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The article deals with the role of the “Turkish yoke” metaphor in historiography, history textbooks, and Bulgarian national culture. The analysis leads to the conclusion that “Turkish yoke” is not the most suitable term for naming the historical period during which Bulgarians had no state of their own for nearly five centuries. Although historically imprecise, the metaphor is defined as an important concept of national culture, representing the mindset of the Bulgarian elite during the High Renaissance period. The understanding of the historical logic behind the term “Turkish yoke” is very important for preserving correct historical memory of the events of the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The text concludes that the “Turkish yoke” metaphor symbolizes the nоn-slave consciousness of those Bulgarians who had accepted the ideas of national revolution.
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In oration 43, in the anthology “Zlatostruj” is interpreted chapter 13 of the epistle of St. apostle Paul to the people of Rome. In (13:1) obedience to the bearers of power is preached and this behavioral principle is a motto for the author’s text. St. John Chrysostom follows the apostle’s belief that Christ introduces His laws not to destroy the social reciprocity and the civil order, but to strengthen them in order to prevent unnecessary and useless wars. It is normal the power and the society to be in a state of co obedience and consent, in constant obtaining and application of the Christian principles of the attitude between personalities. It is evident that king Simeon the Great shares the idea for an ideal, educated and undivided Christian state under the patronage of God and the power of pious earthly king, God’s servant (Rom.13:4). The consent and co obedience of the nationals is guided by the supreme principle of love – you must love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–39).
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The Chertkov (Moscow) transcript of Paissy Hilendarski’s “A Slavo- Bulgarian History” was discovered in 1960 and it remained for a long time unattributed. Adducing new archive data has made it possible to determine the circumstances and the year when it was made and also to account for the fact of its creation on the basis of the ancient Zheravnenski transcript – the exact whereabouts of the latter still remain unknown, as well as to add new detail to our knowledge about the Russian – Bulgarian cultural ties from the 19th century.
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The transcript of “Slavo-Bulgarian History”, done by the Turnovian Kancho Stoyanov in 1844, reflects the late reception of Paisiy’s work. The textological examination and a close study of the language of the manuscript show that it is based on several transcripts, with different genealogy and a different balance between more archaic morphological, syntactic and lexical traits on the one hand, and elements typical of the spoken language during the first half of the XIX century, on the other. In terms of language the transcript is not uniform.
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The article is a detailed account of the language used in “Drunk Father, Murderer of His Children”, a novel written by the Bulgarian Revival writer Iliya R. Bluskov and published in 1879–1880. The article tackles major graphic, spelling, phonetic, morphological and syntactic traits of the language in this text. Here one can trace theinfluence of local vernacular and of Bulgarian literary tradition on the author’s language. The analysis shows that Iliya R. Bluskov follows the language-spelling model of the Shumen literary school and that he has contributed to the general acceptance of a number of phonetic and morphological norms which have now been adopted in modern Standard Bulgarian.
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The article is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the journal “Epochs” and to the published in it ethnological researches.
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During the last few years, an attempt has been made in Bulgarian society to impose the con-tention that the Ottoman period is represented in the school history and civilizations textbooks through the definition “Ottoman Presence”. The present article seeks to provide a scientifically grounded review of the educational documentation concerning school history education, and in particular the history textbooks, to ascertain whether such a definition is present or absent
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The purpose of the study is to analyze the period of the Bulgarian transition in the modern studentbooks of History and civilizations for the 10th grade on several aspects: significant accents, the ratio of politics-economy-society-culture, multifaceted perspectives. This will assess the ability of new generation textbooks to help understand and analyze current processes, to prepare young people for social adaptation and realization.
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The study raises questions about the fate of the medieval Bulgarian fortresses and urban centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration, which has repeatedly been discussed in Balkan and Ottoman studies. These debates are constantly related to the issues of continuity in the administration and ruling of the Bulgarian lands, evidenced in the territorial overlap of the medieval administrative structures with the new Ottoman ones, as well as in the names of the sanjaks, nahiyes and vilayets. One of the problems that is yet to be completely solved has to do with the medieval fortresses and settlements, registered with their pre-Ottoman names as important administrative centers in the system of Ottoman provincial administration (nahiyes, vilayets, kazas), but most likely destroyed during the conquest or earlier. New settlements are developing near them which have different names but the same administrative functions. Many of them are problematic to be localized, but for centuries, these “old” settlements and centers of power have been referred to in parallel with the “new” settlements as another name (nam-i diğer) for the respective administrative centers. The present study focuses on two of the examples of continuity and parallel designation of the “old”/“new” settlements – nahiye Ala Kinise (Kilisa)/ Osman Pazar and nahiye Hotaliç/ Servi (Selvi). These administrative-territorial units are typical of the Ottoman model of administration at local level, as well as regarding the presence of a particular continuity from the medieval Bulgarian state. The complex approach applied in the research and interpretation of the Ottoman register material allows us not only to trace the indications of continuity in the development of individual settlements, but also to understand the pre-Ottoman period of their existence within the medieval Bulgarian state. In a broader sense, it provides a real opportunity for a well-grounded reconstruction of the Ottoman model of power, demographic and economic control of the Bulgarian lands at local level.
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Clarifying the demographic state of humankind during all periods of its historical development is an issue that has long been of interest to the scientific community. This paper traces the specifics and trends in the dynamics of the main demographic processes and structures of the population inhabiting Bulgaria during the Middle Ages. Their analysis allows us to establish that, during the period under review, the Bulgarian state’s characteristic demographic potential was formed with its establishment. The way it was created and the specifics of its subsequent development predetermined its sustainability, and allowed it to preserve its identity despite many negative processes.
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One of the unique features of the Roman state-political model is the ability of Roman elites to integrate those of the conquered into their political, military, and social structures. This practice was unique for ancient societies and states, which, by conquering a territory, turn the conquered into a secondary social and economic factor that has no access to political and military power. The history of Rome is an example of how to build a powerful state through the constant gradual integration of conquered elites into institutions of power. The analysis of the policy pursued by the ruling Roman elite in relation to those conquered by the Romans shows that, over the centuries, they have followed the same political practice with varying intensity and some fluctuation. Roman history shows that, after a period of fierce military expansion and forcible subjugation, the Romans gradually shifted to a policy of integration, which in most cases was expressed in the gradual inclusion of local elites in the traditional Roman patron-client relations, and through them their involvement in Roman administrative and military institutions. After moving to live permanently in Rome, the most ambitious and intelligent representatives of these local elites gained access to Roman magistrates, and some of them even reached the highest Roman magistracies. In many cases, they even became one of the most influential politicians in ancient Rome during their time.
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This article states the hypothesis of the social origin of two representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church clergy in the period between the 9th and 12th centuries. Bishop Sergii, who was a eunuch, took the Belgrade Bishopric during the rule of Knyaz Boris I. Mikhail, who was called Maxim, was a bishop of Ohrid in the 1120s. It is an indisputable fact that both of them were eunuchs, and this contradicts one of the basic rules of the Church about cheirotonia (ordination). It is specified in which cases persons with impaired “physical integrity” and disabilities were allowed to be elected and to hold senior Church positions. The sources analyzed point towards a slave origin of both of them. The author proposes the thesis that the ideal (desired) model of construction of the Eastern Orthodox Church has been corrected during its long-term history by practice through a real model, which, in some cases, radically contradicts the basic, declared rules.
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This article attempts to study Bulgarian hayduts (outlaws) in the context of haydutry in the Balkans by comparing Bulgarian and Balkan haydut folk songs. The aim of the research is to establish and explain the common and different moments in them in terms of themes, plots, and presentation of the main characters through their behaviour, actions, and the attitude of the folk artist to them. Based on that comparison, the common and different characteristics of Bulgarian and Balkan hayduts and the Bulgarian haydutry during the period of Ottoman rule are to be derived and indicated. The geographical area of the study covers the territories of today’s Balkan countries: Bulgaria, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Romania.
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This report presents the construction of churches in Eski Juma, Osman Pazar, Hezargrad, and in several other settlements in the 1850s – 1870s. It also focuses on the procedures for building churches and on the reasons for their mass construction in the region under review during this period. The study analyzes the applications of the population, their reasons, and the ethnic composition of the settlements studied. In addition, the paper discusses issues concerning the construction of the churches themselves, their size, organization, and financing.
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The article presents information about the economic activity of Eustati Selveli in 1843, a prominent Renaissance entrepreneur and public figure of the 19th century. It is a continuation of two previous publications that examined this activity of his in the period 1831–1842. In 1843, Eustati Selveli took active part in at least two business structures – the trading company called “Hadji Mincho Hadji Tsachev and Company,” founded together with Hadji Mincho hadji Tsachev, and the trading company called “Eustati Hadji Nikolaou Selveli and Company,” established together with Atanas hadji Nikolaou. Both were set up in 1841. The main part of the information presented in this article was acquired on the basis of Greek-language documents that are stored in the State Archives of Veliko Tarnovo and in the archives of the Regional Museum of History in Veliko Tarnovo. These include contracts concluded between Eustati Selveli and Atanas hadji Nikolaou, a commercial notebook that belonged to their partnership, and a personal notebook of Eustati Selveli. The indicated historical sources contain information about the material and financial condition of Eustati Selveli and about his joint business activity with Atanas hadji Nikolaou. The article presents information about the business partners of Eustati Selveli and Atanas hadji Nikolaou in the year under review; the items which the partners traded in and their prices; the monetary units they used when paying for supplies and their value equal to grosh (the local coin at the time); the ways of delivery of the goods, etc.
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Donations and charity most clearly reveal the sympathy, solidarity, and willingness of the people to support cultural, educational, health, and social initiatives that are useful for the whole society. The history of Veliko Tarnovo in recent times has been marked by numerous acts of charity, which have had a significant contribution to the development of the city, and which are a permanent testimony to the morality and humanity of the Tarnovo citizens. This study is an attempt to systematize the available information about donations in Veliko Tarnovo in order to get a general picture of who is making these donations, to whom, for what, and for what reasons.
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Based on the original documentary material collected by the author in the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova, an attempt has been made to investigate some unknown aspects of the struggle of Bessarabian Bulgarians against the tsarist policy of assimilation during the First World War. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bulgarians ranked fifth in terms of population in Bessarabia – a province annexed to the Russian Empire in 1812. In all these years, they preserved their language, culture, and national traditions, transforming the Alexander III Boys’ Gymnasium in Bolgrad into a true centre of national culture. Many Bessarabian Bulgarians played an important role in the history of Bulgaria, holding positions of responsibility in the Bulgarian state. Some of them were the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Aleksandar Malinov, the Minister of War Danail Nikolaev, the Mayor of Sofia Martin Todorov and his brother General Georgi Todorov, and General Ivan Kolev. Despite this fact, and in contradiction with Russian historical mythology about special relations privileged with Bulgarians, the Russian authorities treated them equally with other national minorities, exposing them to forced assimilation, deportations, expulsions, repressions, and arrests of representatives of the Bulgarian national movement in the Russian Empire.
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