Şcheii Braşovului (Hungarian: Bolgárszeg, German: Belgerei or more recently Obere Vorstadt; traditional Romanian name: Bulgărimea, colloquially Şchei) is the old ethnically Bulgarian and Romanian neighborhood of Braşov, a city in Transylvania, Romania. This village-like section of the town is mostly made up of small houses built along narrow roads with gardens and small fields on the sides of the mountains. Until the 17th century, the inhabitants of Şchei were forbidden from owning property inside the city walls. The people living in the Şchei could only enter the town at certain times and had to pay a toll at the Catherine's Gate for the privilege of selling their produce inside the town. Catherine's Gate was the only entrance for the Romanians — they were not allowed to use the other four entrances. It was in Şchei that Braşov's first Romanian School was established, next to the Romanian Orthodox church of St. Nicholas.
Researchers maintain the Şchei were ethnic Bulgarians who later adopted the Romanian language and ethnic identity.[1][2] The neighbourhood's name has been recorded through the ages as follows: Bolgarszek (1611), Scheu Braşovului, oraşul Schei lângă Cetatea Braşovolui (1700), Bolgarsek, Şchei de lângă Braşov (1701), Şchiiaii Braşovului (1708), Bolgaria Braşovului (1723), Şchei lângă cetate Braşovului unde-i zic Bolgara, Şchiai (1724), obştea din Bolgarseghi (1773), sărăcimea obştii Bolgarsegului (1774), Bolgarsec, Biserica Bolgarseghiului (1813), Bolgarsechi (1816), Bolgarsăchiu (1817) etc.[3]
According to Radu Tempea's Istoria besérecei Şchéilor Braşovului manuscript of 1899, the Bulgarians arrived in Braşov in the late 14th century, more exactly 1392. Their arrival is linked to the reconstruction of the Black Church, which had been destroyed by the Tatars in the 13th century, the reconstruction beginning 1385.[4]
| “ | The beginning of the construction of this neighbourhood dates according to all information that I can find to the 14th century, in which the city church began to be built in 1385. Because there was a lack of enough craftsmen for this important construction due to the Burzenland markets and villages being busy with the building of their churches and castles at the time and not being able to provide enough workers except for the supply of stones, so the people of Kronstadt were forced to let workers from the neighbouring provinces come into the city. For this reason came from Bulgaria the so-called by us Belger, who, in part because of the long work on the church construction, in part because they liked the successful times here, settled here as residents, at the place we still call the Belgerei, by the good work of the laudable Magistrate.[5] | ” |
By the beginning of the 19th century, the Bulgarian population of Şcheii Braşovului had been gradually Romanianized. A 1829 statistic on the population of Bolgárszeg, which stated the neighbourhood had a population of 5,829, did include Bulgari ("Bulgarians") in the list along with Valachi ("Romanians"), but noted no people of that ethnicity.[6]
Curiously, the whole territory of Romania is full of place names such as Schei. Overwhelmingly place names in Romania are Slavic, mostly Bulgarian. Despite of this, most Bulgarians populated Romania only in certain places, for centuries, such as in the county of Arges or along the Danube. They preserved their identity without being assimilated.
In Scheii Brasovului there is no trace of a Bulgarian population living in the Bulgarian quarter (despite the name, which the inhabitants named it Schei). Scheu is an old Vlachian name encountered south of Danube and has the same meaning like the Italian Schiavo. It denominates both the slave and the Slav. At the same time it means "the Vlachs coming from Bulgarian lands".
This arises a big question: how is it possible to assimilate so many Bulgarians by a population which didn't exist? Were the Romanians the original inhabitants? If so, why didn't the Germans use their workforce? Obviously, the Germans such as the Hungarians use the example of Schei to prove that Vlachs were not the original inhabitants. Which is OK. But then arises the question who were the Bulgars? Where did they came from? How about the Vlachs, where did they came from?
The Germans, but also the Hungarians answer that both Bulgarians and the Vlachs came from south of Danube.
Ok. We don't have any trace of a Bulgarian population in Kronstadt(Brasov or Corona). But we have the proof of the existence of the Vlachs. How do we concile the statements: "the Bulgarians populated first the Schei coming from south of Danube" with the statement "the Vlachs came from south of Danube to replace the Bulgarians"?
The Kronstaedter linguist Constantin Lacea came with an explanation: "there was only one population coming from south of Danube, the Vlachs, named also Schei, because they came from Bulgaria, a Slav land, named by the Vlachs, their fatherland, Schei, the land of the Slavs".