By the 14th century, Byzantine and Western sources used names such as “(Great) Vlachia” to denote Thessaly, reflecting the prominence of Vlach/Aromanian pastoral groups in the region and their association with transhumant lifeways.
John II Doukas (Angelos Doukas) ruled Thessaly from 1303 to 1318; Latin and Greek usages linking Thessaly with “Great Vlachia” indicate how Vlach/Aromanian-populated uplands and transhumant pastoral economies remained central to the region’s identity.
Documents in the Kingdom of Hungary recorded ius valachicum (“Vlach law”) in the 14th century—legal custom associated with communities practicing transhumant pastoralism—illustrating how Vlach-linked herding institutions were formalized at state frontiers and in mountain zones.
In the 18th century, Moscopole (Voskopojë) became a major cultural and commercial center closely associated with Aromanians, helping link transhumant pastoral wealth (wool, livestock products) with regional trade and urban institutions.
The Treaty of Passarowitz (1718) transferred substantial Balkan territories from the Ottoman Empire to Austria, altering border regimes and security conditions that affected movement corridors, markets, and frontier obligations relevant to pastoral and transhumant populations.
A printing house operated at Moscopole—described as the first in the Ottoman Balkans outside Constantinople—supporting religious and educational publishing. Scholarship commonly gives 1720 or 1731 as the founding date, reflecting uncertainty in the record.
The New Academy (Greek Academy) in Moscopole was established in the mid-18th century and became a notable educational institution in the Ottoman Balkans, illustrating how Aromanian-associated towns could sustain schools alongside long-standing seasonal pastoral mobility.
Moscopole was attacked and nearly destroyed in 1769, a major blow to a key Aromanian-associated urban hub; subsequent displacement helped spread Aromanian merchant and pastoral networks into other Balkan towns.
The New Academy of Moscopole closed after the 1769 wave of destruction, signaling how insecurity and violence could abruptly disrupt the educational and commercial institutions that had grown alongside Vlach/Aromanian regional mobility and trade.
A further catastrophic attack in 1788 culminated in the city’s destruction and flight of population, a pivotal episode in the growth of an Aromanian diaspora and the reconfiguration of transhumant and merchant communities across the Balkans.
Kruševo, described as an unimportant settlement before, received notable Aromanian resettlement waves linked to the destruction of Moscopole (commonly cited 1769 and 1788), contributing to its development as a crafts-and-trade center in the late Ottoman Balkans.
The Tanzimat reform era (beginning in 1839) aimed to modernize and centralize the Ottoman state through changes to taxation, law, and administration—shifts that could affect customary arrangements under which transhumant pastoralists negotiated obligations, mobility, and local autonomy.
Vlach and Aromanian Transhumant Shepherding in the Balkans (14th–19th centuries)
