Editing Morlachs (section)

===Early history===
The use of ''Morlachs'' is first attested in 1344, when ''Morolacorum'' are mentioned in lands around [[Knin]] and [[Krbava]] during the conflict between the counts of the [[Kurjaković noble family|Kurjaković]] and [[Nelipić]] families.{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=10, 11|ps=: ''Et insuper mittemus specialem nuntium.... Gregorio condam Curiaci Corbavie,.... pro bono et conservatione dicte domine (Vedislave) et comitis Johannis,....; nec non pro restitutione Morolacorum, qui sibi dicuntur detineri per comitem Gregorium...; Exponat quoque idem noster nuncius Gregorio comiti predicto quod intelleximus, quod contra voluntatem ipsius comitis Johannis nepotis sui detinet catunos duos Morolacorum.... Quare dilectionem suam... reget, quatenus si quos Morolacos ipsius habet, placeat illos sibi plenarie restitui facere...''}} The first mention of the term ''Morlachs'' is simultaneous with the appearance of [[Vlachs of Croatia|Vlachs]] in the documents of [[Croatia in the union with Hungary|Croatia]] in the early 14th century; in 1321, a local priest on the island of [[Krk]] granted land to the church ("to the lands of Kneže, which are called Vlach"), while in 1322 Vlachs were allied with [[Mladen II Šubić of Bribir|Mladen Šubić]] at the [[Battle of Bliska|battle]] in the hinterland of Trogir.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=10}} According to Mužić in those early documents there is no identifiable differentiation between the terms Vlach and Morlach.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=14-17}} In 1352, in the agreement in which [[Zadar]] sold salt to the [[Republic of Venice]], Zadar retained part of the salt that ''Morlachi'' and others exported by land.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=11:''Detractis modiis XII. milie salis predicti quolibet anno que remaneant in Jadra pro usu Jadre et districtu, et pro exportatione solita fi eri per Morlachos et alios per terram tantum...''}} In 1362, the ''Morlachorum'',  settled, without authorization, on lands of [[Trogir]] and used it for pasture for a few months.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=12:''quedam particula gentis Morlachorum ipsius domini nostri regis... tentoria (tents), animalia seu pecudes (sheep)... ut ipsam particulam gentis Morlachorum de ipsorum territorio repellere... dignaremur (to be repelled from city territory)... quamplures Morlachos... usque ad festum S. Georgii martiris (was allowed to stay until April 24, 1362).''}} In the Statute of [[Senj]] dating to 1388, the [[House of Frankopan|Frankopan]]s mentioned ''Morowlachi'' and defined the amount of time they had for pasture when they descended from the mountains.<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=67009| author=L. Margetić| title=Senjski statut iz godine 1388.| trans-title=Statute of Senj from 1388| journal=Senjski zbornik| location=Senj| volume=34| issue=1 |date= December 2007| pages=63, 77| format=PDF| language=la, hr| quote=§ 161. Item, quod quando Morowlachi exeunt de monte et uadunt uersus gaccham, debent stare per dies duos et totidem noctes super pascuis Senie, et totidem tempore quando reuertuntur ad montem; et si plus stant, incidunt ad penam quingentarum librarum.}}</ref> In 1412, the ''Murlachos'' captured the [[Ostrovica Fortress]] from Venice.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=13''Cum rectores Jadre scripserint nostro dominio, quod castrum Ostrovich, quod emimusa Sandalo furatum et acceptum sit per certos Murlachos, quod non est sine infamia nostri dominii...''}} In August 1417, Venetian authorities were concerned with the "Morlachs and other Slavs" from the hinterland, who were a threat to security in [[Šibenik]].{{sfn|Fine|2006|p=115}} Authorities of Šibenik in 1450 gave permission to enter the city to Morlachs and some Vlachs who called themselves Croats who were in the same economic and social position at that time.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=208}}

According to scholar Fine, the early Vlachs probably lived on Croatian territory even before the 14th century, being the progeny of romanized [[Illyrians]] and pre-Slavic Romance-speaking people.{{sfn|Fine|2006|p=129}} During the 14th century, Vlach settlements existed throughout much of today's Croatia, from the northern island [[Krk]], around the [[Velebit]] and [[Dinara]] mountains, and along the southern rivers [[Krka (Croatia)|Krka]] and [[Cetina]]. Those Vlachs had, by the end of the 14th and 15th century, lost, their Romance language, or were at least bilingual.{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=73 (I)|ps=: "As evidence Vlachs spoke a variation of Romanian language, Pavičić later in the paragraph referred to the [[Istro-Romanians]], and [[Dalmatian language]] on island Krk."}}{{refn|group="nb"|The linguistic assimilation didn't entirely erase Romanian words, the evidence are toponims, and anthroponyms (personal names) with specific Romanian or Slavic words roots and surname ending suffixes "-ul", "-ol", "-or", "-at", "-ar", "-as", "-an", "-man", "-er", "-et", "-ez", after Slavicization often accompanied with ending suffixes "-ić", "-vić", "-ović".<ref>{{cite book| author=[[Petar Šimunović|P. Šimunović]], F. Maletić| title=Hrvatski prezimenik| publisher=Golden marketing| location=Zagreb| year=2008| volume=1| pages=41–42, 100–101| language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Šimunović| first=Petar| author-link=Petar Šimunović| title=Uvod U Hrvatsko Imenoslovlje| publisher=Golden marketing-Tehnička knjiga| location=Zagreb| year=2009| pages=53, 123, 147, 150, 170, 216, 217| language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rodoslovlje.hr/istaknuta-vijest/vlasi-u-nama-svima| title=Vlasi u nama svima| author=Božidar Ručević| date=2011-02-27| publisher=Rodoslovlje| language=hr}}</ref>}} As they adopted Slavic language, the only characteristic "Vlach" element was their [[pastoralism]].{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=80}}{{refn|group="nb"|That the pastoral way of life was specific for Vlachs is seen in the third chapter of eight book in ''[[Alexiad]]'', 12th-century work by [[Anna Komnene]], where along Bulgars are mentioned tribes who live a nomadic life usually called ''Vlachs''.<ref name="Zef">{{cite journal| author=Zef Mirdita| title=Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora| journal=Povijesni prilozi| url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=157940| publisher=Croatian History Institute| location=Zagreb| year=1995| volume=14| issue=14| pages=65, 66, 27–30| language=hr}}</ref> The term "Vlach" was found in many medieval documents, often mentioned alongside other ethnonyms, thus, [[Zef Mirdita]] claims that this was more an ethnic than just a social-professional category.<ref name="Zef"/> Although the term was used for both an ethnic group and pastoralists, P. S. Nasturel emphasized that there existed other general expressions for pastors.<ref name="Zef"/>}} The so-called [[Istro-Romanians]] continued to speak their Romance language on the island of Krk and villages around [[Lake Čepić]] in [[Istria]],{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=73}} while other communities in the mountains above the lake preserved the Shtokavian-Chakavian dialect with Ikavian accent from the southern Velebit and area of [[Zadar County|Zadar]].{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=89}}<ref>{{cite book| author=Josip Ribarić| title=O istarskim dijalektima: razmještaj južnoslavenskih dijalekata na poluotoku Istri s opisom vodičkog govora| publisher=Josip Turčinović| location=Zagreb| year=2002| language=hr}}</ref>{{refn|group="nb"|The "Vlach" or "Romanian" traditional system of counting sheep in pairs ''do'' (two), ''pato'' (four), ''šasto'' (six), ''šopći'' (eight), ''zeći'' (ten) has been preserved in some mountainous regions of [[Zagora (Croatia)|Dalmatian Zagora]], [[Bukovica, Croatia|Bukovica]], [[Velebit]], and [[Ćićarija]].{{sfn|Vince-Pallua|1992}}<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mirjana Trošelj|title=Mitske predaje i legende južnovelebitskog Podgorja|trans-title=Mythical Traditions and Legends from Podgorje in southern Velebit|publisher=Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts|location=Ljubljana|page=346|journal=[[Studia Mythologica Slavica]]|volume=14|year=2011|url=http://sms.zrc-sazu.si/En/SMS14/Studia14.html|language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Tono Vinšćak|title=Kuda idu "horvatski nomadi"|journal=Studia ethnologica Croatica|volume=1|issue=1|location=Zagreb|publisher=University of Zagreb|page=9|date=June 1989|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/75816|language=hr}}</ref> }} Today's Istro-Romanians may be a residual branch of the Morlachs.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journals.openedition.org/lengas/1107|title=Sullo "stato di salute" delle varietà romene all'alba del nuovo millennio|first=Alvise|last=Andreose|journal=Lengas. Revue de sociolinguistique|volume=79|year=2016|issue=79 |language=it|doi=10.4000/lengas.1107|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Istro-Romanians, and other Vlachs (or Morlachs), had settled Istria (and mountain [[Ćićarija]]) after the various devastating outbreaks of the [[Black Death|plague]] and wars between 1400 and 1600,<ref name="Franceschi">{{cite book| author=[[Carlo De Franceschi|Carlo de Franceschi]]| title=L'Istria: note storiche| url=https://archive.org/details/listrianotestor00frangoog| publisher=G. Coana (Harvard University)| year=1879| pages=355–371| language=it}}</ref> reaching the island of Krk. In 1465 and 1468, there are mentions of "Morlach" judge Gerg Bodolić and "Vlach" peasant Mikul, in Krk and [[Crikvenica]], respectively.{{sfn|Mužić|2010|p=14, 207|ps=: ''Jesu prišli tužiti se na Vlahov, kojih jesmo mi postavili u konfi ni od rečenoga kaštel Mušća (Omišalj) na Kras, kadi se zove v Orlec imenujući Murlakov sudca Gerga Bodolića i sudca Vida Merkovića (...) Darovasmo crikvi sv. Marije na Crikvenici Vlaha, po imenu Mikulu, ki Vlah budući va to vrieme naš osobojni, koga mi dasmo crikvi sv. Marije na Crikvenici sa svu ovu službu, ku je on nam služil budno na našej službi.''}} In the second half of the 15th century, Catholic Morlachs (mostly Croatian Vlachs) migrated from the area of southern [[Velebit]] and [[Dinara]] area to the island of Krk, together with some [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance-speaking population]].<ref>Spicijarić Paškvan, Nina; (2014)  ''Vlasi i krčki Vlasi u literaturi i povijesnim izvorima''  ''(Vlachs from the Island Krk in the Primary Historical and Literature Sources)'' p. 349; Studii şi cercetări – Actele Simpozionului Banat – istorie şi multiculturalitate, [https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/926881.studii_si_cercetari_2014.pdf]</ref> The Venetian colonization of Istria (and Ćićarija) occurred not later than the early 1520s,<ref name="Franceschi"/> and there were several cases when "Vlachs" returned to Dalmatia.{{sfn|Mužić |2010|p=76-79, 87-88}}