Sanjak of Vidin
Territory of the Ottoman Empire (1396–1878) now in Bulgaria & Serbia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sanjak of Vidin or the Vidin Sanjak (Bulgarian: Видински санджак, Serbian: Видински санџак, Turkish: Vidin Sancağı, Romanian: Sangeacul Vidin) was a sanjak in the Ottoman Empire, with Vidin as its administrative centre. It was established after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 out of the territories of the Tsardom of Vidin.
| Sanjak of Vidin Видински санджак Видински санџак Sancağı Vidin Sangeacul Vidin | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||
| 1396–1878 | |||||||||||
 Coat of arms
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| Capital | Vidin | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 1396 | |||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1878 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Bulgaria, Serbia | ||||||||||
History
After the major breakthrough into the Balkans at the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans were well aware of the strategic importance of Danube and decided to capture all important fortresses on its banks. The Tsardom of Vidin, which was under control of Ivan Sratsimir, became an Ottoman vassal state in 1393, and a strong Ottoman garrison was stationed in Vidin.[2] It was established after the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 out of the territories of the Tsardom of Vidin.[3] Baba Vida fortress was expanded by the Ottomans who built long walls around it.[4]
Some people from neighbouring Oltenia began migrating to the Sanjak of Vidin, especially after the Long War (1591–1606) and the hunger crisis which struck after the war.[5]
In 1807, during the First Serbian Uprising, Serbian rebels attacked parts of the sanjak, which at the time was still under the control of Ottoman renegade Osman Pazvantoglu. The rebels' aim was to establish communication with the Russian troops in Wallachia under General Ignatiev.[6] After the collapse of the Serbian uprising, part of the territory around Sokobanja and Svrljig recaptured from the rebels was annexed by the Sanjak of Vidin.[7]
Administration and demographics
In 1455, Ottomans registered all populated places in the sanjak for the first time.[8] According to the Ottoman tax registers from 1454–55 the territory of the Sanjak included the following nahiyahs: Banya (Sokobanja), Belgrad (present-day Belogradchik), Veleshnitsa, Vidin, Gelvie (Glavje), Zagorie, Isvrlig (Svrljig), Timok, Tcherna reka/Crna reka and the following fortresses: Vidin, Banya (Sokobanja), Belgrad (present-day Belogradchik), Isvrlig (Svrljig) and Florentin.[9]
Four defters were made in the Sanjak of Vidin in the period between 1483 and 1586.[10]
After 1541, the sanjak became part of the Budin Eyalet. From 1846 to 1864, the sanjak belonged to the Widdin Eyalet,[11] while from 1864 to 1878, it was part of the Danube Vilayet.[12]
Vlachs
The area north of the Timok River, namely Krivina and Feth-i İslam (Kladovo), was not mentioned in any previous defter (Ottoman tax register) until 1530. At that time, the inhabitants were recorded as Vlachs (filorici) with a privileged military status (voynuks), totaling 399 Vlach villages with 7,233 Vlach households.[13] The institution of the Vlachs (filorici) was of Byzantine origin, which the Turks merely adopted, and the Vlach population had lived in the Timok and Morava regions even before the Ottoman conquests. Only when the Ottomans attempted to abolish their privileges and equate them with the ordinary raya (tax-paying subjects) regarding taxes did these villages begin to appear in the regular state censuses.[14][15]
As we can see from the census of the Sanjak of Vidin, the Feth-i İslam nahiye was inhabited exclusively by a Vlach population, as was the Krivina (Gironia) nahiye, with the exception of five villages. Çerna Reka also had a predominantly Vlach population.[16] According to data from 1560, there was a total of 492 Vlach villages that belonged to the imperial estates. The 1586 census in the Vidin province recorded the exact same number of these villages, with an identical territorial distribution by nahiyes. Given that the total number of registered villages in the entire Vidin province at that time was 1,002, Vlach villages accounted for 49.1%.[14]
On multiple occasions in 1530 and 1560, the state attempted to revoke their privileges and turn them into ordinary raya who paid the harach (poll tax). The peasants responded to this with rebellions and mass flights across the Danube into Wallachia. After the state refused to back down in 1560, an exodus ensued. Reports mention 298 abandoned villages and 5,730 families who fled due to tyranny (zulum). It was not until 1599 that the Alay-beg of Vidin, Șaban, managed to bring the refugee population back through a policy of milder taxation (istimalet), for which he was rewarded with the title of Sanjak-beg of Vidin.[13]
Interestingly, out of the 27 monasteries registered in 1560 in the Sanjak of Vidin, as many as 22 were located on the territory of the Vlachs (filorici) and shared their privileged status. Thanks to their own financial resources, they aided the development of Christian art and the construction of monasteries. This prosperity explains the sudden surge in the number of monasteries in the Timok-Danube region, which rose from 27 in 1560 to 43 by 1586.[14]
Governors
- Ali Bey Mihaloğlu (1460–1462)[17]
- Osman Pazvantoglu (1794–1807)
- Mulla Pasha (1807–1811)
- Hafize Ali Pasha (fl. 1812)
- Hüseyin Pasha Aga (1833–1844, first tenure)[18]
- Hüseyin Pasha Aga (1846–1849, second tenure)[18]
- El-Seyyid Ali Rıza Paşa (fl. 1850)
- Hüseyin Pasha (fl. 1852)
- Abdurrahman Pasha "Samil" (1852–1855)
