Hearken, О you readers and listeners, you Bulgarian people, who love and hold dear your kin and your Bulgarian homeland and wish to understand and know what is known about your Bulgarian kin and about your fathers, and forefathers, and the tsars, patriarchs and saints, how they lived and what they did. For you it is necessary and useful to know what is already known about the deeds of your fathers, just as all other tribes and peoples know about their kin and their tongue; they have their own history and every literate man knows and relates this history and is proud of his kin and tongue.

Therefore I, too, have written down for you in sequence that which is already known about your kin and your tongue. Read it and acquaint yourselves with it, so that you will not be ridiculed and reproached by other tribes and peoples. I love the Bulgarian people and my country very much and with much labour have I collected material from various books and histories until I collected and brought together the deeds of the Bulgarian people in this little book for your benefit and praise. I wrote it for you, who love your people and the Bulgarian land and who wish to know about your kin and tongue. Copy this little history book and pay those who know how to write to copy it for you and take good care that it is not lost.

And some there be who do not wish to know about their Bulgarian kin and turn to a foreign culture and to a foreign tongue and do not care for their Bulgarian language, but learn how to read and speak Greek and are ashamed to call themselves Bulgarians. O, senseless and foolish ones! Why are you ashamed to call yourselves Bulgarians and why do you not read and speak your own language? Or have not the Bulgarians had a kingdom and a state? Long did they reign and long were they glorious and famous throughout the world, and many a time did they exact taxes from the powerful Romans and from the wise Greeks. And emperors and kings gave them their royal daughters in marriage, in order to live in peace and love with the Bulgarian tsars. The Bulgarians were the most famous of all the Slav peoples, they were the first to have tsars, they were the first to have a patriarch, they were the first to be con­verted to the Christian faith and it was they who conquered the most land. Thus, of all the Slav people, they were the strongest and most respected, and the first Slav saints shone forth from the Bulgarian people, speaking the Bulgarian language, as I have duly written in this history. And about this, too, the Bulgarians have evidence from many histories, because this is the truth about the Bulgarians, as I have said.

O, you stupid men, why are you ashamed of your kin and why do you hanker after a foreign language? But, you will say, the Greeks are wiser and more cultured, whereas the Bulgarians are simple and stupid and have no refined words. That is why, you will say, it would be better if we followed their lead. But see here, you senseless ones, there are many peoples that are wiser and greater than the Greeks. Does any Greek forsake his tongue and his people as you, О witless ones, forsake yours, while gaining nothing from Greek wisdom and refinement? Be not deceived, О Bulgarian, know your people and language and learn in your own tongue! Better is Bulgarian simplicity and kindness. The simple Bulgarians welcome all to their homes and entertain them, and they give alms to those who beg of them. Whereas the wise and cultured /Greeks/ never do this, but instead they take from the simple and rob them un­justly, so that sin rather than benefit results from their wisdom and culture. Or maybe you feel ashamed of your own people and language in the presence of the learned and the merchants, and the famed ones of this earth, because the Bulgarians are simple people and there are among them few merchants and literate men, or such that are skilled and famous on this earth today, because the majority of them are ordinary ploughmen, diggers, shepherds and simple artisans? I shall answer you briefly on the question. From Adam to David and to Joachim the Righteous One, to Joseph the Betrothed (to the Holy Virgin), of all the righteous and holy prophets and patriarchs, called great both on this earth and in the sight of God, not one was a merchant or a sly and proud man like these wily ones whom you respect, at whom you marvel and whose customs and language you ape. All those pious forefathers of ours were farmers and shepherds, rich in livestock and the fruits of the earth, and were simple and kind in their lives. And Christ Himself descended to earth and went to live in the home of the simple and poor Joseph. See how God loves simple and kind shepherds and ploughmen better, and how it was they whom he first loved and glorified on earth, and yet you feel ashamed because the Bulgarians are simple and guileless shepherds and ploughmen, and you forsake your own people and language, praising a foreign tongue and aping foreign customs.

I saw how many Bulgarians behaved thus, adopting a foreign language and customs, while blaspheming their own. That is why I have written here against those who abuse their fathers and who do not love their own people and language; but, for those of you who wish to know and to hear about your peo­ple and language, I have written this so that you will learn and remember that our Bulgarian tsars, patriarchs and prelates were not without annals and codices. For many years they reigned and ruled on earth and had royal chronicles and archiepiscopal codices; about everything that was known and many life-stories and canons of the Bulgarian saints. But at that time there were no Slav printing presses, and the people, out of negligence, did not copy books. Such books were to be found in very few places. And when the Turks invaded the Bulgarian lands, they immediately violated and burnt the churches, the monasteries and the palaces of the tsars and prelates. At that time the people out of fear, necessity and horror of the Turks, ran for their lives and it was at this dreadful time that the royal histories and the codices of the Bulgarian patriarchs and prelates and the life-stories of many saints were destroyed. And today we do not possess the detailed annals that were written about our people and about the Bulgarian tsars.

I read innumerable books and spent much time in diligent search but I could find nothing. In many manuscripts and printed histories there is hardly anything to be found, apart from brief notes. A certain Mavrubir,² a Latin, translated a short history of the Bulgarian tsars from the Greek but extremely briefly — there is little more than their names and who succeeded whom on the throne. This Mavrubir himself wrote as follows: 'Thus say the Greeks, prompted by their envy and hatred for the Bulgarians. They did not describe the valiant conduct and the glorious deeds of the Bulgarian people and tsars, but wrote in brief and to the contrary, as it best suited them so that they would not feel ashamed that the Bulgarians had many a time defeated them and had exacted taxes from them.' It took me a long time to collect what was essential from this Mavrubir and from many other histories and then, elaborating a little, I prepared this little history book. Although there are many books in which short notes about the Bulgarians are to be found, not everyone has access to these books, to read them and remember, thus I reasoned it would be better to collect everything together in one book.

 
История славяноболгарская, под ред. на П. Динеков (Paissi of Hilendar, Slav-Bulgarian History, edited by P. Dinekov), Sofia, 1963, pp. 29-30; the original is in Bulgarian
 
 
¹ Paissi of Hilendar, born in Bansko in 1722, first ideologist of the Bulgarian National Revival. In 1762 he wrote the Slav-Bulgarian History, which represents the beginning of modern Bulgarian literature. Recopied and circulated in villages and towns, it awakened and strengthened Bulgarian national con­sciousness
² Mavro Orbini, author of The Kingdom of the Slavs (1601), a source used by Paissi of Hilendar


 
 
Samuil ascended the throne after David. He attacked and ravaged the Western provinces and conquered them. And he attacked Dalmatia, burnt down the outskirts of Ragusa and the town of Katara. Many a time did he vanquish the Greeks, cut their forces to pieces and take from them Salonica, Enisheher, Karaferia, i. e. Larissa, and Berrhoea, the whole of Thessaly, and he sent off the Kutsovlahs, Albanians and Greeks from those parts and settled them near Varna and Turnovo. And he also took from among them many soldiers to fight against the Greeks. And he placed many Bulgarian soldiers in Enisheher and from there carried many relics of the saints over to Bulgaria. He loved and honoured with great reverence the holy relics, and so at the beginning they helped him win and conquer much land. And at the beginning he venerated God and the saints, and God also helped him. Then he turned to evil ways and God foresook him. He rose in envy against his kin and the royal family and he slew them all. He spared only Ivan Vladislav, the son of his brother. The Greek Emperor Nicephorus Uranius rose with his forces against Tsar Samuil, vanquished and wounded him in battle. He returned home and freed the Greek rulers who had been enslaved from the beginning of the wars. He gave his daughter in marriage to the Greek General Azotus and made him go to Duratsa or the Dobroudja. The Greek embarked on a ship and made his escape to Constantinople. There the title of Magister was bestowed upon him. Again Nicephorus Uranius set out with his soldiers against Bulgaria and took several towns from Samuil. The Greeks marched against Skopje and Serbia, Samuil started out against Edirne, he ravaged and laid it waste. Then he set out with his forces against Skopje, but the Greeks besieged his soldiers and destroyed them. And they enslaved many Bulgarians and because of the great malice which king Nicephorus bore Samuil and the Bulgarians from the begin­ning, Emperor Nicephorus subjected the soldiers to a torture unheard of for centuries. He plucked out the eyes of fifteen thousand Bulgarian soldiers, leaving a one-eyed man in every one hundred soldiers to lead them, and thus blinded he sent them back to Samuil. And when so many soldiers came to Tsar Samuil, and when he saw so much Bulgarian suffering and misery, his heart was so stricken that he died soon afterwards. And so Samuil, who had shed in­nocent blood killing his royal kin, angered God and God poured all his wrath upon him and upon all Bulgaria, and gave the Bulgarians into the hands of the Greeks for a long time to come, as it will be said later on.

After Samuil, his son Radomir came to the throne, but he reigned only for one year and on the instigation of the Greek Emperor Nicephorus was slain while hunting. Nicephorus had secretly sent a man who killed him during the chase.

After Radomir, Ivan Vladimir ascended the throne. The Bulgarians banished Gavrail, Samuil’s son, to Wallachia and made Ivan, Aaron's son, king. Aaron was Samuil's and David's brother. St Ivan Vladimir reigned for three years, leading a pure, holy and pious life at first. The Greek Emperor rose once more against Ivan with a mighty force, but with a prayer to God and filled with great hope, he went with a small army and vanquished the Greeks. And then they returned in shame. But Ivan had a Greek wife and brother-in-law with him with the rank of Magister. He and his sister were heretics, novationists, they did not love the saintly Tsar Vladimir because of his Orthodoxy and pious life and laid a snare to kill him. Ivan's brother-in-law himself slew him as he passed through a forest, he cut off his head as he was riding his horse. It was God's will that Ivan should not fall off the horse, but take his own head in his hands and spur on his horse. He passed through many places and arrived at the monastery, which he had built himself at the beginning: there he dismounted his horse and expired. And it is in this monastery in Elbasan country that Ivan's relics rest immortal and whole and cure many illnesses. The entire region com­memorates him on the 22nd of May. He is a saint and a special fine service, well appointed, with a vigil and doxology, is held with great solemnity and glorification. Here we have briefly written about the saintly Tsar Ivan-Vladimir. This saint's life and service have been translated into Greek, but quite in­correctly: the life was either written later, after a long time, or some Serbian or Greek has changed it, wanting to hide his Bulgarian origin, that he comes from a line of Bulgarian tsars. They wrote that he was of Serbian origin, the son of Neman Simeonov, but they were gravely mistaken, they did not know the years in which Simeon of Serbia reigned. At that time there were no kings at all in Serbia, let alone tsars. Simeon Neman and his sons were kings many years later, and we know about all the holy Serbian kings, it is written where each died and where their relics and graves are to be found. If you look at the Ser­bian family-tree you will find out at what time Samuil and Simeon and St Ivan-Vladimir lived and you will see how the writers were mistaken in this or wanted to conceal the origin and homeland of St Ivan-Vladimir.

After the murder of Ivan, the Greek Emperor entered Ohrid without resistance. St Ivan had spent three years of his reign there in Ohrid. And those murderers surrendered all Bulgaria to the Greek Emperor. Without resistance he arrived, opened the treasury and the royal treasure, carried off a lot of gold and countless amounts of silver and divided them among his soldiers. He took many royal wreaths, crowns and precious stones. He had great mercy on Tsarina Maria, the wife of Tsar Ivan, and on their five daughters. And he knew that she had surrendered the Bulgarian kingdom and had killed her husband.

And then from Turnovo came Patriarch David and two Bulgarian barons Bogdan and Mirobizo, they brought the keys to the thirty-five Bulgarian towns and handed the keys and the towns over to the Greek king. He put Mirobizo and Bogdan again as barons of Bulgaria. And so the Bulgarian kingdom finally fell under Greek rule because of the sin of Samuil, the Bulgarian tsar and because of the novationist and Armenian heresy which multiplied among the Bulgarians in the Ohrid country.

 
Паисий Хилендарски, История славяноболгарская под редакцията на П. Динеков (Paissi of Hilendar, Slav -Bulgarian History, edited by P. Dinekov), Sofia, 1963, pp. 46 48; the original is in Bulgarian
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
¹ Marko Teodorovich Vezyov, born in Bansko, a prominent Bulgarian merchant, a pioneer for the introduction of national education in his native town, in Razlog and elsewhere, who helped the publication of Bulgarian books and teaching programmes. He was in the diplomatic service with the Serbian Prince Karageorgi

 
 
................................

The Bulgarian Yano Mitre, (v.) Kariptsi, Langadas (today the village of Hloronomi, Salonica district), on embracing Islam was named Hassan.
 
29 Shaban 1211 (28.1.1797)
 
The Bulgarian Stoyan Mitre from Enidje Vardar (today the town of Yanitsa), on embracing Islam was named Mehmed.
 
25 Ramadan 1211 (24.Ш.1797)
 
The Bulgarian Itsko Petko from Enidje Vardar, on embracing Islam was named Ismail.
 
3 Shavval 1211 (1.11.1797)
 
The Bulgarian Vassil Stoli from (v.) Sveta Paraskeva, Kalimeria (today the village of Kalamaria), on embracing Islam was named Husein.
 
11 Shavval 1211 (9. IV.1797)
 
The Greek Georgi Stamat from (v.) Zarova (today the village of Nikopolis, Langadas), on embracing Islam was named Ali.
 
25 Rabia I 1212 (17.IX.1797)
 
 
Йорданка Калудова, Документи за положението на населението в югозападните български земи под турска власт (Yordanka Kaloudova, Documents on the situation of the population in the southwestern Bulgarian lands under Turkish rule), ВИС, 4, 1970, p. 72; the original is in Turkish
 

 
 
 
 
¹ Joakim Kurchovski (с. 1750-С.1820), born in the village of Oslomevi, Kichevo (Kurchovo) dis­trict, Bulgarian scholar, teacher and priest, author of moralizing books such as The Story of the Terrible and Second Coming of Christ, This Book Which Tells About Trials and Tribulations, etc.


 
 
 
¹Kiril Peichinovich (1771-1845), born in the village of Teartse, Tetovo district, Bulgarian scholar, abbot of the monasteries of St Demetrius (south of Skopje)' (1801-1818) and St Athanasius, near the village of Leshok (1816). He published This Book Called Mirror, Book about the Consolation of Sinners, etc., written in the spoken language of the people, which also deal with questions related to the everyday life of the Bulgarian  people

 
 
 
Since, even today, learned people are only slightly familiar with the Bulgarian language, I will here add, first, the parables of the Samaritan and of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel and the Lord's Prayer, and secondly, a number of Bulgarian folk songs. For the translation from the Gospel I have to thank that same Bulgarian, who also showed me the words in the dictionary, while for the songs, I would like to thank another Bulgarian, also from Razlog.
 
 
 

1.  It may be that some of the above songs are not complete or that in many of them the lines are not equally long (there are fewer or more syllables); but we hope that the readers will forgive us these errors, especially when they bear in mind the fact that these Bulgarian songs were both written in Vienna, and that here more attention is given to grammar than to poetry. But when, by the will of God, the time comes for Bulgarian songs to be collected in Bulgaria as well and to be written down from the lips of the singers’ themselves, then these errors will be corrected and everything will be put right. From these few songs, it will be seen that Bulgarian songs are similar to Serbian ones and that, in all probability, there must be as many of them, as are the Serbian songs (in proportion to the population). The songs which the Serbian kratitsi sing on Trinity Sunday, are sung by Bulgarian girls on St John's Day, January 7th, and the last two little songs belong to this group. Bulgarians also have their popular hero-songs, which are sung to the rebec, like the Serbian ones, and, what is more, there may be a great many  Serbian songs adapted to the Bulgarian language, for the Bulgarians themselves admit this to be true in the case of some of the above songs (for example, 15 and 25). In the Bulgarian songs, as in the Serbian ones, there are words which today can be heard only in songs, for example, 'hartya' (in the spoken language they say 'kniga'), 'zheltitsa' (in the spoken language 'zhutitsa'), 'konya' (in the spoken language 'kone^’),etc.

2.  From these short examples every philologist will at once notice the main difference which distinguishes the Bulgarian language from the other Slav dialects, and this is: a) the article (Artikel), which is added to the end, for exam­ple 'krachmarnitsata', 'utreto', 'hlebo', etc., and, b) the fact that the nouns have almost no declensions, for example, ‘za toya chovek, ot Yerusalim, kray more, na kon, ot kon, nyamam voda’, etc.

So far I have only three Bulgarian books: a) Malka knizhitsa (in octavo) о mitarstvima; I saw this booklet in Serbia last year but I do not have it with me now, so I can say nothing about it (I think it was printed in Budim). b) Razlichna pouchitelna nastavlenja, sochinenya Yeromonahom Yoakimom Hadji, in Budim, 1819. This book was seemingly written in the Bulgarian language, but actually it is not Bulgarian, nor Russian, nor Slavonic, but a mixture of all three of these languages. c)  etc. by the teacher and priest Danil of Moscopol, first printed in Moscopol 60 years ago and then reprinted in 1802 in Dubrovnik. In this little book one can find several dialects: Greek, Wallachian, Bulgarian and Albanian, which were written with the intention of making these peoples forsake their 'barbarian languages and become Greeks'. Perhaps in this phrase-book the Bulgarian language is purer than in previously written books, but the words, rendered in Greek letters, are so erroneously written (how otherwise, than wrongly, could the Slav words be rendered in Greek letters), that this book, too, cannot be used in a proper way.

 
From „Додатак к Санктпетербургским сравнительним рjечницима свиjу езика и наречиjа с особитим огледима бугарског jезика". Беч, 1822. (cf. „Религиозни разкази", № 11-12, November, December 1897, pp. 740. 751,. 752, 757-759) the original is in Serbo-Croat


  ¹ Vuk Karadjic (1777-1864), an eminent Serbian philologist, ethnographer and specialist in folklore, a reformer of the Serbian literary language. In 1822 his book Addenda to the St. Petersburg comparative dictionaries of all languages and dialects with special references to the Bulgarian language appeared. In it 27 Bulgarian folk songs from the district of Razlog were published for the first time
 
 
 
 
 
First, before we begin to consider the historical grievances of the Bulgarians, it is necessary that we acquaint ourselves with their present-day condition, and then trace their development back to ancient times.
 
 
The Bulgarians (of today) are a Slavic people, of the same race as all the others: the Russians, Poles, Czechs, Croats, Slovenes, Serbs, etc.
 

The settlements of the Bulgarians, excluding their colonies in South Russia, are situated in the Turkish Empire. We do not have full and exact mation on this state because of difficulties and negligence...

Today, according to exact information, if we consider the populatic each Turkish district separately, we shall arrive at the following conclusion

The population of Bulgaria consists of:

a)  mainly Bulgarians,
b)  partly of Turks, Wallachians and Greeks. The population of Rumelia consists of:
a)  mainly Bulgarians,
b)  partly Turks, Greeks, etc.
The population of Macedonia consists of:
a)  mainly Bulgarians,
b)  partly Turks and Greeks.
The population of Albania consists of:
a)  mainly Shquipetars (Albanians),
b)  partly Bulgarians.

The population of Thessaly consists of: Wallachians, Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks.

I cannot say to this day to what boundary the Bulgarian people stretches to the South (in Livadia); at least I know that in the past they (the Bulgarians) extended, mixed with the Greeks, to the southern-most parts of Moreia, where they merged under the name of Ezerites and Milings (Const, de adm. imp. c.50). Traces of them can be found not only in historical sources but also in the Slavic names of different places in Livadia, as well as in Moreia.

On the whole, the Bulgarians live more in the countryside than in the towns, which are mainly inhabited by imperial privileged persons who live at the expense of other people's labour, Turks, and even Greeks by nationality. There are also towns in Bulgaria inhabited only by Bulgarians; they are to be found, in fact, also in the Rumelian and Macedonian towns, Indjik, near Constantinople, for instance, is inhabited (as a Greek maintains in his Resume Georg. de la Turquie, Paris, 1826, p. 504) solely by Bulgarians who engage in weaving thick broadcloth; the same applies to Belgrade, not far from the above-mentioned capital. The same Greek says (p. 529) that three towns - Buyuk-Bechik, Bazar-Djedid and Sidero-Kapshi, located in proximity to the Chalcidice and Salonica coasts of the Archipelago, are inhabited only by Bulgarians, etc. Much more can be explained in a more detailed description of these places.

We shall further note that in the 18th century the Emperor Justinian II resettled so great a number of Bulgarians from the European regions of the Em­pire in Anatolia, that they populated the whole region which consequently supplied the Empire with up to 30,000 elite soldiers. I do not know whether the descendents of this extensive population have survived. It has not occurred to anyone, at least up till now, I believe, to inform himself about it, even partially. Incidentally, this is not surprising, if we recall that no one took pains to learn anything about the Rumelian and Macedonian Bulgarians.

(From a Bulgarian I discovered, however, that the Rumelians have some information about their compatriots in Anatolia; a scholar showed me a few pages from a church book, written in regular and semi-regular handwriting, and brought from Anatolia, he assured me. That, however, should be further in­vestigated).

In addition, a considerable number of the Bulgarians are known to have settled in various districts in Novorussia and Bessarabia. A considerable part of the inhabitants of the populous town of Kishenev consists of these new-comers from beyond the river Danube and (the latter) occupy a part of the town, called Bulgaria.

Many Bulgarian families are scattered all over Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania.

 
 

This shows that the Bulgarians in Europe outnumber the Turks, and more so the Greeks, and thus they can be considered the predominant people in European Turkey.

(Page 5) Here we shall point out the reason why in the presence of such a numerous Bulgarian population, the name of Bulgaria is restricted within the limits of the country still known today by this name. That is so because in that country it was chiefly the Bulgarians who were independent: Rumelia or Thrace and Macedonia have almost always belonged to the Empire, and although they were inhabited by Bulgarians, could not bear a name which belonged to that state. Both the Bulgarians within the Empire and the Greeks themselves were called Romans (Byzantines).

The Bulgarians are of no less considerable number compared to the other Slav peoples; even today they are more numerous than the Serbs, Croats, Poles and the Czechs themselves; only the Russians are an exception in this respect. If this people had not suffered great losses under the long cruel oppression and the pernicious policy of the Porte, and from the plague, if this people had remained predominant in all the lands hitherto inhabited by it, then it could really be supposed that today it could have been as numerous and colossal as the Russian people. This view should keep us from wrong assumptions about the existence of this people in times long past.

 
Ю. Венелини „Древньiе и нiьшешньiе Болгаре въ политическомъ, народописномъ и религиозномъ ихъ отношеньiи къ Россиямъ." Историко-критическья изисканiя... Универ, тип, 1829—1841 (Y. Venelin, Ancient and Modern Bulgarians and their Political, Ethnographic, Historical and Religious Relations with Russia), Moscow, 1829-1841, year 2, Vm, 241,7 c., 2nd ed. 1856, 230 c.,  vol. 1, pp. 1-5,  the original is in Russian
 

 
 

The district of Korcha includes some 50 villages. One third of them are Christian, the others — Mohammedan. More important are Voskopol or Moskopol, Vitkuki, Kamenitsa, Flioki, Boboshtitsa, Drenovo, Boria, Boskopi and others. The total number of the houses is almost 2,400 and the number of the inhabitants is 22,000, according to the royal census taken in that district. Both the Turks (the Moslems) and the Christians are by nationality Albanians - speaking the same language, having the same customs, illiterate and un­skilled, bad farmers and shepherds, with the exception of the inhabitants of Korcha and Moskopol, who engage in trade. The inhabitants of Voskopol are Wallachians; there are also some Bulgarians in the vicinity.

The district of Biglishte is small and comprises about 30 villages, in­cluding the farms. It is entirely surrounded by mountains. It has a healthy climate and good water and a plain, watered by the river Devol.

The majority of the villages are inhabited by Bulgarian Christians, and the rest - by Albanian Moslems. They number almost 1,200 houses, with nearly 7,200 men and women.

To the north Gora and Mokra are bordered by Ohrid, to the south by the river Devol, which divides them from Opara, to the east by Korcha, to the west by the Elbasan area. The landscape is mountainous and rugged. That is why Gora means mountain in Slavonic (Bulgarian).

To the northwest of Biglishte and Prespa is the region of Ohrid, which in­cludes three small districts, as we mentioned above, Resen to the northeast, Strouga to the west and Gora to the south. Ohrid, with its surrounding area and Resen and Strouga with theirs, have nearly 6,000 houses and a total of 50,000 inhabitants. Half of that number are Bulgarian Christians and half are Turks, Albanian-Bulgarians. There are about 140 villages, both Turkish and Christian. The language is Slavonic both in Ohrid and in Strouga and also in Resen and in the whole area around them.

…

In comparison with its ancient glory, Ohrid is nothing today. It has some 2,000 houses - both Turkish and Christian, and a market place with nearly 100 workshops. The houses are built of brick and mud, and are roofed with tiles.

The water comes from outside the town but they also drink from the lake. There is a strong fortress built on a hill that juts out into the lake. The hill is a peninsula, descending steeply down to the lake. The governor lives in the for­tress. Ohrid is divided into three quarters - the fortress, the eastern one and the northwestern one outside the fortress. 1,200 of the houses belong to Albanian-Bulgarian Turks and 800 - to Bulgarian Christians. . .

Four hours' journey to the northeast of Ohrid, beyond the mountain, brings one to the district centre of Resen, subject to the governor in Ohrid. It has 200 Turkish houses and the same number of Christian ones, and quite a large surrounding area. The inhabitants are Bulgarians by nationality and speak Bulgarian ...

. . . Strouga, as we have said, is subject, together with its environs, to the Governor of Ohrid. Its inhabitants are also Bulgarians and speak the Slavonic dialect. . .

The Metropolitan of Ohrid is Metropolitan of Prespa as well, since the Christians of Prespa, like those of Resen, Strouga and Ohrid and Kroushevo, are also subject to him in religious matters. There are over 5,000 houses belonging to Albanians and Bulgarians. His seat is in Ohrid.

Debur is a small town of about 1,400 houses, with a small market place. . .

In most of the villages they speak Bulgarian - both the Turks and the Christians. . .

The hamlet of Elbasan is situated on level ground; it has a nice market place and much water. . .

It is almost in the centre of Albania. . . In general, Albania praises the dialect of the ghegs. They have a proverb about this, which says: Albanian is spoken in Elbasan, Greek - in Janina, Turkish - in Constantinople, Bulgarian - in Tikvesh…

1964, pp. 14, 17, 25 29; the original is in Greek.
 

¹ Koema Tesprot, an archdeacon, of Greek extraction, compiled a Geographical description of Albania (1833)
 
 
 
 

The struggle of Serbia at the beginning of this century and the haiduts’ struggle against the spahis evoked a very weak response in Bulgaria... It was only in 1821, after the Greek revolution, that a great number of Bulgarian haiduts suddenly appeared in Macedonia and penetrated as far as the Peloponnese. From that time on, the number of the haiduts increased, and after the Russo-Turkish war there was a secret agreement among them which was betrayed by a newly accepted member and was drowned in blood.

Sultan Mahmud's death and the prophesies which spread through the Turkish Empire during the 'forties¹ of the 18th century, provoked considerable activity in Bulgaria, Rumelia and Macedonia - i.e. wherever Bulgarians lived. The uprisings in Candia and Thessaly caused both the Bulgarians and the Turks in the towns to start arming themselves; in 1838 the previously dissolved conspiracy was revived; enormous masses of people rose up, and all of a sudden the Porte found itself cut off from the Danube and from the towns which had seceded in the north. The movement was headed by a haidut by the name of Miloe², who had already fought under Kara Georgi, and Gavra, who was said to be a priest. Mihail convened the Council and a decision was taken, in defiance of the obvious will of the people, to maintain strict neutrality. All Serbs were forbidden to participate in the Bulgarian uprising, troops were stationed along the border and all communications with the Bulgarians were cut This saved the Turks, who set fire to 150 villages between Nis and Sofia and, after a number of battles, managed to disperse the main forces of the poor­ly armed insurgents. Mortally wounded, Miloe committed suicide and the haiduts, without their leader, began to disperse; and those most dedicated to the cause fled to Macedonia, where they joined the klephts.

 
Newspaper Srpske Narodne Novine, Budapest, No. 27, April 6, 1844; the original is in Serbo-Croat
 

¹ This refers to the Nis Uprising (1841)
² Miloe Ivanovic, one of the leaders of the rebel peasants in the district of Nis
 
 
 
 
According to Cyprian Robert,¹ the Bulgarians occupy a large part of European Turkey, and number four and a half million people. They spread throughout Thrace, Rumelia and Macedonia up to Morea, so that, in these lands, the greater part of the villages are inhabited by Bulgarians and the towns — by Greeks; whereas the latter have a strong inclination for trade, the Bulgarians prefer agriculture. In Salonica, the principal Macedonian city, where Bulgarian and Greek are equally spoken, the situation is also much the same.


Newspaper Srpske Novine, Belgrade, No. 2, Jan. 8, 1846; the original is in Serbo-Croat
 

¹ Cyprian  Robert (1807 - after 1857), French slavicist, auth'or of works on the Southern Slavs
 
 
 
 

I have not received a single line since your departure. In the meantime my efforts concerning our Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian (folk) songs, in compliance with your recommendations are unsurpassed. I have not for one moment ceased to fulfill the pledge which I made to you, Sir, because the Bulgarians are spontaneously striving for the truth. But I hope you will excuse my delay up till now, which is due to the difficulty I had in selecting the best songs and also in my work on the grammar. I hope that, on another convenient occasion, after I have collected more songs and finished the grammar, I will be able to send them to you. Please write where and through whom it would be safe to send them to you (as you so ardently wish).

We are completely convinced, by assurances of the villagers of Glavinitsa, that the stone inscriptions for which we have been looking will also be found. I will study them next spring. It would be wonderful and desirable if, with your assistance, we could ask the Government for the holy relics of Saint Clement of Ohrid, verified by the Great Church of Christ, as you yourself witnessed with your own eye, and requested on your own initiative. And the steps taken before the authorities here concerning the holy relics in question will do much to bring you praise and to confer benefit upon our newly-opened school.

I am writing you this letter on the instructions of the notables in Ohrid. Looking forward to an immediate reply in Greek through the same bearer, I greet you with the deepest esteem and respect.

 
Братя Миладинови, Преписка, София (The Miladinov Brothers, Correspondence), Sofia, 1964, p. 15; the original is in Greek.


  ¹  Dimiter Miladinov (1810-1862), born in Strouga, an eminent figure of the Bulgarian Revival and an active fighter for public education of the Bulgarians and for their spiritual and political awakening; he taught in Strouga, Ohrid, Koukoush and Prilep, where he introduced the Bulgarian language into the schools, where Greek had previously been the medium of instruction. Falsely accused by the Greek bishop of Ohrid, he was sent to prison in Constantinople where he died
² Victor Ivanovich Grigorovich (1815-1876), Russian slavicist. In 1844-1847 traveled throughout the Bulgarian lands, including Macedonia and collected ethnographic and folklore material
 
 
 
 
There is to the east a tribe of our stock, a people who are dispersed all over the valleys and mountains of ancient Moesia, Thrace, Macedonia up to Epirus, about whom we here in the west know next to nothing, apart from the fact that the poor and ill-fated people are working for the Turkish king and that they speak a Slavonic dialect, about which, by the way, we are as ignorant as we are of the Arab languages or of Sanscrit. Contemporary Bulgaria is to us a ‘closed book’ with uncut pages. We know how urgent it is for us today to get to know ourselves and to know our brother and our cousin and that is why we in­sist on cutting at least one page of this book and on publishing, as far as we are able, a number of folk songs of the Bulgarian people from different parts of their homeland. But, at the same time, and even before we include them in this book, we must say something about what has already been done in this direc­tion.

As far as I know, the first mention of Bulgarian folk songs is to be found in a manuscript of the 14th century, from which Safarik² copied two songs for his Narodopis Slovanski (Prague, 1842, p. 160). Then, as late as this century, we find again two or three songs in Vuk's Pesmaritsa Srpska (Vienna, 1814-1815). Eight years later, Vuk again appeared in print and this time with a voluminous collection of Bulgarian folk songs published in the book Dodatak k sanktpeterburskim sravnitelnim rechnizima sviju jezika i narechijama s osobitim ogledima bugarskog jezika (Vienna, 1822, 4°, p. 54). In that book, together with a short comparative dictionary and two excerpts from the Holy Gospel in spoken Bulgarian dialect, he also published 27 shorter or longer excerpts from folk songs in the same language and, together with this, a brief study of the Bulgarian language — indeed, in my opinion, the best and most precise work in this field up till now. And now again, twenty years after Vuk's Dodatak, a little book was published by a Bulgarian in Pesht (Bulgarian Folk-Songs and Proverbs, compiled by Ivan A. Bogorov,³ Book I). This little book contains 12 longer songs and more than 200 proverbs. It is much to be regretted that the areas where those songs came from are not known (judging by the specific features of their language, I think that they were collected in the regions between the Danube and the Balkan Mountain). And this is all that has so far been published, to my knowledge. I have read in books and journals that there was a similar collection by Archimandrite Neophit⁴ (the first Bulgarian patriot), by Mr. Aprilov⁵ (already known as the publisher of Denitsa Bolgarska in Odessa) and by a certain Stoyanovich, of Bulgarian origin. Besides them, in our times two Russian professors – Mr. Ismail Sreznevski⁶ (of Kharkov) and Mr. Victor Grigorovich (of Kazan), have also collected Bulgarian folk songs and proverbs. Mr. Grigorovich has traveled far and wide in the Bulgarian lands - from Constantinople to the frontier-stones at Arabakonak, from the city of Salonica as far as the white Danube and, collecting material for a dictionary and a grammar, he, with the help of God, came across folk songs. Their number is about 200 and I feel happy that this collection is the best known and finest of everything we hitherto have. Last autumn, when Mr. Grigorovich came to Zagreb for several days' rest from his tiring journey, he fell ill and, during his illness he suggested that I should copy what I thought necessary from the manuscripts of his Bulgarian collection. And there I hurriedly copied and com­piled about 60 excerpts from folk songs, some longer and some shorter. And it was precisely this occasion that helped me to discover these Bulgarian songs.

 
Magazine Kolo, Zagreb, IV, 1847, pp. 37-38; the original is in Serbo-Croat


¹  Stanko Vraz (1810-1851), a Slovene, one of the eminent representatives of Illyrism; in the magazine Kolo he published 33 Bulgarian folk-songs and a short article on the Bulgarians
² Pavel Safarik (1795-1861), a Czech and Slovak philologist and ethnographer, author of valuable works on Slavonic languages and literature
³ Ivan Andreev Bogorov (ca, 1820-1892), born in Karlovo, a Bulgarian man of letters, teacher, journalist and linguist. He published one of the first collections of Bulgarian folk songs
⁴ Neophit of Rila (1793-1881), born in Bansko, a Bulgarian man of letters, enlightener and the first modern Bulgarian teacher. He published the first Bulgarian Grammar, tables for reciprocal training, etc.
⁵ Vasil Evstatievich Aprilov (1789-1847), born in Gabrovo, eminent protagonist of Bulgarian education and culture, author of Denitsa novobolgarskogo obrazovaniya (The Morning Star of Мodern Bulgarian Education), etc., founder of the first modern Bulgarian school in the town of Gabrovo
⁶ Ismail Ivanovich Sreznevski (1812-1880), Russian slavicist who published works on Old Bulgarian language
 
 
 
 

When we heard from Mr. Teodor Miskinovich of your kindness and desire to help the education of the Bulgarian people, we were overjoyed and we hastened, through the above gentleman, to let you know of our request and of the state of our school, and of our church, but in addition, we, the undersigned residents of Bashino village, Veles district, have decided to inform you of our situation at present...

We have 150 houses in the village, all Bulgarian, and also a good school with instruction only in Bulgarian thanks to a teacher from the same village, and children numbering about 80 who study the primer, the prayer-book, the psalter and monthly prayers, the Old and New Testament and catechism. That is what the young people learn, because we are unable to get books, while the teacher is capable of teaching them more subjects.

The teacher is paid 1,200 grosh a year, which comes from the income ob­tained from the few fields and vineyards belonging to the school

Our church, called St Nicholas, was built ten years ago. And we cannot yet repay our debt, so as to be able to buy the necessary books. And because of the lack of church books, we haven't a book with services for the year, and we also need a Gospel, as well as the Acts of the Apostles, and the lives of saints, and in the end, some vestments for the priests conducting the liturgy - we have two priests who hold services and run the church. Because their skill is like that of other priests in these parts.

And so, we have shown Your High Worship our situation and our needs, that is why we humbly ask you to help us in our poverty as much as your kind heart deigns. Waiting for your answer every day, we remain, your humble brothers.

 
НБКМ, БИА, IIA 5342; the original is in Bulgarian


¹Alexander Stoilov Exarch (c.1810-1891), born in Stara Zagora, Bulgarian journalist and public figure, an active participant in the national liberation movement, who intensively worked to organize and help schools in Bulgaria
 
 
 

We, the undersigned, humbly kneel and beg; our shortage is immense; and maybe Your Lordship is aware of it; as misfortune and ruin are still raging throughout Bulgaria and Macedonia. Glory be to the most gracious benefactor for the good we've seen, may freedom be today, and we suffered in the name of our blessed Lord. May the schools, churches and monasteries open with the tsar's will!

And so today we are working hard to restore the St Archangel Monastery which has been ruined for a long time, but we have gone to great expenses and we are deeply in debt.

Now, however, coming to this see, our most eminent Mr. Avksenti, as a lover of his own race, particularly the Slav-Bulgarians, passed through these parts and stopped at our monastery to rest. All the priests and wealthy people who were also present saw our poverty and concern for all the things we badly needed. That is why the priests advised us to implore Your Lordship to take pity on us.

You have promised in future to donate to the schools and churches what books, vestments and other church needs there may be. That is why we implore you, being so generous, to take mercy on us and not exclude us, the undeser­ving, from the number of the needy.

We, therefore, kneel once again and appeal to your graciousness and compassion to stretch out your generous hand also to St. Archangel Monastery. The needed books, as well as partly the church vestments, will be the pride and adornment of St Archangel Church, and Your Lordship will be eternally glorified and remembered for them.

We nourish great hope that you will look graciously upon the account we have herewith given you and we affectionately await your generous and gracious charity. Being pious and devoted, we hope for an answer to our above request, and we will all constantly pray to God and to St Archangel to fulfill your desire. We will thus keep Your Lordship in high honour for ever and ever.

 
НБКМ, БИА, IIA 5358; the original is in Bulgarian
 
 
 
 
With the present humble letter of grateful acknowledgement we wish to in­form Your patriotic Worship that with profound gratitude we received the eight hundred grosh from the Holy Bishop of Veles, Avksenti, who received them from Mr. Sotiraki K. Damyanov, and immediately gave them to us on your orders to use them for a girls school. We express our thanks and although we have not had a girls' school before, we shall in future set it up well with your help so that our young girls can study and taste the sweet nectar of learning. May you be repaid for your graciousness a thousand times! We hope that we will continue to receive your generous assistance which will make it easier for us to work, as is your ardent and God-inspired desire, for the education of our common people and those in Western Bulgaria, where your beneficent name will be eternally remembered, as it will be by us, the humble. Please accept the letter we are sending you, and our assurance that although it was sent late by Mr. S. К. Damyanov, we soon received the 800 grosh in question from the most holy and highly respected Bishop. For your comfort we assure you that we re­main yours during our lives and forever, your most patriotic Worship.¹
 

НБКМ, БИА, IIA, 5345; the original is in Bulgarian


  ¹ The letter is signed by 22 notables of the village. We can read the signatures of priest Dimiter Stefanov, priest Mitse Radula, schoolmaster David Teodorov, Manush Kodjabashia, H. Traikov, Nikola Radula, etc.
 
 
 
 
Let us raise our arms to God Almighty and render thanks to Him, because, since His Majesty, the all-merciful present King, Sultan Abdul Medjid Khan has been reigning over us, we have been favoured to see, in many parts of his state the organization of schools where our Bulgarian language is taught. Indeed, if we complied with his kind royal wish, we would ensure that no town and no village was without such a beneficial institution, nor without a church of God: we would sacrifice and assist, each according to his power and means, to obtain worthy teachers and pay them accordingly. Nevertheless, we should not be discouraged by the fact that such willingness does not exist among many of our people, but rather we should mention with praise the worthy names of a great number of our kin who, in spite of the ravages of the natural elements, do not cease to found schools both for the males and females in their community. Who does not know what the inhabitants of the diocese of Veles (i. e. of Kupriilii) have suffered? For three years now these unfortunate fellow-countrymen of ours have suffered heavy losses to their crops; that is to say, as a result of the hailstorms, their vineyards and their cornfields lost their fruit, and this especially on the 5th and 6th of last July; but, in spite of this, instead of losing interest and weakening, they are increasing the number of their in­stitutions of public education and are embellishing them. May we be here allowed to state with praise how these zealous people, guided by the fatherly, redemptive and holy advice of our most reverend, most honest and studious archshepherd, Avksenti,¹ a Bulgarian by birth, are today maintaining with no little success as many as five schools in their town of Veles:

One Slav-Bulgarian, after the old tradition, directed by the teacher Mr. Elisey and his son; number of students                                                   
300

Another Hellene-Bulgarian, following in part the method of reciprocal training; number of students                                                                             
80
 
Another Slav-Bulgarian, using the method of reciprocal training, directed by the teacher Nikolay Hristovich and the assistant-teacher Georgi; number of students
200
 
Another Greek, directed by the teacher Stefan; number of students
60
 
Another for girls, directed by the old teacher Mr. Mitre, in which girls are learning with great zeal how to read and sing in church
60
 
-
700
 
The above-mentioned fellow-townsmen of Veles, as we have heard, think that they have been lagging behind the others in education and, are sparing no effort to introduce, along with the other subjects, also the Turkish language and to found primary schools in many of the villages in the diocese; this is, indeed, a noble feeling of love for children, a feeling, which, if cherished by the in­habitants of the other dioceses as well, would result in a noble and gentle com­petition. Who, indeed, will forbid us to embrace education, or maybe we should think foolishly like those, who once thought and said: okumuslardan kayamet kopacak ²; but this means that there will actually be kayamet kopacak when the okumus have perished from the earth. But, fellow Bulgarians, that time is passed, and you have undoubtedly learned and convinced yourselves that all misfortunes, both material and moral, are the result of ignorance and bar­barism. That is why our king himself, inspired by these redemptive truths, has ordered education to be expanded daily in his state. His Majesty sends orders daily through his worthy ministers, that schools be founded, in which his sub­jects shall be educated, regardless of nationality or clan, and for this purpose he has sent His Excellency Kemal Efendi to study European experience to dis­cover the easiest methods, so that he can use them in his state. You understand, I say, dear Bulgarians, that education not only helps a person to live well, but also makes him virtuous, making of him what God has wished him to be: that is, to do his duty, through the fulfillment of which he is differentiated from the dumb animals.
 

В. „Цариградски вестник^”2 Цариград (The Bulgarian newspaper Tsarigradski vestnik (Constantinople newspaper), Constantinople, No. 7, Oct. 28, 1850; the original is in Bulgarian


¹Avksenti of Veles (1798-1865), born in the town of Samokov, one of the eminent participants in the struggle for a national Bulgarian Church
² i.e. 'the learned will mess up the word' (Turkish)
³ A Bulgarian newspaper
 
 
 
 
We, the undersigned, send you this letter of ours on behalf of the poor Bulgarians, requesting: 1. We approach you as sons would their father and as small children with childish minds would ask for a stone. We appeal to your generous, child-loving heart of a father, who knows what is necessary for his children, to grant them satisfaction, because the learned is always the father of the illiterate, and for that reason we implore you as children ask food of their father. 2. Our school is divided into three sections: the first one - a high school, the second one - a primary school, and the third - a church school. The first has 24 students, the second - 120, and the third - 35. We have 30 children from other places - from Prizren, Tetovo, Koumanovo, Debur, Reka, and they are all being taught free of charge. Could our school be better? We intend to double its size, and we are redoubling our common efforts to renovate it so that it will exist for ever. 3. For this reason we, all the citizens, appeal to your good-heartedness to help us as you will and as a patriot...
 
В. „Цариградски вестник", Цариград (The Bulgarian newspaper Tsarigradski yestnik (Constantinople newspaper), Constantinople A, 44, July 21, 1851, p. 174; the original is in Bulgarian
 
 
 
 
Coming back to life, I exist and I rejoice at the sight of our dear people and because of its goodnesss I cannot be cunning. And should somebody ask me whether I am a learned man or a Bulgarian, I would give him a full answer: ‘I am a Bulgarian!' Because it would not be fair to my Slav-Bulgarian origin to do evil and be cunning. The true Bulgarian does not lie, he is not envious, he does not run away from work, he is not hypocritical, he does not fornicate and would not exchange his faith for a roasted chicken. The word 'Bulgarian' comes from the word God (bog): bolg-arya'- 'reka bogata' (rich river), reka or ri, and the adjective is wrongly put in the comparative degrees: bolii, bolshii, visshii, velichaishii. And indeed, there is nothing greater than the Bulgarian. The Bulgarian is extremely industrious, he ploughs, sows, trades, fights, he is loyal, hospitable, God-fearing, has reverence for his king and everything that has been ordered by God and the Tsar. This is why I am a Bulgarian and my noble Bulgarian origin does not allow me to be bad. For this reason I have faith, hope, love and humanity and the ability to teach which I here share with my people, and he who wants an honest and unbiased teacher, here am I who speak with ardour, in a fiery way like Etna and Hekla and the volcano wrought a diamond wreath for me. Let me serve my people even if it should be un-pleasing to God. It is not honest of me - the Bulgarian, to fall into despair and to return evil for evil. The true Bulgarian is a loyal and noble man. The Bulga­rian is an admirer of everything that is good. It is shameful for the Bulgarian to deny his kin and his language. That Bulgarian who blasphemes his kin has a name which is neither night, nor day. I am a Bulgarian and I weep for our lost Bulgarians who are in Lower Moesia¹; for this reason we have to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers - the ever so dear Bulgarians.
 

В. „Цариградски вестник”, Цариград (The Bulgarian newspaper Tsarigradski vestnik (Constantinople newspaper), Constantinople, A, 44, July 21, 1851, pp. 174-175; the original is in Bulgarian


¹ Yordan Hadjikonstantinov-Djinot (c.1818-1882), born in Veles, Bulgarian teacher and a man of letters, an active participant in the national-liberation movement
²  Lower Moesia (Moesia), Lower Bulgaria, South-western Bulgaria, etc., was called Macedonia to distinguish it from Upper Moesia, Upper Bulgaria, i.e. Northern Bulgaria, the region between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains