The Banat Bulgarians (Banat Bulgarian: Palćene or Banátsći balgare; common ; ; ), also known as Bulgarian Roman Catholics, Bulgarian Latin Catholics and Bulgarians Paulicians or simply as Paulicians, are a distinct Bulgarian minority group which since the Chiprovtsi Uprising in the late 17th century began to settle in the region of the Banat, which was then ruled by the Habsburgs and after World War I was divided between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary. Unlike most other Bulgarians, they are Roman Catholic by confession and stem from groups of Paulicians (who eventually adopted Catholicism) and Roman Catholics from modern northern and northwestern Bulgaria.
Banat Bulgarians speak a distinctive codified form of the Eastern Bulgarian vernacular with much lexical influence from the other languages of the Banat. Although strongly acculturated to the Pannonian region (remote from Bulgaria's mainland), they have preserved their Bulgarian identity; however, they consider themselves Bulgarians among other ethnic groups but self-identify as Paulicians when compared to ethnic Bulgarians.
Identity The ethnic group in scholarly literature is called as Banat Bulgarians, Bulgarian Roman Catholics, Bulgarian Paulicians, or simply Paulicians (Pavlićani or Pavlikijani with dialectic forms Palćani, Palčene, Palkene). The latter ethnonym is used by the group members as self-identification (being endonym), and to express "I / we" which is contrasted to "you" of Bulgarian ethnonym (being exonym). Their Bulgarian identification is inconsistent and rather used when compared to other ethnic groups. According to Blagovest Nyagulov, there existed differences in self-designation among communities. In Romania, in the village of Dudeștii Vechi prevailed Paulician ethnonym, while in Vinga the Bulgarian ethnonym because in the latter was a mixture of Bulgarian communities from different regions. Until the mid-20th century was developed idea of Bulgarian ethnic nationalism and according to it prevailed Bulgarian ethnonym, with the intermediate decision being "Bulgarians Paulicians". As the community's literature and language is based on Paulician dialect and Latin alphabet it was promoted acceptance of Bulgarian literary language and Cyrillic alphabet. In the 1990s was again argued if they are a distinctive group or part of Bulgarian national, cultural and linguistic unity. On the other part, in Serbia the community was not in touch with such political influence and was accepted Paulician ethnonym, and only since 1990s became more in contact with other Bulgarian communities and institutions. According to 1999 research by Nyagulov, the people consider themselves to be partly of Bulgarian ethnos, but not on an individual level, only as a community, which is characterized by Catholic faith, specific literature and language practice as well as elements of traditional material heritage and spiritual culture.
History
Origin and migration north of the Danube
The origin of the Bulgarian Roman Catholic community is related to the Paulicianism, a medieval Christian movement from Armenia and Syria whose members between 8th and 10th century arrived in the region of Thrace, then controlled by Byzantine Empire. They had religious freedom until the 11th century, when the majority were converted to the official Christian state faith by Alexios I Komnenos. Over the centuries, they started to assimilate with the Bulgarians. However, they never fully accepted the Eastern Orthodox Church, living with specific traditions. The Latin Catholic Bosnian Croat Franciscans in the late 16th and early 17th century managed to convert them to Latin Catholicism. It is believed that the Banat Bulgarian community was formed from two groups in different regions; one from missionary activities of the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century among merchants and artisans from Chiprovtsi, not only of Paulician origin as included "Saxon" miners among others, and other from Paulician peasants of villages from Svishtov and Nikopol municipalities.
In 1688, the members of the community organized the unsuccessful Chiprovtsi Uprising against the Ottoman rule of Bulgaria. The uprising was suppressed, due to organizational flaws and the halting of the Austrian offensive against the Ottomans. Around 300 families of the surviving Catholics fled north of the Danube to Oltenia, initially settling in Craiova, Râmnicu Vâlcea, and other cities, where their existing rights were confirmed by Wallachian Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu. Some moved to south-western Transylvania, founding colonies in Vinţu de Jos (1700) and Deva (1714) and receiving privileges such as civil rights and tax exemption.Ivanciov, Istorijata i tradicijite na balgarskotu malcinstvu ud Rumanija.
After Oltenia was occupied by Habsburg monarchy in 1718, the status of the Bulgarians in the region improved again. An imperial decree of 1727 allowed them the same privileges in the Banat of Craiova as in their colonies in Transylvania. This attracted another wave of migration of Bulgarian Catholics, about 300 families from the formerly Paulician villages of central northern Bulgaria. They settled in Craiova between 1726 and 1730, but did not receive the same rights as the colonists from Chiprovtsi.Нягулов, Банатските българи, pp. 19-20. The Habsburgs were forced to withdraw from Oltenia in 1737 in the wake of a new war with the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians fled from this new Ottoman occupation and settled in the Austrian-ruled Banat to the northwest. The Austrian authorities,Милетич, Изследвания за българите в Седмиградско и Банат, p. 243. allowed 2,000 people to found the villages of Stár Bišnov in 1738 and some 125 families Vinga in 1741.According to the earliest entries in the local birth and wedding records. In 1744, a decree of Maria Theresa of Austria again confirmed their privileges received in Oltenia.Нягулов, Банатските българи, pp. 20-21.
Austrian and Hungarian rule Around a hundred Paulicians from the region of Svishtov and Nikopol migrated to the Banat from 1753 to 1777. The existing Bulgarian population, especially from Stár Bišnov, quickly spread throughout the region from the late 18th to the second quarter of the 19th century. They settled in around 20 villages and towns in search of better economic conditions, specifically their need for arable land. Such colonies include those in Modoš (1779), Konak and Stari Lec (1820), Belo Blato (1825), Bréšća, Dénta, and Banatski Dvor (1842), Telepa (1846), Skorenovac (1866), and Ivanovo (1866-1868).Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 22.
After they settled, the Banat Bulgarians began to take care of their education and religion. The Neo-Baroque church in Stár Bišnov was built in 1804 and the imposing Neo-Gothic church in Vinga in 1892. Until 1863, Banat Bulgarians held liturgies in Latin and "Illyric". Illyric was a strain of Croatian which had spread in the communities before they migrated to the Banat. However, with their cultural revival in the mid-19th century, their vernacular was gradually introduced in the church. The revival also led to the release of their first printed book, Manachija kathehismus za katolicsanske Paulichiane, in 1851. "Illyric" was also substituted with Banat Bulgarian in education in 1860 (officially in 1864). In 1866, Jozu Rill codified the dialect with his essay Bálgarskotu pravopisanj.Нягулов, Банатските българи, pp. 27-30. After the Ausgleich of 1867, the Hungarian authorities gradually intensified the Magyarization of the Banat. Until World War I, they imposed Hungarian as the main language of education.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 30.
Interwar Romanian and Serbian Banat After World War I, Austria-Hungary was dissolved and Banat was divided between Romania and Serbia. Most Banat Bulgarians became citizens of the Kingdom of Romania, but many fell inside the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In Greater Romania, the Banat Bulgarians' identity was distinguished in censuses and statistics.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 56. The main language of education was changed to Romanian and the Bulgarian schools were nationalized. A Romanian geography book of 1931 describes the Bulgarians in the county of Timiș-Torontal as "foreigners", and their national dress as "not as beautiful" as the Romanian one, but in general the Banat Bulgarians were more favourably treated than the larger Eastern Orthodox Bulgarian minority in interwar Romania.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 70.
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia denied the existence of any Bulgarian minority, whether in the Vardar Banovina, the Western Outlands, or the Banat. Official post-World War I statistics provide no data about the number of the Banat Bulgarians.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 75. In comparison with the Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians in Yugoslavia, the Banat Bulgarians were treated better by the Yugoslav authorities,Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 78. although Serbo-Croatian was the only language of education.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 80.
In the 1930s, the Banat Bulgarians in Romania entered a period of cultural revival led by figures such as Ivan Fermendžin, Anton Lebanov, and Karol Telbis (Telbizov). These new cultural leaders emphasized the Bulgarian identity at the expense of the identification as Paulicians and Roman Catholics, establishing contacts with the Bulgarian government and other Bulgarian communities in Romania, particularly that in Dobruja. The organs of this revival were the newspaper Banatsći balgarsći glasnić (Banat Bulgarian Voice), issued between 1935 and 1943, and the annual Banatsći balgarsći kalendar (Banat Bulgarian Calendar), issued from 1936 to 1940. There was a plan to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the settlement in the Banat which was the most significant manifestation by Banat Bulgarians in that period. It was partially spoiled by the Romanian authorities, but still attracted much attention among intellectuals in Bulgaria.Нягулов, "Ново етно-културно възраждане в Банат", Банатските българи, pp. 141-195. The Bulgarian Agrarian Party, a section of the National Peasants' Party, was founded in 1936 on the initiative of Karol Telbizov and Dr. Karol Manjov of Stár Bišnov, with Petar Telbisz as its chairman,Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 230. and the Bulgarian National Society in the Banat, also headed by Telbisz, was established in 1939.
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia improved their relations in the 1930s, leading to indirect recognition of the Banat Bulgarian minority by the Yugoslav government. Still, the Banat Bulgarian revival was much less perceivable in the Serbian Banat. The Banat Bulgarian population in Yugoslavia was only partially affected by the work of Telbizov, Lebanov, and the other cultural workers in the Romanian Banat.Нягулов, Банатските българи, pp. 196-200.
Emigration to Hungary, the United States and Bulgaria Some Banat Bulgarians migrated again, mainly to Hungary and the United States. According to Bulgarian data from 1942, 10,000 Banat Bulgarians lived in Hungary, mainly in the major cities, but this number is most likely overestimated, as were assimilated in Serbian community. Members of the Banat Bulgarian community in Hungary include several deputies to the National Assembly, such as Petar Dobroslav, whose son László Dobroslav (László Bolgár) was a diplomat, and Georgi Velčov.Нягулов, Банатските българи, pp. 82-83.
During the Interwar period, the Banat Bulgarian communities in Romania were among those experiencing the greatest emigration to the US, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s.Нягулов, Банатските българи, p. 84. An organized Bulgarian community was established in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, where the Banat Bulgarians were mostly farmers.