Градоустройствен и архитектурен облик на град Плевен през ХV–ХVIII век

Author(s): Mladen Vasilev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2013

This topic focuses on some facts about the existence and development of the town of Pleven in the period between 15th and 18th centuries that are little known and unpublished so far. The appearance of the town and its urban space is a demonstration of the allotment between the three main ethno-confessional communities – Eastern Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish. The article focuses on the discovery of the remains of St. Georgi monastery in Kaylaka Park near Pleven which was destroyed by the Ottomans in the late 18th century and the yet undiscovered exact location of St. Nikolay Mirlikiiski in the Ottoman Pleven Municipality.

Мистичните братства на хетеродоксните мюсюлмани в религиозния живот и конфесионални отношения в Румелия през ХV–XVI век

Author(s): Krasimira Moutafova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2011

Based on published and unpublished Ottoman documents, narrative sources and results from terrain researches of the author, an attempt is made to be followed the place and role of the mystical brotherhoods of heterodox Muslims in religious life and confessional relations in Rumeli during the 15th–16th centuries. On the basis of the local centers of religious life are outlined the correlations of these brotherhoods with the central authority and local population during the establishment of the Ottoman rule on the Balkans and in the new socio-political conditions and social atmosphere during 16th century. Special attention is paid to the role of the so-called uthraquistic (dual sanctuaries) in the confessional relations between Christians and Muslims in urban and rural patriarchal environment.

Отзив за: Иван Тютюнджиев, История на българския народ ХV–ХVІІ в. Издателство Ровита, Велико Търново, 2017. 840 с.

Author(s): Atanaska Stamboliyska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2018

Varia: За глаголната система у митр. Григорий Цамблак и в среднобългарския превод на Златоустовия хомилетичния свод „За серафимите“

Author(s): Teodora Ilieva G. / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

The object of investigation in the present paper is the comparative study of the temporal system in translated and original works of Tarnovo and non-Tarnovo origin from the 14th century, published in the last decade. The study focuses on the parallel between the verbal system of the largely unresearched pre-Euthymian homiletic manuscript of six homilies “On the Seraphim”, translated by Dionysius Divni, and six works of the representative of TarnovoLiterary School – Metropolitan Gregory Tsamblak, which are genealogically connected with it. The following aspects have been studied contrastively: the paradigm of the verb tenses – Present tense, Past Imperfect, Past Aorist, Past Perfect, Plusquamperfectum, Future Simple, descriptive future-tense forms, Past Future tense; the unchanging infinitive; the verboids – present active participle, aorist active participle, passive participles; passive voice; conditional and imperative mood. Their similarities (conformity to Middle Bulgarian tendencies and Athonite influences) and differences (the degree of archaisation, individual style) have been inspected.

Олга Тодорова. Православната църква и българите (XV–XVIII в.). София, Академично издателство „Проф. М. Дринов“, 1997. 299 с.

Author(s): Rumyana Radkova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/1998

Book Review

Кръстоносната идея – памет и реалност

Author(s): Raya Zaimova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3-4/1998

The peculiar interpretation in French literature of the subject of the “Crusades”, made by politicians and men of letters after the formation of the Ottoman Empire, is examined. Born in the Middle Ages, the so-called “crusades idea” was transformed in time according to the actual political situations. It retained its external form, went through internal metamorphoses and in the 18th c. grew into the so-called “Eastern Question”. On the other hand, at the same time French historiography of the 16th – 18th c., written by armchair men of letters, reflected a bygone age – a dream which the thinking of the Enlightenment fully destroyed. In the 19th c. the deposits of the two currents led to the publication of series of mediaeval French and other chronicles the interpretation of which rested at the foundation of positivism in science.

Four-Meter Phrases in Middle Byzantine Chant (I)

Author(s): Ierodiacon Avraam Bugu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The purpose of this article is to bring evidence that Old Byzantine Chant – like other music genres and according to a general metric principle observed by the majority of music theorists (up to the beginning of the 20th century) – is metrically structured, usually in cycling phrases of four Common Time measures. This metrical principle could be a key for understanding and deciphering the old neumatic notation.

The Kastoria 8 Asmatikon – A Middle Byzantine Enigma

Author(s): Gregory Myers / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Since its discovery in 1965, the 14th-century Kastoria 8 Asmatikon has attracted scholarly attention. Distinguished by its two rows of neumes: a row of Middle Byzantine signs overlaid by a system of great hyperstases, its existence suggests that it bridges stages of notational development and chanting practices from an earlier period. Particularly noteworthy, its system of large signs could also provide a key to the Palaeoslavonic kondakarian musical notation which disappeared earlier in the 13th century.

Представата за „другия“ на Балканите: образът на гърка в българската книжнина – XV – средата на ХIХ век

Author(s): Nadya Danova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 6/1993

The study follows up the evolution of the image of the Greek as reflected in Bulgarian manuscripts, books, correspondence and textbooks from the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans to the middle of the 19th century. This is an attempt to shed light on the conditions and mechanisms of the formation of one of the basic national stereotypes of the Bulgarian which played a role in their relations with the neighbours. Revealed are the stages in the building up of the image of the Greek, connected with the processes running in Bulgarian society of forming the nation and with the analogous processes in Greek society. Special attention is paid to the role of the formation of the Bulgarian national identity, an important element of which was the identification of the “other” on the basis of criteria different from the religious ones. Stress is laid on the effect of the collision of the national platforms of Bulgarians and Greeks on the evolution of the image of the Greek in which negative traits began to prevail in the second half of the 19th century. At the same time, much space is devoted to the authors who in their works drew the image of the Greeks and Greece fully in a positive light.

Етнокултурен модел на историческото съзнание през българското средновековие

Author(s): Valeri Katzounov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 7/1991

The problem of the historical consciousness of the peoples is too wide and not yet well enough researched area in the sphere of the social sciences. In a sense it is a part of a much wider problem of the ethnical consciousness and self-consciousness. The article makes a detailed and critical review of accessible home and foreign publications. On the basis of their review, the author reveals his own understanding upon the raised questions in the specialized literature. A detailed analysis is made on the relations: national consciousness and self-consciousness and historical consciousness and self-consciousness. An original model is built of the historical consciousness considered with the peculiarities of the social development in the different periods of the Bulgarian history for the time from the 7th to the first half of the 18th century. An original principal scheme is presented of composition of ethnical self-consciousness as individual human reflection of a concrete socioimportant ideas. According to the author, this is a complex of complicated, interweaved and mutually connected ideas from which basic are: the idea of community of the origin (from the idea of ethnical identity); the idea of the community of the historical fate (from the idea of a political organization, the idea of state system in society); the idea of cultural peculiarities (from the idea of cultural identity, for cultural community of the society).The first two most precisely reveal the sense of the concepts “historical consciousness” and “historical self-consciousness”.

Мерната единица за повърхност „дьонюм“ в административно-финансовата практика на Османската империя (XV–XX в.)

Author(s): Anton Minkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 12/1991

The dönüm was one of the surface units of measure most widely used by the Ottoman administration. It was used in settling various agrarian relations, in the registration of lands and sale-trade of estates, as well as in connection with the tax and financial systems of the Empire. Hence, the frequent use of the dönüm in the timar registers and financial documents dealing with tax revenuer. The dönüm was most widely used in the land certificates (tapus). In certain parts of the Empire local units of measure were permitted to be used in this type of documents, especially in the tapus issued for inconsiderable amount of land. Great differences occur when we try to define more accurately the dönüm into metric units of measure. Most often the specialized literature equals the dönüm to 919,3 square metres. That, however, was the value accepted for it as late as the second half of the 19 c., and it is wrong to accept this value for the previous centuries. The article proves that until the end of the first half of the 19 c. the dönüm was equal to 1200 sq. metres. Since the 80’s of the 19 c. the term “new dönüm” has been used in the certificates of land ownership. The value of this dönüm is shown to be 2500 sq. metres. Nowadays the dönüm continues to be used as a unit of measure in Turkey and some Arab countries.

Cristina Feneșan, Convertiri la islam în spațiul carpato-dunărean (secolele XV-XIX)

Author(s): Ligia Boldea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2021

Review of: Cristina Feneșan, Convertiri la islam în spațiul carpato-dunărean (secolele XV-XIX), Editura Militară, București, 2020, 466 pag.

Най-важните категории християнско население с военнопомощни или полицейско-охранителни задължения и тяхното място в социалната структура на османското общество – сходства и различия (XV – първите десетилетия на XVII в.)

Author(s): Krastyo Yordanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The study examines several categories of the Christian population with military assistance and police security duties during the early centuries of Ottoman rule. Their obligations and socio-economic status are compared. The study shows that very often it seems that the service of martolos, jebelyu voinuks, akanji Christians, Vlachs and derbentjias overlapped and there were many points of contact. Much more specific were the duties of the voynuks than the imperial stables and doganjias (falconers). What all the military aid groups studied had in common was that they were exempt from extraordinary taxes and duties. However, they were at different levels in the social hierarchy of Ottoman society, depending on the conditions under which they performed their official duties and their sources of income. An important criterion for determining the place in the social hierarchy was also the tax status under Ottoman law – whether people of a certain category with special obligations cultivated Mirian land within timars, zeamets, hass and waqfs, owing land taxes to their owners (which was characteristic of the raya), or were exempt from tax. The martoloses and falconers, owners of timars, as well as those who received a salary for their regular military service were identified as representatives of the askers. Voynuk commanders of lower rank – lagators, and Wallachian elders - princes, who in the 15th century owed timars can also be classified as military class. One step lower in the hierarchy were the representatives of those military aid groups which, in return for their service, were exempt from all land and personal taxes within the official farms they owned. These people were an intermediate category between the raya and the askers. Voinuks, part of the akandjias, the Falconers and the martoloses, had a similar status. This group also includes the Vlachs, who made a living from cattle breeding, and few settled in the villages, engaged in agriculture, but did not pay land taxes. The lowest in this categorization are some of the falconers, akandjias and martoloses, as well as all derbentjias. These groups were exempted only from state extraordinary taxes and duties, but paid all other raiyat taxes along with the ordinary raya. Therefore, we can say that these people best fit the concept of privileged raya.

Християнската знат в земите на днешна Република Северна Македония през XV–XVII в.

Author(s): Tervel Popov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

During the 15th – 17th centuries, in the lands of the present-day Republic of North Macedonia, Christian nobility continued to exist. The Christian spahi, who were quite numerous in the southwest of the Bulgarian lands in the 15th century, gradually disappeared from Ottoman records. In urban centres such as Ohrid and Kratovo, the boyar estate remained. Duce Dimitar Pepić from Kratovo was the most distinguished Christian nobleman in the historical and geographical region of Macedonia in the 16th century, and he was respected by the people as a ruler. We have evidence about many Bulgarian nobles who became ktetors of churches and monasteries, thereby supporting not only the Christian fate, but also their people.

Дербенджийските села в Златишко-Пирдопската котловина и прилежащите ѝ региони (XV – първата половина на XVII век)

Author(s): Krastyo Yordanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

Based on Ottoman source material, the studies attempt to trace the fate of several Derbendji villages in the region of Zlatitsa, the valley of the Topolnitsa River, and the Sredna Gora Mountains. The Zlatitsa-Pirdop valley is located at a crossroad where two secondary roads meet. ‘Derbend guarding’ (guarding of roads and passes) in this region was to some extent directly related to the maintenance of these roads and the provision of safe travel and communications. However, the sources show that in the first century of the Ottoman rule, only two Derbendji villages were created at the initiative of the Ottoman authorities, in order to populate the deserted and dangerous areas along the road. Subsequently, before the middle of the 16th century, the network of Derbendji villages in the Zlatitsa region expanded, including a number of old settlements. Usually, the population of these settlements, on their own initiative, secured a Sultan’s firman (order) for the granting of Derbendji status, referring to the frequent robberies and murders along the road in the lands of the villages. The villagers wanted to obtain Derbendji (guardian) status so that they can defend themselves with weapons, ensuring their peace and the security of travelers. However, the fate of the Derbendji villages in the Zlatitsa-Pirdop region shows that the Derbendji status and tax privileges did not automatically lead to the demographic and economic prosperity of the villages, turning them into important economic and cultural centres of the Bulgarian nation. The strong Turkic colonization in the valley, as well as the processes of Islamization that began at the end of the 15th century among the local Bulgarian Christian population as well as the example of the first converts, had certain influence on the desire for conversion to Islam, which was associated with exemption from some taxes such as the cizie. Two of the Derbendji settlements in Zlatitsa region eventually became completely Muslim villages. Thus, the author’s thesis is confirmed that the privileged status of the population with special obligations was not so decisive for settlement development, as were factors of a natural-geographical, ethnographic (the specifics of individual ethnographic groups and regions) and socio-economic nature.

Важен принос в османистиката

Author(s): Krasimira Mutafova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023

ბიბლიური მეფე დავითი და ქართველი მწერლები (V – XVIII საუკუნეები)

Author(s): Murad Mtvarelidze / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 2/2021

Biblical King Davit is especially popular in ancient Georgian literature. On the one hand, Georgian writers paraphrase his works, which is important, but even more interesting is the fact that in relation to this biblical king, important issues are reflected in the works of Georgian writers, such as the idea of the biblical origin of Georgian kings, symbolic consideration of Davit as Christ the Father, scrambling of Davit and Giant, as well as the metaphors "Davit’s Harp", "Davit's Precepts", "Davit's City", "Davit's Garden". For Georgian writers, Biblical Davit remains an exemplary hero, so when they talk about this or that character, they try to explain their actions with the examples of Davit's life or the aims of his thought, and thus determine the peculiarities of the character or action of this or that character. Strengthening of the royal dynasty of the Bagrationi made the legend of their biblical origin even more actual. Later, with the strengthening and prosperity of the country, this idea acquired more popularity, which was manifested in almost all the ascending stages of the development of Georgian literature. The article shows that the myth has traveled successfully from century to century and on the one hand gave the Georgian kings a sense of specialness, and on the other hand, Georgian writers from this ancestral dynasty used this moment along with their positive aspects to describe this or that historical figure. After the conquest of Georgia by Russia (1801) when the monarchy was abolished in Georgia and the country lost its national independence, this myth was gradually forgotten. Davit Knar, along with his sling, immediately gained popularity in Georgian heraldry. Since the Georgian kings considered themselves the descendants of the biblical Davit, this important element was reflected on the coat of arms of the Bagrationis as a symbol of devotion to the Bible and a kind of permanent and uninterrupted union with it. The metaphor "Davit's harp" in some cases refers to the harp of Davit Psalm-chanter in the literal sense, and is sometimes understood as a psalm chant, as well as the use of this metaphor as a measure to determine the fictional level of this or that work. As for the "Davit’s Precepts", it is a kind of allegorical collocation and primarily considers the views of the prophet Davit on this or that issue. From this point of view, the attitude to Davit’s precepts established by a remarkable Georgian poet of the 18th century, Davit Guramishvili is worth considering. When talking about the origin of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ with Georgian authors or translated monuments, primarily attention is drawn to the term that Davit eulogizes Christ in advance; he prophesies the birth of the Messiah and sings hymns to him. The quotation of Davit's hymns traces the whole of the old Georgian secular or historical writing. For Georgian writers, the important episodes of the life of the biblical King Davit are exemplary, which they refer to when necessary, and his thoughts - a guide, which occupies an important part in the life and work of this or that literary or historical hero.

ჩინეთის ისტორია

Author(s): Emzar Makaradze / Language(s): English,Georgian Issue: 1/2023

Review of the monograph created by a group of authors (Otar Chigladze, Davit Andghuladze, Nana Gelashvili, Shalva Chikhladze, Archil Kalandia, Marine Jibladze) - "History of China". Chief editor and compiler Marine Jibladze, publishing house, "Golden Fleece", Tbilisi, 2022.

ზაქარია ჭიჭინაძე და ქართველთა დენაციონალიზაციის პრობლემები (სომეხ კათოლიკეთა ანტიქართული საქმიანობა)

Author(s): Sergo Vardosanidze / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 1/2023

In the lengthy history of the Georgian people, the XV and XVIII centuries were especially hard because of the division of the country into small political units, such as the provincial kingdoms and principalities and the isolation of the patriarchates of Mtskheta and Likht-Imereti, as well as Samtskhe church from the unified Georgian Church. At that time two conquerors from the south, Iran and the Ottomans, were conquering Georgian territories and forcibly converted the Georgian population to Islam. The desperate population, hoping for help from Europeans, converted to the Catholic faith on the advice of papal missionaries, although they could still praise God in Georgian with the Georgian Typicon. The situation changed in the sixteenth century when Pope Paul III entrusted the Georgian parish to the Armenian UNITOR Catholics. Historian Zakaria Chichinadze exposed the perfidies of the Catholic Armenians, who forbade the Georgians to worship in the Georgian language and started the ‘Armenization’ of the Georgians.The Catholic Armenians almost completely Armenianized the Georgian Catholics of Artvin, Ardagan and Nigali valleys and for this purpose, used even threats, terror, bribery, slander, presented the history of the Caucasus and Georgia in a crooked mirror. This is particularly true with the members of the Congregation of the Mechitarists, who successfully convinced European scholars and Roman popes with their fabricated fantastic stories. Zakaria Chichinadze, together with Mikheil Tamarashvili, Ivane Gvaramadze and Petre Kharischirashvili, fought against this treacherous policy of Armenian Catholicism, whose goal was to denationalize the Georgian nation, and protected the identity of the Georgian nation.

Красимира Мутафова. Религия и идентичност (християнство и ислям) по българските земи в османската документация от ХV–ХVІІІ век.

Author(s): Gergana Georgieva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2023