J.mrgic Transition

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Forschungen INTERNATIONALEZElTSCHRlFT FUR GESCHICHTE, KULTUR UND LANDESKUNDE SUDOSTEUROPAS IM AUFTRAG DES SUDOST-INSTITUTES GELEITET UND HERAUSGEGEBEN VON EDGAR HOSCH UND KONRAD CLEWING IN VERBINDUNG MIT Mathias Bernath (Miinchen),~arie-~anine Ca I ic (Munchen), Klaus He i t m a n n (Heidelberg), Charles Je la v i c h (Bloomington), Leopold Kretzen bacher t, Hans Georg Majer (Munchen), Gunter Pr i n z i n g (Mainz),Oliver Jens Sc h m i t t (Wien), Holm Sundhaussen (Berlin) Redaktion: HARALD R OTH Band 65/66 2006/2007 R. OLDENBOURG VERLAG/MUNCHEN

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Transcript of J.mrgic Transition

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Forschungen INTERNATIONALE ZElTSCHRlFT FUR GESCHICHTE, KULTUR UND LANDESKUNDE SUDOSTEUROPAS

IM AUFTRAG DES SUDOST-INSTITUTES GELEITET UND HERAUSGEGEBEN VON

EDGAR HOSCH UND

KONRAD CLEWING

IN VERBINDUNG MIT

Mathias Bernath (Miinchen), ~arie-~anine Ca I ic (Munchen), Klaus He i t m a n n (Heidelberg), Charles J e la v i c h (Bloomington), Leopold Kretzen bacher t, Hans Georg Majer (Munchen), Gunter Pr i nzi ng (Mainz), Oliver Jens Sc h m i t t (Wien), Holm Sundhaussen (Berlin)

Redaktion: HARALD R OTH

Band 65/66 2006/2007

R. OLDENBOURG VERLAG/MUNCHEN

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Transition from Late Medieval to Early Ottoman Settlement Pattern

Transition from Late Medieval to Early Ottoman Settlement Pattern

A Case Study on Northern Bosnia

By JELENA MRGIC (Belgrade)

The Region of Northern Bosnia

In the Middle Ages the region of Northern Bosnia comprised the northern part of the medieval Bosnian state, between the lower reaches of the river Vrbas to the west, the river Drina to the east, and the river Sava to the north. Its southern border was both geographically and administratively determined, since south of it spread the "land" (Serb. "zemlja") of Bosnia, the major historical province and the core region of the future state. The term "land denoted a larger territorial unit which encompassed several smaller units, "iupe" (counties), whereas " land included all non-arable, more elevated land like pastures, forests, hills and mountains. Within the above demarcated territory, two such "lands" emerged during the second half of the 12th century - the "lands" of Usora and of Soli. The first was named after its central iupa in the valley of the river Usora, while the second had its center in the town of Soli, nowadays Tuzla. The border of Northern Bosnia ran along the mountains of Uzlomac and Borja, reach- ing in the south the town of Zepte on the river Bosna. From this point, it continued in the east along the rivers Krivaja and Drinjata up to the latter's confluence with the Drina. The relief of Northern Bosnia gradually became flatter towards the north and the river Sava, but formerly the land was very densely forested, and this kind of landscape significantly hindered communication and transportation. Inland routes were often reduced to narrow tracks.

The main natural resources of Northern Bosnia were fresh water (rivers, streams and creeks), salt water, timber and acorn woods as well as pastures. Regarding mineral wealth, this region was poor except for two documented mines of seemingly insignificant production of iron, lead and silver. As in the case of nearby Slavonia, all arable land had to be obtained by deforestation, which could also be presumed for the foundation of settlements. An official Austrian description of Posavina from the middle of the 18th century, the travel account of Arthur J. Evans from 1875, and folk tradition from Semberija, all agree on the fact that spacious oak and beech woods dominated in the

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whole region. Nowadays there are only small residues of the forests of Quercw robur with F a p silvatica, Quercus sessilzyora with Carpinw betulw. The modern landscape of (Bosanska) Posavina and its north-eastern area, Semberija, as the most productive agricultural regions, slowly began to develop from the end of the 19th century, but more fundamental changes took place afier the Second World War. Of the total of 72,400 hectares that were regularly inundated, according to the survey of c. 1878, some 14,000 hectares were marshland and swamps, which are testified to by the most numerous toponyms in Posavina, such as Moi-ila, Bare, Blato, Sdevi, Otoke. n e s e areas were unsuitable for intensive agricultural production, and were more convenient for cattle breeding and fishing.'

I Historical Overview

Looking at the history of Northern Bosnia up to the Ottoman conquest (1536), one of its distinctive features seems to have been its peripheral position in relation to the main centers of political powers in every period. Situated on the rim of both the Dinaric mountains and the Pannonian plain, it was a very remote area in relation to centers of the Byzantine Empire (Constantinople), Serbia (Ras, Prizren, Skopje, KruSevac, Beograd, Smederevo), Central Bosnia (Visoki, Bobovac), Hungary (Entergom, Buda) and the Ottoman Empire (Constantinople, Edirne). This fact influenced the political, social, economic and cultural development of this region. According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his work "De administrando imperio" (Ch. 32), the "inhabited town" of Salines ( ~ b C a h v i ~ , nowadays Tuzla) was located in "baptized Serbia" (EV ~ i j pamopiq Z~epMa~). It also encompassed the "horion" Bosnia (€is rb xoeiov Bboova), the core land of the future Bosnian state, the area round the upper and the middle reaches of the river B ~ s n a . ~

' Philipp BALLIF, Wasserbauten in Bosnien und der Hercegovina, Bd.2. Wien 1899, 80-86; Gustav BODENSTEIN, Povijest naselja u Posavini god. 1718-39, GlasnikZemaljkog mKzrja u Sarajevu 19 (1907), 156-190, 360-389; Artur Di. EVANS, Kroz Bosnu i Hercegovinu peSke tokorn pobune 1875. Sarajevo 1965, 118- 119, 129-13 1; Radmila KAJMAKOVIC, Semberija. EtnoloSka monografija, Glasnik Zemabskog muzcja. Etnologiia 29 (1984), 5-1 22; Bosna i Hercegovina. Biljni pokrov, in: Enciklopedija Jugoslavije, Bd. 2. Zagreb 1985, 123- 13 1 ; Jelena MRGIC, Severna Bosna u srednjern veku. Zemlja - Istorija - Narod (1 2. - 16. vek), PhD thesis Belgrade 2007 (unpublished).

Konstantin PORFIROGENIT, Spis o narodima. Trans., Ed. Boiidar FERJANCIC. Beograd 1959 (Vizantijski izvori za istoriju naroda Jugoslavije, 2), 58, note 201, 59, notes 202, 203, 204; Con- stantine PORPHIROGENITUS, De Adrninistrando Imperio. Ed. Gyula MORAVCSIK, Trans. Romilly James Heald JENKINS. Washington/DC 1967, 160-1 6 1 ; Constantine PORPHIROGENITUS, De Admin- istrando Imperio 11. Commentary. Ed. R. J.H. JENKINS. London 1962, 137; Die Byzantiner und ihre Nachbarn - Die "De Administrando imperio" genannte Lehrschrift des Kaisers Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos fiir seinen Sohn Rornanos. Trans., Eds. Klaus BELlc~/Peter SOUSTAL. Wen 1995 (Byzantinische Geschichtsschreiber, 19), 178, note 387. Cf Sima ~IRKOVIC, ,Naseljeni gradovi" Konstantina P~rfiro~enita i najstarija teritorijalna organizacija, Zbornik radova VivlntoloiRog inrtituta

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Jelena MrgiC

'The inner-state anarchy, the Hungarian and the Ottoman political involvement and military campaigns - all contributed to the rather quick collapse of the Bosnian state. From 1439 until 1444, when the Serbian Despot Djuradj BrankoviC was dethroned and Serbia was conquered for the fist time, the Ottoman army also occupied Serbids western territory, i. e. the Bosnian side of the Drina. 'This strip of land included the towns of Srebrenica, Kutlat, Zvornik and Teo&k.l1 'The Ottomans gained their first stronghold in the upper valley of Bosna, and from 1448 until 1463 this area, known as vikzyet-i Hodided, lateron as vihyet-i Saray-ovasi, was governed by the famous uc-bey Isa Bey Ishakbey-oglu. l2

For the Northern Bosnian region, the final Ottoman conquest began as early as 1459, after the fall of the Serbian Despotate. Again, the silver mine of Srebrenica and the well fortified town of Zvornik were the most important acquisitions. In the summer of 1463 this was the launching area for the last full-scale Ottoman offensive, which subjugated the medieval Bosnian state during less than a month's time. A Serbian captive from Novo Brdo, Konstantin MihailoviC, at this time already a janissary officer, participated in this campaign. He reported that voivode Tvrtko Kovatevii, whose territory in the surroundings of Srebrenica was the first to receive the blow, surrendered to the Sultan, but was executed anyway. The feudal possessions of KovateviC were incorporated as vikiyet-i Kovac in the sancak of Bosnia. 'The Bosnian voivode of Usora, Tvrtko StanEiC, was killed in the same time. l 3 However, his descendants became sipahis and enjoyed small timar possession in the sancak of Bosnia. l4 This Ottoman administrative unit was founded soon afier the fall of the Bosnian Kingdom, but it changed its size according to new territorial acquisitions. Originally, it comprised several spacious provinces: uikiyet-i Kiml (the former Royal domain of Kotromanit), vilayet-i Hodidrd(vilayr-i Saray-ova), vikzyet-i Kovag, vihyet-i Pavli-ili (the feudal possession of the family PavloviC), vikzyet-i jeleg (the former Serbian territories). '5

Istorija srednjovekovne bosanske driave. Beograd 1964; IDEM, Herceg Stefan Vuktik Kosah. Beograd 1964.

DINIC, Za istoriju rudarstva I, 74-76; Colin IMBER, 'he Ottoman Ernpire 1380-148 1. Istanbul 1990, 1 18-134.

l2 Uc-bv were Ottoman military commanders appointed to the frontier areas, where they enjoyed huge authority (serbestiyet) in conquest of the "land of warn (Dar z2l-bar6). Beside the conduct of the immanent raids (gm), their duty was to recover the occupied territories in demographic and eco- nomic terms. Through his huge vakzf foundations, Isa Bey became the founder of Sarajevo. Hazim SABANOVIC, Postanak i razvitak Sarajeva, Movi Nau?nog drrritva BiH 13 (1960), 71-115; Behtija ZLATAR, Zlatno doba Sarajeva (XVI stoljete) . Sarajevo 1996.

l3 Konstantin MIHNLOVIC iz Ostrovice, Janihrove uspomene. Beograd 1966; Tursun BEY, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, quoted in: IMBER, The Ottoman Empire, 182E

l4 Behtija Z L A T ~ 0 nekim muslimanskirn feudalnim porodicama u Bosni u XV i XVI stoljetu, fi10ZiImtituk~zaISforiju 14 (1978), 81-139, here 101.

'' Hazim SABANOVIC, Bosanski paialuk. Postanak i upravna podjela. Sarajevo 21982, 38-43, 115-1 17.

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Transition from Late Medieval to Early Ottoman Settlement Pattern

The Hungarian king Matthias (Hunyadi) Corvinus (1458- 1490) quickly managed to regain his authority over Western Bosnia, where he founded the Banat ofjajce (1463- 1527/28); in Northern Bosnia he founded the Banat of Srebrenik (1464-1 5 12). As be- fore, these administrative and military units consisted of well fortified towns and castles. According to later events, Srebrenik, T e o a , Sokol, Gradahc, Brzko, Novi, Kobd, Duboiac and TeSanj were brought under Hungarian rule. 'Their maintenance, military and food provisions proved to be far too expensive for the Hungarian treasury, so in the end their defence was left to the skills and personal wealth of their commander^.'^

O n the other side, the Bosnian sancakbty managed to keep his authority over Sre- brenica, Zvornik, Tuzla, Doboj, Maglaj and tepte. The Ottoman Empire had almost inexhaustible resources, and so it imposed the "static war" along the whole borderline from Istria to Wallachia. After 1464 there were no major military campaigns led by the Sultan himself on the Bosnian frontier, because the main force was directed toward Belgrade, and subsequently toward Buda and Temesvbr.17 'There was however one common feature in the war strategy: both parties, Hungarian and Ottoman, strove to capture and remove the inhabitants of the enemy's territory, and then to resettle them, i. e. to repopulate their own lands. Some prominent Serbian noblemen and military commanders participated in these events. When they changed sides, they took along hundreds of their compatriots. In that way, numerous Serbs were settled in emptied Hungarian territories, especially in the south, where they were engaged in defence as light cavalry and boatmen. Similarly, on the other side of the border, Serbs fought under Ottoman command.I8

To gain the trust of the local inhabitants and to strengthen the Ottoman regime in Bosnia, especially since the establishment of the Banats of Jajce and of Srebrenik, the Ottomans formed a marionette "state" titled "The Kingdom of Bosnia" (1465-1476). One of the appointed "rulers" was a member of the former Bosnian royal KotromaniC family. A contemporary account described precisely the Ottoman policy:

Lo prefato turcho, pieno de omni malitia, si tiene babia facto questo Re, non ad altro jne, salvo, che vedendo luy, non poter haver Iayza et senza essa non poter tenere la

l6 On the Banat of Jajce, see: Jelena MRGIC-RADOJCIC, Donji Kraji. Krajina srednjovekovne Bosne. Beograd 2002, 122-132, with the map of its territory; on the Banat of Srebrenik: MRGIC, Severna Bosna.

l7 SZAI&Y, Phases, 98-103. l 8 Serbian lightly armed boatmen were known in Hungary since early 15th century as "nasadisti"

(naadistae), later "iajkaSin, by the rype of their boats (mad, saykas), and they fought on the Danube and its tributaries. Sima CIRKOVIC, Pored iajkaia, in: Plovidba Dunavom i njegovim pritokama kroz vekove. Hg. Vasa &JBRILOVIC. Beograd 1983 (Nautni skupovi SANU, Knjiga XV, Odeljenje istorijskih nauka 3), 129-137. On Serbian colonization in Hungary DuSanka DINIC-KNE~EVI~, Slovenski iivalj u urbanim naseljima srednjovekovne Juine Ugarske, Zbornik Matice srpskeza istonju [Novi Sad] 37 (1978), 7-42; PA ENGEL, The Realm of St Stephen. A History of Medieval Hungary

i 895-1 526. London, New York 200 1,309,33 1-332.

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Jelena Mrgit

Bosna sicuramcntc; ha pcnsato f i r qucsto Rc novcllo ad cio, chclpaya alpaesc, havcr lo suo antiquo governo. l9

The territory of this "Kingdom" lay in the northern part of the sancak of Bosnia, including the towns of Vranduk, Zepte, Maglaj and Doboj. They were all situated in the river Bosna valley, securing the main military road.20 (cf. the map)

In 1476, after seizing the town of Sabac, Hungarian troops heavily plundered the area in central Podrinje, from Zvornik to Srebrenica, so that one contemporary report stated ,,nihil villarum nihil domorum intactum relinquientes, omnia ferro et igne consumpserunt". This campaign was conducted by the Serbian Despot Vuk GrgureviC and the Wallachian voivode Vlad Tepeg ("the Impaler").2' Interesting enough, some Christian inhabitants of the village of GlaviEice near Zvornik bravely confronted the enemy, and therefore deserved to be exempted from paying the poll-tax (cizye), agri- cultural tax (ispence) and irregular levies (avartz). According to the Sultan's will, this was noted in the synoptic tax register (icmdl defier) of the sancak of Zvornik in 15 19. On the other hand, some 24 families from Glavitice had decided to join the Despot and to follow the withdrowing army.22

Provoked by akznn raids of the sancakbPy of Bosnia in 1479, which were conducted from Sarajevo and went as far as Austria, King Matthias decided to launch a counter- attack. In November 1480, he conducted the army personally, invaded Bosnia and managed to suprise the sancakbPy Daud Pasha in his residence town. The bey was forced to flee from Sarajevo in order to summon his troops. For three days the town was dep- redated, plundered and finally set on fire. From burnt down Sarajevo, the Hungarian army pursued further south to Hercegovina. In his own letter to the Pope, Matthias reported that the whole area of Whbosna was

igneferroquc vastatam, hominibusque vacuam, quiapauci indigene, qui rcmanscrant, in Iocis abditis et aspcris ultrafluvium Drcnc [i. e. Drina] profigcrant [...I supervcncrunt ad nos plurcs Wolachi c divcrsis partibus ct provinciis rcgno Boznc jnit imis ct fTuvio Narcndc [i.e. Nererva] c ~ n t i ~ u i s . ~ ~

'"mre N ~ ~ y I A l b e n N Y ~ , Magyar diplomaaiai eml&ek. Ma* kirily korib61 1458-1490, Bd.1. Budapest 1875, 384; Sima CIRKOVI~, Vlastela i kraljevi u Bosni posle 1463, htonjskighmrk 3 (1954), 123-131.

20 Adem HANDZIC believed that Teianj was also within the "Kingdom", but there is no sufficient evidence for that since the Ottomans acquired it only in 1512. IDEM, Nahija Brod krajem XV i potetkom XVI vijeh, in: Srednjovekovna Bosna i evropsh kultura. Zenica 1973, 385-386; IDEM, Tuzla i njena okolina u XVI vijeku. Sarajevo 1975, 3940.

2' N A G Y I N Y ~ , Magyar diplomacziai emltkek, Bd. 11. Budapest 1877, 345. 22 Adem ~ D Z I C , Dva prva popisa Zvornitkog sandiata (1519. i 1533.). Sarajevo 1986, 23;

IDEM, Zvornik u drugoj polovini XV i u XVI vijeku, Godiinjak Drujtva istoritam BiH 18 (1970), 141-196, 168.

23 Vilmos FRAKN~I, Mithyis Kirdy levelei, vol. 2. Budapest 1895, 76-80; S U ~ Y , Phases, 100; Olga Z I R O ] ~ ~ , Tursko vojno uredenje u Srbiji. Beograd 1974,73-74; IMBER, The Ottoman Empire, 245-247.

Transition from Late Medieval to Early Ottoman Settlement Pattern

It is estimated that some 100,000 Serbs were removed from Serbia and Bosnia during the Hungarian campaigns in 148018 1 and were settled in depredated regions along the border.24

These events proved how inadequate the defence system was in Ottoman Bosnia. The immediate result around 148 1 was the formation of another military and admin- istrative unit - the sancak of Zvornik. It comprised both the territories in the former Serbia and those in Bosnia, having the Drina valley as an axis. O n the Bosnian side, the following nab@ were organized until the synoptic tax register ( inndl defer) of 1519: Gostilja, Zvornik, KuHlat, Ludmer (Budimir), Srebrenica, Subin, Osat, Gornja (Upper) Tuzla and Donja (Lower) Tuzla and D r a ~ n e t i n . ~ ~

In 1503 Hungary and the Ottoman Empire signed a peace treaty for a period of ten years. The text of the treaty recorded the names of the towns and castles under Hungarian and those under Ottoman rule. The town of Srebrenik in the Majevica mountain belonged to the King, while Doboj, Maglaj and Zvornik belonged to the Sultan. The northernmost Ottoman stronghold was Doboj, and it would remain so until 1 5 1 2 . ~ ~

The sancakbeys of Bosnia and of Zvornik were the most eager akznn commanders - against Hungary. They broke through the central and northern Bosnian front in late October 15 12, when their troops seized Srebrenik, Sokol andTeHar~j.~' King Wladislas I1 (1490-1516) learned of the news as early as November 1, since he included it in a document: His d iebw Zhurci cattris nos& Zrebernyk, Zhessen et Zokol expugnatis. In another letter dated November 23, the King wrote: His dicbus per incuram et malam w t o d i a m Banonrm de Zrebenyk una cum c a m > a d idem pertinentibus ad manus G r - corum d e ~ e n e n r n t . ~ ~ These Hungarian outposts were in such poor condition that their

24 Cf. the letter of Matthias Corvinus to the Pope on these new inhabitants. F R A K N ~ I , Mithyis Kirily levelei, 50f.; Sima CIRKOVIC, Srpski iivalj na novim ognjihima, in: Istorija srpskog naroda, vol.2: Doba borbi za otuvanje i obnovu driave (1371-1537). Ed. Jovanka Kurd. Beograd 21995, 43 1444,431-434.

25 HANDZIC, Dva prva popisa, 7-1 1. 26 L~~osTHALL~czY, Jajcza (binsig, vir, viros) tordnete 1450-1 527. Budapest 19 15 (Monuments

Hungariae Historica, 40), 169; MRGI~-RADO]?I~, Donji Kraji, 128f. 27 This Oftoman campaign in Bosnia and the one in Tamis county were launched in order to

force the Hungarian king to accept the renewal of the peace treaty, so that the new Sultan Selim I (1 5 12-1 520) could turn his attention to his opponents within the Empire. Giza D~VIDI Pil FODOR, Hungarian-Ottoman Peace Negotiations in 15 12-1 514, in: Hungarian-Ottoman Military and Dip- lomatic Relations in the Age of Siileyman the Magnificent. Hgg. G k a D i w ~ l P i l FODOR Budapest 1994,9-46.

28 Somogy county archive, Jankovich family archive, Nr. 89, in: Ferenc SU&Y, NindorfehCrvir 152 1 -es ostromihoz. Egy kirdyi adominylevkl koztortkneti tanulsigai, HadroTtinelmi Kozlnninyek 25 (1978), No. 4,484498, here 487491, note 36; Georgius PRAY, Epistolae procerum regni Hungariae I (1491-171 1). Posonii 1806, 81, No. 39. A rather detailed account on these events was written by ISTHVANPPI, but he dated them in 1520; Regni Hungariae Historia, Libri XXXIV. Coloniae Agrip- pinae 1724, Lib. VI, 55.

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