Vlachs of Serbia

{{Short description|Romanian-speaking population in Serbia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{About|the Romanian-speaking population living in eastern Serbia|other uses|Vlachs of Serbia (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox ethnic group |group = Vlachs of Serbia | native_name = ''Rumâńii din Serbia''<br />Власи у Србији | image = Flag of Vlachs of Serbia as defined with acts of the Council of Vlachs Ethnic Minority of Serbia.jpg | image_caption = Ethnic flag of the Vlachs of Serbia |population = '''21,013''' (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanovništvo prema nacionalnoj pripadnosti |script-title=sr:Становништво према националној припадности |url=https://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/3104020102 |access-date=9 May 2023 |publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia |language=sr}}</ref><hr>150,000–300,000 (est.)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sorescu-Marinković |first=Annemarie |date=2016 |title=Foggy Diaspora: Romanian Women in Eastern Serbia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305423592 |journal=Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Sociologia |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |page=43 |doi=10.1515/subbs-2016-0002 |doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_13892 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sorescu-Marinković |first1=Annemarie |last2=Huțanu |first2=Monica |date=2019 |title=Ideology and Representation of Vlach Romanian Online: Between Linguistic Activism and Unengaged Language Use |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335749464 |journal=Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov: Series IV: Philology and Cultural Studies |volume=12(61) |issue=1 |pages=74 |doi=10.31926/but.pcs.2019.61.12.6 |doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_13918 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> | region1 = Bor District | pop1 = 8,190 | ref1 = <ref name="Anon. o709">{{cite web | title=Population by ethnicity, by areas | url=https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2023/PdfE/G20234001.pdf | access-date=2023-12-07}}</ref> | region2 = Braničevo District | pop2 = 8,040 | ref2 = <ref name="Anon. o709"/> | region3 = Zaječar District | pop3 = 3,146 | ref3 = <ref name="Anon. o709"/> |langs = Romanian and Serbian |rels = Eastern Orthodoxy |related = Romanians }}

The '''Vlachs''' ({{langx|ro|rumâń}}; {{langx|sr|Власи|Vlasi}}) are a Romanian-speaking recognized ethnic minority in Serbia. According to data from the 2022 census, there were 21,013 Vlachs living in Serbia (constituting 0.3% of the total population), although unofficial estimates by members of the community put the number of Vlachs or speakers of Romanian in eastern Serbia to be between 150,000 and 300,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanovništvo prema nacionalnoj pripadnosti |script-title=sr:Становништво према националној припадности |url=https://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/3104020102 |access-date=9 May 2023 |publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia |language=sr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sorescu-Marinković |first=Annemarie |date=2016 |title=Foggy Diaspora: Romanian Women in Eastern Serbia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305423592 |journal=Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai Sociologia |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |page=43 |doi=10.1515/subbs-2016-0002 |doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_13892 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sorescu-Marinković |first1=Annemarie |last2=Huțanu |first2=Monica |date=2019 |title=Ideology and Representation of Vlach Romanian Online: Between Linguistic Activism and Unengaged Language Use |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335749464 |journal=Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov: Series IV: Philology and Cultural Studies |volume=12(61) |issue=1 |pages=74 |doi=10.31926/but.pcs.2019.61.12.6 |doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_13918 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> They are concentrated in eastern Serbia, mainly within the Timok Valley.

The Vlachs are characterized by a culture that has preserved archaic and ancient elements in matters such as language or customs. Although ethnographically and linguistically related to the Romanians, within the Vlach community there are divergences on whether or not they belong to the Romanian ethnicity and whether or not their minority should be amalgamated with the Romanian ethnic minority in Serbia.<ref name="coe">[http://assembly.coe.int/main.asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc08/edoc11528.htm "The situation of national minorities in Vojvodina and of the Romanian ethnic minority in Serbia"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123185605/http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc08/EDOC11528.htm |date=2012-01-23 }}, at the Council of Europe, 14 February 2008</ref>

== History == "Vlach" is a word of Germanic origin, originally used by the Germanic tribes to refer to the Romans. It would later be adopted by the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and virtually all Slavs to refer to the Romance languages-speakers in the Balkans that remained following the various migrations into the area. These peoples never referred to themselves as "Vlachs", but as some variant of "Roman". Today there are several peoples that are still commonly referred to as Vlachs, these including the Vlachs of eastern Serbia.{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|pp=62–63}}

[[File:The Ethnological map by Elisee Reclus.jpg|thumb|The ethnological map of the Romanian population by Élisée Reclus, 1870]] There are hypotheses about an autochthonous origin of the Vlachs in the area in which they currently live. Researchers who promoted this idea include the researcher Atanasie Popovici, a native of the area.{{sfn|Huțanu|Sorescu-Marinković|2018|p=2}} However, most researchers agree that the Vlachs of eastern Serbia originate from areas in present-day Romania and settled in land in which they live today as a result of migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries.{{sfn|Huțanu|Sorescu-Marinković|2018|p=2}}{{sfn|Manovich|2014|pp=22–23}} These migrations occurred due to the difficult living conditions in Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia.{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|pp=68}} Strong migrations were recorded between 1718 and 1739 after the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718; during this time, eastern Serbia was part of the Banat of Temeswar. Migrations to eastern Serbia continued after this period, albeit on a smaller scale.{{sfn|Huțanu|Sorescu-Marinković|2018|p=2}} More precisely, migrations were recorded in the periods of 1723–1725, 1733–1734, 1818 and 1834. These were directed to the settlements of Jošanica, Krepoljin, Laznica ({{lang|ro|Laznița}}), Osanica ({{lang|ro|Osanița}}), Ribare, Suvi Do, Vukovac, Žagubica ({{lang|ro|Jagubița}} or {{lang|ro|Jăgobița}}). These migrations increased the number of houses in the area around the Homolje Mountains ({{langx|sr|Хомољске планине}}; {{langx|ro|Munții Homolie|link=no}} or {{lang|ro|Munții Homoliei}}) from 80 in 1718 to 155 in 1733. Furthermore, the two latter waves led to the foundation of the settlements of Bliznak, Breznica, Izvarica, Jasikovo, Krupaja, Milanovac, and Sige. According to the place of origin of these new migrants, the Vlachs of eastern Serbia were divided into {{lang|ro|ungureni}} (originating from the Kingdom of Hungary, or more precisely, from Banat and Transylvania proper) and {{lang|ro|țărani}} (originating from Moldavia and Wallachia).{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|pp=68}} The Vlachs are still divided into these two groups according to the Romanian dialect they speak; the {{lang|ro|ungureni}} have a speech closely related to the Banat Romanian dialect while the dialect of the {{lang|ro|țărani}} is closer to the Wallachian one. Dialectally, there are two other groups of Vlachs, the {{lang|ro|munteni}} and the {{lang|ro|bufani}}, but these are largely assimilated into the former two.{{sfn|Huțanu|Sorescu-Marinković|2018|p=2}}

Before the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, the Vlachs in eastern Serbia were officially known as "Romanians".{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|p=66}} On the other hand, the country of Wallachia (the name of which was derived from "Vlach"),{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|p=63}} was known in Serbian as "Vlaška". Furthermore, in ethnographic studies of the 19th or early 20th century, the Vlachs of eastern Serbia were regarded as Romanians in an undisputed way. However, after 1859 and the formation of the first modern Romanian state, this practice was reversed, with the name of "Vlach" being imposed over on the community of eastern Serbia to break similarities with the Romanians; this was intensified after the creation of Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012|pp=66–67}}

The alleged 'assimilative power' of the Vlachs in eastern Serbia, as well as their resistance to assimilation, was also written about by Tihomir Đorđević at the beginning of the 20th century. He attributed to the Vlachs an 'inherent hatred toward other ethnicities, including Serbs.' As for other ethnicities, their existence was not denied as such, but they were deprived of minority rights. This applied primarily to the Vlachs of northeastern Serbia and to the small number of Aromanians in Macedonia. Regarding the Vlachs in Serbia, the prevailing opinion was still that they were not only resistant to assimilation, but that they were also assimilating the surrounding Serbs, thereby expanding the reach of their own ethnic group. For political reasons, they were denied a Romanian ethnic consciousness.<ref>{{Cite book |last=ЈАЊЕТОВИЋ |first=Зоран |url=https://www.inisbgd.co.rs/celo/zb_2.pdf |title=НАЦИОНАЛНЕ МАЊИНЕ У ОЧИМА СРПСКЕ ЕЛИТЕ 1918–1941. |publisher=Beograd: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije. |year=2007 |edition=Srbi i Jugoslavija. Država, društvo, politika. Zbornik radova.}}</ref>

According to an article by Ivan Miladinović for ''Večernje novosti'', at the end of 1946, Yugoslav Partisans leader Josip Broz Tito presented a proposal to allow Romania to annex the Vlach-populated areas in eastern Serbia since "Romanian comrades, Gheorghiu-Dej and Ana Pauker, think it is their people and their territory"; Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Serbia, Blagoje Nešković, would have expressed strong opposition to this proposal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.novosti.rs/c/drustvo/vesti/1167975/sramne-stranice-hrvatske-povjesti-sta-povezuje-kosovo-metohiju-istru-kakve-veze-tim-ima-musolini|title=СРАМНЕ СТРАНИЦЕ ХРВАТСКЕ ПОВЈЕСТИ: Шта повезује Косово и Метохију и Истру и какве везе са тим има и Мусолини|first=Ivan|last=Miladinović|newspaper=Večernje novosti|date=30 October 2022|language=sr}}</ref>

===Historical references=== As early as the 1920s, the Dutch Slavist van Nikolaas van Wijk proposed a theory suggesting that, during the Early Middle Ages, Serbs were separated from Bulgarians by a belt inhabited by a Vlach population. It was only later – after these Romanians partially migrated to other regions and partially succumbed to assimilation – that the western and eastern branches of the South Slavs came into direct contact.<ref name=":0" /> This perspective harmonizes with the findings of linguistic geography which (long after van Wijk) established a very strong concentration of isoglosses along the demarcation line between the two large blocks of the South Slavic ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ивић |first=Павле |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKtiAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%20%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B%20%D1%81%D1%80%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%20%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%20%D0%B8%20%D1%9A%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D1%98%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA |title=Српски народ и његов jезик |date=1971 |publisher=Српска књижевна задруга |language=sr|page=26}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ivić |first=Pavle |url= |title=The Serbian people and their language |publisher=translated by Randall A. Major. - Novi Sad : Matica Srpska |year=2024 |location=Novi Sad|page=26}}</ref> From the mouth of the Timok River, across the eastern foothills of the mountains along the Serbian-Bulgarian border to Osogovo, and further to Ovče Polje and south of Tetovo, there exists a bundle of isoglosses that must be at least a thousand years old.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Живковић |first=Тибор |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxYUAQAAMAAJ&q=%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%20%D0%B8%20%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%98%D0%B8 |title=Словени и Ромеји |date=2000 |publisher=Историјски институт САНУ |isbn=978-86-7743-022-1 |language=sr|page=128}}</ref>

The aforementioned Romance belt, previously a part of Moesia, became part of the Morava region in the 9th century, while in the 11th century, it was part of the Byzantine Theme of Bulgaria.

* The codex of the Mount Athos St. Panteleimon Monastery states, among other things, the following: "Those who lived around the Danube – Bulgarians, Moravians (Serbs and Vlachs), and the Slavs of Illyria – were finally enlightened by holy baptism during the 9th century [the year 864] during the reign of Autokrator Michael and the glorious Patriarch Photios."<ref>{{Cite book |author=Vizantološki institut (Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4UtoAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%B4%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%20%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8 |title=Ομορφοκκλησια : οι τοιχογραφιες του ναου του Αγιου Γεωργιου κοντα στην Καστορια |date=1997 |publisher=Naučno delo |isbn=978-86-83883-13-4 |page=191|language=sr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6hJAAAAYAAJ&q=%CE%94%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%B9%CE%BD%20%CE%92%CE%BB%CE%AC%CF%87%CE%BF%CE%B9 |title=Neos Hellēnomnēmōn |date=1912 |publisher=B. Grʹegoriadès |page=133 |language=el}}</ref> * In 1020, Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer established a separate bishopric for the Vlachs with its seat in Vranje, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. Specifically, the chrysobull reads, among other things: "Likewise, all towns that were omitted by the charter of my majesty shall nevertheless be subjected to the authority of the same most holy archbishop, who shall collect taxes from everyone, including the Vlachs living scattered throughout the whole of Bulgaria."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mirdita |first=Zef |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFs7AAAAMAAJ&q=zef%20mirdita%20vlasi%20u%20historiografiji |title=Vlasi u historiografiji |date=2004 |publisher=Hrvatski institut za povijest |isbn=978-953-6324-43-9 |language=hr|page=228}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Krumbacher |first=Karl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jK1JAAAAYAAJ&q=%CE%92%CE%BB%CE%AC%CF%87%CF%89%CE%BD |title=Byzantinische Zeitschrift |date=1893 |publisher=C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung |language=de|page=46}}</ref> * The Vlachs in the Danubian region are mentioned by Anna Komnene in The Alexiad when the Cumans crossed the Danube around 1094.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YlfAAAAMAAJ&q=Pudilus%20Blachorum |title=Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae: Annae Comnenae Alexiadis libri XV ... v.2 |date=1878 |publisher=impensis E. Weberi |pages=10-12 |language=el}}</ref> * In 1154, the Arabic geographer Al-Idrisi referred to the entire region from the Morava River to the Osam River – which encompasses Pomoravlje and part of western Bulgaria – as Getulia, meaning the land of the Getaj or Nomads, as the Sicilian merchants called them. The inhabitants were Slavs and Vlachs.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Perkovac |first1=Joan i Vojko Sabljic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktmSjl1-hTgC&dq=Cielu%20krajinu%20od%20rieke%20Morave%20do%20Osme,%20koja%20obsi%C5%BEe%20Pomoravje%20i%20%C4%8Dest%20zapadne%20Bugarske&pg=PA363 |title=Neven: Zabavni i poucni list |last2=Sabljic |first2=Vojko |date=1855 |publisher=Narodna tiskarnica |page=363 |language=hr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lelewel |first=Joachim |date=1850 |title=Géographie du moyen age : atlas composé de cinquante planches / étudiée par Joachim Lelewel. |url=https://crispa.uw.edu.pl/object/files/728739/display/Default |access-date= |website= |page=51}}</ref> * In 1186, the Bulgarians and Vlachs (Romanians) revolted under the leadership of the boyars Peter and Asen, who were of Vlach origin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Историја средњег века I 30 — Викизворник, слободна библиотека |url=https://sr.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0_%D1%81%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%9A%D0%B5%D0%B3_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%B0_I_30 |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=sr.wikisource.org |language=sr}}</ref> Their brother Kaloyan was crowned in Tarnovo by an envoy of Pope Innocent III as dominus blacorum et bulgarorum (Lord of the Vlachs and Bulgarians).<ref>{{Cite book |last=III (Papst) |first=Innozenz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMq9NPoNRhIC&q=calojoanni++bulgarorum+blacorum |title=Innocentii III Romani pontificis opera omnia tomus quatuor distributa: quorum priores tres regestorum Baluzianam recensionem complectuntur, accendentibus anecdotarum epistolarum libris, quos frustra olim a Baluzio expetitos ex Bibliotheca Vaticana in lucem emiserunt La Porte Dutheil et Brequigny, quatro volumini insunt epitolae extra regestum vagantes, pontificis denique sermones et opuscula varia, tum jam olim edita, tum recentius ab eminentissimo cardinali Maio, D. Luigi Tosti, etc. etc., typis mandata |date=1891 |publisher=apud Garnier fratres |language=la|pages=278-280}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cvijić |first=Jovan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQoFAAAAMAAJ |title=Balkansko poluostrvo i južnoslovenske zemlje: osnovi antropogeografije |date=1966 |publisher=Zavod za izdavanje udžbenika |language=sr|page=526}}</ref> Those from northern Bulgaria and Serbia spoke the same dialect as the Romanians north of the Danube – linguists call it Daco-Romanian. From their ranks rose those who initiated the anti-Byzantine rebellion at the end of the 12th century, led by the Asen brothers; thus, they were the standard-bearers of the political rebirth of the Bulgarian Empire. Today, only a few of their settlements remain in the northwestern part of Bulgaria and in Serbia, particularly in the Timok Valley (Timočka Krajina).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Đuvara |first1=Njagu |last2=Ursulesku |first2=Florin |last3=Bešlin |first3=Branko |title=Kratka istorija Rumuna za mlade |publisher=Platoneum |isbn=9788683639236 |page=165}}</ref> * The chronicler Ansbert writes that the crusaders: "in the great Bulgarian forest itself, which they entered while advancing from Braničevo on July 15, 1189, were ambushed by Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, and semi-barbarian Vlachs, who attacked them from hidden places with poisoned arrows by order of the Duke of Braničevo and the Byzantine Emperor."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ansbertus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtcGAAAAcAAJ&dq=silva%20longissima%20Bulgariae,%20quam%20idus%20Julii%20ab%20Brandiz&pg=PA29 |title=Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris |last2=Dobrovský |first2=Josef |date=1827 |publisher=Apud Cajetanum de Mayregg bibliopolam |page=29 |language=la}}</ref> * From the correspondence between Pope Innocent III and King Kaloyan in 1204, we learn of a dispute that Bulgaria had with Hungary regarding the land of Wallachia, located right on the border between Hungary and Bulgaria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Theiner |first=Augustin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXtcAAAAcAAJ&dq=confinio%20Hungarie%20,%20Bulgarie%20,%20et%20Blachie%20relinquo&pg=PA30 |title=Vetera monumenta Slavorum meridionalium historiam illustrantia maximam partem nondum edita ex tabulariis vaticanis deprompta collecta ac serie chronologica disposita: Ab Innocentio PP. III. usque ad Paulum PP. III. 1198-1549 |page=30 |date=1863 |language=la}}</ref> * In 1214, Gervase of Tilbury, describing the very same area that the chronicler Ansbert had previously called the great Bulgarian forest, writes that: "From the parting of the Danube all the way to Constantinople is a twenty-four day journey to the southeast. First, namely, one encounters the Bulgarian desert, which is the land of the Vlachs (Wallachia)."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pauli |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWODu-afMmkC&q=desertum%20Bulgarie%20est%20terra%20Blacti |title=Ex rerum Anglicarum scriptoribus saec. XII et XIII |date=1885 |publisher=Hahn |language=la|page=371}}</ref> * In 1253, William of Rubruck writes: "Yes, and across the Danube too, towards Constantinople, Wallachia, which is the land of Asen, and Minor Bulgaria all the way to Slavonia, all pay tribute to the Tatars."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hakluyt |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Y4bRxqr0TMC&q=valakia |title=Collection of the Early Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries, of the English Nation |page=80, 102 |date=1809 |language=en}}</ref> * Drman and Kudelin were two Bulgarian nobles, of Tatar or Vlach origin, who ruled Braničevo (the Danubian region) as semi-independent rulers at the end of the 13th century (1273–1291).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grčić |first=Jovan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGFBDiqzkdIC&q=%D0%94%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%20%D0%9A%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%20%D0%92%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8 |title=Stražilovo: list za zabavu, pouku i književnost |page=218 |date=1887 |language=sr}}</ref> * From a letter in 1345 sent by Pope Clement VI to King Louis I of Hungary, it is mentioned that certain Vlachs of Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, and the land of Syrmia<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jović |first=Momir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8aQAAAAMAAJ&q=Ulterior%20Sirmia%201229 |title=Srbija i Rimokatolička crkva u srednjem veku |date=1994 |publisher=Bagdala |isbn=978-86-7087-104-5 |language=sr|page=60}}</ref> had converted to Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Theiner (O.C.) |first=Augustin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3H9b0Cx-9_8C&dq=quod%20Olachi%20Romani%20commorantes%20in%20partibus%20Ungarie%20Transilvanis%20Ultralpinis%20et%20Sirmiis&pg=PA691 |title=Vetera monumenta historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia: maximam partem nondum edita ex tabulariis Vaticanis deprompta collecta ac serie chronologica disposita |date=1859 |publisher=Typis Vaticanis |page=691 |language=la}}</ref> * The title of the Wallachian voivodes in the period from 1389 to 1421, and from 1508 to 1638, read: "Lord of Ungro-Wallachia and the Danubian Region."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coman |first=Marian |title=Podunavia şi relaţiile sârbo-muntene în secolele XIV-XVI |url=https://www.academia.edu/5053064 |journal=Istoria. Utopie, amintire şi proiect de viitor, ed. Ovidiu Cristea, Radu Pǎun. |pages=239–258}}</ref> * In the 14th and 15th centuries, important migratory movements of the Vlach population took place from Kosovo and around the Vardar River toward the north, and they settled in the valleys of the Timok and Morava rivers. At the same time, another part of this Vlach element moved toward Niš, penetrated through the Nišava valley all the way to Sredna Gora in Bulgaria, and then from Sofia moved northwestward all the way to the Serbian border.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mirdita |first=Zef |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SkqAQAAMAAJ&q=Zef%20Mirdita.%20Vlasi-starobalkanski%20narod:%20od%20povijesne%20pojave%20do%20danas.%20Hrvatski%20Institut%20za%20povijest,%202009.%20str.%20230 |title=Vlasi--starobalkanski narod: od povijesne pojave do danas |date=2009 |publisher=Hrvatski Institut za povijest |isbn=978-953-6324-83-5 |page=29, 49 |language=hr}}</ref> * In 1446, Pope Eugenius IV informed all the faithful that a numerous sect of Hussites existed in Moldavia, who had infected even a portion of the inhabitants of Hungary with their dogmas. For this reason, the pontiff appointed Fabian, a vicar of the Minorite order from Bosnia, and his successors, as lifelong inquisitors against heretics in Moldavia, Wallachia, Wallachia across the Danube, Bulgaria, Raška, and Slavonia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hurmuzaki |first=Ludoxiu de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm7B70J9hcoC&q=Moldavie,%20Walachie,%20Bollachie,%20Bulgarie,%20Rassiae%20necnon%20Sclavonie |title=Documente privitóre la Istoria Românilor |date=1890 |publisher=Teclu |language=la}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fermendžin |first=Euzebije |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bdpi8PSwhScC&dq=bollachia&pg=PA202 |title=Acta Bosnae potissimum ecclesiastica cum insertis editorum documentorum regestis ab anno 925 usque ad annum 1752 |date=1892 |publisher=Academia Scientiarum et Artium Slavorum Meridionalium |page=723 |language=la}}</ref> * Around 1481, Martin Segon mentions the Vlachs in northeastern Serbia, saying of them: "The Vlachs are highlanders, a wild race of men—they are rich only in herds of livestock." and "The middle of the province is inhabited by Vlachs, of whom Ptolemy writes: 'Those who lie between are called Picenses',<ref>{{Cite web |title="Ptolemy, Ptolemy, Claudius. "Geographiae Libri Octo : recogniti iam et diligenter emendati cum tabulis geographicis ad mentem auctoris restitutis ac emendatis ; Cum gratia & Priuilegio Sac Caes. Maiestat."" |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~340445~90108615:EVR--IX--TAB?qvq=q%3A%3D%22Ptolemy%2C%20Claudius%22%3Blc%3ARUMSEY%7E8%7E1&mi=12&trs=988 |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=www.davidrumsey.com}}</ref> and much has been said about them above in the first travelogue."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Do7lAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%20%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BD%20%D0%BA%D1%9A%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%20%D1%86%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%20%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5 |title=Književnost Crne Gore od XII do XIX vijeka: Pisci srednjovjekovnog latiniteta |date=1996 |publisher=Obod |language=sr|pages=245-251}}</ref> The Vlachs mentioned by Martin Segon would come to be known during the Ottoman period as the Braničevo and Vidin Vlachs. * A French source written after 1595 states: "To the south, it [Transylvania]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Le Testu |first=Guillaume Cartographe |date=1555 |title=Cosmographie universelle, selon les navigateurs tant anciens que modernes / par Guillaume Le Testu, pillotte en la mer du Ponent, de la ville francoyse de Grâce |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8447838j/f34.item |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=Gallica |language=EN}}</ref> borders the Transalpines [Wallachians/Vlachs] and the Serbs, called Slavs, and Rascians, who are almost true Vlachs because they share the same law and similar customs. They are Christians according to the rites of the Greek Church [Orthodox]. They use the Italic language, though very corrupted, and are very warlike and strong."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O5vozntoci8C&dq=Vers%20le%20midy,%20elle%20touche%20les%20Transalpins%20et%20Serviens&pg=PA42 |title=Actes et fragments relatifs à l'histoire des Roumains rassemblés dans les dépôts de manuscrits de l'occident par Nicolas Zorga et publiés sous les auspices du ministère de l'instruction publique: I. |date=1895 |publisher=Imprimerie de l'état |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bonfante |first=Giuliano |url=https://books.google.rs/books?redir_esc=y&hl=de&id=FboXAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=danubio+scorre+due+rive+tutte+romene |title=Studii romeni: Giuliano Bonfante |last2=Bonfante |first2=Julian Hugo |date=1973 |publisher=Società Accademica Romena |page=324 |language=it}}</ref> * In 1651, Petrus Possinus, in his commentaries on the Vlachs from The Alexiad, says: "Blachi is the name of the people who inhabit Upper Moesia, who are today called Valachi (Vlachs)."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YlfAAAAMAAJ&dq=petri%20possini%20blachi&pg=PA395 |title=Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae: Annae Comnenae Alexiadis libri XV ... v.2 |date=1878 |publisher=impensis E. Weberi |page=395 |language=el}}</ref> * Evliya Çelebi, in his description of the town of Fetislam (Kladovo) from 1666, states that: "The entire population speaks Bosnian and Turkish, and they also know the Vlach language."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paunović |first=Marinko |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzsBAAAAMAAJ&q=Svo%20stanovni%C5%A1tvo%20govori%20bo%C5%A1nja%C4%8Dki%20i%20turski,%20a%20znaju%20i%20vla%C5%A1ki. |title=Đerdap i Timočka Krajina |date=1970 |publisher=Binoza |page=248 |language=bs}}</ref> * Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli says of the Vlachs who dwelt around the Danube in 1696: "The Vlachs differ from the Rascians in both customs and language, although they profess the same Greek religion and use the same Illyrian characters (Cyrillic) of theirs. They begin to inhabit the banks of the Danube that originate from the ridges of the Haemus and Carpathian mountains, and they do not like to live in the plains, except in two provinces, Wallachia and Moldavia. They truly descend from the ancient Romans and boast that they are Romans, calling themselves by the corrupted name ''Ruminest''; and their language is a corrupted Latin or Italic."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Danubius Pannonico-mysicus : observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hydrographicis, historicis, physicis, perlustratus et in sex tomos digestus. T. 1, [in tres partes digestus : geographicam, astronomicam, hydrographicam] - Дигитална универзитетска библиотека - страна 0035 - величина 2 |url=http://ubsm.bg.ac.rs/view.php?q=1853&e=t&p=0035&z=2&x=0&w=922&h=600&x=e |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=ubsm.bg.ac.rs}}</ref> * In 1719 and 1722, Dimitrie Cantemir says of the Vlach people: "The entire Romanian-Vlach nation is today scattered across six regions: Moldavia, Wallachia, Bessarabia, Transylvania, Moesia, and Epirus in Greece" and that "Moesia follows the right bank of the Danube from the Iron Gates all the way to the Black Sea, in it, the towns, market squares, and villages are full of Romanians, mixed with Turks and Serbs."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moldavia) |first=Dimitrie Cantemir (Voivode of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fngeAAAAMAAJ&q=Opere%20complete%20,%20Vol%20.%20IX%20,%20Tom%20I%20De%20antiquis%20et%20hodiernis%20Moldaviae%20nominibus |title=Opere complete: pt. 1. De antiquis et hodiernis Moldaviae nominibus și Historia Moldo-Vlachica |date=1983 |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România |isbn=978-973-27-0461-5 |language=ro|pages=421-423}}</ref> * In 1787 in Vienna, by imperial decree, a war proclamation ("patent") was drafted for the population in Turkey, issued in three similar forms: one for the Serbs, another for the Vlachs, and a third for the Turks, promising the Emperor’s protection to the population.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DKAAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D1%99%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%BE%20%D1%98%D0%B5%20%D0%B4%D0%B0%20%D1%98%D0%B5%201787.%20%D1%83%20%D0%91%D0%B5%D1%87%D1%83, |title=Зборник радова Етнографског института |date=1962 |publisher=Етнографски институт, Српске академије наука и уметности |page=27 |language=sr}}</ref> The Vlach population was the only one that showed a friendly disposition toward the Turks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jovanović |first=Dobrivoje |year=1988 |title=Kočina krajina |url=https://www.dobrivojejovanovic.in.rs/images/kocina_krajina.pdf |journal=Nedeljnik "Novi Put" |publication-place=Jagodina}}</ref> * From the census of Vlachs conducted in the Principality of Serbia in 1850, there were 104,807 Vlachs, making up 10.95% of the total population of Serbia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slovesnosti |first=Društvo Srbske |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p6BJAAAAcAAJ&q=%D0%92%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B0 |title=Glasnik Društva Srbske Slovesnosti |date=1852 |page=230 |language=sr}}</ref>

==Legal status== The Serbian state considers Vlachs a distinct ethnic minority rejecting any conflation with the Romanians, citing census results and their right of self-identification with the ethnicity of their choice. On the other hand, Romania's stance is that the Vlachs are Romanians, claiming the split between "Romanian" and "Vlach" identities as artificial and accusing Serbia of failing to protect the ethnic minority rights of the Romanians in eastern Serbia.{{sfn|Manovich|2014|pp=23–24}}

By provisions of the 2002 Romania–FR Yugoslavia agreement, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to recognize the Romanian identity of the Vlach population in eastern Serbia, but the agreement was not implemented.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://adevarul.ro/news/societate/iugoslavia-recunoaste-apartenenta-vlahilor-valea-timocului-minoritatea-romaneasca-1_50ad38cf7c42d5a6639102f5/index.html |title=Iugoslavia recunoaste apartenenta vlahilor din Valea Timocului la minoritatea romaneasca|work=Adevărul|language=ro|date=6 November 2002|quote=Prin acordul privind minoritatile, semnat, luni, la Belgrad, de catre presedintii Ion Iliescu si Voislav Kostunita, statul iugoslav recunoaste dreptul apartenentei la minoritatea romaneasca din Iugoslavia al celor aproape 120.000 de vlahi (cifra neoficiala), care traiesc in Valea Timocului, in Serbia de Rasarit. Reprezentantii romanilor din Iugoslavia, profesori, ziaristi, scriitori, i-au multumit, ieri, la Pancevo, sefului statului pentru aceasta intelegere cu guvernul de la Belgrad. Acordul este considerat de importanta istorica pentru romanii din Valea Timocului, care, din timpul lui Iosip Broz Tito, traiesc fara drept la invatamant si viata religioasa in limba materna, practic nerecunoscuti ca etnie. "Nu vom face ca fostul regim, sa numim noi care sunt minoritatile nationale sau sa stergem cu guma alte minoritati", a spus, ieri, Rasim Ljajic, ministrul sarb pentru minoritati, la intalnirea de la Pancevo a presedintelui cu romanii din Iugoslavia. Deocamdata, statul iugoslav nu a recunoscut prin lege statutul vlahilor de pe Valea Timocului, insa de-acum va acorda acestora dreptul la optiunea etnica, va permite, in decembrie, constituirea Consiliului Reprezentantilor Romani si va participa in Comisia mixta romano-iugoslava la monitorizarea problemelor minoritatilor sarba si romana din cele doua state. In Iugoslavia traiesc cateva sute de mii de romani. Presedintele Ion Iliescu s-a angajat, ieri, pentru o politica mai activa privind romanii din afara granitelor: "Avem mari datorii fata de romanii care traiesc in afara granitelor. Autocritic vorbind, nu ne-am facut intotdeauna datoria. De dragul de a nu afecta relatiile noastre cu vecinii, am fost mai retinuti, mai prudenti in a sustine cauza romanilor din statele vecine. (...) Ungurii ne dau lectii din acest punct de vedere", a spus presedintele, precizand ca romanii trebuie sa-si apere cauza "pe baza de buna intelegere".}}</ref><ref>[http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2003-01-25/Sa+nu-i+uitam%2C+pe+cei...+uitati Curierul Naţional, 25 ianuarie 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405135858/http://www.curierulnational.ro/Specializat/2003-01-25/Sa+nu-i+uitam%2C+pe+cei...+uitati |date=5 April 2012 }}: ''Chiar si acordul dintre presedintii Ion Iliescu si Voislav Kostunita, semnat la sfarsitul anului trecut, nu este respectat, in ceea ce priveste minoritatile, deoarece locuitorii din Valea Timocului, numiti vlahi, nu sunt recunoscuti ca minoritari, ci doar „grup etnic“.''</ref>

In 2005, 23 deputies from the Council of Europe, representatives from Hungary, Georgia, Lithuania, Romania, Moldova, Estonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Denmark, and Bulgaria protested against Serbia's treatment of this population.<ref>[http://assembly.coe.int//Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc05/edoc10533.htm#TopOfPage Parliamentary Assembly, 28 April 2005] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233921/http://assembly.coe.int//Mainf.asp?link=http%3A%2F%2Fassembly.coe.int%2FDocuments%2FWorkingDocs%2FDoc05%2Fedoc10533.htm |date=30 December 2013 }}: ''Deeply concerned over the cultural situation of the so-called “Vlach” Romanians dwelling in 154 ethnic Romanian localities 48 localities of mixed ethnic make-up between the Danube, Timok and Morava Rivers who since 1833 have been unable to enjoy ethnic rights in schools and churches''</ref>

In 2011, the Senate of Romania postponed for several months the ratification of Serbia's candidature for membership in the European Union until the legal status and minority right of the Romanian (Vlach) population in Serbia was clarified.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 October 2011 |title=Biroul Permanenent al Senatului a amânat votul privind ratificarea Acordului de aderare a Serbiei la UE. Motivul: drepturile românilor /vlahilor din Timoc |url=http://www.rgnpress.ro/categorii/politic/3587-biroul-permanenent-al-senatului-a-amanat-votul-privind-ratificarea-acordului-de-aderare-a-serbiei-la-ue-motivul-drepturile-romanilor-vlahilor-din-timoc.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030003541/http://www.rgnpress.ro/categorii/politic/3587-biroul-permanenent-al-senatului-a-amanat-votul-privind-ratificarea-acordului-de-aderare-a-serbiei-la-ue-motivul-drepturile-romanilor-vlahilor-din-timoc.html |archive-date=October 30, 2011 |website=Romanian Global News |language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rumunija će blokirati kandidaturu? |url=https://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2012&mm=02&dd=23&nav_category=206&nav_id=585200 |work=B92 |date=23 February 2012 |language=Serbian}}</ref>

According to a 2012 agreement between Romania and Serbia, members of the Vlach community who self-declare as Romanians are provided access to education, media, and religion in the Romanian language.<ref>{{cite news |title=Basesku: "Rumunski problem" naduvan |url=https://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2012&mm=03&dd=02&nav_category=1262&nav_id=587330 |work=B92 |date=2 March 2012 |language=Serbian}}</ref>

==Controversy over ethnic identity== The identity and ethnic classification of the Vlachs in Serbia is highly contested. These disputes also occur between Vlachs themselves: an "anti-Romanian" group and "pro-Romanian" group. The former regards Serbia as the homeland of the Vlachs and rejects any connection to Romania whatsoever, while the latter relates Vlachs and Romanians through elements such as language and often regards Romania as the homeland of the Vlachs, although both agree on the need for the Serbian state to do more to protect Vlachs.{{sfn|Manovich|2014|p=27}}

The situation within the {{ill|National Council of the Vlach National Minority|sr|Национални савет влашке националне мањине}} is particularly convulsed. In 2009, during an interview for the Serbian newspaper ''Politika'', Živoslav Lazić, the president of the Council and then mayor of Veliko Gradište ({{lang|ro|Grădiștea Mare}}), called the efforts by "some in Serbia" to prove that the Romanians and Vlachs are a two distinct minorities as "xenophobic". He also argued that claims about Romanianization of Vlachs by Romania come from people whose real aim is the assimilation of Vlachs.<ref name="politika">{{cite news|url=https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/87404/Vlasi-istocne-Srbije-od-asimilacije-do-rumu-nizacije|title=Власи источне Србије – од асимилације до румунизације|first=Marko|last=Albunović|newspaper=Politika|date=17 May 2009|language=sr}}</ref> In 2010, shortly before the first elections to choose the members of the Council, Vlach politician Miletić Mihajlović accused the council of being pro-Romanian and of having as its main objective "transfer" Vlachs into Romanians, adding that Serbia was the homeland of the Vlachs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.novosti.rs/%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8/%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0/%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0.393.html:272804-Vlahe-bi-u-Rumune|title=Влахе би у Румуне|newspaper=Novosti|date=8 May 2010|language=sr}}</ref> The new convocation of the Council, elected in 2010, was led by members of major Serbian parties (Democrat Party and Socialist Party of Serbia), most of whom were ethnic Serbs with no relation to the Vlach minority.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ghica |first1=Sorin |title=Falşi vlahi folosiţi împotriva românilor |url=https://adevarul.ro/stiri-interne/societate/falsi-vlahi-folositi-impotriva-romanilor-1092209.html |work=Adevărul |date=29 February 2012 |language=Romanian}}</ref> The new president, Radiša Dragojević, stated that "Nobody has the right to ask Vlachs to declare themselves as Romanians", that "Vlachs consider Serbia their motherland", and that "We have no objections, nor any basis to turn to Romania, nor does Romania have any basis to make any demands on our behalf". According to Dragojević, out of 23 members of the Council, only four were pro-Romanian.{{sfn|Manovich|2014|pp=24}} In 2018, a new convocation of the council was elected, and the coalition "Vlachs for Serbia" won 22 of the 23 seats. Dragojević, who was re-elected president of the Council, commented that their result was due to pro-Romanian Vlach political organizations having either boycotted the election or having run for the election for the National Council of the Romanian National Minority instead.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/415651/Pre-cetiri-godine-Vlah-sada-Rumun|title=Пре четири године Влах, сада Румун|first=Biljana|last=Baković|newspaper=Politika|date=13 November 2018|language=sr}}</ref> Radiša Dragojević, the current president of the Council, has stated that no one has the right to ask the Vlach ethnic minority in Serbia to identify themselves as Romanian or veto anything.<ref>{{cite news |title=Драгојевић: Власи нису Румуни |url=https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/210048/Dragojevic-Vlasi-nisu-Rumuni |work=Politika |date=28 February 2012}}</ref> As a response to this statement, the cultural organizations ''Ariadnae Filum'', ''Društvo za kulturu Vlaha - Rumuna Srbije'', ''Društvo Rumuna - Vlaha „Trajan“'', ''Društvo za kulturu, jezik i religiju Vlaha - Rumuna Pomoravlja'', ''Udruženje za tradiciju i kulturu Vlaha „Dunav“'', ''Centar za ruralni razvoj - Vlaška kulturna inicijativa Srbija'' and the Vlach National Party protested and accusing him of false narrative.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ne gurajte probleme pod tepih |url=https://www.b92.net/info/vesti/pregled_stampe.php?yyyy=2012&mm=02&dd=29&nav_id=586595 |work=B92 |date=29 February 2012 |language=Serbian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Vlasi (ni)su obespravljeni u Srbiji |url=https://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2012&mm=02&dd=29&nav_category=12&nav_id=586593 |work=B92 |date=29 February 2012 |language=Serbian}}</ref> The Vlach National Party accused the Serbian government of assimilation by using the National Council of the Vlach National Minority against the interests of this community.<ref>[http://www.pravda.rs/2011/05/30/vlasi-optuzuju-srbiju-za-asimilaciju/ Власи оптужују Србију за асимилацију - Правда] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212225657/http://www.pravda.rs/2011/05/30/vlasi-optuzuju-srbiju-za-asimilaciju/ |date=2012-02-12 }}</ref>

There is a movement among some members of the Vlachs to align themselves with Romania and identify themselves as part of the broader Romanian identity in Serbia.{{sfn|Sorescu Marinković ''et al''.|2021|p=130}} As of 2009, an estimated several thousand Vlachs were attending secondary schools and universities in Romania. It has been said that there is a fear among some of the Serbian political elite that some of these could return to Serbia with a Romanian ethnic identity and influence the rest of the Vlach community.<ref name="politika" /> The Association of the Vlachs of Serbia stands out for the claim that Romania is the motherland of the Vlachs, that they speak Romanian and that Serbia tries to assimilate Vlachs by referring to them as Vlachs to separate them from the Romanian ethnicity. The Vlach National Party claimed that the Serbian state manipulated the culture and history of the Vlachs and imposed a "historical cultural construct" on them. ''Timoc Press'' is another pro-Romanian organization in the Timok Valley, funded by the Department for Romanians Everywhere of the Romanian government, which considers Vlachs and Romanians a single ethnicity, the former of which would be being assimilated by the Serbs. Even so, there are anti-Romanian organizations, such as the Vlach Democratic Party, whose president, Siniša Celojević, declared in 2012 that "the Vlachs of Serbia are not, and will never be, members of the Romanian ethnic minority" and that "Romania claims groups outside its borders to reinforce their historical continuity and ethnic identity taking advantage of the lack of ethnic minority rights for Vlachs to 'infiltrate' among them".{{sfn|Manovich|2014|pp=25–26}}

==Politics== The Vlach National Council is a representation body of the Vlach ethnic minority in Serbia, established for the protection of the rights and the minority self-government of Vlachs in Serbia.<ref>{{cite web | title=О Нама - Национални Савет Влаха - Савјету Влахилор | work=НАЦИОНАЛНИ САВЕТ ВЛАХА - САВЈЕТУ ВЛАХИЛОР | url=https://nacionalnisavetvlaha.rs/%d0%be-%d0%bd%d0%b0%d0%bc%d0%b0-%d0%bd%d1%81%d0%b2/ }}</ref>

The Vlach National Party and the Vlach Democratic Party are ethnic minority parties representing the interests of the Vlachs in Serbia.

==Demographics== 280px|thumb|Ethnic map of eastern Serbia by settlements and municipalities, 2011 census The largest concentration of Vlachs in Serbia is in three easternmost administrative districts where over 90% of declared Vlachs live. According to data from the 2022 census, Vlachs constitute 8.1% of population in Bor District, 5.1% in Braničevo District, and 3.2% in Zaječar District.

There are no municipalities with Vlach ethnic majority or plurality. However, there are 15 villages with either Vlach ethnic majority or plurality. The villages with Vlach ethnic majority are:<ref>{{cite web | title=Ethnic composition of Serbia 2022 | url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/serbia-ethnic-loc2022.htm }}</ref> * Manastirica ({{lang|ro|Manastirița}}; Petrovac municipality) * Busur ({{lang|ro|Busur}}; Petrovac municipality) * Kladurovo ({{lang|ro|Cladurovo}}; Petrovac municipality) * Brodica ({{lang|ro|Brogița}}; Kučevo municipality) * Krivača ({{lang|ro|Crivacea}}; Golubac municipality) * Osanica ({{lang|ro|Osanița}}; Žagubica municipality) * Gornjane ({{lang|ro|Gorniane}}; city of Bor) * Luka ({{lang|ro|Luca}}; city of Bor)

The villages with Vlach ethnic plurality are: * Melnica ({{lang|ro|Melnița}}; Petrovac municipality) * Starčevo ({{lang|ro|Starcevo}}; Petrovac municipality) * Dubočane ({{lang|ro|Duboceani}}; city of Zaječar) * Vlaole ({{lang|ro|Vlaole Mare}}; Majdanpek municipality) * Debeli Lug ({{lang|ro|Dăbi Liug}}; Majdanpek municipality) * Leskovo ({{lang|ro|Lescovo}}; Majdanpek municipality) * Beljajka ({{lang|ro|Belaica}}; Despotovac municipality)

==Culture== ===Language=== {{Main|Romanian language in Serbia}} [[File:Iabucovat.jpg|thumb|Vlachs from village of Jabukovac ({{lang|ro|Icubovăț}}) in traditional dress]] The Vlachs speak a group of archaic Romanian varieties sometimes known as "Vlach" in Serbia. According to data from the 2022 census, 23,216 people declared Vlach as their mother tongue.<ref>{{cite web | title=Мother tongue, religion and ethnic affiliation | ABOUT CENSUS | url=https://popis2022.stat.gov.rs/en-US/5-vestisaopstenja/news-events/20230616-st/?a=0&s=0 }}</ref>

Romanian is not in use by the local administration in municipalities where members of the Vlach minority represent more than 15% of the population, where it would be allowed according to Serbian law, such as Kučevo and Žagubica (with Vlachs constituting 16.4% and 15% of population of the municipality, respectively).<ref name="coe"/> This is mostly because of a lack of teachers and because Romanian is more of an oral than a written language among Vlachs. Since 2012, there have been continuous efforts to standardize Vlach Romanian in a written form, and the teaching of Vlach Romanian has started in schools. While the Vlach Romanian standard written language is under development, the Vlach National Council of the Vlach National Minority in Serbia adopted in 2010 the use of Serbian as the official language and Romanian as the literary language. In 2012, the council decided to adopt a proposition on written and oral Romanian and started to work towards its standardization.<ref>{{Citation |title=Vlaška nacionalna manjina: Demografski podaci |url=http://fer.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Odgovor-na-rumunski-non-paper-20.2.2012.pdf |language=sr |mode=cs1 |script-title=sr:Влашка национална мањина: Демографски подаци |url-status=dead |via=fer.org.rs |access-date=2020-11-30 |archive-date=2020-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716174151/http://fer.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Odgovor-na-rumunski-non-paper-20.2.2012.pdf }}</ref>

===Religion=== Most Vlachs are Orthodox Christians and have been part of the Serbian Orthodox Church since the 19th century. The 2006 Serbian Law on Churches and Religious Organizations did not recognize the Romanian Orthodox Church as a traditional church, as it had received permission from the Serbian Orthodox Church to have canonical authority only among Romanians in Banat, but not in eastern Serbia.<ref name="coe"/> At Malajnica, a Vlach priest belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church encountered deliberately-raised administrative barriers when he attempted to build a church.<ref name="coe"/><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/romanian/news/story/2005/09/050916_malainita.shtml "Biserica românească din Malainiţa ameninţată din nou"], ''BBC Romanian'', 16 September 2005</ref> In 2009, however, the Serbian state recognized the canonical authority of the Romanian Orthodox Church over the Vlach population in eastern Serbia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miron |first=Gheorghe |language=ro |date=7 December 2009 |title=Biserica Română din Timoc a fost recunoscută de către Curtea Supremă de Justiţie a Serbie |url=http://www.ziuadevest.ro/actualitate/5863-biserica-roman-din-timoc-a-fost-recunoscut-de-ctre-curtea-suprem-de-justiie-a-serbiei.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726162514/http://www.ziuadevest.ro/actualitate/5863-biserica-roman-din-timoc-a-fost-recunoscut-de-ctre-curtea-suprem-de-justiie-a-serbiei.html |archive-date=2011-07-26 |access-date=2010-02-21 |website=Ziua de Vest}}</ref>

===Symbols=== On 20 August 2025,<ref name="symbols1">{{cite news|url=https://www.ekucevo.rs/?p=68947|title=Национални савет Влаха донео одлуку о знамењима : застави и грбу|newspaper=e-Kučevo|date=20 August 2025|language=sr}}</ref> at a meeting of the Vlach National Council in Požarevac, the council approved a flag and coat of arms to represent the Vlachs. The flag features four colors: red, blue, gold and white, arranged horizontally from top to bottom. According to the council, the red, blue and white represent the colors of the Serbian flag, while the gold symbolizes spiritual wealth, the sun, warmth and the historical origin in eastern Serbia. In the center, over a gold base, is a stylized white circle with nine rays emanating upwards from it, representing a sun. Below the sun are two mountains, shaped by two triangles, representing eastern Serbia and the region of Homolje ({{lang|ro|Homolie}}), where most Vlachs live. A stylized white line runs between the mountains, which can symbolize a river, a path or a connection between tradition and future.<ref name="symbols2">{{cite news|url=https://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/692947/vlasi-u-srbiji-od-sada-imaju-grb-i-zastavu|title=Власи у Србији од сада имају грб и заставу|first=Olivera|last=Milošević|newspaper=Politika|date=20 August 2025|language=sr}}</ref>

The coat of arms is a shield with a blue field, which symbolizes justice, faith and freedom. It is framed by a red line, representing strength, courage and the historical struggle to preserve identity. Over the blue field is a double-headed heraldic eagle. Its wings are extended, symbolizing protection and power; and the eagle is white, representing purity and spiritual exaltation. That it is two-headed symbolizes unity between tradition and modernity and connection with the cultural influences of the Eastern and Western worlds. On the eagle's chest is a smaller red coat of arms. It features a sun, representing life, renovation and light; and is gold in color, signifying hope and the permanence of Vlach identity. The sun rises from two green mountains which represent eastern Serbia, the Vlachs' natural and spiritual homeland. Above the eagle, at the top of the shield, is the inscription ''Vlahi'' ("Vlachs") in bright color.<ref name="symbols2" />

In addition, the Vlachs have the holidays of the Vlach Language Day on 24 January, the National Council's Feast Day of Saint Simeon the Myroblyte on 24 February and the National Council Day on 6 December.<ref name="symbols1" />

===Vlach magic=== The relative isolation of the Vlachs has permitted the survival of various pre-Christian religious customs and beliefs that are frowned upon by the Orthodox Church. Vlach magic rituals are well-known across modern Serbia. The Vlachs celebrate the ospăț (''hospitium'', in Latin), called in Serbian ''praznik'' or ''slava''. The customs of the Vlachs are very similar to those from Southern Romania (Wallachia).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodner |first=Raluca |date=17 June 2009 |title=Obiceiuri de înmormântare la românii din Timoc |url=http://www.ziarullumina.ro/articole;940;1;24534;0;Obiceiuri-de-inmormantare-la-romanii-din-Timoc.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721093559/http://www.ziarullumina.ro/articole%3B940%3B1%3B24534%3B0%3BObiceiuri-de-inmormantare-la-romanii-din-Timoc.html |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |website=ZiarulLumina.ro |language=ro}}</ref>

==Notable people== * Bojan Aleksandrović – priest * Predrag Balašević – politician * Paun Es Durlić – ethnologist * Slavoljub Gacović – ethnologist * Miletić Mihajlović – politician * {{ill|Izvorinka Milošević|sr|Изворинка Милошевић}} – singer * Branko Olar – singer * Staniša Paunović – singer<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 November 2018 |title=Poznati vlasi: Staniša paunović |script-title=sr:Познати власи: Станиша пауновић |url=https://recnaroda.co.rs/poznati-vlasi-stanisa-paunovic/ |access-date=19 June 2022 |website=Reč naroda |language=sr |script-website=sr:Реч народа}}</ref> * Safet Pavlović – politician * Dușan Pârvulovici – activist * Atanasie Popovici – activist * {{ill|Adam Puslojić|pt|Adam Púsloitch|ro|Adam Puslojić|sr|Адам Пуслојић}} – poet, translator, and writer

==Citations== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321383067|title=Writing systems and linguistic identity of the Vlach community of Eastern Serbia|first1=Monica|last1=Huțanu|first2=Annemarie|last2=Sorescu-Marinković|journal=Diacronia|issue=7|pages=1–14|year=2018|article-number=A106/en |doi=10.17684/i7A106en|doi-access=free|hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_5246|hdl-access=free}} *{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269629889|title=The Mystery of Vlach Magic in the Rural Areas of 21st century Serbia|first1=Anđelija|last1=Ivkov-Džigurski|first2=Vedrana|last2=Babić|first3=Aleksandra|last3=Dragin|first4=Kristina|last4=Košić|first5=Ivana|last5=Blešić|journal=Eastern European Countryside|volume=18|issue=2012|pages=61–83|year=2012|doi=10.2478/v10130-012-0004-9|ref={{harvid|Ivkov-Džigurski ''et al''.|2012}}|doi-access=free}} *{{cite thesis|url=http://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/manovich_diane.pdf|title=Folk Linguistics and Politicized Language: the Introduction of Minority Language Education for the Vlachs in Serbia|first=Diane|last=Manovich|publisher=Central European University|type=MA|year=2014}} *{{cite book|url=https://brill.com/view/title/59768|title=The Romance-speaking Balkans: Language and the Politics of Identity|first1=Annemarie|last1=Sorescu Marinković|first2=Mihai|last2=Dragnea|first3=Thede|last3=Kahl|first4=Blagovest|last4=Nyagulov|first5=Donald L.|last5=Dyer|first6=Angelo|last6=Costanzo|chapter="What Language do We Speak?" the Bayash in the Balkans and Mother Tongue Education |publisher=Brill Publishers|series=Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture|volume=29|pages=207–232 |year=2021|isbn=9789004452770|doi=10.1163/9789004456174_010|s2cid=242757808|ref={{harvid|Sorescu Marinković ''et al''.|2021}}}}

==Further reading== *Dimitrijevic-Rufu, Dejan. Le rituel de la slava et l'imaginaire communautaire de l'unité. Les Roumains de Homolje et les Serbes en France, Revue européenne de migrations internationales. Vol. 16 N°2. Fêtes et rituels dans la migration. 2000, pp. 91–117. *Dragić, Dragomir. Forum za kulturu Vlaha. Vlasi ili Rumuni iz istočne Srbije i "vlaško pitanje" - pitanja i odgovori; Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji, Beograd, 2002. *{{citation|first=Mihai Viorel|last=Fifor|author-link=Mihai Fifor|title=Assimilation or Acculturation: Creating Identities in the New Europe. The Case of Vlachs in Serbia|journal=Cultural Identity and Ethnicity in Central Europe|publisher=Jagellonian University|location=Cracow|year=2000}} *Sorescu-Marinković, Annemarie. "The Vlachs of North-Eastern Serbia: Fieldwork and Field Methods Today." Symposia–Caiete de Etnologie şi Antropologie. 2006. *Sikimić, Biljana, and Annemarie Sorescu. "The Concept of Loneliness and Death among Vlachs in North-eastern Serbia." Symposia–Caiete de etnologie şi antropologie. 2004. *Marinković, Annemarie Sorescu. "Vorbarĭ Rumîńesk: The Vlach on line Dictionary." Philologica Jassyensia 8.1 (2012): 47–60. *Ivkov-Džigurski, Anđelija, et al. "The Mystery of Vlach Magic in the Rural Areas of 21st century Serbia." Eastern European Countryside 18 (2012): 61–83. *Marinković, Annemarie Sorescu. "Cultura populară a românilor din Timoc–încercare de periodizare a cercetărilor etnologice." Philologica Jassyensia 2.1 (2006): 73–92.

==External links== * [http://www.zajednicavlahasrbije.com/index.html Community of Vlachs of Serbia] * [http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/Vlach-serbia.htm Maps of Vlachs in north-east Serbia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212195632/http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/Vlach-serbia.htm |date=12 February 2006 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722081517/http://www.valeatimocului.ro/Manual_Rom-Sarba.pdf History of the Romanians living on the South of the Danube] (Romanian/Serbian) * [https://www.academia.edu/38288632/The_emergence_of_Vlach_necropolises_with_petroglyphs_in_Western_Balkans Vlach necropolises]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlachs Of Serbia}} Category:Vlachs of Serbia Category:Timok Valley Category:Ethnic groups in Serbia Category:Eastern Romance peoples Category:Romanian diaspora