meaning of the historiographic myths about conversion to islam

7/31/2019 Meaning of the Historiographic Myths About Conversion to Islam

1/29

1

HALL NALCIK ARMAANI - I

TARH ARATIRMALARI

DOUBATI, ANKARA (2009)

MEANING OF THE HISTORIOGRAPHIC MYTHS

ABOUT CONVERSION TO ISLAM

Evgeni Radushev

On the following pages I offer the readers attention some reflections in respect of themeaning of the historiographic myths about conversion to Islam, which have gained groundin modern Bulgarian historiography. Most of the archival materials used in this paper as wellas the interpretations built on them are related to the Rhodope Mountain. This is the result ofmy continuous study of the spread of Islam throughout the Ottoman epoch in the region.Over the years I have come to the conclusion that if the correlationIslam - identity still raisessome questions in Bulgaria, this undoubtedly relates to the Bulgarian speaking Muslimpopulation (the so called Pomaks in the Central and Western Rhodope Mountain. But beforedrawing the attention to all subjects which will be discussed in this article, I would like tounderline that any reasoning about the ethnic identity of the Rhodope Muslims without takinginto consideration their right in ethnic self-determination, turns into a digging into the pastwithout any positive result1.

In the years following the democratic changes in Eastern Europe, the problem that is typicalfor the Balkans,Islamidentity,has engaged the scientific communitys attention with newintensity. The Bulgarian historians and ethnologists attempts to estimate the consequences ofthe totalitarian communist regimes policy on the ethnic and religious minorities in Bulgariafound the following normal behaviour reaction among the Rhodope Pomaks: most of themare willing to identify themselves with the Turkish or Arabic ethnos or to identify themselvesreligiously as Muslims, but they avoid calling themselves Bulgarians2.

During my in situ research among the Central and Western Rhodope Muslim villages I wasconfronted by a similar situation. Many people there state that their ancestors came to theBalkans being Muslims and that they settled in the Rhodope Mountain in about 11 th12thcentury the genetic connection is now obviously sought not only outside the Bulgarianethnos, but also beyond the boundaries of the Balkans. "We are Arabs, sent by Mohammed

1 Stoyanov, V. Turskoto naselenie v Bulgaria mejdu polyusite na etnicheskata politika [The Turkishpopulation in Bulgaria between the poles of ethnic politics]. Sofia, 1998, p. 56.

2 Cf. Georgieva, Tsv. "Struktura na vlastta v tradicionnata obshtnost na pomacite v rayona na Chech,Zapadnite Rodopi [Power structure in the traditional community of the Pomaks in the Chech area, Western

Rhodope Mountain]. InEtnicheskata kartina v Bulgaria, Sofia, 1992, p. 73.


2/29

2

Himself as harbingers of Islam", local people say3. This would mean that among the Pomaksthere is an inclination to explain their groups differentiation by reference to Islam, but alongthese lines their self-identification as Muslims of Bulgarian ethnic origin seems completelyand utterly unacceptable. I would also add that todays Rhodope Pomaks are trying to prove

in a curious manner that they were the first Muslims on the Balkans. For that purpose theyuse the gravestones in the Pomak areas on which could often be seen date of death, engravedaccording to the Muslim calendar (Hijra). Thus, for example, a gravestones inscription dated1160 according toHijra is accepted as written in the 12th century AD, a long time before theappearance of the Muslim Turks on the Balkans people state. But in this particular casethe true year is of course 1747.

At first sight this is a naive way to reject the idea, imposed by the nationalistic propaganda,that the Bulgarian speaking Muslims in the Rhodope Mountain are a result of the Ottomanactions for a massive and forced Mohammedanisation4 of Christian Bulgarians. Todays

Pomaks are also aware that the fiction about Islamic Apocalypse has turned into anideologeme, embedded into the foundations of the forced re-naming of the Muslims inBulgaria during the communist regime. The use of force in respect to the Pomaks of theCentral and Western Rhodope Mountain began in the late 60s of the 20 th Century and soonended with their complete re-naming. In the mid-80s the one million strong Turkish ethnicminority in Bulgaria faced the same fate. The communist regime now claims that this is aBulgarian population, which was not only converted to Islam, but that it was completelyassimilated by the Ottoman Turks. After the collapse of communism people restored theirTurkish-Islamic names. In Bulgaria today there would be hardly found somebody, whowould claim that ethnic Turks originate from the forcibly converted to Islam and then

Turkicised Bulgarians. The use of Bulgarian language by todays Pomaks, however, stilldetermines the predominating public concept for them as Mohammedans of Bulgarianethnic origin Bulgaro-Mohammedani. The majority of the Pomaks, however, is far fromthe thought of identifying itself by ethnic features with Bulgarians, particularly after theviolence during the communist period. Therefore no matter how naive self-identification ofthe Rhodope Bulgarian speaking Muslims may seem, they demonstrate a real state of massconsciousness that could not be otherwise identified but as refusal to belong to the Bulgarianethnos.

There are Bulgarian researchers who seek the reason for this state of affairs in the pro -Turkish and Pan-Islamic anti-Bulgarian propaganda"5. It is easiest of all to say that suchreasoning belongs to the Cold war, which has already become history. But when suchclaims are made, there should not be forgotten the fact that the Muslim community inBulgaria repeatedly suffered through the 20 th century a number of forced conversionsand re-naming, mosques were demolished before their eyes, holy places were desecratedand bulldozers wiped out the graves of parents and ancestors. Those who dared tooppose the regime were locked in the communist prisons and camps. Even if it is

3 Ibidem.4 Mohammedan / Mohammedanisation terms with pejorative sense used in Bulgarias near communist past

and even nowadays to express historians attitude to religious conversion in the Ottoman Balkans. 5

Cf. Dimitrov, Str. "The Ethnic picture of Bulgaria". Review,Istoricheski Pregled, No 3, 1993, p. 159.


3/29

3

assumed that during the block division and opposition until 1989 there was propagandafrom the outside, the dark events in Bulgaria promise it success in advance. We are nowfaced with a unique situation and the main issue it imposes is whether the Bulgariansociety and scientific thought could adequately adopt the already created concept of

identity among the Rhodope Pomaks, whose genesis should first of all be sought in thedevelopment of the Bulgarian society during the period from the Russo-Turkish War1877-1878 till today.

Over the past decades historians became aware of a number of Ottoman sources, which givea new meaning to the ethno-religious processes, which took place in the Rhodope Mountain.This material will yet be analysed by interested specialists. It seems to me, however, thatbefore we get involved in any new sources, it is necessary to make a critical review of whathas been done so far. My purpose in this article is precisely that: to study the grounds for thehistorical concept, which has been already established and deeply embedded in the

conscience of a number of people, of mass coercions and forced conversion to Islam ofChristians in the Balkans during the Ottoman era. In all cases the new sources will disclosenew perspective directions for scientific research and analyses. It will be more difficult tochange the predominant concept in todays Balkan Christians that conversion to Islam mayhappen only under the threat of the Ottoman yataghan. I will try to explain why this is so onthe following pages.

* * *

Reasoning on the historical character of human life, the German philosopher H.-G.Gadammer maintains that the meaning of a worldly fate is a specific entity, formed not by itsend, but by a meaning-forming environment. It is not around the latter, but around the crucialexperience that the meaning of the entity is formed; one instant can be decisive for a wholelife, concludes Gadammer6.

The idea of the crucial experience in a specific meaning-forming environment is the key,which I am trying to apply to unpuzzling the religious conversion in a part of the Balkan areaunder Ottoman rule, taken separately. The crucial moment in the life of the one-timeRhodope convert from Christianity to Islam, which has determined the fate of his posterity,

was undoubtedly the conversion itself. The aggregate of all individual crucial experiencesconstitutes the process of religious conversion. It was determined by significant reasons andmotives, from whose core has originated the entity and only in which it is possible to becomprehended.

The making of a concept of environment (socio-economic, political, cultural, religious)seems to be the most complex part of the task. A historian of conversion to Islam wellunderstands that his/her success depends on the fullest possible disclosure of the wholediversity of circumstances, which has given meaning to the religious behaviour of countless

6 Gadammer, H.-G. "Das Problem der Geschichte in der neueren deutschen Philosphie" (1943), KleineSchriften, I, 1-10 (Gesammelte Werke, II, 27 ff).


4/29

4

religious converts. But along with this entirety, same historian should also be aware of themain difficulty of heterogeneity, insufficiency and fragmentation and in a number of cases,unreliability of the sources he/she has to work with. Added to this are also the ideologicalrestrictions and self-restrictions, which burdened the Bulgarian historians during the

communist regime. It is for this reason that only in recent years Bulgarian historiography isattempting to carry out more useful observations on particular spaces social, religious,culturaland on the behaviour of the different groups within them7.

For a long time European historiography has been demonstrating how the reconstruction ofrealities in the life of individuals and groups in a geographic, social and cultural complexadequately discloses the meaning of a significant historical movements. For F. Braudel thisroad passes through observations on the long and boring history of everyday life in order toreach rationalisation of prolonged movements in history. The German philosophical andhistorical thought is also biased to such approach, evaluating it with the brief from reality to

totality. But it does not fail to underline that totality is not a complete whole of history up tothe present day, but that an environment of a centring significance structures it8.

While the serious intentions of the Bulgarian researchers to disclose the Ottoman realities inthe spirit of modern European historiography are noted, an important circumstance would betaken into consideration, which is unfavourable for them. The attempt to get closer to therealities through new found sources and new approaches meet the opposition of apermanently built notion of an Ottoman historical environment, overburdened with myths.Far back Fr.Nietzsche wrote, the non-historical and historical are equally necessary for thegood health of a man, a people and a culture.9 Then he adds, that historical self-consciousness can be different by type preserving, forming models and feeling decline. In

the equilibrium of those various ways of making history there should be preserved theyielding power, through which could only live a certain culture. This yielding powermanifests itself in the intuitive need of a horizon, surrounded by myths, which should balancethe might of historical enlightenment10.

This unmodern observation of Nietzsche may well explain in a remarkable way theBulgarian context. Here, according to the German philosophers scheme, we can see asituation of a disturbed equilibrium between the various ways of making history. It concernsthe following: two of the historical types of self-consciousness the preserving and theforming models, are constantly provoked by a characteristic sense of decline, caused by the

memory of the long centuries of Turkish yoke and the deprivation from the Balkan7 Georgieva, Tsv. Prostranstvoto i prostranstvata na bulgarite prez 15 16 vek [Space and spaces of the

Bulgarians in the 15th - 16th Century]. Sofia, 1999; Gradeva, R. Kam vaprosa za religioznata atmosfera vOsmanskata imperia: Sofia v sredata na 16 vek [To the issue of the religious atmosphere in the OttomanEmpire: Sofia in mid-16 Century]. The Bulgarian Sixteenth Century, Sofia, 1996; Ibid., Ivanova, Sv.Malkite etnokonfesionalni grupi v bulgarskite gradove prez 15 -16 vek [Small ethno-confessional groups inthe Bulgarian towns in the 16 th17th Centuries]; Todorova, O. Pravoslavnata carkva i bulgarite prez 15-16vek [The Orthodox Church and Bulgarians 15th18th Century], Sofia, 1977; Sabev, O. Osmanskite uchilishtav bulgarskite zemi 15 - 18vek [Ottoman schools in the Bulgarian lands 15 th18th Century]. Sofia, 2001.

8 Gadammer, H.-G. Op. cit.

9 Nietzsche, Fr. Unmodern Observations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990, p. 90.10 Ibid., 90-145.


5/29

5

neighbours that followed loss of territories after the two Balkan wars and WW1). Many ofthe concepts about the sufferings are thus preserved and reproduced in the written historywith the claim that it is in them precisely the meaning of Bulgarians histori cal being isencoded. Therefore the horizon of Bulgarian historiography on the Ottoman period turns to

be not only surrounded, but overburdened by myths. The situation fails by far to provide thenecessary pliability to the national culture, but creates complexes instead, rejects thepossibility for perceiving and rationalise the otherness as an inevitable historical result.

It could be objected that our notion of history does not coincide with the infinite desert ofenlightened conscience, deprived of myths. Such enlightenment is, on the contrary,historically conditioned and restricted; it is only a phase in the materialisation of our destiny.H.-G. Gadammer maintains that historical enlightenment misunderstands itself, when itthinks of itself as a freedom of historical conscience, deprived of destiny. Which means:history is what we always have been. It is the necessary thing of our fate.11

The problem, however, is in rationalising the so-called historical destiny. In the Bulgariancase issues seem turned upside down. There the conscience for historicism, burdened bymyths, dominates the historical enlightenment. And if we paraphrase Gadammer, then historyturns to be what we wanted and want to be. In such sense the historical myth, but not history(what we were), becomes the necessary thing in our destiny.

There is something else. When modern humanities raise the issue of the place, role andmeaning of myths in historical knowledge, it imagines times far back in human history,idiosyncratic for primitive thinking (being different from the epoch of scientific thought).This issue, however, appears in a completely different way when we face the enlightened

historical consciences inclination to use mythologems, produced from legends, sagas,anonymous chronicles etc., in order to explain problems it has faced. Most often this endswith modelling of such historical concepts, which we call either a contemporary orhistoriographic myth12, meaning an attempt to reconstruct the past with a questionableresult.

In the Bulgarian historiography on conversion to Islam there are two distinct mythologicallayers. The first one includes the group of the so called "domestic sources", known for itsquestionable authenticity, but accepted by a number of historians as reliable record of theforced conversion to Islam in the Bulgarian lands mainly in the Rhodope Mountains13.Although not many, the said sources served for creating the most popular among Bulgarians

historiographic image of the Ottoman policy for "mass conversion to Islam", impressive withhorrifying actions of armed violence, murders and atrocities. It would be correct to note thatthe "domestic sources" have always caused doubts in the reliability of the described events

11 Gadammer, H.-G. Op. cit.12 This is an apt determination of B. Alexiev for some interpretations of the past of the Rhodope Mountains

population in the historical and ethnologic studies. See Alexiev, B. Rodopskoto naselenie v bulgarskatahumanitaristika [The Rhodopa Mountains population in the Bulgarian Humanities]. Musulmanskiteobshtnosti na Balkanite i v Bulgaria [Muslim communities in the Balkans and in Bulgaria], Sofia, 1997, p.101

13 Cf. Zhelyazkova, A. The Problem of the Authenticity of Some Domestic Sources on the Islamisation of theRhodopes, Deeply Rooted in the Bulgarian History.Etudes Balkaniques, 4, 1990


6/29

6

and the authenticity of their compilation. Way back . Drinov14, examining the famousSecond ruining of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Turks", gives an example for a critical attitudetowards such sources. Firstly he is eager to note that for the short novel about the secondruining of Bulgaria there could be thought that it was written by the pen of Neofit of Hilendar

(Bozveli)15. Drinov does not fail also to mention that the authors source was some unknownnote and that he used it as he liked16. (Bulgarian researchers will later perceive that the"originals" of the domestic sources on conversion to Islam always turn out to be lost, but thishas not caused serious reflections among the majority of historians about their authenticity.

"The information we see herewrote Drinov, - appears at first sight to be questionable, evenincredible..."17 Therefore the scholar subjects the text to a critical analysis, indicating thechronological discrepancies in it and then suggests several cautious versions about thepossible course of events and the development of the situation. Finally Drinov concludes thatwhatever the described devastation, they have not ruined everything from the Black sea to

the town of Vidin, nor have they finished off the Christian population in the DanubianBulgaria to such extent what we are presented with in the short novel". Thus even in thattime, in distant 1884 this outstanding Bulgarian historian leaves an example of adequate forits time attitude towards such sources. But Drinovs allusion, that the Second ruining... isnot an authentic historical text written in the 16th century, but a later work from the epoch ofthe national Renaissance in the 19th century, has not caused any critical approach of thefuture generations towards the domestic sources. Similar evidences, which meanwhile haveappeared and which were intended to show the spread of Islam in the Rhodope Mountain,unhindered and permanently went into a scientific usage and even became some of the mostsolid evidence for the merciless Ottoman policy of forced conversion to Islam.

The staunch critic of the historical myths of conversion to Islam, the Dutch historian M. Kiel,notes that there have been in modern Bulgarian studies some "doubts about the authenticityof such sources, but most historians come to the conclusion that even if the stories about theruining of Bulgaria and the campaign for a forced conversion to Islam contained some errorsin respect of rulers and dates, there was much historical truth in them18. Kiels opponents saythat he is "attempting to break open doors". Because in the Bulgarian historiography of the70s of the 20th century there was a critical attitude towards the most widely spread mythsabout conversion to Islam19. But things are more specific with the Dutch researcher. He now

14 Bulgarian historian and philologist 1838-1906 one of the founders of the modern Bulgarian historiography

and member-founder of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 1869.15 Clergyman and scholar 1785-1848, participant in the struggle for independent Bulgarian Church.16 Drinov, M. Istorichesko osvetlenie varhu statistikata na narodnostite v iztochnata chast na Bulgarskoto

Knyajestvo [Historical lighting on the statistics of the nations in the eastern part of the BulgarianPrincedom]. Periodichno spisanie na Bulgarskoto Istorichesko drujestvo, Book VII, Sofia, 1884, 8-13

17 Ibidem.18 Kiel, M. Razprostranenie na islyama v bulgarskoto selo prez osmanskata epoha (15 18 vek): kolonizaciya

i islyamizaciya [Spread of Islam in the Bulgarian Rural Areas in the Ottoman Period (15 th18th Centuries):Colonisation and Islamisation]. In R. Gradeva, Sv. Ivanova, ed., Musulmanskata kultura po bulgarskite zemi.

Izsledvaniya. [Muslim culture in the Bulgarian lands. Studies], Sofia, 1998, p. 59.19 Dimitrov, Str. Shte imame li nauchni pozicii po problemite na i slyamizaciyata i sadbinite na bulgarite

mohamedani? [Will we have scientific positions on the problems of Islamisation and the destiny of theBulgarian Mohammedans?].Rhodopica, II, No 1, 1999, p. 142.


7/29

7

does not limit himself to remind his Bulgarian colleagues of groundlessness of the domesticsources", but calls them to "tear off the mask of such writings as this was done by otherEuropean nations, which had resorted to falsification of some episodes of their own history,which they disapproved.20

The problem is, however, that myths are not masks of the historical reality, which consciencecould easily tear off, in order to enable the things to appear before us the way they were.Because at the end of every criticism of sources and evidences stands one last criterion ofreliability, which does not depend on anything else, by on what we consider as possible andwhat we are prepared to believe. In this meaning Str. Dimitrov seems to be right, when heunderlines that nothing is capable of erasing the fact that there is a work in the Bulgarianliterary history, titled A chronicle by Priest Methodi Draginov21, which had an exceptionalimpact on the minds and behaviour of Bulgarians in the 19th and 20th centuries and which wason the basis of fatal political and cultural-religious decisions22. It sounds depressing, but the

same author is also right in that every one of those fiction stories have had a greater impacton the public behaviour and ideological development of Bulgarians than, lets say, the worksof Teodor Trayanov23 or Yordan Yovkov24... They will remain as an example of how a fictionstory can cause very serious movements as long as they correspond to some need of thesociety25. It is this need, embodied in the conviction that things have happened exactly inthis manner, described in the domestic sources, outlines the boundaries of the secondmythological layer in the Bulgarian historiography on conversion to Islam.

It is known that the Ottoman registers (Tahrir Defterleri) can provide an approximate notionabout the quantitative indices and rate of spread of Islam in the Balkans. This is, of course,under the condition that we have at our disposal sufficient sources of that kind. It will be

more difficult for us only through observations in the registers to give answer to the question:Why and in what way the number of Muslims grows? If we accept, however, that"domestic sources" are reliable, we have already solved this problem. In these texts theunknown chroniclers inform that conversion to Islam develops at the initiative of the State

20 Kiel, M. Op. cit., p. 81-8221 This is a story about a total violence and massacres, carried out by the Ottoman Turks aimed at forced

conversion of Bulgarians to Islam. The story, which is told on behalf of the non-existent Priest MethodiDraginov, states that in 1669, during the war for conquering the Is land of Crete, a Turkish military expeditionforcibly converted numerous Bulgarian population of the Rhodope Mountain area to Islam. See Zahariev, St.Geografsko-istoriko-statistichesko opisanie na Tatarpazardjishkata kaza [Geographic-historical-statistical

Survey of the kaza of Tatar Pazardzhik]. Vienna, 1870, p. 67-68. This text was subjected to a preciselinguistic and historical analysis, which proved that the text here was not a historical source, but a late forgeddocument, written in the second half of the 19 th century. See Todorov, Il. Letopisniyat razkaz na popMethodi Draginov [The chronicle story by Priest Methodi Draginov]. Starobulgarska literatura, 1984, 67; Zheljazkova, A. Op.cit. At the same time some Bulgarian researchers are convinced even today, that thistext, as well as some other similar ones, is reliable historical sources about the so called Ottoman policy fora mass forced conversion to Islam, see Grozdanova, El., St. Andreev. Falshifikat li e Letopisniyat razkaz napop Methodi Draginov? [Is the chronicle story by Priest Methodi Draginov a forged document?].

Istoricheski pregled, 1993, 2.22 Dimitrov Str. Shte imame li nauchni pozicii? p. 143 23 A poet 1882-1945who used in his works mythological characters, related to the Bulgarians past.24 Writer and playwright.25 Dimitrov Str. Shte imame li nauchni pozicii? p. 143


8/29

8

or of its high ranking officials: During the reign of Sultan Mehmed IV there was an orderthe Bulgarians to be turned Turk26...Historical Notebook); ... certain Mehmed Pashathreatened the mountain villages that on their return they were going to butcher the Christiansif they did not turn to Islam (The Belovo Chronicle); "And Mehmed Pasha with many

janissaries came and gave order to butcher [the population]. Some Kara Imam Hasan Hocabegged the Pasha to forgive them if they converted to Islam. (A Chronicle story by PriestMehtody Draginov).

The same texts also inform how this violence is implemented: "With fire and sword the Turksmanaged and converted to Islam the population in the following villages..." (Historical

Notebook);Come on, what you are still waiting for but not accept Islam? Or perhaps you arewaiting for human heads to start rolling before you? (Saga for the conversion to Islam in the

Razlog region); Mehmed Pasha threatened that ... he was going to butcher the Christians andadvised them to embrace Islam (Chronicle from the Pazardzhik Monastery St. Peter);

During the act of conversion to Islam the Turks... murdered many men, women andchildren, who did not agree to accept Islam" (Historical Notebook); ...all villages in themountain converted to Islam out of mortal fear... Some put up some resistance and then manywere killed so that the others get scared (The Belovo Chronicle); In order to make fun,Imam Hasan made the new converts to demolish al churches from the village of Kostenets tothe town of Stanimaka27 - 33 monasteries and 218 churches. (A Chronicle story by Priest

Mehtody Draginov).

So, domestic sources maintain that conversion of people to Islam took place at theinitiative of the Ottoman State by the use of armed force and terror on large groups ofpopulation. This provides grounds for the Bulgarian historiography of the late 19th and the

early 20th century to create the theory of mass forced conversion to Islam as an official statepolicy of the Ottoman Empire and generations of researchers after that stick to it, adding newnuances. This view does not necessitate any search for new evidence and deepening thestudies on the essence of the religious conversion. It rather requires the probable situation,offered by the myths to be confirmed in the most convincing manner in the spirit of historicalpositivism. Therefore conversion to Islam was subjected to an analysis in the context of theOttoman political and social realities in order to substantiate the fact that violence andreligious intolerance are immanent to the principles on which the Empire was built.

There is one perplexing circumstance in this scheme: the lack of Ottoman sources about

mass and forced conversion to Islam". However, it yields to the general conviction that"domestic sources" are sufficient to compensate the silence of the Ottoman archives; after allno state administration would leave behind any compromising evidence. In such case in thelimelight comes the most important task: the general and too approximate ideas about thespread of Islam, which the fragments of the Ottoman cadastre offer, to be fit to thesituations and the spirit of the Ottoman epoch, described in the Christian chronicles, the socalled "domestic sources".

26 Meaning to be forced to become Muslim. Even in todays generations of Balkan Christians conversion toIslam is equal to becoming Turk.

27 Towns in Bulgaria.


9/29

9

Long and fruitful work has been done in this direction. The last determination was usedwithout any irony in the course of its researches the Bulgarian studies of the Ottomanhistory discovered and processed a large quantity of Ottoman source material, published it inscientific translation, offered original analysis, in some of which the space of the myth is

restricted to the maximum. When, however, researchers historical positivism dries out due tothe lack of sufficient sources, invariably appears the rescuing horizon of "domestic sources".In this relation Str. Dimtrov aptly notes: "Even if we dont want to he wrote, ourconscience is still pestered by episodes of various notes and files Methodi Draginovs, theBelovos chronicler, other unknown literate people about a march of Mehmed Pasha, ofsix Pashas..., about the ruining of everything Bulgarian during that march 28. Therefore thesecond mythological layer is built up on multiple attempts to substantiate with argumentsfrom Ottoman sources origin an imaginary episode of the Bulgarian and Balkan past, called amass forced conversion to Mohammedanism".

It is remarkable that the historical myth situates events almost exclusively in the RhodopeMountain. It is no less remarkable that since one mythologem is legitimised throughhistoriography, it later on turns into a model when explaining the spread of Islam in otherparts of the Balkans, too. Way back in time the enthusiastic Bulgarian researcher of theRhodopean past St. Shishkov extends his conclusions about the character of the religiousconversion in the Rhodope Mountain on the history of the ethno-religious processes in allthose areas, in which the Muslim Turks remain in the places they were born after the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). To him the whole population within the borders of the re-established Bulgarian State consists of Bulgarian Mohammedans beyond any doubt. Heconvincingly maintains that during the Ottoman epoch the people from the towns converted

to Islam lost their language and were quickly assimilated under the influence of the Turkishadministration, while in the villages this process goes in contact with the Turkish settlersfrom Anatolia. For Shishkov Turks in the Deliorman29 and the Eastern Rhodope are alsoresult from this confusion and with the passage of time they have finally turned into aTurkicised Bulgarians, but there still remain Bulgarian national traits. The author adds thatin the Central and the Western Rhodope Mountain this coalescence (Turkification) has notfinished yet. This means that due to the former lack of Anatolian migrants in the mountain,the people converted to Mohammedanism succeeded to preserve their Bulgarian language,this being different from the converts in the towns and the flat lands30. It is remarkable that50 years later this same thesis is still part of the equipment in the course of the forced

assimilation of ethnic Turks in communist Bulgaria).In order to prove the historical reliability of the myths the limited source base of the Ottomanarchive in Sofia was counted on: fragments from the cadastre, a small number of singledocuments and comparatively more abundant documentation related to collection of the poll-

28 Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama v Zapadnite Rodopi i dolinata na reka

Mesta prez 1517 vek [Demographic relations and penetration of Islam in the Western Rhodopa Mountainand the Mesta River Valley in the 15th17th Century].Rodopski sbornik, I, 1965, p. 103.

29 Historical and geographic area in todays Bulgaria with predominantly Turkish -Muslim population.30 Shishkov, St. Bulgaromohamedanite (Pomaci) [The Bulgarian Mohammedans (Pomaks)]. Plovdiv, 1936, p.

10-12.


10/29

10

tax (Cizye)31, payable only by the Christian subjects of the Ottoman state. A lot is said aboutthe interpretation of those materials for the purpose of proving such ungrounded theses 32, butmore could be added. On the following pages I will specifically discuss some of the mostrepresentative historiographic myths, called on to explain different sides of conversion to

Islam in the Western Rhodope Mountain. But before that I would like to draw the readersattention to one more general situation in the Bulgarian studies of the Ottoman history.

It is well known that the Ottoman archive in Sofia - Bulgaria contains numerous documents,related to the collection of the poll-tax (Cizye). In 1942 B. Nedkov paid attention to thesignificance of these sources for studying the history of the Balkans under the Ottoman rule33.His study stirred interest in Turkey and two years after its publication in Germany it appearedon the pages of lleten magazine organ of the Turkish historical society34. N. Todorovmakes the first representative attempt in the field of historical demography by means of useof numerous source materials about Cizye, thus challenging with his work the Turkish

historian . L. Barkan to discuss the issue35

. Meanwhile Str. Dimitrov had successfully useddata from the Cizye registers in order to disclose certain aspects of the demographicdevelopment and the state of the ethno-religious relations in the Western Rhodopes and theMesta River Valley36. Soon after that Hr. Gandev wrote his work The Bulgarian PeopleDuring the 15th Century with the impressive thesis about the demographic catastrophe andthe biological collapse of the Bulgarian people as a result of Ottoman-Turkish conquest.Inbuilt in its base is a material from the detailed inventories of lands and population(Mufassal defterleriand the registers for Cizye. The scientific criticism immediately rejectedthe calculations Gandev made by a total identification of the so-called Mezraas37 withsettlements, which have been destroyed and disappeared. It did not omit to underline the

31 nalck, H. Djizya.Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second edition, vol. II, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965, 562-566.32 Mutafchieva, V. Za tochnite metodi v oblastta na istoricheskata demografiya [On the Quantitative Methods

in the Field of Historical Demography]. Istoricheski pregled, 1973, No 4; Dimitrov, Str. Mezrite idemografskiya kolaps na bulgarskata narodnost [The Mezraas and the Demographic Collapse of theBulgarian People]. Vekove, 1973, No 6; Mutafchieva, V. Oshte za tochnite metodi v istoricheskatademografiya [More on the Quantitative methods in the Field of Historical Demography]. Vekove, 1989,No 1; Alexiev, B. Op. cit.; Kiel, M. Razprostranenie na islyama v bulgarskoto selo...; Radushev, E.Demografski i etnoreligiozni procesi v Zapadnite Rodopi prez 15 18 vek [Demographic and ethno-religious processes in the Western Rhodope Mountain during the 15 th 18th Centuries]. Istoricheskobadeshte, 1998/1. Comp. Dimtrov, Str. Shte imame li nauchni pozicii

33 Nedkoff, B , . Die Cizye Kopfsteuer) im Osmanishen Rein. Mit besonderer Berucksichtigung von

Bulgarien, Leipzig, 1942.34 Nedkov, B., Osmanlmparatorluunda Cizye (Ba Vergisi .Belleten, 8, 1944.35 Todorov, N. Za demografskoto sastoyanie na Balkanskiya poluostrov prez 15 16 vek [On the

demographic situation in the Balkan Peninsula in the 15th 16th Century]. Godishnik na SofiiskiyaUniversitet, FIF, 53, 1965, 2. N. Todorov uses in his work a register for collecting Cizie taxin Roumeliain 1489-1491, kept in the Sofia Ottoman archive in the St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library,Oriental Deptartment (hereinafter referred to as NLOD), 214/5. . L. Barkan found some shortcomingsin Todorovs work and subjected it to a serious critical analysis. For that purpose the Turkish researcherpublished a Cizye register, which is a year older than the one kept in Sofia. See Barkan, .L. 894(1488/1489) YlCizyesinin Tahsilatna ait Muhasebe Bilanolari.Belgeler, Cilt I, Say 1, 1964.

36 Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya...37 nalck, H. Osmanl mparatorluunun Ekomomik ve Sosyal Tarihi. Cilt I, 1300-1600, stanbul 2000, 209-

215.


11/29

11

questionable results in the historical and demographic reconstructions achieved on thegrounds of data related to the collection ofCizye tax38. Actually Hr. Gandev himself felt theshortcomings of the documentation about this tax, since he determined the methods of theOttoman registrars as a strange manipulation, an absurd fact, the randomness of the

figured data etc.39

This situation is very indicative in the following aspect: Bulgarian historiography of the 60sof the last century seems ready to declare its attitude towards the ethno-religious anddemographic consequences of the Ottoman conquest and to substantiate it in a convincingmanner. The use of the so-called quantitative methods processing, observations andanalyses of a mass statistical material, is most appropriate for this purpose. The source baseon which this could be realised is clear: the Ottoman detailed inventories and tax registers 40.The detailed inventories of lands and population are unquestionable prerogatives, but it isknown that sources of that type in the Sofia archive are not abundant. Predominant are

fragments of various years;such material could mislead the researcher rather than be of anyuse to him41. Thus the only possibility to work with mass data sources turned to be theregisters for collecting the Cizye tax. Notwithstanding the weaknesses found, the initialresults seemed hopeful prospects. This was even more so, taking into consideration the factthat those were weaknesses of the methods implemented by individual authors, but not of thesources themselves.

By the way, the prominent Turkish researcher . L. Barkan, who had the prerogative to makeuse of the immense Istanbul archive, emphasised in 1964 the great value of the Cizyeregisters for historic and demographic studies. But he also pointed out three unfavourablecircumstances, which researchers must take into consideration: this kind of tax registers do

not cover the waqfreaya it was subject to a separate registration; part of the population,having the so called special obligations to the State like, for example, the Christianvoynuks, who simply do not pay Cizye;and finally the most important one it is not clearwhat was the connotation the Ottoman financial services put into the fiscal category Cizyehane, which is a basic one for statistical calculations42. I would add here that the sourcesabout Cizye provide notion only about the processes among the Christian and the Jewishpopulation. So, the reconstructed demographic picture will always appear incomplete, if ameans to discover the actual trends among Muslims is not found, too.

Anything else notwithstanding, until quite recently those sources had no alternative at least

for the Bulgarian researchers of the demographic and ethno-religious developments. This iseven more so, taking into consideration the fact, that from the beginning of the 17 century theOttomans gradually abandoned their tradition to maintain the detailed cadastre about the

38 Dimitrov, Str. Mezrite i demografskiya kolaps...; Mutafchieva, V. Za tochnite metodi...39 Gandev, Hr.Bulgarskata narodnost prez 15 vek[The Bulgarian People During the 15 th Century]. Sofia, 1972,

p. 125, 127 passim.40About them see nalck, H. Osmanl mparatorluunun Ekomomik ve Sosyal Tarihi, 175-182.41 Comp. Mutafchieva, V. Za tochnite metodi..., p. 137.

42 Barkan, . L. 894 (1488/1489) Yl Cizyesinin Tahsilatina ait Muhasebe Bilanolar, 3-5.


12/29

12

lands and the population43, the so-called Tapu tahrir defterleri. This is one more reason forsome historians to pay even greater attention to the Cizye sources. This permanent scientificinterest in the Bulgarian experts on Ottoman history to this kind of documentation foundexpression in two representative volumes, containing scientific translations of materials from

the Sofia archive collection and numerous studies of the demographic processes in theBulgarian and Balkan space under Ottoman rule44.

Among all unfavourable circumstances, related to Cizye and pointed out so far, one poses animmediate threat to the already done historic and demographic reconstructions, to bequalified as a historiographic myth. These are the observations on the neglected hithertodemographic parameters, characterising the Muslim component of the population in theOttoman Balkans. Let us see what it is all about.

Considering the fact that there is not even an approximate clarity on the issue of the nature ofthe demographic processes among the heterogeneous by its religious features population on

the Peninsula, any definite conclusion concerning the reasons for the drop of its Christiancomponent would look dubious. Let us take as an example the established sharp decrease ofCizye hanes in the Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule for the period of the 40s of the 17 thcentury onwards. In case we attribute this to conversion to Islam, then there should beobserved a relevant increase of the number of Muslim population. As a matter of fact someBulgarian experts on Ottoman history are not far from the idea that the situation during theperiod in question is characterised with loss of ethnos ...as a result ofmass repressions, itsconversion to Islam and Turkification or banishing it beyond the boundaries of the Bulgarianlands or the Ottoman Empire in general45. As for reasons, such as epidemics, naturalcalamities, famine etc. they do not provide any ground to maintain that particularly sharp

and strongly expressed drop of the number of non-Muslim households can be explainedwith this demographic factor or at least only with it.46 Because all this should have an impactof no lesser force on the number of Muslim households in this same territory (i.e. theBulgarian lands; my note, E.R.). Instead, the number of Muslim households hereuncontrollably increases at a rate, which could not be explained neither with the traditional

polygamy among the Mohammedans, nor with any other reasons of natural character.47

Obviously the author of these lines E. Grozdanova must prove the following situation: thenumber of the Christians decreases for the account of increase of the Muslims' one. For this

purpose here she directs readers towards researchers contribution, which can only convince

that this phenomenon is documented in detail with figures for the preceding 16th

centurybold is mine, E.R.48 But it is not clear how we could find out whether the situation in the

43 Cf. nalck, H. Military and fiscal transformationin the Ottoman Empire, 1600-1700. ArchivumOttomanicum, VI, 1980, 283-237.

44 For a detailed bibliographic reference and analysis of the individual contributions see Grozdanova, .Bulgarskata narodnost prez 17 vek[The Bulgarian people in the 17th century]. Sofia, 1989, 17-34.

45 Grozdanova, E. Promeni v demografskiya oblik na bulgarskite zemi prez 17 vek [Changes in thedemographic pattern of the Bulgarian lands in the 17th Century].Istoricheski pregled, 1985, No 7, p. 31.

46 Grozdanova, E.Bulgarskata narodnost..., p. 544.47 Grozdanova, Promeni v demografskiya oblik..., p. 31.48 Ibidem.


13/29

13

next, 17th century is the same.

It is true that on the pages of the detailed registers from the 16 th Century historians note anincrease of the Muslim population in a number of Balkan towns and villages. This, to a

certain extent, is also due to the religious conversion among the local Christians. There are,however, almost no such sources for the 17 th century and this is not because the Bulgarianarchive has no such sources, but because the Ottomans had simply stopped compiling them.It is also true that the documentation related to Cizye indicates a decrease of the Christianpopulation during the 17th century. But being different from the documentation of the

preceding century, where the name son of Abdullah orients towards the first generation ofnew Muslims, the Cizye registers provide no cause for a definite certainty that the reducednumber of Christians is result of the conversion to Islam only. So, we are being persuaded toaccept by analogy and on trust the thesis about losses of ethnos", caused by repressions andmass forced conversion to Islam only.

But is there anything preventing us from also accepting the fact that Cizye hanes decrease notonly due to the conversion to Islam, but also for reasons of demographic nature? In order tounderstand why some researchers refrain from this option it will be necessary to examine ingreater detail an example from the history ofCizye in the Western Rhodope Mountain in thefirst half of the 17th century.

This area with its intrinsic strong conversion to Islam, as a matter of fact offers the bestpossibilities for conclusions of the kind of the one decrease for the account of the increaseof the others here this situation can be really proven49. This is possible, of course, if thenecessary source material is available. Until quite recently Bulgarian historians did not have

such at their disposal; it occurred only after the depositories of Ottoman archives of Bulgariaand Turkey started a mutual cooperation50. Until then studies had to be satisfied with severaldocuments on collecting the Cizye tax in the kaza of Nevrekop in the 17th century. Thislimited material offers the following modest information concerning the number of taxableunits (Cizye hane):

Number of hanes in the Nevrekop area according to documents for the Cizye tax

in the period 1616-166551

Taxation District 1616

Hanes

1623-1625

Hanes

1636

Hanes

1654-1655

Hanes

1656-1657

Hanes

1660

Hanes

1664-1665

Hanes

VilayetofNevrekop 1493 No data No data 2053 2053 1553 1553

49 Cf. Radushev E. Demographische und ethnographische Prozesse in den Wesrodopen im 15-18 Jr.Bulgarian Historical Review, 3-4, 2002, . 3-49

50 See Radushev E. Introduction. In Radushev E., Kovachev R., ed. Inventory of Registers from the OttomanArchive in Istanbul at the General Directorate of State Archives in the Republic of Turkey. Sofia, 1996.

51 Cf. Turski izvori za bulgarskata istoriya [Turkish sources of Bulgarian history]. Publication of the GeneralDirectorate of Archives under the Council of Ministers (hereinafter referred to as GDA). C., 2001, p. 282-284


14/29

14

Supplement to

Nevrekop52

2043 1611 1623

It is not clear what is the meaning of the existence of two tax areas Vilayetof Nevrekopand Supplement to Nevrekop. It is not clear what territory they cover separately either, butundoubtedly together they cover all villages with Christian population in the area in question.Until recently, however, there was nowhere to find out their number. In the registers forlevying Cizye of the 17th century, kept in the Sofia Ottoman archive, we will find about 50villages at the most53. Does this represent the whole network of settlements in the kaza ofNevrekop?

According to the detailed registers of the 15th16th century kept in the Istanbul OttomanArchive, the kaza of Nevrekop included nearly 130 villages with Christian population. If in

the 17

th

century only 50 of them remain in the registers for Cizye, the possible reasons for thisare two: either 80 settlements cease to exist due to some demographic reason (this seemsunbelievable), or their population has converted to Islam. As a matter of fact the detailed andsynoptic registers of the Western Rhodope Mountain clearly disclose a mass conversion ofthe local Christians to Islam a permanent voluntary process, which has started back in the60s of the 15th century54. Thus in early 17th century the population of at least half of those130 villages was already completely Muslim55. Therefore from here onwards the drop in thenumber ofCizye hanes discloses nothing more than the course of the religious conversion inits final stage. It is right here where the Bulgarian research practice suggests severalimpressive historiographic myths.

The above Table indicates that until the 30s of the century the number ofCizye hanesin the"Supplement" declines by 420. There is no data preserved about the Vilayet but inevitablythere is a process of decline there, too. This becomes clear from the fact that by the 40s ofthe 17th century the Ottoman administration removestheSupplement to Nevrekop, unitingall settlements, where there still remained payers of Cizye tax, in a single taxation district The Vilayet of Nevrekop. Here it is very important to remember that the change of thefiscal division occurs sometime in the late 30s or in the early 40s of the 17 th century. Let ussee now what kind of villages remain on the list of the taxation district called The V ilayetof

Nevrekop.

In the absence of sufficient of sources it was not possible until recently to subject the courseof conversion to Islam in the Western Rhodope Mountain to a situational analysis. Thedocumentation available failed to provide more information than the fact that in the first half

52 In the Turkish originaltetimme-i Nevrekop53 The documents are published in the Turski izvori za bulgarskata istoriya [Turkish sources of Bulgarian

history]. Publication of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Vol. VII, p. 200, 303-304. See also Turski izvori zabulgarskata istoriya (GDA), p. 41-42, 233, 249, 292, 325

54 Babakanlk Osmanl Arivi hereafter referred to as BOA, TD 3, TD 7, TD 70, TD 403, TD 167, KuK 194Ankara.

55 Radushev, E. Pomacite. Hristiyanstvo i islyam v Zapadnite Rodopi s dolinata na r. Mesta, 15 30-te godinina 18 vek [The Pomaks. Christianity and Islam in the Western Rhodope Mountains and the Valley of theMesta River from the 15thc. to the 1730s.]. Sofia, 2005, 348-375.


15/29

15

of the 17th century Cizye hanes dropped by about 1/3 of the total number of settlements in thearea. This was unconditionally adopted as a certain sign of a mass and forced conversion toMohammedanism. Then the assertion that Islam is about to gain an easy victory even wherethere still existed larger or smaller groups of Christians and Cizye is paid, seems logical56. But

the recently extended source base discloses development, which is contrary to theexpectations: it is precisely this 1/3 part of the villages in the region in question, whichpermanently retains the Christian content of its population. The detailed inventory of the kazaof 1723 informs that almost all villages in the Cizye region, updated in 1660, are stillChristian or with predominantly Christian population57. In the second half or the 17th centuryonly several of them completely converted to Islam: the villages Kornitsa, Breznitsa andLajnitsa, located in the eastern slopes of the Pirin Mountain, as well as some of the villages inthe Rhodope area, such as Ribnovo, Osikovo and Bukovo According to the detailedregisters of the 16th century, conversion in those settlements has already begun in the firstdecades of the same century. Therefore their final turning to Islam is a natural end of aprocess, which has continued for more than 100 years. As far as the other settlements areconcerned they, according to the sources, remain Christian or predominantly Christian untilthe end of the Ottoman rule in this area.58 This is also proven by the immediate observationsof S. Verkovich59 and V. Kanchov60 .

Therefore, it could be confidently said that somewhere about the mid-17th century apermanent content of some 40 to 50 villages in the Nevrekop region, which remain asidefrom the process of religious conversion. In some of them goes a partial conversion and theyform the large group of mixed in the religious meaning) villages. Important in this case isthe fact that they all belong to the list for collection of Cizye, which we named The Vilayet

of Nevrekop. From here on, if we have to discuss the reduction of hanes which followed, itwould be more logical to set store on the demographic factors than on conversion to Islam(without, of course, excluding some individual cases of religious conversion). What are thegrounds for that?

In our table we find the Vilayet in 1654-1655 to have 2,054 hanes, while in 1616 theirnumber was 1493. An increase of the taxpayers? The answer of this question will wait for awhile. Let us see now what is happening to the Supplement. In 1616 there was 2,043hanes. The subsequent registrations also indicate how many villages this fiscal region covers:29 for the period 1623-163661. During that period a certain stabilisation takes place in thenumber of taxpayers, if there is a slight increase of the number of hanesfrom 1,611 to 1,623after the sharp drop of 400 hanesbetween 1616-1623). I mentioned above that there had to

56 Comp. Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama..., p. 104-108.57 Cf. BOA, Mevkufat Kalemi 287358 BOA, ML. VRD. CMH. 21059 Verkovich, S. Topografichesko-etnograficheskiy ocherk Makedonii [Topographic and ethnographic sketch of

Macedonia]. St. Petersburg, 1889.60 Kanchov, V. Patuvane po dolinite ns Mesta, Struma i Bregalnica [A trip in the valleys of the rivers Struma,

Mesta and Bregalnitsa]. Sbornik za narodni umotvoreniya nauka i knijnina, Vol. XXIII, 1894-1896.61 Turski izvori za bulgarskata istoriya, Vol. VII, p. 303-304; Turski izvori za bulgarskata istoriyaGDA, p.

40-42


16/29

16

be remembered the circumstance, that in the late 30s or the early 40s of the century therewas a change in the content of the Nevrekop taxation region for Cizye, as a result of whichthe so called Supplement to Nevrekop was liquidated. This by far does not mean that the29 villages drop from the tax collection lists, i.e. they have turned to Islam. On the contrary,

together with another 21 villages they formed a sole taxation district, which remained underthe name TheVilayetof Nevrekop. Therefore in the first four decades of the 17 th centurythe number of Cizye taxpayers in the Ottoman kaza ofNevrekop have dropped to such anextent that this imposed a merger of the two taxation regions, which existed until then.Numerically expressed this reduction looks, as follows: from a total of 3,536 hanes for theVilayet and the Supplement in 1616 down to 2,053 hanes in 1654-55, or a drop of41.9% for a period of 38 years. Obviously it is necessary here to think, before everythingelse, about a process of voluntary conversion to Islam, in which whole settlements drop outof the taxation lists. In the taxation district, whose scope is narrowed, remain 50 villages. Butwhat is their further fate, are they also involved in the powerful conversion process?

Of course, the process develops here, too we already mentioned that in the course of thenext decades several out of the 50 villages in question become completely Muslim. This,however, gives no grounds whatsoever to maintain, ...that it is these three already saidpossible reasons for the sharp drop in the number of Cizye hanes - mass repressions,conversion to Mohammedanism and Turkification, have worked with a particular forcewithin the interval between 1616 and the 60s70s of the century in question62. Things donot change even due to the significant fact that between 1656-1660 the number of Cizyehanesin the Nevrekop region sharply drops from 2,053 to 1,553 (see the Table . The drop of500 hanes within such a short period of 4 years is so impressive, that the outstanding

supporter of the idea of a massive forced conversion to Mohammedanism P. Petrovcategorically concludes: Undoubtedly this could have happened by means of forcedIslamisation.63 Str. Dimitrov is not far from that thought, either: "Thus in the mid-17thcentury the Christian religion in those lands suffered a total disaster. Any other definitionhere would be incomplete... At about mid-17 century the Bulgarian population in the WesternRhodope Mountain and the Nevrekop area were subjected to a new strong attack forconversion to Mohammedanism, which inflicted great damages64. It was this Bulgarianhistorian who discovered in the archives the register for collecting the Cizye tax in the kaza ofNevrekop in 1660, where we read the following significant text:

In the list of the infidel within the jurisdiction of the kaza of Nevrekop there

were formerly 2,053 Cizye hanes, but a large part of the tax payers have eitherdied or have run away and such quantity of Cizye was beyond the payingcapabilities of the remaining infidels. Some time ago this was reported to theCapital, from where was condescended 500 hanes to be reduced. Theremaining 1,553 hanes according to the almighty sublime order and accordingto an agreement between the ayans of the Vilayet and the reaya tax wasimposed on the villages, capable of paying and those which could not pay, had

62 Grozdanova, E. Promeniv demografskiya oblik..., p. 31.63 Petrov, P. Sadbonosni vekove za bulgarskata narodnost [Crucial centuries for the Bulgarian Nation] Sofia,

1975, p. 17964 Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama..., p. 104 - 108


17/29

17

their tax reduced. This is the new corrected list, written on the first day of themonth ofReceb 1070 13.03.1660.65

Then follows the list of 51 villages in the Nevrekop area, with Cizye taxpayersin them.

This text is so clear that it excludes any interpretations for a purposeful action for forcedconversion to Islam. But it is possible to think about mass repressions (see above one of thethree reasons of E. Grozdanova), which quite suits the prevailing notion about a stormycentury of Bulgarian history under Ottoman yoke...66, when in the second half of the 17thcentury a heavy blow was served to the Bulgarian people..., a time of a great flight of thepopulation and of its forced conversion to Mohammedanism67. The impact of causes, suchas epidemics, natural calamities, hunger, military activities etc. is deemed modest and to acertain extent controversial: In the end epidemics, hunger, natural calamities etc. are not a

factor, which could act selectively, i.e. to cause reduction of only the non-Muslim and anincrease of the Muslim population (authors italics)68. This conclusion, referred to ourconcrete case, requires evidence that the dying off and fleeing had involved both Christiansand Muslims to an equal degree. But in the scarcity of sources this somehow seemsimpossible...

For some time now the Dutch expert on Ottoman history . iel is persuading his Bulgariancolleagues to take into consideration the difficult climatic conditions in the 17th century called the "Little Ice Age as one of the factors, which in combination with the process ofvoluntary conversion to Islam contributed to the drop of Cizye hanes, observed in theregisters. In one of his last papers he even offered us a short bibliography of works on therole of the climate in history.69 On these pages Kiel also performs some observations on thedemographic indices of the Christian and the Muslim population in the area of the town ofZlatitsa70 in order to establish that during the period 1580-1642 the number of Christiansthere dropped by half, while that of Muslims by 36%. For Kiel this drop is due to twofactors: 1. Worsened weather conditions a sharp spell of cold weather, which increases thedeath rate and forces a part of the population to migrate down towards the warmer plains.This situation equally involves Christians and Muslims; 2. The greater decline on the numberof Christians in the area is also due to a certain voluntary conversion to Islam, which theDutch scholar discovers and follows on the pages of the Ottoman cadastre from the period inquestion.71 This demographic reconstruction stands quite convincingly mostly because M.Kiel made an effort to make observations on the development of the two religious groups.Isit possible to do something similar for the Western Rhodope Mountain?

65 NLOD, F. 126A, a.e. 9.66 Grozdanova, E. Promeni v demografskiya oblik..., p. 2167Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama..., p. 30-31.68 Grozdanova, .Bulgarskata narodnost..., p. 545.69 Kiel, M. Izladi / Zlatitsa. Population Changes. Colonization and Islamisation in a Bulgarian Mouintain Area,

15th19thCenturies. In Studia in Honorem Professoris Verae Mutafcieva. Sofia., 2001, 182-183.70 Town in the Province of Sofia.71 Kiel, M. Izladi / Zlatitsa..., p. 178-179


18/29

18

Although insufficient for making a detailed picture, the available sources still indicate thatthe 17th century, particularly its second half, offered quite unfavourable living environmentfor the whole population of the kaza of Nevrekop. Several years after the Istanbul officesreduced 500 hanes the Christians liability to pay Cizye, the authorities are induced to also

reduce the burden for the taxpayers ofAvariz, which means that this measure now coveredthe whole reaya of the kaza - Christians and Muslims. A reduction by 200 hanes was made,which corresponds to approximately 500-600 households72. It is difficult to say what exactlymade the central authorities to take such action, but one thing is clear: there was absence inthe Nevrekop region of tax payers for 200 hanesof theAvariztax (they have either died orhave fled wasnt that the same argument for the reduction in the case ofCizye hanes?!).

Assumptions get a more specific outline from the following order of the Sultan concerningthe Avariz taxation in 1723: ...In the kaza of Nevrekop there are 1200 Avariz hanes, butsome time ago on the occasion of the passing of military marches the situation in the area

was complicated and a decision was made that until those marches cease, the populationsobligations to pay Avariz and Nuzul was reduced by 1/3. In the year 1100 [26.10.1688 -14.10.1689] the said 1/3, representing 400 hanes, was deducted73, while the remaining 800haneswere once more reduced by 13 hanes. The reaya, which fled due the military activitiesand returned home after they cease, found its property plundered by the remaining populationof the kaza. The reaya thus plundered is not capable of paying their dues to the State. Suchcoercions must be forbidden and not allowed anymore.74

Some additional details related to the situation in the Western Rhodope Mountain offers areport of the kadi of Nevrekop to the central authorities, which caused the issue of the aboveorder of the Sultan. It is very indicative, because it offers the view of the population itself on

its own situation: ...the population of the kaza was asked about its situation. The peoplestated: most of our villages are located in mountainous and rocky areas, while the plot is inmany cases unsuitable for agricultural activities. Apart from that in the years 1110[10.07.1698 - 28.06.1699] and 1130 [5.12.1717 - 23.11.1718] most villages suffered horribleplague, many of the people fled to other places because of the military forces, passingthrough the kaza. Therefore we cannot find a way to pay the requiredAvariz hanes75.

It turns out that during the last quarter of the 17 th and the beginning of the 18 th Century thepopulation of the Nevrekop area were befallen by the most horrible dangers, which stalkedthe people then the black death (plague) and the military forces, passing through the

region. Both disasters made no difference between Christians and Muslims, therefore theconsequences for the whole population of the kaza were devastating. The detailed registerfrom 1723 suggests the picture of a real demographic disaster. The initial impression ofdisastrous events comes from the numerous heads of households, entered into the diseasedcolumn, whose properties are ticked as desolate, destroyed. Along with this attention is

72 Comp. NLOD, D 368 with F.126, a.e. 9473 Obviously the financial offices have made a mistake. We saw that the initial reduction by 200 khanes was

made some time in the late 60searly 70s of the century. In the 80s two new consecutive reductions byanother 200 and then by 13 more hanesfollow.

74 BOA, Mevkufat Kalemi 287375 Ibidem.


19/29

19

drawn towards the disproportionately large number of widows in almost every village nomatter whether Christian or Muslim one. Here and there are entered wounded and disabledMuslims. There is an abundance of ticks runaway concerning both religious groups.Emblematically, however, is the mass exodus of Muslims from their motherland, which

became too dangerous for them. A note to the inventory of the village of Rashovo says:

Hamlet Dere Gl, which is part of the said village [Rashovo]. In 1127[07.01.1715 - 26.12 1715] the population of the said hamlet ran away andcurrently, according to information, lives in two newly established villages in thekazaof Filibe76.

These are not the usual observations of the clerks, engaged in tax registration, through whichthey periodically establish the current changes in the number of taxpayers. Before us arefindings about damages, inflicted by a sequence of force majeure circumstances, in respect ofwhich the financial office is forced to also react extraordinarily, reducing the number of

taxable units (hanes) within the whole kaza. Important in this case is the fact that thismeasure is applied to the whole population, regardless itsreligious affiliations.

We saw here above that such reductions are also implemented in the collection of the Cizyetax. So far the most complete observations on the documentation related to the Bulgarianlands disclose that in the course of the 17th century the ethnos not only failed to gain anynatural growth, but for one reason or another at least 1/3 of the initially registered non -Muslim households disappear from the Cizye taxation lists77. Thus the circle closes andwe are again faced with the question: what was the reason for the decline of the number ofhanes, respectively Christian population?

So far I have tried to convince the readers that the way out of this circle is the broadening ofthe source base of the research. Each historical and demographic study includes conversion toIslam among the factors, determining the development of the Balkan Christians underOttoman rule. The lack of an appropriate documentation, which could provide a most generalnotion about the Muslim population (which the Cizye registers provide about Christians), isregarded by researchers as an obstacle for establishing an eventual transition from the one tothe other religious community78. In other words, the research practice meets difficulties indetermining the Christians-Muslim ratio, without which it is impossible to convincinglysubstantiate the eventual transition to Islam as the main reason for the drop in the numbersof Christian population. But these also mean that beyond the perimeter of observations or at

least along their periphery remain the neglected reasons of demographic nature. Therefore thedoubts that the quantitative analyses, carried out on the limited base ofCizye documentationmost often lead to unsubstantiated conclusions seem fully justified.

Doubts grow stronger due to the circumstance that this kind of studies bring some additionalargumentation from the famous for the lack of any historical reliability domestic sources forforced Mohammedanisation. These normally appear where there are insufficient argumentsin favour of the conclusion that the drop in the demographic indices is due to a large extent to

76 Ibidem.77 Grozdanova, E.Bulgarskata narodnost..., p. 52678 Ibid., p. 40


20/29

20

the Ottoman policy of mass and forced conversion to Mohammedanism. Thus theintentions to combine the positive historical knowledge with storylines of a legendary origininvariably turn the research process into fabricating historiographic fallacies.

It must be pointed out here that a historiographic myth comes to life not only by means ofinvolving sources of questionable historical value. This also occurs the other way around by interpreting the Ottoman source material in view of proving fabricated theories. Let usconsider this version.

Despite the recent incomplete concept of the quantitative dimensions of the conversion toIslam in the Western Rhodope Mountain, a long time ago the Bulgarian historiographyadopted the notion of the disastrous extent of this process. The Sultans order of 1660 forreduction of the number ofCizye hanesin the Nevrekop region by 500from 2,053 to 1,553,make things look even gloomier in the eyes of some researchers. We saw that P. Petrovconcluded without any hesitation: this undoubtedly could have happened by means of forced

Mohammedanisation". But we also saw that the Ottoman document unambiguously pointsout dying off and fleeing of the reaya as the reason for reducing the hanes. Let usremember that those events took place in the already narrowed Nevrekop taxation district forCizye, for which we said to include about 50 villages, most of which retain as Christian tillthe end of the Ottoman epoch. This is a very important fact, which comes to suggest that wehave to trust the information provided by the Ottoman clerk about dying off and fleeing,i.e. to accept that the drop is due to nothing else but demographic reasons.

The discoverer of this documentStr. Dimitrovassumes in his interpretation that the clerkhas intentionally omitted some important circumstances. According to him there had to be

an extremely important reason leading to the more difficult situation of the Nevrekopregion79. One may say that everyday life could hardly bring about anything more extremein its nature than the dying off and fleeing. The intention has apparently been, however, toexplore whether there was a real relationship between the sharp drop in the Cizye hanes andthe situations rendered in the myths of mass and forced Mohammedanisation in theRhodope Mountain, because the notes in the domestic sources relate the extinction ofthe Bulgarian population in the Western Rhodope Mountain not only to its fleeing, butmainly to its Mohammedanisation by force80.

It should be noted, however, that there is a substantial difference in time between the sharpdrop in the Cizye hanes in 1660 and the fabricated tragic events in the Rhodope Mountain,

described in the domestic sources. In addition to that, an Ottoman document from the same1660 discloses an identical situationof dying off and fleeing in the neighbouringkaza ofRazlog. The authors are more detailed so that the text does not leave to doubt the existence ofanything concealed or distorted. The immediate proximity of both kazas, the absolutecoincidence of the time of the described circumstances (the documents from Nevrekop andRazlog date back not only to the same year, but also to the same month), reveals that thesituations in the two neighbouring regions had been the identical.

79 Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama..., p. 103.80 Ibidem.


21/29

21

The document from Razlog was compiled by the learned people, imams, janissaries, spahisand other poor and weak people and the reaya, living in the kaza. All of them inform thecapital of the following:

When the [Christian] reaya in the vilayet[the Razlog taxation district] wereenlisted, there were 883 Cizye hanes registered. Nevertheless, since the timewhen the reaya was listed until this day, some had left their homes for otherplaces, some had died, so that half of those entered into the new imperialregister taxpayers ofCizye are not present. Those who fled more than 10 yearsago have already dispersed and have been lost as taxpayers. Therefore we askfor benevolence [so that all such people are removed from the register].

The statement of the local notable people and the Christian reaya was taken into account bythe financial authorities in the capital and reflected in the following resolution:

Some [of the tax payers] have died, others have left their homes and moved

elsewhere, and most of the remaining reaya have grown too poor to pay suchan amount ofCizye hanes. As a sign of condescension towards the situation ofthe poor reaya, 120 Cizye hanes are to be reduced81.

Here are the most important details set out in the picture so far: 1. The number of theChristian population in the Western Rhodope Mountain sharply declined. According to theanalysis of the Ottoman sources it may turn out that this decline considerably exceeds whathas been believed until now; 2. One of the reasons for that is the conversion to Islam, butobviously it is not the only one. The Ottoman sources from the preceding 16 th centuryactually provide adequate information on the spread of Islam among the Christian populationin the Western Rhodope Mountain, the reasons being mainly of economic character. Even if

we cannot follow the progress of this process into the 17th century (there is no sufficientnumber of reliable sources), the documentation from the previous period is adequate enoughto give an idea of the ongoing developments; 3. It is absolutely clear, however, that variouscauses of demographic nature have also had effect on the decrease of the Christianpopulation. In many cases their importance is even crucial.

Consequently, the issue here is not whether or not any Balkan Christians converted to Islamduring the Ottoman rule. Regarding the region of the Western Rhodope Mountain inparticular, the source materials, discovered recently, undoubtedly prove that there took placea prolonged voluntary process of conversion to Islam comprising large groups of the local

Christian population. Consequently the conversion had a mass character as a number ofBulgarian researchers insist. Then, there remains the issue about the technology of religiousconversion. It ceases to exist, however, if we trust credulous the allegations of the domesticsources that the Ottoman government had designed special terrorist actions for mass andforced production of Muslims. Actually, the sharp decrease of the number ofCizye hanes inthe Ottoman sources has been interpreted until now as a sign of the massMohammedanisation attained through violence on a regular basis. What is more, the effectof the demographic factors has been deemed unsubstantial as a rule.

81 NLOD, F. 128, a.e.9. The full text of the documents is translated by Str. Dimitrov and published in Rodoskisbornik, Vol. I, Sofia, 1965, 319-322.


22/29

22

Str. Dimitrov, who is the first to establish that around 1660 the number of the Cizye hanes inthe Western Rhodope Mountain had sharply dropped, highlights the fact that the Ottomannarrative sources from that period do not provide any evidence on the forced Islamisation ofBulgarians there. Even the eloquent Evliya elebi, who crossed the Western Rhodope

Mountain during the 50s and 60s of the same century, did not mention a word of theChristian populations lot and events from that region.82

Shall we finally accept that the Ottoman authorities are too embarrassed to talk due to theincurred evil and only the domestic sources are to be trusted in their representation of thesituation in its true dramatic light? Here the issue of the chronology of the events turns out to

be really of crucial importance. The apparent lack of coincidence in time doesnt allow thecatastrophic situations described in the domestic sources to be confirmed by the availableevidence contained in the Ottoman documentation. However, in the context of therepresentation of the Ottoman rule, adopted in the Bulgarian historiography, it is possible to

believe that the people flee and perish due to the regular violent measures against theChristian population; it is implied that the survivors are faced by only one choice toembrace Islam. In that respect P. Petrov offers the following interpretation: the forcedMohammedanisation in the Nevrekop region in 16 th century continued at the same rate alsoduring the next century and only for the period 1635-1660 the Bulgarian Christian populationshrunk by over 40%. The apogee, however, according to the ideas ofthis author, was still tocome, because the mass forced Mohammedanisation in the Central Rhodopes in 1669 hadundoubtedly also affected Nevrekop Region in the western part of the mountain. The fact thatthe Sultan came hunting in Dospat83 in the spring of 1671 shows that there were no Christiansremained in that region anymore84.

The described situation of some imagined Islamisation pressure in the Nevrekop Regionrelies on limited but chronologically orientated source materials. The first chronologicalmarker is called Nevrekop Region on the eve of the second85 mass forcedMohammedanisation. This is the well-known register for collection of Cizye tax from 51villages in the Nevrekop Region in 1660 where we see the number of the hanes sharplydropped. The next marker is the second mass forced Mohammedanisation itself, i.e. theimaginary Islamisation pressure in 1669, described by the non-existent priest Methodi

82 Dimitrov, Str., Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na islyama..., p. 103,83

Pastoral area in the Western Rhodope Mountain.84 Petrov, P. Sadbonosni vekove..., p. 179. The connection between the Sultans hunting and the so called massforced Mohammedanisation in 1669 is not clear here. Apparently the mountain inhabited by BulgarianChristians had inspired Sultan Mehmed IV with respect and avoided visiting this region during his huntingexpeditions. Two years after the fictitious mass and forcible conversion of the mountain people to Islam, heseemed to be visiting the Rhodope Mountain undaunted. Actually, the witness of the events and also theirchronicler Sar Mehmed Pasha does not mention anything like that: In that happy year we had notplanned any military expeditions and His Majesty wished to spend the summer at a pleasant place with niceair and water. He was told about the high mountain pastures in the Dospat Region and on 16 Muharrem 1082[25.V.1671] were ordered to head for that place. Cf. Defterdar Sar Mehmed Paa. Zbde-i Vekayat(1066-1116/1656-1704). Tahlil ve Metin. Ankara, 1995, 17-18.

85 As first one is considered the mass "conversion to Mohammedanism", reported in the legendary story of the"ruin of Bulgaria" during the reign of sultan Selim I (1515). See Petrov, P. Po sledite na nasilieto [On theFootsteps of Terror]. Sofia, 1972, p. 204-206.


23/29

23

Draginov86 (from P. Petrov we understood that the pressure in question had undoubtedlyalso affected Nevrekop Region). The third chronological marker is an Ottoman documentfrom 1671 that allegedly discloses the consequences from the events of 1669 and thereforesome Bulgarian historians called it as The villages in the Nevrekop Region after the second

mass forced Mohammedanisation87.

It is clear that the mythologem of mass repressions and armed violence against the Christianpopulation in that mountain underlies the historiographic representation of the Islamisation inthe Rhodope Mountain, plotted and put into practice by the Ottoman authorities. Up to thispoint it was demonstrated that the attempts to prove the authenticity of these events using theOttoman archive sourcesmainly documentation concerned with the Cizye taxdo not yielda convincing result. This increases the value of the document from 1671. It was issued by thelocal authorities and therefore reveals events at first hand. Actually from here is expectedthe appearance of undisputed evidence that the Bulgarians from the Western Rhodope

Mountain had been directly subjected to the Ottoman religious violence allegedly occurringin the neighbouring regions in the central part of the mountain. Therefore, in a broader sense,this source is even required to support the historical truthfulness of the "domestic sources".The careful analysis of events, however, has the opposite result: the idea of a regular, forcedand mass conversion to Islam in the Western Rhodope Mountain is deprived of its lastargument and one more myth is added to the sequence of historiographic myths surroundingthe spread of Islam.

The reader is probably curious now to learn what kind of document that is. This is a report ofthe local kadi regarding the reimbursement of amounts concerning the obligatory delivery ofcorn and wheat by the population of the kaza of Nevrekop. Authorized representatives of thereaya appear before the kadi to receive the monetary equivalent of the supplied foodstuffs onbehalf of the reaya. The interpreters of the document are convinced that depending on thenames of the representatives of the different villages we can speak with certainty about thestage of forced Mohammedanisation", as the representatives of the Christian villages areusually Christians, the representatives of the mixed villages are one Christian and oneMuslim, and the representatives of the Muslim villages are only Muslims The data showsthat there were Muslims in only 34 out of 43 villages in the Nevrekop region (5 of them werewith mixed population)"88.

And indeed villages, which according to the register from 1660 paid Cizye, i.e. undisputedly

Christian, in the documents from 1671 they were already represented by Muslims. It turns outthat Christianity had really ceased to exist there. Now we have the convincing evidence thatthe forced mass Islamisation in the Rhodope Mountain in 1669, reported by the domesticsources, did actually occur. It also affected the Nevrekop Region and the result was not onlyfled and killed Bulgarians, but also unconditional forced Mohammedanisation. This doesnot seem anymore like a coincidence so as to doubt the power of the evidence.

86 See Kiel, M. Razprostranenie na islyama..., p. 58 passim.87 Petrov, P. Po sledite na nasilieto, p. 262-263. Comp. Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane

na islyama..., p. 108-109.88 Petrov, P. Sadbonosni vekove..., p. 179. Comp. Dimitrov, Str. Demografski otnosheniya i pronikvane na

islyama..., p. 108-109.


24/29

24

A detailed and until recently unknown inventory of the population in the kaza of Nevrekopfrom 172389 allows us to comprehend the actual religious situation in the region five decadesafter the eventual drama called second mass conversion to Islam. That is quite a longperiod and if Christianity survives somehow here and there after the religious outrage, it

had to be completely finished at a later time. Lets see what the situation looked like in thelight of this new source.

According to the Cizye register of 1660 the Christians from the Village of Obidim wereobliged to pay 55 hanes, and in 1671 the village seems to be hundred percent Muslim assomeone called Halil elebi represents the villagers. However, the Village of Obidim is aChristian village without a single Muslim family according to the register from 1723. Thevillage of Osenovo is also considered to be forced to Islam after "the second mass conversionto Mohammedanism". In 1660 the local Christians had to pay 20 Cizye hanes, and in 1671the Muslim Ali Efendi represents the village. According to the registration from 1723,

however, it also proved to be populated only by Christians with a total of 12 households. TheChristians from the village of Leshten were supposed to be forced to Islam as well; however,the Christians there had a predominance of 18 families to only 2 Muslim households. Thesame also holds for the villages of Chereshovo, Tsiropol, Musomishte, Dolyan and manyothers.

As far as the representatives of the village population are concerned, they were most probablythe local usurers who had credited the villagers in the payment of their duties and whoappeared before the authorities to have their money recovered. The archive documentationdiscloses a similar practice in the Nevrekop Region and not only there, according to whichthe rich local people were always ready to pay the duties of the reaya against a debenture and

the respective interest90.

The arbitrary interpretation of this group of Ottoman documents has some more surprises topresent. Here is one of them: the Christian population of the village of Ribnovo paid in 166010 Cizye hanes. The process of voluntary Islamisation there began as early as the firstdecades of the previous century91 and during the 60s and 70s of the 17th century it was to itsend; that is evidenced by the low number ofCizye hanes, paid at the same time. Nevertheless,it turns out that in 1671 a certain Boyoone of the few Christians in the village, representedit before the kadi of Nevrekop. It is because of this person that P. Petrov allocates Ribnovo tothe group of villages with Christian representatives, i.e. of those spared from the

Mohammedan violence92

due to some kind of miracle.The same author makes it clear that those few villages with Christian representatives sharethe same unfortunate fate at a later time, as the forced conversion did not end in the 17th and18thcenturies. At that time was actually completed the Mohammedanisation of the village

89 BOA, Mevkufat Kalemi 2873. Comp. Radushev, E., R. Kovachev, ed. Inventory of Registers from theOttoman Archive in Istanbul at the General Directorate of the State Archives in the Republic of Turkey, p.50-51.

90 BOA, Mevkufat Kalemi, 2873, fol. 109. Comp. Turski izvori za bulgarskata istoriya (GDA), 266-269.91 Radushev, E. Pomacite, 406-414.92 Petrov, P. Sadbonosni vekove..., p. 180.


25/29

25

of Krushevo and the villages of Ribnovo, Skrebatno Fotovishta, Turlis, Starchishta, Zarnevo,Teshovo as well as others were also supposed to be entirely converted to Mohammedanismby force93 (my italic, E.R.). Here we again come upon a misunderstanding: except for thevillages of Ribnovo and Krushevo, characterised by prolonged voluntary conversion, none of

the above places had to convert to Islam. They belong to the group of Rhodope villagesreported to have remained Christian during the entire Ottoman period or which the voluntaryconversion process only peripherally affected94.

The approach to the spread of Islam in the Western Rhodope Mountain, discussed here,actually does not add anything new to the idea of mass forced Mohammedanisation",underlying the Bulgarian historiography. The interpretation of Ottoman archival materials forthe purpose of proving the scientific reliability of fabricated th

meaning of the historiographic myths about conversion to islam

Documents