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By Michael de V. Merriman
Based on the many hours of his own work plus the encouragement, support, resources and tea provided by family and friendsS |
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Apendix 4
Serbia and the Serbs.
The Serbs are a Slavonic nation (Horati Harati Croati) ethnically and by language they have much in common with the Croats.
The Croats however are Roman Catholic sand use the Latin alphabet,while the Serbs belongor belonged to the Orthodox Church and use the Cyrillic alphabet augmented by the special sounds of the Serbian language.
Serbs originally moved into the region of Dalmatia in the sixth and seventh Centuries A.D.
The earliest mention of Serbs was found in the ninth century that is soon after the appearance of Cyrillic Script. The origin of the name Serb is obscure.
The Serbs originally lived in Galicia near to the source of the river Dnieper, that is north of Smolenskin Russia.
— The Emperor Heraclius (Byzantine)(610-640) invited the Serbs to settle in the north west provinces of the Byzantine Empire and defend the margins of the incursions of the Avars.
The known history of the Serbs as a Balkan nation begins towards the middle of the seventh century. An earlier Roman Emperor had made a treaty with the Avarst to stop the Serbs. The clans more or less related to each other, occupied a territory called a Zhupa.
The political or military chief was called a Zhupanor Jupan. The early history of the Serbs is especially turbulent and bloody, one of the minor causes being the struggle about the ancient Slavonic order of inheritance. This internal political process was complicated by the struggle between the Greek Church and the Greek Emperors on the one side and the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic powers (Venice and Hungary) on the other. Struggle for possession of ecclesiastical and political influence continued. The danger increased when the Bulgarians came at the end of the 7th century and formed a powerful kingdom on the east and south-east border of the Serbs. From the 8th to the 12th centuries the bulk of the Serbs was under either Bulgaria or Greek suzerainty; the Serbo-Croat provinces of Dalmatia acknowledged Venetian or Hungarian rule.
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