lore from Kosovo, regarding systematic destruction of Serbian medieval
churches and monasteries, committed by the local and semi-independent Jashar
pasha in the early 19th century, was introduced in Serbian historiography by
way of Serbian travelogue literature during the second half of 19th and
early 20th century. According to lore, Pasha destroyed monasteries
Vojsilovica and Burinci, Samodreza church and several other village churches
for the purpose of using building materials for his water mills. Allegedly,
construction materials of destroyed church in Lipljan and several surrounding
village churches were used for construction of the bridge on river Sitnica,
while, also allegedly, he took the floor from Gracanica monastery for his
hamam. Lead from the monastery roof was used to cover the mosque in
Pristina. After a critical analysis of such lore, it can be stated that
Pasha did not demolish a singe church or monastery, but in fact, for his
projects, he used materials from the already destroyed temples. These
writings of lore, combined with the local population?s perception of him as
a cruel master, left a historic view of him as being the main destroyer of
Serbian medieval churches and monasteries. Release of lore version of
Serbian history, made by folklore writers, contributed to the rapid
dissemination of inaccurate information. This had an encouraging affect
which, as time went on, associated Pasha?s name with the large number of
destroyed churches. In Serbian historiography such usage of travelogue
literature from the 19th century and further developed oral tradition
recorded by ethnologists as relevant historical sources, have led to the
adoption of unverified data as historical fact.