Statuta Valachorum ("Vlach Statute(s)", ) was a decree issued by Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsburg monarchy on 5 October 1630 that defined the rights of "Vlachs" (a term used for a community of mostly Orthodox refugees, a term which apart from Vlachs included Serbs and speakers of other languages) in the Military Frontier, in a way that it placed them under direct rule by Vienna, removing the jurisdiction of the Croatian parliament. This was one of three major laws enacted in the early 17th century on the taxation and tenancy rights of the Vlachs, together with the earlier 1608 decree by Emperor Rudolf II and a 1627 decree by Ferdinand.
Background In the mid-16th century, the Military Frontier was established as a buffer against the Ottoman Empire. Balkan refugees, including Orthodox groups such as Serbs, Vlachs and speakers of other languages, crossed into Habsburg lands. The Vlachs left mountainous homelands and settled in the Ottoman conquered territories, from which a large number of them moved to the Habsburg area in Croatia. This process began in the second half of the 16th century with concentration in Upper Slavonia where they lived in accordance with their traditions which later became part of Statuta Valachorum.Karl Kaser; (2012) Household and Family in the Balkans: Two Decades of Historical Family Research at University of Graz p. 123-124; LIT Verlag, Vlachs of Varaždin Generalate were once romanized groups which later gradually became Slavicized and integrated into the Greek Orthodox Church. In the sources fugitives without exception are called Vlachs and names Uskoks, Pribezi, Predavci are rarely used.Karl Kaser; (1997) Slobodan seljak i vojnik: Rana krajiška društva, 1545-1754, (Translation of the work: Freier Bauer und Soldat: die Militarisierung der agrarischen Gesellschaft in der kroatisch - slawonischen Militargrenze: (1535 1881)) p. 91,92; Naprijed, Hrvoje Petrić, ˙(2007), Who are “the Slovenians” or the Slavonians in the Croatian-Slavonian Military Krajina Region during the Seventeenth Century? {Kršćanski doseljenici u vojnokrajiški prostor Varaždinskog generalata s istoka(Slavonije pod osmanskom vlašću) u izvorima se najčešće spominju kao Vlasi ili Predavci, "Christian settlers in the military district of the Varaždin Generalate from the east (Slavonia under Ottoman rule) are most often referred in the sources as Vlachs or Predavci} p. 32 Military colonists were exempted from some obligations and granted small land tracts, and allowed to elect their own captains (vojvode) and magistrates (knezovi). In the second half of the 16th century Vlachs from Slavonia were no longer an exclusive part of population because the Vlach privileges were attractive for many non-Vlachs who mixed with the Vlachs in order to get their status.Karl Kaser; (1997) Slobodan seljak i vojnik: Rana krajiška društva, 1545-1754, (Translation of the work: Freier Bauer und Soldat: die Militarisierung der agrarischen Gesellschaft in der kroatisch - slawonischen Militargrenze: (1535 1881)) p. 93, Naprijed, A large migration of Serbs (called "people of Rascians or Vlachs") into Croatia and Slavonia from Ottoman territory took place in 1600. Vlachs moved to the Varaždin Generalate of the Slavonian Krajina massively and in a very short time from 1597 to 1600.Mirko Valentić, (1992), O etničkom korijenu hrvatskih bosanskih Srba, https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=307683 #page=14 Freedom of religion was promised to all Orthodox settlers. The Habsburg Monarchy was effectively divided into separate civil and military parts with Emperor Ferdinand's granting full civil and military authority of the Military Frontier to a general officer in 1553. This displeased the Hungarian Diet and Croatian nobility, stripped of their authority in the Frontier. The Croatians tried to reduce the Frontier's autonomy; the incorporation of the Frontier into Croatia would mean the loss of status and prerogative of the Grenzers (Frontiersmen).
In 1608, Austrian emperor Rudolf II instituted such a law, under which "Vlachs" of the Military Frontier, regardless of their faith, owed one tenth of their income to the Bishop of Zagreb, and 1/9th to the feudal lords whose land they occupied. This law had little practical effect, but it appeased the Croatian nobility at the time. The heraldic emblem used for these "Vlachs" was the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty coat of arms. Serbs were issued a Vlachs Diploma by Rudolf II after refuge of Arsenije III Crnojević, the heraldic emblem used for these "Vlachs" was the Serbian coat of arms of Nemanjić dynasty.Ştefan Stareţu; Medieval name and ethnicity: Serbs and Vlachs p.81-82 BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA XXII/1 IUS VALACHICUM I In the 1610s and 1620s, there were conflicts between the Vlachs (refugees and Frontiersmen) and the Croatian nobility. The Croatians demanded the abolishment of the Frontier and incorporation into Croatia. In 1627, the Varaždin Grenzer told authorities they "rather be hacked into pieces than be separated from their officers and become subjects of the Croatian nobility". In 1627, emperor Ferdinand II granted the "Vlach people inhabiting the regions of Slavonia and Croatia, the right to stay undisturbed in their settlements and estates"; the Frontier Vlachs were allowed land use regardless of the land's ownership, in an effort to make the Grenzers independent of the Croatian nobility, and more willing to wage wars for him. This decision has been interpreted as a feudalization attempt, and in 1628, it was feared that if the Vlachs left the Frontier for Ottoman Slavonia, the military and economical strength of the Habsburg monarchy would be notably weakened and threatened; at an assembly of ca. 3,400 war-equipped Vlachs (mainly Serbs), it was promised that the Vlachs stay under military organization and be given regulations in form of a statute, thereby regulating their legal status. The next year, the Croatian parliament tried once again to pass a law in which the refugee community be included into the jurisdiction of the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia, however, without results.
In early 1630, representatives of Croatian nobility and Vlachs (Serbs) met in Vienna. The Croatian nobility pressured the Emperor to enact a decree on 10 May in which the Serbs pay the nobility as much as they paid their captains, however, the unhappy Serbs between the Sava and Drava instead gave colonel Trauttmansdorff their own draft, which would regulate relations to the state, and economical, legal and social relations. The War Council established a commission to study this draft. The Austrian court chancellery issued a statement to the emperor on 30 September, in which it is highlighted that "great military importance of the Vlach population accommodated between the Sava and Drava, whose numbers in the last thirty years increased to such extent that they have become the solid bulwark of the Military Frontier against the Turks".
Statute
Based on the Grenzers' petitions and the court statement, Emperor Ferdinand II issued the Statuta Valachorum on 5 October 1630, in effect in the Varaždin generalate, that is, the captaincies of Koprivnica, Križevci and Ivanec. The statute was signed in Regensburg, and was a compromise to the Grenzers' demands. It was given to a delegation of twelve Grenzers, military commanders and clergy. The Orthodox refugee community, called "Vlachs", were mainly Serbs. Privileges of Grenzers (called as "Vlachs" or "Morlachs") on the northern and northwestern border of Bosnia in 1630 was confirmed by Ferdinand II in "Statuta Valachorum".Noel Malcolm; (1995), Povijest Bosne - kratki pregled p. 96-100; Erasmus Gilda, Novi Liber, Zagreb, Dani-Sarajevo, Under Vlach name was and a good part of the local Croatian population while Catholic population in Military Frontier also converted to Orthodoxy.Zlatko Kudelić; (2002) Simeon (1611-1630) - The first uniate bishop of Marča (in Croatian) {u zaključku Hrvatskog Sabora iz 1628. godine, kada su se staleži žalili vladaru da u Krajini pod imenom “Vlaha” živi više starosjedioca (“ljudi naše nacije”), koji su težili doći pod zaštitu krajiških zapovjednika, nego pravih “Vlaha”..."at the conclusion of the Croatian Parliament from 1628, when the classes complained to the ruler that there were more Indigenous people ("our nation's people") living in Military Frontier under name of "Vlach", who sought to come under the protection of Military Frontier commanders than the true "Vlachs".} p. 164 Zlatko Kudelić; (2010) Čaplovičeva povijest Marčanske biskupije (in Croatian) {Tijekom 17. i prve polovice 18. stoljeća pravoslavlje su u Krajini prihvaćali i katolički starosjedioci i katolici doseljeni u nju iz Banske Hrvatske i iz Bosne..During the 17th and the first half of the 18th century, Orthodoxy in Military Frontier was also accepted by Catholic natives and Catholics immigrated to Military Frontier from Kingdom of Croatia and Bosnia} p. 138; Hrvoje Petrić; (2011) The resettlement of „runaway serf in the Varaždin general command. Contribution to the understanding of Early Modern migrations in part of today's northwestern Croatia (in Croatian) {Zagrebački biskup Franjo Ergelski je 1635. tvrdio da je među pravoslavnim Vlasima bila gotovo polovica katolika – dijelom su to bili Slavonci, a dijelom Predavci. Isti biskup se ujedno žalio kako su mnogi kmetovi koji su pobjegli među Vlahe napuštali katoličku vjeru i prelazili na pravoslavlje...The bishop of Zagreb, Franjo Ergelski, claimed in 1635 that almost half of Catholics were among Orthodox Vlachs - partly they were Slavonians and partly Predavci. The same bishop also complained that many of the Croatian serfs who fled among the Vlachs abandoned Catholic faith and convert to Orthodoxy} p. 59; During discussions of the Military Frontier administrative authorities of the Varaždin Generalate, it was established that among the Vlachs fugitives exist Slavonians whose ancestors were serfs who did not flied from the Ottomans and they are mixed among themselves.Karl Kaser; (1997), Slobodan seljak i vojnik: Rana krajiška društva, 1545-1754(in Croatian) p. 94; Naprijed In its essence, the statute enabled for the Vlachs' election of local authorities, an argument for the consideration of the statute as that of a basis for the population's inner autonomy. The local authorities included knezes and judges, as representatives of executive and legislative powers.
The decree laid out the rights and obligations of the settlers that stabilized their status for years after. These rights assumed free land given to the settlers, their civil administration based on the settlers' traditional law. All the rights were given in return for the settlers' military service to the Austrian Emperor. All males over sixteen were obliged to serve militarily. Ferdinand II did not include matters of land ownership in the statute, so that he wouldn't upset Croatian nobility. The goal of Statuta Valachorum was to bring the "Vlachs" under supervision of the imperial court, giving them an appearance of autonomy, despite the fact that the level of self-government they had prior had actually decreased. The Statute created a separate region at the expense of the Croatia-Slavonia province. The statute also included the first delineation of the Varaždin generalate (Slavonian Military Frontier).
Aftermath and legacy