Chiprovtsi uprising

It broke out after the capture of Belgrade by Austria on 6 September 1688 and ended unsuccessfully, with the centre of insurrectionary activity, Chiprovtsi, being completely destroyed by Ottoman forces.

The rights of the Christian self-government possibly inherited from the Second Bulgarian Empire and adapted to the Ottoman military feudal system were significantly curtailed in the 16th and 17th century.

[2] Around the middle of the 17th century, the idea of Catholicism being used as a way to restore the Bulgarian state with the aid of the Catholic Western Europe, began emerging in the circle of the pro-Western Chiprovtsi nobility.

[3] The introduction of heavy taxes intended to secure the costly yet ineffective European campaigns of the empire and the deprivation of the Bulgarian Catholics of some of their rights played an important role in the setup of the uprising.

After the campaign's failure, Parchevich went to Venice together with the governor of Chiprovtsi Franchesko Markanich and then visited the new Polish king Jan II Kazimierz Vasa, as well as the Austrian royal court, being denied assistance at all three places.

The decisive battle took place in October 1688 in the Zheravitsa country close to Kutlovitsa, where the insurrectionary forces were defeated by Ottoman troops and their Magyar allies.

Although fighting went on, the uprising was quickly suppressed, with Chiprovtsi being captured on 18 October after a heroic defence and was completely destroyed together with the neighbouring villages of Kopilovtsi, Zhelezna and Klisura.

[1][5] The Chiprovtsi Uprising put an end to northwestern Bulgaria's status as a buffer zone between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg territories, with Catholic influence largely ceasing.