The Bulgarian national liberation movement in the seventeenth century and the Poles

Abstract

The article analyzes the connections between the seventeenth-century Bulgarian national liberation movement and the policies of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth toward the Ottoman Empire. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the significance of Poland in Bulgarian liberation plans and to present the place of this issue in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Slavophile thought. The author employs historical and historiographical analysis, utilizing sources concerning Bulgarian struggles against Ottoman rule, the political activities of Polish monarchs, and Slavophile journalism. The study demonstrates that Polish publicists and historians emphasized Poland’s special role as a defender of the Slavic nations, pointing to the significance of the Battle of Varna, the struggles at Khotyn, and the Relief of Vienna for the fate of the Balkans. The author discusses the development of the Bulgarian liberation movement, emphasizing the role of the Orthodox clergy, the peasantry, and local elites in organizing resistance to the Ottoman Empire. Particular attention is devoted to the uprisings of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the activities of Petar Parchevich at the court of Władysław IV, and Bulgarian hopes for Polish military assistance in the struggle against Turkey. The analysis demonstrates that the weakening of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the failure of plans for an anti-Ottoman league gradually shifted Bulgarian political hopes from Poland to Russia, which from the late seventeenth century onward began to play an increasingly important role in conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. Despite its limited ability to provide real support, Poland occupied an important place in Bulgarian political consciousness, and the idea of Slavic solidarity became a significant element in interpretations of Polish–Bulgarian relations.