Хайдутски прояви по време на война
Haydut activities during war

The ottoman historiography about the raid on Kyustendil in 1689–1690

Summary/Abstract: The current article is based upon a representative Ottoman narrative – the history of Silâhdar Mehmed Ağa – in searching of tipologization of social activities of the Christian population in the Ottoman Balkan provinces during the war of the Holy League with the Ottoman Empire in the end of XVII c.The Ottoman chronicler Silâhdar Mehmed Ağa is a representative of the court historiography and belongs to the group, focused upon the describing of military and political events in the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the XVII c. Mehmed Ağa also weaves information about the life in the Ottoman province as a reflection of the war upon the reaya and the haydut activities into his narrative. The purpose of the current presentations is to show the Ottoman point of view in the light of the Ottoman historiography, examining one particular event, occurred in the Ottoman rear during the successful offensive of the Habsburg troops towards the inner parts of the Balkans – the haydut raid on Kyustendil in 1689/90. The account of Silâhdar Mehmed Ağa not only gives information about the haydut movement and the brigandage in Rumeli, but also is an illustration of the specific methods, applied by the author in his work. At the same time it allows us to give some suppositions for the nature of the specific for the Balkans haydut movement in the context of the political events during the war (1683–1699).

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