On the Origins and Social Nature of the Corbadzhi in the 18th Century.

Abstract

In 1877 Croatian legal historian V. Bogišpć, during his stay in Bulgaria in the course of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation, made an attempt to reveal the economic, social and political nature of a specific Bulgarian Renaissance phenomenon - Chorbajstvo - through a detailed questionnaire. This first, very recently published attempt can be considered the beginning of many years of research on the problem in our historiography. The answers that V. Bogisic from the Svishtov judge Borov show the difficulties that will be faced later by all who are tempted by this topic. Ambiguity in the development and functions of the Chorbaj institution, contradictory, marked negativism towards its representatives - this is the essence of the answers that the Croatian researcher receives. In our post-liberation historiography, negative evaluations of the Chobradzhis as tools of the Ottoman power against their own people generally prevail. They are countered by timid attempts to exonerate them, which show the positive role of some of the Chorbajis in the cultural and economic history of the Bulgarians, or by those who rather unsuccessfully try to present them as patrons and even leaders of the masses. Representatives of Marxist thought were the first to look for the class characteristic of the Chorbage, linking it to the Turkish feudal structure of our Renaissance economy. Our post-war historiography argued that the Chorbadzhis were representatives of the large Bulgarian bourgeoisie. These diametrically opposed evaluations gave rise to:a sharp discussion which, despite undeniable factual contributions and a more serious delving into the problem, revealed the still unlived traces of romanticism in Bulgarian historical thought. The assessments and formulations presented were influenced by the opinions of the actors of the Bulgarian national liberation revolution, rather than by a thorough and comprehensive interpretation of the facts.