Vlachs in the history of Croatia


The term Vlachs was initially used in medieval Croatian and Venetian history for a Romance-speaking pastoralist community, called "Vlachs" and "Morlachs", inhabiting the mountains and lands of the Croatian Kingdom and the Republic of Venice from the early 14th century. By the end of the 15th century they were highly assimilated with the Slavs and lost their language or were at least bilingual, while some communities managed to preserve and continue to speak their language.
Later in the 16th and 17th century with the Ottoman conquest and mass migrations, the term was primarily used for a socio-cultural and professional segment of the population rather than to an ethnicity, and referred to the mostly Slavic-speaking emigrants and refugees from Ottoman-held territories to the Habsburg Empire and Republic of Venice, mostly of Eastern Orthodox faith, lesser Catholic. With the nation-building in the 19th century this population played a significant part in the national ideologies in Croatia and Serbia, and according to religious confession espoused either Croat or Serb ethnicity.
In Croatia today, "Vlachs" is a recognized national minority, with 29 individuals declared as Vlachs in the 2011 Croatian census, making them the smallest recognized minority in Croatia. Other Eastern Romance-speaking ethnic groups, that were also traditionally referred to as Vlachs in Croatia, now identify by their respective ethnic names – namely Romanians, Aromanians and Istro-Romanians.

Appellation

The meaning of the term "Vlach" within the territory of present-day Croatia differed over time and had multiple meanings. In the Middle Ages it was primarily an exonym that referred to Romance-speaking pastoralist communities in the mountains, or rarely other Romance-speaking people like Italians. Due to their specific lifestyle, the term acquired a social-professional connotation. In the 13th and 14th centuries the shepherds of the Balkans were called Vlachs, including Slavic-speakers. Initially it was used for shepherds and transporters in the hinterland regardless of ethnicity and religion, strangers and newcomers as opposed to natives, for hinterlanders by Dalmatian island inhabitants, for rugged villagers by the townspeople, and later for Orthodox Christians. From the 16th century, with the Ottoman conquest and mass migrations of Slavic-speaking people, the term "Vlach" was primarily used for a socio-cultural and professional segment of the population, rather than to an ethnicity.
The Vlachs were distinguished by their semi-nomadic pastoral way of life as economically transhumant shepherds, mainly of sheep, goats and horses. Such a lifestyle allowed specific socio-cultural traits, like learning about the area, orientation during multi-day movement, organization and wartime skills, which was recognized and used already by the Late Medieval nobility and kings. They lived in extended families, and were organised into local communities, and were bearers of a strongly patriarchal culture associated with the Dinaric Alps. Among characteristic cultural traits were wearing dark clothes, use of the gusle musical instrument, Ojkanje singing,
While the Slavic communities managed to form national identities founding regional provinces and kingdoms, Romance-speaking Vlachs didn't manage to form a national identity and were prone to assimilation. However, even if they were prone to national, linguistical and cultural assimilation with the Slavs, they did contribute to their respective communities. The problems the Vlachs faced with the creation of the national identity did not differ very much from what other rural communities face. Rural people comprised the majority of the population in the Middle Ages, and the centuries of war, conquest, regional boundaries, migrations, religious conversions, cultural blending and socio-economic problems affected the belonging of a population to a specific South Slavic national group. The regions of Lika and Dalmatia were the border area between Habsburg, Ottoman and Venetian empires, a place of mass migrations and mixing of communities.
In the area, the confessional, socio-cultural and geo-regional characteristics had a crucial impact on the creation of an ethnic identity. The equalization between religious confession and ethnicity began in the middle of the 16th century when the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had a significant religious and political influence on Serbs, started since 1557 to identify Orthodoxy with Serbdom. Gradually in the 17th century, as Croatian culture was preserved by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Senj-Modruš in Croatia, and the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena in Ottoman Bosnia, the Roman Catholicism was identified with the Croatian national name. The socio-cultural difference was a lifestyle distinction between the natives and the newer migrants from Ottoman and Venetian territory who were referred to as Vlachs in the social sense, and their "Vlach" identity was mainly in the context of claiming the traditional legal rights and privileges of their social class by the state.

Medieval usage

The Vlachs mentioned in medieval documents up until the 16th century, before the Ottoman invasion and migrations, were the progeny of Romanized Illyrians and Thraco-Romans, other pre-Slavic Romance-speaking people, and after arrival in the 6th-8th centuries also of Slavic people. Some Romance-speaking groups were autochthonous in Croatia and assimilated with Slavs, some were assimilated but preserved their identity and name, while some other groups migrated from Herzegovina to Dalmatia in very late 14th century.
With the arrival of Slavs, Vlachs began to assimilate with them, and being exposed to the Slavic language they gradually began to adopt it as their own. Raymond D'Aguilers and William of Tyre during the passage of the Crusaders in the 11th century pointed at the difference between the people who live in hilly hinterland, speak Slavic and deal with grooming of the cattle, from those in the coast who still speak Latin language and have different customs. In documents from Lika, Cetina, and Zrmanja, a century after their first mention in Croatian historical documents, the Vlachs had mostly non-Christian, traditional South Slavic names and surnames. On that note, the Vlachs mostly differed from the Croats who usually had Christian names. The Vlachs were called as "Vlasi na Hrvateh", "good Vlachs", "good men from katuns", or "royal Vlachs".
However, despite this cross-pollination of language some groups of Vlachs may have remained distinct from the Slavs; historical sources from the 14th-15th century differ Slavs and Vlachs in the area of Kotor, Dubrovnik, Bosnia and Croatia. In 1345, in Cetina Croati et Olachy are differed, while in a 1436 document, Catholic Vlachs of the county of Cetina were represented as distinct from both the Croats and the Serbs inhabiting the county. In 1450, in the area of Šibenik were differed Morlachi ac Hervati. In a book by Ragusan historian Ludovik Crijević, Writings on the Present Age, Vlachs were distinguished from other people, and were mentioned as "nomadic Illyrians who in the common language are called Vlachs" and there is also the mention of the present-day surname Kožul/lj in "Cossuli, a kind of Illyrian people considered Romans". During the Orthodox migration to Žumberak in 1538, general commander Nikola Jurišić mentioned the Vlachs who "in our parts are called as Old Romans" separate from the Serbs and Rascians.
During the 14th century, Vlach settlements existed throughout much of today's Croatia, but centres of population were focused around the Velebit and Dinara mountains and along the Krka and Cetina rivers. The Vlachs were divided into common Vlachs from Cetina and royal Vlachs from Lika. The Vlach population lived on the territory of noble families; of Nelipić, Šubić, Gusić, and Frankopan. Between 1400 and 1600 many Vlach families had settled Istria and island of Krk. The Frankopans settled Vlachs on the island of Krk in the 15th century, and later around Učka. The Venetian colonization of Istria started not later than the early 1520s, and there were several cases when they returned to Dalmatia.
. The mountain Ćićarija consequently got named after its inhabitants.
The Vlach people distinctively lived a nomadic life as shepherds and as traveling merchants on trading routes. They lived in villages, and hamlets called katun, smaller village-like places in the mountains and lower areas where they dwelled during the transhumant period. The 1436 document confirmed in Klis by ban Ivan Frankopan beside clear ethnic diversity in the Cetina county showed that there were two social groups of Vlachs, those with villages who pay tax, and those without villages who are nomads and thus obligated to serve in the army as horsemen.
According to Stjepan Pavičić, the Romance Vlachs or Morlachs of the Dinara and Velebit lost their Romance language by the 14th or 15th century, or were at least bilingual at that time. The so-called Istro-Romanians, called by themselves Rumeri or Vlasi, continued to speak their language on the island of Krk and villages around the Čepić lake in Istria, 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. The documents about Vlachs from Cetina county indicate Chakavian dialect with Ikavian accent.
The evidence of their Romance language are toponyms throughout the Dinaric Alps, and many anthroponyms with specific Romance or Slavic word roots, and Romanian ending suffixes found among South Slavic people. The "Vlach" or "Romanian" traditional system of counting sheep in pairs do, pato, šasto, šopći, zeći'' has been preserved in Velebit, Bukovica, Dalmatian Zagora, and Ćićarija until today.

Early modern usage

Socioculturally, there were two main ethnic divisions in the Croatian Military Frontier, those of the "native" Croats and "immigrant" Vlachs. The Croats were Catholics, Habsburg subjects, made up of an agrarian population concentrated around frontier towns, of nuclear families, and linguistically predominantly Chakavian-speaking. The Vlachs, regardless of their religious affiliation, were refugees from Ottoman and Venetian territories, holders of patriarchal-pastoral culture of the Dinaric, of extended families, and linguistically Neo-Shtokavian speaking. The holders of Balkan Patriarchate were mostly three socio-ethnic groups: Albanian, Vlach and Slavic.
The Vlachs from Lika were predominantly Orthodox Christian by religion, and also, the traditional social grouping of Vlachs was the Orthodox group itself. The Orthodox Vlachs from Lika area spoke the Eastern Herzegovinian ijekavian dialect while the Catholic Vlachs, spoke the Western Herzegovinian ikavian dialect. The Vlachs were also called on some occasions as Rasciani sive Serviani and Valachicae seu Rascianae gentis, which was an exonym for the Serbs or Orthodox Christians. In the 1500–1800 period in Europe, the religious difference was one of the main cultural differences in ethnic groups. The state triangle at Lika in what is today Croatia was an area in which Roman Catholicism, Serbian Orthodoxy, and Islam met. Orthodox Vlachs from the middle of the 16th century gradually became part of the Serbian ethno-confessional identity, but this identity was fully consolidated only after 1695.
Croatian historian Marko Šarić notes that the Lika-Krbava Vlachs can be seen as one of the sub-ethnies of the pre-modern Serb ethnic group. The Serb–Rascian attributes points on the attachment of Vlach Orthodox communities to the wider pre-modern Serb ethnocultural corps. However, although in some documents from the 16th and 17th centuries the Habsburg Imperial Court used the terms Vlachs, Rascians and Serbs as synonyms, the socio-cultural and ethnological evidence on the ground doesn't support such a simplified interpretation of the ethnic identity of Orthodox Vlachs.According to Mirko Markovic Vlach population from Slavonia needs well distinguished from ethnic Serbs who come to Srijem, Banat, Backa and eastern Slavonia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries as fugitives from southern Serbia.
J. W. Valvasor in his 1689 work which described the Carniolan–Croatian area of the Croatian Military Frontier and the Maritime Frontier, differed between Croats and Vlachs, and called the latter's Shtokavian language "Vlach" which he said was close to the "Dalmatian" and "Slavonian" languages. In Venetian usage for Dalmatia, the Slavic language was called Illyrian or Serbian. At the time of the Morean War Vlachs fled Ottoman-held Lika and temporarily settled as 1,700 families in Venetian Dalmatia, and 530 families in the Karlovac Generalate. Since 1690, they, and some Vlach families from Dalmatia and Bosnia, began to return to their original provinces in Lika and Krbava. With them in 1694 arrived Serbian Orthodox metropolitan who established the Lika–Krbava and Zrinopolje eparchies.

Anthroponymy

The data on Lika and Krbava in 1712–14 censuses was studied by Croatian historian Marko Šarić who also divided pre-modern ethnic groups into Orthodox Vlachs listed in the census as Schismatics, Catholic Vlachs, Carniolans, Croats and Turks, based on Zagreb bishop Martin Brajković's earlier groupings. The statistical categories were minimal to socio-religious and military and economic aspects of the population, but including a list of 713 surnames it is an important source for onomastics, and to comprehend the ethnic identity of the population.
The majority of nobility in Lika consisted of Catholic Croats, while the vast majority of population were Vlachs. By confessional affiliation the Serbian Orthodox numbered 71% of the total population in Lika and Krbava while Catholics overall 29%. According to ethnic structure by dual model, 87% of Lika-Krbava population belonged to the Vlachs of social and cultural history. According to ethnic structure by model of five nations Orthodox Vlachs numbered 71%, Bunjevci 16%, Carniolans 6%, Croats 4% and Turks 2%. The future studies have found that at the beginning of the 20th century only 60–64% of the surnames were preserved, with mostly Carniolian surnames vanished. The "Turk" surnames indicate an Islamic-"Oriental" influence, and most are Muslim-patronymic. The "Carniolian" surnames indicate a Kajkavian cultural and regional sphere, and are characteristically mostly occupational, many linguistically Germanic, some permeate with other dialects, and they have the smallest share of the ending suffix "-ić". The "Croat" show an arhaic age, many are mentioned in the Middle Age and the 15th and 16th centuries, before the Council of Trent, while some are from the second half of 16th and 17th centuries of Dinaric origin.
The anthroponymic structure in surnames of Orthodox Vlachs and Catholic Bunjevci was very similar, while the pastoral culture, Neo-Shtokavian speech, and social and military role in the frontiers created uniform anthroponymic forms. The religious confession wasn't crucial to the pattern of surnames as patronymic surnames of Catholic or Orthodox character were also found in the opposite confessional group of the mentioned. A very large number of surnames were derived from Slavic word roots "-vuk", "-rad", "-mil", and it was also noted that matronymic surnames and nicknames were more present in the Vlach group than in the others. Some 20% were of "Old Balkanic" origin, of Romance root words or Romance suffixes, and also some found derived from Illyrian–Thracian root words or with Albanian suffixes.
Despite the fact that Velebit Vlachs were mostly Croats and Catholics, among them exist and real Romanians, we see this from their surnames such as "Bučul, Čutul, Prendivoj, Hamet, Kapo, Sebikoč, Cako, Delebrajde, Čepulado."

Religion

in letter from 14 November 1234 for king Béla IV of Hungary noted that the "Vlachs, although by name are considered Christians... have rituals which are hostile to the Christian name". Pope Gregory XI in letter from 1372 for Franciscans in Bosnia ordered to convert Vlachs who live in tents and pastures, also relating to the activity of the Bosnian Church. Scholar Bogumil Hrabak emphasized that there's no need to insist on the religious affiliation of the pastoralist communities in the Balkan, especially the Vlachs. Living in closed transhumance communities they changed religious affiliation according to the regional religion where lived for a prolonged time, and if weren't followed by the specific priest. Their ignorance and lack of Christian Church commitment are seen in the case of Vlachs who were settled in Žumberak, who begged commander Johann Katzianer to be Christianized. Orthodoxy as such was also more akin to them rather than feudal Roman Catholicism which dogma did not allow to embrace as many pagan beliefs like in Orthodox Church.

History

Middle Ages

Reference to the existence of Vlachs or Romance-speaking people in Medieval Croatia dates from the early Middle Age; One of the first mention of Vlachs is the 1071 charter by the Croatian King Krešimir IV about the Rab diocese, when on the island of Pag the village Wlasici was mentioned, but is considered a forgery from the late 12th and early 13th century. In the Libellus Policorion, church cartular dated in the mid 14th century that includes transcriptions of older collected documents about estates of now extinct Benedictine Abbey of St John the Evangelist in Biograd and Saints Cosmas and Damian on the island of Pašman, is mentioned one Kutun district. Vlachs can be traced by personal names and peculiarly by ending suffix "-ul" in Dalmatian cities documents since the 10th century. The sudden appearance of the Vlachian name in the historical documents is due to the official introduction of specific rights in the notary books for taxation and trade only from 1307.
The first collective reference of Vlachs, or Morlachs in some Latin and mostly Venetian and Italian documents, dates from the early 1320s ; in 1321, a local priest from Dobrinj on the island of Krk granted land to the church, while in 1322 they and people of Poljica were allied to Ban of Croatia, Mladen Šubić, who fought against Croatian pretenders at the Battle of Bliska in the hinterland of Trogir. In 1344 are mentioned Morolacorum in lands around Knin and Krbava, within the conflict of counts from Kurjaković and Nelipić families, and that they can shelter their livestock on islands of Rab, Hvar, and Brač. In 1345 are mentioned in the charter by king Louis I of Hungary to Nelipićs, to whom was confiscated Knin in exchange for Sinj and other forst in Cetina county with all "with their inhabitants, Croats and Vlachs".
In 1352, in the agreement in which Zadar sold salt to the Republic of Venice, in which Zadar retained part of the salt that Morlachi and others exported by land. In the 1357 charter of Šibenik was imposed a provision that Vlachs mustn't use without authority the city lands for pasture. In 1362, the Morlachorum, unauthorized, settled on lands of Trogir but were allowed to use it for pasture for a few months.
In 1383, Vlachs around Šibenik, which partially belonged to the Queen Elizabeth and noble Ivan III Nelipić, were causing problems, and citizens wrote to the Queen asking for help. The Queen warned the Ban of Croatia, Emerik, and ordered him to send Vlachs away from the city lands and take fines from them, from which a part to be given to the citizens. In 1387, when nobles from the family Budislavić from Krbava confirmed with a charter the privileges of the citizens of city Pag, was determined that Vlachs musn't use the city lands for pasture. In the Statute of Senj dating to 1388, the Frankopans mentioned Morowlachi and defined the amount of time they had for pasture around river Gacka when they descended from the mountains.
Some scholars consider that to the alleged Vlachian migration in the 14th century to the Dalmatian Zagora preceded black death which enabled permanent Vlachian colonization and pasture of animals on desolated land. This migration would be followed with the sudden appearance of stećak tombstones in the Cetina county, showing the cultural specificity of the newly arrived communities. The particular appearance of the stećaks indicate separate socio-cultural identity, to whom afterlife was important, as well socio-professional prosperity for such valuable burials.
In the 1376 and 1454 documents by Republic of Dubrovnik about trade with Bosnian lands are distinguished Vlachi et Bosgnani. In Bosnian documents are first mentioned in c. 1234 by ban Matej Ninoslav, and from 1361 up to 1417 were mentioned royal Vlachs of Bosnian bans and kings. On 13 April 1411, Bosnian Duke Sandalj Hranić sold the Croatian town Ostrovica, which was a gift from King Ladislaus of Naples to the Republic of Venice. A year later on 10 April 1412, the Murlachos captured the Ostrovica Fortress from Venice. In August 1417, Venetian authorities were concerned with the "Morlachs and other Slavs" from the hinterland, that were a threat to security in Šibenik.
In 1405 and 1421, morolakis seu olakonibus and wolachos sugari lived on the lands of Ostrovica Lička, today near Gospić in Lika. During the 15th century, the Vlach population in Croatia expanded so significantly that they were sometimes mentioned as a distinct entity along the Croatians. In 1412 King Sigismund bestowed the Sinj county and Travnik fortress to Ivan III Nelipić, and mentioned that Croats and Vlachs were at his disposal. In the so-called Pašman Breviary were distinguished Croats and Vlachs enslaved by the Turks. On 6 August 1432, the Ragusians reported to King Sigismund that the Turks had invaded into the Croatian lands, and captured many Croats and Vlachs. In 1432, on the order of King Sigismund, Morlachs were required for military service and to gather at the Ban's camp where they were joined by the "whole of the Croatian Kingdom and co-existing forces of the Vlachs". In 1433 was released document which defined relation between "good Vlachs" and Church of St. Ivan on the Hill in Lika, mentioning Vlach judicial court, and that "not one Vlach among us brother Croat Vlachs will carry out any evil on the said property".
The sale of Dalmatia on 7 April 1433 by King Sigismund to the Republic of Venice earned him the enmity of Ivan Frankopan. With death of last Nelipić in 1435, Frankopan convinced the Vlachs to side with him by promising them the resurrection of old "Vlach Laws". Law for parish of Cetina given by Ivan Frankopan on 18 March 1436 distinguishes Vlachs from Croats and Serbs and determines that the Vlachs have their own knez. These laws dated from the middle of the 14th century and included many personal rights for the Vlachs. According to the "Vlach Laws", Vlachs that chose to follow Frankopan received various privileges, such as serving under Vlach commanders instead of Croatian ones, crimes committed in the town of Sinj would be judged by a Vlach magistrate rather than a Croatian one, the Croatian prince of Cetina would not be permitted to appoint a voivode over them and Croats were restricted to having only one Vlach as their shepherd. Encouraged by these promises, the Vlachs attacked nearby littoral towns under Venetian control, but in 1436 on behalf of king Sigismund, Ban of Croatia Matko Talovac waged war against Ivan Frankopan who didn't manage to survive.
As they previously supported Frankopan, Vlachs from Cetina now were persecuted, resulting on 2 July 1436 informing the Vlachs of a peace treaty between Talovac and Venice that had been signed that forbade further attacks on Venetian towns, but it wasn't always respected. The persecution was also in part due to the new conflict between Talovac and herzog Stjepan Vukčić Kosača who at the time had capital in Imotski. Kosača managed to conquer in 1440 Omiš and Poljica, but lost them to Venice in 1444. From this time are dated stećaks from Bisko. In 1444 conflicts between Talovac and Vlachs again re-emerge, with estates of Vlachs Mikul Dudanović, Radoj Gerdanić and their siblings being given to the widow of Šimun Keglević. This resulted with the migration of Morlachs from the Talovac estates in Cetina to Poljica under Venice control in 1446.
The Vlachs of Lika were ruled by Croatian princes and bishops, while Vlachs who lived along the Cetina river were more autonomous and were governed by Vlach princes, dukes and judges. They also paid more favorable taxes and were free from paying for pasture for their cattle. However, they were not completely free citizens and faced restrictions such as prohibitions on becoming court witnesses, jurors and officers. Their rights were contained in the "Vlach Paper" from 1476, which itself is an extension of the "Vlach Laws" from 1436. Both of these were written in Cyrillic and kept in the Franciscan monastery in Trsat. Also, during this period, large numbers of Vlachs were traded or used as gifts between Croatian nobles, and local churches.
In the summer of 1448 during warfare around Šibenik city's authority complained in Venice about Morlachs and Croats who subordinate with Ban of Croatia. In 1463, in the župa of Vrlika were mentioned Vlachs from the de genere Thwlich, gifted by the King Matthias Corvinus to the local Croatian nobel Ivan Čubretić. In 1481, by the king some Vlachs were settled in Lika. In 1486-87 were mentioned at the Zrmanja river region, around the Kegalj-grad, because of land disputes with nobles Keglević. In the late 1480s are mentioned in Dubašica and Poljica on island Krk, "corvati et morlacchi". In 1504 document from Krk mentions "...every Christian, nobleman and peasnt, Vlach or Croat". In the 1504 document about war tributes, besides from Vrlika, were also mentioned Vlachs from Knin, Obrovac and Nutjak.
Another group or Vlachian term besides Morlachs was Ćići. In the early 15th century was mentioned as a surname in Istria, while in 1463 by priest Fraščić as a group who under Ivan Frankopan plunder Istrian territory beneath mountain Učka. In 1499, the Carinthian parish priest Jakob Urnest mentioned a territory Czyschnlandt between Croatian and Bosnian kingdoms, which some consider to be the Cetina river region in southern Croatia. In penal records of Trieste from the year 1500 contain an inscription of an accused who, when asked of his home country, replied Ciccio da Segna, while another man declared himself as Ciccio da S. Michele di Leme . In 1523 and 1527, in the estate of Lupoglav were settled Tschizen aus Krabatten. In 1528, Tschitschen were mentioned in regard of possible settling in Modruš and other lands as a resistance against Martolosi. In 1530, they were prohibited to purchase grain in Novo Mesto and Metlika in Lower Carniola. In 1539, royal commissioner Erasmo von Thurn submitted a request by Ćići to King Ferdinand if they could be given some deserted land on karst and Istria. Also, previously in 1530 general commander Nikola Jurišić mentioned Vlachs who were commonly called Ćići, while Slovenian diplomat Benedikt Kuripešič in his travel through Bosnia mentioned his use of Zitzen and Zigen as exonym, along Vlach and Martolosi, for the Serbs and Orthodox immigrants in Bosnia which came from Smederevo and Greek Belgrade. In October 1538, captain of Bihać Erazmo Thurn wrote to King Ferdinand I that Ćići from Istria, who were around Ottoman occupied Obrovac, moved to king's land with many men and 40,000 cattles.

Ottoman conquest and Austrian Empire

Vlach migrations to the Austrian Empire from the Ottoman Empire, and vice versa, were generally caused by the loss of financial status or privileges of Vlach laws, rather than from any form of ethnic or religious persecution. Usually the migrations were caused or performed in periods after turbulent events, like Battle of Mohács, the conquest of Dalmatia, Lika and Krbava, and subsequent battles. Many Vlachs served in Ottoman armies during their conquests. As part of the military, they often served either as light cavalry or infantrymen, or irregular soldiers. However, since the movements of large Ottoman armies towards Inner Austria were rarely routed through Croatia-Slavonia, and military actions were focused on the vicinity of Jajce and Bihać, the role of the Uskok-Vlachs spying on the Ottomans was particularly important. In the 15th century after the fall of the Bulgarian Empire under the Sultan's rule much of the Vlachs arrived in the area between Drava and Sava and a part of them continued their journey across the Drava to Hungary. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries Christians on the Balkan Peninsula fled from the Ottomans to Austrian, Hungarian and Venetian territories, Orthodox Slavs and Vlachs fled into Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia or they fled across the Danube. Ottoman Vlachs who colonized Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, western parts of Bosnia and Hungary in some extent were Catholic, it can be seen in Venetian and Habsburg sources.
The Serb, Vlach and Uskok colonization of Žumberak started between 1526 and 1538, at the same time when in Ottoman-conquered lands Vlachs laws were canceled until 1550, partially or altogether, causing migration because of social and financial status. In June 1531, around 1,000 Vlachs, advised by Ivan Katzianer, settled in Kostel and Polajna, along the Kupa River near Žumberak, of which 700 were fit for military service. King Ferdinand I in September 1538 responded to general commander Nikola Jurišić, who informed him about some Servian or Rascian captains and dukes who are willing to come with their people to serve in military service, that they were given privileges. In October of the same year, Jurišić informed the King that the Ban Petar Keglević and other nobles came from Ottoman-conquered territory around the river Cetina with many Sirfen. In the same letter, Jurišić informed the king about the Vlachs who "in our parts are called as Old Romans", and that came with others from Turkish parts, to be given the same promises and privileges which were given to the Serbs. In November, Ferdinand wrote to Keglević about "captains and dukes of the Rasians or the Serbs, and the Vlachs who are commonly called the Zytschy ". Serbs from Cetina part of the 1538 migration were taken care of by captain of Bihać Erazmo Thurn and his men, Croatian Ban Petar Keglević, and counts of Slunj, Zrinski, and Blagaj. Military service becomes the main occupation of the new population.
in 1868.
In 1530, Vlachs from Lika and Srb, Unac and Glamoč came under Turkish rule. Catholic Vlachs in Prilišće and Rosopajnik settled in 1538, while in 1544 came under the protection of Nikola Šubić Zrinski. Around 1530, in lands of Stjepan Frankopan from Ozalj, in Otok and Hreljin, were settled some Vlachs who in 1540 were mentioned for rewarding by King Ferdinand because of successful spying on Turks. With the growing number of the Ottoman Vlachs passing over the Christian side, the Vlach leader from Glamoč, Ladislav Stipković, traveled to Ljubljana to offer his service, and those of his forces, to the Austrians. In a later battle, the combined forces of the army from Bihać and the Vlachs defeated an Ottoman army at Bihać.
In 1551, general Ivan Lenković reported to Ferdinand how Turks settled thousands of Morlachs and Vlachs around Srb, and Kosovo field near the town of Knin. In 1560, the towns of Lišnica and Novigrad along with large parts of the Una valley, Bušević and the Krupa river, were captuered, and settled with newcomers from Bosnia. In 1560, some Vlachs were settled around Ivanić-Grad, Križevci and Koprivnica.
Orthodox Vlachs were also directed to settle in Lika when Arnaud Memi-Bey became commander of Lika Sanjak. The Beylerbey of Bosnia, Hasan-Pasha Predojević, himself an Islamized Orthodox "Vlach" from Herzegovina, received the support of these Orthodox Vlachs and many served in his armies. At Predojević's order, Vlachs, as well as some Turkish nobility, settled near the towns Brekovica, Ripča, Ostrvice and Vrla Draga near Sokolac in such numbers that they formed a significant population of this region. In 1579, Vlachs in Turkish service wanted to transfer the towns of Cazin and Ostrožac to Christian, that is Croatian, ownership. In 1599, many Vlachs emigrated from Korenica and Bihać area to Gomirje.
In 1585, the general from Karlovac, Josip Turn, proposed Vlach settlement in Moravice, and later in 1597 general Lenković led Vlachs from Lika to Gorski Kotar and lands owned by Frankopan family. In Frankopan estate arrived yet again in 1609, and 1632. In 1605, General Vid Kisel brought Vlachs from Ostrožac to Ogulin and Bosiljevac, and some time later, Vlachs from Uzorac and Turje settled in Karlovac. In 1609, two burgs, Brlog and Gusić-Grad, were given by Senj captain and Croatian nobleman Sigismund Gusić to accommodate newly arrived Vlachs in exchange for their military service. In 1639, Nikola Frankopan of Tržac accused Senj captain Albrecht Herberstein of settling Catholic Vlachs at his deserted estates in Jablanac, Starigrad, and Orthodox Vlachs in Brinje and Brlog, without his permission. The same happened with Zrinski in Ledenice. Under Ottomans during the bishopric of Marcijan Lišnjić around Blato and Broćno/Brotnjo in Herzegovina were mentioned "Croatian Vlachs".

After the Ottomans were defeated in Vienna in 1683, the Vlachs scattered throughout the Croatian Military Frontier. Concerned about this, Turks decided to settle them on the south side of the Una river, but were unable to execute this plan. During this period, Ottomans were vulnerable to Vlach raids from Banija and Karlovac. Vlachs, under the protection of the Ban of Croatia Miklós Erdődy and General Ivan Josip Herberstein, were also settled around Petrinja, Glina, Skradin, Vojnić, Krstinje and Budačko. After the magnate conspiracy, executions and confiscation of Frankopan and Zrinski families estate, Vlachs were settled under permission of Frontier generals. The abandoned village of Plaški was settled in 1666, while 120 families settled below the Budački fortress, in 200 houses between Skrad, Slunj, Veljun, and Blagaj in 1686. With the liberation of Lika and Krbava in 1689, Vlachs from Kupres, Grahovo and Plavno near Knin returned to the region. Thirty individuals from Plaški were transferred to Jasenice in 1705, and 158 families were settled in the vicinity of Budački in 1711. In 1791, after the Treaty of Sistova, Orthodox Vlachs settled in new territory from Maljevac to Srb and the triangle border of Lika regiment, noted as the last of such migrations.
In the Ban's Croatia Vlachs mostly settled in the 17th century. In 1680 around 120 families were settled. In 1688 Vlachs settled in Bović, Kirin, and Gradišće. In 1718, noblewoman Marija Magdalena Drašković settled some Vlachs on her estate between the Tršca stream and village of Utinja. In 1750, an Orthodox priest and witnesses confirmed Vlachs didn't exist before around Kupa, Steničnjak, Petrova Gora and Slavsko Polje, but only around Hrvatska Kostajnica. They numbered around 4000 people.
In Slavonia, Friedrich Wilhelm von Taube wrote in the 18th century that there many Vlachs mixed with "Illyrians" and that have adopted their "Illyrian" language.
In Dalmatia the Morlachs were immigrants who settled in the Venetian-Ottoman border, in the hinterlands of coastal cities, and entered Venetian military service, in the late 16th and early 17th century. In 1593, provveditore generale Cristoforo Valier mentioned three nations constituting the Uskoks, the "natives of Senj, Croatians, and Morlachs from the Turkish parts". At the time of the Cretan War and Morean War, a large number of Morlachs settled inland of the Dalmatian towns, and Ravni Kotari of Zadar. According to Venetian censuses, in 1761, Orthodox Christians were 31,211 of the total population numbering 220,287; in 1771, 38,652 out of 223,765; in 1781, 51,996 out of 236,997.
The settlement of the Vlachs in Croatia was beneficial to the Austrian Empire as the Emperor was reluctant to return the Military Frontier to Croatia. Further settlement of Vlachs was encouraged by the Austrian Government, but this antagonised the Sabor and resulted in the passing of various laws, on 21 February 1629, guaranteeing certain privileges to the Vlachs. For example, any Vlach willingly becoming a subject of the Kingdom of Croatia was exempt from becoming a serf, rendering Vlachs almost equal with native Croatians. The laws enacted by the Emperor of the Austrian Empire and Sabor are collectively known as Statuta Valachorum. The exemption of the Vlachs from serfdom can be compared to the same exemption for native Croats, which was not applied until 1848 during the rule of Josip Jelačić. To ensure cooperation from the Vlachs, Austrian generals conducted a propaganda campaign focusing on Vlach serfdom under Croatian rule. This activity prevented the Croatian envoy to the Austrian court, Benedikt Vinković, who was there to consult on the "Vlach question", from pursuing a union of the Vlach-settled Military Frontier with Croatia.

Legacy

Many scholars consider that the "Vlachs" since the 16th century referred to pastoralists being a common name for Serbs and other Slavs in the Ottoman Empire and later. Tihomir Đorđević considered that the Vlach didn't only refer to genuine Vlachs or Serbs but also to cattle breeders in general. Bogumil Hrabak emphasized that not all cattle breeders and shepherds in the Balkans were called Vlachs, an example being the Arbanasi while the Vlachs to northern Dalmatia did not come at the same time and from the same side, nor did they have the same ethnic origin. According to Zef Mirdita, there was a clear distinction between the Serb ethnic community and the Vlachs as seen in Serbian medieval documents mentioning "Vlachs" separately from "Serbs", for example the prohibition of intermarriage between Serbs and Vlachs by Emperor Stefan Dušan and protection of his own Slav peasants by this Code which forced many Vlachs migrated from Serbia. However, as noted by John V. A. Fine Jr., "a more detailed examination of the code shows that it was in fact occupational". Mirdita noted that the Vlachs were always mentioned as an ethnic group, and were in the process of Slavicization which wasn't completed in the 15th century. On the basis of documents from 13th to the 15th century Sima Ćirković noted it is evident that the Vlachs were considered by the Serbs as "others" i.e. different from themselves, yet he also mentions that documentation on that particular issue is scarce so it is very difficult to conclude how the difference is perceived.
The exact ethnic identity of the Frontier Vlachs is complex and until now unexplained without at least some national ideologies and mythologization which emerged in the 19th century. Some older sources like, Belsazar Hacquet noted that although some call the Vlachs as Serbs, the Croats are their actual descendants. In the work About the Vlachs from 1806, Metropolitan Stevan Stratimirović stated that Roman Catholics from Croatia and Slavonia scornfully used the name Vlach for "the Slovenians and Serbs, who are of our, Eastern confession ", and that "the Turks in Bosnia and Serbia also call every Bosnian or Serbian Christian a Vlach". Scholars like Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Ferdo Šišić, Vjekoslav Klaić, Petar Skok, vaguely argued according to the ideologies of the time, that the Vlachs lacked national consciousness, belonged to Serbs or Croats, that Orthodoxy made them Serbs, or that due to them being mainly Orthodox the Roman Catholic priests started to identify them with the Serbs/Rascians which eventually got adopted. Bogumil Hrabak emphasized that South Slavic scholarship and Serbian nationalists tried to neglect or minimize the contribution of Vlachs in their ethnogenesis and history because the old-Balkan element insulted their idea of pure Slavs. Jaroslav Šidak noted that due to receiving derogatory connotation, in Historija naroda Jugoslavije II the issue was tried to be avoided by writing a lowercase "vlachs" as a social term. Some international scholars like Noel Malcolm consider that Bosnian Serbs have a large element of non-Slavic ancestry, and national concepts of Croats and Serbs are 19th- and 20th-century constructs. Similar view has :pl:Ilona Czamańska, and that Serbisation of the Vlachs was associated with the system of the state through military duty which was indirectly supported by the Ottoman rule because the Vlachs belonged under the civil authority of Serbian patriarch.
The dispersion of Orthodox Vlachs and Serbs in the present-day territory of Croatia, who mostly inhabited the historical borderland Military Frontier, were a cultural, linguistical, and political factor used by extreme ideologies from both Serbia and Croatia. Drago Roksandić and Marko Šarić noted that the modern South Slavic national revival and historiography since 19th century tried to see and interpret its own national history through present-day situation, like an "ethnocentric mirror that shows the present". The picture they tried to give about the Vlachs was most commonly simplified, uncritical and acted constructed, resulting with historiographic disputes.
According to Aleksa Djilas, "while no South Slav group was without some Vlach ingredient, there is no evidence that all or most Serbs in Croatia were of Vlach origin. The thesis that Croatian Serbs were "Vlasi" occurred regularly in Ustaše propaganda — without any serious evidence to support it". Ana S. Trbovich notes that in more extreme elements of Croatian historiography the claim is made that the Orthodox settlers in the Military Frontier were not Serbs, but Romance Vlachs; and that therefore Serbs of Croatia are not Serbs. Nicholas Miller writes that the term "Vlach" became weaponized as a means to "devalue Serbian claims to territory and history in Croatia". While all Orthodox settlers were indeed called Vlachs by the Habsburg authorities, and some truly were Vlachs and different from the Serbs, the majority were Serbian and even the Vlachs assimilated into Serbs by the nineteenth century. Some Croatian historiography tried to neglect Serb component, contribution or origin of Vlachs. According to Ivo Banac Orthodox Slavicized Vlachs in time acquired Serb national consciousness because most of South Slavic Orthodox Christians belonged to Serbian Patriarchate of Peć with whom these Vlachs assimilated through their church organization. Others like Mirko Valentić claim that the Vlachs were Serbianized only in the 19th century. The Vlach origin of the Roman Catholic Bunjevci because of well integration in the Croatian corpus was ignored.
In Serbian historiography all Dinaric/Shtokavian cultural attributes were without exception proclaimed as being Serb, and also often stressed the ethno-demographic discontinuity wanting to prove that the Croatian Military Frontier lost its original Croat population and received a new, ethnically Serb majority population, and also downplayed Croat and overemphasized the importance of the Serbs in the history of the Military Frontier. Serbian historiography strongly considered that the term Vlach indicated status and not ethnos, and that they didn't exist in later centuries as an ethnic group, yet were true Serbs. Sima Ćirković noted that the name was maintained due to different crafts, way of life and distinct form of social organization, until the differences lost their meaning, with Slavicization process lasting for centuries; he considered that Serbs absorbed many Vlachs and other ethnic groups. Many Serbian scholars, including foreign, claim that the settlers in the Military Frontier were Serbs or mainly Serbs. According to Zlatko Kudelić, term "Vlach" has a broader meaning and denotes entire Krajina population but also is and confessional label for orthodox Grencers who are called in Serbian historiography as Serbs regardless of their different origin.
Orthodox Vlach groups whose migrations were not accompanied by an ecclesiastical infrastructure were Catholicised and assimilated. According to Marko Šarić the Serb identity was finalized among the Orthodox Vlachs in Lika and Krbava after the establishment of the Serbian Orthodox eparchies of Zrinopolje and Lika-Krbava in 1695, which would be later unified into the Eparchy of upper Karlovac. He noted that the Catholic Vlachs were integrated into the Croatian nation. Ilona Czamańska writes in book that processes of assimilation of the Vlachs were associated with the system of the state through military duty. It seems that paradoxically Slavisation of the Vlachs was also encouraged by the period of the Ottoman rule. The minority of Serbs from the Republika Srpska of modern Bosnia is of Vlach origin, as well as the majority of the population from Bosnia and Herzegovina in general but also states that there are no the source material directly referring to Vlach colonization of these lands however but many indirect sources explicitly argue in favour of Vlach colonization in these areas.
In recent decades, the extent in which Orthodox Vlachs and Serbs lived in previous centuries by Serb separatists was seen as a borderline between Croatia and self-proclaimed autonomous regions within Croatian territory, the SAO Krajina, SAO Western Slavonia and SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, and eventual Republic of Serbian Krajina, during the Croatian international recognition and War in Croatia which lasted from 1991 until 1995.
Croatian historian Drago Roksandić claimed in 1991, before the war escalated, that until today, the "Vlach question" had caused and still caused many disagreements between experts and non-experts in ex-Yugoslavian countries, as well as in the other Balkan countries with Vlach communities. The Vlach heritage has had a remarkable impact on modern Serbs, Croats and Bosnians.
In 1948, 1 person registered as "Vlach"; 1953 - 2, 1961 - 34, 1971 - 13, 1981 - 16, 1991 - 22, 2001–12, 2011 - 29.