Servia, a kingdom of the Balkan Peninsula, bounded N. by the Danube, separating it from Hungary, W. by the Drina, separating it from Bosnia, S. by Turkey, and E. by Bulgaria and Roumania, the Danube flowing between Servia and the last named. It is a compact territory, with an area of 18,754 sq. m., measuring 140 miles from east to west by 110 from north to south. The surface is on the whole mountainous. There are, however, few well-defined mountain-chains, except along the frontiers, where also the highest peaks occur—e.g. the Kapaonik Mountains (6382 feet) in the southwest; but there are a great number of isolated mountain peaks and mountain groups, clothed in many parts with fine forests (12 per cent. of the total area) of oak, beech, walnut, chestnut, and other trees, and parted by fertile valleys, which afford excellent pasturage to numerous herds of cattle and sheep. The districts next Bulgaria and Bosnia are more wild and difficult than the central parts, through which passes the principal highway of the country, the valley of the Morava, stretching south-east from the Danube. Servia is essentially an agricultural country. Of the total area 58½ per cent. is set apart for cultivation, the principal crops being wheat, maize, and other cereals, and grapes for wine (annual production million gallons). Nearly 12 per cent. of the total is, however, uncultivated or lying waste. The extensive mountain pastures have been already mentioned. Fruit trees exist in very great abundance, especially plums (annual crop 25,000 tons), which are dried and exported to a value between £250,000 and £500,000 a year, and from which also the brandy of the Servians (slovovitzza) is extensively made. Large herds of swine are fed on the acorns of the oak forests, and then driven into Hungary (mostly to Pesth) to be sold. Great numbers of cattle and sheep are kept, the former being exported to the value of nearly £250,000 annually. The remaining exports of consequence embrace wheat and other cereals (£150,000 to £430,000 annually), hides, wine, wool, timber, cordage, and sheep. The total exports for the six years ending 1890 averaged £1,589,000 annually. The imports consist principally of cottons, woollens, salt, timber, iron, steel, and other metals, hides, sugar, coffee, glass, paper, tobacco, machinery, &c., and range from £2,067,800 (1886) to £1,862,440 (1897). In addition to this there is a rapidly growing transit trade (£29,000 in 1887 and £633,760 in 1896). By far the greater portion of the foreign trade of Servia is in the hands of Austria-Hungary, and is concentrated at Belgrade, the capital of the country. But a little is done by Nisch, the chief town of southern Servia, by rail (since 1889) through Salonica (q.v.). The manufacturing industry is still in its infancy, though the government are trying to encourage it by the system of monopolies. There are, however, now in operation flour-mills, breweries, brick-works, cooperages, sawmills, and factories for making cloth, paper, tobacco, and gunpowder. Clothing and carpets are made by the women in their own homes. The country is naturally rich in minerals, though they are not extracted to anything like the extent they might be; nevertheless coal, lignite, quicksilver, lead, silver, antimony, copper, and oil shales are mined. Along the valley of the Morava passes part of the chief railway line connecting Vienna with Constantinople. This, together with three or four short branch-lines, gives to Servia a total of 334 miles of railway.
The Servians are a well-built, stalwart race, proud and martial by temperament, with a warm love of home and country, of dance and song, hospitable, brave, and energetic, but at the same time quick-tempered and prone to violence. They are a primitive people, cling to old customs and beliefs, and are thoroughly democratic in their institutions. The most striking feature of their social life is the family community or Zadruga. The farms are all small in size, and the agriculture is backward and primitive. There are no paupers, no asylums, no 'homes' in Servia. Pop. (1884) 1,901,736; (1898) 2,384,205, including some 150,000 Roumanians, 34,000 Gypsies, and 25,000 of other nationalities. Besides these there are some 250,000 Servians (Serbs, Sorbs) in Montenegro, 1,300,000 in Herzegovina, and 2,350,000 in Austria-Hungary. The people of Servia belong to the Greek Catholic Church. The highest authority of the Servian church is the national synod, consisting of the Archbishop of Belgrade (metropolitan of Servia) and the bishops of Nisch and Zica. Education does not reach a very high standard, and is not generally diffused, although attendance at the primary schools is free and compulsory. Besides a university (at Belgrade) with less than 300 students, there are a military academy, a theological seminary, an agricultural, a commercial, and some technical schools. The elementary schools number nearly 914, and are attended (1893-94) by about 77,000 children.
Servia is a constitutional and hereditary mon- archy. The king or the regency acts as the sole executive, through eight ministers (for Foreign Affairs, War, Finance, Justice, Interior, Political Economy, Public Works, Religion and Education), who are responsible to the nation. The legislative power is vested in the king and the National Assembly. This last, called the Skupshina, consists of deputies elected by the people every third year, one for every 4500 voters in each province. Besides this body there is a senate of sixteen members, eight chosen by the king and eight by the National Assembly; this body acts as a permanent state council. On extraordinary occasions four members are returned by every constituency instead of one. The national income in 1898 was £2,752,980, the expenditure £2,752,902, and in the same year the public debt amounted £16,381,500. The army, armed from 1892 with the Männlicher rifle, embraces all men capable of bearing arms between the ages of twenty and fifty, divided into three classes: the regular army with a total war strength of 160,000, the first reserve of 126,000, and the second reserve of 66,000. The French (metrical) system of weights and measures is in use, and the coinage system of the Latin union, though the 'franc' is called dinar, and is divided into 100 paras.
See Gopević, Serbien und die Serben (1888); Laveleye, The Balkan Peninsula (Eng. trans. Lond. 1887); E. de Borchgrave, Le Royaume de Serbie (Brussels, 1883); Kanitz, Serbien (Leip. 1868); Denton, Servia and the Servians (Lond. 1862); and the consular reports on the trade of Servia.
HISTORY.—The Servians emigrated from the slopes of the Carpathians to the regions now called Servia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina in the year 638, and not long afterwards accepted Christianity in the form adopted by the Eastern or Byzantine Church. The rulers of the people during the following four hundred years were powerful feudal lords, of whom now one, now the other, exercised the chief authority. Sometimes they were in subjection, in whole or in part, to the Byzantine emperors; but all through they steadily strove for the preservation of their independence, and in the long run successfully withstood the power of Byzantium, as well as resisted the unceasing attacks of the Bulgarians. Like most Eastern Christians, the people cherished an unconquerable aversion to the Latin Church and its head, the pope; and from the last years of the 12th century the Servians elected their own archbishop. A chief, Stephen Nemanya by name, founded the Rascian dynasty in 1159, and under his successors Servia pushed her way into the front rank amongst the Balkan states. The greatest ruler of this dynasty was Stephen Dushan (1336-56), who after subjugating Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, and the greater part of the peninsula, conceived the ambitious design of welding Servia, Bulgaria, and Byzantium into an empire strong enough to resist the assaults of the Osmanli Turks. But he died before he could carry out his plans. Under his feeble son and successor the great nobles divided the power amongst them, and consequently weakened the country. This favoured the aggressive advance of the Turks, who ronted the chief Vukashin on the Maritza in 1371, and Prince Lazar at Kosovo, on the celebrated 'Field of the Blackbirds,' in 1389. By this last fight, which figures very prominently in the national ballads, the independence of Servia was virtually lost: she was made tributary to the sultan, and gradually became a pashalik of the Ottoman empire, though hopes of freedom were revived for a time by the great successes of the Hungarian captain and ruler Hunyady and the Albanian chief Scanderbeg in the middle of the 15th century.
During the next three hundred years the Turkish rulers, supported by the ruthless janizaries, ground down the unhappy people, and subjected them to almost every kind of injustice and barbarity: many of the chief families were exterminated, 200,000 persons were carried off as slaves, and in 1691 several thousands left their country for good and settled in Hungary. The people who remained behind were little better than serfs, and every seven years their boys were taken from them to be brought up in the Moslem faith and forced into the corps of the janizaries. The victories of Prince Eugene brought about the peace of Posharevatz (1718), by which Servia was ceded to Austria; but Austria had to restore it to the sultan twenty-one years later. At length the exasperated people, goaded to desperation, rose in 1804 under the leadership of Kara George, a stalwart and determined, though morose, swine-owner, a rich man and a man of influence, who by 1807 effectually drove the tyrannical janizaries out of the country, and stormed and took possession of Belgrade and the other fortresses. The struggle before its conclusion had taken on the character of a racial and religious war, Christian Servian against Mohammedan Turk. In 1809 and 1810 the Turks made determined efforts to recover their hold upon the country, and did overrun the districts east of the Morava; but with the assistance of the Russians they were at length beaten off again. By the treaty of Bucharest, which Russia made with Turkey, it was decreed that the sultan's troops should regarrison the fortresses, but that the Servians should govern themselves in respect of all internal affairs. But the Turks refused to observe these terms, and in 1813 assailed Servia on both sides with such vigour that Kara George fled to Austria and the enemy recovered the country. Turkish oppression again provoked an uprising of the people in 1815; they chose as their leader Milosh Obrenovich, a herdsman, who in a single campaign expelled the enemy, except the garrisons in the fortresses. This man was henceforth the leading spirit in the struggle of the Servians for independence. In 1817 he caused his rival Kara George, who had returned, to be assassinated, and was himself proclaimed chief ruler of Servia. In 1829 the Ottoman government at last formally agreed to the provisions of the treaty of Bucharest, and in the following year recognised Milosh as hereditary prince of Servia. But his rule was arbitrary and despotic, and in 1839 he was compelled to abdicate in favour of his son Milan (died same year). Before he abdicated the Turkish minister of Foreign Affairs and the Russian ambassador at Constantinople had drawn up a constitution, curtailing the power of the prince and giving much authority to a senate of the nobles. Milan's brother and successor, Michael (1839-42), was driven out of the country by a rival faction, who elected Alexander, son of Kara George, as their prince. Alexander leaned to Turkey and to Austria rather than to Russia, whose czar regarded himself as the rightful 'Protector of Servia,' and by this policy and his incapacity he lost the sympathy of his people and provoked many enemies about him. In 1859 he was compelled to abdicate, his successor being the aged exile, Milosh Obrenovich.
On his death, less than two years later, the chief power passed to his son Michael, who had been expelled in 1842. Under his rule a new era began for harassed Servia; the animosities of faction were smoothed away, the supremacy of the law was successfully vindicated and maintained, the national spirit was encouraged and foreign interference minimised, the national militia was organised, armed, and trained, and the country began to move forward along the path of progress and prosperity. In 1867 Michael procured the departure of the last Turkish garrisons from Servian soil, namely those of Belgrade, Shabatz, and Smederevo; all the others had been withdrawn in 1862. On 10th June 1868 Prince Michael was assassinated in the park of Topshidere near Belgrade, by partisans of the rival Kara George faction. He was succeeded by Milan IV., a grandson of Yephrem, brother of the heroic Milosh. The most notable events during the reign of Milan (1868-89) were the framing of a new constitution, which placed all real power in the hands of the prince and a freely elected national assembly of the people; a war against Turkey (1876), in which the Servians were routed, and only escaped punishment through the intervention of Russia; participation in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, whereby Servia gained her complete independence, and in addition the districts of Nisch, Pirot, and Lescovatz; the proclamation of the prince as king Milan I. on 6th March 1882; war with Bulgaria (1885), in which the Servians were defeated by Prince Alexander (of Battenberg), ruler of Bulgaria, at Slivnitza and at Pirot, and were again saved by foreign intervention, this time that of Austria-Hungary; the quarrel between King Milan and Queen Nathalie, a Russian, their divorce (1888), and King Milan's abdication (1889) in favour of his son Alexander (born 14th August 1876).
See Ranke, History of Servia (Eng. trans. Lond. 1853), and Serbien und die Türkei im 19ten Jahrhundert (Leip. 1879); E. L. Mijatovics, History of Modern Servia (Lond. 1872); René-Taillandier, La Serbie au XIXe Siècle (1875); Kallay, Geschichte der Serben (Pesth, 1877); and compare E. de Laveleye, Balkan Peninsula (Eng. trans. Lond. 1887), Denton, Servia and the Servians (Lond. 1862), and W. Miller, The Balkans (1896).
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.—The language of the Servians belongs to the southern division of the Slav tongues, and has for its nearest congeners Bulgarian, Slovenian, and Russian. Although somewhat influenced by Turkish, it is the softest tongue of all in the southern division, has a complete grammar, and readily lends itself to poetic composition. The dialect spoken by the Croats is precisely the same as that spoken by the Servians; but whilst the latter use the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet, the former employ the Latin. The people of Montenegro and Bosnia speak Servian.
The earliest productions in Servian date from the 12th century, and consist of monkish chronicles and letters; in the 13th and 14th centuries various lives of the saints and kings, and annals, were written by Stephen Nemanya, St Sava, Archbishop Daniel, and others. But perhaps the most interesting production of this period is the collection of laws (Zakonik) made in 1349, when Stephen Dushan was king. Then came the battle of Kosovo and the long period of Turkish oppression, and during all that time there was no Servian literature except annals. But the language was not wholly uncultivated. From the end of the 15th down to the end of the 17th century a vigorous school of writers in Servian, or Croato-Servian, flourished at Ragusa (q.v.) on the Adriatic. It was not, however, a purely national literature, but was strongly influenced by Italian culture. The literary productions of the Ragusa epoch were nearly all in verse, chiefly lyrics (modelled after the Italian love-poems), poetic dramas (sacred and profane), epics, and eulogies. The greatest writers were Gundalich (1588-1638), author of the epic Osman, which celebrates the war of 1621 between Poland and Turkey; Julius Palmotich (1606-57), a writer of dramas, songs, and epics, most of these last clever imitations of foreign models; Marulich (1450-1524 or 1528), author of the poetic History of St Judith; Cubranovich (died 1550), author of a celebrated masque, The Gipsy Girl; Mencetich-Vlahovich (1457-1501) and Drzich (died 1510), who both excelled in love-poems; Lucich (1480-1540), the 'father' of the Ragusan drama; Vetranich-Cavicich (1482-1576), who wrote several mystery-plays; Naljeskovich (1510-87), author of pastorals, comedies, and love-poems; Jorjich (1676-1737), who wrote (like some others of the above mentioned) in Latin, Italian, and Servian, in the last-named tongue chiefly didactic and religious poetry; and Kacicich-Miosich (1690-1760), a very popular writer of songs with a good deal of the ring of the national poetry in them.
When the Servians began to awaken, towards the middle of the 18th century, to a renewal of their national life, their literature began to revive at the same time. The man who did most to bring about this revival was Vuk Karadžich (1787-1864): he made the first collection (in 1814-15) of the national songs of the Servians, the greatest literary treasure they possess, encouraged education, codified the laws, collected the fairy-tales and proverbs of his people, translated (1847) the New Testament into the Servian vulgar tongue, effected after a hard struggle a reform of the orthography, prepared a grammar and a dictionary of Servian, and in fact converted the vulgar tongue into a literary language. The best edition of Vuk's Servian Folksongs appeared in 6 vols. (1841-66). Several of these have been translated into English by Sir J. Bowring (Servian Poetry, 1827) and Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith, Serbski Pesme, 1861), neither of remarkable merit, and in another collection by Mrs Mijatovics (Kosovo, 1881); into German by Mrs Robinson or 'Talvj' (Volkslieder der Serben, 1853); and into Swedish, very well done, by Runeberg (1833). These national songs are the product of different periods and of different, mostly unknown, authors. Their chief themes are the deeds of the national heroes and the occurrences of domestic life. The former class are written in a uniform metre of ten-syllabled trochaics, and are recited to the accompaniment of a simple one-stringed lute. The metre of the second class is varied; they are generally sung by a youth and a maiden. Vuk Karadžich was worthily seconded in his efforts to rekindle the intellectual life of his people in the spirit of patriotic love by Obradovich (1739-1811), who like his compatriot travelled much in south-east Europe, but unlike him was a learned man and a linguist; he spent the whole of his life labouring for the enlightenment of his people. One of the greatest names in modern Servian literature is Milutinovich (1791-1847), who wrote poems, a eulogy on Servia (Serbiana, 1826), a History of Montenegro (1835), a History of Servia, 1813-15 (1837), and published a collection of national songs. Raich (1726-1801), who wrote a good History of the Servian People (1794-95); J. Popovich (1806-56), the author of lyrics and historical dramas; Lazarevich, who wrote one of the best of Servian dramas (Vladimir and Kosara, 1829); J. Snbotich (1817-86), author of Stephan Dechanski (1846), which has caught the spirit of the national poems; Radichevich (1724-1853), who has been called 'the Servian Burns,' and Prince Peter II. (1813-51) of Montenegro, the two most celebrated lyricists of modern Servian literature; and the Croat Preradovich (1818-72), author of popular lyrics and epics, are the remaining writers of note. Towards the middle of the 19th century an attempt was made on the western side of the Balkan Peninsula to create a sort of revival of the Ragusan period. The centre of the new movement was Agram, and its leader Dr Ljudevit Gaj (1809-72). Its strongest feature was an aggressive sympathy with the Pan-slavist agitation. The language in which the writers of this school composed was the Croato-Servian dialect, but printed in Latin characters; it was, however, renamed Illyrian, chiefly for ethnological and political reasons. Besides Gaj the most important writers of this school were Vraz (1810-51), author of some beautiful lyrics; Vukotinovich, who wrote lyrics and historical tales; Bogovich, from whose pen came dramas, poems, and historical novels; Ivan Mazuranich, whose Death of Ismail Agha, the 'epic of hate,' is one of the most popular poems in Servian; and the poets Tomasich and Trnski. Kukuljevich-Sakcinski is the author of poems, dramas, stories, and very valuable historical records of the southern Slavs. Danichich (1825-82) was a first-rate philologist. Jagich and Novakovich have each written a good History of Servian Literature. The chief literary organ is the Glasnik, published at Belgrade since 1847. In 1880 the Agram Academy began a Critical Servian Dictionary.
See an article in the Westminster Review for April 1878; Pypin and Spasovich, Geschichte der Slavischen Litteraturen (vol. i, 1880); A. Dozon, L'Épopée Serbe (Paris, 1888); and Mijatovics, Serbian Folklore (Eng. trans. by Denton, 1874).