Kitanics Máté: Croats in Baranya
(excerpt from the PhD dissertation, 2014)
In the former Baranya County the Croatian population consisted mainly of Bosniak Croats (bosnyákok) and Šokci. The Bosniaks of Baranya, similarly to their relatives in Somogy County, arrived mostly from the territory of northern Bosnia. Their former and present settlements include Németi, Kökény, Áta, Pécsudvard, Pogány, Szalánta, Szemely, Szőke, and Szőkéd. In addition to these smaller villages, their presence can be traced in Pécs and Szigetvár as well, up until the first half of the 20th century. Due to the stronger impact of urbanisation, these urban Croats assimilated earlier than their rural counterparts; nevertheless, during the period examined (the 17th–18th centuries) their presence in these towns is certain.
The Šokci, similarly to the Bosniaks, also came from Bosnia, though primarily from its central regions and from the eastern part of Slavonia. Their migrant groups settled in, among others, Alsószentmárton, Belvárdgyula, Beremend, Birján, Erdősmárok, Hercegszántó, Kásád, Kátoly, Lothárd, Lánycsók, Magyarsarlós, Monyoród, Maráza, Mohács, Nagykozár, Olasz, Siklós, and Versend. The Croats of Baranya also include those Šokci whose former villages lay within the districts of Pélmonostor (Beli Manastir) and Baranyavár (Branjin Vrh), today on the territory of Croatia. These Drava-region Šokci formed the Danube-side subgroup, while the designation “Drava Šokci” usually included the inhabitants of Kásád, Alsószentmárton, and Beremend.
Although the boundary between the Šokci and Bosniak groups is in theory clearly defined in the scholarly literature, in many cases it is far less evident than one might assume. Some authors refer to the continuous “Šokacisation” of the Bosniaks, and a certain duality can often be detected in villages lying between the two ethnographic groups (Nagykozár, Szemely, Magyarsarlós). The possibility of intermixing cannot be excluded even as early as the 18th century, and not only in these villages. It must be emphasised that the categories “Bosniak” (bosnyák) and “Šokac” (sokac) as ethnic designations in written sources largely emerged only in the 19th and 20th centuries; in earlier periods these groups were most commonly referred to with labels such as Illyrian, Dalmatian, or Croatian. Local identity in the period under review can therefore be traced only with significant limitations.
Catholic Slavic populations were present in the county during the Middle Ages as well. Their lives were profoundly transformed—just as those of other ethnic communities—by the advance of the Ottoman Empire and by the fall of Pécs in 1543. After the conquest, the city and its broader surroundings briefly became a frontier zone; however, after the fall of Szigetvár in 1566 and Kanizsa in 1600 the pressure first eased and then disappeared entirely, only to re-emerge during the Habsburg reconquest campaigns. The situation of the remaining Catholic population, as well as of the Catholic settlers brought in by the Ottomans, was further aggravated by the fact that the bishop of Pécs, the cathedral chapter, and the clergy fled the region. Their role was taken over by Bosnian Franciscans, Jesuits, and secular priests, who undertook missionary work in the Ottoman period.
We date the first migratory phase from the early 17th century to roughly the 1620s. We place its beginning in the 1610s, when the first verifiable records of the ecclesiastical life of Catholic South Slavic communities appear in larger numbers. In 1613, the Bosniak Catholics of Pécs already had their own priest, Nikolić Radobilj Stjepan, and we also know that some 30 smaller Catholic South Slavic communities existed in the vicinity of the city in the 1620s. Besides Pécs, Mohács also appears early in the sources: in the 1610s the secular priest Don Matkovich Simon carried out significant pastoral work there. His activity is also mentioned by the Dalmatian traveller Atanasije Grgićević on his journey from Buda towards Banja Luka.
According to the reports of the apostolic envoy Petrus Masaricchi, who toured the entire Baranya region in 1623 and 1624, Matkovich cared for about 5,000 Catholic believers in the Mohács area and maintained a school for young clerics. Masaricchi, who preached in Croatian during his travels, recorded the presence of a Bosnian Franciscan serving in Lőcs (Luč), and also mentioned the Jesuits of Pécs, who, in addition to their pastoral duties, provided education for approximately thirty young men. According to surviving documents and correspondence, the Jesuit György Cvetich (Juraj Cvetić) was chiefly responsible for this teaching. About two decades later, in 1642, ecclesiastical records mention, in addition to Lőcs, the settlement of Hercegszöllős (Kneževi Vinogradi), where Luka and Petar of Ragusa (Dubrovčanin Petar) served the Catholic population.
By the end of the 1620's the first migratory phase had come to a close. In the mid-17th century (1645–1655) a new large-scale influx occurred, affecting not only the Bačka region but Baranya as well. During this period Bosnian Franciscan monks led about 2,000 families from Bosnian monasteries into Ottoman-held territories. Their settlement in Baranya took place primarily in Lőcs, Bóly, Dályok, and Bezedek, where in 1649 the Belgrade bishop Marin Ibrisimovich visited and confirmed a large number of Catholic South Slavic believers. During his confirmation tour in 1664, bishop Matija Benlich also visited the parishes of Izsép (Topolje), Darázs (Draž), and Szajk. By the early second half of the 17th century, as a result of the first two migratory waves, a clearly identifiable cluster of settlements (Pécs, Mohács, Hercegszöllős, Lőcs, Bóly, Dályok, Bezedek, Izsép, Darázs, Szajk) had emerged; supplemented by the migratory movements during the reconquest wars, these formed the backbone of the Croatian settlement area in Baranya in the early 18th century. This third migratory phase, which brought Catholic Balkan settlers not only to Baranya but also to Somogy, Bačka and the Danube regions, lasted from 1686 until roughly 1714.
The peak of this migration coincided with the episcopate of Mátyás Radonay (Radonjić), a nobleman of Croatian origin from Varaždin County, who served as bishop of Pécs between 1687 and 1703. Radonay, who strongly opposed the Greek Catholics (Orthodox) and the Reformed, vigorously promoted the settlement of large numbers of Catholic Bosniaks and Šokci on the estates of the bishopric and the cathedral chapter. The majority of newcomers arrived through organised resettlement programmes. As a result, a cluster of Bosniak villages emerged south of Pécs, while a chain of Šokac villages extended southeastwards as far as Mohács. This Šokac block continued further south, into the Drava region, comprising the following settlements: Dályok (Duboševica), Izsép, Hercegmárok (Gajić), Darázs (Draž), Kiskőszeg (Batina), Nagybodója (Podolje), Hercegszöllős (Kneževi Vinogradi), Baranyavár (Branjin Vrh), Benge (Šumarina), Lőcs (Luč), Petárda (Baranjsko Petrovo Selo), Torjánc (Torjanci), and Kásád. In Pécs, from the beginning of the 17th century onwards, Bosnian, Dalmatian and Croatian merchants and craftsmen settled in increasing numbers, primarily in the Budai városrész (Budima quarter), on Havi hegy, around Tettye, at the All Saints’ Church, and along the area stretching from St Augustine’s Church via Felsővámház Street to Balokány.
Some scholars consider the Šokac population of Darázs, Márok, Izsép, and Dályok—located in the area between Batina and Mohács—to be of Bulgarian origin, linking them to the Paulician Bulgarian exodus and settlement in Hungary at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. Examination of parish registers and tax lists confirms that, although to a lesser extent than in Verőce County, Bačka or the Danube region, Catholic Bulgarians also settled in Baranya (Pécs, Németi, Mohács) after the suppression of the Chiprovtsi uprising. It should also be noted that during the reconquest wars some believers belonging to the Srebrenica monastery fled to Mohács. Furthermore, between 1701 and 1704 the Batthyány family settled “Papist Rác” (Catholic Serbs) on their estate in Bóly.
According to the calculations of László Szita, shortly before the Rákóczi War of Independence, Baranya contained—besides 187 Hungarian and 25 Serbian villages—64 settlements inhabited by Šokci, Bosniaks and Bunjevci. The Rákóczi uprising decimated the population of the county in the same way as that of Somogy and Bačka, since raids by the Kuruc and Rác forces did not spare Baranya either. After the Treaty of Szatmár in 1711, however, the situation stabilised: some of the refugees returned, and new settlements were established. As the closing act of the third migratory phase, Bunjevci settlers arrived in Baranya in 1714 from the region around Ogulin and Brinje. With this, the most intense series of migratory waves affecting Baranya—from the early 17th to the early 18th century—came to an end; later we observe mainly internal population movements. Finally, it is important to add that Baranya—more precisely the territory of the Pécs bishopric—was one of the centres of the (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts at religious union of the Orthodox Serbs (alongside the Venetian Republic and the Military Frontier). Despite the general failure, some Orthodox communities in the county were successfully forced into Catholic union. This draws attention to the role of former Serbian and Vlach populations, under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate, in the ethnogenesis of the Croatian groups of Baranya.
Based on the above, the three major migratory phases and the settlement of the Croats in Baranya may be summarised as follows:
• Significant Croatian migration into the county began in the early 17th century. Owing to this and the second major migratory wave (1645–1655), the foundation of the Bosniak–Šokac settlement area of Baranya had taken shape by the early second half of the 17th century. Besides Baranya, this second wave affected the Bačka region most strongly.
• In assisting the settlement and pastoral care of Catholic South Slavic believers, the Jesuits—similar to their role in northern Somogy—participated alongside Bosnian Franciscans and secular clergy, to a considerably greater extent than in Bačka or along the Danube.
• The third great wave of migration took place between 1686 and 1714; its most intense period coincides with the episcopate of Mátyás Radonay.
• In the ethnogenesis of the Croats of Baranya, the northern Bosnian Bosniaks and the central Bosnian and eastern Slavonian Šokci played a dominant role. In addition, in larger towns—especially in Pécs—Croats from Croatia proper and merchants from Ragusa (Dubrovnik) were also present. To a lesser extent, Bulgarians and Orthodox Serbs forced into union also contributed to this ethnogenesis.
• Like the populations of Baranya and Somogy, the Croats suffered considerable losses during the Rákóczi uprising. Subsequently, however, a substantial portion of the refugees returned to their settlements, while the final major group of newcomers—Bunjevci from northern Lika and the region between Lika and Gorski kotar—arrived in 1714.
• Regarding internal population movements following the consolidation after the war, the most important process in the Baranya–Bačka context was the migration of Šokci towards the left bank of the Danube.