Editing Morlachs (section)

==Origin and culture==
[[Image:Valerio - Musiciens Morlaques (Salone), 1864.jpg|thumb|200px|Morlach musicians from [[Solin|Salona]] (in modern Croatia), Théodore Valerio, 1864]]

The Morlachs are first mentioned in Dalmatian documents from the 14th century, but after the [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman conquest]] of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] in 1463 and especially from the 16th century onwards, "Morlach" was used by the Venetians to refer usually to the Ottoman population from the Dalmatia Hinterland, across the border from [[Venetian Dalmatia]], regardless of their ethnic, religious or social belonging.{{sfn|Wolff|2002|p=127}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Bracewell |first=Catherine Wendy |title=The Uskoks of Senj: Piracy, Banditry, and Holy War in the Sixteenth-Century Adriatic |date=2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca and London |isbn=9780801477096 |pages=17–22}}</ref> While their name implies some relation to the [[Romance languages|Romance-speaking]] [[Vlachs]], travel accounts from the 17th and 18th century attest that the Morlachs were linguistically [[Slavs]].{{sfn|Wolff|2002|pp=13,127–128}} The same travel accounts indicate that the Morlachs were mostly of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] faith, though some were also [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]].{{sfn|Wolff|2002|p=128}} According to Dana Caciur, the Morlach community from the Venetian view, as long as they share a specific lifestyle, could represent a mixture of Vlachs, Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and other people.<ref>Dana Caciur; (2016) ''Considerations Regarding the Status of the Morlachs from the Trogir's Hinterland at the Middle of the 16th Century: Being Subjects of the Ottoman Empire and Land Tenants of the Venetian Republic,'' p. 97; Res Historica, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332519845]</ref>

Fortis spotted the physical difference between Morlachs; those from around [[Kotor]], [[Sinj]] and [[Knin]] were generally blond-haired, with blue eyes, and broad faces, while those around [[Zadvarje]] and [[Vrgorac]] were generally brown-haired with narrow faces. They also differed in nature. Although they were often seen by urban dwellers as strangers and "those people" from the periphery,<ref>{{harvnb|Wolff|2002|p=126}}; {{Cite book| first=Richard| last=Brookes| publisher=F.C. and J. Rivington| year=1812| title=The general gazetteer or compendious geographical dictionary (Morlachia)| page=501}}</ref> in 1730 ''[[provveditore]]'' Zorzi Grimani described them as "ferocious, but not indomitable" by nature, [[Edward Gibbon]] called them "barbarians",{{sfn|Naimark|Case|2003|p=40}}{{sfn|Wolff|2002|p=348}} and Fortis praised their "[[noble savage]]ry", moral, family, and friendship virtues, but also complained about their persistence in keeping to old traditions. He found that they sang melancholic verses of epic poetry related to the Ottoman occupation,{{sfn|Beller|Leerssen|2007|p=235}} accompanied with the traditional single stringed instrument called [[gusle]].{{sfn|Beller|Leerssen|2007|p=235}} Fortis gave translation of folk song [[Hasanaginica]] at the end of his book. Manfred Beller and [[Joep Leerssen]] identified the cultural traits of the Morlachs as being part of the South Slavic and Serb ethnotype.{{sfn|Beller|Leerssen|2007|p=235}}

They made their living as [[shepherd]]s and merchants, as well as soldiers.{{sfn|Lovrić|1776|p=170–181}}{{sfn|Vince-Pallua|1992}} They neglected agricultural work, usually did not have gardens and orchards besides those growing naturally, and had for the time old farming tools, Lovrić explaining it as: "what our ancestors did not do, neither will we".{{sfn|Lovrić|1776|p=174|ps=: ''Ciò, che non ànno fatto i nostri maggiori, neppur noi vogliam fare.''}}{{sfn|Vince-Pallua|1992}} Morlach families had herds numbering from 200 to 600, while the poorer families around 40 to 50, from which they received milk, and made various dairy products.{{sfn|Lovrić|1776|p=170-181}}{{sfn|Vince-Pallua|1992}}

Contemporary I. Lovrić said that the Morlachs were Slavs who spoke better Slavic than the [[Ragusans]] (owing to the growing Italianization of the Dalmatian coast).{{sfn|Fine|2006|p=360}} Boško Desnica (1886–1945), after analysing Venetian papers, concluded that the Venetians undifferentiated the Slavic people in Dalmatia and labeled the language and script of the region as "Illirico" ([[Illyrian (Slavic)|Illyrian]]) or "Serviano" ["Serbian," particularly when referring to the language of the Morlachs or Vlachs in Dalmatia]. Language, idiom, characters/letters are always accompanied by the adjective Serb or Illyrian, when it is a matter of the military always is used term "cavalry (cavalleria) croata", "croato", "militia (milizia) croata" while the term "Slav" (schiavona) was used for the population.{{sfn|Fine|2006|p=356}} Lovrić made no distinction between the Vlachs/Morlachs and the Dalmatians and Montenegrins, whom he considered Slavs, and was not at all bothered by the fact that the Morlachs were predominantly Orthodox Christian.{{sfn|Fine|2006|p=361}} Fortis noted that there was often conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox Morlachs.<ref>{{cite book|title=Narodna umjetnost|volume=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP7ZAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Institut za narodnu umjetnost|page=83|quote="It is usual that there is perfect disharmony between the Latin and the Greek religions; neither of the clergymen do not hesitate to sow it: each side tells thousands of scandalous stories about the other" (Fortis 1984:45)}}</ref>
However some of Morlachs have passed to Islam during Turkish occupation<ref>Christopher Catherwood, Making War In The Name Of God, Kensington Publishing Corp., 1 2008, P. 141.</ref> Mile Bogović says in his book that records of that time referred entire population along the  Turkish-Venetian border in Dalmatia as Morlachs. Many historians, mostly Serbian, used the name ''Morlak'' and simply translate it as Serb. Almost the only difference among the Morlachs was their religious affiliation: Catholic or Orthodox.<ref>MILE BOGOVIć Katolička crkva i pravoslavlje u dalmaciji za vrijeme mletačke  vladavine, 1993. (The Catholic Church and Orthodoxy in Dalmatia during the Venetian rule) https://docplayer.it/68017892-Katolicka-crkva-i-pravoslavlje.html #page= 4–5</ref>

In his book, ''Viaggio in Dalmazia'', Fortis presented the poetry of the Morlachs.<ref>Larry Wolff, Rise and fall of Morlachismo. In: Norman M. Naimark, Holly Case, Stanford University Press, Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, {{ISBN|978-0804745949}} p. 44.</ref> He also published several specimens of Morlach songs.<ref>Larry Wolff, Rise and fall of Morlachismo. In: Norman M. Naimark, Holly Case, Stanford University Press, Yugoslavia and Its Historians: Understanding the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, {{ISBN|978-0804745949}} p. 41.</ref> Fortis believed that the Morlachs preserved their old customs and clothes. Their ethnographic traits were traditional clothing, use of the [[gusle]] musical instrument accompanied with epic singing.{{cn|date=May 2021}} Fortis' work started a literary movement in [[Italian literature|Italian]], [[Ragusan literature|Ragusan]] and [[Venetian literature]]: [[Morlachism]], dedicated at the Morlachs, their customs and several other aspects of them.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/0d19d195-6047-4425-8a14-ebf60e87e70d|title=Imagining the Morlacchi in Fortis and Goldoni|first=Branislava|last=Milić Brett|publisher=[[University of Alberta]]|type=PhD|pages=1–213|year=2014|doi=10.7939/R3MM45}}</ref>

On Krk island, where a community was settled from the 15th century, two small samples of the language were recorded in 1819 by the local priest from Bajčić in the forms of [[Lord's Prayer]] and [[Hail Mary]], as shown below:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spicijarić Paškvan |first=Nina |date=28 June 2018 |title=Vlachs from the Island Krk in the Primary Historical and Literature Sources |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326033781 |access-date=August 4, 2023 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>
[[File:Valerio - Paysannes Morlaques des environs de Spalato, 1864.jpg|thumb|200px |Morlach peasant women from around [[Spalato]] (in modern Croatia), 1864]]

“''Cače nostru, kirle jesti in če''r

''Neka se sveta nomelu tev''

''Neka venire kraljestvo to''

''Neka fiè volja ta, kasi jaste in čer, asa si prepemint''

''Pire nostre desa kazi da ne astec''

''Si lasne delgule nostre, kasisi noj lesam al delsnic a nostri''

''Si nun lesaj in ne napasta''

''Nego ne osloboda de rev. Asasifi.''”


"''Sora Maria pliena de milosti Domnu kutire'' 

''Blagoslovitest tu intre mulierle, si blagoslovituj ploda dela utroba ta Isus'' 

''Sveta Maria, majula Domnu, rogè Domnu za noj akmoče si in vrajme de morte a nostru. Asasif!''"