Assemblies of the Serbian Revolution

There were various types of assemblies (Serbian: скупштине/skupštine) and meetings (зборови/zborovi) in Revolutionary Serbia during the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13). While the Serbian Governing Council represented the supreme state administration, the Assembly of Rebel Leaders represented the law-making political power, and Karađorđe the supreme commander.[1] They various types of assemblies thus include:

  • Assembly of Rebel Leaders (Скупштина устаничких старешина), included notables not only with the title vojvoda, but those ranked knez and obor-knez (part of civilian administration), and clergy (monks and protojerej), and from the military also captains.[2] Examples of such assemblies are Pećani (1805) and Smederevo (1805).
  • People's Assembly or National Assembly (народне скупштине)
  • Secret Assembly (чрезвичајне), secret meetings such as at Palanka (1809).

List

The following assemblies were held between 1804 and 1815:

Assembly Date Location Notes
Orašac Assembly 14 February [O.S. 2 February] 1804
(Presentation of Jesus)		 Orašac (at Marićevića jaruga) in Šumadija Gathering of Serb notables of the Belgrade and Kragujevac nahiyas, unanimous decision made for uprising in the Belgrade Pashalik against the Dahije and election of Karađorđe to lead.[3]
Brankovina Assembly 15 February [O.S. 3 February] 1804 Brankovina Gathering of Valjevo nahiya Serbs to rise up against the Dahije.[4][5]
Ostružnica Assembly 6 May–15 May [O.S. 24 April–3 May] 1804 Ostružnica outside Belgrade Regarding establishment of judicial courts and appointment of judges; mustering of 25,000 to attack the Dahije at Belgrade; loan of 50,000 groschen in Zemun for war necessities, payment of merchants' vouching of ammunition and other necessities; demands in negotiations with the Dahije in Zemun and choosing of delegation to send there; the complete encirclement of Belgrade.[6]
Pećani Assembly 29 April [O.S. 17 April] 1805 Pećani outside Belgrade Regarding news of the return of the diplomatic mission to Russia, sending Serbian delegation to the Porte, division of taxes and costs of the uprising to date.[7]
Borak Assembly 27 August [O.S. 15 August] 1805) Veliki Borak Regarding tribute, armament, military compensation, organization of political and legal power, repair of churches and monasteries, post office, etc. It was at first planned to hold an assembly at the Bogovađa monastery but the gathered instead went to Borak. Led to establishment of the Governing Council.
Smederevo Assembly 25–30 November 1805 Smederevo Regarding no tribute to be paid the Porte; taxes collected from both Serbs and Turks for the Serbian Army; expansion of Army personnel, improvement of trenches and camps and strict military discipline, all military affairs put under Karađorđe, feeding of soldiers, desertion punishable by death; repair and expansion of Smederevo Fortress to house a garrison of 4–5,000; acceleration of siege of Belgrade and if no surrender take it through assault; if Turks attack, have good defensive points outside the Belgrade Pashalik.
Minor Assembly at Ostružnica 1–12 January 1806 Ostružnica outside Belgrade
Smederevo Assembly 1 July 1806 Smederevo
Smederevo Assembly 1–5 November 1806 Smederevo Regarding the Porte's conditions for peace and delegation to Constantinople; giving thanks for appointment of "Hasanaga" as muhasil; continuation of war; acceleration of takeover of Belgrade; ask Habsburgs that their Frontier stop feeding the kırcalı; ask all Serbs, wherever they are, to aid in food and money; taxation.
Belgrade Assembly 24 February–6 March 1807 Belgrade Regarding refusal of Porte's conditions for peace; Serbian-Russian military alliance against the Ottoman Empire, concentration of operations in eastern Serbia in support of Ivan Mikhelson, appointment of Milenko Stojković as main commander in the east, Karađorđe to pay attention to the east, military plans including Veljko Petrović, Petar Dobrnjac, Jakov Nenadović, Luka Lazarević, Sima Marković, Antonije Pljakić, Milan Obrenović and Lazar Mutap; reparations of Belgrade walls, establish arsenal in lower town, cannon foundry, weapons factory, forge; send deputies Čardaklija, Avram Lukić and Jeremija Gagić to Mikhelson; taxation.
Belgrade Assembly 21 November 1807 Belgrade
Belgrade Assembly 14–15 December 1808 Belgrade Regarding proclamation of Karađorđe as the supreme leader for the third time, with hereditary rule, to rule Serbia in agreement with the Governing Council, that is the supreme national court in all of the country.
Belgrade Assembly 1809 Belgrade
Palanka Assembly 2–8 October 1809 Smederevska Palanka secret assembly regarding need for Russian troops in Serbia to secure survival; the negative feelings for Rodofinikin and his intrigue, and that he nor Metropolitan Leontius or Serbs who were with them ever be allowed back to Serbia; the appointment of archimandrite and commander Melentije Stefanović as the hierarch of Serbia in place of fleeing Leontius; ask for Russian commission to investigate Serbian accusations against Rodofinikin; to send a delegation of three to Wallachia to inform the Russian Command of all this.
Belgrade Assembly 1–2 January 1810 Belgrade Confirmation of points of the Palanka Assembly, need of Russian troops, taxation, President of Governing Council Mladen Milovanović removed and replaced by Jakov Nenadović.
Belgrade Assembly 13 May 1810 Belgrade
Vraćevšnica Assembly 6 September 1810 Vraćevšnica
Loznica Assembly October 1810 Loznica
Belgrade Assembly 1–12 January 1811 Belgrade Regarding establishment of Government with Ministries of Internal Affairs (Jakov Nenadović), Law (Petar Dobrnjac), External Affairs (Milenko Stojković), Finance (Sima Marković), Education (Dositej Obradović) and Military (Mladen Milovanović). Karađorđe is President of Council and has veto power, but is unable to remove ministers, advisors and officials without any guilt. Great Court established.
Topola Assembly 17 July 1812 Topola Regarding the refusal to alone deal with the Porte and of giving over cities to the Turks as per Treaty of Bucharest (1812), accept tribute to the Porte but refuse that Serbs and Turks live together; ask the Russian army to stay in Serbia and that Russia sends ammunition; send Interior Minister Jakov Nenadović to the Russian Command to inform of all this.
Vraćevšnica Assembly 15–16 August 1812 Vraćevšnica Regarding thanks to the Russian emperor and continuation of talks with Ottoman deputy Mustafa Çelebi.
Kragujevac Assembly 1–12 January 1813 Kragujevac Regarding Serbian borders; Karađorđe affirmed as supreme leader; Ottoman firman to establish an independent internal administration of Serbia; a Pasha or Vizier to be accepted in Belgrade as proof of loyal subjection; a promise of military support to the enemies of the Ottoman Empire; Serbs to protect Imperial cities. After this, the uprising was quelled and Ottoman rule returned to Serbia.
Topčider Meeting 8 August 1814 Topčider outside Belgrade Miloš Obrenović, Milić Drinčić, Radovan Grbović, Aksentije Miladinović, Lazar Mutap, Arsenije Loma, Vasilije Jovanović, Panta Ilić, Milivoje Tadić, Vasilije Pavlović, Georgije Lazarević and others meet and send a letter to the Serbian revolutionary exiles to ask Russia for help regarding atrocities in Serbia.
Rudovci Meeting late February 1815 Rudovci leaders from Belgrade, Valjevo and Rudnik nahiyas meet regarding a new uprising.
Vreoci Meeting 5 March 1815 Vreoci leaders from Belgrade, Valjevo and Rudnik nahiyas meet regarding a new uprising. Nikola Stanković sent to general Chervenka in Zemun to ask for Austrian aid, Pavle Gošnjić sent to Ostružnica to talk with emigrants in Vojvodina.
Rudovci Meeting 19 April [O.S. 7 April] 1815 Rudovci leaders meet at the house of priest Ranko and decide that Miloš Obrenović lead the uprising. Armed conflict began the next day.
Takovo Meeting 23 April [O.S. 11 April] 1815
(Palm Sunday)		 Takovo official decision made for uprising and choosing of Miloš Obrenović as leader.
  • Rebel Assemblies in art
  • The First Serbian Uprising by Franta Mali.
  • The Takovo Uprising by Vinzenz Katzler (1882).
  • The Takovo Uprising by Paja Jovanović (1889), Takovo Museum.
  • Illustration of the Orašac Assembly from Život i dela Kara-Đorđa (1903).
  • Illustration of the Orašac Assembly
  • Illustration of the Orašac Assembly in Pravda (1934).
  • Motif at the memorial at Orašac
  • The First Serbian Uprising by Nebojša Đuranović

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbian Revolution.

References

Sources

  • Batalaka, Lazar Arsenijević (1898). Историја српског устанка, део први [History of the Serbian Uprising: Part One]. Vol. I. Izd. Batalakinoga fonda – via Google Books.
  • Batalaka, Lazar Arsenijević (1899). Историја српског устанка, део други [History of the Serbian Uprising: Part Two]. Vol. II. Izd. Batalakinoga fonda – via Google Books.
  • Mitrinović, Čedomil; Brašić, Miloš (1937). Југословенске народне скупштине и сабори [Yugoslav national assemblies and councils]. Изд. Народне скупштине.
  • Perović, Dušan (1976). "Osnovni ciljevi prvog ustanka". Историјски часопис. 23. Istorijski institut: 51-.
  • Protić, Kosta (1893). "Ратни догађаји из првога српског устанка под Карађорђем Петровићем 1804—1813". Годишњица Николе Чупића. XIII. Državna štamparija.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.