За ранната история на войнушката институция в Северозападна Тракия според османски документи от XV–XVI в. и превод на един войнушки регистър за региона на Пловдив и Пазарджик (казите Филибе и Татар Пазарджик) през 1528–1529 г.
Thrace according to Ottoman documents of 15th–16th century and translation of a voinuk register for the region of Plovdiv and Pazardzhik (Philibe and Tatar Pazardzhik kasas) in 1528–1529

Summary/Abstract: Northwest and Northeast Thrace is the region where the voynuk institution was probably established in the 1370s. According to the Ottoman chronicles, the voynuks from these areas served from the very beginning in the state stables and military wagon trains, taking care of horses, cargo animals, and military equipment. However, it turns out that Christians from a number of villages in the region of Plovdiv and Pazardzhik, which are later known as Voynuk settlements, were registered in 1472 in one akunji register. This fact suggests that in the earliest period of their history, voynuks accompanied the raids of the akunjis into the areas still not occupied by the Ottomans to the west of the Upper Thracian Lowland. In the 16th century the voynuks from Northwestern Thrace were set apart as a separate group subordinated directly to the voynuk sanjak-bey in Rumelia. It is likely that this fact actually reflects their place within the voynuk institution as voynuk category, which served in the inner palace stables in the capital where the Sultan’s personal horses and the horses belonging to the officers of the inner courthouse service were raised. Various types of Ottoman documents from the 15th to 16th centuries show that Plovdiv (Filibe) is the seat of the voynuk sancakbey, therefore this Thracian city is the center of the voynuk institution in Rumelia. In the 16th century, a lot of voynuk villages were registered in Northwestern Thrace. In the second half of the century, in some of these settlements, the voynuk service and related tax privileges were abolished so that the ex-voynuks could become regular taxpayers from the vakifs of Suleiman the Magnificent and some other members of the Ottoman dynasty. But in those villages where voynuk service was preserved, the number of voynuks increased. While 755 voynuks were registered in the region of Plovdiv and Pazardzhik in 1529, in 1573 their number increased to 903 people. As a supplement to the article a large excerpt from the voynuk register, compiled in 1528–1529, is published translated for the first time in Bulgarian. It contains rich information on the names of voynuks, their number, their settlements, and the voynuk agriculture in the form of tax-exempt baştinas.

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