Chiprovtsi Uprising

The Chiprovtsi uprising (Bulgarian: Чипровско въстание, Chiprovsko vastanie) was an uprising against Ottoman rule organized in northwestern Bulgaria by Roman Catholic Bulgarians, but also involving many Eastern Orthodox Christians. It broke out after the capture of Belgrade by Austria on 6 September 1688 and ended unsuccessfully, with the centre of insurrectionary activity, Chiprovtsi, being completely destroyed by Ottoman forces.

After the conquest of Bulgaria the Ottomans left a number of regions, towns and villages out of the Ottoman administrative system. These were usually key regions that were left to be governed by the old Bulgarian administration for practical reasons. Such towns were the ones guarding the Balkan passes, as well as important ore extraction areas like Chiprovtsi. Although the status of the then-village in the period is not completely clear, it is generally considered that the Christian Bulgarian aristocracy retained most of its authority in Chiprovtsi. Sources from Dubrovnik mention the family of Soymirovich, whose members lived there as sovereign rulers until the end of the 14th century. After the Ottoman invasion the family (or at least most of it) moved to Dubrovnik, where they became part of the local aristocracy and possibly accepted Roman Catholicism without forgetting their old possessions. Other known families from the period are Peyachevich, Parchevich, Cherkich, Markanich and Knezhevich.

During the next century Chiprovtsi was a has (a permanent possession) of the sultan's family and later a valide hanım (estate of the sultan's mother). The rights of the Christian self-government possibly inherited from the Second Bulgarian Empire and adapted to the Ottoman military feudal system were significantly curtailed in the 16th and 17th century. Around the middle of the 17th century, the idea of Catholicism being used as a way to restore the Bulgarian state with the aid of the Catholic Western Europe, began emerging in the circle of the pro-Western Chiprovtsi nobility.

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