

2006 ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jovanka Kalic
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
The Relationship

The topic of this paper is one aspect of the relationship between Serbia and Byzantium at the beginning of the 15th Century, during the so-called "despot period" of the reign of Stefan Lazarevic (1402-1427), namely the fate of the Byzantine title of Despots' in Serbia against the background of the political situation in the Balkans at the time of Turkish domination. Knez Stefan (1377-1427), Knez Lazar's son, received the title of Despotes according to the procedure long ago established at the Byzantine Court. In Byzantium, this title, which was second in rank only to the title of the Emperor, used to be endowed to the relatives of the imperial dynasty, it was not hereditary and did not depend on the territory ruled by the bearer of the title. It was a personal court title of the highest rank in Byzantium. This honor was bestowed upon the young Knez Stefan in summer of 1402 after his return from the battlefield of Angora (Ankara), where Sultan Beyazid I suffered a disastrous defeat from the hands of the Tatars. The Serbian Knez was solemnly received in Constantinople, a marriage between himself and a sister of the Byzantine Empress was arranged and John VII Palaeologus, the co-regent of the then-absent Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, endowed him with the title of Despotes. Knez Stefan carried this title till the end of his life. It was held in great honors in Serbia and was broadened in meaning to designate a ruler's title in general, remaining alive among the Serbs even after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Stefan Lazarevic received the dignity of a Despotes once more, in 1410 in Constantinople. All this notwithstanding, the political situation in the South-East of Europe at the beginning of the 15th Century was all but favorable. Some Christian states were conquered by the Turks (Bulgaria), some were vassals of the Sultan (Byzantium, Serbia). Everything depended on the Ottomans. At the time of dynastic conflicts in the Turkish Empire (1403-1413) as well as afterwards, the political interests of Byzantium and Serbia were different, even at times contrary. What they had in common was the attempt to find allies in the West, especially among the countries which had an interest to fight against the Turks, so an initiative was raised to form a Christian League to that effect. Despot Stefan, in his capacity as a vassal of the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg, took part in the negotiations the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaelogus held in Buda with his host (1424). This was the last meeting of the Serbian Despotes with the Byzantine Emperor. The title of Despotes had changed with respect to the Byzantine norms. Despot Stefan became the Despotes of the Kingdom of Rascia (Raska), as the Kingdom of Serbia was called in the West. The personal title of the Byzantine Imperial Court was thus transformed in accordance with the non-Byzantine traditions of the Serbian political ideology. .

scholarly journals The Balkans on the geographical maps of Claudius Ptolemy

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-117
Author(s):  
Mirko Grcic
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Geographical Analysis ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Geographical Maps

The paper deals with the historical-geographical analysis of Ptolemy's maps known as Table V and Table IX. The maps were found in the "Urbinas Manuscript" of Ptolemy's work "Geography", which originated in the first half of the 2nd century AD, so it is accepted that the maps are from that period also. On the Fifth Map the western part of the Balkan Peninsula was presented, and on the Ninth Map the area of the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, in the pre-Roman and early Roman era. On maps and in the text, which serves as an explanation of the maps, there are plenty of data from topography and ethnography, and astronomical positions for more places. The data on the maps are not always consistent with the information in the text. Although there are also false geographical representations, these maps were ahead of their time in terms of cartographic methodology, geographical precision and toponomy. For over a millennium, this Ptolemy's work was lost and unknown in Europe, and when it was found in the 15th century, it significantly affected the Renaissance of geography and cartography, and the Renaissance of scientific thought in general. In this paper, the author deals with features and content analysis and identification of toponyms that have been presented on these maps, which have been aged more than two thousand years.

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