The study is dedicated to the obituaries of the Bulgarian parish clergy from European Turkey (Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace), published in the Exarchate newspaper Novini (Vesti / Glas) during the period 1890 – 1912. These documents are virtually unknown in scholarly literature and are brought together here for the first time in a special compilation. A total of 57 obituaries published in the newspaper have been identified, referring to parish priests, deacons, municipal chairmen, and archpriest’s vicars. Among the deceased, urban priests predominate, while the share of individuals holding administrative positions is relatively small. Most of the obituaries were submitted privately by the family of the deceased, whereas Bulgarian institutions and professional organizations were only rarely involved in the funeral or the death announcement. The study outlines the main features of these documents that shape the posthumous reputation of the Bulgarian priest as a national activist and spiritual shepherd-namely, the personal characterization of the deceased and the description of the ceremonial aspects of the funeral.

The beginning of the 13th century marked a particularly intense period of military clashes in the Balkans, especially in the lands of Latin Romania, resulting from the Fourth Crusade and the rise of the Latin Empire (1204 – 1261). In these military campaigns, different military systems and correspondingly different types of armament collided: the traditional Byzantine warfare, the Bulgarians’ and Cumans’ one, and the Latin Western European military art. The author analyzes the key characteristics of the armament and the modes of warfare typical of these three political powers. In conclusion, the author draws some basic findings about the specific characteristics and mutual influences in the military clashes in the lands of Latin Romania during the considered period.

The study attempts to shed light on an insufficiently studied moment in the personal biography of Ivan Shishmanov, related to his visit in 1898 to Bishop Josip Juraj Štrossmayer in Dzhakovo. The aim of the present text is to conceptualize the meeting of the eminent Bulgarian scholar with the bishop as a dynamic process of receptive communication, of getting to know one’s own through the foreign, accompanied by a careful analysis of the circumstances that determined the individual stages in the development of national self-consciousness and national self-determination from the end of the 19th century. In this aspect, the travelogue “Bishop Josip Štrossmayer. Memories of a Personal Meeting” is viewed as a vision of the specific tasks and pragmatic strategies for implementation by our cultural elites, based on the accumulated time experience and the hermeneutics of our historical destiny, in which the author’s reflections on the era and events surrounding the personality and work of the Dzhakovo bishop are woven. At the same time, the story of the journey can also be perceived as a kind of panopticon, in which pictures of the real and imaginary past, present and future, the ideological pathos of the narrator and the aspiration for psychological penetration into the human microcosm alternate. The process of reflexive determination of identity gives rise to the act of comparing interiority, memory and time. Ivan Shishmanov unfolds the image of Josip Juraj Štrossmayer focusing on the phenomenology of memory and the temporality that evokes it. The composition of the text is conventionally divided into three parts, each of which leads to the final understanding of the personality of the bishop of Džakovo a posteriori based on the historical context, the different levels of acquired human and social experience and psychological attitudes. Far from naive, romantic notions, Ivan Shishmanov outlines a detailed biographical portrait of the enlightener, philosopher, theologian, politician, writer, patron and benefactor, equally significant for the destinies of his own people and for the history of all humanity.

War is the natural state of humankind, and its traumas mark entire generations, being transmitted through collective memory to the next. One of the key questions we address in this article is whether revisiting the history of military conflicts can help protect us from future ones. Through literary sources and field research, a comparison is made between post-war Germany and its attempt to deal with the most painful and shameful part of its history, that of Nazism, and the nations of the former Yugoslavia, which failed to cope with the traumas of their history and inherited antagonism and ended up in the bloody Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The specific factors and reasons why in one place they succeeded and in the other not to rework their history and, consequently, what are the consequences of this are highlighted.

This article explores the elusive presence of Berbers in Islamic Sicily between the 9th and 11th centuries. A major challenge of the topic is the lack of ethnic differentiation in medieval narratives: both Christian and Muslim sources typically categorize Sicily’s population according to religious affiliation, rather than ethnic identity. In contrast to al-Andalus, where Berber communities are more visibly represented in the sources, their presence in Sicily appears fragmentary and often ambiguous. The aim of the study is to identify, systematize, and interpret the historical evidence relating to Berbers in Sicily. Methodologically, it combines a comparative analysis of data from various medieval Arabic chronicles with a critical review and reassessment of existing historiographical approaches. A key contribution of the study is the discussion of the possible presence of Berber Christians in Sicily prior to the Islamic conquest of the island in the 9th century. A chronological synthesis of references concerning Muslim Berbers is presented and analyzed. The study situates developments in Sicily within the broader political dynamics of North Africa, with particular emphasis on the role of the Kutāma Berbers in the 10th century and the increasing involvement of the Berber Zirid emirate in the 11th century. The article also explores literary stereotypes about the Berbers in Arabic historical writing – both in general terms and in relation to their role in Sicily. Particular attention is given to the spread of Ibāḍī Khārijism, which may have been introduced by Berber settlers. As a marginal movement within regions dominated by Sunnī Islam, Khārijite groups are often depicted in a negative light in Arabic chronicles. The article engages with these contested issues in an effort to offer a nuanced perspective on the Berber presence in medieval Sicily.

The article examines two cartoons by the British artist William Chasemore that reflect on the Congress of Berlin 1878. The Congress was famous for the creation of other cartoons, but the two works by William Chasemore do not fall into this category and may represent an interesting addition to the more popular aspects of satire dedicated to the diplomatic forum after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 1878. Leading European politicians are depicted curiously, including German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), Russian Foreign Minister Prince Gorchakov, and other important participants in the meeting in Berlin in the summer of 1878. The satirical presentation of the event is filled with many scathing but accurate observations about international politics in the context of the Eastern Question.

The text presents little-known or entirely unknown data on the history of Sofia buildings financed through the donations of Bulgarian merchant Ivan Denkoglu and those that are named after him. It traces their fate from the mid-19th century to the present day, analyzing it through the lens of the turbulent history of the Bulgarian state. In addition to exploring the history of the Ivan Denkoglu School and the churches ‘St. Virgin Mary Prechista’ and ‘St. Spas’, which received direct support from the benefactor, the article also examines the fate of buildings bearing his name – such as a Charitable society, a cultural center (chitalishte), and a bookstore named Ivan Denkoglu. Within the context of these Sofia buildings, related topics are also discussed, including the final resting place of Ivan Denkoglu’s parents, the fate of his library, and the activities of the Sofia Charitable Society ‘Iv. N. Denkoglu’, among others. The study aims to connect the history of these buildings with the broader history of Sofia and the memory of the benefactor.