Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.11567/met.40.1.4
Ethnocultural Structure and Historical Anthroponymy of the Kosinj Valley at the Turn of the 17th to the 18th Century: A Contribution to Research on the History of Migrations in the Lika Region during the Early Modern Period
Marko Šarić
; Odsjek za povijest, Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The paper analyses the migration and ethnocultural processes in the Kosinj Valley in western Lika, which peaked during and immediately after the end of the Great Turkish War at the end of the 17th century and the start of the 18th century. During that time, the area became the intersection of the primary early modern migration flows in this part of the imperial multiple borderlands – southeast and northwest – with their diverse religious (Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians), linguistic (neo-Shtokavian Ijekavian and Ikavian, Chakavian, and transitional Chakavian- Kajkavian), traditional (Dinaric, Adriatic, Pannonian, Eastern Alpine), and socioeconomic characteristics (frontiersmen/peasants, pastoral/agrarian). Each ethnocultural component was internally heterogeneous, characterised by distinct layers shaped by migrations across the turbulent imperial borderlands from the 16th to the 18th centuries. This led to various interactions and intermingling of cultural traditions, ethnic elements, languages, and dialects. It is concluded that the state military-provincial and Chamber authorities played a dominant role in these processes, directly or indirectly encouraging and directing migration flows for geopolitical and economic reasons. Therefore, from the outset, these migratory movements were characterised by planned military and agrarian colonisation. They favoured Catholic elements originating from Habsburg territories. Phenomenologically, they closely parallel the Vlach colonization of the Kosinj Valley a century earlier, which was conducted and directed by Ottoman authorities.
Migrations in the turbulent border area of conflicting empires, with the Kosinj Valley at its centre for over 160 years, exhibited distinct dynamics. It was a region marked by intense emigration and immigration of defectors, including internal, external, or cross-border, and return migrations. The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed intense migration that began to subside only at the beginning of the 18th century. Namely, very few families in the 17th century had the chance to live in one place for three generations. The sons and grandsons of the Croats who fled to Carniola returned to Croatian territory in Gorski Kotar, only for the second generation of returnees to move to Lika. Similar return migrations are also observed among the Croats, Vlachs, and Bunjevci from Ogulin.
To understand the settlement process, certain internal aspects of differentiated rural society also need to be considered. It is no coincidence that the elders, who were also leaders of migrations, often acquired the largest plots of land and formed the most numerous families in their new homeland. The same applies to Vlach elder families who, on both sides of the old border, retained their prestigious role as village leaders. In that period, the basic outlines of the modern ethnocultural structure of the Kosinj region were formed. The region became an intersection of primary migration flows in the Early Modern Period: the Vlach-Bunjevac, originating from the deep southeastern Dinaric interior, and the Croatian-Carniolan from the northwest, which also included elements originating in the eastern Alpine region. Their protagonists were early modern ethnic groups such as Vlachs, Croats, Carniolans and Bunjevci, who differed from each other along several criteria: socio-economic status, livelihoods, religious affiliation, dialects, family models and cultural areas. They all had in common that each ethnic group was internally heterogeneous and multi-layered. For instance, among the Vlachs, we observe traces of the old Balkan layer, Croats from Ogulin display Carniolan and Uskok-Vlach elements, Carniolan Croats exhibit Slovenian and German influences, and the Bunjevci include Orthodox Vlach converts.
Vlachs from Kosinj historically migrated from East Herzegovina. They were part of the “Glamoč” and “Dinaric” migration flows, much like the majority of the Orthodox Vlach population that settled in Lika during the 16th century. Only a small fraction of the newly arrived population was strategically settled by Ottoman authorities across vast areas along their northwestern border, spanning from the Adriatic hinterland to the Drava River between 1550 and 1560. Serb Orthodoxy, neo-Shtokavian Ijekavian (also known as the East Herzegovina-Krajina dialect), seasonal transhumance, and the pastoral-patriarchal culture of the Dinaric area are elements that made them distinctive and distinguishable from their surroundings. After breaking away from their origins in southeastern Herzegovina during the early migrations of the 15th and 16th centuries, they followed a unique development trajectory that shaped a distinct “krajiški” (borderland) type within this historical ethnocultural group in their new habitats across northwestern Ottoman, and later Habsburg and Venetian territories.
In 1689, Croatian Krajišnici (frontiersmen) from the Ogulin captaincy settled in Lower Kosinj, situated on the northern edge of a valley that today comprises the hamlets of Sveti Ivan, Draškovići, Selište, Rudine, Klobučari, and Goljak. They were part of the Croatian Chakavian population, specifically peasant soldiers who congregated around borderland fortresses in Ogulin, Oštarije, and Modruš during the 17th century. Some of their Chakavian linguistic features have been preserved to this day in the hamlets of Goljak, Rudinka, and Selište. The ethno-demographic structure of these Croats, which emerged during the first half of the 17th century, shows a tripartite composition. It comprised natives of Modruš, newcomers and/or returnees from Vinodol and Carniola, along with various branches of the Uskok-Vlach migration flows, predominantly migrants from Senj.
In 1689, approximately 40 settler families from Gorski Kotar or the borders of Carniola settled the land along the Bakovac stream, extending all the way to its confluence with the Lika River. This area encompasses present-day Upper Kosinj, including the hamlets of Sušanj, Podjelar, and Poljanka, as well as the region of Bakovac and its hamlets Ribnik and Ruja. In most cases, these were descendants of the Croatian population who fled to Carniola in the 16th century. Therefore, it is more appropri¬ate to refer to this segment of the Catholic population in Kosinj in the pre-modern sense as “Carniolan Croats” despite the presence of some Slovenian and German elements among them. Secondly, it is necessary to differentiate between narrower and broader contexts of the usage of the Carniolan ethnicity within Lika itself. Carniolans, in the narrower sense, are represented by these settlers from Gorski Kotar, who were dependent peasants settled in Lika by the Inner Austrian Court Chamber, which introduced its chamber system there. In a broader sense, this ethnic term became a general label for Catholics in the Karlovac Generalate, particularly among the Orthodox population of Lika and Kordun.
Bunjevci, also known as “Catholic Vlachs”, who settled in the Kosinj Valley, belonged to the so-called “Krmpote branch”. They were Catholic Vlachs originating from West Herzegovina who gradually migrated northwest, following the Dinaric migration flow along the Dinara and Velebit mountains during the 16th and 17th centuries. Due to their Herzegovian roots, history of Ottoman subjugation, Vlach social structure, pastoral and patriarchal cultural traditions of the Dinaric area (the culture of “dark cloth and gusle”), and the linguistic features of neo-Shtokavian Ikavian dialect, they exhibited cultural affinities with schismatic Vlachs in Lika.
Special attention is given to the historical anthroponymy of the inhabitants of Kosinj, which verifies the aforementioned dynamics. Archival materials, including various documents, lists, and registers, provide valuable insights into their origins, movements, and distribution. Surnames among the Catholic population were documented considerably earlier, allowing for continuous tracing, especially among Croats from Ogulin and Carniola, dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. The surnames of Orthodox families in Kosinj, and to a lesser extent Bunjevci families, can only be traced from their appearance in the Karlovac Generalate records, which means at best from the 17th century. The structural formation and meaning of surnames in Kosinj largely align with the dialectal and sociocultural characteristics of ethnic groups. Essentially, we can identify two anthroponymic origins: Croatian-Carniolan and Vlach-Bunjevac. It should be noted that surnames became established significantly earlier among Catholics, starting from the decisions of the Council of Trent in 1563, which introduced the practice of church registers for baptisms (Liber baptizatorum), marriages (Liber copulatorum), and deaths (Liber mortuorum). The Roman Ritual of 1614 mandated and required the keeping of parish family books known as Status animarum (“State of Souls”) in each parish. Combining it with other sources makes it significantly easier to reconstruct the migration patterns and dispersion of certain Catholic families of Croats and Carniolans, unlike the Bunjevci and especially the Vlachs, who were under Ottoman rule for a long time. By incorporating certain Croatian families that were once part of the middle and lower nobility, anthroponymic continuity is fully established. The Orthodox Church only began to introduce records of its congregation in the 18th century, prompted by the Habsburg Monarchy. First, through parish Domovni protokoli (Household protocols) in the mid-18th century, which listed Orthodox families in specific parishes, but it was only with the Regulament (Regulation) of 1770 that the introduction of parish registers began, mirroring the practice of the Catholic Church. However, in most Orthodox parishes in the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac, this practice was not adopted until the first half of the 19th century. Therefore, it’s not possible to trace most of Kosinj Vlachs’ early movements or pinpoint their origins before the 18th century. Family traditions and the custom of Slava are not always reliable indicators. For the establishment of surnames among Vlach Orthodox families, and to a lesser extent among Bunjevci, secular military-frontier structures were far more influential than church structures. For military record-keeping purposes, frontier conscriptions were conducted, involving lists of military conscripts, which led to Vlach surnames becoming permanent and hereditary. This probably also explains the higher occurrence of colourful and satirical nicknames, or simply nicknames of differentiated family branches, in their anthroponymic repertoire.
Keywords
Kosinj; Lika; Military Frontier; Early Modern Period; History of migrations; Identities; Historical anthroponymy
Hrčak ID:
319764
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2024.
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