Habsburg Askerî Serhâd’dinde Ulah Kimliği: Ulah Kanunnamesi (5 Ekim 1630)

Abstract

From the late15th century, the Ottomans, threatening the Crotian-Slavonian territories and expanding through the southeastern Europe, caused the foundation and consolidation of the border defense systems in the conflict zone of Islam and Christianity. Castles and captainship systems were fractionally developed in the other territories of the Habsburg Monarchy, and in Croatia and Slavonia in particular. Initially, even though they were considered as a military institution to serve as defense against the Ottoman advance (progress), the completion of the militarization process of this border region was mediated through the Wallachians posted as mercenaries and enlistees. The Wallachian immigrants, increasing in number over time in the Military Frontier, on the one hand, colonized the region, and, on the other hand, started to have problems with the nobles of the region in terms of feudal liability. With this issue, the holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, enacted the Wallachian Law (Statuta Valachorum / Vlaški Statuti) on October 5, 1630. In this study, the Wallachian Law underlying the legal status of the Wallachian who settled in the Upper Slavonian Military Frontier, which was established by the Habsburgs against the Ottomans between the Drava and Sava rivers has been researched (analysed). Within the context of this document, by evaluating the social, military and political privileges of the Wallachian people, we have tried to reveal how this Balkan community transformed into military-settler communities. In this research, as well as the Austrian archival documents and the related works with the body of literature, the works published in Croatian, German and English were referred to. The content analysis from the qualitative research methods has been applied.