Population of Macedonia and Adjacent Areas

[Carlin]

Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts ..., Volume 12

http://books.google.ca/books?id=FVgMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA193&dq=Sclavonian+Epirus&hl=en&sa=X&ei=02X4UaqCAvav4AOwg4CQDA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Sclavonian%20Epirus&f=false

"The Sclavonian language is spoken in Epirus, the western part of Macedonia, in Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, in part of Thrace, in Dalmatia, Croatia, in Poland, Bohemia, Russia, and Mingerlia in Asia, whence it is frequently used in the seraglio at Constantinople. Many of the great men of Turkey understand it, and frequently use it..."

[Carlin]

1.A) "Scholars paid less attention to another chapter, in which Emperor Constantine VII refers to measures taken by Emperor Justinian II in 688 or 689. Following his defeat by the Bulgars in a mountain pass near Philippopolis (present-day Plovdiv, in Bulgaria), Emperor Justinian II settled groups of "Scythians" around the gorges of the river Struma, thus laying the foundations of the Strymon kleisoura, later to become the theme (province) by the same name."

[Source: Page 98 -> "Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250", F. Curta.]

1.B) "Justinian is also reported to have settled 'Scythians' in east Macedonia in the Strymon region."

[Source: Page 71, footnote 79 -> "Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture", J.F. Haldon.]

[Carlin]

Wilkinson, H. R., (1951), Maps and politics. A review of the ethnographic cartography of Macedonia, page 43: "He drew attention to the Vardariotes, pre-Osmanli Turks, who had become Christianized, had settled in the Vardar valley and then had been assimilated by the Slavs. (F. Meinhard distinguished a similar group in south-western Macedonia but referred to them as Bardariotes. See p. 127)."

Wilkinson, H. R., (1951), Maps and politics. A review of the ethnographic cartography of Macedonia, page 127: "The Bardariotes living in small groups south of Kastoria were also depicted on Meinhard's map. They had generally been classified as Turks."

[Carlin]

Link:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=v1QvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR7&dq=Documents+inedits+relatifs+a+l%27histoire+de+la+Grece+au+Moyen+Age+Rynchini&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwikzNqS4bbLAhVCvYMKHfWzAkgQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=Documents%20inedits%20relatifs%20a%20l%27histoire%20de%20la%20Grece%20au%20Moyen%20Age%20Rynchini&f=false

Source -> "Documents inedits relatifs a l'histoire de la Grece au Moyen Age", edited by Konst. N. Sathas - Page "Preface VII", FOOTNOTE:

"On sait que dernierement un eveque russe, M. Porphyrius Uspenski, a decouvert des documents qui demontrent que les allies des Avars Rynchini, qu'on a confondus avec les Slaves, n'etaient que des Valaques (οι Βλαχοι Ρυγχίνοι). Istoria Athoni, 3me section, chap. VII, p. 320."

English summary: A Russian bishop, M. Porphyrius Uspenski, has discovered documents that demonstrate that the allies of the Avars Rynchini, that we confused with the Slavs, were only Vlachs (οι Βλαχοι Ρυγχίνοι). Istoria Athoni, 3rd section, c. VII, p. 320.

[Carlin]

Source -> Wace, A., Thomson, B., (1914), The Nomads of the Balkans:

Page 30: "The Kupatshari are hellenized or semi-hellenized Vlachs. That is to say that through intermarriage and the influence of the church and Greek education they have abandoned their native language. They still however retain the Vlach national costume, and many Vlach words occur in their dialect as well as many non-Greek sounds such as sh, zh, tsh, and dzh. They inhabit the district between Ghrevena and the pure Vlach villages of Pindus. At one of their villages, Labanitsa, which is only half hellenized we obtained some insight as to the process by which denationalisation occurs. In the school and church Greek is the only language used. All the older men in the village know Vlach and so do many of the women."

Page 45: "They are called Kupatshari, "men of the oak tree" (kupatshu being Vlach for oak tree), because the district Grevena is covered in oak scrub and forest. The people of the highest of their villages, such as Kipourio and Philippaei..."

Page 46: "...and in Shatishta and Kozhani in which two latter towns the hellenized Vlachs form the strongest part of the Greek population."


Source -> The Close Racial Kinship Between the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Turks: Macedonia and Thrace By Dr. George Nakratzas; Pages 76, 77, & 85:

i) "Once they had embraced the agricultural life, the Kupatshari became Hellenised to such an extent that, by 1912, the Aromunian or Vlach language was spoken only by the old people. Today, the young Kupatshari are not even aware of their Vlach origins. Many Kupatshari moved to urban centres, where such surnames as Koupatsaras, Koupatsaris, and Koupassaris still survive."

ii) "In the Grevena area, there was one more interesting group of Vlachs, the Turko-Vlach Valahades, who lived alongside the Kupatshari. There were about 12,000 of them, and they lived in the low foothills of the Pindos near Siatista. Until 1924, when they left for Turkey under the terms of the exchange of populations, they spoke Greek. ... The fact that the Valahades lived in close proximity to the Kupatshari offers evidence of their Kupatshari origins."

iii) "On all the ethnological maps of the nineteenth century, the inhabitants of the Grevena area are described as being of Greek origin. They were Greek-speakers, certainly ... but their Greek origin is a matter of some doubt. Serious evidence of their non-Greek origin is furnished by the Athenian bishop Bardanes, who in 1210 elected to go to the see of Grevena, on the grounds that the local people did not speak Greek and were uncivilised."

iv) "There is no mention of Vlachs having migrated to the Kozani tableland. The people of this area were almost exclusively Turks from Konya, with the exception of the inhabitants of Kozani itself, who were mostly of Vlach origin."

v) "Kozani and Veria are separated by Mount Vermion, where the Vlachs of the Vermion group lived. ... The Vlach villages are: Volanda, Kato Seli, Ano Seli, Maroussa, Doliani, Xirolivadi, Kastania, and Tsarkovian. The inhabitants of the Vermion villages originally came from Moskhopoli, Samarina, Avdela and Frasheri, and settled here after 1770..."

[Carlin]

The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire
by Peter Charanis

Extracts:

1) Basil was an Armenian, born in Macedonia where numerous Armenians had been settled. To be sure, there are references found in Arabic sources which raise the question whether Basil may not have been a Slav. In some of these references he is called simply a Slav without any further explanations; in others he is called [35] a Slav because his mother was a Slav (110). Some modern scholars have taken these references seriously and as a consequence have given to Basil a Slavic or Armeno-Slavic origin (111). But in view of the Byzantine and Armenian traditions both of which insist on the Armenian origin of Basil, their opinion is more than questionable. As for the Arabic references, they can best be explained as the result of a confusion arising from the fact that Basil's birthplace was Macedonia whose inhabitants were regarded by the Arabs as Slavs. That Basil I, the founder of the most brilliant dynasty of the Byzantine empire, was indeed Armenian and Armenian on both sides, can be regarded as an established fact (112).

2) But more important in the central administration of the empire were two other personages of Armenian or partially Armenian descent. One was Stylianos Zaoutzes, the other was Basil the paracoemomenos. Zaoutzes was an Armenian born is Macedonia whom we first find in the entourage of Basil I.

3) The diverse ethnic groups established in Thrace were reinforced by later arrivals. In the tenth century, during the reign of John Tzimiskes, a considerable number of Paulicians were removed from the frontier regions of the east and were settled in Thrace, more exactly in the country [16] around Phillippopolis (19). These Paulicians were most probably predominantly Armenians. A little later, perhaps in 988, Armenians were settled also in Macedonia. They were brought there from the eastern provinces of the empire by Basil II in order to serve as a bulwark against the Bulgarians and also to help increase the prosperity of the country (20).

[Carlin]

Found here:

http://www.academia.edu/9491976/Vlachs_and_Grecism

[Carlin]

The sclavinias of Macedonia



The population of Salonika after 904 AD

[Carlin]

The Cumans of Moglena











PS:

[Carlin]

Dr. Slavoljub Gacovic - "About ethnonym Torlak and the Romanic and Turkic basis of ethnogenesis of Torlaks and Shops".

Dr. Gacovic argues and proves that Torlaci and Shop(ov)i are slavicized Vlachs and Turkic inhabitants of the territories of eastern and southeastern Serbia, western Bulgaria and northern Macedonia.

See Conclusion below, which is in English.

[Carlin]

[Carlin]

Sokratis Liakos, Page 145 - "The origins of the Armonians (Vlachs)":

"... they still ignore the most asserted fact, that the Sklavinoi Rinhini of northern Chalkidiki were part of Celto-Illyrian Erkuli or Erkuni, and not Slav settlers."

For fair use.

[Carlin]

1) LIVY, ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Books XXXI-XLV of The History of Rome from its Foundation.

Translated by Henry Bettenson, Penguin Books. [This translation first published 1976]

Book XLIV.45 - Flight of Perseus, 168 B.C.

"First Beroea surrendered, then Thessalonica and Pella, and within two days almost all Macedonia had submitted. The people of Pydna, who were the nearest, had not yet sent envoys; a mixed and unassimilated population of many different nationalities; and the mob which had herded together as a result of the flight from the battlefield, hindered any decision or agreement among the citizens."

Book XLV.30 - Partition of Macedonia, 167 B.C.

"The third region has the notable cities of Edessa, Beroea, and Pella; it includes the warlike people of the Vettii, besides a large settlement of Gauls and Illyrians, who are energetic farmers."


2) CHAP. 17. (10.)—MACEDONIA. from the link:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D17

Macedonia comes next, including 150 nations, and renowned for its two kings and its former empire over the world; it was formerly known by the name of Emathia. Stretching away towards the nations of Epirus on the west it lies at the back of Magnesia and Thessaly, being itself exposed to the attacks of the Dardani. Pæonia and Pelagonia protect its northern parts from the Triballi. Its towns are Ægiæ, at which place its kings were usually buried, Beræa, and, in the country called Pieria from the grove of that name, Æginium. Upon the coast are Heraclea, the river Apilas, the towns of Pydna and Aloros, and the river Haliacmon. In the interior are the Aloritæ, the Vallæi, the Phlylacæi, the Cyrrhestæ, the Tyrissæi, the colony of Pella, and Stobi, a town with the rights of Roman citizens. Next comes Antigonea, Europus upon the river Axius, and another place of the same name by which the Rhœmdias flows, Scydra, Eordæa, Mieza, and Gordyniæ. Then, upon the coast, Ichne, and the river Axius: along this frontier the Dardani, the Treres, and the Pieres, border on Macedonia. Leaving this river, there are the nations of Pæonia, the Paroræi, the Eordenses, the Almopii, the Pelagones, and the Mygdones.

[Carlin]

Vlach-speaking residents of Trnovo and Magarevo write to the Patriarch and to the Greek consulate in Bitola:

"It is true, that a corrupted language, called Vlach, which is a mix of different dialects, is still spoken by us. But this is a baby language and in time will be abandoned, as all our children, boys and girls are devoted to learning Greek. All of us here are civilized by the Greek language and use it in our commercial transactions. So our desire for it increases with the efforts of foreign forces to lead to our political and religious divide. The efforts of foreigners who were sent to us from Wallachia (Romania) will never achieve their goal"

https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BE

https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BE

[maco2envy]

Interesting map in regard to the oldest Slavic toponyms in the balkans:



Lots of settlements around Naissus and Serdica.