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Annuario 2000
p. 121
The Istro-Romanians. Notes
regarding their historical Past
Gheorghe Zbuchea,
University of Bucharest
During the
centuries, the Romanian entity has been spread on the entire Southeast European
space. Isolated and situated at the Western extremity of the Romanian block, there
exists nowadays a tiny group of the eastern romanitys descendants, commonly
named as Istro-Romanians. They are into connection with the more numerous
groups of the Megleno-Romanians, Aromunians, and especially with the so called
Daco-Romanians that mainly live among the present day frontiers of Romania. The
scholars majority, primarily the linguists, either Romanians, or foreigners,
considers that the four groups above mentioned constitute an ethnical union. On
the other side, they are different because of the elements concerning the
linguistic structure of the spoken dialect - there are four dialects of the
Romanian language -, and also of their ancient or new historical destiny. The
continuous numerical diminishing during the centuries, the melting inside of
the major population (Greek, Albanian, Slave) and the possible complete
disappearing in a not far period have been and still are common features for
the three groups on the right bank of the Danube.
The
Istro-Romanians case illustrates also another reality for those Romanians
outside of a personal national state, respectively their continuous emigration.
This latter has had as a consequence the creation of a diaspora dispersed on
the European continent and outside of it. The existence of the trans-danubian
groups has also some other common attributes. Therefore, all these Romanians
from the South of the Danube are characterised by a bilingual or even a
trilingual feature. The weight of the Roman dialects utilisation is in a
continuing decreasing, while its typical elements are in an unceasing
alteration. There is also specific the general scarcity of a proper educational
system at any level, and of the national activity, capable to contribute to the
own identitys preservation. With the partial exception for some of the
Aromunians, practically those groups has never enjoyed the fewest guarantees
that should result from their official recognition as ethnical-linguistic
minorities, as it has been stipulated even in some documents adopted at the scientific
or political international meetings.
The
Istro-Romanians live nowadays in less than ten rural settlements in the Central
and Eastern side of the pre-island of Istria. They are spread on the Northern
and the Southern sides of the Ucika Gora mountains (Monte Maggiore), in an area
p. 122
that comprises
hills and valleys, beside the mountain regions. Upon some estimations, their
number has been reduced with almost two thirds during the last three decades,
without the possibility of a correct and exact statistical estimation. The
situation is not a new one from this viewpoint. Therefore, the official Italian
census mentioned in 1921 a number of 1,644 speakers of the Romanian language.
Five years later, the scientist Sextil Puòcariu considered that
there were less than 3,000 Istro-Romanians[1].
Unlike
other Romanian branches or other European national minorities, the scholars
took relatively late the Istro-Romanians into consideration. The preoccupations
respecting their existence practically commenced in 1846 and attained the
apogee only after 1900. Those who investigated the past and present realities
of the Istro-Romanians were almost exclusively linguists, who approached and
presented the status and the historical evolution of the Aromunian dialect, as far
as they could be known[2].
Beside the linguistic referrals to the past centuries, there have been only few
researchers that has approached the ancient or new historical life of these
Romanians. Consequently, some respects regarding their evolution during the
centuries are less known, and many times they are full of controversies.
p. 123
For
the Medieval period, the most important contribution belonged to S. Dragomir,
in his studies elaborated during more than three decades[3].
Upon his interpretation, the Istro-Romanians represented just a part of the
Eastern Romanians. This historical reality is nowadays almost totally
disappeared, however it massively existed in the Middle Ages on a geographical
area distributed on the entire zone adjacent to the Adriatic Sea, from the
Republic of Ragusa, through Croatia, to the proximity of Venice[4].
During the medieval period, the Istro-Romanians had also other denominations
than the one nowadays utilised as a consequence of the cult factors
intervention. A long time they were known under the names given by the others,
either the populations inside of which they lived, or the chancelleries of the
states they came into contact with. Therefore, they were for a long time
denominated (and sometimes they still are) as Vlachs, then Morlachs,
Cici, etc. It was before the middle of the 17th century, when it
was noticed the name of rumeri, more connected to their Roman origin and to
their languages Latin feature[5].
The
savants greatest number embraces nowadays the opinion that, like the Romanians
from the Dalmatian and Western Croatian regions, the Istro-Romanians had not
their origin in those areas. It is also considered that that their native
country would be somewhere towards the East, either on the left bank of the Danube,
towards Transylvania and Banat, or on the right one, towards the river Morava,
the Central Serbia and even Bulgaria[6].
During the last years, it was promoted the idea of a multi-genesis of the
Istro-Romanians, constituted through the contribution of the Romanian elements
coming from the all component parts of the Romanian block from the North and
the South of the Danube after the 14th
p. 124
centuries[7].
In itself, the hypothesis seems to be extremely plausible from the historical
viewpoint. Nevertheless, it is going to be confirmed or not by some historical
researches that for a moment are missing. From this point of view, we
appreciate that there are some other elements to be taken into account.
Especially
in the 19th century, the Italian historiography advanced the very
plausible opinion of a feeble continuity between the romanity certainly
existing in Istria during the Roman imperial period and a part of the so-called
medieval Istro-Romanians. These ones were not totally dislocated or
exterminated by the Slave mass settled there beginning with the 7th
century, although it considerably diminished them. Subsequently, especially
invoking the linguistic elements but also the lack of a documentary
information, the idea of the Istro-Romanian nativity was abandoned, together
with the opinion of the Western Romanians nativity in general. It was began to
be talked about a more restraint area towards the East, on the both sides of
the Danube, where it would be formed a people speaking in a personal language,
usually called as the common Romanian. Afterwards, this language would be
spread to the South towards the Pindus Mountains, towards the West until the
Adriatic Sea, etc. Many decades ago, Sextil Puòcariu draw attention
on the hypothetical and improbable feature of such a theory: It is certitude
that history demonstrates that there are a lot of examples of populations that,
coming from a small country, conquered large regions, imposing their language.
The spreading of the Roman people itself and of the Latin language is a typical
example for this. Nevertheless, there are also some reverse examples in
history, models of populations and languages formerly spread on huge spaces,
but later reduced and losing their national features by conquests. This is the
case of the same Roman people and of the Latin language on the Empires
peripheries, in Minor Asia, Northern Africa, in the Alps, and so on. The
situation of the Roman people in the South-eastern Europe is also peripheral;
in that region, the invasion of the peoples had lasted longer than in the West
and their results were graver, because of the fact that some of the invaders
had definitely settled in those places. Whether there existed a region
somewhere in the Roman empire where the population, because of some favourable
circumstances that could not be supposed, would be preserved more Romans than
in the others giving birth to the Romanian people, we should expect that at
least this cradle to offer an ancient historical information about it or at
least here to be conserved the toponymy in a traditional form. But it is not
the case. Thus, it seems to me that instead of searching a cradle for the
Romanian people on a restraint territory, it is more natural to admit that the
Romanians are nowadays the last survivors of the Roman population that had
lived in the Northern half of the Balkan Peninsula and in the romanised regions
on the left of the Danube
Whether the Eastern Roman empire would last having a
Latin character, more Romanic languages would be developed. The invaders, and
especially the
p. 125
Slavs conquest
of these regions made that the Romanic population to decrease and to thin out.
What as Romanic people has been preserved are we, the Romanians
Conditioned by
the geographical contact, by the similar social status and by the lack of a
complicated political organisation, with prosperous commercial and cultural
centres, the cohesion between different pre-Romanians groups was so strong that
the Romanian language could develop in the pre-Romanian epoch on the same great
evolution lines
[8].
It
is certitude that the written sources regarding the eastern romanitys
descendants are not very much at the beginning of the Middle Ages. This
situation has been speculated in different manners. However, as it has
pertinently been demonstrated, the eastern romanity could disappear in this
part of the continent neither suddenly, nor totally[9].
In the 10th century, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine the
Porphyrogenitus mentioned many times in his De
administrando imperio the romanised population on the Adriatic shores. He
utilised the denomination of Romanoi, thus different
than the Greek speaker Byzantines, respectively the Romaioi. Actually, there are all the reasons to believe
that those were the future Western Romanians appeared in the medieval
historical sources. They would afterwards appear under the name of Vlachs on
the same zones beginning even with the 11th century[10].
During
the first centuries of the second millennium, these Balkan Romanians gradually
came in contact with the different political entities and consequently were
mentioned in diverse acts. It is known that then, before but especially during
the Ottoman expansion, there took place some important population motions in
the Balkan space, especially in its Central and Western sides, from Macedonia
to the Hungarian and Austrian regions. This motions took place especially from
the South to the Northeast. There were many factors that concluded the ethnic
and demographic modification. Among them, there were the wars, the different
maladies and natural calamities, the policy promoted by some governors to
attract labour and to inhabit the devastated areas, the needed of soldiers, the
natural tendencies of some impoverished families to begin a new life on another
regions, etc. In the Romanian case, invoking exaggeratedly the pastoral
feature, S. Dragomir identified some data concerning the Romanians penetration
and settling in Istria. The author utilised especially Serbian sources and also
A. Tamaros collection of documents. His arguments and conclusions have been
generally
p. 126
accepted almost
entirely by nowadays, and this was due to the fact that a prestigious scholar
like S. Puòcariu embraced them[11].
Generally
speaking, the situation of Istria in the Middle Ages is still less known. There
still misses some massive general studies[12].
The
elements gathered by Dragomir himself denoted some realities, beyond the fact
that the Romanian nationality of the Vlachs was beyond any doubt. The same
Dragomir indicated that the 16th century Croatian writers regarded
the Morlachs or the Vlachs as being the same ethnical group with the Romanians
from the Trajanic Dacia. Among them, he mentioned Simun Koziçiç from Modrussa,
Ivan Pergosiç - the translator of Verboczis Tripartitum, and also the lexicographer Iacob Nikaglia, who
regarded Dacia as Morovlasca Zemlja[13].
There
still does not exist an analysis of the Istro-Romanian lifestyle for the Middle
Ages and for the beginning of the Modern period. The life conditions in the
Istrian area, and also the recent testimonies about the traditional occupations
suggest that those Romanians were engaged in breeding and in turning to good
account of the animals (dairy-produce, wool, and leather). It is certitude that
even in these conditions it is not the case of a nomadic feature for the
breeders. Anyhow, the Venetian authorities would not mention their settling in
the acts.
They
were also farmers, in order to receive first and foremost their own necessities.
The rich terminology that is connected to the crop activity could be a good
reason for the age and the continuation of such an occupation. The same
environmental conditions imposed that their life be early connected with the
forest. Thus, the hunting completed and diversified their nutrition. Beside
their own needs, it brought them supplementary incomes, in the sense that they
furnished raw materials for the Venetian fleets shipyards.
Also,
it seems that it has been forgotten another occupation, respectively the
obtaining of the coal by the woods burning and thus the exploitation of their
activitys results at Fiume, Triest and even Venice. Many of them began to
display maritime activities, either as harbour workers, or especially as
sailors,
p. 127
probably entering
into the piracy. Some of them became warriors, probably like the entire Balkan
populations, either under the Ottomans, or under the Hungarian kings and
afterwards under the Hapsburg emperors. Thus, they had the voinuci from the Slave area in the Ottoman Empire, or the
privileged militaries from the Craines created by the Viennese emperors as
models.
By
their Latinity, some lexical terms attest the age of the Christian faith among
the Istro-Romanians. In their case, it was a kind of exception, in the sense
that the sources mention them as being Catholics. Thus, they were subordinated
to the Roman hierarchy, through the agency of the ecclesiastical residence from
Aquilea. From this optic, it is curious that the Italian scholar Enea Silvio Piccolomini
mentioned the exclusive utilisation of the Croatian and the Italian languages
by the citizens from the Adriatic harbours. The curiosity relies upon the fact
that the former archbishop of Aquilea and then pope under the name of Pius II
also wrote about the Romanians in his work about the Dalmatian area. Thus, he
was well informed about them.
It
is possible that their continuing diminishing in number be determined also by
their affiliation to the Catholic faith, as a consequence of the activity of
the Roman curias clergy. Anyway, T. Burada, I. Popovici and others related
that around 1900 the Croatian Catholic clergy had vehemently opposed to the
timid attempts of a Romanian national consciousness manifestation in the
Istrian space.
Between
the 15th and the 18th centuries, under the Turkish
regime, just like inside of the Hapsburg Empire, the Romanians (the Vlachs)
enjoyed of the existence of some proper institutions. Many of these
organisational forms originated in ancient ages and were many times guaranteed
by the political factors, namely by the sultans from Istanbul or by the
emperors from Vienna[14].
Perhaps that a necessary analyses of the Venetian documents would offer
important data respecting the specificity of the Istrian Romanitys institutional
life before the 19th century. Then, the different ways of
modernisation and the new political realities, determined some other phenomena,
like the renunciation to the traditional occupations, and especially the
abandonment of the native villages, the departure to the Dalmatian and Istrian
towns, and the more increasing emigration.
Unlike
in the case of the Aromunians, there did not appear any necessary element for a
national Renaissance among the Istro-Romanians, at the beginning of the Modern
era. There could be many explanations for this, such as their small number, and
thus the lack of an elevated cultural elite among them, the traditional
p. 128
lifestyle, the
influence of the assimilation factors. It was only on the middle of the 19th
century, meaning in the epoch of the 1848 revolution when they were
discovered by some Romanian leaders from the Principalities. From this
viewpoint, the publishing of the article Dei
Ringliani o Vlahi dIstria by A. Ckovaz in a magazine from Triest entitled lIstria was a releaser factor. The
material was immediately received in the Romanian milieus. It was reprinted at Braòov, in Foaie pentru minte, inimă și literatură.
Then, Aron Pumnul, in Arhiva Albinei retook it at Jassy with the translation
and the notes of Gheorghe Asachi. Actually, this latter intended to send his
own son to Istria in order to take direct contact with the respective Romanians[15].
In the immediately subsequent years, Simion Bărnuțiu, studying for a period in
Pavia, and Timotei Cipariu were also interested about these Western Romanians.
Ion Maiorescu followed them afterwards. This latter was actually the Romanian
from the North of the Danube that visited them, wrote about them from the
historical, ethnographical, and linguistic viewpoints, and even drawn up the
first lexical collection about them. The same Ion Maiorescu pleaded for their
assistance and cultivation, considering their survival as unu miraculu (a
miracle)[16]. The same
Ion Maiorescu draw for the same time attention on the danger of their
denationalisation because of the church and the school in Croatian language. To
the end of the century, there appeared the idea of a national school in the
Romanian language, as it was earlier proceeded for the Aromunians. It is not
definitely elucidated whether this idea appeared because of a singular
endeavour or because of the intervention of some outsider factors.
To
the end of the 19th century, there appeared an activity in the
Romanian milieus from Istria. Thus, an appeal appeared in the Giovine pensiero newspaper on October
27, 1887, signed by the Istro-Romanians from some villages, in order to approve
the setting up of a school teaching in the Romanian language. Based upon a
proposal belonging to an Italian, namely Dr. Constantini, the problem of a
Romanian school was discussed in the autumn of 1888, in the provincial Diet of
Istria. There was published the stenography of the inhabitants letter, and
also the interventions of the Italian and Croatian deputies[17].
The Croatian representative, Dr. Laginja, vehemently contested the
Istro-Romanians existence itself, trying to demonstrate that they were Slaves.
Charged with the informing upon the matter, the school commission recognised
that the Romanians existed in a number of 2,299 inhabitants, gathered in eight
settlements. It was also considered that I romanici
p. 129
dIstria conservarono la loro
lingua malgrado che siano circondati da popolazione slava e che da preti slavi
ricevano listruzione religiosa, per cui sino da fanciulli sono costretti di
apprendere lo slavo[18].
The Croatian majority rejected the demand, and also
declined the subsequent and repeatedly others, although the requirements were
made with the assistance of some Italian deputies in the Diet. For instance, it
was rejected the motion proposed on August 1900. The Italian deputy, dr.
Scampichio finished one of his pleadings in this manner: I defend today the
cause of a very noble people, forgot, abandoned, neglected by everybody, of a
people that has the origins in the Romes glories in common with us, a people
that must be associated with our civilisations benefits[19].
Although they were protected by the public opinion and the press of Romania,
the result of such an applies was contrary to the expectations. Because of the
financial efforts of Saints Cyril and Methodius Society, as a tool of the
Slavisation policy, it was set up a Croatian school at Valdarsa in 1905. The
school was under the care of the Catholic priest, who made usellessly efforts
to attract the Romanians.
Under these circumstances, it may also be added Andrei
Glavinas activity. He has been considered as the national apostle and the
distinctive figure of the Istro-Romanians[20].
Andrei Glavina was born on March 30, 1881 at Susnievita and died on February 9,
1925 at Pola. As a teenager, he impressed T. Burada, professor at Jassy, who
made ethnical and linguistic investigations in the area, by his liveliness and
intelligence. The young Istro-Romanian came in Romania, where he began his
studies at Jassy, and continued them in the great cultural centre in Blaj,
where he also finished the high-school. Afterwards, he returned to Istria,
becoming temporarily teacher at the Italian school in Arenzo.
He had the endeavour to create and publish for the first
time a work printed in the dialect and adressed to his co-nationals, in a
calendar form. Thus, it was printed in Bucharest in 1905 and spread in Istria
the work entitled Calindaru lu Rumeri din
Istrie cu figure lucrat parvea votea de Andreiu Glavina si Constantin Diculescu.
There was a pleading for the preserving and the recognition of the national
identity. The same Glavina gathered dialectal texts from the village of Jeiani
and set up two vocabularies: a Romanian-Istro-Romanian and an Istro-
p. 130
Romanian-Daco-Romanian
one. Both of them would be published in Sextil Pușcarius volumes. He also
forwarded some testimonies from his native places to the magazines in Romania
and was in contact with different researchers, such as O. Densusianu, T.
Filipescu, etc., thus contributing to the knowledge of the Istro-Romanian
realities.
At the same period, there began his efforts destinated to
create a Romanian school. They were reflected in the epochs press, where his
activity before 1914 was presented. It was appreciated by Sextil Pușcariu in
1925 in such a terms: The Slav propaganda, stimulated by the central
government in Vienna, made Andrei Glavinas efforts almost useless. The destiny
reserved him the almost exclusive part of national apostle.
During the First World War, when Andrei Glavina
participated in the trenches, he retook his activity under the circumstances
that Istria was integrated inside of the Italian frontiers. Italy manifested
intially a relative understanding regarding the Romanian ideals. For instance,
it was in 1920 when it was authorised the sending of a teacher from Romania and
of the books donated by the Romanian Academy. Thus, Andrei Glavina succeeded in
1921 to open at Valdarsa the first Romanian school in Istria, having the
symbolic denomination of *mpèratul Traian (The Emperor Trajan). To a
certain moment, this school had a number of 443 pupils from all the seven
villages and hamlets from the South of Monte Maggiore. The school developed its
activity in the Romanian language and also in the Italian one. It had a
distinctive part in the cultivation of the national identity. After the death
of A. Glavina in 1925, the teaching in the Romanian language was ceased, the
education process being developed exclusively in the Italian language. I
happened not only at Valdarsa, but also in the other Romanian settlements,
where there were opened schools in Italian language exclusively.
After the Second World War, the Croatian language became
compulsory in all the schools. The lack of the Romanian education has contributed
and still completely contributes to the assimilation and alienation processes.
During the decades, none of the Bucharest authorities endeavours succeeded.
Between 1893 and 1935, some Istro-Romanians were brought in Romania for
studies, in order to prepare them for a presumable schooling and national
activity in their native regions. Some of them remained in Romania after the
graduation, others being forbidden to return to their inborn territories by the
local authorities.
Among the Romanians, the Istro-Romanians were the only
ones that embraced the Catholic faith, beginning even with the medieval times.
Among them, the Church authorities also acted as a factor of desethnisation.
There existed some attempts to utilise the religious education for national
purposes. Thus, after the First World War, A. Glavina distributed religious
handbooks brought from Bucharest. There must be added the religious calendars
published in dialect at Cernăuți. In 1928, it was also issued a small book of
prayers, also composed in a dialectal form. This heterogeneous and unsufficient
efforts were not continued
p. 131
after
the war, when practically every kind of circulation of the Romanian book was
obstacled and even forbidden.
Even at the beginning of the 20th century,
Andrei Glavina went to Bucharest, in order to obtain assistence for the
Istro-Romanian cause. He addressed to the authorities, the statemens and the
culture men. He received a small material aid from the politician I. C.
Grădișteanu, who also sustained the Romanians from the Timok valley and the
Aromunians; actually, this latter was for a time the president of the two
societies. Generally speaking, neither A. Glavina nor other Istro-Romanians or
Istro-Romanians sympathisers acquired assistence in Bucharest in order to
impede an irreversible process. Whether the Romanian state enterprised
different actions for the Aromunians and even for the Romanians from Timok in
the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th, there
missed a support for the Istro-Romanians at all. It was available on the level
of the state institutions and also of the public opinion. An interest was only
individually manifested, coming from some scholars, especially from the
universitary milieu at Cernèuài and Cluj, but it was unsufficient,
At the end of the First World War, under Italian
administration, a distinctive administrative organisation was attempted, a
leading part being played by the same Andrei Glavina. In 1923, the villages on
the South of Monte Maggiore were grouped in the commune of Valdarsa. For a
time, the townhall utilised a stamp having a Romanian text, and in the middle
of the stamp was represented the Trajans column. Also, there were introduced
the bilingual inscriptions, in Romanian and Italian.
Long time after the Second World War, the news about the
evolution of the Istro-Romanian villages and settlements missed. For decades,
they were exclusively presented in scientifical works, especially linguistic
ones. Their problem was raised on the occasion of some international meetings,
as there were the different congress of the Federative Union of the European
Ethnical Communities. The general circumstances generated by the unweaving of
Yugoslavia and by the breakdown of the communist regimes opened a new page in
the Istro-Romanian history. The press from Romania and from other countries has
begun to present the Romanian realities from Istria. On April 19, 1994, it was
founded the Istro-Romanian Association Andrei Glavina at Trieste, with the
purpose of the Istrian Romanians salvation and of their ethnical and lingistic
preservation. As president of the association, dr. Petre Raàiu contributed in different
manners to the popularisation of the Istrian problems. In 1995 also began the
publishing of some dialectal books, beginning with Calendaru lu rumeri din Istria. Since 1996, it has begun to appear
the first Istro-Romanian magazine, Scrisore
catre frat Rumer. Its content is extremely various: original fiction or translated
from Romanian, notes with historical and ethnical characteristics, news about
the Aromunians life, etc. The 1997 Congress of the Federative Union of the
European Ethnical Communities adopted a special resolution. It supposes an
p. 132
appeal
to the Croatian government and also to the different European organisations, in
order to juridically recognise the Romanians in Croatia as an ethnical
community. It also militated for the free utilisation of their language
according to the European standards system of the protection of the
nationalities in the education, religious and mass media domains[21].
There were organised for the same purpose different cultural and scientifical
meetings, under the care of the Andrei Glavina Association and also of the Democratic
Association of the Romanians from Croatia, this latter one appeared in Zagreb.
There were not yet materialised the efforts in order to promote the Romanian
language (in its Istro-Romanian dialect) in the education system, while the
impact of other forms of national activity in the area seems to be still minor.
All of these do not seem to represent reliable signs for the ethnical future of
this tiny Romanian group.
For this material, permission
is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use.
Whether you intend to utilize it in scientific purposes, indicate the
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ricerca umanistica 2 (2000), edited by Șerban Marin and Ion Bulei, Venice,
2000
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commercial use.
© Șerban Marin, January
2001, Bucharest, Romania
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[1] For an
examination of the figures concerning the Istro-Romanians beginning with the
middle of the 19th century, when their number was considered to be
somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000, see S. PUȘCARIU and others, Studii istroromâne, vol. 2, Bucharest,
1926: 40-43; R. SâRBU, V. FRățILă, Dialectul
istroromân. Texte
și glosar, Timișoara, 1998: 18; August KOVAÇEK,
LIstroromeno, LAnnuario dellIstituto
Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica di Venezia, 1 (1999): 129-142 (130).
Unlike
the case of the other Romanians in the Balkans, the Istro-Romanians and their
numerical weight were not taken into consideration by the Bucharest
authorities, because of different reasons. Thus, they were only mentioned in a
hurry in the official materials having a synthetic feature, see Arhiva MAE (Bucharest), fund 71
(1920-1044), vol. 497: 349, question 18, vols. 1 and 8, unpaged. In an official
material constituted in 1942 with a view to the projected conference of peace,
it was only considered that there had been in 1940 a number of 3,000 Romanians
in Istria, information that seemed to be furnished by S. PUȘCARIU, see Spațiul istoric și etnic românesc, vol.
3, 2nd edition, Bucharest, 1993: 15. The synthetic material entitled
Romùnii de peste hotare made
up in 1945 considered that: Their ethnical disappearing is unavoidable, sooner
or later, whether it is taken into consideration the fact that the 3,000
Istrian Romanians live in the middle of an approximative number of 100,000
Croatians and Slovenians, according to Arhiva
MAE, fund Conferința Păcii de la
Paris, 1946, vol. 130: 186. After the Second World War, there were
different figures to be advanced, usually less than 1,500 Istro-Romanians, see
Matilda CARAGIU MARIOțEANU, Compendiu de
dialectologie română (nord- și sud-dunăreană), Bucharest, 1975: 190.
Nowadays, there are pondered smaller figures, for example 500 Istro-Romanians
living in their native settlements, and under our eyes, they become a
historical memory, see Cristea Sandu TIMOC, Tragedia românilor de peste hotare (9-13 milioane), 2nd
edition, Timișoara, 1996: 80; idem, Mărturii
de la românii uitați, Timișoara, 1995: 9.
[2] For an almost
complete bibliography for this domain, see E. SCăRLăTOIU, Istroromânii și istroromâna. Relații lingvistice cu slavii de sud: cuvinte de origine
veche slavă, Bucharest,
1998: 9-36; idem, Originea istroromânilor văzută de lingviști, in Sud-estul și contextul
european, Bulletin 2 (1994): 58 sq.
[3] A. TANAȘOCA, Contribuția lui Silviu Dragomir la cercetarea romanității
balcanice, in Sud-est și contextul
european, 2 (1994): 47. There are to be also regarded the last
contributions of S. DRAGOMIR: La patrie primitive des Roumains et ses
frontieres historiques, Balcania, 7
(1944), part 1: 63-101; idem, Vlahii din
nordul Peninsulei Balcanice în evul mediu, Bucharest, 1959; idem, Relațiile între românii sud-dunăreni și
daco-români în evul mediu, in Studii de
istorie medievală, Cluj-Napoca, 1998: 206-237.
[4] A. TANAȘOCA,
Romanitatea dispărută din nord-vestul Peninsulei Balcanice, in Sud-estul
, 4 (1995): 107 sq., where
there are summarily presented some different sources coming from the Serbian,
Ragusan, Croatian, Venetian, Ottoman, Hapsburg milieus, useful for the
reconstitution of the Istro-Romanian medieval history. Under the care of the
Institute of the Southeast European Studies from Bucharest, A. TANAȘOCA and N. Ș.
TANAȘOCA accomplished two massive works still unpublished: Corpusul izvoarelor istoriei romanității balcanice. I. Izvoare privind romanitatea
nord-vest balcanică and Istoria
romanității balcanice. Repertoriul
analitic de izvoare și bibliografie critică; see also N. Ș. TANAȘOCA
History of Balkan Romanity, in Politics
and culture in South-Eastern Europe (edited by R. Theodorescu), Bucharest,
1999: 77-134.
[5] S. DRAGOMIR, Vlahii și morlacii. Studiu din istoria
românismului balcanic, Cluj, 1924: 51 sq.; N. A. CONSTANTINESCU, Originea și expansiunea românilor. Privire
istorică, Bucharest, 1943: 54 sq.; idem, Despre morlachi, excerpt from Omagiu lui N. Iorga, Craiova, 1921.
[6] A note regarding the main
hypothesis and their representatives, in E. SCăRLăTOIU, La romanité
balkanique. Origines et difusion. I, II, Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Européennes, 29 (1991), nos. 3-4; 30
(1992), nos. 1-2; idem Istroromùnii
:
52-94.
[7] E. SCăRLăTOIU, Istroromânii
:
311-331.
[8] S. PUȘCARIU, Studii
, vol. 2: 357-358.
[9] L. MUSSET, Les invasions. Le second assaut contre lEurope chretienne
(VII-XI siècles), Paris, 1965: 191; and especially S. BREZEANU,
chapter Argumentul tăcerii izvoarelor, in L. BâRZU and S. BREZEANU, Originea și continuitatea românilor. Arheologie și tradiție istorică, Bucharest, 1991: 232-251.
[10] For the respective passages
from Constantine Porphirogenitus, see S. BREZEANU, Romanitatea orientală în evul mediu. De la cetățenii romani la națiunea
medievală, Bucharest, 1999: 61-62; for the 11th and the subsequent
centuries, see DRAGOMIR, Vlahii
, passim.
[11] S. DRAGOMIR, Originea
coloniilor romane din Istria, Analele
Academiei Române. Memoriile secției istorice, 3rd series, 1923:
201-220; S. PUȘCARIU, Studii
, vol.
2: 29-40, etc.
[12] For the period
that interests us, we mention the synthetic analysis from Historia naroda jugoslavie, vol. 2, Zagreb, 1959, chapters 29, 45
and the bibliography: 656-657. Whether the problems concerning the history of
the Italians, the Croatians, even the Hapsburgs in Istria were vastly
investigated on the basis of unpublished or published documents, it could not
be asserted the same conclusion about the Romanians situation, respectively
the Vlachs and Morlachs ones. During some decades, based upon the Venetian
archives, Societta istriana di
archeologia e storia patrie published the decisions of the Great Senate (Senato Grande) respecting the Istrian
area, between 1440 and 1797, then the so called Senato Segreti for the period between 1401 and 1630, respective
diverse acts, then the lettere segrete di
Collegio for the years between 1308 and 1627. We express the conviction
that these documents could provide numerous news regarding the Romanians. This
could offer new arguments to oppose to the generalising assertion that after
the 16th century the Vlachs or the Morlachs would not be the same
with the Romanians anymore.
[13] S. DRAGOMIR, Originea
: 213-214.
[14] A. TANAȘOCA, Autonomia vlahilor din imperiul otoman în secolele XV-XVII,
Revista de istorie, 34 (1981), no. 8:
1513 sq.; N. BELDICEANU Les Roumains des Balkans dans les sources ottomanes, Etudes Roumaines et Aroumaines (edited
by P. H. STAHL), Paris - Bucharest,
1990: 11 sq.; S. DRAGOMIR, Vlahii
:
65, etc.; C .C. GIURESCU, Istoria
românilor, vol. 2, part 1, Bucharest, 1943: 337 sq.; see also V. A.
GEORGESCU, in Studii. Revista de istorie, 13 (1960), no. 5: 225-235
about Jus valahicum în spațiul
balcanic, including in Istria, where
there are also invoked some documents published by Iorga.
[15] T. BURADA, O călătorie în satele
românești din Istria, Jassy, 1896: 87 sq., 129 sq.
[16] I. MAIORESCU, Itinerar în Istria și vocabular
istriano-român (edited by T. MAIORESCU), Jassy, 1874: 20. After Ion
Maiorescu, there were some other Romanian travelers in Istria. For a review of them, see S. PUȘCARIU, Studii
istroromâne
, vol. 3 and Nicolae MOCANU, Ricerche sullistroromeno e gli
istroromeni. Sguardo retrospettivo e prospettivo, Annuario dellIstituto Romeno di Cultura e Ricerca Umanistica di
Venezia, 1 (1999): 143-150.
[17] See J. POPOVICI, Dialectele
romùne (Rumaenische Dialecte), 9: Dialectele romùne din
Istria, part 1, Halle, 1914: 21-27.
[18] Ibidem: 23.
[19] Ibidem: 28-32, where is totally reproduced Ubaldo Scampiccios
speech, and also the subsequent debates.
[20] It was many times written
about Andrei Glavina, but it still misses a necessary biography, and also a
collection of his non linguistic works. T. BURADA, op.cit.: 130 sq., evoked the circumstances of the period when A.
Glavina studied at Jassy and then at Blaj. C. DICULESCU, who collaborated with
him, made up an obituary in 1926, published in Daco-Romania magazine, vol. 4. S. PUȘCARIU drew up ample notes
about Glavina in the third volume of his Studii
:
175-246. Recently, Dr P. RAțIU also
wrote about A. Glavina: Cire fost-a Andrei Glavina in Scrisore către frat Rumer, 4 (December 1997) and also V. BEJAN, Istroromânii, Jassy, 1998: 35 sq.; Gh. ZBUCHEA, O istorie a românilor din
Peninsula Balcanică. Secolele XVIII-XIX, Bucharest, 1999: 248 sq.
[21] The action promoted by Dr P.
RAțIU
was integrated in a more ample activity that followed the same ideals, meaning
the introduction of some European standards in the life of all the Balkan
Romanians. See also Gh. ZBUCHEA, op.cit.:
263 sq.; V. BEJAN, op. cit.: 86-98.
By open letters, Dr Emil Petru RAțIU has many times addressed to
the authorities and to the public opinion requiring assistance and informing
about his co-nationals life and aspirations, see for example the ones
published in the Bucharest newspaper România liberă on June 10, 1997; June 16,
1998; October 29, 1998; June 18, 1999, etc. It is obvious that the aid of the
Romanians from Romania would be welcome and thus necessary.