THE BAKIĆES AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE SOCIAL RISE OF VLACH FAMILIES IN THE EARLY OTTOMAN PERIOD
THE BAKIĆES AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE SOCIAL RISE OF VLACH FAMILIES IN THE EARLY OTTOMAN PERIOD

Summary/Abstract: During the period of Ottoman penetration and stabilization in the Balkans, onecommunity within what was then Serbian society gained importance. They were pastoralists who werereferred to in documents of the time as Vlachs. Vlach communities that specialized in extensivepastoralism are recorded in the oldest documents related to medieval Serbia from the end of the twelfthand the beginning of the thirteenth centuries. Over time, these groups took on a Serbian ethnicity. Thecollapse of classical feudalism and the specific Ottoman system, especially in the hinterlands andsparsely populated areas, gave the Vlach communities opportunities for meaningful social progress.The paper analyzes the rise of the Vlach Bakić family, who rose to power during the second half ofthe fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries, first within the Ottoman Empire and then laterwithin Habsburg Hungary.

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