202 



SERVIA. 



approach to the doctrine of the circulation of the 

 blood, as appears from a passage in his De Restitu- 

 tions Christianismi. The life of Servetus has been 

 written in Latin by Mosheim (Helmstadt, 1728). ' 



SERVIA (Turkish, Serf- Vilajeti} ; a province 

 of European Turkey, bordering on Walachia, Bul- 

 garia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Hungary, 

 from which last it is divided by the Danube. It 

 contains 19,500, or, according to some, 21,200 

 square miles, and 960,000 inhabitants. This thin 

 population is owing, partly to the desolating wars 

 to which the country has been exposed for centu- 

 ries, but principally to the oppression of the Turk- 

 ish government. Servia contains immense forests ; 

 but the soil is very fertile, and cattle are raised in 

 large numbers. Agriculture and commerce are in 

 a very low condition. There are no manufactures 

 except some of cotton. The country forms a part 

 of Rumili, and is subject to a pacha, who resides 

 at Belgrade, the capital. Besides Belgrade, Semen- 

 dra and Nissa are the most important cities. In 

 the fortified village of Passarowitz, July 21, 1718, a 

 peace xvas concluded between Austria and the Porte, 

 very advantageous to the former. On the plains of 

 Cossova or the Amselfeld, on the borders of Bos- 

 nia, the Turkish sultan Amurath I., in 1389, de- 

 feated the Servians; and, Oct. 19, 1447, in the 

 same place, Amurath II. triumphed over the Hun- 

 garian and allied forces under John Hunniades, and 

 was stabbed in his tent by Milosch Kobilitschk, a 

 Servian. Servia is a part of ancient Illyria, which 

 the Romans reduced under their dominion. The 

 proper name of the province was Moesia. Belgrade 

 (Taurunum) belonged to Lower Pannonia. About 

 the middle of the seventh century, Sclavonic tribes 

 overspread all these regions. One of those tribes, 

 the Servii (Serbi), a branch of the Sarmatians, to 

 which the emperor Heraclius had previously as- 

 signed a portion of Macedonia, expelled or subdued 

 the aborigines, the Illyrians, and kept possession of 

 their country. From them it derived the name of 

 Servia, which at that time included Bosnia. 



The Servians were almost incessantly involved 

 in quarrels with the Greek emperors, Hungary, and 

 the republic of Venice, and, notwithstanding their 

 valour, were generally worsted. After they had 

 been under the dominion of the Greek emperors 

 for many years, though governed immediately by 

 their own princes, they formed an alliance, in 1150, 

 with Hungary, to oppose the emperor Manuel Com- 

 nenus. Manuel defeated them in 1151. A second 

 attempt to make themselves independent was equally 

 unsuccessful. Isaac Angelus, the Gieek general, 

 afterwards emperor, defeated them, in 1193, on the 

 Morava. In the ninth century, Budimir, the first 

 Christian prince, divided the country into several 

 provinces. One of them, Bosnia, afterwards with- 

 drew from the general government, and eventually 

 came into subjection to Hungary, though it retained 

 its own rulers. In the beginning of the fourteenth 

 century, Milatin Urosch, king of Servia, was com- 

 pelled by Charles I., king of Hungary, to cede a 

 part of his territory. King Stephen Duschan (who 

 reigned from 1336) made many successful expedi- 

 tions against the Greek emperors, and subdued 

 some of the neighbouring provinces. He assumed 

 the title of emperor, and distributed the empire of 

 Servia into several governments; but he thus pre- 

 pared the way for its fall and subsequent dissolu- 

 tion. During his reign, Amurath I., the Turkish 

 sultan, as above related, defeated the Servians, 

 June 15, 1389, on the Amselfeld. Bajazet, Amu- 



rath's successor, divided Servia between Stephen, 

 son of Lazar,.the last ruler, and his son-in-law, 

 Wuk Brankouitsch. Both were compelled to pay 

 tribute to him. Servia now became the chief 

 theatre of the unhappy wars between the kings of 

 Hungary and the Porte. After the battle on the 

 Amselfeld in 1447, in which Amurath II. conquered 

 the Hungarians under Hunniades, Servia was com- 

 pletely subdued by the Turks. The successes of 

 Eugene, indeed, procured for Austria, at the peace 

 of Passarowitz, in 1718, the largest part of Servia, 

 that is, the northern part, with the capital, Bel- 

 grade. But by the peace of Belgrade, in 1739, 

 Austria again lost all this territory, and it was 

 transferred to Turkey. The barbarity of the 

 Turkish governors and the arrogance of the janiza- 

 ries led to an insurrection in 1801. George Petro- 

 witsch, a man of courage, known by the name of 

 Czerny George, placed himself at the head of the 

 malcontents, and fought, for eleven years, with the 

 greatest ardour. The Servians received assistance 

 secretly from the Russians, and their army was at 

 length increased to 30,000 men. Czerny George, 

 taking advantage of the weakness of Turkey, de- 

 manded that Servia, like Moldavia and Walacbia, 

 should be elevated to a principality, under a Greek 

 hospodar. The demand was rejected. After, the 

 Servians had gained some successes over the Turks, 

 Russia declared in their favour, and a Russian army 

 marched into Moldavia to their aid. Supplied by 

 the Russians with warlike stores, particularly with 

 cannon and engineers, Czerny took Belgrade, in 

 December, 1806, and, some time after, Shabacz 

 and Nissa. The Servian army was now increased 

 to 80,000 men. The Turks, occupied with other 

 troubles in the interior of their country, and repeat- 

 edly defeated by the Servians and Russians, at 

 length proposed an armistice, which was concluded, 

 July 8, 1808, at Slobosje, at the Servian head- 

 quarters. Czerny George, with the other chiefs of 

 his nation, now prepared a constitution for Servia, 

 under the protection of Russia. Having been be- 

 fore appointed chief ruler by the people, he was 

 formally declared prince of Servia, and recognised 

 by the Russian emperor, who, at the same time, 

 made him lieutenant-general of the Russian army, 

 and knight of the order of Alexander Newsky. 

 When the war broke out again, in March, 1809, 

 between Russia and the Porte, Czerny George, 

 with his Servian troops, took part in it, and es- 

 sentially aided the Russian arms. But the invasion 

 of Russia by the French, in 1812, put a sudden 

 end to the war, and led to the peace concluded at 

 Bucharest, May 28, 1812, between Russia aiid the 

 Porte. It was agreed, in the conditions of the 

 peace, that the Porte should treat the Servians 

 with kindness, and grant them a full amnesty. The 

 fortresses erected by them in their country during 

 the late war, were to be demolished, and the re- 

 mainder to be put into the hands of the Turks. 

 The administration of its internal affairs was com- 

 mitted to the nation. The Servians were to enjoy 

 the same advantages with the Turkish subjects in 

 the islands of the Archipelago and in other coun- 

 tries. At the end of July, 1812, the Russian troops 

 left Servia. Many of the Servian chieftains, who 

 were most devoted to their cause, accompanied 

 them. The war between Servia and the Porte 

 began anew in July, 1813, and was prosecuted with 

 much bitterness, and with various success. After 

 it had continued nearly four months, the Turks 

 prevailed. Czerny George and his adherents fled 



