Disputes Between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Sarajevo During the 17th c. In the Ottoman-Turkish Documents of “Puskos Kalemi” (Concerning the Confessional History of Bosnia Before and After the Ottoman Conquest)

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Abstract:

On the basis of unpublished Ottoman documents of the fund „Piskopos kalemi” (literary “The chancellery of the Bishop’s matters”) in the Ottoman archives in the city of Istanbul (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi – İstanbul), the current study is attempting to follow some aspects of the contradictions and emphasized hostility in the relationship between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Sarajevo and its region in the last quarter of the 17th c. The facts listed in the plea (arzuhal) of the Catholic clergy and population (tayfe-i latin) and the order (hükm) to the beylerbey of Bosnia and the kadı of Sarajevo, composed in 1693 (April 27th – May 5th), reveal not only the actual cause of the dispute – the attempts made by the Patriarch of Pech and the bishops in sancaks of Hersek and Bosnia to impose church taxes at the Catholic population, but also show some aspects of the status of this community and its clergy in the Ottoman Empire, as well as the interference of Ottoman authorities in solving the emerging conflicts. The circumstances concerning repeatedly discussed by the Sharia Court in Sarajevo litigations, suggest a long pre-history that requires although a most general overview of the dynamic religious picture in the medieval Bosnia. This retrospective review gives an opportunity to clarify better the positions of the two confessions in the context of the new political and religious status quo in the Ottoman Empire, as well as the influence of the Franciscan Order on the confessional situation in Bosnia before and after the Ottoman conquest – one of the accents in the present study. The comparative analysis of the recently translated documentary material with the reports of the Catholic clergy and missionaries from this period and similar situations in other Ottoman provinces of the Balkans, shows that the complex and contradictory relations between Catholics and Orthodox Christians in Sarajevo and its nahiyes and the essence of the emerged conflicts are equally historically determined as well as provoked by the impact of a complex set of factors of political, financial and specific religious character in the second half of the 17th century. A factor which further increases the state of tension is the activation and partial success of the Catholic propaganda in the Balkans.

Keywords:

Ottoman period, Bosnia, Sarajevo, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Patriarch of Pech, Catholics.

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