Servian Popular Poetry

Servian Popular Poetry

In the middle of the seventh century, a number of Slavonian tribes stretched themselves along the Sava and the Danube, down to the Black Sea, and founded, at different times, no less than six separate kingdoms, those of Bulgaria, Croatia, Servia, Bosnia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia; under the name Srb, the four last of these nations must be considered as comprised. p. viiiTheir earlier history it is not easy to trace. Slavonian writers are disposed to represent the Maestid, who made an incursion into Italy during the age of Claudius Tacitus (A.D. 276), as synonymous with the Sarmat; and Kopitar (a high authority) has gathered much evidence to prove that the dialect spoken in the district to the east of Sparta is of Slavonic origin. Leake has remarked, that many of the names of places in the Morea are Slavonian,Kastanika, Sitina, Gorica, and others. In the neighbourhood of Sparta is a town called , and it is notorious, that the language of several of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, Hydra for example, is Slavonic. The original meaning of the word Srb, it is not p. ixeasy to fix. Some derive it from Srp, a sickle, others from Sibir, Sever, the north; others from Sarmat, or Sarmatian; some from the Latin Servus; but Dobrowsky says, Significatum radicis Srb, consultis etiam dialectis omnibus, nondum licuit eruere. [0a] In the year 640, the Servians built, with the permission of Heraclius, the city of Servica, on the banks of the Danube. Little can be traced of their history till, under Vlastimir, at the end of the ninth century, they were the tributaries of the Greeks. At this period, they appear to have been engaged in wars with the Bulgarians, whom they subdued. At the beginning p. xof the 11th century, Vladimir assumed the title of king of Servia. Afterwards, during the reign of Tzedomil, the Servians acknowledged the Roman authority, and leagued themselves with its emperors against Comnenus the Grecian monarch, in consequence of which Comnenus marched upon Servia (in 1151), subdued its inhabitants, and led their leader Tzedomil into captivity. The submission of the latter obtained his release; but the Servians, impatient of foreign control, made another attempt to free themselves, but were defeated on the banks of the Morava, by Isaac Angelos, in 1192, when Stephen Nemana was proclaimed monarch, with the title of Despot. His successor, Stephen p. xiNemanich, was driven from his throne by the Hungarians, and his brother Vuk Nemanich was proclaimed king or Kral of Servia, under Hungarian authority. He reigned for a very short period, and the regal power again reverted to Stephen. At this period, however, separate from, and almost independent of monarchical authority, a number of dukes, princes, and Bans, exercised a sway in Servia; Bosnia, then called Rama, South Bosnia or Herzegovina, and Rascia, that part of southern Servia, through which the river Raska flows, were frequently detached from, and as frequently re-united to Servia proper. Milutin Urosh, who reigned from 1275 to 1321, was subdued p. xiiby Charles the First of Hungaria. Soon after arose the monarch who is one of the most illustrious names in Servian song and Servian story, Dushan Silni (Dushan the mighty), who carried on several successful campaigns against the Greeks, and recovered many of the lost provinces of his country. He took the title of Tzar, [0b] and was succeeded by that ill-fated Lazar, whose defeat by the sultan Murad (Amurath), on the field of Kosova (June 15, 1389), is the subject of so many of the melancholy ballads of the Servians. Murad was stabbed by the Servian Molosh p. xiiiObilich, and Lazar was executed in the Mussulmans camp. Murads brother (Bajazet), divided Servia between the two sons of Lazar, who did homage and paid heavy tribute. Since then, no dawn of liberty has shone upon Servia. Reduced to be the bloody theatre of the fierce wars which have been carried on between the Turks and Hungarians, every struggle for freedomeach feebler than the former one, has only served to deteriorate her condition, and to destroy her hopes. In 1459, Servia was treated solely as a conquered province,her most respectable families banished or destroyed, while, from time to time, vast numbers of Servians emigrated into Hungary. In 1481, prince p. xivPavo Brankovich made an irruption into Servia, and after defeating the Turks in several battles, headed 50,000 Servians, who fixed themselves as colonists under the protection of Hungary. In 1689, many thousand Servians flocked to the army of Leopold the First. The following year, the patriarch Tzernovich led into Sirmia and Slavonia nearly sixty thousand Servian families. By the treaty of Passarovich, in 1718, the greater part of Servia was transferred to the Austrians. It reverted back to the Porte in 1739. In 1759, a vast number of Servians emigrated into Russia, and peopled Newservia, but they have since been completely blended with the Russians, whose language they soon adopted. At p. xvthe beginning of the present century, Servia was again released from the Turkish sway, and under the auspices of the Austrian emperor, is now governed by a Knes, or prince, whose name is Milosh Obrenowich. [0c] p. xviThere are four provinces or governments (Sandshaks), Semendria, Perserin, Veltshterin, and Aladshahissar, consisting of nearly a million of Servians, subjected to Turkish authority. The greater part of these are Christians of the Greek Church. The number of Servians who recognise the Greek Church is estimated by Schaffarik at 2,526,000. [0d] The various idioms of the Slavonian language may, without exception, be traced up to one single stem, the old or church p. xviiSlavonic. From this one source, two great streams flow forth; the northern, comprehending the Bohemian, Polish, and Russian; and the southern, composed of the Hungarian, Bulgarian, and Servian tongues. The latter branches were much less extensively employed than the former. About a million and a half of men speak the Hungarian; not more than half a million the Bulgarian, which in Macedonia has been superseded by the Romaic, the Albanian, and the Turkish; while the Servian idiom, the most cultivated, the most interesting, and the most widely spread of all the southern Slavonian dialects, is the language of about five millions, p. xviiiof whom about two millions are Mahommedans. [0e] ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 39028
Author: Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović
Release Date: Mar 2, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Translator: Bowring, John, 1792-1872