The Janjevci: Descendants of Saxons in Serbia

[Awar]

There still are people who are direct descendants of Saxon miners who came to work in Serbia ( as gastarbeiters ) in medieval times ( before the Ottoman period ). If Im not mistaking, they are called 'Janjevci'.

[Loki]

There still are people who are direct descendants of Saxon miners who came to work in Serbia ( as gastarbeiters ) in medieval times ( before the Ottoman period ). If Im not mistaking, they are called 'Janjevci'.

Interesting. Have they racially and culturally assimilated into the host population? Do they have any different physical anthropological features than aboriginal locals?

[Awar]

Interesting. Have they racially and culturally assimilated into the host population? Do they have any different physical anthropological features than aboriginal locals?

An encyclopaedia says Saxons are first mentioned in 1303. AD in Kosovo ( the center of the Serbian kingdom and later Empire ) as miners in the city of Yanievo. They're mentioned also as being Catholics.

From what little I know and heard about them, they speak Albanian language, and are mentioned as being tall and blonde, visibly different from surrounding Albanians.

I'll conduct a search for more information about this people, since I haven't found much in the encyclopaedia, and nothing on the internet.

I doubt that there are more than 5000 of them.

[Vojvoda]

Interesting. Have they racially and culturally assimilated into the host population? Do they have any different physical anthropological features than aboriginal locals?

The "Sasi" were Serbianized a long time ago

Serbian mining developed rapidly from the early thirteenth century and provided a large part of the royal revenues. The technical skill was furnished largely by Germans ('Saxons') who emigrated from Transylvania(Erdely, Siebenburgen) to Serbia and Kosovo at the time of the Mongol raids.

"A most interesting event in that period of Serbian history was the arrival of German miners, the Saxons. They arrived in Serbia in the 1230s, bringing with them new techniques of prospecting and processing precious metals, namely silver, copper and lead. Their knowledge and skill revived the production of metals and opened wide the door of the Mediterranean markets for the Serbian economy. The Saxons developed the mines of Breskovo, Trepca, Rudnik, Rogozna, Novo Brdo, and other mining centers. The growth of mining in Serbia opened a series of economic and trade links with the Adriatic coastal region and southern Italy."

http://www.snaga.org.yu/Ilustrovana_...uros-prvi.html

[Loki]

Split from "Thinnest Books" thread in the Lounge.

[Gesta Bellica]

Split from "Thinnest Books" thread in the Lounge.

What about the Walser?
They were German farmers that settled in the XIII century in some italian alpine valleys and they still manage to save their original culture.

I have heard that they still speak a XIII century german dialect and that a lot of german antropologist made studies about them and their archaic language.
(as if some italians would speak like Dante Alighieri nowadays)

[Vojvoda]

An encyclopaedia says Saxons are first mentioned in 1303. AD in Kosovo ( the center of the Serbian kingdom and later Empire ) as miners in the city of Yanievo. They're mentioned also as being Catholics.

From what little I know and heard about them, they speak Albanian language, and are mentioned as being tall and blonde, visibly different from surrounding Albanians.

I'll conduct a search for more information about this people, since I haven't found much in the encyclopaedia, and nothing on the internet.

I doubt that there are more than 5000 of them.

Janjevci were Croats,not Saxons, who settled in Kosovo

Official Yugoslav statistical corrections, with the help of previous census results (1948-1981)

1,956,196 Total population (corrected from 359,346) - 214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins) - 1,596,072 or 81,6 % Albanians (corrected from 9,091) - 66,189 (Slavic) Muslims (corrected from 57,758) - 45,745 Roma (corrected from 44,307) - 10,445 Turks - 8,062 Croats (Janjevci) - 3,457 Yugoslavs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_...on_data-points

[Vojvoda]

"When the Slavs came into these regions of Eastern Serbia, mining, which was of crucial economic and business importance during the Roman period, relinquishes possession to cattle-breeding. In Serbian Medieval State, in the reign of Stefan Uros I (1243-1276), mining was flourishing, and that was connected to German miners - Saxons."

http://www.museumbor.org.yu/istorije.htm


"The oldest historical documents of the Southern Slavs say that King Stefan Uros I of Raska brought Germans to the country, as excellent miners. The well-known Saxons were present from the beginning of the 14th century, especially in Kopaonik mining area.
The medieval miners' settlement Stari Trg, near Trepca, was the marketplace for the miners' handicrafts."

http://www.kopaonik.net/eng/_html/ab...lheritage.html

[Vojvoda]

What about the Walser?
They were German farmers that settled in the XIII century in some italian alpine valleys and they still manage to save their original culture.

I have heard that they still speak a XIII century german dialect and that a lot of german antropologist made studies about them and their archaic language.
(as if some italians would speak like Dante Alighieri nowadays)

http://www.eurominority.org/version/...orites=it-wals

http://www.ethnic.isig.it/walita.htm

[Awar]

Janjevci were Croats,not Saxons, who settled in Kosovo

I thought the Janjevci is the name for non-Albanian Catholics in Kosovo, not some specific ethnic group. I figured that most of the Janjevci are probably Saxon.