Abstract

In the 14th century, the influx of Muslim coins from Asia Minor and later from South-eastern Europe into Bulgaria increased, with those of the Ottoman Empire prevailing. In the period from the 14th until the first half of the 15th century, their monetary system consisted of two types of coins: a silver akche and a copper mangyr. At the end of the 14th century, and in the following centuries, Ottoman coins would play a dominant role in the conquered Balkan states deprived of their own coinage. Here, they remained the main denominations for trade until the end of the 17th century.
An overview of the data on the circulation of Ottoman coins in the period between the 1320s and the beginning of the 1420s outlines the general picture of their distribution in line with the stages of the Ottoman invasion of the Bulgarian lands.
Until the Ottomans set foot on the Balkan Peninsula in the 1350s, there were almost no Ottoman coins in circulation in the Bulgarian markets, although some akches of the earlier mintings of Orhan (1326 – 1359) show that individual specimens nevertheless reached Bulgaria. The late emissions of this sultan from the fifth decade of the 14th century have a more marked influx. Judging by the few coin hoards and single finds from North-eastern Bulgaria, it is very likely that some of them had been brought by sea.
Until the 80s of the 14th century, when the Ottomans subjugated, in one or another form, most of today’s Bulgarian lands, their coins were not widespread here; however, from the 70s of that century, the coins of Murad I (1359 – 1389) already mark a significant growth in quantity compared to the earlier Murad and Orhan issues. Murad I’s type III akches minted in the 1380s and their synchronous mangyrs were introduced en masse and became common in Bulgaria.
The culmination of the Ottoman monetary circulation in the Bulgarian lands during the period under consideration was during the reign of Bayezid I (1389 – 1402). His silver and copper issues circulated parallel to the issues of the last Bulgarian kings – Ivan Shishman (1371 – 1395) and Ivan Sratsimir (1356 – 1396), and the coins of some other Balkan rulers.
The defeat of Bayezid I at Ankara changed the situation. The akches of Emir Süleyman (1402 – 1411) who succeeded him in Rumelia, were less common. However, the emir’s mangyrs were widespread and show the maintenance of small trade contacts in Rumelia, though it was torn by strife. They were not distributed evenly throughout Bulgarian territory. The coins were much more common in the eastern parts of the country, which is most likely related to the large, compact groups of Ottoman and other Turkish and Muslim settlers establishing themselves there.
In the second decade of the 15th century, a collapse of the coin circulation occurred. The desolation of the country during the time of Musa Ҫelebi (1411 – 1413) was not the only cause for that. As early as the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria in the last quarter of the 14th century, its economic and commercial structure was gradually destroyed. Some areas were depopulated, a general economic decline set in, and the limited trade contacts of the Bulgarian population were probably conducted via a barter system of goods exchange. Issues belonging to Mehmed I (1413 – 1421) in the territory of today’s Bulgaria were greatly reduced compared to the coins of Emir Süleyman.
With Murad II (1421 – 1451) ascending to the throne in 1421, and with the suppression of the mutinies at the beginning of his reign, a new situation in the political and economic status of the Ottoman Sultanate was established. Significant coinage production was implemented at many places in Asia Minor and the Balkans, and the overall production of coins increased considerably. This is reflected in the numerous coin finds containing silver and copper issues in today’s Bulgarian lands.

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¹ Тази статия е написана през 2006 г. от починалия на 6 март 2011 г. колега Лъчезар Лазаров (кратка биогарфия и библиогравия виж у Кръстева 2011, 163 – 167). Неин превод на английски език трябваше да бъде публикуван през 2008 г. в международен сборник с нумизматични изследвания, посветен на 75-годишнината от рождението на проф. Дейвид Меткалф (1933 – 2018). Ръкописът на български
език беше предоставен на Игор Лазаренко от Регионалния исторически музей – Варна за ползване и цитиране с бележката, че е под печат. Замисленият сборник не беше реализиран и текстът на Л. Лазаров остана неиздаден, но беше използван и цитиран в нумизматични и исторически изследвания (Жекова 2008, 80, 99; Русев 2012, 315 – 316, 582). Въпреки че от 2006 до 2021 г. бяха отпечатани редица статии по темата, настоящият материал все още е актуален. Наблюденията и изводите, направени в него, се потвърждават от намерените при разкопки, описани или съобщени в различни по-нови издания ранни османски монети. По тази
причина редколегията на „Известия на Народния музей – Варна“ го публикува с минимални стилови корекции и добавени статии, отпечатани след 2006 г. Промените в оригиналния текст, добавената литература към него, картите и таблата са направени от Иг. Лазаренко. (Бел.ред.)
2 Искам да изкажа благодарността си към колегите, които съдействаха за написването на настоящата статия: Иг. Лазаренко, Валери Йотов и Валентин Плетньов (РИМ – Варна); Иван Карайотов (РИМ – Бургас); Женя Жекова (РИМ – Шумен);
Мариана Минкова (РИМ – Ст. Загора); Димчо Момчилов (Исторически музей – Карнобат); Маргарита Андонова (РИМ – Благоевград); Ирко Петров и Николай Колев (РИМ – Хасково); Христо Басамаков (ИМ – Асеновград). Най-сърдечно благодаря и на колекционерите Васил Василев от Велики Преслав; Георги Димитров от Шумен; В. Велчев от Ст. Загора; Евгени Добрев от Варна