[en] History

[Traveller]

Teutonic Order

The Teutonic Order («Teutonic» comes from the Latin “teutonicus”, which means "German") is the third big Chivalric Order, established in the time of the Crusades in Palestine after the two oldest Chivalric Orders :

A) The Order of the Johanites (these are the Hospitallers from the house of St. John (Baptizer) in Jerusalem, later called “Knights of Rhodes and Malta”, for short: Maltese Order with present headquarters in Rome)

B) Order of the Templars


Names: Ordo Teutonicus; Ordo domus Sanctae Mariae Theutonicorum Ierosolimitanorum (Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem / Order of the German brothers from the house of St. Mary in Jerusalem), and on German - Deutschherrenorden, Kreuzritterorden (Order of the Crusader Knights), Deutschritterorden, Deutscher Ritterorden, modern and short Deutscher Orden / German Order.


Motto: «Helfen — Wehren — Heilen» / "Helping - Protecting - Healing"


Sign: Black cross on a white background, carried on the mantle:
link (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/bg/2/2a/Tevtonski-ricari-znak.jpg)


Establishment of the order

During the Third Crusade in 1190, German nobles and merchants establish a brotherhood at a field hospital, whose concern are the sick and wounded from the one-year siege of the fortress Sen Jean d’Acre (Akkon, Akkā, Acre, Accho, Acco, Hacco) in Galiley. The Arabs had taken the city three years ago (1187), but ever since 1104 the city was in the hands of the Crusaders and was the main seat of the Hospitallers-Johanites. Because Jerusalem and Jaffa are lost, the Crusaders under the command of Richard the Lionheart are fighting fiercely. On the next year (1191) the fortress falls and Sen Jean d’Acre becomes the capital and main port of the Crusaders in Palestine (until 1291). The brotherhood builds here a hospital and the church “St. Mary” and calls itself “fratres domus hospitalis sanctae Mariae Teutonicorum in Jerusalem”. The Pope (Cölestin III) gives to the brotherhood (the 21st of December 1196) privileges, similar to the other orders. On a big meeting, in the spring of 1198, the German knights decide to turn the brotherhood into an order, accepting the rules of the Johanites and the Templars. Pope Inocentius III recognizes the new spiritual-chivalric order on the 19th of February 1199 with a bull and defines its tasks: protecting the German knights, healing the sick, fighting enemies of the Catholic Church. The knights and the priests receive the right to wear a white mantle with a black cross. Pope Honorius III releases the Teutonic knights from the judicial power of the local bishops on the 1st of October 1218, with which the order receives full rights. On the 9th of January 1221 he equalizes the order with the older two – the Johanites and the Templars.

History of the order in Europe

The beginning: Fighting for its own territory

The military power of the Teutonic order was noticed by some European rulers, which under the banner of “fighting the heathens” wanted to deal with their rivals. A great influence had at that time the high master (Hochmeister) of the order – Hermann von Salza (1209—1239), who owned considerable possessions and led successful negotiations with the Pope and the German emperor. In 1211 the King of Hungary Androsh II asked for help from the knights in his battles with the Kumans. The Teutons settled on the border of Transylvania, receiving considerable autonomy, but were soon expelled, because they wanted to create a sovereign state.

In 1217 Pope Honorius III declared a Crusafe against heathens, which inhabited the lands of the Polish Prince Konrad Mazovecki. In 1225 the prince asked for help the Teutonic knights, while as a reward he promised them the rule of Helmno (Chelmno, on German - Kulm) and the territories conquered by them. The Teutonic knights advance also in Silesia (Śląsk, on German - Schlesien) in 1232. The first fort was built on the eastern side of the Vistula River, giving the beginning of Torun city (on German - Thorn).

The expansive tactic of the knights was the same: after conquering the lands, the local population was being converted, a castle was being built, around which Germans were settled and an active use of the lands began.


The state of the order in East Prussia

Capital of the Teutonic Order became the city of Marienburg (German for "Castle of Mary", Polish name - Malbork). Gradually a large territory fell under the power of the Teutonic Order, today mostly on the territory of North-Eastern Poland and the neighboring Kaliningrad region of Russia. In 1237 the Teutonic order merges with the remains of the military Brotherhood of the Knights of the Sword (Schwertbrüderorden, established in 1201 in Riga, red cross on a white background) and thus receives Livonia. At the capturing of Gdansk (1308), under the cry «Jesu Christo Salvator Mundi» (Jesus Christ Savior of the World), almost the whole of the Polish population (around 10 000 locals) was destroyed, German settlers came in the conquered territories. In the same time Pomerania was also taken. In such way, at the end of the XIII century the order practically became an independent country.

Relations of the order with the Russian principalities and Lithuania

In 1242 the Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky defeats the Crusaders on the frozen Lake Peipus. Today even some Russian historians admit that the battle was insignificant. Novgorod and Pskov are even often collaborating with the knights. Lithuania becomes a strong principality and later enters an alliance with Poland. The relations of the order with its neighbors are complex and most often hostile.

In 1410 the united Polish-Lithuanian forces deal a devastating blow on the knights in the battle of Grunwald (on German - Tannenberg). More than 200 Crusaders, together with their leader, die.* The Teutonic Order loses its reputation as invincible. In 1411 the “first” peace treaty was signed in Torun.

From 1525 until today

During the Reformation the Teutonic Order becomes worldly and Lutheran. Its eastern realms become the Duchy of Prussia with residence (from the 9th of May 1525) Konigsberg (today Kaliningrad), and the western in the Duchy of Courland, the both at first time under Polish ward.

In 1809 Napoleon bans the order, which exists until 1834 only in Austria. In 1929 it’s reorganized as a spiritual order. In 1938-1945 it’s banned by the national-socialists.

The present-day seat of the German Order (Deutscher Orden) is Vienna, where it has a museum and archive. The order currently numbers around thousand members in 5 “provinces”: Italy, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Its main tasks are the spiritual guard and the care for old and sick people.





*Note that those 200 knights don’t come alone – every one of them brings many, many more squires etc. So don’t underestimate the number 200 (like I normally would)! A similar situation was with our battle of Adrianople in 1205 when 300 knights died, but it was considered that “all of the chivalric color was gone”…



Translated from this thread (http://forum.hanovete.com/index.php?showtopic=2362)...

[Xuca]

I don't have enough time right now, I'll read it this evening, and write about the migration of the Slavs, but have you checked the quiz thread? It seems it's working.

[Traveller]

Yeah, I checked the Quiz. Frankish did quite well, but neither of the three of us managed to guess his answer (and no one else has posted so far). I knew I had to choose Walmart, but...

[Xuca]

I completely forgot that you replied to the quiz thread. :gaga2:

Teutonic Order was interesting, but the forum you linked doesn't allow guests. It says "Влез", or something

[Traveller]

Oh, I forgot it needs a registration to view it. Anyway, it's on Bulgarian, so... :rolleyes:
Btw there's also a very short thing about the Templars, too. It's really short, so maybe I'll translate it as well.

Edit: Hey, I'll make a list with the threads there and you could choose what should I translate (some are quite short, but some are long and it may take some time):

1. Goths (description for the game*)
2. Franks (description for the game)
3. Horezmia
4. Dynasties (Burbons, Carolingians, Tan, Saxe-Coburg-Gota)
5. Partia
6. The empire of the Vikings and Rus (Varangians and some chronicles)
7. Rzeczpospolita/Žečpospolita (The Polish-Lithuanian state; pretty long)
8. Basques (a long thing already on English)
9. Emperor Justinian I The Great
10. The battle of Aheloi/Anchialus
11. In batle with Byzantium (Bulgaria from Tervel to Persian)
12. Janissaries
13. Khazars khaganate (quite short)
14. Byzantium (relatively short)
15. Nove - the forgotten capital of the Goths
16. Ottoman empire (quite short)
17. Battle of Adrianople (relatively short)
18. Jean Fransoa Shampolion (short)
19. Establishment of the Bulgarian state - 681 (short)
20. The Balkan War (already translated)
21. World War II, in two parts
22. The Bulgarian SS division (in the WWII, part two)
23. The thirty years war
24. The Bulgarian insurections under Ottoman yoke (Chiprovsko, Aprilsko and Ilindensko-Preobrajensko insurections)
25. Tsar Simeon (relatively short)
26. The Bulgarian khanate on the lower Danube
27. Khans (Krum, Asparukh, Kubrat)
28. Bulgaria at Khan Tervel
29. Crusades (short descriptions of 1st, 2nd and 3rd)
30. The golden age of Tsar Simeon (until the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire; taken from the MFA site somewhere above)
31. The Buris (in South Africa)
32. The Teutons (already translated)
33. Napoleon Bonapart (relatively short)
34. 354 - Earliest mention of the Bulgarians in Europe
35. Templars (in progress, quite short)
36. The sacred drink of the ancient Thracians (a relatively long article about the role of wine in Thracian life)
37. Sassanids

*The forum is the historical sector of an online Bulgarian game (something like text-based AoE)


====================================

Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon

The Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon is a military-monastic organization created in 1118 or 1119. The order is created by the French knights Huguens de Payns, Geoffroy de Sent Ome, André de Montbard, Gundomar, Rolan, Geoffroy Bize, Payen de Mondezir and Arshambo de Sent Einan*. The first purpose of the order was the defense of the road, leading from the Mediterranean coast to Jerusalem, and the traveling along it Chirstian pilgrims from bandits. The Kin of Jerusalem – Bolduin, gave the knights a room, which was under his palace, built on the place of old Judean temple of Solomon. The knights united in an order under the name “Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon” (according to other sources – “The poor brothers from Jerusalem’s temple”). Despite this the order is known more under its other name – Knights Templar or Templers. This name comes from their first residence in the temple.

According to the legends the rules of the Order were created by St. Bernard himself and were approved on a church council in the French city of Troa from Pope Honorius II in 1128. As a basis served the rules of the Order of the Cisterians – one of the most strict monk orders. Forbidden was the consummation of meat, milk, vegetables, fruits and wine. The food of the knights was bread and water. The clothing is extremely modest. If after the death of a Templar knight gold or silver things or money were being found in his belongings, he was losing the right to be buried in “the sanctified land” (the cemetery) of the Order. If this happened after the funeral – the dead body was being buried out and thrown to the dogs. In their entry of the Order the knights took monastic vows for obedience, celibacy and poorness. They denied not only from the worldly life, but also from their relatives. But practically it turned out that these requirements were only in front the world. In fact the Templars did not deprive themselves from anything humane and were one of the richest orders.

The order had strictly built hierarchy. The members were divided to three classes: knights, priests and sergeants (pages, servants, attendants, soldiers and others). But unlike the members of the Teutonic Order, all of the Templars members took a vow and followed the rules.



Original thread (http://forum.hanovete.com/index.php?showtopic=2347)

*Note that most of the names here are “translated” only by sound, spelling may not be accurate.

[Xuca]

Since nobody else picked anything in the last three days :rolleyes: I'll pick 12. Janissiaries

[Traveller]

Unfortunately, the forum there is down for some time, due to some hacker attacks on the online game. The staff said that it might take awhile till they fix it - maybe till the middle of the week. So I'll be able to translate only when they're ready...

[Mircoslavux]

huge silver treasure was found by the help of swedish frogmen. The treasure consists from cca 6 500 silver coins and is comming from warship Kronan, which exploded and sank in the year 1676.
This found is the biggest (coin-found) in swedish history.

(source 20 minuten)

[Mircoslavux]

4000 old noodles (pasta) were found in Chine - province Quinghai. There are 50 cm long and from millet (sorghum)... :bday:

source (20 minute, Nature)

[Traveller]

How old are they? Cuz I've heard that the first noodles were made in ancient China, but I doubt they could last long...

[Mircoslavux]

How old are they? Cuz I've heard that the first noodles were made in ancient China, but I doubt they could last long...

it was written 4000 years old, and is was publish in nature (20 minutes said it) so it should be correct.

[Xuca]

Hey, I forgot that I'm supposed to write something about the migration of the Slavs. :gaga2: But even if I didn't, I didn't had time to write. Maybe tomorrow, or for the weekend.

[Traveller]

Yeah, and I have to translate about the Janissaries, but the problem's still there - they restarted the forum, it's working, but it has begun from point zero - the old posts are all gone and I'm still waiting to see if they've made a back-up and will they fix it...

[Xuca]

I forgot to write something again :rolleyes: :silly: but I found something about the second Balkan war, and I just want Traveller's opinion:

The Effort to Prevent Outbreak of the Second Balkan War, 1913.


1. THE TREATY OF LONDON, MAY 30, 1913.


The Treaty of London signed on May 30, 1913, settled the frontier line between the Balkan States and Turkey, but left conflicting claims between themselves unsettled. On June 9 the London Peace Conference met for the last time, the attempt to reach an agreement on the points left unsettled by the Treaty of London having been abandoned and a protocol adopted leaving it to the Balkan States to supplement the treaty by direct conventions.


2. THE DISPUTE BETWEEN GREECE AND BULGARIA.


Of this there was, however, very little prospect. There was, in the first place, the dispute between Greece and Bulgaria respecting their respective shares of Macedonia. The Greeks had occupied Salonika, which Bulgaria greatly desired, and Bulgaria found herself in possession of Thrace, which she did not much care for.


3. DISPUTE BETWEEN SERBIA AND BULGARIA.


There was a similar dispute between Bulgaria and Serbia, the latter being in possession of that section of Macedonia of which Monastir is the center -- a city and section that Bulgaria claimed as her portion. Bulgaria insisted that Serbia execute the arrangements agreed upon as to the future frontier between the two States in the treaty of March 13, 1912. But Serbia maintained that the creation of an independent Albania invalidated the provisions of the treaty.


4. ALLIANCE BETWEEN SERBIA AND GREECE, 1913.


After their return from London, Premiers Venizelos and Pashic, representing Greece and Serbia respectively, made an offensive and defensive alliance for 10 years directed against Bulgaria, and military conventions were arranged.


5. THE CZAR PROPOSES TO ACT AS ARBITRATOR.


On May 28, Serbia demanded that Bulgaria should renounce her rights under the treaty of March 13, 1912. The Czar of All the Russias then stepped in as peacemaker, sending, on June 8, an identical telegram to the Kings of Bulgaria and Serbia, offering to act as arbitrator in this "fratricidal war," in accordance with the terms of their treaty of alliance.

Neither of the disputants appears to have desired the arbitrament by the Czar, but both agreed to submit to Russian arbitration, Serbia and Greece proposing that each of the three countries involved reduce its army one-fourth, in order to facilitate a pacific solution of the controversy.


6. BULGARIA BEGINS THE SECOND BALKAN WAR.


But in the meantime a new cabinet had been formed in Bulgaria, where the warlike Dr. Daneff replaced the pacific M. Gueshoff as premier. On June 15, Bulgaria proposed simultaneous demobilization on condition that the contested districts should be occupied by mixed garrisons. Under circumstances which are still somewhat obscure, on June 29, Bulgaria began the Second Balkan War by an attack on the Serbian and Greek positions.

[Traveller]

Well? Oppinion about what? I think it's right...


Btw since those idiots in the other forum still haven't said anything (btw I guess this is a typical Bulgarian trait - just like BSS and the second patch - "no word, no bone"), I'll post here some things from books, which are always "online". Unfortunately, they're only about Bulgarian history, which you people obviously don't like very much, but you could still choose something from:

"The Bulgarians, The first Europeans" by Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov
Introduction
Chapter I - "The Thracians - The first Europeans"
Chapter II - "The Slavs"
Chapter III - "The Bulgarians"
Chapter IV - "Way of life, economy, culture and social organization of the Bulgarians until the creation of the Bulgarian state" (I think I've already translated it)
Chapter V - "Khan Kubrat and the birth of Bulgaria"
Chapter VI - "Khan Asparukh - Expansion of the Bulgarian state to the south of the Danube river"
Chapter VII - "Khan Kuber - Establishment of a second Bulgarian state in Macedonia"
Chapter VIII - "The Bulgarian state - Guardian of Europe in the early Middle Ages"
Chapter IX - "The Bulgarian idea for a national state - ground of the European civilization"
Chapter X - "Christianity - Official religion in Bulgaria"
Chapter XI - "Old-Bulgarian (Slavonic) writing"
Chapter XII - "Bulgaria - Centre of the Slavic Christian civilization"
Chapter XIII - "Directions of the "controlled" territories"
Chapter XIV - "What did the Bulgarians in the Middle Ages read"


"A Story for the history of Bulgaria" by Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov (A set of different chapters and books by the same author)
Introduction
The Thracians
Rome and Byzantium
The Bulgarians
Way of life, economy, culture and social organization of the Bulgarians until the creation of the Bulgarian state
Khan Kubrat and the birth of Bulgaria
Khan Asparukh - Expansion of the Bulgarian state to the south of the Danube river
Establishment of a second Bulgarian state in Macedonia
Strenghtening of the Bulgarian state and its transformation to a European political superpower (VII-IX century)
Bulgaria - Centralised monarchy
Christianity - Official religion in Bulgaria. Birth of the Bulgarian writings
Bulgaria - Haegemon in the European South-East (893-967)
The Bulgarian epos in defence of independence
The Bulgarian lands under Byzantine rule
Restoration and progress of the Bulgarian state. Haegemony on the Balkan peninsula (1185-1246)
Political crysis (1246-1300)
Stabilization of the Bulgarian medieval state (1300-1371)
Falling of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule
The Bulgarian people under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (XV-XVIII century)
The Bulgarian revival/renaissance
The liberation of Bulgaria
The Bulgarian principality
Bulgaria in the wars for national unification (1912-1918)
After-war crysis (1918-1925)
Bulgaria between the bourgeois democracy and the fascism (1925-1944)
Bulgaria in WWII


"12 myths in Bulgarian history" by Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov
Introduction
The myth for the land of origin, race type, way of life and culture of the ancient Bulgarians
The myth for the date (681 AD) of the creation of the Bulgarian state
The myth for the role of Bulgars, Slavs and Thracians in the establishment of the Bulgarian state and nationality
The myth for the only Bulgarian state on the Balkan peninsula
The myth for Krum the Terrible and his terrible laws
The myths around the chistianization of the Bulgarian people in 864 AD
The myths for the work of Cyril and Methodius
The myth for the weak Tsar Petar (927-969)
The myth for the anti-feudal uprising of Ivailo
Was the Turkish slavery a slavery or just a national catastrophe
The myth for the great Balkan junaks/heroes at the time of the Ottoman conquests
The myth for Vasil Levski - a saint or Bulgaria's most successful politician


"The ten lies of the Macedonism" by Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov - ok, this is the last one from him
Introduction
Lie One - Present-Day Macedonia and the Macedonian people - descendants of ancient Macedon and the ancient Macedons
Lie Two - The "pure Macedonian Slavs" and the "Bugars-Tatars"
Lie Three - The Saints-brothers Cyril and Methodius, Saint Clement, Saint Naum, Saint Gorazd, Saint Sava, Saint Angelarii - "Macedonian enlighteners" and "authors of the Macedonian alphabet"
Lie Four - The "Macedonian" Tsar Samuil and his "Macedonian" state
Lie Five - "The Ohrid archbishopric /1019-1767 AD/ "a Macedonian church"
Lie Six - For "the Macedonian prerodbenici /enlighteners from the national revival/" and for the "Bugar exarchate" - conquering the "Macedonian" nation
Lie Seven - VMRO - organization of "Macedonians" for the liberation of the "Macedonian nation"
Lie Eight - "Krste Misirkov - Macedonian №1 for the 20th century"
Lie Nine - The heroic fight of the Macedonian people against the "Bugar" occupiers 1941-1944 AD
Lie Ten - For the joy of the Macedonians from their repeated entry in Yugoslavia in 1944 and the 250 000 "Macedonians" in Bulgaria
Epilogue


"Historical manual - The Bulgarian Khans and Tsars, from Khan Kubrat to Tsar Boris III" by Iordan Andreev and Milcho Lalkov, 1996
Introduction
Khan Kubrat (632-663-668)
Khan Asparukh (680-700)
Khan Tervel (700-721)
Khan Kormesiy (721-738)
Khan Sevar (738-753)
Khan Kormisosh (753-756)
Khan Vinekh (756-762)
Khan Telec (762-765)
Khan Sabin (765-766)
Khan Umor (766)
Khan Toktu (766-767)
Khan Pagan (767-768)
Khan Telerig (768-777)
Khan Kardam (777-802)
Khan Krum (802-814)
Khan Omurtag (814-831)
Khan Malamir (831-836)
Khan Pressian (836-852)
Kniaz Boris-Mikhail (852-889)
Kniaz Vladimir (889-893)
Tsar Simeon (893-927)
Tasr Petar (927-970)
Tsar Boris II (970-971)
Tsar Roman (977-991)
Tsar Samuil (991-1014)
Tsar Gavril Radomir (1014-1015)
Tsar Ivan Vladislav (1015-1018)
Tsar Petar II Delian (1040-1041)
Tsar Petar III (Konstantin Bodin) (1072)
Tsar Petar IV (1185-1197)
Tsar Ivan Assen I (1190-1196)
Tsar Kaloian (1197-1207)
Tsar Boril (1207-1218)
Tsar Ivan Assen II (1218-1241)
Tsar Koloman I Assen (1241-1246)
Tsar Mikhail Assen (1246-1256)
Tsar Koloman II Assen (1256)
Tsar Mico Assen (1256-1257)
Tsar Konstantin Assen (1257-1277)
Tsar Ivailo (1277-1280)
Tsar Ivan Assen III (1279-1280)
Tsar Georgi Terter I (1280-1292)
Tsar Smiletz (1292-1298)
Tsar Chaka (1299)
Tsar Teodor Svetoslav (1300-1321)
Tsar Georgi Terter II (1321-1322)
Tsar Mikhail Shishman (1323-1330)
Tsar Ivan Stefan (1330-1331)
Tsar Ivan Aleksander (1331-1371)
Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371-1395)
Tsar Ivan Sracimir (1356-1397)
Alexander Batenberg (1879-1886)
Tsar Ferdinand (1887-1918)
Tsar Boris III (1918-1943)


"Children's Illustrated History of Bulgaria", 1995
The first people on our lands
Discovery and use of the metals
The art of the ancient people
The Thracians
Agriculture, craft, trade
Greek colonization
The Odryssian kingdom
Thrace during the Hellenistic age
The Thracian settlements. Sevtopolis
The way of life of the noble Thracians
The Thracian warriors
Thrace until the end of the Antiquity
The Thracian culture
The Thracian legacy
The Slavs
The Bulgars
Creation of the Bulgarian state
Bulgaria in the VIII century
Strenghtening of the Bulgarian state
Administration and military organization until the middle of the IX century
Culture of paganistic Bulgaria
Converting the Bulgarians
The great work of St. St. Cyril and Methodius
Tsar Simeon the Great
The golden century
Life in the Middle Ages X-XI century
In the years of Tsar Petar 927-970 AD
The Bulgarian epopee in the fight with Byzantium
The battles of the Bulgarians against the Buzantine rule
Restoration of the Bulgarian state
Tsar Kaloian
The great Tsar Ivan-Assen II
Tsarevgrad Tarnov
Military science
Weakening of the tsar's power
Economy of the Second Bulgarian Empire
Bulgaria in the beginning of the XIV century
Tsar Ivan Aleksander
The Bulgarian state XII-XIV century
The Bulgarian Orthodox church
The decline of the medieval Bulgarian state
The culture of the late Middle Ages
The rule of the Ottoman Turks
The Bulgarian nation under Ottoman rule
Anti-Ottoman resistance
The crucial XVIII century
The Bulgarian revival/renaissance
New-Bulgarian enlightenment
The Bulgarian culture in the Revival
With arms against the enslaver
Fights for independent Bulgarian church
Establishment of organized revolutionary movement
Upsurge of the revolutionary movement
The April insurrection
The liberation
The Bulgarian miracle


And finally "History and civilization" for 11th grade (my old history text-book :biggrin: )
Middle Ages:
1. Slavs and Bulgars in the great migration of peoples
2. The Bulgarian Khaganate on the lower Danube in VII-VIII century
3. The Bulgarian state during the first half of the IX century
4. Christianization of the Bulgarians. Bulgaria - first spiritual leader of the Slavs
5. The century of Tsar Simeon the Great (893-927)
6. The Bulgarian epic in the duel with the Byzantine Empire
7. The Bulgarian nation under Byzantine rule
8. Restoration and strenghtening of the Bulgarian Empire (1186-1207)
9. Upsurge of the Bulgarian Empire in the European South-East during the rule of Ivan Assen II (1218-1241)
10. The Bulgarian Empire during the second half of the XIII century
11. The fourteenth century in the Bulgarian history
12. The decline of the medieval Bulgarian state
13. State-administrative organization of Bulgaria
14. The Bulgarian church - organization, official ideology and heresies
15. Economy and society in medieval Bulgaria
16. The Old-Bulgarian culture (VII-XIV century)
17. The Bulgarian nationality, way of life and daily grind
18. Forcing the Ottoman political and social system
19. The Bulgarian society in XV-XVII century
20. Resistance against the Ottoman conquerors (XV-XVII century)
21. The Bulgarians and the "others" in the Ottoman Empire
22. The Bulgarian culture and the European world (XV-XVII century)
Revival:
23. Beginning of the Bulgarian Revival
24. Economical changes in the Bulgarian lands during the XVIII and XIX century
25. Formation of a national conciousness
26. Erecting the Bulgarian worldly education in the XIX century
27. Movement for indpendent Bulgarian church
28. Political movements and armed expressions of the Bulgarians until the middle of the XIX century
29. The life of the Bulgarians during the XIX century
30. The culture of the Bulgarian revival
31. Beginning of organized revolutionary movement
32. Political organizations and ideological trends in the 60s of the XIX century
33. The Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee and the Internal Revolutionary Organization
34. Revolutionary movement during 1873-1875
35. The April insurrection of the Bulgarians in 1876
36. The Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878) and the restoration of the Bulgarian state
Modern and most-modern time:
37. The "beginning to walk" of restored Bulgaria
38. The Berlin treaty, the Balkans and the Bulgarian national question
39. Liberals and conservatives on the political scene (1879-1881)
40. The kniaz, the Constitution and the political powers
41. Eastern Rumelia - Second Bulgaria
42. The Unification (1885) and its military defense
43. From "the Bulgarian crysis" to "the Bulgarian Bismarck" (1886-1894)
44. The Bulgarian society, the parties and the democracy at the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century
45. The Bulgarians outside Bulgaria in an impulse for freedom (1878-1912)
46. Cultural development of Bulgaria at the border of two centuries
47. The Bulgarian society in process of modernisation (the end of XIX-the beginning of the X century)
48. Bulgaria in the Balkan wars (1912-1913)
49. Bulgaria in the peripeties of WWI (1914-1918)
50. After-war crysis in Bulgaria
51. Independent rule of BZNS
52. The painful way to the social peace (1923-1931)
53. From democracy through coup to authoritarism (1931-1939)
54. Bulgaria in the years of WWII
55. Bulgaria, the Balkans and Europe (1878-1944)
56. Development of the Bulgarian economy (1878-1939)
57. The Bulgarian cultural presence in Europe (1919-1944)
58. Rule of the Fatherland Front (1944-1948)
59. The political system in Bulgaria (1949-1956)
60. The political regime of Todor Zhivkov (1956-1989)
61. International relations and internal policy of Bulgaria (1944-1989)
62. The Bulgarian economy in most-modern times
63. Culture and cultural policy of Bulgaria after WWII
64. Transition to parliamentary democracy and market economy
65. Bulgaria in the modern world, European and Euro-Atlantic perspective


Well, that's all... for now... :wink:

[Xuca]

The myth for the great Balkan junaks/heroes at the time of the Ottoman conquests seems good. I would also like to discuss about Macedonians, but we have another thread for that. And please remind me to write about the Slavs on friday, or I'll forget again.

[Traveller]

Ok, Xuca, I'll probably translate the myth tomorrow (btw you've chosen Bozhidar Dimitrov? Hmm, maybe you aren't tired yet of reading his things here). But what thread do we have about the Macedonians - the old "anti-propaganda" thread?

[Xuca]

the guy is going to become my favourite historian :biggrin:

and yes, ithought on the FYROM and Macedonia thread, maybe we can revive it.

[Mircoslavux]

hoi Guys,
Are you specialized only in history of Balkan region?
I need some historical data from Hungary Kingdom (cca 1250-1400)...
I can not find sufficient information on internet.
anybody can help me.... :scratch:

thanks :eek:

[Traveller]

The myth for the great Balkan heroes (юнаци*/iunaks) during the Ottoman conquests


From the middle of the XIV century to the middle of the XV century, i.e. only for a hundred years, the Ottoman Turks conquer the Balkans. Under the rule of the Turks fall, for 400-500 years, the people of present day Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia. Well, alright, and also of Macedonia, if this thing to the south-west of Osogovo really is a state.
The Ottoman conquest of the medieval Balkan state-formations, which in the XIV-XV century are more than today, had fatal historical consequences for the development of their nations. First, demographically they are forever erased from the list of the great nations of Europe, since in the course of 4-5 centuries their growth is seized in favour of the Turkish ethnicity by the way of Islamization, with the following Turkization. On second place, deprived of their political elite, of aristocracy and bourgeoisie, of educated high clergy, they stop being subjects of history and their fate depends entirely on foreign powers. Together with the Ottoman Turks they fall hopelessly behind the European civilization, from its economical, technological and cultural achievements.
An unpleasant story for the self-confidence of these people. But the frustration from the defeat and the centuries-long slavery could be softened if the national memory denies accepting what exactly happened and explains to the generations that the Balkan nations fought bravely and heroically, led by not less brave and heroic leaders, but… this was the will of fate. Except that the Turks were more numerous, clever, insidious, cruel, treacherous… and that’s why in the end they won. Oh, let us not forget – there could always be found a traitor, who opens in the dead of night the gates of the heroically defending fortresses. The national epos pays the deserved glory and honour to the leaders, heroically fallen in the uneven fight with the Turks, and curses the traitors.
Ahh, those leaders, from which in that age (and not only in that) so many things depended. In Bulgaria those fearless heroes are Tsar Ivan Shishman and Krali Marko, in Serbia – Kniaz Lazar and Milosh Obilich, in Albania – Georgi Kastrioti-Skenderbeg, in Byzantium, which in the XIV-XV century is no longer a multinational state, but rather Greece, because it’s situated in lands populated only with Greeks, the hero is the last Emperor Konstantin.
Is it really so? The historical sources for the age – Byzantine, Serbian, Bulgarian, Turkish, show us a picture, completely different from the mythological notions of every nation, kept and supported by this mythology and the modern historical publicism. The results here, on the Balkans, are not limited only with the lack of real knowledge and could sometimes have terrible consequences. The Yugoslav wars in the 90s of the XX century began with one meeting (rally) of over a million at Kosovo Pole in 1989 in honour of the anniversary from the lost by Serbia battle in 1389, which led to its fall under Ottoman rule. There the modern Serbian leader Miloshevich and hundreds of thousands of Serbian men swore not to let another strategical defeat. The result was ten years of war, hundreds of thousands dead and… another defeat of the Great-Serbian idea.
What really happens on the Balkans in the middle of the XIV to the middle of the XV century? Why couldn’t the Balkan nations deal with the Turkish invasion, the way they dealt in the forerunning centuries with the invasions of other numerous states and nations – the Arabs, the Pechenegs, the Kumans, the Tatars, and also the Western Crusader Knights?
Before we analyse the situation, let us first turn down the myth for the great numbers of the Turks and their armies. The small Ottoman state takes only a small corner on the ancient Turkish coast of Asia Minor in the middle of the XIV century, with the territory of two modern Bulgarian regions (and its respective population) (note: Bulgaria has 9-10 regions) and except with the Balkan Christian states, it loses power and energy fighting in the same time also with other Turkish small-states in Asia Minor. Then from where do they have the resources for an invasion, which lasts for nearly a hundred years and which ended with the conquest of all South-Eastern Europe? The horrible truth is that the Balkans fell under the sword and the sabre of the Balkaners themselves. Widely applying the system of the vassalage the Ottoman leaders used the armies of the Balkan rulers, which admitted being their vassals, against the armies of other Balkan rulers. The first great historian of the Ottoman Empire, the German Hamer, writes: “The Ottomans advanced and conquered Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks, using the courage of Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks.”
What is this about? In the middle of the XIV century a disintegration of the unitarian states of Byzantium, Serbia and Bulgaria began on the Balkans. The Serbian Empire of Stefan Dushan disintegrates after his death in 1355 to about ten despoties, which began living an independent state life. One of them is the one of the “great” Bulgarian hero Krali Marko, residing in Prilep. His father Vulkashin is Serbian and one of the despots of the Serbian king, but his small despoty is entirely based on Bulgarian ethnic territory and that’s why Krali Marko is a “Bulgarian iunak” in all the people’s songs on the peninsula, including the Serbian and Croatian ones.
Byzantium is already in the end of the 30s of the XIV century shaken by a fierce fight for the throne between two groups of feudals, led respectively by Ioan Kantakuzin and Ioan V Paleolog. The war was led especially fiercely in the 40s and all kinds of adventurers from the Balkans and Europe gladly take part in it. Like our glorious “hero” Momchil, wanted before this by the constabularies of Bulgaria, Serbia and Byzantium for brigandage. After he gets tired of fighting as a mercenary in the Byzantine internal wars, Momchil also heads on to make his own kingdom from two-three districts in the Eastern Rhodopes. And he makes one – in that age this wasn’t that hard. But he has no luck – Ioan Kantakuzin and his Turkish allies beat him after a year at the walls of the Periterion fortress. Too bad for the several thousand dead Bulgarians.
I’ll pause more detailed upon the disintegration of the unitarian Bulgarian state. It’s necessary to say here that a lot depended on the Bulgarians in that age. Due to the simple fact that the Bulgarian ethnical community is the biggest on the Balkans. It included the regions of Thrace, Moesia and Macedonia, the Pomoravie, Eastern Albania, part of Northern Greece, Wallachia and Moldavia. Let’s talk it straight – Serbs, Greeks and Albanians hold peripheral regions on the Balkans, stuck there in the forerunning centuries by the tsars of the First and Second Empires – from Simeon the Great, Samuil, Kaloian, Ivan Assen II. The fate of the peninsula did depend on the organization for resistance of the Bulgarian people. Indicative for the possibilities of the Bulgarians in this matter is the example with the Tatars in the XIII century. The Tatar armies, which crushed China, India, Russia, Hungary, were defeated in Bulgaria by Ivailo, who managed to organize the resources even of not the whole Bulgarian nation.
But in the middle of the XIV century there was no such person as Tsar Ivailo. The long reign of Ivan Aleksander (40 years) began in 1331 with one brilliant victory over Byzantium near Rusokastro, with which we take back the Southern Black Sea region and upper Thrace. And with this ends the good stuff. Tsar Ivan Aleksander pays no attention to Macedonia at all, and even on the whole - to the affairs of the peninsula. He probably watches with an interest and satisfaction the civil wars in Byzantium, but he does nothing when the Turkish allies of Kantakuzin plunder and burn Bulgarian Thrace in 1346. And somehow unnoticed Wallachia, Moldavia and Dobrudzha become independent state formations. Let’s settle it; this isn’t the birth of the Romanian statehood, as some Romanian historians say. The names of the Wallachian and Moldavian rulers (Dan, Bogdan, Mircho, Vlad) are Slavonic-Bulgarian, their state and religious language is also Bulgarian, and their titles (in the XIV-XV century – voevods) show that they’re governors of the Bulgarian border regions, which on their own decided to become independent. The rulers of Dobrudzha don’t even run away from the title “despot”, i.e. they formally acknowledge the supremacy of Tarnovo, but are practically also independent rulers – they enter international coalitions, coin money, sign treaties with other states and so on.
Usually our children learn from our textbooks that Tsar Ivan Aleksander, enlightened by the love to the Jewish woman from Tarnovo Sara, divorced his wife, married the Jewess (from which Ivan Shishman is born), but did not forget his first-born son Ivan Sracimir. He divided the kingdom on two and gave him the Western part, which became an independent kingdom with the capital Bdin. Thus our countries became two and our resistance strength decreased. We counted only until here five of our states, but there are more. One small kingdom is settled in Kiustendil with the lead of Konstantin Dragash, stretching from Eastern Macedonia to the Vardar River. In Prilep, we already said, is Vulkashin and later – Krali Marko. Seres is ruled by the sister of Ivan Aleksander, Elena, widow of Stefan Dushan, inherited by Uglesha, brother of Vulkashin. Skopie is in the hands of Vuk Brankovich and in the Peloponnesus, Central Greece and the Aegean islands there are also Venetians, Genoans, Katalans.
All these emperors, tsars, kings, despots, kniazes (prince or duke) and voevods are fighting each other by a year or two for some meadow or forest and are gladly hiring mercenary Turkish troops, which know well the Balkans, the roads, the resources and most of all – the little brains of all these “great” rulers. This gives the confidence of the Ottoman rulers that despite their own not-very-high military possibilities they will easily deal with the small Balkan states.
The tragedy of the Balkans begins in 1371 when Vulkashin and Uglesha, which sensed the Ottoman danger (although their realms are quite far from the contemporary Ottoman plundering raids), organize a strong campaign against the Turks, which had captured Adrianople in 1369. Near the village of Chernomen, Svilengrad region, their 60 000 strong army is routed by the Turks, which attacked it in the night, while the Bulgarians (because they were the main population of their despoties) were carelessly sleeping in their camp.
After the catastrophe at Chernomen, the frozen from terror Balkan rulers awaited a general Ottoman advance in all directions. There was no time for new anti-Ottoman alliances and the Balkan rulers in question didn’t also have any serious armies. The forming of armies on the principle “armed nation” was since a long time abandoned (the people had to work and pay taxes) and the armies were hired and consisted of own or foreign rascals and adventurers with a strength of several hundred to 4-5000 men.
The Turks did advance a little, reaching Karnobat and Plovdiv. But for the relief of the Christian rulers they offered them to become vassals. And they, of course, in their predominant part accepted. From ours first, as strange as it may sound, first accepted the most far from danger – the Bdinian ruler Ivan Sracimir. Krali Marko also agreed in the distant Prilep. Dobrotitsa, who reigned over Dobrudzha – again un-endangered in the moment, also accepted. And the Byzantine emperor also became a Turkish vassal.
The reason for this strange phenomenon (the first to become vassals were the un-endangered directly rulers) isn’t hard to guess. Guaranteeing their security for the near future, they could enter a war with those of their neighbours, who did not agree to become Turkish vassals and even to receive a territorial compensation of another district after their defeat in joint actions against the Turks. Of course, the Turks did not stand on ceremony with their vassals when, eliminating with their help the disobedient neighbours, they “hanged” isolated in their small realms, now surrounded only by territories of the Ottoman state. When Krali Marko and Konstantin Dragash died, while performing their vassal duties at the battle of Rovine (1394) in Dobrudzha, the Turks didn’t allow their thrones in Kiustendil and Prilep to be taken by their inheritors, but they just occupied the “kingdoms” they ruled. Ivan Shishman also becomes a Turkish vassal, as well as the Serbian and Albanian rulers.
The benefit for the Ottomans from the system of the vassalage (by the way this is prescripted by the Koran for leading a jihad) is in several trends. From one side, they use in the conquering of the Balkan states forces of other Christian states, they hinder the creation of effective anti-Ottoman alliances, inspiring constant doubts of betrayal in the mind of every Christian ruler. Let us remember that Milosh Obilich is accused exactly for this by King Lazar just before the battle at Kosovo. From another side, the Ottomans gain new technologies and weapons. For example, it is said that the firearms got in use by the Turks through the vassal troops of the Serbian despot Brankovich of 1000 soldiers armed with guns in 1392. The Bulgarian Baltoglu builds them their first ships and the Hungarian Urban – their first cannons.
And this isn’t the worse. The Ottomans request and receive from their vassals Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian forces for the wars with the other Turkish state formations in Asia Minor. The Ottoman chroniclers praise especially much the Bulgarians and Serbians, which fought with extraordinary experience and extreme fierceness. Others laugh at them saying that this way they give their utterance to the Ottomans – when their own rulers don’t let them kill Ottomans, at least they could kill their compatriots.
The loyalty of the Balkan Christian rulers to their Ottoman suzerains is indeed extraordinary and is the reason to miss those moments of Ottoman defeats, after which the Balkans could’ve got rid once and for all of the invaders with just one strike. After the defeat of the sultan from the Serbs at Plochnik (1387) Ivan Sracimir, and Ivan Shishman, and Dobrotitsa could’ve advanced in Thrace and chase away the Ottomans through the Dardanelles. But they didn’t. In the battle of Ankara with the Mongols in 1403 the Turks suffer a great defeat, in which Sultan Beyazid is captured and later killed. Only the vassal Serbian regiments manage to get out of the ring, but they also save the sons of Beyazid, which started an internal war for the throne. Instead of killing them in Ankara the Serbian kniazes and the Byzantines eagerly help every one of them in a different time to get stronger. And those, who restored Bulgaria for a short time, the royal descendants Konstantin and Frujin, became vassals to one of them (Musa) and together with him they lost the game and the independence of Bulgaria in the battle of Chamurli, Samokov region, in 1411.
Folk songs, traditions and legends from Strandzha to the Shar Mountain point out places, at which there were battles of Krali Marko with the Turks or the “the last fight” of Ivan Shishman with the Ottomans. But in the documents from that age there is no information neither for a last, nor for a first battle of both of them. The good-for-nothing Ivan Shishman doesn’t even defend his own capital Tarnovo and leaves this job to a spiritual person (Patriarch Evtimii), who has neither the competence, nor the experience to lead battles. And despite of this the Patriarch takes the shame off by repulsing for three months the Turkish attacks. In the meantime the tsar is staying still in Nikopolis, so that if it gets too tough, he could flee via the Danube to emigration in Europe.
It was like that, unfortunately. The tales for our brave political leaders, which fought to the last drop of blood with the Ottoman invaders, are just a myth. The case with the Tatars did not repeat. We placed the Ottoman yoke on our heads alone (and this is the worst) with our own hands. And if I disprove this myth, it isn’t because of masochistic feelings or because I was suddenly taken by some national nihilism, but it’s because of the common notion with the ancient Romans that the public function of history is to be a teacher of life. But by learning not only from the periods in our history of an impetuous progress, but also from those of breakneck falls. So that they don’t happen again.



* Юнак (iunak) – Everywhere read “hero” as “iunak”. The iunak is something like a normal hero (and this word is often used as such), but he’s also a form of mythological person, usually with inhuman strength, a flying horse etc. i.e. something more like the heroes from the Greek mythology



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Xuca, your turn about the migration of the Slavs! :go:
Mirco, I'm not very good in Hungarian history (not good at all, actually; if Gorgoroth was still here...), but go on! Ask and maybe we'll be able to answer you (or call Elvain), unless it's this thing for the bishops of Esztirgom again...