Lubomir Georgiev
Manifestations of the modern spirit among the Bulgarian Catholics in Transilvania and Banat in the 18th century
Summary
The focus of the lecture is on to main questions. The first one is the status of the Bulgarian woman in both provinces Transilvania and Banat three centuries ago. The second is the way the Bulgarian educational foundations functioned in those provinces.
The sources used in the text are documents from archive fund No. 579 – Leopold Kossilkov – and collection 68 – Bulgarians from Transilvania and Banat – kept in Bulgarian historical archive at St. St. Cyril and Methodius National library, Sofia.
On the basis of these sources the following conclusions are drawn:
– In the 18th century Bulgarian women in Transilvania and Banat had higher social and educational status, than their compatriots in the Ottoman Empire.
– The Bulgarians in those provinces established successful educational foundations moved not only by altruism, but also by strong national consciousness, which resulted in their preservation as ethnos up to the present day.
