Written sources that mention Macedonia, prior to the 19th century?

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Any medieval sources that mention "Macedonians" or a "Macedonian people" are doing so in a geographic context. You could have people who spoke Slavic, Vlach, Albanian or Greek in Byzantine Macedonia that could have been described as "Macedonian".

In the middle ages and into the nineteenth century, the term Macedonian was used entirely in reference to a geographical region. Anyone who lived in Macedonia could be described as a Macedonian.

-The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the 6th century to the Late Twelfth century (p37) by John V. A. Fine, JR

Bear in mind that Macedonia was not the only region in Europe in such a situation and the concept of ethnicity was not so well defined back then as it is now.

People identifying with a distinct ethnic Macedonian identity separate from Bulgarians or Serbians first appeared in the 19th century.

From wikipedia:

The first prominent author that propagated the separate ethnicity of the Macedonians was Georgi Pulevski, who in 1875 published Dictionary of Three languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, in which he wrote:

What do we call a nation? – People who are of the same origin and who speak the same words and who live and make friends of each other, who have the same customs and songs and entertainment are what we call a nation, and the place where that people lives is called the people's country. Thus the Macedonians also are a nation and the place which is theirs is called Macedonia.

So as for sources "testifying the existence of Macedonia" Yes there are plenty of sources mentioning a "Macedonia" but bear in mind that between the 7th -19th centuries, the definition of "Macedonia" had changed significantly. From a Roman province, to Byzantine Theme, to Bulgarian region, to Latin region, to Serbian region and so on..

As for sources "testifying the existence of ... Macedonian people" The best you'll get are minor references to people from the region regardless of their language or ethnicity.

Upvote:-1

Yes there are plenty of documents from that time mentioning Macedonia and Macedonians being a separate nation, different from its Serbian and Bulgarian neighbors. Unfortunately, most of these documents are still hidden in the archives of Turkey (as a legal successor of the Ottoman Empire) and Vatican, but a few years ago a Macedonian historian called Blazhe Minevski, who was granted permission to use the Vatican Library and Archive materials for his research, came across several archived letters from the 17th century, regarding issues that are in some capacity connected to Macedonia or Macedonians.

For more detailed info, please follow the link: http://mia.mk/en/Inside/RenderSingleNews/324/132005839

Upvote:0

The country has some mention in the era of Alexander the Great.

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