Жените и всекидневието на Балканите според западни пътешественици (XIV–XIX в.)
Women and the everyday life of the Balkans according to western travellers, 14th–19th centuries

Summary/Abstract: The information we find in the travelogues from the 14th to the 15th century is fragmented and incomplete, so the study focuses on data on everyday life and women in the Balkans in the following centuries. The first author to study was Symon Semeonis, a 14th-century Franciscan monk and author of the Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam. His text about the Balkans contains interesting information about the Balkan cities, descriptions of the local population, mostly women, it also contains the earliest description by a Western author of the Gypsies of Crete. Curious details about the local population, the character, customs and clothing of the Dalmatian Slavs make the story of Pietro Casola, a traveler from the late 15th century, very interesting. Impressed by the special clothes and beauty of the women of Dubrovnik/Ragusa, the Milanese notes in detail the fashion among the prominent women of the Adriatic city. Some descriptions in later travelogues about Bulgarian women and their way of life, clothing, jewelry, etc. are also considered. Author of interest are authors such as Antun Vrančić (1553–1567), Martin Gruneweg, 1582, Roger Joseph Boscovich, 1762, Domenico Sestini (1779) and Lazzaro Spallanzani (1785–1786), who dwell in detail on clothing and jewelry of Bulgarian women, distinguish the different categories – married, unmarried, widows.The curiosity of the western authors is provoked by the everyday life of the population, by the clothes, the decoration, the jewelry, the beauty of the women in the Balkans. Although some descriptions contain some “civilizational” condescension, in general these texts provide rich and valuable information about the way of life and women in the Balkans and in the Bulgarian lands during this period.

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