Die Čiprovecer in Ungarn

Abstract

The expansion of the Osmanli Turks started in the second half of the 14th century which led to the conquest of the following independent countries: Byzantium, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and Bosnia. The inhabitants of these countries fled westwards and many of them found refuge in Hungary. The liberation of Buda from the Turks in 1686, then of Belgrade in 1688 triggered a series of uprisings against the Turkish rule. In 1688 the centre of the uprisings in West-Bulgaria was Čiprovec and the neighbouring settlements: Kopilovec, Železna and Klissura, all with Catholic inhabitants converted by the Bosnian Franciscans. In 1655 the leaders of the Čiprovec voivodship (district) formed a military league but their plans came out and it resulted in a bloody retaliation by the Turks in 1688. This made many of the Bulgarians flee to the neighbouring countries and even to Hungary. The study, after describing the historical background of the flight, discusses the archival data of the Bulgarian refugees settled in Szentendre, in a town north of Buda. It pays special attention to the history of the “Čiprovačka” church in Szentendre, the first document of which dates back to 1731. It analyses the names of the settlers and the names of their professions which were mostly Turkish. The author also dwells on the role of the Serbs in Szentendre who fled in 1690 from Old Serbia (Raška, Racia) and formed here the centre of the Orthodox Serbian bishopric. Living in isolation from their homeland, the Bulgarians from Čiprovac gradually assimilated to the surrounding Hungarian population.