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Dimitar Miladinov

Konstantin Miladinov

Naum Miladinov

The Miladinov brothers (Bulgarian: Братя Миладинови, romanized: Bratya Miladinovi, Macedonian: Браќа Миладиновци, romanized: Brakja Miladinovci), Dimitar Miladinov (1810–1862) and Konstantin Miladinov (1830–1862), were Bulgarian poets, folklorists, and activists of the Bulgarian national movement in Ottoman Macedonia.^[1]^[2]^[3] They are best known for their collection of folk songs called Bulgarian Folk Songs,^[4]^[5] considered a milestone in Bulgarian literature,^[6] the greatest literary work in the history of Bulgarian folklore studies and the genesis of folklore studies during the Bulgarian National Revival.^[7]^[8] They also contributed to Bulgarian ethnography through their collection of folk material.^[9] Their third brother Naum (1817–1897) helped compile this collection too. Konstantin Miladinov is also famous for his poem Taga za Yug (Grief for the South) which he wrote during his stay in Russia.

In North Macedonia, the Miladinov brothers are celebrated as Macedonians who laid the foundation of the Macedonian national awakening and literary tradition. Many of the Miladinov brothers' original works have been unavailable to the general public and only censored versions, and redacted copies of them have been published there.^[10]^[11]

Family and background

The mother of the Miladinov brothers was Sultana Miladinova. Her father was an Aromanian from Magarevo who moved to Ohrid and studied in Moscopole with Daniel Moscopolites. Sultana's mother was a native of Ohrid^[12] and the granddaughter of sakellarios Pop Stefan, who was so fond of his pupil Dimitrius of Ioannou that he let him marry her.^[13]^[14] The brothers' father, Hristo Miladinov, was also from Magarevo. He was a pottery merchant, who moved to Struga in around 1810.^[15] The family had eight children, six sons and two daughters.^[6]

After the conquest of the Balkans by the Ottoman Empire, the name Macedonia disappeared as a designation for several centuries.^[16] Names such as "Lower Moesia" and "Bulgaria" were used for the northern and central parts of the modern Macedonian region.^[17] The name was revived in the early 19th century with the new Greek state and was affirmed in the modern area as a result of Hellenic religious and school propaganda.^[18] However, the Bulgarian national revival is considered to have opposed Greek domination of Bulgaria's Slavic language and culture. The Miladinov brothers deliberately avoided using the term Macedonia in reference to the region, arguing that it presents a threat to the Bulgarian people there, and proposed the name Western Bulgaria instead.^[19]^[20]^[21] Miladinov and other educated Macedonian Slavs worried that the use of the designation Macedonian would imply an identification with the Greek nation.

Dimitar Miladinov

Front cover of the original edition of Bulgarian Folk Songs. "Bulgarian Folk Songs collected by the Miladinov brothers Dimitar and Konstantin and published by Konstantin in Zagreb at the printing house of A. Jakic, 1861"

A letter from Dimitar Miladinov to Victor Grigorovich from 25 February 1846 about his search for Bulgarian folk songs and artefacts in Macedonia.^[22]^[9]

Dimitar Miladinov was born around 1810 in the town of Struga in the Ottoman Empire (today North Macedonia),^[23] in the family of a potter named Hristo Miladinov and his wife, Sultana. Dimitar was the eldest of eight children, six boys and two girls.

In his youth, Dimitar was sent by his father to the Monastery of Saint Naum on Lake Ohrid, to receive basic education. Having spent four years at the monastery, at the age of twelve he continued his education in a Greek school in the town of Ohrid. Shortly after graduating as an outstanding student around 1830, he was invited by the citizens and spent two years teaching in the same school. Following the death of his father and the birth of his youngest brother Konstantin, Dimitar worked briefly as a bookkeeper in the trade chamber of the town of Durrës, today in Albania. From 1833 to 1836 he studied in Ioannina, in what was considered to be one of the best Greek high schools, where he mastered the Greek language. After graduating, Dimitar returned to Ohrid and continued teaching.

As a teacher, in 1836, Dimitar introduced the Bell-Lancaster method and expanded the school curriculum, adding philosophy, arithmetics, geography, Old Greek, Greek literature, Latin and French.^[24] He quickly became popular and respected among his students and peers. After two years, he left Ohrid and returned to Struga. From 1840 to 1842 he was a teacher in Kukush, today in Greece. He became active in the town's social life, strongly opposing the phanariotes.^{[citation needed]} In May 1845, the Russian Slavist Viktor Grigorovich visited him in Ohrid and realised that Miladinov had improper knowledge of Bulgarian language, and under his influence, Miladinov gained interest in Bulgarian.^[23]^[7] As his interest grew, he developed a Bulgarian national consciousness.^[25] Dimitar travelled around the Macedonian region, collecting folk material, which he informed Grigorovich about.^[9] In a letter written in Greek on 20 August 1852, he complained that most of the Bulgarians of Macedonia used Greek as the language of education and were considered Greeks.^[26] He called for opposition to the hellenisation of the Bulgarians.^[27] At the initiative of Dimitar, and with the approval of the city's fathers, in 1858, the Greek language was banished from the churches and substituted with Church Slavonic.^[6] During this period, he translated the Acts of the Apostles into Bulgarian to make it available for church usage.^[26] In 1859, upon hearing that the town of Ohrid had officially demanded from the Ottoman government the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, Dimitar left Kukush and went to Ohrid to help.^[6] There, he translated Bible texts into Bulgarian. Dimitar tried to introduce the Bulgarian language into the Greek school in Prilep in 1856, causing an angry reaction from the local Grecomans. In a letter to Tsarigradski Vestnik (Tsarigrad Newspaper) on 26 March 1860, he wrote: "In the holy Ohrid district, there is not a single Greek family, except for three or four Vlachs now, and all the others are purely a Bulgarian tribe."^[28]^[29] Due to his endeavours, the Greek bishop Miletos denounced Miladinov as a Russian agent. He was accused of spreading pan-Slavic ideas and was imprisoned in Istanbul, later to be joined by his supporting brother Konstantin. On 11 January 1862, he died in prison from typhus.^[30]^[31]

Konstantin Miladinov

Letter from Konstantin Miladinov to Georgi Rakovski from 8 January 1861 to explain the use of the term Bulgarian in the title of the collection.^[32]

The first biography of the Miladinov brothers, written by their brother-in-law Kuzman Shapkarev and issued in Plovdiv, 1884.^[33]

Konstantin Miladinov (right), together with the Bulgarian national activists Lyuben Karavelov and Petar Hadzhipeev in Moscow, 1858

Konstantin Miladinov was the youngest son in the family of the potter Hristo Miladinov. He was born in 1830 in Struga. He studied in an elementary school in Ohrid. After his graduation from the Hellenic Institute at Ioannina and the University of Athens, where he studied literature, at the initiative of his brother, Dimitar, In 1856, he went to Russia. He arrived in Odessa and because he was short of money, the Bulgarian Society in that city financed his trip to Moscow. Konstantin enrolled at the Moscow University to study Slavic philology. While at the University of Athens, he was exclusively exposed to the teachings and thinking of ancient and modern Greek scholars. In Moscow, he came in contact with prominent Slavic writers and intellectuals.

While in Moscow he desired to see the river Volga. At the time of his youth, the universal belief was that the Bulgars had camped on the banks of the river, had crossed it on their way to the Balkans and the origin of the name Bulgarians had come from the river's name. After seeing the river, he wrote his impressions down in a letter to a friend: "O, Volga, Volga! What memories you awake in me, how you drive me to bury myself in the past! High are your waters, Volga. I and my friend, also a Bulgarian, we dived and proudly told ourselves that, at this very moment, we received our true baptismal…"^[6]^[34] While staying in Russia, he wrote his poem called Taga za Yug (Grief for the South), expressing his homesickness. Other poems he wrote include "Bisera" (Pearl), "Zhelanie" (Desire), "Kletva" (An Oath), "Dumane" (A Saying), "Na chuzhdina" (Abroad).^[35]

He also helped his older brother Dimitar in editing the materials for the collection of Bulgarian songs, that Dimitar had collected in his field work.^[9] Konstantin had to transcribe the collected songs from the Greek alphabet in which they were recorded, into the Cyrillic alphabet.^[25] Initially, Konstantin tried to find assistance among Russian scholars to have the collection of folk songs published. After failing to find assistance, he went to Vienna to look for sponsors. The collection was subsequently published in Croatia with the support of the bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer, who was one of the patrons of Slavonic literature at that time. In a private letter to Bulgarian National Revival activist Georgi Rakovski on 8 January 1861, Konstantin Miladinov expressed concern over the use of the name Macedonia as it could have been used to justify Greek claims to the region and the local Bulgarian population, so he suggested that the region should be called Western Bulgaria instead.^[19]^[20]^[21] Shortly after the publication of the collection, he found out that his brother was jailed. He went to Istanbul to help him.^[23] Denounced by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as a dangerous Russian agent, he was arrested on 5 August 1861. It is unknown if he was placed in the same cell as his brother or whether he saw him.^[6] He died on 7 January 1862 in prison from typhus.^[31]

Naum Miladinov

Naum Miladinov was the brother of Dimitar and Konstantin. He was born in 1817 and finished primary school in Struga. Later he went with his brother Dimitar to Duras, where Naum learned to play the violin. After that, together with Dimitar, Naum graduated from the Ioannina Greek High School and worked as his assistant teacher. From 1841 to 1844 he studied at the Halki seminary, where he graduated in music and grammar. In 1843 he wrote a music textbook and prepared a Greek grammar. After returning to Struga, Naum became involved in the activities of his brothers and became a proponent of the Bulgarian National Revival. He assisted in collecting materials for the collection "Bulgarian Folk Songs". The folk songs collected by him are also notated. After 1878 he settled in the newly established Principality of Bulgaria. Naum received a national pension as a Bulgarian educator. He wrote a biography of his brothers, but failed to publish it. He died in 1897 in Sofia.^[36]

Legacy

Bulgarian Primary School "Miladinov Brothers" in Cer, near Kičevo, then in the Ottoman Empire (1912).

The two brothers are honoured in the history of the Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th century.^[9] The collecting of the folk material was well-received by its contemporaries - Lyuben Karavelov, Nesho Bonchev, Ivan Bogorov, Kuzman Shapkarev, Rayko Zhinzifov and others. The Russian scholar Izmail Sreznevsky, in his opinion about the collection, pointed out in 1863: "It can be seen by the published collection that the Bulgarians are far from lagging behind other peoples in poetic abilities and even surpass them with the vitality of their poetry…" Parts of the collection were also translated into Czech, Russian and German.^[37] Elias Riggs, an American linguist in Constantinople, translated nine songs into English and sent them to the American Oriental Society in Princeton, New Jersey. In a letter from June 1862, Riggs wrote: "…The whole present an interesting picture of the traditions and fancies prevailing among the mass of the Bulgarian people."^[6] The collection also had an impact on the development of modern Bulgarian literature, because its songs inspired the Bulgarian poets – Ivan Vazov, Pencho Slaveikov, Kiril Hristov, Peyo Yavorov, etc.^[37]^[38]^[39] Dimitar's daughter Tsarevna Miladinova continued his Bulgarian nationalist efforts, co-founding the Bulgarian Girls' High School of Thessaloniki in 1882.^[40] Her son, Vladislav Aleksiev [bg] (1884-1962) was a prominent Bulgarian jurist and historian, a professor of Bulgarian medieval law, and a specialist in Byzantine law at the Sofia University.^[41]

In post-war Yugoslav Macedonia, the Miladinov brothers were appropriated by the historians as part of the Macedonian National Revival and their original works were hidden from the general public.^[18]^[27] The Macedonian national museum did not display their original works.^[42] Their works were claimed to be Macedonian, despite them stating in their works that they were Bulgarians.^[43]^[44] Per political scientist Alexis Heraclides, the Miladinov brothers were among "the earliest pioneers of a sense of Macedonian identity, as least as conceived by contemporary Macedonian historians and other scholars".^[45] The official view in North Macedonia is that the Miladinov brothers were Macedonians who spoke Macedonian and contributed to Macedonian literature.^[46] Their ethnicity is disputed between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.^[47]

Monuments honouring the brothers are in Blagoevgrad and Pliska, Bulgaria,^[48]^[49] and Struga, North Macedonia.^[50] There are streets, schools and chitalishta named after them in Bulgaria.^[51] Today in North Macedonia there are also schools named after the Miladinov brothers,^[52] but the pupils there do not have the access to the works of their schools' patrons in original, while redacted copies of them have been available there, without the designation "Bulgarian" in them.^[53]

The Miladinov brothers' hometown of Struga hosts the international Struga Poetry Evenings festival in their honour, including a poetry award named after them. The Miladinovi Islets near Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, are named after the brothers.

References

^ In the announcement by the Miladinov Brothers about the subscription for their collection called Bulgarian Folk Songs, published in Belgrade by Konstantin Miladinov on February 7, 1861 in the Bulgarian newspaper Dunavski Lebed, issue № 20, he wrote: "We started collecting folk songs six years ago from all parts of Western Bulgaria, i.e. Macedonia... as well as from Eastern Bulgaria. These folk songs will be supplemented with traditional rites of betrothal and match-making from Struga and Kukush; proverbs, riddles, legends and about 2,000 words which have become obsolete or differ from other dialects". For more see: D. Kossev et al., Macedonia, documents and materials, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, (in English) Sofia, 1978, p. 48.
^ "On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term ‘‘Bulgarian’’ in the title of his and his brother’s collection of Macedonian folk songs: ‘‘In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek.’’ Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation." For more see: Andrew Rossos, Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, Hoover Institution Press, 2008, ISBN 0817948813, p. 84.
^ İpek Yosmaoğlu, Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908, Cornell University Press, 2013, ISBN 0801469791, pp. 72–73.
^ Nationalism, Globalization and Orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Victor Roudometof, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, ISBN 0313319499, p. 144.
^ Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976, Peter Mackridge, Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 019959905X, p. 189.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Larry Koroloff, The Miladinov Brothers: A Miscellany, Macedonian Historical Society of Canada, 1982, pp. 4-8; 12.
^ ^a ^b Charles A. Moser, A History of Bulgarian Literature 865–1944, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2019, ISBN 9783110810608, p. 85.
^ Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs Divergence, Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas, Peter Lang, 2005, ISBN 9052012970, p. 179.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Janette Sampimon, Becoming Bulgarian: The articulation of Bulgarian identity in the nineteenth century in its international context: An intellectual history, Pegasus, 2006, ISBN 9061433118, pp. 22; 32-34.
^ Миладинова, М. 140 години "Български народни песни" от братя Миладинови. Отзвук и значение (in Bulgarian). сп. Македонски преглед, 2001, Македонският научен институт, бр. 4, стр. 5-21.
^ "ms0601". www.soros.org.mk. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
^ Todorovski, Gane (1990), Книга нашинска сиреч славјанска (in Macedonian), Makedonska kniga, p. 19.
^ "Izbor" - Konstantin Miladinov (in Macedonian), Gane Todorovski, 1980, Misla Publishing, pp. 366; 395.
^ Литературен збор (in Macedonian), Volume 36 - 1989, p. 29.
^ Михайлов, Крум. Родът на Братя Миладинови. В: Стари български родове. Издателство Отечествен фронт, 1989, стр. 83-133.
^ Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos M. (2009). Modern Greece: A History since 1821. A New History of Modern Europe. John Wiley & Sons. p. 48. ISBN 978-1444314830.
^ James Pettifer, The New Macedonian Question, St. Martin's Press, 1999, ISBN 9780312222406, p. 50.
^ ^a ^b Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, Introduction, pp. V–VIII.
^ ^a ^b "Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called “Western Bulgaria”. Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian historian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek." For more see: Tchavdar Marinov, Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian identity at the crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nationalism, p. 285; in Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies with Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov as ed., BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X, pp. 273-330.
^ ^a ^b "Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands"." For more see: Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 72.
^ ^a ^b "The struggle over the historical legacy of the name “Macedonia” was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to Rakovski, dated 31 January 1861: On my order form I have called Macedonia “Western Bulgaria”, as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them." For more see: Spyridon Sfetas, The image of the Greeks in the work of the Bulgarian revolutionary and intellectual Georgi Rakovski. Balkan Studies, [S.l.], volume 42, issue 1, pp. 105-106, January 2001, ISSN 2241-1674.
^ "...In the meantime my efforts concerning our Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian (folk) songs, in compliance with your recommendations are unsurpassed. I have not for one moment ceased to fulfill the pledge which I made to you, Sir, because the Bulgarians are spontaneously striving for the truth. But I hope you will excuse my delay up till now, which is due to the difficulty I had in selecting the best songs and also in my work on the grammar. I hope that, on another convenient occasion, after I have collected more songs and finished the grammar, I will be able to send them to you. Please write where and through whom it would be safe to send them to you (as you so ardently wish)..."
^ ^a ^b ^c Blaže Ristovski, ed. Makedonska enciklopedija: M-Š (in Macedonian), Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2009, ISBN 9786082030241, pp. 948-950.
^ Freedom Or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, Pluto Press, 1978, ISBN 0904526321, p. 17.
^ ^a ^b Loring Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780691043562, p. 63.
^ ^a ^b Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 9780880335270, pp. 35–36.
^ ^a ^b Poulton, Hugh (2000). Who Are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 38, 117. ISBN 1850655340.
^ Vlado Treneski, Dejan Tančovski, White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, Orbel, 2021, ISBN 9789544961497, pp. 89-91.
^ Трайков, Н. Братя Миладинови. Преписка.1964 pp. 43-44.
^ Roudometof, Victor (2002). Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria and the Macedonian question. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 91. ISBN 0275976483.
^ ^a ^b Raymond Detrez, The A to Z of Bulgaria, Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 9780810872028, p. 284.
^ "...But I implore you to publish the foreword I sent you in your newspaper, adding a word or two about the songs and especially about the Western Bulgarians in Macedonia. In the foreword I have called Macedonia - Western Bulgaria (as it should be called), because the Greeks in Vienna are treating us just like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek province and they are not even able to understand that it is not a Greek region. But what shall we do with the Bulgarians there who are more than two million people? Surely the Bulgarians will not still be sheep with a few Greeks as their shepherds? That time has irrevocably passed and the Greeks will have to be satisfied merely with their sweet dreams. I think that the songs should be distributed chiefly among the Bulgarians, and this is why I have fixed a low price..."
^ According to Shapkarev himself: "Until then, [1857-1859, when the Miladinovs launched their educational campaign], everyone acknowledged them to be a Bulgarian."
^ Петър Динеков, Делото на братя Милядинови. (Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)
^ Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer (eds.) History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing, 2004, ISBN 9789027234537, pp. 359-360.
^ Исторически албум на град Струга, София, 1930, стр. 34 – 35.
^ ^a ^b Bŭlgarski narodni pesni (in Bulgarian), Nauka i izkustvo, 1981, Summary.
^ Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост. Академик Емил Георгиев, (Държавно издателство Народна просвета, София 1980)
^ Петър Динеков. Делото на братя Миладинови.(Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)
^ "Tsarevna Miladinova-Alexieva (1856-1934)". Women and the Transfer of Knowledge in the Black Sea Region. 2018. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
^ Куманов, Милен. Македония. Кратък исторически справочник, Тинапрес, София, 1993, стр. 13 – 14.
^ Phillips, John (2004). Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. I.B.Tauris. p. 41]. ISBN 186064841X.
^ In their correspondence both brothers self-identified as Bulgarians, see: Братя Миладинови – преписка. Издирил, коментирал и редактирал Никола Трайков (Българска академия на науките, Институт за история. Издателство на БАН, София 1964); in English: Miladinov Brothers - Correspondence. Collected, commented and redacted from Nicola Traykov, (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Historical Institute, Sofia 1964.)
^ Detrez, Raymond (2014). Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria. Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 323. ISBN 978-1442241800.
^ Alexis Heraclides (2020). The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians. Taylor & Francis. p. 68. ISBN 9781000289404.
^ Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 149.
^ North Macedonia’s Blockade on Book Donation Riles Bulgaria Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Balkan Insight (BIRN), 29 March 2021.
^ Откриха паметник на братя Миладинови в Плиска.
^ A monument to the Miladinov brothers unveiled in Bulgaria's Blagoevgrad, Bulgarian National Radio, 11 January 2022.
^ Michael R. Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage Through History - Volume 2, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015, ISBN 9781443878456, p. 114.
^ Регистър на училищата и университетите в България.
^ Daskalov, Roumen; Vezenkov, Alexander, eds. (2015). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies. BRILL. p. 457. ISBN 9789004290365.
^ "Presently in the Republic of Macedonia we can find schools named: Miladinov Brothers, Rajko Zinzifov, Kuzman Sapkarev etc., while the students who study in them do not have the access to the literary works of the patrons of their schools in original..." Vladimir Paunkovski, Spas Tashev, George Mladenov. 5 Years of Independence - Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia, 1991- 1996. International Institute for Macedonia, Sofia.

External links

Original edition of 'Bulgarian Folk Songs' (in Bulgarian)
Full text of "Bulgarian folk songs" (in Bulgarian)
Letter bearing the signature of Konstantin Miladinov
Konstantin Miladinov poetry (in Bulgarian)
official site of struga.org (English and Macedonian)

[1] In the announcement by the Miladinov Brothers about the subscription for their collection called Bulgarian Folk Songs, published in Belgrade by Konstantin Miladinov on February 7, 1861 in the Bulgarian newspaper Dunavski Lebed, issue № 20, he wrote: "We started collecting folk songs six years ago from all parts of Western Bulgaria, i.e. Macedonia... as well as from Eastern Bulgaria. These folk songs will be supplemented with traditional rites of betrothal and match-making from Struga and Kukush; proverbs, riddles, legends and about 2,000 words which have become obsolete or differ from other dialects". For more see: D. Kossev et al., Macedonia, documents and materials, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, (in English) Sofia, 1978, p. 48.

[2] "On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term ‘‘Bulgarian’’ in the title of his and his brother’s collection of Macedonian folk songs: ‘‘In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek.’’ Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation." For more see: Andrew Rossos, Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, Hoover Institution Press, 2008, ISBN 0817948813, p. 84.

[3] İpek Yosmaoğlu, Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908, Cornell University Press, 2013, ISBN 0801469791, pp. 72–73.

[4] Nationalism, Globalization and Orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Victor Roudometof, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, ISBN 0313319499, p. 144.

[5] Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976, Peter Mackridge, Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 019959905X, p. 189.

[LK-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Larry Koroloff, The Miladinov Brothers: A Miscellany, Macedonian Historical Society of Canada, 1982, pp. 4-8; 12.

[CM-7] Charles A. Moser, A History of Bulgarian Literature 865–1944, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2019, ISBN 9783110810608, p. 85.

[8] Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs Divergence, Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas, Peter Lang, 2005, ISBN 9052012970, p. 179.

[JS-9] Janette Sampimon, Becoming Bulgarian: The articulation of Bulgarian identity in the nineteenth century in its international context: An intellectual history, Pegasus, 2006, ISBN 9061433118, pp. 22; 32-34.

[ReferenceA-10] Миладинова, М. 140 години "Български народни песни" от братя Миладинови. Отзвук и значение (in Bulgarian). сп. Македонски преглед, 2001, Македонският научен институт, бр. 4, стр. 5-21.

[ms0601-11] "ms0601". www.soros.org.mk. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2008-03-18.

[12] Todorovski, Gane (1990), Книга нашинска сиреч славјанска (in Macedonian), Makedonska kniga, p. 19.

[13] "Izbor" - Konstantin Miladinov (in Macedonian), Gane Todorovski, 1980, Misla Publishing, pp. 366; 395.

[14] Литературен збор (in Macedonian), Volume 36 - 1989, p. 29.

[15] Михайлов, Крум. Родът на Братя Миладинови. В: Стари български родове. Издателство Отечествен фронт, 1989, стр. 83-133.

[16] Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos M. (2009). Modern Greece: A History since 1821. A New History of Modern Europe. John Wiley & Sons. p. 48. ISBN 978-1444314830.

[17] James Pettifer, The New Macedonian Question, St. Martin's Press, 1999, ISBN 9780312222406, p. 50.

[DM-18] Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, Introduction, pp. V–VIII.

[Obviously_p._285-19] "Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called “Western Bulgaria”. Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian historian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek." For more see: Tchavdar Marinov, Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian identity at the crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nationalism, p. 285; in Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies with Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov as ed., BRILL, 2013, ISBN 900425076X, pp. 273-330.

[Dimitar_Miladinov_1862-20] "Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands"." For more see: Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, Peter Lang, 2010, ISBN 3034301960, p. 72.

[ojs.lib.uom.gr-21] "The struggle over the historical legacy of the name “Macedonia” was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to Rakovski, dated 31 January 1861: On my order form I have called Macedonia “Western Bulgaria”, as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them." For more see: Spyridon Sfetas, The image of the Greeks in the work of the Bulgarian revolutionary and intellectual Georgi Rakovski. Balkan Studies, [S.l.], volume 42, issue 1, pp. 105-106, January 2001, ISSN 2241-1674.

[22] "...In the meantime my efforts concerning our Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian (folk) songs, in compliance with your recommendations are unsurpassed. I have not for one moment ceased to fulfill the pledge which I made to you, Sir, because the Bulgarians are spontaneously striving for the truth. But I hope you will excuse my delay up till now, which is due to the difficulty I had in selecting the best songs and also in my work on the grammar. I hope that, on another convenient occasion, after I have collected more songs and finished the grammar, I will be able to send them to you. Please write where and through whom it would be safe to send them to you (as you so ardently wish)..."

[BR-23] Blaže Ristovski, ed. Makedonska enciklopedija: M-Š (in Macedonian), Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2009, ISBN 9786082030241, pp. 948-950.

[24] Freedom Or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, Pluto Press, 1978, ISBN 0904526321, p. 17.

[LD-25] Loring Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780691043562, p. 63.

[VA-26] Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 9780880335270, pp. 35–36.

[HP-27] Poulton, Hugh (2000). Who Are the Macedonians?. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 38, 117. ISBN 1850655340.

[28] Vlado Treneski, Dejan Tančovski, White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, Orbel, 2021, ISBN 9789544961497, pp. 89-91.

[29] Трайков, Н. Братя Миладинови. Преписка.1964 pp. 43-44.

[30] Roudometof, Victor (2002). Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria and the Macedonian question. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 91. ISBN 0275976483.

[RD-31] Raymond Detrez, The A to Z of Bulgaria, Scarecrow Press, 2010, ISBN 9780810872028, p. 284.

[32] "...But I implore you to publish the foreword I sent you in your newspaper, adding a word or two about the songs and especially about the Western Bulgarians in Macedonia. In the foreword I have called Macedonia - Western Bulgaria (as it should be called), because the Greeks in Vienna are treating us just like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek province and they are not even able to understand that it is not a Greek region. But what shall we do with the Bulgarians there who are more than two million people? Surely the Bulgarians will not still be sheep with a few Greeks as their shepherds? That time has irrevocably passed and the Greeks will have to be satisfied merely with their sweet dreams. I think that the songs should be distributed chiefly among the Bulgarians, and this is why I have fixed a low price..."

[33] According to Shapkarev himself: "Until then, [1857-1859, when the Miladinovs launched their educational campaign], everyone acknowledged them to be a Bulgarian."

[34] Петър Динеков, Делото на братя Милядинови. (Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)

[35] Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer (eds.) History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing, 2004, ISBN 9789027234537, pp. 359-360.

[36] Исторически албум на град Струга, София, 1930, стр. 34 – 35.

[BG-37] Bŭlgarski narodni pesni (in Bulgarian), Nauka i izkustvo, 1981, Summary.

[38] Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост. Академик Емил Георгиев, (Държавно издателство Народна просвета, София 1980)

[39] Петър Динеков. Делото на братя Миладинови.(Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)

[40] "Tsarevna Miladinova-Alexieva (1856-1934)". Women and the Transfer of Knowledge in the Black Sea Region. 2018. Retrieved 2021-04-08.

[41] Куманов, Милен. Македония. Кратък исторически справочник, Тинапрес, София, 1993, стр. 13 – 14.

[Phillips-42] Phillips, John (2004). Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans. I.B.Tauris. p. 41]. ISBN 186064841X.

[43] In their correspondence both brothers self-identified as Bulgarians, see: Братя Миладинови – преписка. Издирил, коментирал и редактирал Никола Трайков (Българска академия на науките, Институт за история. Издателство на БАН, София 1964); in English: Miladinov Brothers - Correspondence. Collected, commented and redacted from Nicola Traykov, (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Historical Institute, Sofia 1964.)

[44] Detrez, Raymond (2014). Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria. Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 323. ISBN 978-1442241800.

[45] Alexis Heraclides (2020). The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians. Taylor & Francis. p. 68. ISBN 9781000289404.

[46] Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009, ISBN 0810862956, p. 149.

[47] North Macedonia’s Blockade on Book Donation Riles Bulgaria Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Balkan Insight (BIRN), 29 March 2021.

[48] Откриха паметник на братя Миладинови в Плиска.

[49] A monument to the Miladinov brothers unveiled in Bulgaria's Blagoevgrad, Bulgarian National Radio, 11 January 2022.

[50] Michael R. Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage Through History - Volume 2, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015, ISBN 9781443878456, p. 114.

[51] Регистър на училищата и университетите в България.

[52] Daskalov, Roumen; Vezenkov, Alexander, eds. (2015). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies. BRILL. p. 457. ISBN 9789004290365.

[53] "Presently in the Republic of Macedonia we can find schools named: Miladinov Brothers, Rajko Zinzifov, Kuzman Sapkarev etc., while the students who study in them do not have the access to the literary works of the patrons of their schools in original..." Vladimir Paunkovski, Spas Tashev, George Mladenov. 5 Years of Independence - Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia, 1991- 1996. International Institute for Macedonia, Sofia.

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+{{Short description|Bulgarian national revival poets and activists}}
-[[File:Bulgarian Folk Songs Miladinov1.jpg|thumb|Front cover of the original edition of [[Bulgarian Folk Songs]]. "''Bulgarian Folk Songs collected by the Miladinovi Brothers Dimitar and Konstantin and published by Konstantin in Zagreb at the printing house of A. Jakic, 1861''"]]
+{{multiple image
-[[File:D. Miladinov to V. Grigorovic-1848.jpg|thumb| A letter from Dimitar Miladinov to [[Victor Grigorovich]] from February 25th, 1846 about his search for Bulgarian folk songs and artifacts in Macedonia.<ref>"...In the meantime my efforts concerning our Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian (folk) songs, in compliance with your recommendations are unsurpassed. I have not for one moment ceased to fulfill the pledge which I made to you, Sir, because the Bulgarians are spontaneously striving for the truth. But I hope you will excuse my delay up till now, which is due to the difficulty I had in selecting the best songs and also in my work on the grammar. I hope that, on another convenient occasion, after I have collected more songs and finished the grammar, I will be able to send them to you. Please write where and through whom it would be safe to send them to you (as you so ardently wish)..."</ref>]]
+ | align = right
-[[File:Letter K. Miladinov to Rakovski-1861.jpg|thumb|Letter from Konstantin Miladinov to [[Georgi Rakovski]] from 8 January 1861 to explain the use of the term Bulgarian in the title of the collection.<ref>"...But I implore you to publish the foreword I sent you in your newspaper, adding a word or two about the songs and especially about the Western Bulgarians in Macedonia. In the foreword I have called Macedonia - Western Bulgaria (as it should be called), because the Greeks in Vienna are treating us just like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek province and they are not even able to understand that it is not a Greek region. But what shall we do with the Bulgarians there who are more than two million people? Surely the Bulgarians will not still be sheep with a few Greeks as their shepherds? That time has irrevocably passed and the Greeks will have to be satisfied merely with their sweet dreams. I think that the songs should be distributed chiefly among the Bulgarians, and this is why I have fixed a low price..."</ref>]]
+ | total_width = 450
-[[File:Kuzman Shapkarev - Materiali za zhivotoopisanieto na bratya Miladinovi (Plovdiv, 1884).pdf|thumb|The first biography of the Miladinov brothers, written by their brother-in-law [[Kuzman Shapkarev]] and issued in [[Plovdiv]], 1884.<ref>According to Shapkarev himself: "''Until then,'' [1857-1859, when the Miladinovs launched their educational campaign], ''everyone acknowledged them to be a Bulgarian.''"</ref>]]
+ | image_style = border:none;
+ | image1 =Dimitar Miladinov Laibach.jpg
-The '''Miladinov brothers''' ({{lang-bg|Братя Миладинови}}, ''Bratya Miladinovi'', {{lang-mk|Браќа Миладиновци}}, ''Brakja Miladinovci''), '''Dimitar Miladinov''' (1810–1862) and '''Konstantin Miladinov''' (1830–1862), were [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] poets, folklorists, and activists of the [[National awakening of Bulgaria|Bulgarian national movement]] in Ottoman [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].<ref>In the announcement by the Miladinov Brothers about the subscription for their collection called [[Bulgarian Folk Songs]], published in Belgrade by Konstantin Miladinov on February 7, 1861 in the Bulgarian newspaper Dunavski Lebed, issue № 20, he wrote: "''We started collecting folk songs six years ago from all parts of Western Bulgaria, i.e. Macedonia... as well as from Eastern Bulgaria. These folk songs will be supplemented with traditional rites of betrothal and match-making from Struga and Kukush; proverbs, riddles, legends and about 2,000 words which have become obsolete or differ from other dialects''". For more see: D. Kossev et al., Macedonia, documents and materials, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, (in English) Sofia, 1978, p. 48.</ref><ref>''On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term ‘‘Bulgarian’’ in the title of his and his brother’s collection of Macedonian folk songs: ‘‘In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek.’’ Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation'' For more see: Andrew Rossos Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. Hoover Institution Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0817948813}}, p. 84.</ref> They are best known for their collection of folk songs called ''[[Bulgarian Folk Songs]]'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&pg=PA144 Nationalism, Globalization and Orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Victor Roudometof, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001], {{ISBN|0313319499}}, p. 144.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mHMqYgP7f0oC&pg=PA189 Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976, Peter Mackridge, Oxford University Press, 2010], {{ISBN|019959905X}}, p. 189.</ref> considered to be the greatest of their contributions to [[Bulgarian literature]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-0mJ7blUGtQC&pg=PA326 History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer, John Benjamins Publishing, 2004], {{ISBN|9027234558}}, p. 326.</ref> and the genesis of folklore studies during the [[Bulgarian National Revival]].<ref> [https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C&pg=PA179 Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs Divergence, Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas, Peter Lang, 2005], {{ISBN|9052012970}}, p. 179.</ref> Their third brother '''Naum''' (1817-1897) helped compile this collection too. Konstantin Miladinov is also famous for his poem [[Taga za Yug]] (Grief for the South) which he wrote during his stay in Russia.
+ | alt1 =
+ | caption1 = Dimitar Miladinov
+ | image2 = Konstantin Miladinov.jpg
-In [[North Macedonia]] the Miladinov brothers are celebrated as [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] who laid the foundation of the [[Macedonian nationalism|Macedonian national awakening]] and [[ethnic Macedonian literature|literary tradition]]. Proponents of this view argue that the Miladinov brothers referred to themselves and their language and culture as Bulgarian, because the term [[Bulgarian Millet|''Bulgarian'']] did not designate ethnic affiliation but different sociocultural categories.<ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmesOn_HhfEC&pg=PA59&dq=isbn:0691043566 The Macedonian Conflict by Loring M. Danforth.]</ref> This view is officially upheld and prevalent in [[North Macedonia]] where many of the original works of the Miladinov brothers have been unavailable to the general public and only censored versions and redacted copies of them have been published.<ref name="ReferenceA">Миладинова, М. 140 години "Български народни песни" от братя Миладинови. Отзвук и значение. сп. Македонски преглед, 2001, Македонският научен институт, бр. 4, стр. 5-21.</ref><ref name="ms0601">{{cite web
+ | alt2 =
- |url=http://www.soros.org.mk/archive/G04/01/A04_01/sa2004.htm
+ | caption2 = Konstantin Miladinov
- |title=ms0601
- |publisher=www.soros.org.mk
+ | image3 = Naum_Miladinov.JPG
- |access-date=2008-03-18
+ | alt3 =
- |url-status=dead
+ | caption3 = Naum Miladinov}}
- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405084630/http://www.soros.org.mk/archive/G04/01/A04_01/sa2004.htm
+The '''Miladinov brothers''' ({{langx|bg|Братя Миладинови|translit=Bratya Miladinovi}}, {{langx|mk|Браќа Миладиновци|translit=Brakja Miladinovci}}), '''Dimitar Miladinov''' (1810{{endash}}1862) and '''Konstantin Miladinov''' (1830{{endash}}1862), were [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] poets, folklorists, and activists of the [[National awakening of Bulgaria|Bulgarian national movement]] in Ottoman [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].<ref>In the announcement by the Miladinov Brothers about the subscription for their collection called [[Bulgarian Folk Songs]], published in Belgrade by Konstantin Miladinov on February 7, 1861 in the Bulgarian newspaper Dunavski Lebed, issue № 20, he wrote: "''We started collecting folk songs six years ago from all parts of Western Bulgaria, i.e. Macedonia... as well as from Eastern Bulgaria. These folk songs will be supplemented with traditional rites of betrothal and match-making from Struga and Kukush; proverbs, riddles, legends and about 2,000 words which have become obsolete or differ from other dialects''". For more see: D. Kossev et al., Macedonia, documents and materials, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, (in English) Sofia, 1978, p. 48.</ref><ref>"On 8 January 1861, K. Miladinov wrote to the Bulgarian weakener G. Rakovski to explain his use of the term ‘‘Bulgarian’’ in the title of his and his brother’s collection of Macedonian folk songs: ‘‘In the announcement I called Macedonia West Bulgaria (as it should be called) because in Vienna the Greeks treat us like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek land and cannot understand that [Macedonia] is not Greek.’’ Miladinov and other educated Macedonians worried that use of the Macedonian name would imply attachment to or identification with the Greek nation." For more see: Andrew Rossos, Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History, Hoover Institution Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0817948813}}, p. 84.</ref><ref>İpek Yosmaoğlu, Blood Ties: Religion, Violence and the Politics of Nationhood in Ottoman Macedonia, 1878–1908, Cornell University Press, 2013, {{ISBN|0801469791}}, pp. 72–73.</ref> They are best known for their collection of folk songs called ''[[Bulgarian Folk Songs]]'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&pg=PA144 Nationalism, Globalization and Orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Victor Roudometof, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001], {{ISBN|0313319499}}, p. 144.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mHMqYgP7f0oC&pg=PA189 Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976, Peter Mackridge, Oxford University Press, 2010], {{ISBN|019959905X}}, p. 189.</ref> considered a milestone in [[Bulgarian literature]],<ref name="LK">Larry Koroloff, The Miladinov Brothers: A Miscellany, Macedonian Historical Society of Canada, 1982, pp. 4-8; 12.</ref> the greatest literary work in the history of Bulgarian folklore studies and the genesis of folklore studies during the [[Bulgarian National Revival]].<ref name="CM">Charles A. Moser, A History of Bulgarian Literature 865–1944, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2019, {{ISBN|9783110810608}}, p. 85.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C&pg=PA179 Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence Vs Divergence, Raymond Detrez, Pieter Plas, Peter Lang, 2005], {{ISBN|9052012970}}, p. 179.</ref> They also contributed to Bulgarian [[ethnography]] through their collection of folk material.<ref name="JS">Janette Sampimon, Becoming Bulgarian: The articulation of Bulgarian identity in the nineteenth century in its international context: An intellectual history, Pegasus, 2006, {{ISBN|9061433118}}, pp. 22; 32-34.</ref> Their third brother '''Naum''' (1817{{endash}}1897) helped compile this collection too. Konstantin Miladinov is also famous for his poem [[Taga za Yug]] (Grief for the South) which he wrote during his stay in Russia.
- |archive-date=2012-04-05
+In [[North Macedonia]], the Miladinov brothers are celebrated as [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] who laid the foundation of the [[Macedonian nationalism|Macedonian national awakening]] and [[Macedonian literature|literary tradition]]. Many of the Miladinov brothers' original works have been unavailable to the general public and only censored versions, and redacted copies of them have been published there.<ref name="ReferenceA">Миладинова, М. 140 години "Български народни песни" от братя Миладинови. Отзвук и значение {{in lang|bg}}. сп. Македонски преглед, 2001, Македонският научен институт, бр. 4, стр. 5-21.</ref><ref name="ms0601">{{cite web
+ |url=http://www.soros.org.mk/archive/G04/01/A04_01/sa2004.htm
+ |title=ms0601
+ |publisher=www.soros.org.mk
+ |access-date=2008-03-18
+ |url-status=dead
+ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405084630/http://www.soros.org.mk/archive/G04/01/A04_01/sa2004.htm
+ |archive-date=2012-04-05
 }}</ref>
+== Family and background ==
-The Miladinov brothers' hometown of [[Struga]] hosts the international [[Struga Poetry Evenings]] festival in their honour including a poetry award named after them.
+The mother of the Miladinov brothers was Sultana Miladinova. Her father was an [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] from [[Magarevo]] who moved to [[Ohrid]] and studied in [[Moscopole]] with [[Daniel Moscopolites]]. Sultana's mother was a native of Ohrid<ref>Todorovski, Gane (1990), [https://books.google.com/books?id=VV1NAQAAIAAJ Книга нашинска сиреч славјанска] {{in lang|mk}}, Makedonska kniga, p. 19.</ref> and the granddaughter of ''[[sakellarios]]'' Pop Stefan, who was so fond of his pupil Dimitrius of Ioannou that he let him marry her.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PcRKAAAAMAAJ "Izbor" - Konstantin Miladinov] {{in lang|mk}}, Gane Todorovski, 1980, Misla Publishing, pp. 366; 395.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6WflAAAAMAAJ Литературен збор] {{in lang|mk}}, Volume 36 - 1989, p. 29.</ref> The brothers' father, Hristo Miladinov, was also from Magarevo. He was a pottery merchant, who moved to Struga in around 1810.<ref>Михайлов, Крум. Родът на Братя Миладинови. В: Стари български родове. Издателство Отечествен фронт, 1989, стр. 83-133.</ref> The family had eight children, six sons and two daughters.<ref name="LK" />
+After the conquest of the [[Balkans]] by the [[Ottoman Empire]], the name ''Macedonia'' disappeared as a designation for several centuries.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[John S. Koliopoulos|Koliopoulos, John S.]]|author2=Veremis, Thanos M.|title=Modern Greece: A History since 1821. A New History of Modern Europe|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2009|isbn=978-1444314830|page=48}}</ref>  Names such as "Lower Moesia" and "Bulgaria" were used for the northern and central parts of the modern [[Macedonian region]].<ref>James Pettifer, The New Macedonian Question, St. Martin's Press, 1999, {{ISBN|9780312222406}}, p. 50.</ref> The name was revived in the early 19th century with the new Greek state and was affirmed in the modern area as a result of Hellenic religious and school propaganda.<ref name="DM">Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, Introduction, pp. V–VIII.</ref> However, the Bulgarian national revival is considered to have opposed Greek domination of Bulgaria's Slavic language and culture. The Miladinov brothers deliberately avoided using the term ''Macedonia'' in reference to the region, arguing that it presents a threat to the Bulgarian people there, and proposed the name ''Western Bulgaria'' instead.<ref name="Obviously p. 285">"Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called  “Western Bulgaria”. Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian historian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek." For more see: Tchavdar Marinov, Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian identity at the crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nationalism, p. 285; in Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies with Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov as ed., BRILL, 2013, {{ISBN|900425076X}}, pp. 273-330.</ref><ref name="Dimitar Miladinov 1862">"Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands"." For more see: Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, Peter Lang, 2010, {{ISBN|3034301960}}, p. 72.</ref><ref name="ojs.lib.uom.gr">"The struggle over the historical legacy of the name “Macedonia” was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to Rakovski, dated 31 January 1861: ''On my order form I have called Macedonia “Western Bulgaria”, as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them.''" For more see: Spyridon Sfetas, [https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/3313/3338 The image of the Greeks in the work of the Bulgarian revolutionary and intellectual Georgi Rakovski]. Balkan Studies, [S.l.], volume 42, issue 1, pp. 105-106, January 2001, {{ISSN|2241-1674}}.</ref> Miladinov and other educated Macedonian Slavs worried that the use of the designation ''Macedonian'' would imply an identification with the Greek nation.
 == Dimitar Miladinov ==
+{{multiple image
-[[Image:Dimitar Miladinov.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Dimitar Miladinov]]
+ | align = right
-Dimitar Miladinov was born in 1810 in the town of [[Struga]], the [[Ottoman Empire]] (in today's [[Republic of North Macedonia]]) in the family of a potter named Hristo Miladinov and his wife, Sultana. Dimitar was the eldest of eight children - six boys and two girls.
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+ | image1 =Bulgarian Folk Songs Miladinov1.jpg
-Young Dimitar was sent by his father to the [[Monastery of Saint Naum]] to receive basic education. Having spent four years at the monastery, at the age of twelve he continued his education in a Greek school in the town of [[Ohrid]]. Shortly after graduating as an outstanding student in 1830, he was invited and spent two years teaching in the same school. Following the death of his father and the birth of his youngest brother [[Konstantin Miladinov]], Dimitar worked briefly as a bookkeeper in the trade chamber of the town of [[Durrës]] (in modern day [[Albania]]).  From 1833 to 1836 he studied in [[Ioannina]] in what was considered to be one of the best Greek high schools where he mastered the Greek language. After graduating, Dimitar Miladinov returned to Ohrid and continued teaching.
+ | alt1 =
+ | caption1 = Front cover of the original edition of [[Bulgarian Folk Songs]]. "''Bulgarian Folk Songs collected by the Miladinov brothers Dimitar and Konstantin and published by Konstantin in Zagreb at the printing house of A. Jakic, 1861''"
+ | image2 = D. Miladinov to V. Grigorovic-1848.jpg
-As a teacher, in 1836 Dimitar Miladinov introduced the [[Bell-Lancaster method]] and expanded the school curriculum, adding philosophy, arithmetics, geography, [[Old Greek]], [[Greek literature]], [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[French language|French]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo5pAAAAMAAJ&q=miladinov+lancaster&dq=miladinov+lancaster&hl=bg&sa=X&ei=lcaUUZ-wDc6ZhQeKtoGQAg&redir_esc=y Freedom Or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, Pluto Press, 1978], {{ISBN|0904526321}}, p. 17.</ref> He quickly became popular and respected among his students and peers. After two years, he left Ohrid and returned to Struga. From 1840 to 1842, he was a teacher in [[Kilkis|Kukush]], today in [[Greece]]. He became active in the town's social life, strongly opposing the [[phanariotes]]. At the instigation of Dimitar Miladinov, and with the full approval of the city fathers, in 1858 the use of the Greek language was banished from the churches and substituted with the [[Church Slavonic]]. In 1859, when hearing that the town of Ohrid had officially demanded from the [[State organisation of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] the restoration of the [[Bulgarian Patriarchate]], Dimitar Miladinov left Kukush and headed for Ohrid to help. There he translated Bible texts in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]. Dimitar Miladinov tried to introduce the Bulgarian language into the [[Greek language|Greek]] school in [[Prilep]] in 1856 causing an angry reaction from the local [[Grecoman]]s. In a letter to "[[Tsarigradski Vestnik]]" of February 28, 1860, he reports: ''"…In the entire county of Ohrid, there is not a single Greek family except three or four villages of Vlahs. The rest of the population is purely Bulgarian.…"''<ref>Трайков, Н. Братя Миладинови.Преписка.1964 с. 43, 44</ref> As a result of his endeavors, the Greek Bishop Miletos denounced Miladinov as a Russian agent. He was accused of spreading [[pan-Slavic]] ideas and was imprisoned in [[Istanbul]] later to be joined by his supporting brother Konstantin. In January 1862 both brothers died in prison from [[typhus]].<ref>{{cite book
+ | alt2 =
+ | caption2 = A letter from Dimitar Miladinov to [[Victor Grigorovich]] from 25 February 1846 about his search for Bulgarian folk songs and artefacts in Macedonia.<ref>"...In the meantime my efforts concerning our Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian (folk) songs, in compliance with your recommendations are unsurpassed. I have not for one moment ceased to fulfill the pledge which I made to you, Sir, because the Bulgarians are spontaneously striving for the truth. But I hope you will excuse my delay up till now, which is due to the difficulty I had in selecting the best songs and also in my work on the grammar. I hope that, on another convenient occasion, after I have collected more songs and finished the grammar, I will be able to send them to you. Please write where and through whom it would be safe to send them to you (as you so ardently wish)..."</ref><ref name="JS" />}}
+Dimitar Miladinov was born around 1810 in the town of [[Struga]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]] (today [[North Macedonia]]),<ref name="BR">Blaže Ristovski, ed. Makedonska enciklopedija: M-Š {{in lang|mk}}, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2009, {{ISBN|9786082030241}}, pp. 948-950.</ref> in the family of a potter named Hristo Miladinov and his wife, Sultana. Dimitar was the eldest of eight children, six boys and two girls.
+In his youth, Dimitar was sent by his father to the [[Monastery of Saint Naum]] on [[Lake Ohrid]], to receive basic education. Having spent four years at the monastery, at the age of twelve he continued his education in a Greek school in the town of Ohrid. Shortly after graduating as an outstanding student around 1830, he was invited by the citizens and spent two years teaching in the same school. Following the death of his father and the birth of his youngest brother [[Konstantin Miladinov|Konstantin]], Dimitar worked briefly as a bookkeeper in the trade chamber of the town of [[Durrës]], today in [[Albania]]. From 1833 to 1836 he studied in [[Ioannina]], in what was considered to be one of the best Greek high schools, where he mastered the Greek language. After graduating, Dimitar returned to Ohrid and continued teaching.
+As a teacher, in 1836, Dimitar introduced the [[Bell-Lancaster method]] and expanded the school curriculum, adding philosophy, arithmetics, geography, [[Old Greek]], [[Greek literature]], [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[French language|French]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo5pAAAAMAAJ&q=miladinov+lancaster Freedom Or Death: The Life of Gotsé Delchev, Mercia MacDermott, Pluto Press, 1978], {{ISBN|0904526321}}, p. 17.</ref> He quickly became popular and respected among his students and peers. After two years, he left Ohrid and returned to Struga. From 1840 to 1842 he was a teacher in [[Kilkis|Kukush]], today in [[Greece]]. He became active in the town's social life, strongly opposing the [[phanariotes]].{{cn|date=September 2024}} In May 1845, the Russian Slavist [[Viktor Grigorovich]] visited him in Ohrid and realised that Miladinov had improper knowledge of [[Bulgarian language]], and under his influence, Miladinov gained interest in Bulgarian.<ref name="BR" /><ref name="CM" /> As his interest grew, he developed a Bulgarian national consciousness.<ref name="LD">Loring Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, Princeton University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|9780691043562}}, p. 63.</ref> Dimitar travelled around the Macedonian region, collecting folk material, which he informed Grigorovich about.<ref name="JS" /> In a letter written in Greek on 20 August 1852, he complained that most of the Bulgarians of Macedonia used Greek as the language of education and were considered Greeks.<ref name="VA">Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913, East European Monographs, 2003, {{ISBN|9780880335270}}, pp. 35–36.</ref> He called for opposition to the [[hellenisation]] of the Bulgarians.<ref name="HP">{{cite book|author=Poulton, Hugh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&pg=PA117|title=Who Are the Macedonians?|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|year=2000|isbn=1850655340|pages=38, 117}}</ref> At the initiative of Dimitar, and with the approval of the city's fathers, in 1858, the Greek language was banished from the churches and substituted with [[Church Slavonic]].<ref name="LK" /> During this period, he translated the [[Acts of the Apostles]] into [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] to make it available for church usage.<ref name="VA" /> In 1859, upon hearing that the town of Ohrid had officially demanded from the [[State organisation of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] the restoration of the [[Bulgarian Patriarchate]], Dimitar left Kukush and went to Ohrid to help.<ref name="LK" /> There, he translated Bible texts into Bulgarian. Dimitar tried to introduce the Bulgarian language into the [[Greek language|Greek]] school in [[Prilep]] in 1856, causing an angry reaction from the local [[Grecoman]]s. In a letter to ''[[Tsarigradski Vestnik]]'' ([[Tsarigrad]] Newspaper) on 26 March 1860, he wrote: ''"In the holy Ohrid district, there is not a single Greek family, except for three or four Vlachs now, and all the others are purely a Bulgarian tribe."''<ref>Vlado Treneski, Dejan Tančovski, White Book about the Language Dispute Between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia, Orbel, 2021, {{ISBN|9789544961497}}, pp. 89-91.</ref><ref>Трайков, Н. Братя Миладинови. Преписка.1964 pp. 43-44.</ref> Due to his endeavours, the Greek bishop Miletos denounced Miladinov as a Russian agent. He was accused of spreading [[pan-Slavic]] ideas and was imprisoned in [[Istanbul]], later to be joined by his supporting brother Konstantin. On 11 January 1862, he died in prison from [[typhus]].<ref>{{cite book
   | last =Roudometof
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   | year =2002
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+  | page =91 }}</ref><ref name="RD">Raymond Detrez, The A to Z of Bulgaria, Scarecrow Press, 2010, {{ISBN|9780810872028}}, p. 284.</ref>
-  | page =91 }}</ref>
-Dimitar's daughter [[Tsarevna Miladinova]] would continue his Bulgarian nationalist efforts, co-founding the [[Bulgarian Girls' High School of Thessaloniki]] in 1882.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018|title=Tsarevna Miladinova-Alexieva (1856-1934)|url=http://womeninscience.swu.bg/?p=1406|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-08|website=Women and the Transfer of Knowledge in the Black Sea Region|language=en-US}}</ref>
 == Konstantin Miladinov ==
+{{multiple image
-[[Image:Konstantin Miladinov.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Konstantin Miladinov]]
+ | align = right
-Konstantin Miladinov was the youngest son in the family of the potter Hristo Miladinov. He was born in 1830 in [[Struga]]. He studied in a few different places throughout his life but the very first teacher was his older brother Dimitar. After his graduation from the Hellenic Institute at [[Ioannina]] and the [[University of Athens]], where he studied literature, at the instigation of his brother, Dimitar, and following the example of many young [[Bulgarians]] of that period, in 1856, Konstantin went to [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. Reaching Odessa, and short of money, the  ''Bulgarian Society'' in that city financed his trip to [[Moscow]]. Konstantin enrolled at the [[Moscow University]] to study Slavic philology. While at the University of Athens, he was exposed, exclusively, to the teachings and thinking of ancient and modern [[Greeks|Greek]] scholars. In Moscow, he came in contact with prominent [[Slavs|Slavic]] writers and intellectuals, scarcely mentioned in any of the Greek textbooks. But while in Moscow he could not suppress his desire to see the River [[Volga]]. At the time of his youth, the universal belief was that the [[Bulgars]] had camped on the banks of the legendary river, had crossed it on their way to the [[Balkans]] and the origin of the name ''Bulgarians'' had come from the Russian River - Volga. Reaching its shores, Konstantin stood before it in awe, fascinated, unable to utter a word, his eyes following the flowing waters. A poet at heart, he poured his exaltations in a letter to one of his friends:'' "…O,Volga, Volga! What memories you awake in me, how you drive me to bury myself in the past! High are your waters, Volga. I and my friend, also a Bulgarian, we dived and proudly told ourselves that, at this very moment, we received our true baptismal.…"''<ref>Петър Динеков, Делото на братя Милядинови. (Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)</ref> While in Russia he helped his older brother Dimitar in editing the materials for the collection of Bulgarian songs, that have been collected by Dimitar in his field work. The collection was subsequently published in Croatia with the support of the bishop Josip  Strosmayer, who was one of the patrons of Slavonic literature at that time. Konstantin established contact with [[Josip Juraj Strossmayer]] and early in 1860, when he heard that the Bishop would be in [[Vienna]], he left Moscow and headed for the Austrian capital to meet his future benefactor. Very glad that he printed the book, on the way back he received the bad news that his brother was jailed. With the thought of helping his brother, he went in [[Tsarigrad]]. Denounced by the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] as a dangerous Russian agent, he was arrested. It is not clear whether he was placed in the same cell with his brother, or whether the two brothers saw each other. Very soon both of them became ill and in a matter of few days died.
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-== Naum Miladinov ==
+ | image1 =Letter K. Miladinov to Rakovski-1861.jpg
+ | alt1 =
-[[Image:Naum_Miladinov.JPG|thumb|150px|left|Naum Miladinov.]]
+ | caption1 = Letter from Konstantin Miladinov to [[Georgi Rakovski]] from 8 January 1861 to explain the use of the term Bulgarian in the title of the collection.<ref>"...But I implore you to publish the foreword I sent you in your newspaper, adding a word or two about the songs and especially about the Western Bulgarians in Macedonia. In the foreword I have called Macedonia - Western Bulgaria (as it should be called), because the Greeks in Vienna are treating us just like sheep. They consider Macedonia a Greek province and they are not even able to understand that it is not a Greek region. But what shall we do with the Bulgarians there who are more than two million people? Surely the Bulgarians will not still be sheep with a few Greeks as their shepherds? That time has irrevocably passed and the Greeks will have to be satisfied merely with their sweet dreams. I think that the songs should be distributed chiefly among the Bulgarians, and this is why I have fixed a low price..."</ref>
-Naum Miladinov was the brother of Dimitar and Konstantin. He was born in 1817 and finished primary school in Struga. Later he went with his brother Dimitar to [[Durrës|Duras]], where Naum learned to play the violin. After that, together with Dimitar, Naum graduated from the [[Ioannina]] Greek High School and worked as his assistant-teacher. From 1841 to 1844 he studied at the [[Halki seminary]], where he graduated in music and grammar. In 1843 he wrote a textbook on music and prepared a Greek grammar. After returning to Struga, Naum became involved in the activities of his brothers and became a proponent of the [[Bulgarian National Revival]]. Assists in collecting materials for the collection "Bulgarian Folk Songs". The folk songs collected by him are also notated. After 1878 he settled in the newly established [[Principality of Bulgaria]]. Naum received a [[pension|national pension]] as a Bulgarian educator. He wrote a biography of his brothers, but failed to publish it. He died in 1897 in [[Sofia]].<ref>Исторически албум на град Струга, София, 1930, стр. 34 – 35.</ref>
+ | image2 = Kuzman Shapkarev - Materiali za zhivotoopisanieto na bratya Miladinovi (Plovdiv, 1884).pdf
-== Significance ==
+ | alt2 =
-[[Image:K.miladinov.jpg|thumb|210px|right|Konstantin Miladinov (right), together with the Bulgarian national activists [[Lyuben Karavelov]] and Petar Hadzhipeev in [[Moscow]], 1858.]]
+ | caption2 = The first biography of the Miladinov brothers, written by their brother-in-law [[Kuzman Shapkarev]] and issued in [[Plovdiv]], 1884.<ref>According to Shapkarev himself: "''Until then,'' [1857-1859, when the Miladinovs launched their educational campaign], ''everyone acknowledged them to be a Bulgarian.''"</ref>
+ | image3 = K.miladinov.jpg
-The two brothers' educationalist activity and deaths ensured them a worthy place in the history of the Bulgarian cultural movement and the Bulgarian national liberation struggle in the 19th century. The brothers are known also for their keen interest in Bulgarian folk poetry as a result of which the collection "Bulgarian Folk Songs" appeared. The songs were collected between 1854 and 1860 mostly by the elder brother, Dimitar, who taught in several [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonian]] towns ([[Ohrid]], [[Struga]], [[Prilep]], [[Kukush]] and [[Bitola]]) and was able to put into writing the greater part of the 660 folk songs. The songs from the [[Sofia Province|Sofia District]] were supplied by the Sofia schoolmaster [[Sava Filaretov]]. Those from [[Panagyurishte municipality|Panagyurishte area]], were recorded by [[Marin Drinov]] and [[Nesho Bonchev]], but were sent by [[Vasil Cholakov]]. [[Rayko Zhinzifov]], who went to [[Russian Empire|Russia]] with the help of D. Miladinov, was another collaborator. Dimitar and Konstantin Miladinovi were aware of the great significance of the folklore in the period of the national revival and did their best to collect the best poetic writing which the [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] [[people]] had created throughout the ages.
+ | alt3 =
+ | caption3 = Konstantin Miladinov (right), together with the Bulgarian national activists [[Lyuben Karavelov]] and Petar Hadzhipeev in [[Moscow]], 1858}}
+Konstantin Miladinov was the youngest son in the family of the potter Hristo Miladinov. He was born in 1830 in [[Struga]]. He studied in an elementary school in Ohrid. After his graduation from the Hellenic Institute at [[Ioannina]] and the [[University of Athens]], where he studied literature, at the initiative of his brother, Dimitar, In 1856, he went to [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. He arrived in Odessa and because he was short of money, the ''Bulgarian Society'' in that city financed his trip to [[Moscow]]. Konstantin enrolled at the [[Moscow University]] to study Slavic philology. While at the University of Athens, he was exclusively exposed to the teachings and thinking of ancient and modern [[Greeks|Greek]] scholars. In Moscow, he came in contact with prominent [[Slavs|Slavic]] writers and intellectuals.
-Their activity in this field is indicative of the growing interest shown towards folklore by the Bulgarian intelligentsia in the middle of the 19th century – by [[Vasil Aprilov]], [[Nayden Gerov]], [[Georgi Rakovski]], [[Petko Slaveykov]], etc. The collecting was highly assessed by its contemporaries - [[Lyuben Karavelov]], Nesho Bonchev, [[Ivan Bogorov]], [[Kuzman Shapkarev]], Rayko Zhinzifov and others. The collection was met with great interest by foreign scholars. The Russian scholar [[Izmail Sreznevsky]] pointed out in 1863: ''"…It can be seen by the published collection that the Bulgarians far from lagging behind other peoples in poetic abilities even surpass them with the vitality of their poetry…"'' Soon parts of the collection were translated in [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[German language|German]]. [[Elias Riggs]], an American linguist in Constantinople, translated nine songs into [[English language|English]] and sent them to the [[American Oriental Society]] in Princeton, New Jersey. In a letter from in June 1862,  Riggs wrote: "…The whole present an interesting picture of the traditions and fancies prevailing among the mass of the Bulgarian people…"
-The collection compiled by the Miladinov brothers also played a great role in the development of the modern [[Bulgarian literature#Bulgarian modernist literature|Bulgarian literature]], because its songs as poetic models for the outstanding Bulgarian poets – [[Ivan Vazov]], [[Pencho Slaveikov]], [[Kiril Hristov]], [[Peyo Yavorov]], etc.<ref>Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост. Академик Емил Георгиев, (Държавно издателство Народна просвета, София 1980)</ref><ref>Петър Динеков. Делото на братя Миладинови.(Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)</ref>
+While in Moscow he desired to see the river [[Volga]]. At the time of his youth, the universal belief was that the [[Bulgars]] had camped on the banks of the river, had crossed it on their way to the [[Balkans]] and the origin of the name ''Bulgarians'' had come from the river's name. After seeing the river, he wrote his impressions down in a letter to a friend: ''"O, Volga, Volga! What memories you awake in me, how you drive me to bury myself in the past! High are your waters, Volga. I and my friend, also a Bulgarian, we dived and proudly told ourselves that, at this very moment, we received our true baptismal…"''<ref name="LK" /><ref>Петър Динеков, Делото на братя Милядинови. (Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)</ref> While staying in Russia, he wrote his poem called [[Taga za Yug]] (Grief for the South), expressing his homesickness. Other poems he wrote include "Bisera" (Pearl), "Zhelanie" (Desire), "Kletva" (An Oath), "Dumane" (A Saying), "Na chuzhdina" (Abroad).<ref>Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer (eds.) History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|9789027234537}}, pp. 359-360.</ref>
-== Controversy ==
-{{See also|Historiography in North Macedonia|Macedonian nationalism}}
-[[File:Miladinov.jpg|thumb|230px|right|Jubilee postcard (1862-1912) issued by the Ottoman Bulgarian Teachers Union, with a portrait of K. Miladinov.]]
-[[File:BASA-1932K-1-421-10.jpg|right|thumb|230px|Bulgarian Primary School "Miladinov Brothers" in [[Cer, Kičevo|Cer]], near [[Kichevo]], then in the Ottoman Empire (1912).]]
-[[File:Графити в София -Бележити българи, братя Миладинови.jpg|right|thumb|230px|Graffiti in Sofia, close to [[Macedonia Square, Sofia|Macedonia Square]], depicting the Miladinov Brothers.]]
-The Miladinov brothers were fervent proponents of the Bulgarian national idea in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and unequivocally identified as Bulgarians, referring to their language and culture exclusively as Bulgarian.<ref name='Phillips'/><ref>In their correspondence both brothers self identified as Bulgarians, see: [http://www.promacedonia.org/bugarash/dmp/index.html Братя Миладинови – преписка. Издирил, коментирал и редактирал Никола Трайков (Българска академия на науките, Институт за история. Издателство на БАН, София 1964)];  in English: Miladinov Brothers - Correspondence. Collected, commented and redacted from Nicola Traykov, ([[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]], Historical Institute, Sofia 1964.)</ref><ref>Raymond Detrez, Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, {{ISBN|1442241802}}, p. 323.</ref> Nevertheless, their ethnicity, language, and legacy are a contentious political issue between [[Bulgaria]] and [[North Macedonia]].
+He also helped his older brother Dimitar in editing the materials for the collection of Bulgarian songs, that Dimitar had collected in his field work.<ref name="JS" /> Konstantin had to transcribe the collected songs from the Greek alphabet in which they were recorded, into the Cyrillic alphabet.<ref name="LD" /> Initially, Konstantin tried to find assistance among Russian scholars to have the collection of folk songs published. After failing to find assistance, he went to Vienna to look for sponsors. The collection was subsequently published in Croatia with the support of the bishop [[Josip Juraj Strossmayer]], who was one of the patrons of Slavonic literature at that time. In a private letter to [[Bulgarian National Revival]] activist [[Georgi Rakovski]] on 8 January 1861, Konstantin Miladinov expressed concern over the use of the name ''Macedonia'' as it could have been used to justify Greek claims to the region and the local Bulgarian population, so he suggested that the region should be called ''Western Bulgaria'' instead.<ref name="Obviously p. 285"/><ref name="Dimitar Miladinov 1862"/><ref name="ojs.lib.uom.gr"/> Shortly after the publication of the collection, he found out that his brother was jailed. He went to [[Istanbul]] to help him.<ref name="BR" /> Denounced by the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] as a dangerous Russian agent, he was arrested on 5 August 1861. It is unknown if he was placed in the same cell as his brother or whether he saw him.<ref name="LK" /> He died on 7 January 1862 in prison from typhus.<ref name="RD" />
-The official view in North Macedonia is that the Miladinov brothers were in fact [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] who spoke [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and contributed to [[Macedonian literature]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1jSg3lxgSy8C&pg=PA149 Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009], {{ISBN|0810862956}}, p. 149.</ref> This idea is advanced through a notion that in the Ottoman period the term ''Bulgarian'' was used to designate not ethnic affiliation but different sociocultural categories, whereas the population of the region of Macedonia had no national or ethnic consciousness.<ref name="books.google.com"/> However, supporters of this view ignore the fact that the Miladinov brothers deliberately avoided using the term ''Macedonian'' in reference to the region, arguing that it presents a threat to the Bulgarian character of the population, and proposed the name ''Western Bulgaria'' instead.<ref name="Obviously p. 285">''Miladinov suggested that Macedonia should be called  “Western Bulgaria”. Obviously, he was aware that the classical designation was received via Greek schooling and culture. As the Macedonian histotrian Taskovski claims, the Macedonian Slavs initially rejected the Macedonian designation as Greek.'' For more see: Tchavdar Marinov, Famous Macedonia, the Land of Alexander: Macedonian identity at the crossroads of Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian nationalism, p. 285; in Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies with Roumen Daskalov and Tchavdar Marinov as ed., BRILL, 2013, {{ISBN|900425076X}}, pp. 273-330.</ref><ref name="Dimitar Miladinov 1862">Dimitar Miladinov's most famous literary achievement was the publishing of a large collection of Bulgarian folk songs in Zagreb in 1861 under the title Bulgarian Folk Songs. He published the volume with his brother Konstantin (1830-1862) and even though most of the songs were from Macedonia, the authors disliked this term as too Hellenic and preferred to refer to Macedonia as the "Western Bulgarian lands". For more see: Chris Kostov, Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto, Peter Lang, 2010, {{ISBN|3034301960}}, p. 72.</ref><ref name="ojs.lib.uom.gr">The struggle over the historical legacy of the name “Macedonia” was already under way in the nineteenth century, as the Greeks contested its appropriation by the Slavs. This is reflected in a letter from Konstantin Miladinov, who published Bulgarian folk songs from Macedonia, to [[Georgi Rakovski]], dated 31 January 1861:''On my order form I have called Macedonia “Western Bulgaria”, as it should be called, because the Greeks in Vienna are ordering us around like sheep. They want Macedonia to be Greek territory and still do not realize that it cannot be Greek. But what are we to do with the more than two million Bulgarians there? Shall the Bulgarians still be sheep and a few Greeks the shepherds? Those days are gone and the Greeks shall be left with no more than their sweet dream. I believe the songs will be distributed among the Bulgarians, and have therefore set a low price for them.'' For more see: Spyridon Sfetas, The image of the Greeks in the work of the Bulgarian revolutionary and intellectual Georgi Rakovski. Balkan Studies, [S.l.], v. 42, n. 1, p. 89-107, Jan. 2001. ISSN 2241-1674. Available at: <https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/3313/3338>.</ref>
+== Naum Miladinov ==
-After the conquest of the [[Balkans]] by the [[Ottomans]], the name [[Makedon (mythology)#Etymology|''Macedonia'']] disappeared as a designation for several centuries.<ref>John S. Koliopoulos, Thanos M. Veremis, Modern Greece: A History since 1821. A New History of Modern Europe, John Wiley & Sons, 2009, {{ISBN|1444314831}}, p. 48.</ref> Names such as "Lower Moesia" and "Lower Bulgaria" were used interchangeably by the region's Slavic population which had a clear Bulgarian ethnic consciousness.<ref>For more see: Drezov K. (1999) Macedonian identity: an overview of the major claims. In: Pettifer J. (eds) The New Macedonian Question. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London, {{ISBN|0230535798}}.</ref><ref>"''Until the late 19th century both outside observers and those Bulgaro-Macedonians who had an ethnic consciousness believed that their group, which is now two separate nationalities, comprised a single people, the Bulgarians. Thus the reader should ignore references to ethnic Macedonians in the Middle ages which appear in some modern works. In the Middle ages and into the 19th century, the term ‘Macedonian’ was used entirely in reference to a geographical region. Anyone who lived within its confines, regardless of nationality could be called a Macedonian...Nevertheless, the absence of a national consciousness in the past is no grounds to reject the Macedonians as a nationality today."'' "The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century," John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0472081497}}, pp. 36–37.</ref> The name ''Macedonia'' was revived in the early 19th century with the new Greek state and was affirmed in the ''modern area'' as a result of Hellenic [[Megali Idea|religious and school propaganda]].<ref>Richard Clogg, Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2002, {{ISBN|1850657068}}, p. 160.</ref><ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Scarecrow Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0810862956}}, Introduction, pp. VII–VIII.</ref> In a private letter to [[Georgi Rakovski]], Konstantin Miladinov expressed concern over the use of the name ''Macedonia'' as it may be used to justify Greek claims to the region and the local Bulgarian population, so he suggested that the region should be called ''Western Bulgaria'' instead.<ref name="Obviously p. 285"/><ref name="Dimitar Miladinov 1862"/><ref name="ojs.lib.uom.gr"/>
+Naum Miladinov was the brother of Dimitar and Konstantin. He was born in 1817 and finished primary school in Struga. Later he went with his brother Dimitar to [[Durrës|Duras]], where Naum learned to play the violin. After that, together with Dimitar, Naum graduated from the [[Ioannina]] Greek High School and worked as his assistant teacher. From 1841 to 1844 he studied at the [[Halki seminary]], where he graduated in music and grammar. In 1843 he wrote a music textbook and prepared a Greek grammar. After returning to Struga, Naum became involved in the activities of his brothers and became a proponent of the [[Bulgarian National Revival]]. He assisted in collecting materials for the collection "Bulgarian Folk Songs". The folk songs collected by him are also notated. After 1878 he settled in the newly established [[Principality of Bulgaria]]. Naum received a [[pension|national pension]] as a Bulgarian educator. He wrote a biography of his brothers, but failed to publish it. He died in 1897 in [[Sofia]].<ref>Исторически албум на град Струга, София, 1930, стр. 34 – 35.</ref>
+==Legacy==
-In post-war [[SR Macedonia|Yugoslav Macedonia]], the original of the "Bulgarian Folk Songs" was hidden from the general public. Suitably edited textbooks were published into the newly codified [[Macedonian language]], to support the promulgation of a new [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonian]] [[nation]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&pg=PA117 Who Are the Macedonians? Hugh Poulton, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2000], {{ISBN|1850655340}}, p. 117.</ref> In Macedonia, the Miladinov brothers were appropriated by the historians in [[SFR Yugoslavia|Communist Yugoslavia]] as part of ''Macedonian National Revival''. As a result generations of young people were taught at pseudo-history.<ref>The past was systematically falsified to conceal the fact that many prominent ‘Macedonians’ had supposed themselves to be Bulgarians, and generations of students were taught the pseudo-history of the Macedonian nation. The mass media and education were the key to this process of national acculturation, speaking to people in a language that they came to regard as their Macedonian mothertongue, even if it was perfectly understood in Sofia. For more see: Michael L. Benson, Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Edition 2, Springer, 2003, {{ISBN|1403997209}}, p. 89.</ref>
+{{See also|Historiography in North Macedonia|Macedonian nationalism}}
+[[File:BASA-1932K-1-421-10.jpg|right|thumb|230px|Bulgarian Primary School "Miladinov Brothers" in [[Cer, Kičevo|Cer]], near [[Kičevo]], then in the Ottoman Empire (1912).]]
+The two brothers are honoured in the history of the Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th century.<ref name="JS" /> The collecting of the folk material was well-received by its contemporaries - [[Lyuben Karavelov]], Nesho Bonchev, [[Ivan Bogorov]], [[Kuzman Shapkarev]], Rayko Zhinzifov and others. The Russian scholar [[Izmail Sreznevsky]], in his opinion about the collection, pointed out in 1863: ''"It can be seen by the published collection that the Bulgarians are far from lagging behind other peoples in poetic abilities and even surpass them with the vitality of their poetry…"'' Parts of the collection were also translated into [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[German language|German]].<ref name="BG">Bŭlgarski narodni pesni {{in lang|bg}}, Nauka i izkustvo, 1981, Summary.</ref> [[Elias Riggs]], an American linguist in Constantinople, translated nine songs into [[English language|English]] and sent them to the [[American Oriental Society]] in Princeton, New Jersey. In a letter from June 1862, Riggs wrote: "…The whole present an interesting picture of the traditions and fancies prevailing among the mass of the Bulgarian people."<ref name="LK" />
+The collection also had an impact on the development of modern [[Bulgarian literature#Bulgarian modernist literature|Bulgarian literature]], because its songs inspired the Bulgarian poets – [[Ivan Vazov]], [[Pencho Slaveikov]], [[Kiril Hristov]], [[Peyo Yavorov]], etc.<ref name="BG" /><ref>Люлка на старата и новата българска писменост. Академик Емил Георгиев, (Държавно издателство Народна просвета, София 1980)</ref><ref>Петър Динеков. Делото на братя Миладинови.(Българска акдемия на науките, 1961 г.)</ref> Dimitar's daughter [[Tsarevna Miladinova]] continued his Bulgarian nationalist efforts, co-founding the [[Bulgarian Girls' High School of Thessaloniki]] in 1882.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018|title=Tsarevna Miladinova-Alexieva (1856-1934)|url=http://womeninscience.swu.bg/?p=1406|access-date=2021-04-08|website=Women and the Transfer of Knowledge in the Black Sea Region|language=en-US}}</ref> Her son, {{ill|Vladislav Aleksiev|bg|Владислав Алексиев}} (1884-1962) was a prominent Bulgarian jurist and historian, a professor of Bulgarian medieval law, and a specialist in Byzantine law at the [[Sofia University]].<ref>Куманов, Милен. Македония. Кратък исторически справочник, Тинапрес, София, 1993, стр. 13 – 14.</ref>
+In post-war [[Yugoslav Macedonia]], the Miladinov brothers were appropriated by the historians as part of the ''Macedonian National Revival'' and their original works were hidden from the general public.<ref name="DM" /><ref name="HP" /> The Macedonian national museum did not display their original works.<ref name='Phillips'>{{cite book|last=Phillips|first=John|title=Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6zjXcqpla0C|url-access=limited|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2004|isbn=186064841X|page=41]}}</ref> Their works were claimed to be Macedonian, despite them stating in their works that they were Bulgarians.<ref>In their correspondence both brothers self-identified as Bulgarians, see: [http://www.promacedonia.org/bugarash/dmp/index.html Братя Миладинови – преписка. Издирил, коментирал и редактирал Никола Трайков (Българска академия на науките, Институт за история. Издателство на БАН, София 1964)]; in English: Miladinov Brothers - Correspondence. Collected, commented and redacted from Nicola Traykov, ([[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]], Historical Institute, Sofia 1964.)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Detrez|first=Raymond|title=Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria|series=Historical Dictionaries of Europe|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2014|isbn=978-1442241800|page=323}}</ref> Per political scientist [[Alexis Heraclides]], the Miladinov brothers were among "the earliest pioneers of a sense of Macedonian identity, as least as conceived by contemporary Macedonian historians and other scholars".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Macedonian Question and the Macedonians |author=[[Alexis Heraclides]] |page=68 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWYHEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22earliest+pioneers+of+a+sense+of+Macedonian+identity%22&pg=PA68 |isbn=9781000289404 }}</ref> The official view in North Macedonia is that the Miladinov brothers were [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] who spoke [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and contributed to [[Macedonian literature]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1jSg3lxgSy8C&pg=PA149 Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia, Dimitar Bechev, Scarecrow Press, 2009], {{ISBN|0810862956}}, p. 149.</ref> Their ethnicity is disputed between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.<ref>North Macedonia’s Blockade on Book Donation Riles Bulgaria [https://balkaninsight.com/2021/03/29/north-macedonias-blockade-on-book-donation-riles-bulgaria/ Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Balkan Insight (BIRN), 29 March 2021].</ref>
-The collection was published in 1962 and in 1983 in Skopje under the title "The Collection of the Miladinov Brothers".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The reference to Macedonia as ''Western Bulgaria'' in the foreword was removed, as well as every references to ''Bulgarian'' and ''Bulgarians'' were replaced with Macedonian and Macedonians. However, after the fall of Communism, the book was published in 2000 in original by the then Minister of Culture — the [[Bulgarophile]] [[Dimitar Dimitrov (writer)|Dimitar Dimitrov]].<ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia, Historical Dictionaries of Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, {{ISBN|1538119625}}, p. 92.</ref> That caused serious protests of Macedonian historians and he was forced to resign.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P-1m1FLtrvsC&pg=PA93 Contested Ethnic Identity: The Case of Macedonian Immigrants in Toronto; 1900 - 1996, Chris Kostov, Peter Lang, 2010], {{ISBN|3034301960}}, pp. 93-94.</ref> As result the Macedonian State Archive displayed a counterfeit photocopy of the book in cooperation with the [[Soros Foundation]] and the text on the cover was simply "Folk Songs", the upper part of the page showing "Bulgarian" has been cut off.<ref name="ms0601"/>
+Monuments honouring the brothers are in Blagoevgrad and Pliska, Bulgaria,<ref>[https://tvshumen.bg/tag/bratya-miladinovi/ Откриха паметник на братя Миладинови в Плиска.]</ref><ref>A monument to the Miladinov brothers unveiled in Bulgaria's Blagoevgrad, [https://bnr.bg/en/post/101729590/a-monument-to-the-miladinov-brothers-unveiled-in-bulgaria-s-blagoevgrad Bulgarian National Radio, 11 January 2022].</ref> and Struga, North Macedonia.<ref>Michael R. Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage Through History - Volume 2, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015, {{ISBN|9781443878456}}, p. 114. </ref> There are streets, schools and [[Chitalishte|chitalishta]] named after them in Bulgaria.<ref>[https://registarnauchilishtata.com/оу-братя-миладинови Регистър на училищата и университетите в България].</ref> Today in North Macedonia there are also schools named after the Miladinov brothers,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Daskalov |editor1-first=Roumen |editor2-last=Vezenkov |editor2-first=Alexander |title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three: Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies |date=2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004290365 |page=457}}</ref> but the pupils there do not have the access to the works of their schools' patrons in original, while redacted copies of them have been available there, without the designation "Bulgarian" in them.<ref>"Presently in the Republic of Macedonia we can find schools named: Miladinov Brothers, Rajko Zinzifov, Kuzman Sapkarev etc., while the students who study in them do not have the access to the literary works of the patrons of their schools in original..." Vladimir Paunkovski, Spas Tashev, George Mladenov. 5 Years of Independence - Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia, 1991- 1996. International Institute for Macedonia, Sofia.</ref>
-Although Miladinov brothers regarded their language Bulgarian, Macedonian researchers today proclaim their works as early literature in Macedonian.<ref>Michael Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage through History (Vol. 2, From the Fifteenth Century to the Present), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, {{ISBN|1443888494}}, p. 102.</ref> However, there was no standardized neither Bulgarian nor Macedonian language at that time with which to conform.<ref>The Bulgarian Ministry of Education officially codified a standard Bulgarian language based on the Drinov-Ivanchev orthography in 1899, while Macedonian was finally codified in 1950 in Communist Yugoslavia, that finalized the progressive split in the common Macedonian–Bulgarian pluricentric area.</ref> The Bulgarian and Macedonian [[Slavs]] then worked to create a common literary standard,<ref>Bechev, Dimitar (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Macedonia Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Scarecrow Press. p. 134. {{ISBN|0-8108-6295-6}}.</ref> and the publicists in the Macedonian-Bulgarian linguistic area wrote in their own local dialect called simply ''Bulgarian''.<ref>From Rum Millet to Greek and Bulgarian Nations: Religious and National Debates in the Borderlands of the Ottoman Empire, 1870–1913. Theodora Dragostinova, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.</ref>  Today in North Macedonia are schools named after the Miladinov Brothers, but the pupils there do not have the access to the works of their schools' patrons in original. There is a similar case with the national museum of North Macedonia which, apparently, refuses to display original works by the two brothers, because of the ''Bulgarian'' labels on some of them.<ref name='Phillips'>{{cite book
-| last =Phillips
-| first =John
-| title =Macedonia: Warlords and Rebels in the Balkans
-| url =https://archive.org/details/macedoniawarlord00phil
-| url-access =limited
-| publisher =I.B.Tauris
-| year =2004
-| isbn =186064841X
-| page =[https://archive.org/details/macedoniawarlord00phil/page/n51 41] }}</ref>  In March 2021, a shipment with the original edition of the book, which was intended for the Cultural Center of Bulgaria in Skopje, was not allowed on the territory of North Macedonia, which provoked an official protest from the Bulgarian side.<ref>Minister Zaharieva summons North Macedonia’s Ambassador to Sofia over slander campaign. [https://bnr.bg/en/post/101443571/minister-zaharieva-summons-north-macedonias-ambassador-to-sofia-over-slander-campaign  Radio Bulgaria, 3/27/21.]</ref>
+The Miladinov brothers' hometown of [[Struga]] hosts the international [[Struga Poetry Evenings]] festival in their honour, including a poetry award named after them. The [[Miladinovi Islets]] near [[Livingston Island]] in the [[South Shetland Islands]], [[Antarctica]], are named after the brothers.
-==Honour==
-* [[Miladinovi Islets]] near [[Livingston Island]] in the [[South Shetland Islands]], [[Antarctica]] are named after the brothers.
-==See also==
-{{portal|Poetry}}
-*[[Struga Poetry Evenings]]
-{{Commons category|Miladinovi brothers}}
 ==References==
@@ Line 91: / Line 102: @@
 == External links ==
+{{Commons category|Miladinovi brothers}}
 * [http://promacedonia.org/bugarash/bnpesni/bgnpesni.pdf Original edition of 'Bulgarian Folk Songs'] {{in lang|bg}}
 * [http://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/miladinovci/content.htm Full text of "Bulgarian folk songs"] {{in lang|bg}}
@@ Line 100: / Line 112: @@
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Miladinov Brothers}}
-[[Category:1810 births]]
-[[Category:1830 births]]
-[[Category:1862 deaths]]
 [[Category:People from Struga]]
+[[Category:Bulgarian people of Aromanian descent]]
+[[Category:Educators from the Ottoman Empire]]
 [[Category:Bulgarian educators]]
 [[Category:Bulgarian folklorists]]
@@ Line 109: / Line 120: @@
 [[Category:Macedonia under the Ottoman Empire]]
 [[Category:19th-century Bulgarian people]]
-[[Category:Sibling duos]]
+[[Category:Brother duos]]
 [[Category:Literary families]]
 [[Category:Macedonian Bulgarians]]