Let us start by a specific, historical
context going back to 395!
In the year 395, the Roman Empire was divided between the Emperor Théodore and his two sons. An Eastern part of the "imperium romanum" was created with the city of Constantinople as its capital. It is important to point out that this event outlined the new boundaries of the Byzantine Empire from the Danube (Sremski Karlovci) to the mouth of Kotor. This division thus left part of the Adriatic coast of the Balkans under the control of Rome. Following the excommunication in 1054 of the patriarch Byzantin Michel Cérulaire, the Church of the East comes under the patriarch of Constantinople. The zones under control then chose as their religious hierarchies, Christianity for Rome and Orthodoxy for the Byzantine Empire. These events thus led populations to develop different religious identities. This explains in particular the orthodox religion of the Serb populations of today as well as the Christian religion mainly adopted by Croatians or Slovenes.
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How a crusade to deliver Jerusalem helped
the Ottomans in the Balkans...
On April 13, 1204, at the time of the fourth Crusade, Constantinople is taken and ransacked. This tragic episode marks the beginning of the decline of this empire. Parts of its grounds are thus confiscated by the crusaders whose strong personal ambitions no longer have anything to do with the religious ideal launched at the time of the first Crusade by Pope Urbane. What follows in the empire is a financial and economic crisis, the prelude of a long anguish, being completed by the Ottoman invasion and the capture of Constantinople more than two centuries later.
As of this date, the Balkans, belonging to the empire, are subjected to internal wars. In particular, the Bulgarian and Serb populations revolt against the imperial authority. It is in fact the beginning of the break up of its territory by populations seeking their independence that will continue with the annexation of cities by the maritime powers of the time which were Venice and Genoa to secure a commercial monopoly, imitated by Naples about 1260. One can also cite Mongolian attacks during this XIII century in Thrace. Weakened economically by the plunder of its treasure carried out by the crusaders, the empire cannot pay its mercenary army any more.
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Consequences of the attenuation of the Byzantine empire
: disorders in the Balkans in xiii-xiv century and the beginning of
the migrations.
Progressively with the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the imperial rule gives up its rights leaving in the Balkans a population of lords and an impoverishment of the small holders. There appears in fact a feudal structure where the lords do not have to be accountable to anybody and where struggles to take control of free areas under "official" control develop. A strong social degradation leads peasants to become more attached to their land and thus to their lord, source of richness for the latter through taxes. Thus the famous Zakonic code established by the Serb sovereign Etienne Dusan in the XIV century. Feudalization, aristocratic atomization, abuses of the lords, territorial wars and armed robbery characterize the decline of the Byzantine empire in the Balkans.
Lastly, one should not forget the plague which had prevailed since 1347 for more than one century, so as to have an idea of the context in which the Ottoman invasion was carried out. These epidemics affected in particular the cities (1348, 1403, 1413-1418,.. in Constantinople; 1363, 1372, 1464... in Ragusa; 1382 in Venice;...) and the Adriatic. The reasons for its spread were due to the maritime trade and the large population which supported the propagation of the disease. These attacks were such that the populations of the cities strongly declined, not only because of the death toll but also because the population preferred to. The trade, particularly developed in Ragusa (Dubrovnik), is somewhat disorganized and leads to the ruin the merchant class (plague of 1372). The plague thus resulted in amplifying the economic and social disorders previously described.
Therefore one can see that there existed well before the arrival of the Ottomans, a mobile population fleeing the taxes and the abuses of the lords. In fact, the emigration the "Slavic ones" of the Balkans towards Italy started well before the invasion of the Ottomans and is explained by the political, economic and social situation of the time. The first migrations can be dated to the XIII century.
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