Ottoman raids on Moravia
Part of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars
Map of the Holy Roman Empire, c. 1648 (Highlights the close proximity of the Ottomans to Moravia and Austria)
Date 1599–1711 Location Margraviate of Moravia, near the Military Frontier, Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Czech Republic) Result Hundreds of thousands enslaved Tens of thousands killed
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire  Crimean Khanate Principality of Transylvania Principality of Upper Hungary Principality of Transylvania	Habsburg monarchy  Kingdom of Bohemia Margraviate of Moravia
Commanders and leaders
Stephen Bocskai Gabriel Bethlen Emeric Thököly Francis Rákóczi	Jean-Louis de Souches Valerián Podstacký Hetman Dombrovského

From 1599 until 1711, the Ottomans and their vassals posed a direct threat to the Margraviate of Moravia, a Crown land of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which was an important state within the Habsburg-ruled Holy Roman Empire. Numerous raids were launched on these lands by the Ottomans, and often encompassed the entirety of the region; but its effects were felt most in the Slovakian and Wallachian cultural subregions of southern and eastern Moravia, nowadays part of the Czech Republic but situated near the Ottoman-Habsburg Military Frontier at the time.

The raids spanned nearly the entirety of Moravia, and often took place concomitantly with Ottoman-Tatar raids into Austria and Silesia.^[1] The Tatars reached as westward as Liechtenstein during these raids, and the joint Ottoman-Tatar forces pillaged Moravian settlements reaching to and beyond the capital of the region (Brno) several times.^[2] In total, tens of thousands were killed whilst hundreds of thousands were enslaved and distributed across the Ottoman Empire to be sold as part of the country's slave trade.

The Moravian-Hungarian border shared several distinct characteristics; most notably, a deeply-felt vulnerability of the region – often portrayed as a "feminine" and endangered Moravia – as a result of constant threats from the Ottomans and their Tatar vassals. Another important aspect of life in the region was resistance against Habsburg rule and their Counter-Reformation efforts against the Protestant populace, which encouraged the rise of brigands, border guards and highlander rebels; all of whom were glorified by the local population. In addition to this, Moravia was embroiled in a conflict with its Vlach minority which revolted multiple times for independence.^[3]

The Military Frontier between the Ottoman and Holy Roman empires was vast, albeit ever-changing. At its peak, it stretched from "Northern Africa via the Mediterranean islands, Italy, and Hungary to the Polish-Lithuanian and Russian territories"^[4] till Bukovina in modern Ukraine.^[5] The Budin and Uyvar Eyalets, situated on the frontier and part of Ottoman Hungary, were very close to Moravia. This allowed for easy joint Ottoman-Tatar raids into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown.

There were increasing calls for unity against the rapidly expanding Ottomans among the Protestant nobilities of Bohemia and Moravia, spiritually headed by Karel the Elder of Zierotin (1564–1636). The danger posed against the Bohemian and Moravian borderlands was made further perilous when Hungarian Protestants sided with the Turks over the Czechs, thus forming a direct connection with the Ottoman border.^[1]

During the Long Turkish War, Tatars (who acted under Ottoman vassalage) raided eastern Moravia for the first time. They mainly plundered the areas around Uherský Brod.^[6]

Before the Treaty of Zsitvatorok in 1609 which ended the Long Turkish War between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans, eastern Moravia was frequently subjected to raids by insurgents aligned with Ottoman vassal Stephen Bocskai, Prince of Transylvania. These rebels, consisting of soldiers and mercenaries who fought alongside the Ottomans against the Habsburgs, often adopted the dress style of the Janissaries, reinforcing their direct association with the Ottomans. Tens of thousands were enslaved by Bocskai's army and distributed across the Ottoman Empire to be sold (especially at Istanbul, Ottoman Hungary, and the Kefe Eyalet) as part of the Ottoman slave trade).^[7]

Pavel Urbanides of Rohatce (b. 1610), a contemporary scholar, describes the events:

In 1605… the 4th sunday after Easter [25 April]… just half past three in the night… they rushed on us from (the direction of) Skalica, and they immediately began to slay us, to take away our goods. Some were beaten so hard that they died in their hands; women and virgins were disgraced, and the Hungarians sold them to the Tatars. Cities, towns, villages, yards, mills, and huts were burned. This day we saw the whole Moravian and Austrian landscape on fire, almost turned into ruins… Tatars, Turks and Hungarians broke across the Slavic and Moravian borders to (the town of) Uherský Brod, and wanted the city to be subjugated to them… then they beat the drunken guard, quietly entering the town of Strážnice, knocking on the houses of the richest burghers, killing all who opened the door.^[8]

In 1623, Ottoman vassal Gabriel Bethlen raided Moravia alongside Turkish Janissaries. Only a week before his army set out for Moravia from Gyulafehérvár, the battle of Stadtlohn had taken place on 6 August 1623 where a large Protestant force under the command of Christian Brunswick were defeated as part of the Thirty Years' War. Unfazed, Bethlen carried out his raid despite being aware that he would not be reinforced with Protestant Union forces. He successfully captured Košice, Trnava and even Hodonín in Moravia temporarily. A truce which would last until September 1624 was signed between him and Emperor Ferdinand II two weeks after the capture of Hodonin.^[9] Bethlen enslaved over 10,000 people during his offensive. They were once again mostly sold in Istanbul, Ottoman Hungary, and the Kefe Eyalet.^[10] The Moravian slaves were highly sought after by the Ottoman populace (alongside those from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, of whom 1 million were enslaved from 1500 to 1644 by Ottoman-Tatar raids).^[8][11]

During the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664), there was panic among the Moravian population surrounding a joint Ottoman-Tatar raid. This fear was justified as three separate raids were realised on Moravia (which occurred concomitantly with the raids on Austria, Silesia, and Upper Hungary) by the Ottomans and Tatars between August and October 1663.^[12] The Ottoman force that raided Moravia (numbering 10,000 and mainly composed of Tatars and akinjis) broke away from Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha's main army after he reasserted control over Wallachia and Moldavia, and crossed the Váh via Považská Bystrica into Moravia.^[6][13] Even though the Turks most likely did not capture a fortress in these 1663 raids, Moravia was heavily plundered and the Tatars reached as far as Liechtenstein. These raids were the most devastating Ottoman attacks in Moravian history.^[2][14]

In August 1663, a contingent of 6,000 Tatars and Turks ravaged the cities of Trnava, Freistadt, and St. Georgen, abducting and killing many across Austria, Silesia, Moravia, and Upper Hungary. Prisoners from the regions of Mikulov (Nikolsburg), Brno (Brunn), and Olomouc (Olmutz) were forcibly transported to Landshut. In September, the Ottomans and Tatars returned to plunder Mikulov, Ravensburg, and Brno. The Tatars reached as far westwards as to the estates of the Dietrichstein and Liechtenstein princes; their land suffered extensive damage, with 32 villages burned in Liechtenstein. An estimated 12,000 captives were taken and most were sold at Nové Zámky in the Uyvar Eyalet as part of the Ottoman slave trade.^[15]

Following this, an Ottoman-Tatar force launched another offensive toward Bratislava (Pressburg), setting fire to the villages of St. Georgen and Geiersdorf (in Austria), crossing the Váh and descending via the Rosinsko pass toward Hradisko. In this raid, a force of approximately 14,000 (including Janissaries, Tatars, and Hussars) struck the region between Brno and Valašské Klobouky, capturing an additional 2,000 people.^[16]

Before the last major Ottoman incursion into Moravia in October 1663, the Czech nobilities reinforced the castles and garrisons of the borderlands with the help of Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, the reputed Governor of Špilberk Castle. He was made a Field marshal of the Imperial Army in 1664 due to his role in defending the region. Since the rural population had to pay for the construction and reinforcing of these forts alongside the wages of the garrisons, many revolted due to their poor economic conditions. After the rebellion was suppressed, most of them were imprisoned in the towers of the castles of Moravia.^[17]

On 6 October 1663, a Turkish-Tatar army clashed with 200 Wallachian border guards and dozens of mercenaries near the town of Starý Hrozenkov. They were headed by Valerián Podstacký and Hetman Dombrovského. The Wallachian force was destroyed and the battle resulted in an Ottoman victory after nearly all the border guards were wiped out. After this, the Turko-Tatar force pillaged settlements as far as the Moravian capital, Brno. The populace was devastated, fleeing with their possessions for protection to nearby forests, mountains, and fortresses.^[8][17]

In total, over 40,000 people (mostly young people) were enslaved by the Turks in Moravia in 1663. The cities of Uherský Brod, Uherské Hradiště, Břeclav, Hustopeče, and Hodonin among many others were heavily pillaged, burned, and damaged; dozens^[a] of towns and villages were also burned to the ground. Thousands were killed in the process.^[6]

Contemporary author Václav František Letocha (1669–1738) wrote about the raids:

Turks and Tatars broke into Austria and Moravia; they murdered, burned, and captured the people. What fear, anguish, fleeing, worry, hiding, running and persecution – it cannot be said. For there was nothing to see but fire, burning, slaughter and destruction. Neither in the woods or in the mountains, nobody could be sure of their safety because (Turks) through their wicked interpreters [Czech-speaking renegades in the Ottoman army] tried to lure people out of their hidings, out of the crevices and forests, calling for them.^[19]

In the wake of these raids and the Turkish victory in the 1663–1664 war, the Ottomans gained considerable land that formerly belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary (Upper Hungary), thus inching even closer to Moravia. In 1668, Hungarian Catholic baron Franz III. Nádasdy expresses the dilemma of the Hungarian nation in a 1668 pamphlet:^[20]

Our protector [Vienna] obviously knows that the Turks will tear us apart unless we submit. Now we desperately cry out and say: 'Either protect us or let us submit!'. But the answer is threatening: 'We do not let you submit'. And of protection no mention is made, since there is nothing they could protect us with... Look and judge, Christian World, what is the soul that wilfully lets this be so, and even promotes this by suitable action.

During the second siege of Vienna in 1683, another destructive raid was launched on Moravia and Austria by the Ottomans (whose raiding forces were mainly composed of Tatars); albeit slightly less intense than the raids 20 years earlier.^[21] A force comprising 2,000 infantry and 1,000 dragoons was mobilized to defend the country, with Wallachian forces also standing ready. Despite these efforts, the strength of the forces proved inadequate, and the Ottoman raid extended as far as Brno, Přerov, and Nový Jičín. Ottoman vassal Emeric Thököly's forces were also involved in the pillaging.^[22]

Moravia was prone to Ottoman and especially Tatar raids (although of a lower scale) until the end of Francis II Rákóczi's war of independence. Rákóczi was Prince of Transylvania, which the Ottomans lost in 1699 after the Treaty of Karlowitz; he would later flee to Tekirdağ after his failed rebellion. The Ottoman threat to Moravia essentially ended with Rákóczi's downfall because the Turks were no longer as close to Moravia as they used to be after the fateful Great Turkish War; and with their ally Rákóczi's uprising having failed, they no longer had direct access to the region.^[23]

Overall, during the numerous Ottoman raids on Moravia, tens of thousands were killed whilst hundreds of thousands were enslaved and sold as part of the Ottoman slave trade. Women were raped, many were tortured, and young people were taken captive. These events are said to have caused transgenerational trauma among the Moravian and even the Bohemian populations of the early modern era.^[14]

Upon hearing news of the second siege of Vienna in 1683, suicide rates dramatically increased across Moravia; especially in the western city of Jihlava. Thousands of Bohemian villagers fled to Prague in droves to seek refuge from the "Ottoman menace".^[24]

Many Jews were enslaved in the Ottoman raids on Moravia, especially in Mikulov. However, their fate generally differed from the enslaved Christians since they were often bought by Ottoman Jews^[b] and sent back to their homeland. A contemporary author writes:^[27]

[…] the wife of one Nikolsburg [Mikulov] inhabitant, Yitzhak Eizik b. HR’R Tanchum, fell into the captivity of the Kedariyim [Tatars] and Yishmaelim [Muslims; Ottomans in this case] with a young son, during the war turmoil in the Moravian land in 5424 [1663]. [They were] among other captives; men, women, and children that were dragged and oppressed. Behold, in God’s mercy more than half of these captives were redeemed, and they returned to their land.

After the failed siege of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs launched an invasion into Ottoman Hungary. On 9 September 1686, they successfully wrested from Turkish control the city of Buda, which had a large Moravian and Bohemian Jewish population (many of whom were captured during the raids on Moravia). In the process, they massacred the Turkish and Jewish populations of the city. Half of the Jewish community were killed, mainly for fighting side-by-side with the Turks^[28] who they saw as allies since they were more tolerant to Jews than Christian Europe.^[29] Most of the remaining Jews in Buda and Ottoman Hungary joined the retreating Turks since it was prohibited by the Habsburgs for Jews to live in Buda.^[30] The Jews who were not massacred were sent to Vienna, Bratislava, or Mikulov in Moravia by the Germans with the help of court Jew Samuel Oppenheimer and Prague native Sender Tausk, who was also Jewish.^[31]

The transgenerational trauma caused by the Ottoman raids are said to have "echoed" among the Moravian and Bohemian populace in the next decades.^[14] This is reflected in the abundance of references to the raids and Turks in general in Czech folklore.

Many war songs, ballads, and poems were written of the Ottoman-Tatar raids; nearly all of which contain the motif of Turks as "terrible" invaders and kidnappers, such as that of a "kidnapped bride". One of the popular songs tells of how a brother and sister reunite unexpectedly after being in Ottoman captivity for years. The motif of the "kidnapped Janissary" was also popular; the mother of a Czech child meets her child who was kidnapped as part of the Ottoman raids, and the son recognises her by the lullaby she used to sing when he was a child. Another well-known ballad was that of the "fighter-girl"; the youngest girl of the household fights against the Turks instead of her old father. She defeats the invading force under the disguise of a soldier and eventually becomes the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.^[32]

These songs and ballads were often performed in front of a large audience at markets and fairs, where they imitated the Ottoman language. Some notable ballads include:^[33]

The Turk goes through Moravia, his sabre glittering; Moravians run away, their shoes whistling.

"Eat me, oh fish of the Danube, eat me, for I would rather be dead than to be the Turk's wife." The mother of the Turk replies: "why did you drown, oh my bride, you could have lived here, lying in gold and silk".

Do they play music, or do the Turks come? The musicians don’t play, but the Turks come; they are arriving, oh my God, they are coming for me. Wait, Turks, at the door; I must ask my mother, my father.

O widow, do you feel sorry for your children? I miss my youngest one, the most precious flower.

The scenario of a well-known song was that of a Turkish mother lamenting over the escaping or death of her Moravian bride:^[34]

The old Turkish woman cried a lot: why were you so afraid of me, my bride?

You did not have to do anything but count golden ducats

At home, you walked on black earth; but here, you walked on white marble

What were you so afraid of? Seven large farms, nine castles?

You would not have walked on mud, but on soft carpets

You would not have worked hard, but dressed in laces, you would have embroidered with silver and gold

You would not have suffered from hunger, but you would have drank coffee from crystal cups

If you came to the Turkish country, you would have died on a silk bed.

The Ottoman practice of luring individuals from hiding by using their native language had also become a prominent motif in Czech folklore, especially during and after the second siege of Vienna in 1683.^[19]

Many proverbs arose in Moravia after the raids, especially amongst the Wallachian population of the region. Some of them include: to "beat as a Turk" (without mercy), to "come/go as a Turk" (in a hurry) to "play as pandurs" (to beat someone severely), and to refer to a disorderly family as a "Turkish household". Another popular proverb was "a Turkified one is worse than a Turk"; this refers to Stephen Bocskai's and other armies of Transylvanian princes loyal to the Ottoman Empire.^[35]

Following the three raids of 1663, three miraculous events connected to the Mongol invasion of 1241 were invented. These religious myths separately surrounded the locations of Hostýn hill, Štramberk and the Kotouč hill, as well as Olomouc. All of them refer to a Tatar invasion of 1241, a nonexistent event which can be traced back only to writings and sayings in the 1660s. These sites were popular pilgrimage locations for a long period.^[36]

Society in the early modern Crown lands of the Kingdom of Bohemia was dominated by the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Many works written in the Latin, German, and Czech languages reinforced the image of the Turks as the archenemy of Christendom. Books, newspapers, songs, sermons, chronicles, travelogues, memoirs, and polemics of the time stressed the unity of Christians against the Ottomans (despite major sectarian conflicts). Nevertheless, the amount of anti-Ottoman works written in Bohemia and Moravia pales in comparison to those produced in Austria; especially in the regions of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.^[37]

• Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe
• Ottoman raids in Friuli
• Sack of Baltimore
• Turkish Abductions
• Slave raid of Suðuroy
• Slavery in the Ottoman Empire

• Cartledge, Bryan (2011). The Will to Survive: A History of Hungary. New York City: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231702249.
• Hladký, Ladislav; Stehlík, Petr (2021). "The 'Turkish Threat' and Early Modern Central Europe: Czech Reflections". In Šístek, František [in Czech] (ed.). Imagining Bosnian Muslims in Central Europe: Representations, Transfers and Exchanges. Austrian and Habsburg Studies. New York City: Berghahn Books. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2tsxjpq. ISBN 9781789207750. JSTOR j.ctv2tsxjpq.5.
• Košťálová, Petra (2022). Chmurski, Mateusz; Dmytrychyn, Irina (eds.). "Contested Landscape: Moravian Wallachia and Moravian Slovakia. An Imagology Study on the Ottoman Border Narrative". Revue des études slaves. 93 (1). OpenEdition: 99–124. doi:10.4000/res.5138. ISSN 2117-718X. JSTOR 27185958.
• Somer, Tomáš (2018). "Forging the Past: Facts and Myths Behind the Mongol Invasion of Moravia in 1241". Golden Horde Review. 6 (2). Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc: 238–251. doi:10.22378/2313-6197.2018-6-2.238-251.
• Younger, Markéta P. (2015). Grochal, Matej (ed.). "Mobility of Jewish Captives between Moravia and the Ottoman Empire in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century" (PDF). Judaica Olomucensia (2). Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc. ISSN 1805-9139.