Ottoman Bulgaria
In the 11th century, the Turkish tribes migrated to the Anatolian peninsula, defeated the Byzantines in the Battle of Manzikat (1071), and established small kingdoms throughout the country. In the 13th century, a small Turkish state led by Ottoman I was established around the Sea of Marmara. This is the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. The principles underlying the new state were enlightened rule as an ideal, a state as a just entity that enables the existence of religion, and grants freedom to minorities.
During the 14th century the Ottomans became stronger and in 1354 they crossed the Dardanelles and moved their capital from Bursa to Adrianople. In a short time they set up a mighty Balkan empire, defeating the Serbs in 1389, capturing the capital of Bulgaria and Veliko Tarnovo in 1393, thus effectively ruling the entire Balkans. It is important to understand that the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of its journey, was a militant Muslim minority controlling a large Christian rural majority. The Balkan was conquered about 60 years before Constantinople, and the empire at its beginning was Balkan and Christian.
The Sultan who conquered Bulgaria is Murat I, an important figure in the history of the Ottomans and the Balkans. He founded the institution of the Janissaries (the new soldier), who formed the backbone of the bureaucracy and the army, and strengthened the “Timar” system – vassal estates of warriors who collect taxes for the Sultan and serve him in times of war. The owners of the estates were the Ottoman cavalry – the Sipahi.
Murat showed tolerance towards other religions and towards his enemies as well, granting rights to the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria and other Christian institutions. He was followed by his son bayezid I, who some say was secretly a Christian. Bayezid allowed Christians to hold senior positions in the government. He completed the conquest of the Balkans, Bulgaria, Albania, and turned against the Muslim kingdoms in the east, defeating the Mamluks (thus becoming the Muslim “caliph”). but he was captured and defeated by Timur Lang in 1402. And so, Constantinople was saved and the advance of the Ottomans was halted. The Balkan people won some freedom, but with the passing of times, the Ottomans regained their strength and resumed their conquests.
The Ottoman Empire was founded on the image of a new man, a Muslim noble, a knight, who fulfills the virtues and ideals of the chivalrous Muslim way, whether he was part of the cavalry or a soldier in the new Janissaries units. The soldiers of the Janissaries grew from childhood in Military boarding Schools. They adopted the ideal of a Muslim state as a tool for implementing justice in a way that allows people to live a full religious life and for society to harmonious and prosperous. The means of educating these “new soldiers” (Janissaries) was the Madrasas and Tekkes, which were incorporated into the military boarding Schools.
The “new man” that was shaped within them was imbued with inner motivation and could serve as a pillar of the state. He could be trusted wherever he was sent and in whatever role he was given. Initially, it was Muslims who chose to join the new military boarding schools, but over time the Ottomans began to forcibly recruit Christian children (mainly from the Balkans) into the Janissary units, raising them away from their parents and homeland. This method of recruitment was called “Devshirme” and it remains in the collective memory of the Bulgarian people as a deep trauma.
Another important institution created by the Ottoman Empire at the very beginning is the “millet” – autonomy for minorities and the granting of independent judicial rights in the community to various religious denominations. The Millet created a kind of local and independent government that would function for the Ottoman central government. In addition to this, the Ottomans had a system of land distribution and taxation that was more advanced than that of medieval feudal Europe.
In general, it can be said that the Ottomans proposed a new and advanced state concept based on a strong central government, an advanced code of laws for its time, an organized tax collection system, certain autonomy for minorities, and better possibilities for living off the land. In many ways, Ottomans rule benefited the local peasants in the Balkan countries, who had previously lived under the yoke of the nobles in the feudal system.
In the middle of the 15th century, Sultan Mehmed II succeeds in conquering Constantinople and renewing Ottoman rule in the Balkans. He confiscated lands from the nobles, strengthened the central government, established an efficient bureaucracy directly subordinate to him, and made the Ottoman Empire the leading power in the world. The great sultans Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent continued the golden age. This was the time of great conquests, the writing of the laws, the creation of a Sultanic administration and economic prosperity.
The conquest of Constantinople and the expansion of the empire brought prosperity to the Balkans, large construction enterprises were undertaken, such as the bridge over the Drina River, the Sufi orders established monasteries all over Bulgaria and addressed social injustice. The Jews arrived with the encouragement of the Ottoman authorities from Spain (after the deportation) and established magnificent communities in many Balkan cities and towns.
In general, in the main cities such as Sofia or Plovdiv, a mixed population of Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Turks, and Bulgarians developed, whereas the original Christian-Bulgarian upper classes and populations found refuge in the rural towns and villages. A large part of Christian culture and art found a home in monasteries.
By the 17th century Bulgaria seemed to be becoming part of a large multicultural empire, and the national element began to fade. Bulgaria’s proximity to Istanbul resulted in intensive integration into the empire. Dreams of independence seemed distant, but the Bulgarian people maintained their identity under the leadership of the Church.
The Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria was particularly harsh and cruel towards the upper classes – the aristocracy. Veliko Tarnovo was destroyed and the nobles found refuge in remote towns in the Mountains such as Koprivshtitsa in the Rhodope Mountains. According to some sources, many people were exiled to Asia Minor and after the conquest of Constantinople there as well. In their place, Turkish and Tatar populations were brought. During periods of tribulation there were those who converted to Islam, in some cases those who believed in the Bogomil heresy.
The second half of the 17th century heralds a period of deterioration of the empire, greed and corruption spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. The central government weakened and local rulers began to do whatever they wanted, they put pressure on the population, and this pressure leads to a number of small and insignificant rebellions.
In the 17th-18th centuries, sees the rise of Russia, as the new Slavic power, a third Jerusalem. In Istanbul, the harem sultans rule ineffectively, and the West begins the industrial revolution and voyages around the Cape of Good Hope, which undermine Istanbul’s strategic position as a gateway between East and West. At the same time, a short period of suppression of the independent Bulgarian Church commences and it is subjected to the Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul (except for the Rila Monastery). This is part of a growing discriminatory attitude towards Christians.
In the 19th century it was clear to everyone that the Ottoman Empire is the “sick man” of Europe, but its decline took a very long time. The empire tried to renew itself through the reforms of the “Tanzimat” that began in 1832 and included equal rights for Christians and Jews. Significant changes began to occur, coinciding with global developments: steamships began to sail the seas, and trade expanded. Bulgaria was going through a period of revival and economic development.
The 19th century is also the period of the Springtime of Nations: Napoleon brings new ideas to Europe, which are reflected in the revolutions of 1848; Germany and Italy gain independence, and so do neighboring Serbia and Greece after fierce rebellions and fighting. The national liberation movement gains power in Bulgaria and this leads to a rebellion in 1877, and subsequently to a war between Russia and the Ottomans, which ultimately leads to independence of Bulgaria after five hundred years of occupation.
