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Wallachs, a people of many names
Zef Mirdita
Sažetak
This paper succinctly discusses the history of Wallachs from the earliest historical
record to the end of the twentieth century. In contrast to the original name
‘Wallach’ (also Walach, Wallachian, Vlach and Vlachian), the term ‘Arumun’ for ethnic
Wallachs in the Balkans emerged as late as the eighteenth century. The etymology
of the name ‘Wallach’ is tightly bound up with the ethnogenesis of Wallachs.
It is commonly assumed that the ethnic name Wallach is derived from the term Volcae,
which was the name of a large Celtic people that, together with the Tectosages
tribe, arrived to the territories of the Thracian tribe Besi in the Balkans through the
territories of Dardania, Thrace and Macedonia in 280 and 279 BC. The long process
of the Wallach ethnogenesis was also influenced by the immigrating Scythian peoples
as well as Ital colonizers. The amalgamation of the diverse ethno-cultural elements
continued even after the arrival of Avars and Slavs. The author concludes
that Wallachs, although mixed with other ethnicities and cultures, are a separate and
unique autochthonous palaeo-Balkan people that had never lived in the community
with Romanians north of Danube.
In the discussion on the input of Wallachs in the Byzantine history, the author states
that the name ‘Wallach’ is first mentioned in the tenth century. In the earlier era,
from the Karakala edict (212 AD) onwards, Wallachs had been included within
the Greek name Rhomaioi. As Wallachs began to leave that community, the name
‘Wallach’ started to appear in Byzantine texts. This is a consequence of their individualization
and is, at the same time, a sign of their definitive entry into European
history. It must be stressed that Byzantine authors used the term ‘Wallach’ in its
ethnic meaning.
The typical form of the Wallach social organization is a collective, ‘zadruga’, in Wallachian
‘falkara’ and ‘katun’. These temporary settlements are characteristic for social
organizations in steppes. The people known as Wallachs in Romania and Moldova
inhabit large areas of the Balkans and are called Arumuns in Greece, Albania and
Macedonia; Megleno-Romanians around the Macedonian-Greek border; and again
Wallachs in Pindus – Olympia region. From this region, Wallachs began to migrate
in the early era of the Turkish invasion.
Early on, Wallachs practiced Christianity of the Latin (Western) Rite, but in a later
period Bulgarians forced upon them the Eastern Rite Christianity and the Slavic
language. To control them both spiritually and politically, the emperor Basil II the in the Balkans. Its headquarters were in Vranje and it was under the jurisdiction of
the Ohrid arch-episcopy. Religiously, Wallachs were Arians or Semi-Arians. Their
belief system, rich with Pagan elements, made their religious conversion less problematic.
They first converted to the Bogomil faith and then to Islam.
Turkish sources first mention Wallachs in the fifteenth century, as Eflâki, Eflâkân.
That term was used to designate ‘various Romanized Balkan ethnic communities’.
The High Porte thus used it in the ethnic sense.
Privileges enjoyed by Wallachs under the Ottoman rule of the Balkans were sanctioned
with the 1468 compromise, which preceded their migration to Croatia and
Bosnia. Like in Serbia, the immigration of Wallachs into Croatia took place between
the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The Habsburgs brought Wallachs to their borders
in the early sixteenth century, to protect their empire from Turkish attacks. The
settlement intensified post-1593. In their new homeland, Wallachs enjoyed autonomy
formulated in the so-called Statuta Valachorum, a settlement with the Habsburgs
from 1630. Wallachs, thus, were socially and ethnically different from the indigenous
population. In the seventeenth century, their autonomous rights were significantly
reduced. As the Ottoman Empire weakened, Wallachs lost their privileges.
The urbanization of the empire stimulated immigration into cities and the development
of trade. For Wallachs, the eighteenth century was the golden era of trade.
This was also the period of the great emigration of Wallachs caused by wars and early
capitalism in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the late nineteenth century, merchants
from the Ottoman Empire had to take Habsburg citizenship if they wished to
pursue trade in the Habsburg regions. The bestowal to Christian Orthodox Wallachs
of legal rights equal to those enjoyed by Christian Orthodox merchants from the
empire encouraged the process of denationalization and in particular ‘Serbization’,
which had begun as early as 1850. A key role in this development was played by the
Serbian Orthodox Church.
We know little about the language of medieval Wallachs. There are four main dialects:
Arumun, Istrian-Romanian, Megleno-Romanian and Dacian-Romanian. All of
them were deeply influenced by the languages of the peoples with whom Wallachs
lived. Traces of the Wallach languages persist in the Croatian rural and kettle-breeders’
lexis, in toponyms and surnames.
Balkan nationalisms and the spirit of European diaspora exercised considerable influence
upon the birth and development of the national awareness of the dispersed
ethnic Wallachs. The development of the national spirit was affected by the national
movements in Macedonia and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, as well as by the
introduction of the maternal tongue into schools and into liturgy.
The 1888 imperial irade recognized the Wallachian right to establish national churches.
In 1905, Turkey recognized the Wallachian (Arumun) nationality. This caused a
wave of negative responses in neighbouring states and in Greece. The Greek opposition
to the Wallachian national development became manifest during the Balkan wars and the Bucharest peace in 1913. The partition of Macedonia and the annexation
of Wallachs residing in the divided territories to Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece effectively
destroyed the Wallachian people.
In the aftermath of late-twentieth century social and political changes in the Balkans,
the status of Wallachs, in spite of the establishment of Wallachian cultural organizations,
has remained unchanged. An exception is the Republic of Macedonia
where the preamble of the Constitution recognizes Wallachs as ‘part of the Wallach
nation’.
The question we need to ask is: is it possible to write a history of Wallachs (Arumuns),
a people without their political territory and without an independent religious
authority? The author concludes that the history of Wallachia may be written
only if we accept the amalgamating interaction, in spite of the fact that ‘their history
belongs to the Byzantine history, to the history of the Ottoman Empire, and finally
to the histories of each of the Balkan successor countries. This does not exclude natural
conflicts, as at all times national minorities oppose the majority of the country where
they all live together—until the moment when the progressive acculturation evens out
the differences, in their common interest.’
It is for that reason that the problem of their identity now arises not from the standpoint
of their ethnicity but their status as a cultural minority. They are now Albanian,
Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian and Croatian citizens and they speak the language of
the country in which they live. Yet although they are part of social-political and cultural-
economic developments, their mentality, which makes them a separate ethnic
group, has remained unchanged.
Ključne riječi
Arămān; Wallach; Volcae; Walch; Welsch; Latinity; Romanesque; Balkans; Christianity; Arianism; Semi-Arianism; Christian Orthodox Church; Bogomilism; Islam; diaspora
Hrčak ID:
18753
URI
Datum izdavanja:
28.12.2007.
Posjeta: 8.346 *