Maleševci

Maleševci (Serbian Cyrillic: Малешевци) is a historical region and tribe in Old Herzegovina, in the Middle Ages. They lost their tribal organization and came under the overlordship of Rudine and Piva in the late 15th century. Characteristic for the clan is that all families have the slava (patron saint feast day, Serbian tradition) of St. Ignatius, and those families that claim descent, but do not have the same slava, are not regarded Maleševci. The clan is one of the most widespread.

History

Vojvoda Maleš

The first written record is a Ragusan document, written on January 14, 1374, addressing "de Malleseva" clan. The eponymous founder was Serbian vojvoda ("duke") Maleš, who hailed from what is now Herzegovina. In the second half of the 14th century, he received a voivodeship in Berovo, then part of the Serbian Empire (modern eastern R. Macedonia). Maleš participated and was injured in the Battle of Maritsa (1371), in which the Serbian army was defeated by the Ottomans, and many of the Serbian nobility in Macedonia became Ottoman vassals. Because of the Ottoman advance, he burnt his house and settled in Drenica, in Kosovo, and participated in the Battle of Kosovo (1389), of which outcome was inconclusive, though a long-term strategic victory for the Ottomans. Maleš again burnt his house and settled in Malina (on the road between Bileća and Trebinje), where he lived as a merchant and hunter. According to a contemporary document, he had the canyon of Ljubotinja near Kručice cleared. He renovated the Dobrićevo monastery. He died at a very old age, at the beginning of the 15th century.