The Uskoks of Senj: Piracy, Banditry, and Holy War in the Sixteenth-Century Adriatic

by Catherine Wendy Bracewell

Overview

In this highly original and influential book, Catherine Wendy Bracewell reconstructs and analyzes the tumultuous history of the uskoks of Senj, the martial bands nominally under the control of the Habsburg Military Frontier in Croatia, who between the 1530s and the 1620s developed a community based on raiding the Ottoman hinterland, Venetian possessions in Dalmatia, and shipping on the Adriatic.

Drawing on a broad range of sources, including the archives of the Dalmatian communes under Venetian rule and military frontier records, Bracewell provides the first comprehensive analysis of the uskoks as a social phenomenon, examining their origins, their military and social organization, their plunder economy, their mental world, and their relations with other groups in this borderland between three empires. The uskoks lived on the Christian-Muslim frontier, and they invoked Europe’s struggle against Islam to justify their often bloody deeds. As Bracewell demonstrates, however, their actions were also shaped by the maze of local political and economic rivalries, social conflicts, and confessional antagonisms. In a book that tests the concept of the social bandit, the author analyzes the motives that guided the uskoks and distinguishes these from the factors that impelled various elements of the local population to support them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801477096
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	05/13/2011
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Catherine Wendy Bracewell is a Reader in Southeast European History at UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. She is coeditor most recently of Balkan Departures: Travel Writing from Southeastern Europe (as Wendy Bracewell).

Table of Contents

Illustrations and Maps ix

Acknowledgments xi

Conventions and Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction 1

The Uskoks of Senj between Three Empires 2

Approaches to the Uskoks 6

Sources 15

2 The Borders and Border Military Systems 19

The Impact of Ottoman Invasion 20

Conflict and Community on the Borders 25

Border Military Systems 36

Klis and Senj in the Military Frontier 45

3 Origins and Motives of the Uskoks 51

Origins and Numbers 51

Why Become an Uskok? 66

4 The Raiding Economy 89

Military Frontier Subsidies 89

The Economics of Raiding 98

Trade as a Function of Plunder 108

5 Military Authority and Raiding 118

Senj Citizens and Uskoks 119

Uskok Rank-and-File: Venturini and Stipendiati 125

Uskok Commanders 130

Captains of Senj 139

The Habsburgs and the Military Frontier Administration 150

6 Legitimating Raiding: The Uskok Code 155

The Uskok antemurale Chirstianitatis 155

Honor and Vengeance 162

Solidarity and Conflict 170

7 Allies and Victims 175

Relations with the Infidel 175

Uskoks and Ottoman Christians 187

Christian Neighbors: Venice and Dubrovnik 199

Merchants and Cities 209

The Rural Population of Dalmatia 218

8 The Final Decades 237

Deteriorating Relations with Venice 238

Rabatta's Commission in Senj 244

Dissent over the Limits of Raids 250

The Peace of Zsitvatorok and Conflict with the Hofkriegsrat 262

Popular Support for the Uskoks 273

Vlatkovic's Trial: The End of the Independent Vojvodas 277

Toward War with Venice 281

9 The Dispersal of the Uskoks 289

Appendix I Chronology 305

Appendix II Glossary 307

Bibliography 309

Index 323

Editorial Reviews

The Uskoks of Senj is a study of piracy, privateering, and banditry in an area stretching from the Adriatic Bay of Kotor to Istria, and along the military frontiers of three empires--Habsburg, Ottoman, and Venetian. Complemented by a splendid choice of published sources, the book is an exemplary contribution to the history of the sixteenth-century Adriatic and Balkans.

-- "American Historical Review"

Bracewell delves into the cultural and political attributes that transformed the coastal town of Senj into a crusading fortress. She also strives to ascertain exactly who undertook the hazardous and often ineffectual labor of combating the Ottoman 'Turk, ' and why they did so. Bracewell argues that frontier culture shaped the Uskoks and their ethos. It forced them to be obstinate and shockingly pitiless.

-- "Journal of Modern History"

Bracewell explains with care why the uskoks were able to provide a vehicle for the expression of a political and social identity for the people of the border. This book not only brings the uskoks into the light but also is a pathbreaking study of the nature of group identity and popular political consciousness in the sixteenth century.

-- "Sixteenth Century Journal"

From the Publisher

"Bracewell explains with care why the uskoks were able to provide a vehicle for the expression of a political and social identity for the people of the border. This book not only brings the uskoks into the light but also is a pathbreaking study of the nature of group identity and popular political consciousness in the sixteenth century."

Sixteenth Century Journal

"Bracewell delves into the cultural and political attributes that transformed the coastal town of Senj into a crusading fortress. She also strives to ascertain exactly who undertook the hazardous and often ineffectual labor of combating the Ottoman 'Turk,' and why they did so. Bracewell argues that frontier culture shaped the Uskoks and their ethos. It forced them to be obstinate and shockingly pitiless."

Journal of Modern History

"The Uskoks of Senj is a study of piracy, privateering, and banditry in an area stretching from the Adriatic Bay of Kotor to Istria, and along the military frontiers of three empires—Habsburg, Ottoman, and Venetian. Complemented by a splendid choice of published sources, the book is an exemplary contribution to the history of the sixteenth-century Adriatic and Balkans."

American Historical Review

Bracewell (history, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, U. of London) reconstructs and analyzes the tumultuous history of the uskoks of Senj, the martial bands nominally under the control of the Hapsburg Military Frontier in Croatia, who between the 1530s and the 1620s developed a community based on raiding the Ottoman hinterland, Venetian possessions in Dalmatia, and shipping on the Adriatic. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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