James David Bourchier

“ The descendant of a long line of warriors, gifted with a fine physique and a commanding presence, a successful military leader and a graceful poet, King Nicholas possessed many characteristics which awoke the enthusiasm of the impressionable Servian race, while his merits as a statesman received general recognition. ”

“ Among the writers of the literary renaissance were George Rakovski (1818–1867) , a fantastic writer of the patriotic type, whose works did much to stimulate the national zeal, Liuben Karaveloff (1837–1879) , journalist and novelist, Christo Boteff (1847–1876) , lyric poet, whose ode on the death of his friend Haji Dimitr, an insurgent leader, is one of the best in the language, and Petko Slaveikoff (died 1895) , whose poems, patriotic, satirical and erotic, moulded the modern poetical language and exercised a great influence over the people. ”

“ The population of Macedonia, at all times scanty, has undoubtedly diminished in recent years. There has been a continual outflow of the Christian population in the direction of Bulgaria, Servia and Greece, and a corresponding emigration of the Turkish peasantry to Asia Minor. Many of the smaller villages are being abandoned by their inhabitants, who migrate for safety to the more considerable towns—usually situated at some point where a mountain pass descends to the outskirts of the plains. ”

“ With the exception of Zlatarski’s and Boncheff’s geological treatises and contributions by Georgieff, Petkoff, Tosheff and Urumoff to Velnovski’s Flora Bulgarica, no original works on natural science have as yet been produced; a like dearth is apparent in the fields of philosophy, criticism and fine art, but it must be remembered that the literature is still in its infancy. The ancient folk-songs have been preserved in several valuable collections; though inferior to the Servian in poetic merit, they deserve scientific attention. ”

“ Since 1880 the city has been almost entirely renovated in the “European” style; the narrow tortuous lanes and mean houses of the Turkish epoch have almost disappeared, and a new town with straight parallel streets has been constructed in the eastern suburb. The oldest building in Sofia is the little round chapel of St George in the Jewish quarter—originally, it is said, a Roman temple; then a church, then a mosque, and now a church once more. ”

“ Language.—The Bulgarian is at once the most ancient and the most modern of the languages which constitute the Slavonic group. In its groundwork it presents the nearest approach to the old ecclesiastical Slavonic, the liturgical language common to all the Orthodox Slavs, but it has undergone more important modifications than any of the sister dialects in the simplification of its grammatical forms ”

“ In modern Macedonia are included the vilayet of Salonica (Turk. Selanik) , the eastern and greater portion of the vilayet of Monastir (sanjaks of Monastir, Servia [Turk. Selfije] , and part of that of Kortcha) , and the south-eastern portion of the vilayet of Kossovo (sanjak of Usküb) . The greater part of Macedonia is inhabited by a Slavonic population, mainly Bulgarian in its characteristics; the coast-line and the southern districts west of the Gulf of Salonica by Greeks, while Turkish, Vlach and Albanian settlements exist sporadically, or in groups, in many parts of the country. ”

“ Religions.—Owing to the numerous conversions to Islam which followed the Turkish conquest, the Mahommedan population of the Peninsula is largely in excess of the purely Turkish element. More than half the Albanian nation and 35% of the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the creed of the conquering race. Among the Bulgars and Greeks the conversions were less numerous. The Bulgarian Mahommedans, or Pomaks, who inhabit the valleys of Rhodope and certain districts in northern Bulgaria, are numerically insignificant; the Greek followers of Islam are almost confined to Crete. ”

“ The literary language began in the western dialect under the twofold influence of Servian literature and the Church Slavonic. In a short time, however, the eastern dialect prevailed, and the influence of Russian literature became predominant. An anti-Russian reaction was initiated by Borgoroff (1818–1892) , and has been maintained by numerous writers educated in the German and Austrian universities. Since the foundation of the university of Sofia the literary language has taken a middle course between the ultra-Russian models of the past generation and the dialectic Bulgarian. ”

“ The whole Slavonic population of Macedonia may be estimated at about 1,150,000, of whom about 1,000,000 are Christians of the Orthodox faith. The majority of these own allegiance to the Bulgarian exarchate, but a certain minority still remains faithful to the Greek patriarchate. The Moslem Bulgarians form a considerable element: they are found principally in the valley of the upper Mesta and the Rhodope district, where they are known as Pomaks or “helpers,” i.e. auxiliaries to the Turkish army. ”

“ The process of hellenization made greater progress in the towns than in the rural districts of the interior, where the non-Hellenic populations preserved their languages, which alone saved the several nationalities from extinction. The typical Greek, with his superior education, his love of politics and commerce, and his distaste for laborious occupations, has always been a dweller in cities. In Salonica, Serres, Kavala, Castoria, and other towns in southern Macedonia the Hellenic element is strong ”

“ They are endowed in no small degree with the high-flown poetic temperament of the Serb race, and delight in interminable recitations of their martial deeds, which are sung to the strains of the gûsla, a rudimentary one-stringed fiddle. Dancing is a favourite pastime. ”

“ In the 7th the Serbo-Croats invaded the north-western regions (Croatia, Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro and northern Albania) ; they expelled or assimilated the Illyrian population, now represented in Dalmatia by the slavonized Morlachs or Mavro-Vlachs, and appropriated the old Roman colonies on the Adriatic coast. At the end of the 7th century the Bulgars, a Turanian race, crossed the Danube and subjected the Slavonic inhabitants of Moesia and Thrace, but were soon assimilated by the conquered population, which had already become partly civilized. ”

“ The oro is the traditional dance in the Katunska district. Women chant wild dirges, generally improvised, over the dead; mourners try to excel one another in demonstrations of grief; and funerals are celebrated by an orgy very like an Irish “wake.” Like most imaginative peoples, the Montenegrins are extremely superstitious, and belief in the vampire, demons and fairies is almost universal. Among the mountains they can converse fluently at astonishing distances. ”

“ After the establishment of the feudal system in 1397 many of the Seljuk noble families came over from Asia Minor; their descendants may be recognized among the beys or Moslem landowners in southern Macedonia. At the beginning of the 18th century the Turkish population was very considerable, but since that time it has continuously decreased. A low birth-rate, the exhaustion of the male population by military service, and great mortality from epidemics, against which Moslem fatalism takes no precautions, have brought about a decline which has latterly been hastened by emigration. ”

“ The Turkish rural population is found in three principal groups: the most easterly extends from the Mesta to Drama, Pravishta and Orfano, reaching the sea-coast on either side of Kavala, which is partly Turkish, partly Greek. The second, or central, group begins on the sea-coast, a little west of the mouth of the Strymon, where a Greek population intervenes, and extends to the north-west along the Kara-Dagh and Belasitza ranges in the direction of Strumnitza, Veles, Shtip and Radovisht. ”

“ Among the Greeks, whose literature never suffered a complete eclipse, a similar effort to restore the classical tongue resulted in a kind of compromise; the conventional literary language, which is neither ancient nor modern, differs widely from the vernacular. ”

“ Betrothals often take place in early childhood. Young men who are attached to each other are accustomed to swear eternal brotherhood (pobratimstvo) ; the bond, which receives the sanction of the Church, is never dissolved. Marriages between Montenegrins and converted Turkish girls are a common source of blood-feuds. The zadruga, or house-community, under the rule of a stareshina, or house-father, is found in Montenegro as in other Slavonic lands (see Servia) . The tribal system still exists, but possesses less significance than in Albania, owing to the centralization of' authority at Cettigne. ”

“ There are at least four Slavonic dialects in Macedonia, but the suffix-article, though varying in form, is a constant feature in all. The Slavs of western Macedonia are of a lively, enterprising character, and share the commercial aptitude of the Vlachs: those of the eastern and southern regions are a quiet, sober, hardworking agricultural race, more obviously homogeneous with the population of Bulgaria. In upper Macedonia large family communities, resembling the Servian and Bulgarian zadruga, are commonly found: they sometimes number over 50 members. ”

“ The Vlachs who settle in the lowland districts are excellent husbandmen. The urban population is considerable; the Vlachs of Salonica, Monastir, Serres and other large towns are, for the most part, descended from refugees from Moschopolis, once the principal centre of Macedonian commerce. The towns of Metzovo, on the confines of Albania, and Klisura, in the Bistritza valley, are almost exclusively Vlach. The urban and most of the rural Vlachs are bilingual, speaking Greek as well as Rumanian ”

“ The Bulgarian church enjoys an exceptional position, inasmuch as its spiritual chief, the exarch, who resides at Constantinople, controls the Bulgarian prelates in European Turkey as well as those in the kingdom of Bulgaria. On the other hand, the Greek prelates in Bulgaria are subject to the patriarch. Religious and political questions are intimately connected in eastern Europe. The heads of the various religious communities are the only representatives of the Christian population recognized by the Turkish government ”

“ The Racial Propaganda.—The embittered struggle of the rival nationalities in Macedonia dates from the middle of the 19th century. Until that period the Greeks, owing to their superior culture and their privileged position, exercised an exclusive influence over the whole population professing the Orthodox faith. All Macedonia was either Moslem or Orthodox Christian, without distinction of nationalities, the Catholic or Protestant millets being inconsiderable. The first opposition to Greek ecclesiastical ascendancy came from the Bulgarians. ”

“ The Turks, the ruling race, form less than a quarter of the entire population, and their numbers are steadily declining. The first Turkish immigration from Asia Minor took place under the Byzantine emperors before the conquest of the country. The first purely Turkish town, Yenijé-Vardar, was founded on the ruins of Vardar in 1362. After the capture of Salonica (1430) , a strong Turkish population was settled in the city, and similar colonies were founded in Monastir, Ochrida, Serres, Drama and other important places. In many of these towns half or more of the population is still Turkish. ”

“ All the Christian population belonged to the Greek millet and called itself Greek; the bishops and higher clergy were exclusively Greek; Greek was the language of the upper classes, of commerce, literature and religion, and Greek alone was taught in the schools. The supremacy of the patriarchate was consummated by the suppression of the autocephalous Slavonic churches of Ipek in 1766 and Ochrida in 1767. In the latter half of the 18th century Greek ascendancy in Macedonia was at its zenith ”

“ In general, however, the Macedonian Slavs differ somewhat both in appearance and character from their neighbours beyond the Bulgarian and Servian frontiers: the peculiar type which they present is probably due to a considerable admixture of Vlach, Hellenic, Albanian and Turkish blood, and to the influence of the surrounding races. Almost all independent authorities, however, agree that the bulk of the Slavonic population of Macedonia is Bulgarian. ”