Navigating Dual Identities

The Barišić Affair and the Challenges of Consensus

Abstract

Within the Ottoman legal system of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, religion played a central role in shaping individual identity, leaving a profound imprint on everyday life. This process, commonly referred to as confessionalization, can be traced as far back as the seventeenth century. Because Bosnia was inhabited by members of three major confessional groups, the dynamics of confessionalization there often assumed distinctive and complex forms. In the case of the Bosnian Catholic community, the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena had played a significant role since the Middle Ages. Unlike the majority of Bosnian Catholics—especially after the large-scale migrations during the Great Turkish War (1683–1699)—the Bosnian Franciscans preserved certain memories of the medieval Bosnian Kingdom. Their identity was therefore shaped not only by their confessional affiliation but also by a strong sense of Bosnian historical consciousness. As their education had to be pursued abroad, the Franciscans were exposed to cultural and intellectual influences emanating from the West. By the late eighteenth century, their main destinations for study were Italy and the Hungarian part of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the differing experiences acquired in these two environments left markedly distinct impressions. These differences would later emerge as a significant factor during the Barišić Affair, a conflict that profoundly influenced the subsequent development of Bosnian Catholic identity.