The Peoples inhabiting the Illyrian Provinces known under the Name of Morlachs – Definition of the Ethnonym in the Light of the French Literature

Abstract

The paper will analyse various representations of people called by an ethnonym Les Morlaques (Morlachs), which was used by French observers to describe various populations inhabiting Croatia and Dalmatia which were a part of the Illyrian Provinces (1709–1713). The ethnonym “Morlachs” comes from Greek (Mavro Vlasi – the Black Vlachs), however, since the 16^th century it was used not only to describe the Vlachs, but also the Slavs, or even other groups. French observers took over its use from the Italians, however, in the 18^th century they started to investigate the Balkan peoples by themselves. Those first attempts resulted in a very inconsistent ethnic cartography of the Balkan peoples, based mainly on the Byzantine, German and Italian testimonies. This inconsistence is visible especially thanks to the comparison between relevant articles in the encyclopaedic publications. However, within the rise of the French political interest in the Balkans and creation of the Illyrian Provinces by Napoleon, the French administrators started to concretize their image of the Balkan peoples. This concerned also Morlachs, who were described by the authors such as Balthasar Hacquet or Charles Nodier, and others. The paper will show how the identity of Vlachs and Slavs inhabiting Illyrian Provinces, known under the name of Morlachs, was changing in the eyes of the external observers. This problem is a part of a wider question of shaping the image of the Balkans by the western observers.