Knežina and the Nahi of Knežina in the Past and the Plastic Art

Abstract

There is a number of settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in the Ottoman period developed into towns, acquired the status of a kasaba (a township), and then lost their importance, and were reduced to a common village, while some of them disappeared completely. Such was the case with Knežina in eastern Bosnia which used to be a village, then a small town, then again a village.

Rise and fall. Knežina was mentioned for the first time in 1468/69, as a village of 15 households of tax-payers, Christians, which at the same time meant, that it was an already established mediaeval community. The village grew in the number of the households in the subsequent year, and the process of islamisation had begun. Thurs, in 1489, 27 tax-paying households were registered, 17 of which were Moslem, which meant that the Moslem population had already been dominant at that time. In the course of the 16^th century, Knežina developed into a township of the kasaba type, and it obtained that status primarily owing to the construction of a mosque, an elementary religious school (mekteb), road-inn (han) and by having a weekly market day (bazar) established. All the above had been built and Organized before 1563, when. Knežina was mentioned as a kasaba for the first time. Until that time a public bath (hammam) must have been built. The main edifice of public charade1r was the mosque, built by Sultan Selim I (1512-1520), or Selim II (1566-1574). Aocrding to the historical sources there used to be five independent foundations (waqf) which lent money at the rate of 100%, at the end of the 16th century. The money was mostly used by the tradesman of Knežina. Wine-growing was the most prominent crop, and the yield was very good. In the middle of the 17th century the town had about 300 households, and there were four mosques, among other things.

Knežina was destroyed by plunder and fire. There is a very vivid tradition about those events in the village and its surroundings. In 1692/193, the place was mentioned as a town for the last time, while in 1711 it was mentioned as a village. By the analysis of the historical circumstances it can be established that Knežina was over-run and burnt down in the well-known Austrian-Turkish War 1683-1699. Therefore, the town declined not .because of economic or some other processes, but it was destroyed physically.

Great epidemics of Black Death was the reason why the community could not recover again, as well as the fact, that Knežina was not located on an important road. Both, life and development in the ruined town were paralyzed because of the combination of factors: plunder, burning, plague, starvation and closed economy.

Government and courts-of-law. In the course of the 15th and the 16th century, Knežina and the area around it had been the part of ·the county (naihi) of Olovo, in the region (kadiluk) od Višegrad. However, in the second half of the 16th century, a new “kadiluk”, the name of which contained the name of Knežina as well, was formed, i. e. “Kadiluk” of Birač and Knežina. From that time on, Knežina was mentioned as a county (nahi) in the mentioned “kadiluk”. The town of Knežina used to be the seat of that “kadiluk”, which can be noticed from its name. A place-name in the town itself, indicates that there was a separate building there, that served as a court-of-law.

Historical monuments. The only building preserved from the former town of Knežina is Sultan Selim's Mosque, which having been built of stone, could not be burnt down. It is an example of the massive dome structure with tall minaret, also made of stone.

Both, as a whole, and in detail, it has all the valuable features of sacral architecture which predominated in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Especially valuable is the door of the gate and the chair (kurs) on 'the wood-carving in the interior, both of which are 16th century originals. The lead from the roof had been taken off for the army, most probably during the mentioned war, so that the mosque was covered by the wooden roof. It is also probable that the top of the stone-minaret had been damaged at the same time, and was later repaired into the present unusual wooden top.

Moslem tombs-stones (nišan) are of special value. There are several cemeteries in the vicinity of the village. They are rather tall (up to 383 cm!). Their shape and relief-decorations differ very much from the tomb-stones in other parts of the Ottoman Empire. The relief is not the pure ornament, but it has definite emblematic character. Judging by all the above, and especially by the emblematic decorations, those are the oldest Moslem tomb-stones in Bosnia. They were erected in the 15th and the 16th century on the tombs of the first generations of Moslems - local people. The all-over artistic impression they give, indicates the direct continuation of the mediaeval Bosnian and Herzegovinian “Stećci” (Bogumil tomb-stones), which are also numerous in that region.