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As to my personal project plan for the coming six years on the issue of present concern, I shall in the following present my hypothesis––a hypothesis which is about to take shape, while I am looking up for a moment from behind the heaps of books taken from my bookshelf. The reason why I shall submit my hypothesis at this stage is that I hope that you might prompt me––by expressing your appreciation or doubts to what you read––to advancing new perspectives and new ideas.
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The paper presents in analytical way to Fund of the Ottoman documents about Mecca and Medina, kept in the collections of Oriental Department of the National Library "St St Cyril and Methodius". The documents are grouped in six main sections according to their content. The author presents in annotated form multiple documents of that fund. The paper includes an annex of the inventory of documents from fund Hijaz (Arabia).
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This article to challenge the notion of an entirely harmonious Christian-Orthodox parish that dominates the historiography of the Ottoman Balkans. The interrelations between Orthodox priests and their flocks are analyzed here in the light of the so-called Chronicle of Serres (ca. 1642), composed by Papa Synadinos, a Greek Orthodox priest and a member of the local Christian elite. It is claimed that two distinct images of the parish, quite opposite to each other, emerge from the text of the Chronicle. The first one is the image of the "ideal" parish, free of any conflicts between the priest and his parishioners. In the Chronicle it was exemplified with the parish of Papa Siderus, Synadinos' father, who has been portrayed as e perfect priest and a role-model for his time. This image, however, proves to be no more than a literary construct. Much more interesting is the second image representing the "real" parish led by Synadinos himself. It was depicted as a place where frictions between the "enlightened" priest and his flock were a common occurrence. The present study attempts to delineate the economic as well as the cultural (in the broadest sense of the word) cause which stood behind the constantly evolving tensions between laity and priests. It is argued that disagreements deepened even more due to options available to both sides to compete against each other by petitioning either to the Ottoman or the Church authorities.
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Information on the 19th century history of pharmacy in Bulgaria is too scarce. Present publication includes documents for the development of pharmacy in Bulgaria from the documentary heritage of the Hungarian chemist Gyorgy Szilagyi, kept in the Bulgarian Historical Archive at the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library. Gyorgy Szilagyi's pharmacy existed for a period of eighty years, during which rich archival material accumulated. It is unique as a historical source for the development of pharmacy in Bulgaria, because it highlights the many-sided aspects of a foregn pharmacist's professional activities. Part of Gt. Szilagyi's archival fond are letters from his friends, acquaintances and colleagues that contain information on the fate of Hungarian and foreign pharmacists; they also reveal interesting facts about the relationship between Gy. Szilagui and his colleagues (local doctors and pharmacists) and clients as well. Another part of the fond is the documentation to the half-century-old activity of his pharmacy.
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This paper analyses the critically well-known thesis of Prof. Peter Moutafchiev about the raises and falls in Bulgaria's development. We know that, counting the studies of the Russian scholar Alexander Hilferding, Prof. Moutafchiev came to the conclusion that Bulgaria's development was erratic and did not have periods of "peace" - everything featured rapid progress and equally rapid decline and crises. The Bulgarian scholar cited Serbia as an example of slower for more regular progrss. The author attempts to question the general validity of this opinion. First of all, it was dedicated by the historical period in which Prof. Moutafchiev lived and worked. Then Bulgarian history itself was transmitted under the influence of the notion that it consisted of a series of successes and failures. Serbia could hardly be a comparison factor as the main sources about its development are the vitas of its rulers written by their sons and close relatives. Third, there are hardly societies and countries on a European or world scale that have not been subject to the "historical sine" of which Moutafchiev speaks. The author of the article appeals for abandoning the romantic approach in reconstructing the Bulgarian past, which demands rapid events with a fatal outcome. Instead, he offers a narration based on Fernand Braudel's idea of continuity and longue duree.
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The study focuses on the problem of 'master-slave' relations in Modern Times. Analysing the ideology of slave ownership in the United States, the author puts forward the arguments about the continuity of the 'master' attitude in the conditions of the liberal democratic West.
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Eastern Roumelia received its fundamental law drafted by a specially European commission. It is quite a detailed document providing for all aspects of life of the Roumeli citizens. The Organic Statute of Eastern Roumelia defined the new political formation in the Balkans as a state of modern (for that time) bourgeois-liberal type. It had all the features of and independant state: its own government, a representative authority elected by the people and a national army. The sovereignty of the sultan was included in the Statute, but thanks to the efforts of Eastern Roumeli political figures, it soon became nominal, without any serious power in the region. Unlike the neighboring countries (the Ottoman Empire, the Principality of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Romania) there was no legalized and preferred religion in Eastern Roumelia. All religious issues were placed in the hands of the religious communities and the state did not involve itself with them. The only condition was that they should not violate any of the laws valid to the region.
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Stefan S. Dobchev was a noted Bulgarian public figure, scholar and statesman. Even in his early years he established contacts with the Russian Slavic societies. At the end of the 19-th century and the beginning of the 20-th century, when the blocks in the future world war were formed, he became an active participant in the movement for unity of Slav peoples. The idea was that they should not be placed in a confronting position in the world military conflict that that was forming. Stefan Bobchev was one of the active organizers of the Slavic associations of the intelligentsia and other such estates. Stefan Bobchev stood out as an active organizer and political figure in the field of the struggle for Slavic unity. Until the end of his life, he remained a firm believer in the unity of Slav peoples.
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The numerous and once monolithic Bulgarian national enclave, which had lived for many years in the Northern Pryazovia steppes, suffered numerous calamities. The first settlers arrived in the Pryazovia in the summer and fall of 1861 and the settlement was finally completed only in 1863. The social and economic development of the Bulgarian colonies was under the influence of the system of assimilation policy of the Russian Empire in respect to national minourities. In spite of the conditions, some Bulgarian port settlements quickly turned into commercial and industrial centres. The Bulgarian settlers upheld their Bulgarian national identity against the pressure of the assimilation policy mainly by preserving their native language, everyday life, customs, rites, feasts and folklore. In the first years of settlement the Bulgarians, particularly those in the Crimean Peninsula (Tauris) focused on and managed to achieve the opening of schools, at first only in several large settlements and later in all Bulgarian villages. In Preslav there was even a Central Bulgarian School subordinate to the Ministry of State Properties. Russia's assimilatory imperial policy also influenced the cultural development of the Bulgarian settlers. Official lay and church authorities were hostile to the language and some elements of the traditional life of Bulgarians under the pretext that they were heathen. Bees and other youth gatherings of definitely Bulgarian outlook were presecuted. Theatical and other amateur performances n Bulgarian were banned. At the same time, as loyal subjects, Bulgarians were active participants in World War I, in both recruitment and requisition. The Civil War did not pass by the Bulgarian settlements either. In some parts they formed armed bands and became part of the Free Territory organized along anarchist lines. At the establishment of Soviet power, the Ukrainian government was headed on three occasions by the Bulgarian Krustyu Rakovski. When Tauris became Soviet, the mayors, clerks and popular guards who enjoyed confidence in the Bulgarian settlements were s wept away. About then or more thousnad Bulgarians perished in the turbulent period of 1917-1922. The intelligentsia, which usually came from broad-minded affluent families, war a particular victim. The road to inveigle the authorities to grant some cultural (and partly administrative) "autonomisation" of the Tauris Bulgarians was opened with the establishment of a Bulgarian Bureau with the Central Commitee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine and the publication of the 'Surp i Chuk' (Hammer and Sickle) newspaper in Bulgarian. The resistant against collectivization and the subsequent artificially induced famine in 1932-1933 cost the live of 20 000 Tauris Bulgarians. This also continued during the unprecedented Great Purge until Stalin's death in 1953 to which many Ukrainian Bulgarians fell victim.
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The life and work of the Turkish journalist and publicist M. N. Deliorman, packed as they are with plenty of valuable information about the history of the Turkish community and the political history of Bulgaria, deserve to be reached. After presenting the most important points in the biography of M. N. Deliorman, this paper discusses in great detail his reports from Bulgaria, which he sent as a correspondent in the course of nearly two months directly after the coup on September 9, 1944.
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The Macedonian charity, cultural and educational fraternities in Bulgaria were established by the refugees from Macedonia who came to this country after Kresna-Razlog Uprising in 1878, the Illinden (St. Elijah's Day) Uprising in 1903, the Second Balkan War in 1913 and World War I. They originated on a purely fraternity basis with the aim of charity work, mutual support and preservation of family roots. The number of fraternities established by the refugees grew with their number in Bulgaria, running parallel to and enrichment of the forms of organization: clubs emerged, ephorie (boards of trustees), cooperatives, cultural and educational scocieties, orphanages, including banks such as the Macedonian Cooperative Bank and the Macedonian Popular Bank, and the Macedonian Research Institute among others. At the beginning of May 1934 there were about 540 Macedonian refugee structures established all acros Bulgaria with 50634 regularly reported members. The activity of the Macedonian fraternities was officially terminated with Decree № 130 of 1951 of the Presidium of the National Assembly. A special circular letter of the Ministry of Justice was issued whereby the company cases of the refugee organization were transferred to the regional and district courts where single-member panels presided. The decree of the Presidium transferred the entire property of the Macedonian charity fraternities and other Macedonian organisations to the newly-established Gotse Delchev Society in Sofia.
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The paper of the two authors essentially provides the academic, cultural and political audience with the opportunity to have contact with an authentic document which was preserved for over 40 years. It is a tale of what was heard, seen and particularly experienced in the 1970's in the relations between the two political colossi in Bulgaria at that time. The account of the meetings with Todor Pavlov and the facsimiles of the published documents provoke the way of thinking of contemporary times and the conclusions that can be made.
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Civilizational accumulations, the deformations of various nature and the need to rationalize them give rise to contradictory opinions about identical processes and events. Several Balkan authors are presented, as well as their views and methods and models they use. The Croatian DubravkaUgrešić and her painful nostalgia for the disintegrated Yugoslavia in 'The culture of Lies'; Turkish historian Fikret Adanir with his work on the Macedonian Question 'Die makedonische Frage. Ihre Enstehung und Endwicklung bis 1909', in which the leitmotif of the study is the principle of the Ottoman 'milliyet' system; as well as the book of Greek author Anastasia Karakasidou 'Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood: Passages to Nationhood in Greek Macedonia, 1870-1990', first published in the United States. It speaks of the Bulgarians in Aegean Macedonia, as well as the fate of the Macedonian citizen Vladimir Paunovski and his report revealing the ideology of Yugoslavism and Titovism, which generated Macedonism and the Macedonian language. The paper also reveals the connection between their views and their attitude towards the doctrinal framework of Benedict Anderson's fundamental for modern anthropology work, 'Imagined Communities'.
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In the past years a lot of lead amulets have been found in Bulgaria and some of them enchantments on them against Nejit, who are believed to be a humanoid spirit in the folklore. The oldest amulet found is dated from 10-11th century. This paper is focused on an amulet that has been found recently near the town of Kyrdjali. The uniqueness of this amulet is that a mix of cyrillic and glagolic letters have been written on it. Two copies of the text exist that were analysed and described once by German and second time by Bulgarian linguists. The interval between the two examinations was 10 years. In this article a comparison between the Bulgarian and the German reconstruction of the text is being made as the two texts are evaluated in the context of the newest information.
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The Old Bulgarian Blessing of the Waters on the Eve of Epiphany from X-XI centuries is the earliest Slavic copy of that work, giving an account of the very old routine of the Holy Sanctification of the Water, which is performed nowadays on the eve of Epiphany (January 6 - new stile). During the examination of the later Slavic copies of this Convention from the XV-XVII centuries, were discovered two unknown short redactions - one of them from the XVth c. - in Russia, Serbian, and Bulgarian Books of divine services and Prayer-books, and the other - from the year 1782 (in a Church Slavic prayer-book from Hilandar monastery, in Mount Athos). In the article, for the first time, is published the text of the short redaction of the Blessing of the Water on the Eve of Epiphany, from the above mentioned XVIIIth c. Preayer-book.
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The author makes a short review of publications of Arabic Ottoman inscription in honour of a sheikh. The paper provides a facsimile, a deciphered text transcribed in Latin, a translation in Bulgarian and coments on the monument. The inscription shows that there were members of the Qadiri tariqa (Sufi order) in the 18th century in Plovdiv and maybe that there was a tekke of this brotherhood.
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