A picture of the Slavic world through the prism of a 19th century Macedonian manuscript (transfering knowledge and ideas)

Transfering knowledge inevitably involves transfering ideas through written works. In this article we analyze the case of a Macedonian manuscript from the 19th century, «The SlavicMacedonian General History», by the Macedonian revival activist Ǵorǵija Pulevski1, from the aspect of understanding and presenting the history of the Slavs. In that respect this paper analyzes the ideas transfered and reflected in the text, specific to the revival processes in that period — an emphasis on the Slavic element in self-identification and separation from the others, the national mythology, as well as the tendency for verification through written works and literary associations. The process of self-awareness and affirmation of Macedonian national identity, usually called a revival movement similar to that of other Balkan peoples and a counterpart to European nationalism, begins at the beginning of the 19th century and continues in different forms until the constitution of the modern Macedonian state (1944)2. Among the most important

Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana specifics in the process of national identification of Macedonians formation was Slavism as an important ethnic mark (so as to distinguish the Macedonians from the Greeks); našizam (derived from «naš», our selfism) as a way to make a distinction between ouselves, us, and our people from the others, in an ethnical sense, and the Makedonism as the highest form of national awareness 3 . In this process, Slavism, Slavomakedonism, and Makedonism were consistent phenomena in the process of defining Macedonian identity.
The national mythology and celebration of national heroes 4 , as an integral part of the process of defining identity, can also be found among the Macedonians, just as for other peoples in the Balkans. In this respect, two traditions were in building historical awareness: that ancient history (especially about Alexander of Macedon) up to the Slavic period, transferred orally, via manuscripts and printed texts (even apocryphally, out of church institutions); and a tradition that reflected the Slavic period, with characters and events such as Cyril and Mathodius, Tsar Samoil, Prince Marko, etc. At a time of hightened tendencies from neighbours, resistance began to be manifested in Macedonia for self-establishing. The Macedonians, aiming to point out the difference between them and Bulgarians, turned to ancient history and highlighted king Alexander of Macedon as their own symbol. However, Greeks insisted on a Greek character of ancient Macedonian history, so the Macedonians gave Alexander Slavic origin to point out distinctiveness vis-a-vis both the Bulgarians and the Greeks. These romantic national ideas find fertile grounds in the written word as well, as a necessary defense of own national name 5 .
In the circumstances of the non-existence of a Macedonian national state and lack of state institutions to promote the free and unhindered development of science, Ǵorǵija Pulevski appeared as an activist who tried to pave the way to create a standard Macedonian language, historiography, ethnography and folklore, collecting folk material, writing Macedonian revolutionary poetry, and creating textbooks. At a time of great illiteracy in Macedonia, he tried to provide what was necessary to teach the uneducated population and to transfer knowledge and ideas about Macedonia in its the historical, linguistic, and ethnographic circumstances and borders.
Pulevski died on February 13, 1893, and his «Slavic-Macedonian General History» remained unpublished 6 . The manuscript contained over 1,700 pages. Some excerpts were first published in 1973 and 1974, and the integral text was published 110 years after his death in 2003 7 . The significance of this book was multifaceted, as it was the first known complex and complete work written by a Macedonian in the Macedonian language 8 . It was composed of three parts: a historical-historiographical text; an ethnography of the Balkan population; and a separate Grammar, which was an attempt to establish a standard Macedonian language. At present we analyze the historical section.
This capital work fits with general tendencies of the newly formed Balkan national states. Namely, Pulevski supports establishing a literary association, following examples of the Society of Serbian Literacy and the Bulgarian Literay Society, which were laying the basis not only for a national literary language, but also for literature itself, historical sciences, etc. It is plausible that Pulevski wrote the manuscript around 1888, when he established the Slavic-Macedonian Literary Society in Sofia (of which he was chairman) 9 . Its appearance reflected ideas for the study and affirmation of the Macedonian people, culture, and language, while at the same time corresponding with knowledge and ideas written in the «Slavic-Macedonian General History».
Regarding his motive for writing this book, Pulevski was probably not aware that he was searching for a definition of the theoretical question for writing a history in general. As he noted, there were different histories of the Balkan peoples, written to emphasize the role of their own people, and at the same time the Macedonian people was always forgotten among Slavic and Balkan peoples. He could be harsh when criticising those historians who did not mention Macedonians: «The above mentioned historians have either written at random (round about) or they knew no geography, or were biased when writing, and so instead of history wrote a falshood» 10 . Furthermore, he wrote: «…of the Slavic historics not one has mentioned Macedonians, just Bulgarians and Serbs. But what about us» 11 . Accordingly, he stressed the necessity for the Macedonians to have their own written history, just as did other peoples. As he stated at the beginning, he aimed for the book to be comprehensible for all Balkan peoples. In the title he indicated the topic and language for this book, as well as his motives: «Slavic-Macedonian General History for all the Peninsula's Peoples. It is written in Slavic-Macedonian Language, in order to be understood by all the Peninsula's Slavs».
Pulevski always followed his idea for Macedonian history or what he considered a part of the history of Macedonians, their origins, name, and reign. He presented this history on the mainstay of great states that marked historical epochs in the Balkans. He narrated about the peoples, languages, and states under the shadow of the great empires: Macedonian Kingdom, the Roman Empire, the Byzantium and Ottoman Empires. In accordance with his belief, Pulevski drew a direct line from ancient times and the Middle Ages to modern history, pointing out famous ancestors and declaring them to be Slav by origin, something that corresponded to the time in which he lived and worked.
The period «from 131 BC after the Flood up until 900 BC» is the first part, which concerns the oldest history of the Slavs, including the beginnings and the origin of the Macedonians as Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana well as discussions about the Slavic name, origin, territories, and time when Slavic peoples populated the Balkans. The biblical interpretation of origins and migrations of the Slavs, and consequently that of Macedonians, is particularly characteristic. Pulevski begins his History following the examples of «The Kingdom of the Slavs» by Mauro Orbini (using the shortened and paraphrased Russian translation from 1722 12 ) and «The History of Various Slavic Peoples» by Serbian historian Jovan Rajich 13 , also confronting opinions of other authors. However, while they wrote about origins of the Slavs, he examined the origins of Macedonians at the very beginning. If we correctly understand his theory of the autochthonous population of the Balkan Peninsula, we could qualify it «Slavic-Macedonian». According to Pulevski, the «Macedonian Slavs» or «Macedonians» were indigenous inhabitants of the Peninsula and «hosts» to all other nationalities («And cause the Macedonians are native inhabitants of the Peninsula and hosts to Bulgarian and Serbian and Greek and other nationalities, and neighbours to the Hellenes, that is why we call this book the Slavic-Macedonian history, and for all the other newcomers to this Peninsula living here -to know who came when» 14 ).
Referring to origins, he claimed that the «Macedonian reign» began as far back at the time of «grandfather Mosoch, the sixth son of Japheth» 15 . The indigenous Macedonians were, according to Pulevski, followed in the Balkans by Bulgarians and then 200 years later by Serbs. «But about them», he wrote, «there are records in distinct histories, and so are of other nationalities their histories written» 16 . What he probably meant to say is that there was one written history missing -that of the Macedonians. Pulevski also wrote that the historian Brankovich had categorized Macedonia, Thrace, and Epirus as Greek regions, but, as Pulevski said, «the said three provinces have never been Greek regions, but Slavic-Macedonian». Then he announced his intention to write about all of the Peninsula's (i. e. Balkan) provinces since ancient times. According to him, «Is it only the said three peoples on this Peninsula are oldest: 1 st the Slavs, 2 nd the Thracians, 3 rd the Hellenes were old peoples. And the Jews, and the Gypsies, and Gorans, and Kutzo-Vlachs, and Gagauzes, and Tatars, and Armenians 12 It was translated by Sava Vladislavich, by the order of Peter the Great: Кнïга історіограθія початія имене, Славы, и разшіренія народа славянского, и ихъ Цареи и Владѣтелеи подъ многïми имянами, и со многïми Царствïями, Королевствами, и Провïнцїами. Собрана изъ многїхъ кнїгъ Їсторїческіхъ, чрезъ Господïна Мавроурбïна Архïмандрïта Рагужскаго // Переведена со ïталïанского на россïскои языкъ и напечатана повелѣнïемъ и во время владѣтелеи счастлïваго владѣнïя ПЕТРА ВЕЛІКАГО, імператора и самодержца всероссіискаго, и протчая, и протчая, и протчая въ Санктъпïтербургскои Тѵпографïи, 1722 году, Августа въ 20 ден (see: Ристовска-Јосифовска Б. Ѓорѓија М. Пулевски… P. 111-112). It is interesting to note that the translating activity in the Russian Empire was strong at the time of Peter the Great. It continued after his death, as Empress Catherine was especially interested in translations of works of literature (  Pulevski is entirely consistent with the specifics of his time when, besides the emphasizing Slavophilism, he turned to ancien thistory that appeared as symbols for determining national distinctiveness. The idea of direct descendance from ancient Macedonians represented a manifestation of resistance and specific expression of national identity by stressing glory of Macedonia's ancient history. In that respect, Pulevski calls upon the character and fame of Alexander of Macedon, writing about him in his poetry and using him as a historical character when writing about ancient history in the «Slavic-Macedonian General History». After the general introduction on Macedonia and its population, he begins his history of ancient Macedonian state and its rulers until the reign of Alexander of Macedon. Pulevski began a separate book on «The Czar Rule of Alexander from 329 BC to 311 BC» 21 . In doing so, he created a separate version of Alexandrida (The Novel of Alexander) in the Macedonian language, dated in the second half of the 19 th century 22 . For this he used one Slavic version of the Alexandrite («History of the Great Alexander Macedonian», Belgrade, 1844) 23 as a main source for Alexander of Macedon.
In the third part, Pulevski made a brief review of Roman history from 148 B. C. until the death of Theodosius and the split of the Roman Empire (AD 395). It was obvious that Pulevski wrote about the Balkans in the frame of general history of the Roman rule only, without special retrospection as in the rest of the book, except for rare notes. Then, Pulevski wrote  25 . In sum, he was narrating about the medieval history of Slavic peoples under titles concerning the history of Bulgaria, Vlahia, and Serbia, but he was stressing his own conclusions concerning ethnicity, conducting a review of the ethnic dimension of the origin and internal ethnic differences between the peoples. He certainly had a clear conception of how Macedonians differed from other Slavs.
In the fifth part, Pulevski narrated about Balkan history after the Turks had penetrated into Europe (which happened, according to him, in the time of «gaze Han Murad», who conquered Drenopole and removed the czar from the throne 26 ). This includes a chapter on «History from 1360 to 1889» 27 . He believed Macedonia fell under Ottoman rule in 1396 and, as he stated, «the Turks rule Macedonia up to today». This covered the period under the Ottoman rule, presented through the prism of the sultans' rule and the establishment of some Balkan national states at the end of the 19 th century. Leading the reader through the centuries of Ottoman domination in the Balkans, Pulevski continued his historical presentation up to 1889.
Pulevski touched only briefly on religious affiliation, analyzing problems of Western and Eastern Christian Churches, as well as the beginnings of Slavic literacy. He spoke of the activity of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, naming them «Slavic apostles», «Slavic-Macedonian sons», or «Holy Slavic enlighteners», who wrote in a «pure Macedonian-Slavic tongue». Referring to some Church History, Pulevski wrote of the baptizing of other Slavic peoples: «eighter Serbians or Bulgarians or Russian, lately, received Christianity and Nicaean worship from the Macedonian apostles» 28 . A special part is dedicated to the Archbishopric of Ohrid («On the foundation and destruction of the Ohrid Exarchate») 29 . According to the author, in 914 in Ohrid, the «Slavic Exarchate», was founded, and afterwards «the Ohrid Exarchate was a clergyman over all Orthodox Christians, also during the Turkish reign it remained complete, until 1762» 30 . The foundation of separate national churches in the Ottoman Empire are also discussed, including the foundation of the Bulgarian Exarchate: the sultan Abdul Azis allowed «the Slavic-Bulgarians» to choose their exarch and to establish independent church rule 31 .
At the very end of the historical part of the book, another dilemma appears: why did he not insert the Macedonian rebellions of the end of the 19 th century, especially as he was an active participant in some of them? The answer might be found in an empty page with the title «On Macedonian pride» at the end of the historical section. It is possible that Pulevski planed a separate chapter or that there is a lost appendix to the text, with his own interpretation of events, which is something he usually did. ), although he consulted only a few of them directly. Pulevski tried to provide his source of information, although sometimes he did not use a source directly, but rather came across that source through another author.
The text is under the strong and direct influence of Mauro Orbini. This was one of the most influential sources, where the pan-Slavic idea and the autochthonism of the Slavs on the Balkans and beyond are affirmed; the Pulevski's idea and concept of the presentation of Macedonians becomes clear. It also shaped the author's concept when presenting the ancient roots of the Macedonians, whose reign supposedly began as far back to the time of «Mosoch, the sixth son of Japheth», following the model of taking and modifying data to point out the ancient roots of his own people. In support of this idea, Pulevski comes closer to «The History of Various Slavic Peoples» by Serbian historian Jovan Rayich. He found these authors ideologically close in their Slavophile orientation (where he found his inspiration, idea, and conception), particularly regarding the origins of the Slavs and the history of some Slavic peoples. Their histories are similar in concepts, but also have their own specifics. Pulevski simply adapted Orbini's story, that is to say Rajich's story, to serve his own purpose, redirecting the data to serve his primary idea: to write a general Slavic-Macedonian history. The aforementioned «History of the Great Alexander Macedonian» represented a significant source for ancient history, including such renowned authors as Ilovajski, Shloser, and others, as well as authors who simply were at hand for him at the time. He drew information from all of them, comparing, evaluating, even criticising them and correcting their conclusions.
Pulevski was taking his first (inexperienced) steps in writing a work of historiography. He mainly used older historiographic models and confronted opinions of other authors. Pulevski surpassed them with his periodization, offering his historical representation of the Balkan population as well as political changes up to the creation of national states. However, if the original population map according to Pulevski produced some dilemmas, the historical data can certainly be considered to be correctly narrated. In general, he created a distinctive methodological approach in his interpretation of events, especially those of the 19 th century. If we leave out naive parts of his history (for example, the Biblical interpretation of the origin of the peoples), his work has a logical concept and composition: title; brief review of the main topic and content; historical section dedicated to origin, language, and history (mainly of the Macedonians, but also of the other Balkan peoples); ethnographical review of the Balkan population (separating Slavic from non-Slavic inhabitants); and a grammar of the standard Macedonian language.
Judging by Pulevski's text, it is clear that his main goal was, first and foremost, to present Macedonian history within the history of all Slavs, and to emphasize the origins of the Macedonians and their language among the others. The basis of his understanding about the oldest history of the Macedonians lies in the autochthonous view of their origins, with some biblical interpretation of their original homeland. He stressed his opinion that the Macedonians were Slavs and an autochthonous population, leading to a specific autochthonous explanation of Macedonians' origins. In fact, Pulevski simply borrowed the narrative of other historians about the origin and resettling of Slavs as a model, and he used it to present the origin of Macedonians. This aim of drawing a direct line from ancient times, and declaring them to be Slavs by origin, corresponds to the time in which he lived and worked.
Historiographical studies of this work should take into consideration the author's social position, as well as works of history in the 19 th century. Pulevski was working away from institutions of higher education. Nevertheless, he made an effort, within his own capabilities, to open a historiographical debate, using analysis and criticism, selecting and synthesizing material from various sources (literature). Pulevski often criticised positions of the historians he used, making a critical reference to their interpretations. Thus, he strongly protests how Rajich «mentions Russians, Poles, Moravians, Illyrians, Serbs and Bulgars, but where are the Czechs, Slovaks, Kranjacs and Macedonians», adding: «he should not have called his history The History of Various Slavic Peoples» 32 .
Although one can call Pulevski «a naive scholar», one cannot deny he was studious, persistent, and discerning as regards the essence of problems, as well as focused on the purpose of his writing. Everything Pulevski studied throughout his life, everything he wrote and in which he had believed, he poured into this last work, with respect to his degree of education and his historical circumstances.