Derwendschi
Derwendschi ( Turkish derbentçi from Persian دربند, DMG darband , 'bottleneck') were guard troops in the Ottoman Empire who were recruited from conquered peoples and guarded important mountain passes and mountain gorges (e.g. the Balkan Mountains ).
Whole villages - more precisely the male population - were obliged to provide the Ottoman Empire with auxiliary troops. These troops from the conquered peoples had to guard roads and mountain passes nearby for the Ottomans, e.g. Sometimes they also maintain bridges and escort travelers, traders and Ottoman troops over dangerous stretches of road. For this they were exempt from some taxes ( blood toll , tithe ) and had the right to carry arms, but had to buy their Derwendschi status from the Sultan. In European Turkey, the Derwendschi were mostly long-established Christians whose peoples had already inhabited the respective area before the Ottoman conquest. According to the Sultan's decree ( Ferman ), no Muslim had the right to spend the night in such an unbelieving village.
Bulgaria
The Ottoman rulers turned entire cities (e.g. Gabrovo - occupied for the period from 1515 to 1544) and entire villages into Derwendschi villages (e.g. Prawez , Trjawna , Sliven ) in Bulgaria (until 1878) , which was then part of the Ottoman Empire ). These villages were on the roads that crossed the Balkan Mountains from north to south. The Balkan Mountains extend over 600 km from east to west and lay like a barrier between the Ottoman core areas and Ottoman-conquered areas in northern Bulgaria. The roads lead around smaller mountains in southern Bulgaria ( Rila , Pirin , Vitoscha ), while the Balkan mountains could not be bypassed.
The residents of Prawez (then a Derwendschi village ) were responsible for guarding the entrance of the mountain gorge near Prawez with one group and the exit of the gorge with a second group. For this purpose, a guard was set up day and night on a nearby peak at the entrance to the gorge to watch the traffic in the mountain gorge. For this purpose, a hut was built on the summit and drum signals were used to signal to travelers that they had been seen and that the path through the mountain gorge was safe. In addition, the population of the village had to help the travelers to overcome the difficult sections of the route by harnessing draft animals from the village or by themselves.
The dangers came mainly from bands of robbers and Heiducken (fighters against the Ottomans), less from invading troops of enemy powers. If necessary, the residents of Derwendschi village who had been alerted by the guards (they had the right to carry weapons) took up the fight with the robber gangs.
In return for these security guards, these local auxiliaries (practically the entire village) were exempt from some taxes. However, they remained integrated into the Tımar delivery system. The tax relief guaranteed by the Ottoman authorities and the internal autonomy of the auxiliary troops village , as well as their right to carry arms, favored the growth and prosperity of these places.
The residents of Trjawna and Kotel also guarded the mountain passes during the Ottoman rule and thus secured some privileges, which is why the settlement had a purely Bulgarian population.
Other auxiliaries
In addition to the Derwendschis , there were other "auxiliary troops" among the non-Turkish peoples in the Ottoman Empire:
- Doganji (bulg. Доганджии ) - Doganji trained falcons to hunt for falcons . A hunting falcon costs up to USD 300,000 today and was very valuable back then.
- Jelebkeschani (Bulgarian джелебкешани ) - shepherd
- Manaji (bulg. Маданджии ) - miners
- Tarpandschi (Bulgar. Търпанджии) - "Mower" (mowing the grass for the Ottoman troops )
- Wojnuzi (Bulgarian войнуци )
- Martolosi (bulg. Мартолозите ) - Wojnuzi and Martolosi took care of the Sultan's army during the campaigns. They had protective functions for the entourage and looked after the army with food.
From the point of view of Bulgarian historiography, which is controversial in German-speaking countries and is viewed as one-sided, these privileged auxiliary troops and sections of the population contributed more or less to the Islamization of the Bulgarian population during the 500-year Ottoman rule over Bulgaria.
Others
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Derwendschi villages :
- Lazaropole village ( Macedonian : Лазарополе) (in the Bistro Mountains ) - Republic of Macedonia
- Arbanasi (Bulgarian: Арбанаси) - was able to provide 800 well-armed men in the 17th century
- other translations:
- Bulgarian - проходопазачи - guardian of the crossings; Guardians of the mountain passes, pass guards
- Russian - дорожние стражи - road watchman;
literature
- Halil İnalcık (Ed.): An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire . Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-34315-1 , pp. 337 f .