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:	9781501702846
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	8 MB
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

1. Introduction
The Uskoks of Senj between Three Empires
Approaches to the Uskoks
Sources

2. The Borders and Border Military Systems
The Impact of Ottoman Invasion
Conflict and Community on the Borders
Border Military Systems
Klis and Senj in the Military Frontier

3. Origins and Motives of the Uskoks
Origins and Numbers
Why Become an Uskok?

4. The Raiding Economy
Military Frontier Subsidies
The Economies of Raiding
Trade as a Function of Plunder

5. Military Authority and Raiding
Senj Citizens and Uskoks
Uskok Rank-and-File: Venturini and Stipendiati
Uskok Commanders
Captains of Senj
The Habsburgs and the Military Frontier Administration

6. Legitimating Raiding: The Uskok Code
The Uskok antemurale Christianitatis
Honor and Vengeance
Solidarity and Conflict

7. Allies and Victims
Relations with the Infidel
Uskoks and Ottoman Christians
Christian Neighbors: Venice and Dubrovnik
Merchants and Cities
The Rural Population of Dalmatia

8. The Final Decades
Deteriorating Relations with Venice
Rabatta's Commission in Senj
Dissent over the Limits of Raids
The Peace of Zsitvatorok and Conflict with the Hofkriegsrat
Popular Support for the Uskoks
Vlatkovic's Trial: The End of the Independent Vojvodas
Toward War with Venice

9. The Dispersal of the Uskoks

Appendix I: Chronology
Appendix II: Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

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)

Booknews

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

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

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"

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