BETWEEN THE BALKANS AND HUNGARY: BAČ AS THE SECOND SEAT OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF KALOCSA-BAČ UNDER OTTOMAN RULE DURING THE 16th AND 17th CENTURIES

Abstract

After the campaign of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1526, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary effectively ceased to exist. Ferdinand of Habsburg and John Szapolyai fought for supremacy in Hungary and a series of Habsburg-Ottoman wars began, which would last, with minor and major interruptions, for almost 150 years. In this article, I will introduce to Serbian historiography how the fortress of Bač (which was owned by the archbishops of Kalocsa) and the town of Bač, as the second centre of the archdiocese, came under the rule of the Ottomans. The second aim is to present how the archbishops of Kalocsa dealt with the Catholics in Bač and its surroundings during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Last, we will present and summarize our research into how the archbishops of Kalocsa taxed the former archbishop’s estates in Bačka. I will also touch on the beginnings of missionary work in Bač, which was organized in Rome by the Congregation for Propagation of the Faith.

Keywords

• Bač, fortress of Bač, Archdiocese of Kalocsa-Bač, archbishops of Kalocsa, Ottoman Empire, Catholics in Ottoman Bačka, Catholic taxation in Ottoman Bačka, church history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries