White Serbs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| White Serbia (northwest part of the map) bordered by Poland, Bohemia, Bavaria | |||||||||
| Total population | |||||||||
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| ~20,000 - 200,000 | |||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||
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Monotheists, later Greek Orthodox |
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| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||
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Poles (West Slavs), Lusatian Sorbs and Serbs by ancestry |
White Serbs (Serbian: Бели Срби, Beli Srbi) is the name of the proto-Serbs. According to several Serbian and Greek works they were a Polabian Slavic tribe, that lived in White Serbia[1], situated around the Lusatian Mountains (Sudetes), east of river Elbe (today in southeastern German border, southwest Poland and northern Czech republic) in the Early Middle Ages. The direct descendants of White Serbs are present-day Lusatian Serbs (Sorbs) and Balkan Serbs. The White Serbs were the founders of Serb power and incursion on the Balkans who survived many wars against neighbouring people, with the help of the Byzantine Empire, the Serbs have survived to this day.
De Administrando Imperio reports that "these Serbs come from the non-Christianized Serbs, called the White Serbs, living beyond the Turks (Hungary) in the area which they call Bojki (Bohemia). The Franks and Great Croats i.e. non-Christianized Croats, also called White Croats, are their neighbours. There, then, have these Serbs lived from olden times."
Some White Serbs migrated to the Balkans in 610-626 led by the Unknown Archont. The White Serbs were first given and settled in the province of Thessalonica (Serbian: Солун, Solun) by the Roman emperor Heraclius as a gift because of their victory against the Avars of Dalmatia[2]. They settled in an area called "Servia, Greece" situated in Greek Macedonia, west of Thessalonica. Later, they resettled in today's Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro (Pagania, Zahumlje, Travunia, Doclea, Rascia, later parts of the 14th-century Serbian Empire). They formed a strong power in the Balkans and assimilated with Thracians, Dacians, Northern Illyrian tribes and Byzantine Greeks.
The Greek Serbs stayed in the area of river Bistritza. But with the passing of time they assimilated with the Greeks, however the town of where they stayed 1,400 years ago still exists and bears the name: Servia, the translation of Serbia in Greek language. The Serbian name (etymology) and language was preserved by the descendants of those Serbs who wished to return to the Serbian homeland of today's Poland, but resettled in Balkans, at the Adriatic sea shore.
Some White Serbs did not stay in the Balkans - but went further on crossing the Bistritza river (Αλιάκμονας) and settled in Gordium, Phrygia (Anatolia), the antique city they named Gordoservon, who had previously been an settlements of the Phrygians. The White Serbs no longer exist as an ethnic group, as they were assimilated by Poles and Germans in Northern Europe and by various peoples in Southeastern Europe. Their descendants are the Serbs, living in the nation-state of Serbia and the bordering countries where they have stayed since the arrival of the White Serbs.
[edit] Names
Zerwisti/Serbiszcze In Polabian/Polish. (Inhabitants of Sorbia) Surbi and/or Zeriuani, Serauici by the Bavarian Geographer.
The name of the first Serbian state "Rascia" has a connection with the word "Rus-", as there was an area called Boyko which inhabited Rusyns/Ruthenians, the Serbs may have a contemporaneous slavic origin in Ukraine.
[edit] References
- ^ Paul Stevenson: Byzantium's Balkan Frontier
- ^ Illustrated History of the Serbs
[edit] See also
- White Croats, the neighbours of the Serbs in two different European regions.
