Видинският Варош и канун-и серхад (към отношенията между християни и мюсюлмани на османската военна граница през първата половина на ХVІІІ в.)
The Vidin Varosh and kanun-i serhad (about the relations between Christians and Muslims along the Ottoman military border in the first half of the eighteenth century.)

Summary/Abstract: The relations between Christians and Muslims and between their social structures in Vidin in the 18th century are in the focus of the study and its cornerstone is a key Ottoman document from 1719. The case leads to the consequences of the war between the Ottomans and the Holy League (1683–1699), the devastation of Vidin and radical change of its urban structure, accompanied by a reallocation of the population. Vidin once again became part of the military border (“serhad“), the Ottomans finished building a new fortress around the city in about 1722. The soldiers there were Janissaries. They sent to the Porte a statement asking the government to make the Christians sell their properties and move out of the fortress. The argument is that everybody has to comply with the requirements of the law of the military border “kanun-i serhad“ and it does not allow Christians to remain in the fortress; the houses of the Christian Raya must be sold without violence through an auction organized by the kadi court of military officers from the garrisons and other Muslims. Then the article focuses on the main issues examined on the base of Ottoman documents and in comparison with the situation in other towns in today’s Bulgarian lands: the impact that the events of the late seventeenth century and the first quarter of the eighteenth century had on the urban planning of Vidin and the distribution of the confessional groups in it; basic social personages, related to the case; Varosh as intra-urban toponym, but also as an institution intermediary between the Ottoman Empire and the Christian citizenship in Vidin; the acute „fight“ for the possession of the land in Vidin and its region; possible interpretations of the phrase „kanun-i serhad“ and legal administrative practices it stood for. The study of these issues will allow us to reveal the mutual influence between the location of the 18th century Ottoman Vidin on the border of the empire and its urban, confessional, and social structure.

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