The Serbian Question and the Muslim Christian Frontiers

8/22/2019 The Serbian Question and the Muslim Christian Frontiers

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IntellectualDiscourse, 996Vol4, No 1-2, 63-93

Ataullah BogdanKopaliskiAbstract: TheSerbian ethno-religiouswar against heMuslim Bosniaks n the1990's has re-focusedworld attention on a part ofEurope which, n the secondhalf of the twentieth century, had become a geopolitical backwater. Thepulpose of this study is to present the clash of religions in the region from ahistorical perspective and to show that this area has always been one of themost turbulent areas of Europ~ area in which religious passions and aspirit of historical mission drive thesenations and tribes towards aggressiveexpansionism.

The Battle of Kosovo Polye in 1389 s not a key event n the history ofIslam in EasternEurope. However, it is perceivedby SerbianOrthodoxChristian nationalists o be the most critical happening n their historyThe memory of this devastating defeat plays a crucial role in theshaping of modem Serbian revengism. The Turks, Albanians andBosnians, being Muslims, are seen by the Serbs as the greatestobstacles n their dominanceover the realm which lodges heir ancientGreek Catholic shrines. The myth of Serbianheroism on the battlefieldof Kosovo Polye, like the Zionist legend of "the last stand" of Jewsagainst he Roman egions n Masada, s the most mportant componentof mode~ Serbian historia sacra. Its results determined he Serbianhostile attitude towards Slavic Muslims in Bosnia-Hercegovina,Sandjak, and lllyrian Shqeptaris (Albanians) in Kosova-Macedonia.

Ataullah Bogdan Kopanski s AssociateProfessor, Departmentof History andCivilization, International Islamic University Malaysia.


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[64] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEKosovo Polye is the Serbian "Wailing Wall," and Hercegovina,Sandjakare, for the Serbianultranationalists,what" Judea,SamariaandAshkelon" are for Zionist zealots n Palestine.1Pre-Islamic ffistory of SerbsPliny, a Roman historian of the first century CE, in writing aboutSarmato- lanian (Iranian) people referred to them as "Serboi." Theylived between he Caucasusmountainsa:Jidhe seaof Azov. In the 5thcentury, the Alans, or Serbs,andKhorouatos Hrvati, Croats)migratedwestwards with their powerful military masters, the Altaic Huns.Probably in Silesia, Moravia, and Poland they had beenSlavicized bythe local Proto-Slavic Wendes (Venetes) Polans, and Vistulanes(Vislanye).2

The ancient Greek geographer,Ptolemy ocateda people called Srbion the banks of the river Don, in southeasternRussia. Byzantineemperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitusmentioned their barbarianethne n his De Administrando Imperio, as iving in central Poland. In540, the Turkic Kutrigurs, known as Bulgars, had emergedas he mostpowerful tribe in the Steppes o the west of the Don. Allied withbellicose Avars and eastern Slavs (Sclavini, Saklaba, Antes), theyinvaded the Balkans and plundered Illyricum, Thrace and noTthernGreece. Only the heavily fortified coastalcities of Dalmatia were ableto resist their assaults. In the year of Prophet Muhammad's (SAW)hijrah, the Slavic tribes of Bohemia,Moravia and southernPoland, orWhite Khrobatia (Croatia), rose up against he supremacyof Avarswith the help of Sarno, a Frankish mercenary. Moravians, Serbs,Slovenes and Croats (Hrvati) were used by the Byzantine emperorHeraclius, in order to serve as a buffer against he ferocious SlavicNarentanes,Travunianes,Duklianes, Convalanes,Brsiaci, Drugavici,Sugadici, Rynkhynes,Velegesites,Vayunici, Yezerci and Milingovieswho devastatedMacedonia,Greeceand Illyrium (Albania). The Serbs,as a Byzantine oederati, were permitted to occupy a vast territory ofthe Balkans.They displaced he old Albanian nhabitantsof the Adriaticcoast and expelled the Avars. Serbian tribes emigrated from "WhiteSerbi:" and Lusitia (present-day axony, EastGermany).The existenceof "White Croatia" and "White Serbia" in Silesia, Bohemia, andsouthernPoland s verified by the testimonyof medieval Muslim Arabgeographers.3On their arrival in the Balkans, he SlavicizedCroatsandSerbs becarne subjects of Constantinople, and were converted toChristianity by Clement and Naum, missionaries educatedby Cyril~


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [65](Constantin) and Methodius. Clement was the author of the muchsimpler Slav alphabet han Methodius's glagolica cirilica.

The Avaro-Slavic invasions of the sixth and seventb centuriescompletely annihilated the early Christian culture of RomanizedIllyrians, who retreatedbefore the Serbsand Croats nto the mountainsof Epir. Emperor Heraclius made a deal (prostaxis)with the Croats,promising them possession f all lands which they could capture fromthe pugnaciousAvars and their Slavic collaborators. n 626, the Croatsdefeated he Avars and other Slavic tribes near Constantinople. Fouryears later they established heir own tribal kingdom of Croatia ruledby semi-legendaryArhon Hrvat (625-635) who was succeeded y hisson Borko (635-660). In 753, Budimir (740-780) was crowned as thefirst RomanCatholic ruler of Croatia and Dalmatia by Pope StephenII's legate, Honorius.4 In the tenth century, two other peoplesemerged in the Balkans: the Vlakhs (Vallachians) from Bessarabia-Moldavia (ancientDaciae)and he Shqeptaris Albanians). Their ethno-racial origin has been he subject of much controversy, and their earlysettlement is obscure. In the earliest Osmanll defiers, Vlachs aredescribedas the Christian nomadswho settled down in remote regionsof easterI:l ahumlje (Hercegovina),and in the last decadesof the XVthcentury CE, they established heir primitive hamlets n central Bosnia.In 1530, the Habsburg envoy Benedict Kuripesic, who exploredMuslim-dominatedBosnia, wrote that "Orthodox Christian Serbs romSmerdovoand Beograd came o Bosnia and call themsevesVlachs."sBoth the Osmanll authorities of Muslim Bosnia, and the CatholicHabsburg overlords of Croatia used them as their Orthodox proxiesknown by the Greek name of martolosi or in the Slavic vernaculartonguesas voynuki (in Bosnian anguage ojnaci). They were regardedby both as savageand cruel irregulars who mutilated their victims. TheVlach vojnuki operated nside he military frontier zone, or the AustrianMilitargrenze (in Slavic languages,vojna krajina, which separatedheMuslim north-westernBosnia from the Habsburg-occupied roatia). In1527, Emperor Ferdinand I, the king of Hungary and Croatia,empowered he Vlachs by a special edict which allowed them o chosetheir ow.. chieftains or voivodas,and in 1630, Ferdinand II affirmedthe specialprivileges for them known as statuta valachorium.

The true ethnic origin of the BosnianSerbsand SerbizedVlachs isstill unknown. Were the Vlachs indigenous people from ancientRomanizedDacia or from easternPoland where they were known toKievian Ruses and Turks as the Lachi or Lehi? In the early Middle


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[66] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEAges, Byzantine rulers employed hesepastoralpeopleas auxiliaries intheir armies and called them Mavroviachos or Moriachi (MoorishVlachs). They were apparentlydescendants f barbarian soldiers fromMauretania Tingitana (today Morocco) who served in the Romanlegions stationed n Dacia where they mixed with the migrating Slavs,Huns, Avars and Bulgars. Known to Venetian merchantsas the NigriLatini, or "Black Latines," the RomanizeqDaco-Mauro-Slavo-Bulgarsoccupied many pastures in Bessarabia, Vallachia, Transylvania,Dalmatia, Macedonia,Serbiaand Thrace. Probably he original cradleof the Vlachs was ocated n somenorthern realmof the ancientRomanprovinces of Moesia, Dacia, and Dalmatia, where barely Latinized-barbaric populationswere later assimilatedby the invading Avars andSlavicized Serbs. Like the Turkic Bulgars, the "Black Vlachs" or,Mavrovlachos lost their ethnic identity and accepted OrthodoxChristianity from Greek missionaries. In the Osmanll Islamic state,these Dalamatian and Bosnian Morovlachi were called Karaviachi(Black Vlachs) and were regardedas the most ruthlessand uncivilizedamong the Christians. The Osmanll sultans, ike the Greek Orthodoxemperorsand the RomanCatholic Austro-Hungarianmonarchs, gavethem timars in return for their military assistance, nd the Morlachianleaders were treated almost ike the Muslim spahis class. They werereleased rom the tax on dhimmis, n exchange or the so-called usum-ieflak, an exceptional ax for the Morlachs in the form of a sheepanda lamb from every householdon St.George's Day eachyear.' Someofthem accepted slam but most of the Morlachi turned Serbsand createda distinct ethnic and religious group of the so-called "BosnianSerbs. 7

In the fourteenthcentury, the Illyrian AlbaniansShqeptaris olonizedMacedonia and Kosova with a force which has been compared n itsrange to the earlier Avaro-Slavic invasions. The Croats, or Hrvats,acceptedArian Christianity in 450, but in 652, they were converted oboth Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy. In the ninth century,the first Christian state of Croats was formed along the Dalmatiancoast. The founder of the new ruling dynastywas Prince Trpimir. Thestate of Hrvati reached he apogeeof its might in the first half of thetenth eentury, when Prince Tomislav was crowned king of GreaterCroatia. His state occupied he western part of Bosnia. Weakenedbyinternal power struggles, the Croatian kingdom was invaded by theHungarians. In 1095, the last Croatian ruler, Petar Svacic, was killedby Hungarian troops in the battle of Mount Gvozda.

The expansionistambitionsof the RomanCatholic kings of Hungary


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [67]and the continuous attemptsof the papacy o destroy he independentBosnian church of the Manichean semi-Christian sect known in theearly Middle Ages as Paterenes,Bogomils, Babuns, Paulicians andTheophiles, complicated the political situation of the Bosnian statefounded in the 12th century by Kulin. During the rule of Kulin'ssuccessors, he Bogomil "deviation" regained ts popularity, and theAnjou (Andegavin) kings of Hungary constantlyappealed o the popeto launch a crusade against Bogomils in Bosnia and Zahumlye(Hercegovina). In 1377, after the fall of the Serbian kingdom, theBosnianKing Trvtko I crowned himself as ruler of Bosnia and Serbia.

The names of Serbian chieftains in the ninth century AC have notbeenpreserved, with the exceptionof the warlord Vlastimir; and it isnot until 830 that we hear of a Grand Zupan of Servia, known asVoislav, who ruled over a loose confederationof barbarian ribes whoused to meet together n an assembly alled Skupchtina.The Serbs: "Christian Rampart of Europe"The decay of the Byzantine state affected the relations between heEasternOrthodox Empire and the nominally EasternOrthodox Serbia.The Serbian Church acquired partiathome rule (autokephalia)underSt. Sava 1176-1235), who was consecrated t Nicaeaas an archbishopof Serbia. In 1346, an autonomousSerbianPatriarchatewas formed,which was recognized by the Church of Constantinople in 1375.Culturally and politically, the Serbs etained, n the 13thcentury, theirgo-between vicinity between Roman Catholic western Europe andGreek Catholic (Orthodox) easternEurope, a position embodied byNemanya's double baptism. His son secureda regal crown from thepope, however, the ByzantineOrthodoxy was still a dominantdenomin-ation in the Kosova, the cradle of the Serbian duchy of Rashka.Theeastern Orthodoxy was not totally Greeko-Slav in character. TheChurch of Romania, the second largest Orthodox Church in theBalkans, was predominantlyLatin.

This transitional situation changed in the beginning of the 14thcentury w9.enSerbian expansionismed to the annexationof Byzantinedomains n Macedonia. Byzantiumconferred wo gifts upon the Serbs:the doctrine of ascendancy f the Christian nation in a Slavic disguise,and the anti-Islamic credo formulated later by the Greek ethnarchsandmonks on Mount Athos. Until the Turkish colonization of the Balkansand the Islamization of southernEurope, the Serbs "without severingtheir contactswith their westernneighbors, remainedwithin the orbit


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[68] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEof Byzantium, mainly through the church."8 The religious dichotomyof medieval Serbia was manifested n the political opportunismof theSerbian ulers, who cultivated good relationswith the papacyof Romeand he Patriarchateof Constantinople.Sevenmonarchsof the Nemanjadynasty who ruled Serbia between 1168 and 1371, recognized thepope's authority. StephenDushandeclaredhis readiness o recognizethe papal superiority in exchange or being nominated he "Captain ofall Christians." Simultaneously,he regardedhimself as the successorof the Greek emperors.'

As emperorof Serbia and Romania, StephenDushanacknowledgedthe preeminenceof the basileus (sovereign) of Constantinopleas alegitimate overlord of the Orthodox commonwealth or oikumene.Tothe Serbs, he sturdy vitality of the Byzantine raditions in the Balkansemergedas the rampart of Orthodox Christianity in easternEurope. In1367, Byzantine Emperor John Cantacuzenus,n a dialogue with thelegate of Pope Urban V, declared that "the Bulgars, the Serbs andtheir like are our brothers in homopistoi (belief). "10 In 1169, theSerbian ruler StephenNemana nvaded Bosnia and persecuted hosewho did not follow the tenets of the Greek Orthodox Church. But theannexation of Bosnia, Hercegovina and Croatian Dalmatia, broughtupon Serbia the hostility of Andrew II, the king of Hungary, whorecognized Bosnia and Hercegovinaas a buffer state betweenRomanCatholic Croats and Greek Catholic Serbs.

Follov/ing the traditional Byzantinepolicy of playing off one Balkanpeople against another, Byzantine emperors established a kind ofbalance of power between heir Bulgarian and Serb vassals. In thefourteenth century, the Muslim Osmanll Turks were destined tooverthrow both the decaying Greek empire and the Serbiankingdom.In 1301, Emperor Andronicus II proposed o the Serbian czar StephenVI "Milutin" a matrimonial alliance between he two Orthodox statesagainst the Muslim Turks in Asia Minor. The marriage of the oldStephen o the emperor's daughterSimonis (34 years younger han herSerbian husband) allowed the Byzantine emperor to use the Serbsagainst the Turks. She was five years old when her marriage wasconsftmmated y the old Serbiandespot. This pathetic Greek princesswas never able to have children. Simonis died in pain as an unhappywoman. In 1303, Serbian troops crossed nto Asia and attacked heOsmanll devlet. Twelve years later Andronicus once more applied tohis Serbianson-in-law for help againstTurkish intervention n Thrace.The Serbs won the battle and murderedseveralhundred Muslim war-


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONTIERS [69]prisoners. The brutal slaughter of Turkish captives was for theOsmanlls a clear casusbelli contra Serviae. StephenVI died in 1321,and the Serbian clergy at once proclaimed his eldest son StephenVII"Urosh" as the king of Serbia. During his short reign, the Serbsinvaded Hungary and defeated he Bulgarian army of Czar Michael onthe field of Velbuzd on 28th June 1330 which led to the partition ofMacedonia. StephenUrosh's secondwife was also a Greek princess.She plotted against her stepsonStephen, who received the surnameDushan (the strangler), from the Serb verb dushiti, which means "tostrangle," becausehe murdered his own imprisoned father, StephenVII, by suffocating him in 1336.11

StephenVIII Dushan repentedhis patricide by building numerousOrthodox churches in Serbia, Macedonia, and occupied northernBosnia. According to a popular story, with the death rattle in histhroat, Stephen VII Urosh cursed his cruel son and the Serbiankingdom. His curse was fulfilled. The reign of Dushanwas the climaxof Serbian power. In 1350, StephenDushan ncorporated Bosnia andHercegovina nto Serbia, but the Bosnian bans (barons) never recog-nized it. He called himself the" emperor of all Serbs and Romans,"Meanwhile Turkish Sultan Orkhan, called by the Byzantine emperorCantacuzeneo halt Serbian expansion n easternThrace, crossed ntoEurope. Theodora, Cantacuzene'sdaughter was Orkhan's wife. In1345, the six-thousand-strongMuslim army landed n Thrace, and theSerbs were repelled. Four years later, the Christian father-ill-law ofSultan Orkhan againappealed or the help and interventionof Muslimtroops. About 20,000 Muslim troops, led by Sultan Orkhan, defeatedthe Serbs near Salonika and" extinguished for,ever their hope ofreplacing the Byzantine empire in Constantinople.u

On December18, 1356, StephenDushanwas poisonedat the villageDiavoli, about30 miles from.Constantinople,whenhis troops capturedAdrianople (today, Edirne). Immediately, the Bosniaks iberated theircountry from the Serbianyoke under he commandof StephenTrvtko.In 1376 he victorious BosnianKing Trvtko proclaimed himself "Kingof Bosnia, Servia, and the sea-coast." n the meantime, the Muslimpeace-keef>ingroops, under the command of Sulaiman, restored therule of Cantacuzene.They received from the Byzantine emperor asmall citadel of Tzympe on the Europeanside of Dardanelles. Afterthis, a strong earthquake destroyed several Christian bases andmiraculously demolished he walls of the biggestByzantine ortress ofGallipoli, near he Muslim-occupiedTzympe. The Christian soldiersof


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[70] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEGallipoli who survived the tremor believed that the earthquakewas anapparentmanifestationof God's will. The Turks entered the opengateof Europe" without any opposition. Sultan Orkhan informed theByzantines that IfAllah having manifested His will in my favor bycausing the ramparts to fall, my troops have taken possessionof thecity Gallipoli with thanks to Allah. "13

AfterCantacuzene'sabdication,EmperorJohnPaleologusecognizedthe Turkish Muslim settlement n Thracian Chersonese.Orkhan andhisson Sulaiman edUced he imperial power of the Byzantine ruler to therole of Chr.istian client of the Islamic state. In 1363, Sultan Murad Icrushed he Byzantine and Serbianarmies at Eski Baba, and capturedAdrianople without a siege.The battlefield retains until today he nameof "Serbian Rout." Without delay, Pope Urban V declareda crusadeagainst he Turks and sent twenty five thousandSerbian, Vallachianand Hungarian troops to the valley of the Maritza river, nearAdrianople. The Christian coalition was completely destroyed by theTurkish army led by Ilbek. Louis Anjou, the king of Hungary, escapedfrom the battlefield. In 1371, the Turkish army captured he Serbianfortress of Nish and decimated he united armies of Bulgars and Serbsin the battle of Samakov near Sofia. Daughter of Bulgarian princeShishman entered Sultan Murad's harem and the Bulgarian Rumeliawas ncorporated n the Osmanlldevlet. Serbianprince Lazar continuedthe war against he Turks until his execution, which took place after heMuslim victory over his army at Kosovo Polye. Only the tragicmartyrdom of SultanMurad and the ill-fated campaignof Murad's sonBayezid I "Yilderim" (Thunderbolt) against he Turkornan nvasion ofAnatolia led by Tamerlane resulted in the disastrous defeat of theOsmanll army at Ankara in 1402, and gave another fifty years ofdecadence o Byzantium. On May 29, 1453, the valiant army ofMuhammad II Abul Fatih captured Kustantiniyya al-U?mi(Constantinople)and made t the new capital of the OSrnan11evlet. Inthe period of the Seldjuks, the name of Istinbol was used in thedescription of the City of Constantine. AI-MascudImentioned hat asearly as the 10th century (4th H), the medieval Greeks called the cityBuli~.and Stanbulin, a vernacular orm of ees enpolin-"to the city").The Muslims called it also Rumiyyaal-kubra, Takht-iRam, Ghulghule-iRam, al-Mahmiyya, and al-Mahrasa. Muhammad I Fatih renamed tIslam-bol, "the city of Islam." The geopolitical magnitude of theconquest of Constantinople was unparalleled along with his otheramazing victories. Thanks to the professionalism of his topdjular


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [71](gunners), khumbardilar ~ombardiers), toparabadjilar (drivers ofcannons) and laghmidjilar (sappers), the whole siege took less than 60days (from April 6, 1453/26 Rabi" I, 857 until May 29/DjumadI I, 20).By the conquest of the capital of eastern Orthodox Christianity and theheart of the Greek empire, Muhammad (Mehmet) II Fatih assumed avenerable title of "The Holder of the Sword of the Ghazawah," andbecame a legitimate "Kaisar," or successor to the last Greek emperorConstantine XI Paleologus, who was killed by Turkish akyndjy.According to the medieval European war tradition, as the possessor ofthe imperial polis, he had a right to all the territories once under thepolitical and religious jurisdiction of the Eastern Roman Empire,including the Balkans, the Crimea, and Italy. Following the Byzantinetradition, the victorious sultan claimed the superiority of Constantinopleover Rome. The acquisition of "the First Rome," the legendary TurkishKizil Elma (the "Golden Apple" or the copper-clad dome of St. Peter'sBasilica) was the ultimate goal for the Osmanll ghazawah. In order tolegitimize the annexation of the Serbian despotia, Muhammad II alwaysalluded to his inheritance rights through the marriage of Sultan BayezidI with the Serbian princess Olivera (Despina), a daughter of PrinceLazar, who was decapitated after the battle at Kosovo Polye.Hungarian kings considered Serbia, Bosnia and .v allachia (Turkish,eflak) as their sphere of influence. Th~ anti-Turkish alliance of thepowerful Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary, confrontedby the Osmanll devlet in the Aegean sea, Bosnia, and in Albania,resulted in the so-called Long War (1463-1479/867-884H). Venice lostEuboea in Greece and Ishkodra (Shkoder) in Albania. The Long Warended with a sound Turkish victory, and Venice had to pay an annualtribute of 10,000 golden ducats to the Islamic state of the Osmanlls.The last stronghold of Serbian resistance, the huge fortress ofSmederovo on the Danube river, controlled by George Brankovic, fellto Sultan Muhammad II in 1459. After the downfall of the Serbian"rampart of Christendom," the Hungarian kingdom was designed bythe popes of Rome to block the Turkish colonization of the Balkans, asthe next antemurale Christianitatis or "the bulwark of Christianity"against the expansion of Islam in eastern Europe. The papacyconcluded that orthodox Serbia was not worth a Catholic mass.The disintegration of Dushan's "Greater Serbia" was surprisinglyrapid. The battle of Kosovo Po ye (the Field of Blackbirds) shocked theSerbs. In memory of the national disaster, they produced the most


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[72] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEpathetic songs and mourning poems illed with obsessiveanti-Turkishand anti-Islamic messages.Expansion of Islam in Eastern Euro~The papacy worked tirelessly to organize crusades against thevictorious Turks, but the great schismof 1378-1417,when here weresimultaneouslywo competingpopes n Romeand Avignon-and at onepoint three-made the anti-Islamic coalitions futile. The French andGenoese nvasion of Hafsidian Tunis led by Louis of Clermont wasrepulsedby the well-organizedMuslim defendersof the North Africanports. In 1396, the Turks annexed he Danubian own Vidin. An appealof Hungarian King Sigismund went around the West for a new anti-Turkish crusade to halt the victorious advanceof Islam in Central,Europe when the kings of England and France had already beenconsidering an anti-Islamic alliance. In April 1396, a huge Christianarmy led by the Count of Nevers, John of Burgundy, began o amassin Hungary. The French, Burgundian and Hungarian armies werejoined by Teutonic Knights, Flandrian, Scottish, Savoyan,Lombardianand English troops led by the Earl of Huntington. The Westernarmiesmarched o Buda, to meet King Sigismund of Luxemburg, who waswaiting with a formidable force of crusaders rom Spain, Italy, Polandand Bohemia (Czechs). They were supportedby the united Venetianand St. John Hospitaller fleet, under the command of the MasterPhilibert of Naillac, which was making ts way via the BosphorusStraitinto the Kara Deniz (Black Sea)and along the Danuberiver.

It was the largest Christian international army that had everconfronted Islam. The Western crusaders massacred he Muslimgarrison of Vidin, who opened ts gates, and murderedall inhabitantsof Rahova and Nish, including a large number of Serbian andBulgarianChristians. SultanBayezid Thunderbolt, who wasbesiegingConstantinople, mmediatelymarchedwestward. On 21 Dhul'Hidjdja798 (25 September1396), near Nicopolis (Turkish, Nigepulu) theMuslim light cavalry challenged the heavily armoured Christiancrusaders. After the first skirmishes, Vallachians, Hungarians andTransylvanians deserted the battlefield. The flower of Westernknighthood were taken prisoners, ten thousand Christian warriorsperished in the battle, and the sultan paraded his Anglo-Frankishcaptives as far as Afghanistan to exhibit his might to the IslamicUmmah.14 he Muslim army also ncluded nternational slamic forces,ghazis rom Tatar khanales, ran, Syria, Egypt, Khorasan Afghanistan)~


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONllERS [73]and Caucasus. In the battle of Nicopolis the Serbian Christiandetachment fought on the Muslim side, as a loyal ally.

In 1443, Pope Eugenius IV, who successfully subjugated the EasternOrthodox Church to Rome, launched a new crusade against Islam inthe "frontline states" along the Danube. Janos Corvinus Hunyadi fromTransylvania invaded the Turkish protectorate of Serbia, and forcedSultan Murad II to sign a truce with Polish and Hungarian KingLadislav Yagiellon at Szeged in 1443. Yanos Hunyadi was a Vallachianwho had emigrated from Vallachia to Transylvania. He took part in theanti-Hussitian crusades in Bohemia and supported the Polish KingVladislav Yagiellon in his struggle for the Hungarian crown. Polish-Hungarian King Vladislav rewarded Hunyadi with the title of "voivodaof Transylvania." As the potentate of Transylvania and a very richfeudal warlord, Y anos Hunyadi dared to challenge the Osmanll powerin the Balkans and was punished by Medjid Be;g of Vidin, who raidedHunyadi's domains in Transylvania. Hunyadi's army was defeated bythe Mejid Beg's troops in Alba Iulia on 18 March 1442, but theTurkish commander of Vidin was killed four days later in an ambush. 15In the meantime, the Serbian wife of Murad II, Sultana Mara (Maria,daughter of George Brankovic) mediated in the Turco-Serbian negotia-tions which restored the power of her father and brothers as thelegitimate rulers of Serbia. When the Bosnian Catholic king rebelledagainst the Osmanlls and refused to pay his annual tribute, the youngPolish king was incited by the papal legate Julius Cesarini to break thepeace treaty. Eneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pious II) wroteabout this act of obvious political perfidy:

At the same time in Hungary, obligated to comply with the peacetreaty with the Turks... Cardinal Julian sent by the Pope Eugenewith mission to Bosphor... has been instructed to counsel KingVladislaus, who waged he war, to break the pledge which is againstthe advantageof Christan religion.I6

Also Iohannesde Thurocz, a Hungarianauthor of Chronica Hungaro-rum condemned he papal egate's fraudulentpolicy:The accord settled or comingyears. .after established act. ..by theking and ruling governor... Cardinal Julian violated...17

Sultan Muhammad I Fatih, a son of Murad II, wrote in his letter toIbrahim Beg (1445), that he "Christian king cheated nd broke his ownpledge. 18


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INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE[74]In 1444, the Christian army of 20,000 crusaders ed by the KingVladislav and Yanos Hunyadi, supported by auxiliary troops of theruler of Vallachia, Vlad Dracula "the Devil," invaded the Bulgarian

coast. Vlad the Devil (1436-1447), who was released rom Turkishcaptivity in 1443, quickly regained he throne ofhospodar of Valla chiaoccupiedby Besarab I, a son of Dan II, but Yanos Hunyadl eliminatedhim from the gameof power over Vallachia in 1447 by his support ofa second son of Dan II, Vladislav II. Vlad Dracula the Devil wascaptured by his own boyars and executed.Polish Christian public opinion was unanimously against he anti-Turkish crusade. In December, near Varna, the crusading army was

wiped out by the Muslim troops led by Sultan Murad II. CardinalJulius Cesarini, a papal egatewho inspired the crusade, led from thebattlefield and drowned in swampswith his moneybags.King Vladislavwas captured by a Turkish ordinary soldier and beheaded.His head,raised upon a lance with a copy of the broken reaty, was exhibited tothe defeated Christians as a lesson and punishment or their infidelartifice. "Yanko" Hunyadi retreated o his Hungarian headquarters.Ironically, the battle of Varna was initially reported in Venice as a"Christian victory."The failure of the crusadesealed he fate of Moldavia and V allachia.After the deathof the Moldavian despot, Stephenhe Great-named bythe pope as Athlete Christi-Moldavia becamea vassal state of theOsmanhdevlet.

The Venetian Doges of Serene Republic had restored theirenterpriseswith the Islamic state on February 23, 1446. Alfonso'V,the king of Aragon, Naples and Sicily, sadly acknowledged hat hisgreat idea of the reestablishedLatin empire from Constantinople oTudela, with himself as emperor,was a recklessdaydream.On October19, 1448, Hungarian, Serb, Vallachian, Germanand Czech roops ledby Hunyadi were obliterated by the Turkish sipahis on the "Fields ofBlack Birds" at Kosovo, where fifty nine years earlier, the Serbshadbeendefeated.

T~ secondcrushing defeatof the Christian armies at Kosovo Polyein 1448, defanged or some time to come the irregular militia led byYanos Hunyadi, who terrorized the Muslim Turkish settlers n Bosnia.Hunyadi, who again escaped rom the battlefield, was captured bySerbianpeasants nd taken o Brankovic. However, in the end of 1448,he was released rom captivity after the humiliating treaty dictated to


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONTIERShim by the Serbianvassalof the Turkish sultan. In the next year, PopeNicolas V freed him from a promise made o the Serbian uler. In thesecond battle at Kosovo Polye, Muhammed II, son of Murad II,experiencedhis first major battle against nfidels in Europe.

In the Albanian mountains, Christiari chieftain SkanderbergKastriota, another of the pope's "champions of Christ" (AthleteChristi), waged a vicious guerrilla warfare against Turks and newMuslim Serbs, but twenty years later the majority of Albaniansaccepted slam.In 1456, Muslim troops led by HassanAga suffered a defeat n the

besiegedSerbian town of Beograd (Belgrade).Hungarian and SerbianChristian troops from Krajina agitated by a fanatical FranciscanmonkGiovanni da Capistrano and led by "Yanko" Hunyadi defeated healmost invincible Janissaries.The city of Belgrade (Slavic, "WhiteCity") won fame among the EuropeanChristians as "The Wall ofChristendom" (murus Christianitatis). After the battle a plaguedecimated he victorious Christians, and both Hunyadi and Capistranodied from typhoid. Hunyadi's war crimes and his paranoidal anti-Muslim ardor made his namea synonym of uror Christianicusamongthe Muslims of EasternEurope. In contrast o Christian warfare, theOSrnan11Turks observed strict Islamic discipline in their warcampaigns.Even the slightest damage o orchards, gardensand farmsalong the warpath was punished by the Turkish beys and agas withmerciless severity. In his diary, the Caliph Sulaiman Kanuni (theMagnificent) wrote:May 10,1526. A soldier is decapitated for trampling down theharvest, near the village of Kamal... May 11. Two soldiers accusedof stealing horses have their heads cut off... June 5, Two silihdars(sword-bearers) are decapitated for pasturing their horses inunharvested ields.I9

The Osmanlls, as a medieval Muslim superpower, were obligated toprotect their own co-religionists and dhimmis organized nto millets.There was only one way to deal with men ike Hunyadi, Kastriota orDraculabpaler: the creationof military securityzones (thughur) n theDanubian rontline principalities, andnorthward military augmentation.On Christmas Eve, a few months after the setback in Beograd(Belgrade), he last despotof Christian Serbia, GeorgeBrankovic, diedsuddenly, and Muhammad II Fatih annexedhis domain. The SerbianChristian warlords themselves ecame ivided betweenhe pro-Osmanll


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76] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEand the pro-Hungarian parties. The capture of the Serbian capitalSmederevo Semendire)by the Turks in 1459 marked the end of thechimera of medieval GreaterSerbia.zo

One year earlier, SultanMuhammad I Fatih invaded he two Greekdespotates f Morea, the last refuge of the Byzantine elite who hadcollaborated closely with the Republic of St. Marc. In Athens, thesultan, impressedby its ancient elics, affirmed Greek Orthodox civilliberties and exemption from taxes. The last Paleologus, despotDemetrius,expressed is full support or Muslim supremacyn Greece,but his rebellious brother Thomas called the pope's navy for help. In1460, once more, SultanMuhammad I moved his troops into Greece.Despot Thomas fled to Rome. Pax Osmanica"replaced he feuds ofFranks, and the Greek people were treated with reasonable olerance,-unburdened from excessive axation, exempted rom the tribute ofchildren, and permitted freedom o trade and to elect their own localgovernment. Zl

With the fall of Paleologues,he last Byzantinedynastyof Comnenesrenounced ts sovereignty, and the "emperor of Trebizond," John IV ,declared himself a vassal of Muhammad II. After the ill-fatedconspiracyof "Emperor David" ( John IV's brother), Trebizond wasincorporated nto the Osmanlldevlet.

In 1461, the monstrousVallachian, son of VI ad "Dracul" the Devil,Vlad III Tepesh"the Impaler" (1456-1462) ormed a new anti-Muslimcoalition led by the Hungarian King Mathias Corvinus. Vlad theImpaler's army crossed the Danube river and invaded the OsmanllBulgaria (Rumelia). Vallachian sentenced more than 20,000 Muslimand Christian Bulgars to be impaled by burning stakes and to becrucified. Sultan Muhammad I Fatih drove back he savagehordes oVallachia, and his gallant irregular militia (bashi-buzouks) inallyovercame the horror of Vlad Tepesh's rule. In the course of theliberation, the Muslim troops marched in a "horrible forest of rottedhuman remains of some twenty thousand ortured Muslims-a grimexample of the mass execution which Dracula liked to stage for hispleasureand for the edification of his neighbors. 22

VI~ Tepeshwho escapedo Moldavia (Turkish, Kara Boghdan)wassucceeded in Vallachia by his brotlier Radu cel Frumos "theHandsome," a loyal vassalof the Islamic State. But in 1463, the rulerof Moldavia, Prince Stephen nvaded Vallachia, and the Turks wereagain forced to intervene in the Danubian protectorate. Stephenwasdecisively defeatedby the united armies of Turks and Crimean Tatars


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONTIERS [77Junder the command of Sultan Muhammad II Fatih. In 26 November1462, Vlad Tepesh he Impaler was captured by Hungariansand hespent welve years in B{Jdaas a hostageof King MatthiaSCorvinus, theson of Yanos Hunyadi. Released o fight the new crusadeagainst heMuslims, the Vallachian Dracula in league with the Transylvariianwarlord StephenBathory, the Moldavian ruler Stephen,and Serbianrebel Vuk Brankovic, launcheda vicious assaultagainst he Turks in1476. However, after a siegeof Bucaresti Bucharest), n December f1476, he was killed probably by Turkish scouts. His headwas sent oIstanbul, and his terrible life passed rom history into a horror story 23

After the fall of the Serbian "empire," the Kingdom of Bosnia wasruled by RomanCatholic kings, who supported he pope's anti-Paterencrusades. The majority of Bosnians were followers of the BosnianChurch or BosanskaCrkva which was declared by the popes as acongregation of "false Christians" (erat fictus Christianis). Popes,Hungarian mercenaries, ocal Catholic kings and Franciscan monkstriedto change heir mind by a special sectionof the infamous SpanishInquisition led by cardinal Juan de Torquemada (relative of thefanatical persecutor of Andalusian Muslims, the Grand InquisitorThomas Torquemada). Cardinal Juan Torquemada issued an edictagainst he "deviationist" teachings of three BosnianBogomils: DuroKucinic, StojsanTrvtkovic and Radomilo Vocinic.24

In 1463, the pope of Rome crowned Prince StephenThomas "theBastard" as a RomanCatholic king of Bosnia (Dei gratia rex Bossine),who immediatelywithheld his tribute to the SultanMuhammad I. Hedesired to rule over Serbia with an iron fist in the purple glove of theCatholic cardinals. StephenThomas was a nephew of Stephen VITrvtkovic. After the papal consecr~:tion f Bosnia, many Bogomilsworried about their safety and religious liberties, took refuge in theOsmanll devlet. MarlY of them asked or an mmediateTurkish rescueexpedition. The resistanceof the Catholic elite of power against heinvading Muslim troops was unusually feeble. When Grand VizierMahrnud Pasha sent his storm troops to fortress Bobovatz, KingStephen urrendered he whole of Bosnia o the Muslims almostwithouta fight. 'n the town of Jajce, in a single day more than 36,000Bogomils and Catholics accepted slam.25StephenThomasevic,a sonof StephenThomas, the last king of the Christian state of Bosnia, wasbeheadedby the Turks in May 1463. He had actively conspired withthe Papacyand the Serinissima (Venice) againstMuhammed I Fatih.Three years before his deathhe married Helena, the only daughter of


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[78] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSELazar. This marriage validated the dynastic union of Bosnia and Serbia,but Sultan Muhammed II did not accept it; and in July, after a shortwar campaign in Danubian Serbia, Tomasevic's idea of the Serbo-Bosnian Catholic kingdom collapsed. Helena Brankovic fled viaHungary to Rome, where she died as a nun in 1474. Tomasevic'sstepmother, Bosnian Catholic queen Catherine, escaped to theDalmatian city of Ragusa (Republic of Dubrvnik), and later she livedin Rome under the personal protection of the pope. Her son, Bosnianprince Sigismund, embraced Islam and joined the military service ofthe Osmanll Caliphate.

The Bosnian peasantry received the promised freedom and land fromthe Turks. Three years later, Sultan Muhammad II led his troops intothe mountains of Albania, where the Turks captured Croia, thestronghold of Skanderbeg Kastriota. The Muslim forces swiftly seizedthe ports of Durres (Durazzo) and Scutari. In the second year of theAlbanian campaign, Turkish sipahis invaded Friuli in Italy. They easilydefeated the Venetian condottieri (mercenaries) in the battle to the northof Venice. Muslim troops landed on the beaches of Otranto in1480/875H, shouting: Allahu Akbar! Muhammad! Muhammad! Rome!Rome! The pope believed that the Muslim marines and cavalry wouldattack Brindisi, another port of the Italian Peninsula. He considered anescape from Rome, but Sultan Muhammad II changed his mind and theTurkish troops returned to Bosnia. The sultan sent his navy to thestrategically important island of Rhodes, the sea-fortress of theHospitallers (St.John Order) and a key to the defence of Asia Minoragainst these crusading Christian corsaires. On May 4, 1481, the sultanwas seized with violent pains in his stomach. He led his army intoAsia, and as usual, the military objectives of his march were keptsecret. His Jewish physician Jacopo de Gaete alias Messer JacomoMedego vel Yakup Pasha was hired by the Venetians to poison him.The valiant sultan died shortly after performing his C ~r prayer. He wasforty nine-years old. The assassinJacopo was immediately executed.Sultan Muhammad II was fluent in Greek, Arabic, Latin, Persian andHebrew, and had studied ancient philosophy and architecture. With thehelp ~f international scholars, Sultan Muhammad collected in hisTopkapi Serai's library a large number of ancient manuscripts.

The grand vizier Ahmed Pasha Hersek-Zade or Hercegovic (860-932H/ 1456-1517) was the youngest and favorite son of the duke(herceg) Stephen Vukic-Kosaca, a great Bosnian warlord of Hum. Hismother Barbara was a French baroness. Ahmed Pasha studied in


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [79]Raguza Dubrovnik) under he name Prince Stephen. n 1472, he wenttoIstanbul and embraced slam. In 1477, the former prince Stephenwas mentioned in a firman of Muhammad II as "the servant of mykingdom, Ahmed Beg." Ten years after his conversion o Islam, he wasmarried to the daughterof Sultan Bayezid I, Khundi Khatun. In 1488he had becomekapudan pasha, head of Turkish navy. Having spentforty years in the service of three powerful sultans,Ahmad Pasha romHercegovina played an important role in the Sublime Porte (Turkish,btib-i cali). During his life a large number of Humian Bosniaksaccepted slam, and in 1482 (887 H), the Duchy of Hercegovina oinedthe Osmanll state.

The dazzling victory in the battle of Mohacs (1526) added a newChristian land to the Osmanll realm. Caliph Sulaiman KanunI'sdecision o intervene in the Hungarian civil war was influencedby thedefeat and imprisonment of the French King Francis I by EmperorCharles Habsburg in 1525, after the battle of Pavia. Francis I sent asecret message rom his prison in Madrid to Istanbul. In his letterhidden in the soles of an envoy's shoe, he Frenchmonarchbegged heCaliph for help by declaration of war against the Habsburgs inHungary, where the "National Party" of Janos Zapolya from Eflak(Transylvania) and tyrannized Protestantpeasantssaw the Turks asliberators. The HungarianCalvinists and he Unitarians of Transylvaniapreferred the rule of Muslim Turks rather than he fanatical tyranny ofthe Austrian House of Habsburg.26 dditionally, the Habsburgswageda war of proxies against "Frontier agiis" and pashaliks near he Savariver. Croatian freebootersand Austrian mercenaries arassedMuslimpeasants n northern Bosnia. In 1526, Sultan Sulaimanand his armycrossed the Sava river chasing the Hungarians westward. TheHungarian army led by King Louis II Luxemburgchallenged he Turkson the plain of Mohacs on August 29. After ferocious hand-to-handbattle, the Hungarian army was defeatedand Louis II attempting oescape rom battlefield died in the swamp. His eight Catholic bishops,two thousand Hungarian nobles and 25,000 Christian troops perishedin two hours. The Hungarian kingdom died with him as he waschildless,:7 Twelve days later, the Muslim army captured he city ofBuda on the Danubebank. Hungary was added o the Islamic state asapashalik of Madjaristan, or Magyar. On September 7, 1529,-JanosZapolya was crowned by his new Muslim overlord as the king ofHungary. The sultan crowned him with the veneratedold crown of St.Stephen.Simultaneously, he Turkish akindji and Yeniceri eached he


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[80] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEsix-feet thick walls of Vienna. The Turkish musketeers were skilledenough to shoot every Christian soldier who appeared on these wallsof the new antemurale Christianitatis; but the coming winter was agreater problem than the endurance of the Viennians. The first hizar(the siege) of Vienna was recalled in an amazingly democratic way.After the Isha prayer, on October 12, a divan voted for the withdrawalof a lightly clothed army before the first snow of the long and harshEuropean winter. By the end of cold October, the church bells ofVienna tolled the deliverance from the Grand Turk. Suleiman offeredto Austrians Pax Islamica and armistice to Hungary, which had beendivided into the Turkish protectorate and the Habsburg's dominion.The first siege of Vienna was not a turning point in the history ofMuslim-Christian relationship, but Europe's fear of the Turkish peri\had been reinforced through hard experience of warfare and by aproper respect for Turkish arms. Here were no barbaric hordes fromthe steppes of Asia, but a highly organized modem army, such as theWest, in that age, had not before encountered. Of its soldiers an Italiancommentator observed:

Their military discipline has such ustice and severity as easily tosurpass the ancient Greeks and Romans; the Turks surpass oursoldiers for three reasons: they obey their commanderspromptly;they never show he least concern for their lives in battle; they canlive a long time without bread and wine, content with barley andwater. 28

For the next one hundred fifty years the Caliphate and the HabsburgEmpire faced each other in Hungary. This standoff was not resolveduntil the second siege of Vienna in 1683,when Kara Mustapha's armywas defeated by the surprising attack of the Polish hussaries, the"winged heavy cavalry" led by King Jan Sobieski, a veteran of Polish-Turkish war in the Ukraine. The hussar tactics can be traced to Serbiaat the end of the 14th century, and the Polish term husaria is derivedfrom the Slavic word gussari (bandits)-an allusion to a way offighting that involved scouting and attacking the enemy's rears.Follling the Hungarian defeat at the hands of the Osman111 t Mohacsin 1526, the Magyar hussars harassed the small garrisons of Muslimsin southern Hungary. In Poland, the husaria was an ethnic melting-potof foreign mercenaries, including Hungarians, Serbs, Albanians, Vlach,Cossacks, Lipka Tatars, Transylvanians, Moldavians, and alsoGermans, Wallons, French, Swedes, Italians, Dutch and Scots. By the


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONnERS [81]late 17thcentury, the Polish husariawere dominatedby Polish szlachtaor gentry. Ironically, Polandhad rescued he Habsburgmonarchy romalmost successful hisar. A hundred year later, Poland was dividedbetween Austro-Hungarian Habsburg, Prussian Hohenzollerns andRussianRomanovs.The Osmanll Turks never ecognized he partitionof Lehistan (Poland).Muhtadeen: The New Muslims among Greeks and SerbsDuring the Turkish expansionof Islam, ChristianEurope was in a stateof political anarchy precipitated by sectarian as well as dynasticalconflicts. Serious non-Muslim historians have viewed the Turkishdevlet-i Osmanhye's policy of Islamization in eastern Europe asessentially peaceful and very lenient. Only a small fraction of newMuslim converts can be said to have acceptedslam for personalgains,or under the fear of repression.Mass conversion o Islam among heBalkan Christians was so rapid that the popesand monarchs ived witha senseof doom. Their fear is well reflected n diplomatic reports andchronicles. The conversionexperience hat fundamentallychanged hecultural history of the Balkansby uniting the Slavs, Albanians, Greeksand Bulgars (Pomaks) n the world community of Islam has had fewmedieval chroniclers. Medieval Islam produced no missionaries,priests, baptismal rites, or other evidencesof conversion hat could berecorded by the Muslim annals. ronically, we know much more aboutthe rapid conversion o Islam among he Christians from the medievalChristian anti-Islamic propagandaagainst Turks and "Saracens" so-called Turcica), than from Muslim sources.

Name-analysis f the medievalBalkans or the purposeof evaluatingthe growth of the new Muslims directly dependsupon a significantnumber of the indigenous Muslim genealogieswhich begin with aChristian (mostly Slavic) name.The occurrenceof the Christian namesis most frequent in the period of Turkish military interventions, butlater, the genealogies eginning with non-Muslimnameswere followedby a chain of Arabic namesand Turkish titles, which clearly indicatesthe conversion of the generations o Islam. The native population ofeastern !urope at the time of the Turkish expansionof Islam containedSlavic, Greek, Romanized Vlach, Turkic (Magyars or Hungarians,SlavonizedBulgars) and Germanethnic components, o that it is veryeasy to identify with confidence many new Muslims. In the latemedieval period, almost all Muslim namesand surnames n Bosnia,Serbia and Macedonia were Slavicized by adding he suffixes -ic and


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[82] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE-ski.

In many parts of the Balkans, the Osmanll conquerors werewelcomed by the Greeks as their deliverers from the rapaciousandtyrannical rule of the Franks and the Venetians... the Turk wasinfinitely to be preferred to the heretical Catholics.29The RussianSlavophile historian Kararnsin described he blessing of the Turkishconquestof Constantinople:

Emperor Constantine and his ancestors allowed their grandees ooppress he people,therewasno more ustice in their courts, no morecourage n their hearts, their udges amassedreasures rom the tearsand blood of the innocent, the Greek soldiers were proud only of themagnificence of their dress, their citizens did not blush at beingtraitors, the soldiers were not ashamed o fly. At the length he Lordpoured out His thunder on these unworthy rulers, and raised upMuhammad, whose warriors delight in battle, and whose udges donot betray their trust.30

German traveller R. Gerlach wrote in 1577 that the Turkishprovincewere better governed and more affluent than most parts ofthe Christian west, and the Christian dhimmis enjoyed more personaland economic freedom under the sultan than under Christian kings.3!The persecuted sect of the Moravian Brethren from Silesia andBohemia consideredsubmitting to the Muslim rule of Turks,32and inItaly numerousmen "turned Turks" (i.e., becameMuslims) in the hopeof greater iberty and tolerance.33There many who turned from a Church whosespiritual life had sunkso low,and weary of interminable discussionson such subtle pointsof doctrine as the Double Processionof the Holy Spirit, and suchtrivialities as the use of leavened and unleavened bread in theBlessedSacrament,gladly accepted he clear and ntelligible theisticteaching of Islam.34

A large number of Greek Christian priests and monks embracedIslam, when he Turks made he city of Adrianopol (Edime) the capitalof their Muslim state.35The so-called "renegades" or the formerChristihls among Greek noblemen ormed the majority in Edime. Oneof the earliest conversions o Islam among he Byzantineelite of powerdates from 1140, when a nephew of Emperor John Comnenesembraced slam and married a daughterof Mascud, he Seldjuk sultanof Rum (Konya),36


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONTIERSAfter the fall of Constantinople, several members of the formerlyruling dynasty of Paleologusand the humanistGeorgeAmirozes fromTrabizond accepted slam.37 eonardode Scio, an archbishopof Chios,

who witnessed he victory of SultanMuhammad I, wrote that amongthe besieging Turkish troops were Greek, Frankish, German,Hungarian and other European "renegades f Christ"According to the testimony, the Greeks, the Italians, the Germans,and also the Hungarians, and other numerousChristian kinsmen...0 cursed betrayers of Christ! 0 damned ollowers of Antichrist, allof you will suffer etermal punishment n hour of the udgement...38

Michael Baudier reported that in 1595, on the occasion of thecircumcision of Muhammad II, "more than 4000 woeful Greeks urnedMahometans. 39 On a similar occasion of the circumcision ofMustapha, a son of the Sultan Muhammad V Avci (Hunter) in 1675,about 200 Christians, some of them monks, embraced slam.40In 1676, many Christians of Corinth accepted slam, among themthree Orthodox clerics.41Even the highest clergymenof the Church,such as Metropolitan. of the Rhodes, embraced Islam withoutcoercion.42English Protestant, Thomas Smith, who visited Istanbul in 1669,reported on "the great numberof wretchedpeoplewho turned Turks...they renounce heir Savior and their Christianity and soon forget theiroriginal country, and are no longer looked upon as strangers.43

Jobless Christian craftsmen, political fugitives, refugees andrunaways from urban and rural areas of western Europe who camewandering o Edirne, Istanbul and Uskub, also embraced slam easily.The Islamization of Serbia began after the battle of Kosovo Polye,when a majority of Serbian gentry decided o embrace slam in orderto stay in power. The Turks unexpectedly ound among the Serbianeliteof power the most ardent ollowers of Islam. The highest numberof conversions ook place in Sandjakand Rashka Old Serbia).44 ut avast majority of Serbsadhered anatically to their Orthodox Christianbelief.After the anti-Muslim revolts instigatedby Hungariankings andtheHab:burgs, several thousand Serbian families emigrated toHungary.

One of the biggest Serbian emigration took place in 1690,when about 100,000Serbscrossed he Sava river into Hungary, led bythePatriarch Arsenius II Tzardoievic. Many of the young ChristianSerbs oined later the anti-Muslim bands of outlaws (uskoki, haiduki)and harassedhe Muslim Bosniaks rom their bases n Krajina. Against


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[84] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEthem, the Osmanll pashas from Sarajevo and Travnik organized aspecial crack unit of Slavic "Frontier Agas" and "Kapetans" in thenorthern Bosnia.

A significant number of Serbian highlanders (Crnogorcy) fromMontenegro (Crnagora or Black Mountain) embraced Islam in theXVllth century but a terrible pogrom annihilated them almost totally.In 1703, Daniel Petrovic, Vladika-Bishop of Montenegro ordered themass murder of all Montenegrins who embraced Islam. Since 1389,when the Serbian army was defeated on the "Fields of Blackbirds,"Montenegro became the last mountainous citadel of those Serbian clanswho preferred their own tribal power in the Black Hills to a "Turkishyoke." Their fierce tribal nationalism shaped by oral tradition and war-songs resembles rather the primitive solidarity of the ancient Doric'phylae than the medieval Greek Orthodox koinonia agapes. The Serbclans of medieval Montenegro lived in a self-imposed Greek Orthodoxtheocracy. Their country became known as the Duchy of Zeta orZenta. During the reign of Stephen Dushan, Zeta was ruled by a mancalled Bal~ha, who claimed to be a member of the royal dynasty ofAnjou from Baux. His son, George Balsha II, married the daughter ofexecuted Prince Lazar of Serbia (she was also a widow of Sisman, aruler of Bulgaria). Under his rule, Montenegro became the clipeusChristiano rum (the Buckler of Christians) against the Islamic State.4S

William Miller, British historian of the Balkans and a staunchsupporter of the anti-Muslim rebellion of the Montenegrins, wrote in1896:

Every Montenegrin ooks back to the great disaster of Kosovo withthe same keen regret as f it had happened ast year. Every rising ofthe Serb race is justified by their national bards as revenge forKosovo, and more striking still, the headgearof the mountaineersbears even in our own days the traces of their' national grief. Thecrimson pork-pie cap, or capa, which the Montenegrins wear,female as well as male, has a broad border of black silk as a tokenof mourning for that defeat; the crimson center signifies the sea ofblood with which the Black Mountain has beenwashedsince then.46,.The tribal orthodox Montenegrowas a very valuableperro de guerra(war dog) of the pope and Venice in the Machiavellian war of proxiesagainst the Muslim Turks, Bosniaks and Albanians. WesternMontenegro under the rule of Vladika or "shepherd" van Corneyvic(the Black), with Cetinje as capital, became he kernel of the anti-


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [85]Turkish guerrillas. After his death in 1490, during the tribal warbetween Montenegrin clans, one of the influential warriors Stanichakilled a warlord Djuro. Later he went to Istanbuland embraced slam.As the Pashaof the Albanian Skoder, Stanichasettled his whole clanin the Albanian village Bouchati. In the XVlllth century, KaraMustapha Bouchatlia, one of Stanicha's scions, establisheda largeMuslim Montenegrin community near Cetinje.Since 1516, every elected ruler of Montenegro was simultaneouslyordained the Bishop of the Orthodox Church. That is why the Turkscalled thosevladikas the Black Monks. In the beginning of the seventhcenturyone of the ruling Carnoyevic clan embracedslam. In 1623; he"invincible" Montenegrincapital Cetinje was takenafter he twenty-daylong invasionof SulaimanPasha'sTurko-Albanian troops. In 1687, heMontenegrin Catholic clans of Kuchice and Clementice aided by theVenetiansattackedBosnia. The Turks punishedVenice by the counter-attack of the Martolosi, inside Italy. Landing Muslim troops on theshores of the Bocche die Cattaro forced the Venetians o make peacewith the Sublime Porte.

The sultan's akindjilar once more occupied Cetinje, while theMontengrin Serbs promised o support he Austrian emperor LeopoldI in his invasion of Bosniaand Serbia.The Turks, preoccupiedwith thedefending of Bosnia and the war on the Lower Danube,were unable oprotect the Montenegrin Muslims against he fanatical Vladika-BishopDanilo II Petrovic. In the war-song called Sve Oslobod Serbian, allfree), the Christians of Montenegro graphically describe he horror of"the Montenegrin Vespers." The Martinovic clan offered to carry outthe massacreof "the Montenegrin apostates" n memory of the battleon the Kosovo Polye. Christmas Eve was chosen as the night forkilling the Muslims. Five brothers of Martinovic intoxicated with wine"to the glory of Christ, and seizing their consecrated lubs, rushed offthrough the darkness... all who refused baptism were massacredwithout pity, thosewho embraced he crosswere presented s brothersto the Vladika. These Montenegrin Vespers as the massacre ofChrismas Eve in 1703 has beencalled, cleared he land of the Turkishrenegade"'.for ome ime to come. But in 1707, the survivors returnedto attack. 47

Miller's narration s a very interestingexampleof westernhistoricalsensitivity to and sympathy or the brutal murderers of Muslims. Hisanti-Islamic book about the Balkans was reprinted four times (1896,1899, 1901, 1908)as a textbook for students n the United Kingdom.


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[86] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEWilliam Miller was an influential professor of history in British schoolsat Athens and Rome, and probably the first who used the term"clearing of Turkish renegades," which corresponds with the latestexpression of the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on "ethniccleansing" of non-Serbs in Bosnia, Sandjak and Kosovo.

The Hungarian-backed Serb banditry in Krajina possesseda historyof their own. The kings of medieval Hungary empowered them tooccupy the area between the Sava and Drava rivers, under theirchieftains called "despots." The Serb emigrants in Banat Temesvar, ledby the brothers of Bakye formed the "Black Legion" against the armyof Sultan Muhammad II Fatih. Austrian Prince Eugene de Savoy (1663-1736) described the Serb chetniks as his best scouts and his mosttrusted garrisons in the war of attrition against the Muslims. In 1740;100,000 Austro-Hungarian Serbs from Krajina emigrated to Russia, andthe czar settled them on the banks of the Dniepr river. They wereforced to leave Krajina, due to the resistance of the Muslim Slavs innorthern Bosnia.

The H4ngarian senator J de Aboth wrote in the 19th century that theMuslim Bosniaks:

...are far more strict than any others; perhaps the result of theenthusiastic eligious emotions of the SouthernSlavonic races. Theyeven ose once o defend he Qur'an against he sultan.. The Muslimwomen of Bosnia strictly obey the command of Qur'an, and are soheavy veiled, that they can only just draw their breath and see toguide their stepsalong he way; their eyesand eyelids are concealed,and they hide even their hands under their mantle... They areheavier veiled than any I have seenanywhereelse n the East... thewomen's faces are more concealed, he mask which cover even heeyes s not made here of the same soft material as the veil of face,but as a firm shield, frequently covered with velvet.48

De Aboth compared he Bosnian Muslim town of Jajce o Homer'sancientTroy. According to him, it was "the bulwark of Christianity"during Sultan Muhammad II's siege in 1464, when the Magyar(Hunaarian) defender of the fortress, Emerick Zarolya, effectivelyhalted the Turks.49The importance of this town on top of a picturesquemountainwasso well-understoodby the Christians that the pope of Rome appealedto all Christian kings and dukes of the west not to allow this muTUSChristianitatis (the wall of Christendom) o fall. In 1520, the Sandjak-


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [87]Begsof Serbia and Bosniacaptured he strategically mportant Zvornikon the bank of the Drina river and marched nto Hungarian-occupiedKraijna. FerhatPasha, he Beglerbegof Bosnia, was killed in the battleagainstHungarian troops led by captainsPaul Tomori, JacobBanffi,Francis Rado and Janos Kallay. He turned the small town ofVrhnobosna (modern Sarajevo) into a beautiful "Damascus of theWest." His successorChusrevBeg continued he siege of Jajce, but in1525 the Hungarian commanderof the castle, Peter Keglevic, wasrescued by 16,000 Hungarian horsemened by ChristopherFrangepan.

One year later, Graf Frangepan died in the battle against theHabsburg's party. In 1528, Chusrev-begand SerbianPashaMehrnedGalliogly stormed Jajce and captured t. Banjaluka was surrenderedwithout a battle. The surrender of the egg-shapedmountain (in theSlavic language "Jajce" means egg), ended the long Hungarianoccupationof northern Bosnia.Balkanization of the Antemurale ChristianitatisThe concept of antemurale Christianitatis was more a geopoliticalexpression han a religious one. It is a chimera in which very few ofthe important religious featureshave had a major role in determiningfrontiers betweenbelievers, "infidels," and nations. It is not surprising,therefore, that there were many conflicting national identifications ofexactly what comprised the "bulwark of Christendom." Perhaps heonly definition that could approachsupportof the medieval Christiansis one that simply points out the Venetian,Hungarian, Austrian, Polishand Spanish lands were not a part of the Osmanll Islamic State.Whateverone's definition of "the bulwark ofChristendom"- whetherit is the Christianized ancient Romanempire, or the modernconceptofthe European Community-there can be no dispute that antemuraleChristianitatis always marked the western boundaries of Islam inEurope. In the 14th century the Hungarian kingdom, and in the 15thcentury, the Habsburg empire was declared the "bulwark ofChristendomagainst he Turks."

"Who shielded he throat of Christendom rom the Turkish arrows?"Asked he'Austro-HungarianambassadorieronymusBalbus,appealingto the Diet at Wonns for immediate help in a passionateoratio, onApril 3, 1521. And he answered:Hungarians.He warned the Germanelectors of the "Holy Roman Empire" that if Hungary were to be aTurkish pashalik, the whole of Europe would be open to Islam. The


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[88] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEfall of Belgrade was a blow to the whole of Christian Europe.50

Before 1453, several European countries pretended o the role ofantemurale, among them Byzantium, Spain, Portugal, Venice,Hungary, Austria, Transylvania, Albanian rebels ed by Kastriota, andeven he primitive Orthodox Montenegro.

In the 16thcentury, the Polish-LithuanianCommonwealthoined theleague of defenders of antemurale Christianitatis. However, thedefensive concept of the "Bulwark" in the age of western colonialexpansionmade he Polish antemuralean outdatedmyth, even after hebliss of Sobieski's victory in 1683. In the 19th century, Polanddisappeared rom the map of Europe.In Spenglerian terms, the medieval Turkish power was an"Appolonian" stage of Euro-Asiatic post-Hellenistic civilization. Thestatic force of Islam intervened in the "Paustian" world of Christiancultures.In the clash of religions, the Turks representedhe coercive stateofstabilization, and the Christian powers responded o the challengeofIslam with a new Machiavellian arte della guerra. When RaimondoMontecuccoli wrote his Della guerra col Turco in Ungheria ("On thewar against the Turks in Hungary," better known under the titleAforismdell'arte bellica), the Turks were able to brush aside he weakHungarian army and to besiegeVienna. However, laying siege o thepowerful and well designedbulwarks of the major cities of Europeproved to be a great strategicmistake for the Muslims. At the end ofthe long and exhaustingsiege,Vienna managedo standuntil the rescueoperation of international Christian troops.51After the PeaceTreaty of Carlovac (Karlovitz) signedby the SublimePorte in 1699, the continuous military expansionof Islam in Europewas halted. In 1717, during a successful rusade ed by Prince Eugenede Savoy (1663-1736), who captured Belgrade, the religio-militaryconceptof antemurale Christianitatis was replacedby a newdoctrine:the concept of rolling-back the Turkish state to Asia. In the 19thcentury, Russian armies with the help of Serbian, Bulgar and Greeknatio~list insurgents, Balkanized he European realm of the Turkishreformists. Three major Europeanwars were ignited or inflamed by

Serbian nationalists, who since 1389, have continuouslymourned hemartyrdom of Knaz St. Lazar Hrebeljanovic and his lost Serboslavia.~


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRONTIERS [89]Notes

1. See "The Battle of Kosovo, 1389-1989," Casopis Malice Isiljenica Srbije 36(1989): 344. Kosovo, often called by the Serbs "the Jerusalemof Serbia" is today95 per cent inhabited by the Albanian Muslims; vide, S.P. Ramet, "War in theBalkans," Foreign Affairs(Fall 1992): 83.2. T. Lehr-Splawinski, "Zagadnienie Chorwatow nadwislanskich," PamietnikSlowiailski 2 (1951): 17-32; T. Lewicki, "Najdawniejsza wzmianka irodlowa 0Wislanach, Przeglad Zachodni, (1951)3-7: 488; T. Lewicki, "Litzike KonstantynaPorfIrogenety Biali Serbowie w polnocnejPolsce," Roczniki Historyczne27 (1956):96. T. Sulimirski, Sarmaci (Warsaw: PIW, 1979), 199.3. T. Lewicki, "Panstwo Wislan-Chorwatow w opisie al-Mas~diego,"Sprawozdania PolskiejAkademii Umiejetnosci,49 (1951): 24-34; F. Dvornik, TheMaking of Central and Eastern Europe (London: Bowker, 1949),270-271.4. G. Pisidiae, Bellum Avaricum, ed. J. Bekker'(Bonn: MHG, 1836),401-412;L.G. Dindorf, ed. Chronicon Paschalevol. I (Bonn, 1832),715-725.5. B. Kuripesic, Itinerarium der Botschaftsreise es Josepf an Lamberg und NicasJurschitz durch Bosnien,Serbien, Bulgarien nach Konstantinopel 1530, ed. E.Lamberg-Schwarzenberg lnsbruck: Verlag c. Meyer, 1910),460-462.6. N. Malcolm, Bosnia: A Short History (New York: New York University Press,1994),79.7. N. Boldiceanu, "Sur les valaquesdes balkans slavesa I epoqueottomane (1450-1550)," Revue des etudes slamiques 34 (1966): 83-132; S. Dragomir, Vlahii dinnordul peninsulei balcanice in evul mediu, (Bucharest: Librea, 1959), 48-51; alsosee, B. Gushic, "Wer sind dic Morlachen im adriatischen Raum," Balcanica 4(1973): 453-464; M. Gyoni, "La Transhumance es vlaquesbalkaniquesau moyenage," Byzantinoslavica 12 (1951): 29-42; E. Naumov, "Balkanskiye vlakhi iformirovanye drevneserbskoi narodnostii," in E. Naumov, ed., Etnicheskayaistoriya vostochnikh romantzev,Sredniyeveyka Moscow: Gosizdat, 1979), 18-61;P. Pavlovich, The Serbians: The History of a People Toronto: Siavia, 1983),70-79;T. Winnifrith, The Vlachs: The History of a Balkan People London: Robert Hale,1987).8. D. Obolensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth:Eastern Europe 500-1453 (NewYork: St Vlidimir Seminar Press, 1974),322.9. A. V. Sol


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[90] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSEthe name Dushan was originated from Serb word dusha or "soul."12. Lord Eversley, The TurkishEmpire (Lahore: Premiere Book House, 1959),29.13. Ibid., 30.14. A.S. Atiya, The Crusade of Nicopolis (London: Methuen, 1934), 223.15.J. Demel, HistoriaRumunii (Wroclav-Warsaw-Cracov:Ossolineum, 1986), 123.16. E.S. Picollomini, "De rebus gestis Friderici III sive Historia Austriaca, in J.'Kollar, ed., Analecta monumentorumomnis aevi Vindobonensia, ol.2,(Vienna,1762), 56, vide J. Dabrowski, Rok 1444. Spar 0 traktat szegedynski Wroclaw:Ossolineum, 1966), 49.17. I. de Thurocz, "Chronica Hungarorum," in Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum(Vindobonae, 1766), 320. Polish chronicler, Jan Dlugosz described he treacheryof Cesarini: "Thus, in uncontrolled udgementwhich breached he oath given to ~eTurks-what was possiblebecauseof the naive, heedlessand innocent mind of theking-the apostolic authority terminated (the peace treaty with the Muslim ruler)and incited the king (againstpeace). It was nullified and decided by cardinal Julianon behalf the papal seat against he name of the Christian king." See,J. Dlugosz,"Historiae Polonicae," ed. A. Przezdziecki in Opera Omnia, vol. 13 (Cracov,1877),704.18. J. Thury, Torok tortenetirok, vol. 1 (Budapest, 1893),372. About the brokentruce of Szegedand the battle of Varna see, A. Prochaska, "Uwagi krytyczne ()klesce warnenskiej," RozprawyAkademii Umiejetnosci WydzialuHistorii, vol. 39(Cracov: AU, 1900), passim; B. Stachon, "Polityka Polski wobec Turcji i akcjiantytureckiej w wieku XV do utraty Kilii i Bialogrodu (1484)," ArchiwumTowarzystwa Nauk, vol. VII, No.2, 1930; R. Urbanek, Vladislav Vamencik.Skutecnost legenda Prague:Bohemia, 1937);0. Halecki, "La croisadede Varna:Legende et realite," Academiedes Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. 2 (1937); O.Halecki, The Crusade of Varna: A Discussion of Controversial Problems (NewYork: The Polish Institute, 1943); F. Pall, "Un moment decisif du Sud-Esteuropeen: a croisade de Varna," Balcania. vol.7 (1944):102-120.19. A. Menavino, in F. Sansovino,Historia universalede' Turchi, (Venice, 1573),p.73. Sultan's diary quotedby Lord Kinross, The OttomanCenturies: The Rise andFall of Turkish Empire (New York: Morrow Quill, 1977),184-185.20. The term "chimera" has beencoined by the Russianhistorian L.H. Gumilev fora dangerouspolitical utopia, an impossible idea or wild fancy of the Eurasianmedieval illers. In the ancientGreekmythology, Chimera was a ferocious monsterwith a serpent's ail, a goat's body, and a lion's head, supposedo breathe-out lfe;killed by hero Bellerophon; vide, L.H. Gumilev, Ritmy Evrasii (Moscow: Progress-Pnagieya, 1993).21. Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries,128.22.

Ibid., 131.


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN FRON11ERS [91]23. L. Rogalski, Dzieje ksiestw naddunajskich to jest; Multan i Woloszczyzny,podlug dziel Cagalniceana, Vaillanta, Ubiciniego i Palauzowa... pomnozonedodatkami z dziejow polskich i tureckich (Warsaw, 1861), 34-41.24. D. Kamber, quoted by H.M.Handzic, Islamiza(:ji~ Bosne i Hercegovine(Sarajevo: Islamska Domicka Stamparija, 1940),8.25. Ibid., 20.26. T. Gasztowtt, La Pologne et l'Islam (Paris: J. Lumiere, 1907),51.27. Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries,186.28. Ibid., 196.29. G. Finley, A History of Greece rom its Conquestby the Romans o the PresentTime vol. 3 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1877), 502; T. W. Arnold, ThePreaching of Islam: The Propagation of the Muslim Faith (Karachi: Muhammad,Ashraf, 1979), 149.30. N.M. Karamsin, Histoirede I 'Empire de Russie, ol. 5 (Paris, 1819-1829),437.31. S. Gerlach, Tage-Buch der von zween... Romischen Kaysem an dieOttomanischePforte abgefertiggen GesandtschaftFrankfurt, 1674), 413.32. G.F. Hertzberg, Geschichte er Byzantinerunddes OsmanischenReiches, vol.2 (Berlin, 1883), 650.33. T. Ludovicius, Ioannis Ludovici Vivis De Conditione Vitae Christianorum subTurca, et Othonis Brui felsii ad Principes et Christianos omnes Oratio (Basilae,1538),133,225.34. T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, 161.35. Turchica Spurcitiae et Perfidiae Suggillatio et Confutatio (Turkish filth andinsulting perfidy and its rejection) (Paris, t516) foliculu!: XVII, p.l. The report ofan anonymousChristian author, who spent welve years (1436-1458) n the Osmanllstate as a war-prisoner. Despite the author's anti-Islamic invectives and tongue-lashings against the Turks, his pugnacious antiturcica is an excellent sourCe ofinformation about the rapid Islamization of Greek intellectual elite.36.

Hertzberg, Geschichte er Byzantiner,616; Arnold, The Preaching of Islam,162; Finley, A History of Greece,vol. 5, 118.37.Hertzberg, Geschichteder Byzantiner,616.

38. F. Sansovino, Historia Universaledell Origine et Imperio de Turchi (Venice,1573), 258. ,.39. M. Baudier, Histoire generale du Serrail et de la Cour du Grand Seigneur,Empereur des Turcs (Paris, 1631), 89-90.40.

J. T. Bent (ed.) Voyagesand Travels n the Levant (London, 1893),210.41.J. Spons,Reisendurch Italien, Dalmatien, Griechenlandund die Morgenlander,vol. 2 (Nuremberg, 1713),57.


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[92] INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE42. J. von Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte as Osmanischen eiches,vol. 6 (Pestb1833),94.43. T. Smith, An Account of the Greek Church (London, 1680), 15.44. F. Kanitz, DiefortschreitendeAmautisirung und Muhamedanisirung lt-Serbien(Vienna, 1888), 37-40.45. Vide, the leaflet written by Pope Pious II, AeneasSilvius de Picollomini, in thcollection of manuscripts, Europam, absquenota in the National Library (BN) 8Warsaw, ante-1491.46. W .Miller, The Balkans (London: T. Fischer-Unwin, 1896),362.47. Ibid., 398; also see E.L. Clark, The Races of European Turkey (New YorkGoldberg & Sons, 1878),362-363. In 1710, he RussianEmperor-ModernizerPeteI sent a letter to the Montenegrin "Prince and Lord of Free Montenegro i Berdaor Kniaz saying, "I place my trust above all, in the stalwart arms of 'th,Montenegrin braves, who assuredlywill help me to deliver Christendom, o rise Ujtemples of the true faith and to add splendor to the Slav name. Warriors of th,Black Mountain, you are of the same creed, the same language as ourselves.Quoted by W. Miller, The Balkans, 397.

The British poet Tennysonpraised the Montenegrins in his poem "NineteendCentury":

O. ..warriors beating back the swarmOf Turkish Islam for five hundredyears...The British Prime Minister Gladstone,who coined the term "Turkey-The Sic)Man of Europe," compared the Montenegrins to the ancient 300 Spartans ed b:King Leonidas,and he Athenian StrategoiMiltiades, who fought against he PersiaJKing Xerxes's Asian armies. In his statesment f October 18, 1895,he said, "In m:deliberate opinion the tradition of Montenegro, now committed to His HighnesPrince Nicholas as a sacred trust, exceed in glory those of M~athon ani

Thermopylae, and all the war-traditions of the world." Quoted by W. Miller, 111.Balkans,353.48. J. de Asboth, An Official Tour through Bosnia and Hercegovina (London1890),11,261. During the Islamic Revolution of Kapetan HusseinAga Berberlicalled "Zmay Bosnaski."or "The Bosnian Dragon," the Bosnian Muslim rose U)against the Sultan Mahmoud II's reform of dress (they refused to wear the nevmilitary uniforms, fashionedon he Westernarmy outfits, with musket-belts rosse(upon the ireast). They rejected he Nizam Jadrd of "Sultan-Kafir," and they wage


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MUSLIM-CHRISTIANFRONTIERS [93]continued he Bosnian slamic upris.ing against he "Sultan-Gaur." He was defeatedby the sultan's army led by the Croatian convert Omar Pasha n 1850.49.

Ibid.., 412.50. A. Bridge, Suleiman the Magnificent: Scourge of Heaven (London: Granada,1984),49.51. T.M. Barker, Double Eagle and Crescent Albany: Georgia.University'Press,1967),235.

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The Serbian Question and the Muslim Christian Frontiers