Vlachs in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vlachs in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina were a Western Balkans population descending from a mixture of Romanized pre-Slavic Romance-speaking peoples and the South Slavs.
[1] Hrabak and Dominik Mandić argued that some Vlachs from Herzegovina migrated there from Thessaly, Epirus and Macedonia before the Ottoman invasion into Southern Europe,[3] but although probably happened some waves of small migrations from there and Albania to Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina,[1][4] for such theorization there is a lack of evidence and loose onomastic correlations cannot be used as generalized evidence of a certain linguistic and geographic origin of an individual.
[14] It is argued that some group of Vlachs in the 14th century migrated to Zagora and Cetina county in Croatia, followed by the sudden appearance of stećaks in the territory they lived.
[19] According to Sima Ćirković, ethnicities which appear in the medieval texts from Bosnia include names such as "Bošnjanin", "Vlach", "Latinin" and "Serb".
[23] In the defters of the 1470s and 1480s in Central and North-Central Bosnia, around Visoko and Maglaj, roughly 800 Vlachs arrived accompanied by two Orthodox priests.
With war and plagues, and as Catholics fled, the repopulation of Bosnia from Herzegovina and Serbia was of high interest for the Ottomans for their military activities.
Benedikt Kuripečič in the 16th century noted that Bosnia is inhabited by three peoples; (Muslim) Turks, (Catholic) Bosnians and (Orthodox) Serbs "who call themselves Vlachs...
[24] Since Vlachs weren't paid for military activity by the Ottomans they were permitted to plunder enemy territory, and became known as martolos or voynuk.
[25] Within the territories ruled by the Ottoman Empire, Vlach groups moved from southeastern Bosnia (Pavlović area) to central regions of Tešanj and Žepče, also they spread northwest and north of the Sava towards the future Bosanska Krajina.
[11][29] The primary lords of the Herzegovinian Vlachs were Bosnian Slavic noble families, the Kosača, Pavlović, Sanković and Nikolić.
[22] Vlachs were surnamed Pliščić, Gleđević, Ugarac, Boban, Mirilović, Vragović, Kresojević, Nenković, Bančić, Pilatovac, Pocrnja, Drobnjak and Riđan.
[7] Other katun Vlachs were Boljun, Bukvić, Burmaz, Godun, Hardomilić, Horojević, Hrabren, Jurjević, Kersojević, Kićurić, Kujavić, Milobradačić, Perventinić, Pribinović, Rudinjan, Veseličić, Vitković, Vojnović, Vragović, Zotović.
[31] The Ottoman occupation conquered Vlach territories which caused migrations; Ragusan documents in 1386 recorded that some Vlach with their animals found shelter in Ston and Pelješac (...quod recipiantur in Stagno familie, pastores, animalia et carnesia Vlacorum et circum vicinorum propter eorum saluamentum terrore Teucrurum partes discurrentium),[32] in 1466 Korita, Banjani and Riđani east of Trebinje fell.
[35] In 1475–1477 in the nahija Počitelj eleven deserted villages (Gojanovići, Ričica, Kukrica, Opličiči, Plešivac, Svitava, Šanica, Kozica, Gornja Ljubinica, Skočim, Dretelj) were recorded, which were held by the Vlachs.
[18] With their caravans, led by kramar,[18] mostly composed of horses numbering between 10–100, they conducted a large part of the trade between inland and coastal cities.
[46] Pope Gregory XI in 1372 letter for Franciscans in Bosnia ordered them to convert Vlachs who live in tents and pastures (Wlachorum... quorum nonnulli in pascuis et tentoriis habitant).
Several larger monasteries were built for the needs of the church hierarchy such as Žitomislić by the Neretva, Tvrdoš near Trebinje, Nikoljac (in Bijelo Polje), the Holy Trinity in Pljevlja and Piva.
The example of Herzegovina reveals that the immigrant Vlach herdsmen had more economic power and they were more religious than their predecessors who lived there under Christian lords.
[52] Ilona Czamańska claims that "The majority of Serbs from the Republika Srpska of modern Bosnia is of Vlach origin, as well as the majority of the population from Bosnia and Herzegovina in general"–this also applies to the entire Western Balkans as a mixture of Slavic and indigenous population–but also states that "there are none direct sources to support Vlach colonization of these lands.
