THE VLACHS/MORLAKS IN THE HINTERLANDS OF TRAÙ

(TROGIR) AND SEBENICO (ŠIBENIK), TOWNS OF THE

VENETIAN DALMATIA, DURING THE 16th CENTURY

CRISTIAN LUCA
E-mail: cristiluca_ugal@yahoo.com
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi

Keywords: Vlachs/Morlaks, Traù (Trogir), Sebenico (Šibenik), Venetian Dalmatia,

Veneto-Ottoman relations.

Rezumat: Vlahii/Morlacii în hinterlandul oraşelor Traù (Trogir) şi Sebenico (Šibenik),

din Dalmaţia veneţiană, în secolul al XVI-lea. Pe temeiul unor noi izvoare veneţiene din
secolul al XVI-lea, este urmărită pătrunderea Vlahilor/Morlacilor în zona costieră a
Dalmaţiei centrale, aflată sub controlul Veneţiei, în arealul oraşelor Traù (Trogir) şi
Sebenico (Šibenik). Dacă în ceea ce priveşte hinterlandul celei dintâi localităţi, păstorii
Vlahi/Morlaci s-au aşezat aici statornic, întemeind cătune şi dând astfel naştere unor
dispute teritoriale veneto-otomane asupra frontierei terestre a Serenissimei cu Poarta, în
arealul oraşului Sebenico (Šibenik) ei au pătruns doar sezonier, pentru iernatul turmelor
sau spre a exploata păşunile localnicilor. Este subliniat faptul că statornicirea
Vlahilor/Morlacilor în teritoriul din această fâşie de pe coasta Dalmaţiei centrale a fost
rezultatul unui proces iniţial de transfer sezonier de populaţie, determinat de
specificitatea păstoritului transhumant, care în timp a dus la migrarea, din interiorul
Peninsulei Balcanice către vecinătatea litoralului adriatic, a unor grupuri din rândul
acestei populaţii romanice, ca cele care aveau să întemeieze aşezările rurale asupra
cărora şi-au disputat apoi controlul autorităţile locale veneţiene şi otomane.

The migration of several groups of Vlachs/Morlaks from inside the

Balkan Peninsula towards the Dalmatian coast was determined by the
phenomenon of transhumance, which was main occupation of this Romanic
population. In it, sheep were bred in open areas, in the pastures of the high
mountain ranges of the Balkan region. Transhumant sheep breeding imposed
seasonal rhythmic cycles on the movement of flocks. Thus, as a result of their
search for areas with a milder climate to settle down for the winter, the
Vlach/Morlak shepherds begin arrived on the coasts of central Dalmatia in the
14th century, where their presence was frequently reported in contemporary
sources. In this coastal region they found pastures all along the winter, so that
many decided to settle in the hinterland of urban centres under Venetian
312 Cristian Luca

domination. In the subsequent centuries, some of them divided their existence

between the Dinaric Alps, where they were kept their herds from spring until
autumn, and these Dalmatian regions. A situation of this kind can be found in
the 16th century in the hinterlands of the towns of Traù (Trogir in Serbo-
Croatian) and Sebenico (Šibenik in Serbo-Croatian), which had been part of
Venice’s Stato da Mar since the second decade of the 15th century. Sebenico
(Šibenik), is located in central Dalmatia, at the point where the Krka river flows
into the Adriatic Sea. It is situated at about 30 km South of Traù (Trogir).
However both ports were economically eclipsed in importance by another
Venetian port, Spalato (Split), the main transit center which coordinated the
trade on the Balkan land routes between the Serenissima and Eastern Europe.
Sebenico (Šibenik), through its strategic position and the military functions of its
port, had an important role in defending the Venetian possessions in Dalmatia.
Therefore Serenissima’s government decided to build a fortification named St.
Michael, on the heights that dominated the city. In its turn, Traù (Trogir) was
mainly protected by its natural location, the urban settlement being built on two
islands lying in front of the central Dalmatian coast.
The Romanic origin and the linguistic and ethnic communion between
the Vlachs and the Romanians living to the north of the Danube are well known,
so that it is not necessary to bring into discussion the theories, which are devoid
of any scientific basis, which consider the Vlachs/Morlaks/Aromanians as
Greeks or Slavs. In the case of the Morlaks from Dalmatia, it is true that they
were gradually slavicized, although the process which led to their assimilation
into the Croatian population lasted for several centuries.1 From the 15th century,
the Vlachs in Dalmatia were also called Morlaks, and from about the first
decades of the 18th century, they became also named Aromanians or
Macedoromanians, belonging, from an ethno-linguistic point of view, to the
Eastern Romanity, being speakers of a Romanian dialect. As mentioned above,
the Vlachs settled in Dalmatia and then in Bosnia, mainly from the beginning
14th century,2 and came from the mountainous areas of the central Balkan
Peninsula. They were scattered – in small, closed communities, united in a
strong solidarity which arose from dealing exclusively in long term transhumant
sheep breeding – in different parts of the South-Danubian area. Their presence
was frequently attested to in sources from the 12th–18th centuries in mainland
Greece (and even in several Greek islands), Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia,
1
M. Cazacu, ‘Les Valaques dans les Balkans occidentaux (Serbie, Croatie, Albanie etc.)
La Pax ottomanica (XVème-XVIIème siècles)’, in Les Aroumains (Paris, 1989), 85.
2
A. Milošević, ‘Stećci i Vlasi: stećci i vlaške migracije 14. i 15. stoljeća u Dalmaciji i
jugozapadnoj Bosni’, Regionalni zavod za zaštitu spomenika culture Split, 2 (1991), 3–
63; K. Kužić, ‘Plemići s područja župe Zmina u srednjem vijeku’, Zbornik Odsjeka za
povijesne znanosti Zavoda za povijesne i društvene znanosti Hrvatske akademije
znanosti i umjetnosti, 17 (1999), 9–10.
 The Vlachs/Morlaks in the Hinterlands of Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik) 313

Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia and Albania.3 Although traditionally

devoted to transhumant sheep breeding, there is also early documentary evidence
mentions their presence in the Balkan Peninsula, and their excellent enterprising
ingenuity in engaging in the caravan trade. By the first decades of the 17th
century, they had established themselves as one of the most important groups of
trading middlemen between the Italian Peninsula and Eastern Europe.
In 1774, when abbot Albert Fortis made his famous journey in Dalmatia,
the Vlachs/Morlaks from the settlements on the Krka river, including those in
the hinterland of the town of Sebenico (Šibenik), were not yet slavicized,
although the Venetian author inaccurately assigned them this origin.4 Prior to
Fortis, Giovanni Lucio, quoted by Jacob Spon and George Wheler,5 mentioned
the Romanic origin of the Morlaks of Dalmatia and their ethnic and linguistic
affinity with the Wallachians from the Romanian Principalities.6 Rediscovered

3
As the bibliography pertaining to the history of the Vlachs/Morlaks/Aromanians from
the Balkan Peninsula is relatively consistent, we only mention some of the works
considered essential to the topic of this paper: N. Iorga, Histoire des Roumains de la
Péninsule des Balkans (Bucharest, 1919), passim; N. Beldiceanu, ‘La région de Timoc-
Morava dans les documents de Mehmed II et de Selim I’, Revue des études roumaines,
III-IV (1957), 111–29; S. Dragomir, Vlahii din nordul Peninsulei Balcanice în Evul
Mediu (Bucharest, 1959), passim; Beldiceanu, ‘Sur les Valaques des Balkans slaves a
l’époque ottomane (1450-1550)’, Revue des études islamiques, XXXIV (1966), 83–131;
D. Bojanić-Lukać, ‘Vlasi u severnoj Srbiji i njihovi prvi kanuni’, Istorijski časopis,
XVIII (1971), 255–69; Beldiceanu, ‘Les Valaques de Bosnie a la fin du XVe siècle et
leurs institutions’, Turcica. Revue d’études turques, 3 (1975), 122–34; P. Ş. Năsturel,
‘Les Valaques balkaniques aux Xe-XIIIe siècles (mouvements de population et
colonisation dans la Romanie grecque et latine)’, Byzantinische Forschungen, VII
(1979), 89–112; T. J. Winnifrith, The Vlachs: the History of a Balkan People (London,
1987), 125–37, passim; Cazacu, ‘Les Valaques dans les Balkans occidentaux’, 79–93; N.
Djuvara, ‘La diaspora aroumaine aux XVIIIème et XIXème siècles’, in Les Aroumains, 95–
9, 103–10, 113–23; Năsturel, ‘Les Valaques de l’espace byzantin et bulgare jusqu’à la
conquête ottomane’, in Les Aroumains, 49–78; id., ‘Présences valaques (aroumaines) à
Coron et en Morée’, Études Byzantines et Post-Byzantines, IV (2001), 199–205; D.
Dimitrijević, Les Valaques et la serbité (Aix-en-Provence, 2003), passim; J.-F.
Gossiaux, Valaques et/ou Aroumains en Bulgarie (Aix-en-Provence, 2003), passim; Z.
Mirdita, Vlasi u historiografiji (Zagreb, 2004), passim; N. Trifon, Les Aroumains, un
peuple qui s’en va (Paris, 2005), passim; Mirdita, ‘Vlasi, polinomičan narod’, Povijesni
prilozi, XXXIII, 33 (2007), 249–69.
4
A. Fortis, Viaggio in Dalmazia, I-II, 1774 (edited by J. Vuković, P. Rehder) (Munich
and Sarajevo, 1974), 43–95.
5
B. Dolan, Exploring European frontiers: British travellers in the age of Enlightenment
(London and New York, 2000), 122–3.
6
A. Pippidi, ‘Naissance, renaissance et mort du «Bon Sauvage» à propos des Morlaques
et des Valaques’, in id., Hommes et idées du Sud-Est européen à l’aube de l’âge
moderne (Bucharest and Paris, 1980), 7–12.
314 Cristian Luca

by the Enlightenment erudites, the Vlachs/Morlaks of Dalmatia, were regarded

by the intellectuals of the 18th century as veritable ‘indios’ of Europe and were
turned into subjects of prose read in the literary salons of the West.7 At this
point, they were still living in the same areas in which they had settled centuries
earlier, establishing rural settlements and gradually abandoning the seasonal
ones, thus implicitly moving away from transhumant sheep breeding. Returning
to the previous situation of the Vlach/Morlak communities in the hinterlands of
the Venetian town-ports Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik), we can trace, on
the basis of contemporary sources, the stages in which the shepherds and their
families settled in the territory placed under Serenissima’s control, as well as
their relations, not quite free of tensions, with the local Slav and Italic
populations, Venetian subjects.
In Venetian Dalmatia, part of Stato da Mar, the authority of the
Serenissima’s representatives was indisputable after the Republic managed to
strengthen its position in the Italian Peninsula following the victory in the Battle
of Marignano (13–14 September 1515). It also successfully recovered much of
Terraferma, in the Italian territories which it had possessed before the Agnadello
(14 May 1509) disaster. The contact area between the Venetian territories from
Dalmatia and those under Ottoman rule had a penetrable border. The movement
of people and goods was not prohibited, only subject to surveillance by Porte’s
provincial authorities and Serenissima’s representatives. In fact, they were
regularly involved in negotiations which aimed to find solutions to delineate the
common border in the regions where the rules of bilateral treaties had not
reflected on the ground. Such ‘overt’ problems, related to the jurisdiction over
certain areas on the Ottoman-Venetian border in Dalmatia,8 they also occurred in
the hinterland of the Venetian port of Traù (Trogir) in the decades after the
collapse of the Kingdom of Hungary, following the Battle of Mohács (29 August
1526), when the troops of the Porte occupied the territories of Dalmatia which
had belonged to the Crown of St. Stephen. This event determined demographic
transformations, namely the movements of population from inland towards the
coastal regions still under Serenissima’s control. The Vlach/Morlak transhumant
shepherds and their families, also came from the inside of the Balkan Peninsula,
and settled down in this territory, founding settlements and beginning to farm.
They were not however refugees fleeing from the Ottomans, rather, by the
nature of their economic activity – sheep breeding by seasonal migration of
livestock –, they were looking for suitable places to shelter the flocks for the

7
L. Wolff, Venice and the Slavs. The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment
(Stanford, 2001), 173–275; B. Jezernik, Wild Europe. The Balkans in the Gaze of
Western Travellers (London, 2004), 66–70.
8
W. Panciera, ‘La frontiera dalmata nel XVI secolo: fonti e problemi’, Società e storia,
114 (2006), 785.
 The Vlachs/Morlaks in the Hinterlands of Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik) 315

winter, such regions with a mild climate being the coastal areas of the Venetian
Dalmatia. By establishing a sancakbeyi at Clissa (Klis) in 1537, the town and the
fortress recently conquered by the Turks became the headquarters of an Ottoman
administrative-military unit. In October 1540 the Ottoman-Venetian border in
Dalmatia was settled by the treaty. It consecrated the fact that the Porte had
annexed a significant number of islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas,
territories which had belonged to Venice until their occupation by the Ottoman
troops in 1537–40. This came about as a consequence of the defeat suffered by
the fleet of the Holy League, the anti-Ottoman alliance that Venice had joined, in
the naval battle at Prevesa (Greek: Πρέβεζα) (28 September 1538). Venice also
suffered territorial losses in Morea and Dalmatia, but it retained control over
large strips of the Dalmatian coast and over the Istria Peninsula.
Venetian sources from the second half of the 16th century recorded the
earlier stages of the Vlachs/Morlaks penetration and establishment into the
hinterland of the town of Traù (Trogir). In 1562 the inhabitants of the town
which belonged to Serenissima’s Stato da Mar mentioned the seasonal presence
of the Vlachs/Morlaks in the area, where they had started arriving in 1525–6 to
find winter shelter for their herds:
‘[…] All’hora [in 1525–6] vennero certi Morlachi, sudditi però turcheschi, a
tempo del inverno a pascolar li loro animali nelli luochi del Signor Turco
vicino a questo territorio [of Traù (Trogir)], li quali erano soliti l’estate andar
alle montagne’.9

In less than a decade, by 1531, the Vlachs/Morlaks had steadfastly

settled down in the territory of the town of Traù (Trogir), near the border with
the Ottoman province of Bosnia. The newcomers founded several rural
settlements and began to grow grain on the neighbouring arable lands, so that the
local Turkish authorities hastened to register them abusively as taxpayers in the
tax records (defter) of the Ottoman administrative and territorial unit. The
tireless efforts of the Venetian bailo in Constantinople, following a direct
request by the doge to the Sultan, temporarily stopped the abuses of the Porte’s
provincial authorities and led in 1533 to the restoration of the Venetian
jurisdiction over the rural settlements founded by the Vlachs/Morlaks in these
areas. All these details regarding the Veneto-Ottoman relations and the
beginning of the establishment of Vlachs/Morlaks in the Venetian territory were
provided in a despatch that the conte-capitano of Traù (Trogir), the Venetian
governor of the town and its district, sent to the doge on 7 March 1562:

9
State Archive of Venice (henceforth ASV), Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365
I, unnumbered doc. (1562).
316 Cristian Luca

‘[…] Fatta poi la parte si scorse fino dell’anno 1525; all’hora vennero certi
Morlachi, sudditi però Turcheschi, a tempo del inverno a pascolar li loro
animali nelli luochi del Signor Turco vicino a questi territori [of Traù
(Trogir)], li quali erano soliti l’estate andar alle montagne, et così tornando li
altri inverni, sempre più approssimandosi alle marine, intravano in questo
territorio [of Traù (Trogir)], non vi essendo che quelli luochi habittassero et li
impedessero, dove per tal causa furono descritte alcune ville di questo
contado nelli libri [defter] del Signor Turco, et date ad alcuni spachi [sipahis]
del Signore. Il che veduto, ad instantia di Vostra Serenità, fu di ordine del
Signor Turco per Useph sanzacco de Bossina all 1533 dechiarito esposto il
confine di questo contado et esser le ville nominate Radosich [Radošić],
Trilogue [Trolokve] et Suchidol [Suhi Dolac], et questo però in essegution di
uno comandamento del già detto Signor Turco fatto all 1531, et così detto
sanzacco cacciò via tutti li Morlachi si attrovarono esser con loro animali nel
suddetto territorio, li quali morlachi vedendosi cacciati via del 1534 vennero
dal Magnifico Conte fu nel porto di questo luoco et dimandarono a Sua
Magnificenza per quatro ville che sono di questo comun et ad altri particolari
patroni de altre fonti che li fosse conceduto disponer a tempo del inverno
venir sopra li luochi loro a pascolar suoi [sic!] animali, promettendo dar le
honoranze fureta il solito, et anche quando seminaranno dar il ternatico delle
grane. Così quel Magnifico Conte et altri particolari li concessero, et essi
Morlachi si obbligarono a pagar dando honoranze et ternatici delle quali
concesioni appar parte in Cancelleria del suddetto Millesimo’.10

The conte-capitano mentioned the sultan’s order according to which

Yusuf Pasha, sancakbeyi of Bosnia, the Ottoman province organized as eyalet in
1580,11 recognised in 1533 the Venetian jurisdiction over the three rural
settlements founded by the Vlachs/Morlaks on the territory belonging to Traù
(Trogir) and it had disposed their dismissal from the three settlements: Radosich
(Radošić), Trilogue (Trolokve) and Suchidol (Suhi Dolac) placed under
Venetian domination.12 But the Vlachs/Morlaks did not abandon their
settlements, and the Porte, taking advantage of victories against Venice during
the conflict of 1537–40, tacitly extended its dominance over the areas inhabited
by the Vlachs/Morlaks in the territory of the town of Traù (Trogir).13 A firman
issued in 1541 by the Sultan Süleyman I Kanûnî mentions Radosich (Radošić),
Trilogue (Trolokve) and Suchidol (Suhi Dolac), as an area which, in 1559, was

10
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (7 March 1562).
11
V. Miović-Perić, ‘Bosanski beglerbeg, hercegovački sandžakbeg i diplomacija
Dubrovačke Republike’, Anali Zavoda za povijesne znanosti Hrvatske akademije
znanosti i umjetnosti u Dubrovniku, 38 (2000), 127.
12
Kužić, ‘Prilog biografiji nekih Kačićevih vitezova te podrijetlu stanovništva njihova
kraja’, Radovi Zavoda za povijesne znanosti Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti u
Zadru, 47 (2005), 211.
13
Ibid.
 The Vlachs/Morlaks in the Hinterlands of Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik) 317

known to be inhabited exclusively by Vlach/Morlak serfs, Ottoman subjects.14

Finally, in a defter dated 1550 no less than 11 settlements inhabited by the
Vlachs/Morlaks were recorded, they were located in Veneto-Ottoman border
territory, in the area lying between Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik): Labin,
Opor, Trilogue (Trolokve), Radosich (Radošić), Podine, Vrsno, Liubitoviţa
(Ljubitovica), Lepeniţa (Lepenica), Prapatnica, Suchidol (Suhi Dolac) and
Sitno.15 In these settlements, at least three of which were located in the
hinterland of the town of Traù (Trogir), as already mentioned, the
Vlachs/Morlaks lived in about 323–5 houses.16
The Vlachs/Morlaks from Radosich (Radošić), Trilogue (Trolokve) and
Suchidol (Suhi Dolac) continued to live in their settlements. They leased land
from the inhabitants of Traù (Trogir), until 1546, and had the approval of the
owners to the arable fields and the pastures in the area they had settled in.17
From 1546, arguing that the areas in which they lived belonged to the Porte,
whose subjects they were, the Vlachs/Morlaks refused to pay the lease to the
rightful landlords. It was only in 1551, after the repeated requests of the
Venetian bailo to the Ottoman central authorities, that the sancakbeyi of Clissa
(Klis) admitted that the three settlements were part of the Venetian territory and
under the jurisdiction of Traù (Trogir).18
Encouraged by the decision of the Ottoman provincial official, the
residents of Traù (Trogir) asked the sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis) to ensure that, as
subjects of the Sultan, the Vlachs/Morlaks would pay the rightful landlords the
amounts owned for the usufruct of the leased lands situated in the hinterland of
the Venetian town. The Venetian bailo Bernard Navagero recorded such a case
in one of his despatches:
‘[…] venne Alvise, fiol di Gierolamo Coriolan gentilhomo di Traù, dolendosi
che li Morlachi stanciavano sopra li lochi del Dominio, nel territorio della
Città di Traù, et contra la divina giustitia non danno il terzasico alli patroni di
quelli lochi […]’.19

The sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis), in obedience of the Sultan’s order

obtained by the Venetian diplomatic representative from Constantinople,
transmitted to his subordinates precise instructions to resolve the disputes
between the residents of Traù (Trogir) and the Vlach/Morlak tenants, forcing
them:

14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid., 211–2.
17
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (7 March 1562).
18
Ibid.
19
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (1551).
318 Cristian Luca

‘[…] pagar li terzasici alli patroni, et che li Morlachi fossero levati via da tal
locho; impero così comando al mio Voyvoda che iuxta il nobil
Comandamento del Gran Signore debba far levar tutti li Morlachi dalli lochi
et territorio di Traù, et che faci pagar tutto quello che non hanno dato del
terzasico alli patroni’.20

The coexistence between the Traurins and the Vlachs/Morlaks

continued to remain problematic. A year later, in 1552, the inhabitants of Traù
(Trogir) addressed the Ottoman provincial authorities with a new complaint:
‘[…] queste terre et questi pascoli ab antiquo sono stati nostri, et adesso li
Morlachi le nostre terre hanno occupato et li nostri pascoli […]’.21

The sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis) ordered the dismissal of the

Vlachs/Morlaks from the Venetian territory – ‘loro tutti, siano di che sorte si
voglia, che sopra la terra loro non stanciano, né che arrano, né che pascolino’22
– but this radical decision remained again without consequences, most likely
because those concerned refused to abandon their settlements, paying off at least
a part of the amount owned for the lands which they cultivated or used as pasture
for the sheep herds during the winter.
The solution to the disputes regarding the three settlements, implicitly
the delimitation of the Ottoman-Venetian border in the hinterland of Traù
(Trogir), was only temporary. In 1558 the new sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis)
ordered the Vlachs/Morlaks not to pay the taxes owed to the Venetian subjects,
claiming that the localities where they were residing and the arable lands and
pastures they were exploiting rightfully belonged to the Porte.23 The bailo
Antonio Barbarigo protested vigorously in Constantinople, attempting to stop
the abuses of the sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis), so that in 1562 the bailo Daniel
Barbarigo obtained an order from the Sultan
‘[…] indrizzato al presente sanzacco [sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis)] et
successori suoi, che per modo alcuno non debbano permettere che li sudditi
del Gran Signore se insediscano, né con loro animali intrino, nel territorio de
Traù, serrato et confinato delle ville soprannominate [Radosich (Radošić),
Trilogue (Trolokve) and Suchidol (Suhi Dolac)]’.24

In 1577, the Venetian nobleman Alvise Corner, conte-capitano of Traù

(Trogir), mentioned that Radosich (Radošić), Trilogue (Trolokve) and Suchidol

20
Ibid.
21
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (8 January
1552).
22
Ibid.
23
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (7 March 1562).
24
Ibid.
 The Vlachs/Morlaks in the Hinterlands of Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik) 319

(Suhi Dolac) had been founded by the Vlachs/Morlaks, by the ‘usurpation’ of

the Traurins’ rights, in territory that belonged to the Serenissima.25 In the
meantime, the settlements founded by the Vlachs/Morlaks in the district of Traù
(Trogir) had increased considerably. By the time of the Ottoman-Venetian war
of 1570–3 there were 15 ‘villages’ in which they lived and leased arable lands
and pastures around them. Information regarding the Vlachs/Morlaks in these
settlements were contained in a dispaccio that Alexander Malipiero, conte-
capitano of Sebenico (Šibenik), sent to the doge of Venice:
‘[…] Saperà adonque Vostra Signoria Clarissima il contado di Traù esser
compartito in due parti: l’una posseduta et habitata da’ Traurini, et da gente
sottoposta alla Sua giurisditione, et l’altra da’ Morlacchi sudditi turcheschi, li
quali habitano quindeci ville di quel territorio, et lavorano quelli terreni,
pagando alli Traurini loro patroni affitti et annue pensioni. Nel tempo della
passata guerra [1570–3] detto contado si è sempre mantenuto intatto, né i
Turchi ne hanno occupato niuna minima parte; le ville habitate da’ Morlacchi
restarono all’hora abbandonate da loro, essendosi essi retirati più addentro nel
paese fra terra, et il rimanente fu sempre ben difeso da quelli di Traù. Fatta la
pace, ritornarono i Morlachi sopradetti ad habitare le suddette ville con le
medesime conditioni di prima, ma Ferrat Bassà [Ferhad Pasha] quello che non
ha potuto fare con la forza ha procurato di farlo con inganno, et di occupar
gran parte di quel territorio con via molto fraudolente, si come Vostra
Signoria Clarissima hora venirà a sapere’.26

The Porte intended, therefore, to benefit from the establishment of the

Vlach/Morlak settlements, Ottoman subjects, in Venetian territory, to change the
Ottoman-Venetian border in central Dalmatia. However the vigilance of the
local authorities of the Serenissima and the opposition of the inhabitants of Traù
(Trogir) baffled the beylerbeyi’s attempts. The Vlach/Morlak settlements from
the hinterland of Traù (Trogir) were already a demographic, economic and
administrative certainty in 1626, a century after their foundation, when a
Venetian contemporary source noted: ‘[…] questi Morlachi da cent’anni in quà
furono introdotti […]’.27
In the area of the port-town of Sebenico (Šibenik) a gradual penetration
of the Vlach/Morlak shepherds, merchants and carters, was also recorded. The
latter were also active at Zara (Zadar) and Traù (Trogir),28 but without having
settled down in the Traurin hinterland, where the establishments mentioned
earlier had been founded by the shepherds and their families. During the first

25
Kužić, ‘Prilog biografiji nekih Kačićevih vitezova …’, 211.
26
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (29 December
1588).
27
Apud Kužić, ‘Prilog biografiji nekih Kačićevih vitezova …’, 211 and note 110.
28
Panciera, ‘La frontiera dalmata nel XVI secolo: fonti e problemi’, 800.
320 Cristian Luca

years of the second half of the 16th century, the Vlachs/Morlaks were exploiting,
together with the Venetian subjects of Sebenico (Šibenik), several mills built on
the Krka river, near Scardona (Skradin).29 The Vlachs/Morlaks penetrated only
temporarily into the territory of the town of Sebenico (Šibenik), without
attempting to establish durable settlements in the area under the jurisdiction of
the Serenissima and recognized as such by the Sultan Süleyman I Kanûnî.30
During winter, they brought their herds to graze beyond the limit of the Ottoman
territory, into the lands owned by Sebenico (Šibenik), an intrusive practice that
generated tensions in the Veneto-Ottoman relations. An order of the Sultan, in
1551 referred to such an episode stating that the Vlachs/Morlaks had brought
their herds on the pastures of the inhabitants of Sebenico (Šibenik). They
violently refused attempts to make them leave the Venetian territory. The same
Ottoman subjects had also deflected a part of the Krka river, affecting the
Venetian mills downstream of Scardona (Skradin). As a result, Sultan Süleyman
I Kanûnî, at the request of the Venetian bailo Bernard Navagero, ordered to kadi
of Bosna Sarayı (Sarajevo) to go personally to the border between the Bosnia
eyalet and the territory belonging to Venice to take the measures required to
restore order:
‘Dapoiché sarà arrecato da voi il presente mio nobil comandamento, haverete
a saper come il Bailo dei Venitiani, che al presente si attrova alla mia Eccelsa
Porta, è venuto in questa mia Eccelsa Porta et fattomi a sapere come dalli
Rettori di Sebenico, luoco di Venetiani, è stato scritto al detto Bailo: «che
sotto Sebenico et in quelli luochi del detto Castello, et in le loro ville et
castelli et luochi, li huomini delli Vlachi veneno la invernata con lo bestiame
et castroni loro a pascolare in quelli luochi et terreni nostri de Sebenico, et li
nostri de Sebenico non volendo lasciargli et consentir a questo li predetti
Vlachi danno delle botte et delle ferite alli nostri sudditi di Sebenico, et per tal
causa non mancano mai de lite con loro; et più di alcuni molini nostri ne
tolsero le vie delle acque, sicché li molini nostri restano deserti», et a questo
modo ne ha fatto sapere. Però comando arrivato che sarà il presente mio nobil
comandamento anderete a vedere in persona quelli luochi, et farete esaminar,
et vederete se la causa è stata come dicono; e se la sarà così, che alli luochi
delli detti Venitiani et alli terreni, et alle acque delli molini loro i danno
impedimento non li lasciarete fare, et per qual causa lo fanno, et in qual modo
è successo, scrivendo lo farete a sapere; et a questo Eccelso Sigillo darete
ampia fede’.31

But the measures taken by the Ottoman kadi did not have the desired
effect, and the abusive penetration of the Vlachs’/Morlaks’ heards on the

29
Ibid., 802.
30
Ibid., 801.
31
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (1551).
 The Vlachs/Morlaks in the Hinterlands of Traù (Trogir) and Sebenico (Šibenik) 321

pastures inside the Venetian territory continued to be an urgent problem whose

solving was requested by the Venetian bailo to the Great Vizier Damat Rustem
Pasha, who ordered the sancakbeyi of Clissa (Klis), most probably during the
summer of 1553, to decisively intervene and prevent Ottoman subjects from
entering the lands owned by the town of Sebenico (Šibenik):
‘[…] venne alla Eccelsa Porta il Bailo di Venitiani, dicendo che quello che è
appresso et attorno di Sebenico, et che li suoi huomini hanno lavorato et
tenuto per le loro ville et confini, et che li Morlachi vengono l’inverno con li
loro animali a pascolare, et quando li sudditi de’ Venitiani gli fanno
resistentia, che non pascolino, li Morlachi voleno combatter con loro, e gli
battono, et alle volte feriscono, et sempre per tal rumori stanno in discordia et
gare; però in persona andarete e tali cose inquirerite, et vedete se è come è
stato esposto alla Eccelsa Porta, et se così sarà fatto alla detta Signoria di
Venetia, fatte che si astenghino et raffrenateli, e vedete con qual viso, et per
qual cagione fanno questo, poi con uno vostro arz avvisate la nostra Eccelsa
Porta […]’.32

It was unlikely that the orders of the Porte’s central authorities put a
definite end to the habit of grazing herds in the hinterland of the Venetian port
Sebenico (Šibenik). But the documents available in the archive of the
Serenissima’s diplomatic and consular representative at Constantinople outline a
different situation from that mentioned in the district of Traù (Trogir). The
Vlachs/Morlaks penetrated only temporarily into the territory under the
jurisdiction of Sebenico (Šibenik) and did not settle down permanently in the
16th century. On the other hand the areas owned by the inhabitants of Traù
(Trogir) were settled by shepherds and their families, who were Ottoman
subjects. They leased pastures and arable lands and established lasting
settlements (katun=cătun=village) whose continutity has been documented for
centuries.

32
ASV, Bailo a Costantinopoli. Cancelleria, b. 365 I, unnumbered doc. (1553).
322 Cristian Luca

Fig. 1. Willem Jansz Blaeu (1571–† 1638), ‘Sclavonia, Croatia, Bosnia cum Dalmatiae
Parte’, in id., Toonneel des aerdrycx, oft Nieuwe atlas (Amsterdam, 1647–50).