Raci

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For other meanings, see Raci/RACI and Rac/RAC (disambiguation pages)

Raci (Раци, Rác, Rácok, Ratzen, Ratzians, Rasciani, Rascians) was a name used to designate Serbs in Middle Ages and the early modern times. The name was primary used by Hungarians and Germans and it derived from the name of medieval Serbian principality – Raška (Rascia) ^[1]. The southern parts of the Pannonian Plain were also named Raška (Rascia in Latin or Ráczság in Hungarian).

Contents 1 History of usage 2 Literature 3 See also 4 References 5 External links 6 Maps

[edit] History of usage

Since the 15th century, the Serbs made up a large percentage of the population on the territory of present-day Vojvodina. Because of this, many historical sources and maps, which were written and drawn between 15th and 18th centuries, mention the territory of present-day Vojvodina under the names of Rascia (Raška) and Little Raška. The name Rascia was also used to designate parts of Slavonia populated by Serbs.

According to one historical record from 1543, Timişoara and Arad were located in the middle of Rascia (in medio Rascionarum).

In official Habsburg documents from the 18th century the people of Vojvodina were mentioned as Nation Rasciana ("Rascian nation").

During the Kuruc War (1703-1711) of Francis II Rakoczi, the territory of present-day Vojvodina was a battlefield between Hungarian soliders and Bunjevci who fought on the side of the Habsburg Emperor. Darvas, the prime military commander of these soldiers and knights, which fought against rebels in Vojvodina, wrote: We burned all large places of Rascia, on the both banks of the rivers Danube and Tisa.

When the representatives of the Vojvodinian rebels negotiated with the Hungarian leader Lajos Kossuth in 1848, they asked him not to call them Raci, because they regard this name insulting.

The initial name of the city of Novi Sad (Ratzen Stadt) has also derived from the name Raci. The Tabán quarter of Budapest was also called Rácváros in the 18th-19th centuries.

Since the 19th century, the term Raci is no longer widely used.

[edit] Literature

• Drago Njegovan, Prisajedinjenje Vojvodine Srbiji, Novi Sad, 2004.
• Milan Tutorov, Mala Raška a u Banatu, Zrenjanin, 1991.
• Rascia, Časopis o Srbima u Vojvodini, godina I, broj 1, Vršac, Maj 1996.
• Lazo M. Kostić, Srpska Vojvodina i njene manjine, Novi Sad, 1999.

[edit] See also

• Serbs
• Raška (state)
• Rascia
• History of Vojvodina
• History of Serbia

[edit] References

1. ^ [Projekat Rastko] Jovanka Kalic - Rascia - The Nucleus of the Medieval Serbian State

[edit] External links

• Map from 1661 showing name Rascia in Banat and Syrmia
• The Serbs outside Serbia - a preservation of cultural identity
• Jaša Tomić - Monografija mesta

[edit] Maps

Map from 1590, in which name Rascia is located in Banat

Map from the first half of the 17th century, in which name Rascia is located in Banat

Map of Banat with the name Rasciani

Map of Novi Sad (Ratzen Stadt) from 1745