engleski

A fortress, a town, a village? Osijek between Osijeks in the Age of Enlightenment

By the time of the arrival of the imperial army, Osijek was inhabited for more than 500 years in continuity. After almost 4 centuries of domestic Slavic rule came the era of Ottoman domination. In the following one and a half century, the town was mostly reshaped in the oriental approach but it also retained its central medieval urbanistic structure. The third era dawned with the entrance of general Dünnewald corps’ on 29 September 1687 in ghost-town Osijek. Since there were almost no inhabitants left and the war was still at its peak, everything was subdued to imminent military needs. However, imminent evolved to permanent. In the next decades arose a modern fortress as a symbol of new Osijek, serving as a seat of military authorities in Slavonia and, therefore, as one of the bastions of Habsburg power in the neoacquista. During the several periods of construction of the fortress, the most important dating in 1710s, town overall saw a rapid development as a result of huge financial and professional personnel inflow from other parts of the Monarchy. A good deal of burden was transferred onto the local population, which had to conduct unskilled work with barely any compensation, as well as local and surrounding landscape that gave away its precious and valued natural resources. However, despite the rapid growth and development of civil population and administration, military influence remained highly dominant until mid- 18th century. The rise of a new fortress had a long-term consequence - dissolution of a medieval and the birth of a modern Osijek. At the beginning of the 18th century, parts of the town that were outside of the old walls were relocated in two opposite directions at a distance greater than 663 meters. The task was carried out by the military authorities in accordance with the demands of contemporary standards of fortress-building. As a result, by 1704 one historical, legal, and urbanistic entity dissolved into 3 separate municipalities and towns. Namely, Innercity, Lowercity and Uppercity were cameral towns on their own accord, each with their own magistrate, mayor, council, obligations, traditions, fairies and legal rights, as well as different demographic, religious, and economic structures. Consequently, this period saw a complex interrelation of actually 4 separate entities claiming the same generic name, while the military- governed fortress being the first, central, and determining factor in- between civil towns. Hence, a question of Osijek in the Age of Enlightenment could be approached through relations between the fortress and its surrounding domain, as well as examination of common ground and specific structure of each part it contained. Therefore, this glimpse into the 18th century 'Osijek(s)' seeks to identify fundamental processes that placed a milestone in the town’s history, the one which is in many ways very much alive to the present days.

Osijek, fortress, 18th Century, military

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