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Robert Elsie is a writer, translator, interpreter and specialist in Albanian
studies. He has written over seventy books on Albania including Albanian
Literature: A Short Introduction and A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian
History (both I.B.Tauris).

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‘The tribal system of northern Albania is one of the most fascinating
aspects of a very distinctive part of Europe. Over hundreds of years, when
their territory was under Ottoman rule but seldom fully under Ottoman
control, these tribes provided a basis for social identity, local justice and
military action. So cohesive were they that the unity of a tribe could easily
survive the conversion of one part of it to Islam. Anyone who studies the
history of these people will encounter tribal names and tribal identities at
every step; and yet, until now, there has never been a general work
gathering all the scattered information about them that survives in sources
of many different kinds. The Tribes of Albania will be an indispensable and
authoritative work of reference. There are few people in the world who
could have written such a work; absolutely no one could have done it as
well as Robert Elsie, whose knowledge of this material is unparalleled.’
– Sir Noel Malcolm, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College,
University of Oxford
‘The tribalism of the north has been of primary significance to Albania right
up until modern times, yet anyone attempting to study it soon encounters
daunting difficulties. The topic was taboo in the communist period, while
earlier surveys and travellers? accounts are inevitably scattered and
inconsistent. Now Robert Elsie has very helpfully brought together a wealth
of information, in as clear and systematic a fashion as the subject permits,
to create this scholarly handbook to the northern tribes, their structures,
geography and history. It is to be welcomed as a valuable contribution to
the ongoing demystification of the country.’
– Jason Tomes, author of King Zog: Self-Made Monarch of Albania

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THE TRIBES OF
ALBANIA
History, Society and Culture

ROBERT ELSIE

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 Published in 2015 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London • New York
www.ibtauris.com

Copyright © 2015 Robert Elsie

The right of Robert Elsie to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted
by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
any part thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images
in this book.
Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

Library of Balkan Studies 1

ISBN: 978 1 78453 401 1

eISBN: 978 0 85773 932 2

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

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‘If the American zonyas [ladies] wish to know what we have learned from
our fathers, who learned it from their fathers and their fathers' fathers, I will
speak. All these things are very old, and none of them are written in books,
therefore they are true. I am an old man, and I have seen that when men go
down to the cities to learn what is in the books, they come back scorning
the wisdom of their fathers and remembering nothing of it, and they speak
foolishly, words which do not agree with one another. But the things that a
man knows because he has seen them, the things he considers while he
walks on the trails and while he sits by the fires, these things are not many,
but they are sound. Then when a man is lonely, he puts words to these
things and the words become a song, and the song stays as it was said, in
the memories of those who hear it.’
{An old man of Shala, speaking to Rose Wilder Lane in Theth in 1921.
From the book Peaks of Shala (New York, 1923), p. 180.}

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 CONTENTS

List of Maps
List of Illustrations

Introduction
Editorial Note

1. The Tribes of the Northern Albanian Alps (Malësia e Madhe)

The Kelmendi Tribe
The Gruda Tribe
The Hoti Tribe
The Triepshi Tribe
The Kastrati Tribe
The Boga Tribe
The Shkreli Tribe
The Lohja Tribe
The Reçi Tribe of Malësia e Madhe
The Rrjolli Tribe
2. The Tribes of The Pulat Region
The Plani Tribe
The Xhani Tribe
The Kiri Tribe
The Suma Tribe
 The Drishti Tribe
3. The Tribes of the Dukagjin Region
The Shala Tribe
The Shoshi Tribe
The Shllaku Tribe
The Mazreku Tribe
The Dushmani Tribe
The Toplana Tribe
4. The Tribes of the Gjakova Highlands (Malësia e Gjakovës)
The Nikaj Tribe
The Mërturi Tribe
The Krasniqja Tribe
The Gashi Tribe
The Bytyçi Tribe
5. The Tribes of the Puka Region
The Qerreti Tribe
The Puka Tribe
The Kabashi Tribe
The Berisha Tribe
The Thaçi Tribe
The Mali i Zi Tribe
6. The Tribes of the Lezha Highlands (Malësia e Lezhës)
The Bulgëri Tribe
The Kryezezi Tribe
The Manatia Tribe
The Vela Tribe
7. The Tribes of the Kruja Highlands (Malësia e Krujës)
The Kurbini Tribe
The Rranza Tribe
 The Benda Tribe
8. The Tribes of the Mirdita Region
The Composite Mirdita Tribe
The Dibrri Tribe
The Kushneni Tribe
The Spaçi Tribe
The Fani Tribe
The Oroshi Tribe
The Kthella Tribe
The Selita Tribe
9. The Tribes of the Mat Region
The Bushkashi Tribe
The Composite Mati Tribe

10. The Tribes of the Upper Drin Basin

The Hasi Tribe

The Luma Tribe
The Lura Tribe
The Arrëni Tribe
The Composite Dibra Tribe

11. Minor Albanian Tribes

Glossary
Notes
Bibliography

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 LIST OF MAPS

All maps © Ismail Gagica, Prishtina

1. Albania in southeastern Europe

2. The tribal regions of the Northern Albanian Alps

3. The tribal regions of Pulat

4. The tribal regions of Dukagjin

5. The tribal regions of the Gjakova Highlands

6. The tribal regions of Puka and Mirdita

7. The tribal regions of the Lezha Highlands

8. The tribal regions of the Kruja Highlands

9. The tribal regions of Mirdita

10. The tribal regions of Mat

11. The tribal regions of the Upper Drin Basin

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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1.1 A Kelmendi man and woman (copperplate etching by Jacob

Adam of Vienna, 1782)
Figure 1.2 Idriz Lohja and his family, of the Lohja tribe (Kel Marubi,
1910)
Figure 1.3 Classification of the Albanian tribes by Franz Seiner, 1918
Figure 3.1 Two of the djelmnia or young tribal warriors of Shala (Kel
Marubi, 1900–15)
Figure 3.2 Nik Marashi and family of Gimaj in Shala (Shan Pici, 1938)
Figure 3.3 Mar Lula, bajraktar of Shala (Kel Marubi, 1900)
Figure 3.4 A Shala bride (Shan Pici, 1938)
Figure 3.5 Kolë Vatë Mirashi of the Shoshi tribe (Shan Pici, 1938)
Figure 3.6 Well-moustached member of the Shoshi tribe (Shan Pici,
1938)
Figure 8.1 The tribal leaders of Mirdita (Pjetër Marubi, 1875)
Figure 8.2 Two tribesmen in fine Mirdita costumes (Kel Marubi, 1900–
19)
Figure 8.3 Gjon Markagjoni (1888–1966), kapedan of Mirdita (Kel
Marubi, 1929)
Figure 8.4 Two Mirdita women carrying cradle and supplies (Shan Pici,
1928)
Albania in southeastern Europe

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 INTRODUCTION

A tribal society in Europe? Yes, there is one, or at least there are still
noticeable traces of one, in the mountains of northern Albania. This unique
society and culture thrived until the early years of the twentieth century and
was still largely intact when the communist regime seized power in Albania
in 1944. It is regarded as the only true example of a tribal society surviving
in Europe up to the mid-twentieth century.1 Many of the structures of this
traditional society were weakened or indeed eradicated in the half century
of Stalinist rule in Albania (1944–90), but the north of the country still
remains a very different place from more advanced south of Albania, and
from the rest of the world. Why this relic, and what do we know about it?
Up to the present, there has been a glaring lack of knowledge and
scholarly information about the tribes of northern Albania. This volume
endeavours to fill the gap and provide basic information about all the major
Albanian tribes, at least as much information as can be found in source
material and as can still be gleaned from the collective memory of the
people of the region. A comprehensive history of the tribes is impossible
because earlier written accounts are extremely sporadic.

Who are the Albanians?

The Albanians are said to be among the oldest peoples of southeastern
Europe. Their roots would seem to go back to the ancient Illyrians who
inhabited the western and southwestern Balkans in the Roman period. As a
people, we can trace the Albanians back to about the year 1,000 A.D. when
the first written documents (Byzantine Greek and Latin records) make
mention of them.
 The Albanian language (shqip) is currently spoken by about six million
people in the southwestern Balkans, primarily in the Republic of Albania
and in the neighbouring countries that once formed part of the Yugoslav
federation (Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro). In Albania itself, the
language is spoken by the entire population of about three million
indivduals, including some bilingual ethnic minorities. In the Republic of
Kosovo, Albanian is spoken by almost the entire population of about two
million individuals, again including some bilingual ethnic minorities. The
Republic of Macedonia is estimated to have at least half a million Albanian
speakers, equaling about 25 per cent of the total population of that country.
A minority of about 50,000 Albanian speakers is also to be found in the
Republic of Montenegro, mostly along the Albanian border (the areas
around Ulqin/Ulcinj, Tuz/Tuzi and Gucia/Gusinje). There are also notable
old Albanian settlements in Greece and Serbia, and in southern Italy.

Ghegs and Tosks

The Albanian population is traditionally divided into two groups: the
northern Albanians called Ghegs2 and the southern Albanians called Tosks.
The geographical division between the regions of settlement of the two
groups stretches along the Shkumbin River in central Albania that flows
past Elbasan, south of Tirana. The distinction between Ghegs and Tosks is
primarily linguistic as they speak different, though, in general, mutually
comprehensible dialects. The Gheg dialect of Albanian is spoken in all of
Albania north of the Shkumbin River, as well as in Kosovo, Montenegro,
southern Serbia, and in most of the western part of the Republic of
Macedonia. The southern Tosk dialect is spoken in most of Albania south of
the Shkumbin River and into Greece, as well as in the traditional Albanian
diaspora settlements in Italy and Greece.
Curiously enough, the Albanians are not particularly fond of the terms
Gheg and Tosk nowadays, which many of them feel smack of national
division. Yet it is universally recognised that there are substantial
differences between the northern and southern Albanians, and not only in
language. There is also a notable cultural dimension to the distinction.
 The north of Albania, also known as Ghegnia (Alb. Gegnia or Gegëria,
land of the Ghegs) has never made life easy for its inhabitants. The
mountain terrain is harsh and many remote settlements were and, to an
extent, still are virtually cut off from the outside world. The population is
exceptionally poor by European standards, and the living conditions have
been described as primitive for many areas. The southern half of the
country, also known as Toskeria (Alb. Toskëria, land of the Tosks), while
not exactly prosperous, has always been more advanced than the north,
economically, socially and culturally.

Albanian Tribal Society

In Albania and elsewhere in the southwestern Balkans (Montenegro,
Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) there arose a society split into tribes.
Originally isolated groups of families, they evolved into self-administering
clans that had a common culture, often common ancestry and shared social
ties. Most of the tribes had their own specific territory and defended their
land and interests against other tribes and external forces. This tribal society
extended from Herzegovina in the north almost to Tirana in the south, but it
crystallised most clearly in the mountains of northern Albania and in the
contiguous regions of Montenegro.There were also tribal structures in
southern Albania, but they were not as developed as in the north.
The Albanian tribes, it must be noted, had a broadly common culture
with the Slavic (i.e. Serbian-speaking) tribes of neighbouring Montenegro
since the border tribes were in close contact with one another over the
centuries. Language was not always an element of division, nor in fact was
religion. Some tribes are known to have changed language over time. The
now Slavic-speaking Kuçi [Kuči] tribe of Montenegro, for instance, was
originally Albanian-speaking. The same may be true, at least in part, of the
Montenegrin Vasoviqi [Vasojevići] and Palabardhi [Bjelopavlići] tribes. On
the other hand, many of the Albanian tribes took their origins from the
north, i.e. from Montenegro and even from Herzegovina, and were no doubt
originally Slavic-speaking.
The term tribe requires some definition from the outset because it rests
upon two very different concepts in Albanian. The first concept is that of
the fis which is usually translated as a ‘tribe’ or ‘clan’. In the northern
Albanian context, the fis was a patrilineal kin group, i.e. a tribe in which all
male members regarded themselves as being of common descent. In many
cases, until recently, the members of such tribes could trace their origins
back to one specific ancestor centuries earlier. Regarding themselves thus as
all related to one another, they were exogamous, i.e. they did not marry
within their tribe but usually acquired their wives from other non-related
tribes. The fis was thus a tribe in the sense of blood relations, and did not
necessarily imply a specific geographical territory.
The second concept is that of the bajrak, which can also be translated as
a ‘tribe’ or ‘clan’. The bajrak was more of a political entity, usually
entailing a specific geographical territory. The term derives from the
Turkish word bayrak ‘standard, banner’. The hereditary chief of a bajrak
was the bajraktar ‘standard bearer’ who often served as the military leader
of the tribe and was responsible for its defence and external relations. There
were about 150 bajraks in northern Albania in the early twentieth century.
Thus, a bajrak implies territory, whereas a fis implies kinship and
descent. A northern Albanian tribe could, for instance, consist of one or
more bajraks that joined forces, and a bajrak could contain members of
more than one fis. It was the overlapping of the two concepts that gave rise
to the specific tribes of the north, with the constructions and constellations
sometimes being fluid. German-language scholars were the first to
endeavour to clarify this relationship. The Austrian engineer Karl
Steinmetz, who hiked through the northern Albanian mountains in August
1903, noted the following:

I wish to add the following remarks on the concept of the bajrak

since there are many erroneous views on the subject. The bajrak
(banner) is a subdivision of a tribe (fis). The two terms are in a
quite coincidental relationship with one another. The tribe is a
complex of families who trace their origin from the same tribal
ancestor. Accordingly, the basis of the fis is a genetic relationship,
however distant it may be, and this excludes marriage within the
fis. The bajrak, on the other hand, is a grouping of families living
on the same territory. It is thus related to land. Unfortunately, this
general definition has suffered modifications over time. For
 example, the Mirdita are regarded by others as a tribe. However,
only three of the bajraks are related to one another: Oroshi, Spaçi
and Kushneni. The other two joined Mirdita later. For this reason,
the first three bajraks do not intermarry, but get their wives from
Fani and Dibrri. Secondly, according to tradition, Pulat, Shala-
Shoshi, Dushmani, Toplana, Nikaj and Mërturi form the
Dukagjini tribe (fisi i gjashtë bajraqëve – the tribe of six bajraks),
but they do not intermarry.3

Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877–1933), a recognised expert on Albania in his

day and the author of the only major study of the northern Albanian tribes,
remarked:

The bajrak is a subdivision of many of the tribes. There are

various combinations of the two concepts. A tribe can consist of
one or more bajraks. The tribe and the fis can be the same. A fis
can divide into several tribes and bajraks. The parts of a fis that
break off can become part of another tribe. A tribe can be
monophyletic (of single origin) or, if it consists of two or more
fis, it can be polyphyletic (of multiple origin).4

In his classification of the Albanian tribes, the Austrian journalist and

scholar Franz Seiner (1874–1929) noted in particular:

There is no translation of the word tribe in Albanian and it is best

in Albanian to use the Turkish word bajrak ‘standard, banner.’
Translating the word tribe with the Albanian word fis is wrong
because fis implies a blood relationship, a kin group that does not
permit intermarriage. Families belonging to a fis all trace their
origin to one common, and often distant tribal ancestor. A bajrak
can consist of several fis. The bajrak of Shala, for instance, is
composed mainly of two fis. […] Usually all the members of one
bajrak belong to the same fis, but sometimes a fis can include
several bajraks.5

In this volume, we have used the word ‘tribe’ loosely so as to cover not
only the fis and the bajrak, but also some ethnographic regions of northern
Albania with a distinct history and identity that are not strictly tribes but are
often regarded as such.6

When and How Did Albanian Tribal Society

Arise?
Using the genealogies given to him by the various tribes and by comparing
them to historical data, Baron Nopcsa established that most of the Albanian
tribes traced their origins back to the 200-year period between 1450 and
1650. The earliest reference to a tribal origin, that of the Berisha, is said to
date from around 1300. The names of most of the major tribes, such as the
Hoti, Berisha, Kastrati, Shala, Shkreli, Shoshi, Nikaj, Mërturi, Krasniqja,
Gashi, Bytyçi and Bobi, appear in documents in the fifteenth century,
initially though as surnames. Nopcsa provided the following chronology of
early tribe events7 that set the scene for the rise of the Albanian tribes. His
chronology may not be entirely accurate as many of the events in question
hover somewhere between history and legendry, but it can serve as a guide
for dating the origins, or the perceived origins, of the tribes and of Albanian
tribal society in general:
The ancestral father of the Berisha living in Berishaaround the 1300
year
The ancestral father of the Kelmendi 1400
The settlement of Shala 1430
Some shepherds settle in Qelëza (Kabashi) 1450
Kelmendi occupies the region around Gucia 1460
Arrival of the Thaçi in Kodra e Thaçit 1480
Arrival of Murr Deti in Berisha 1480
Can Gabeti living in Shllaku 1480
Keq Preka, the ancestral father of the Hoti, living in Montenegro 1520
Settlement of Gruda by a refugee from Suma 1550
Mërturi settlement of Mount Straziçe 1550
Arrival of the ancestral father of the Nikaj 1550
 Arrival of one of the ancestral fathers of the Kiri 1550
Arrival of the present inhabitants of Lohja 1590
Expansion of the Mërturi to Mount Shllum 1590
Expansion of the Mërturi to Brisa 1590
Dedli settles on Mount Veleçik 1590
The Thaçi settle in their present territory 1620
Expansion of the Dushmani into the Vila region 1620
Expansion of the Shala from Theth 1620
Expansion of the Mërturi towards Raja 1650
Expansion of the Shoshi to Prekal 1650
Withdrawal of the Gashi eastwards 1660
What gave rise to the Albanian tribes as autonomous political and social
units? The political history of Albania in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries provides a backdrop that may offer some explanations.
In the fourteenth century, northern Albania was at the crossroads
between three great realms: Serbia, Venice and Turkey. From 1343 to 1355
the region was under the rule of the Serbian King Stefan Dushan (ca. 1308–
55) of the mighty Nemanja dynasty, who reigned from his capital in Skopje.
However, native Slavic and Albanian families were also vying for power in
the region. Notable among them were the Balsha [Balšić], a dynasty of
Slavic origin that ruled over Zeta (Montenegro) and most of northern
Albania after the fall of the Nemanja dynasty, from about 1360 to 1421. To
the south of Balsha land was the territory of the Thopia family. From 1359
to 1388, Charles Thopia (d. 1388) held sway in a triangle of land between
Durrës, Kruja and Elbasan, and called himself prince of Albania (princeps
Albaniae). Other native families strove for power, too. Among them were
the Dukagjinis, whose homeland was between Lezha and the Fan River, the
Zacharias of Dagno [Deja], the Jonimas of the Lezha and Durrës region, the
Spanos of Drisht, the Gropas of Dibra and Ohrid, and the Pulatis of
Pulat/Pult. In the final years of the fourteenth century, the coast of Albania
then came under the domination of the Republic of Venice as part of so-
called Venetian Albania (Ital. Albania Veneta). The Venetians were
primarily interested in trade and in the control of the Adriatic rather than in
territorial expansion inland. As such, they did not venture far from their
forts and trading posts on the coast. They took Durrës in 1392 and Shkodra
in 1396, but did not occupy the interior. At any rate, they did not keep the
Albanian coastline for long.
The expansion of the Ottoman Turks into the Balkans in the second half
of the fourteenth century gradually swept all of the traditional states and
native ruling families from power. Victorious at the famed Battle of Kosovo
in 1389, the Turks took Shkodra in 1393 and overran Kruja in 1415. After
the conquest, they founded the Ottoman Sanjak of Albania (Turk. Sancak-i-
Arnavid) to stake their definitive claim and to incorporate the region into
their growing empire. The once ruling Albanian families were forced to
submit to the Turks or to withdraw into the mountains.
The situation of these local dynasties became fluid for a time during the
revolt of George Castriotta (1405–68), known as Scanderbeg, the scion of a
notable family from Dibra. Scanderbeg instigated a revolt against the Turks
in November 1443 and, in March of the following year, he convened an
assembly of all the important families of northern Albania in Lezha
[Alessio], during which it was decided to set up a standing army to counter
an impending Turkish invasion. Scanderbeg was selected to head this force
of about 15,000 men. A large Turkish army soon flooded into Albania but
was beaten back in Dibra at the end of June 1444. Two further Ottoman
invasions were repelled, one in October 1445 and a second one in
September 1446. In May 1450, Sultan Murad II arrived personally at Kruja
and besieged the fortress for four and a half months. Although
overwhelmingly outnumbered, the native rebels managed to resist Turkish
forces and conferred a humiliating defeat upon him. However, the alliance
of Albanian families which Scanderbeg had endeavoured to cement in
Lezha in March 1444 began to break up. The Dukagjini, Arianiti and
Balsha families withdrew their support and even Scanderbeg's commander
Moisi Golemi and Scanderbeg's nephew Hamza abandoned him. In 1466,
Sultan Mehmed II himself arrived in Albania with a large army, and laid
siege to Kruja. After two months, he was nonetheless forced to return to
Turkey and left his troops under the command of Balaban Pasha. In July
1467, Mehmet II returned to Albania, this time with an even larger force,
determined to bring the rebel Scanderbeg to his knees. To counter the
sultan, the Albanian leader called for a new assembly of nobles in Lezha in
January 1468. On 17 January 1468, however, before the assembly could
convene, the heroic Scanderbeg died, and resistance to the Turks and the
sultan soon collapsed. Albania was to return to Ottoman rule for another
four and a half centuries.
The Turks had established an Ottoman sanjak administration in Albania,
but they did not settle there in any great numbers during the centuries of
their rule. They confined their occupation to the appointment of local
governors and to the secondment of troops who were usually held up in
fortresses. With their help, taxes and conscripts were demanded of the
native population. From the start, these obligations caused turmoil and led
to defiance and on many occasions to open resistance.
The local ruling families had been thrown out of power and dispersed,
but no form of real governance penetrated the mountainous interior of the
country to replace them. The surviving population was more or less left to
its own devices – every family for itself.
It was no doubt within this context that the tribal system arose, with
related families banding together and expanding to form larger units of self-
defence. However, it is probably only in the eighteenth century (or the
second half of the seventeenth century at the earliest) that we can speak of
consolidated tribes with a clear identity and/or territory – at least the
possession of unchallenged grazing land – as we encounter them in
unequivocal documentation from the nineteenth century onwards.
The harsh topography of the northern Albanian mountains certainly
played a major role in the rise of the tribal society, too. Travel and
communication over the high mountain passes were arduous such that each
valley was virtually independent. No power ever managed to subdue the
region. Indeed, so isolated and inaccessible were the northern Albanian
mountains that not even at its zenith was the Ottoman Empire able to gain
full control over its Albanian subjects there.
The mountains of northern Albania were thus long without real political
governance, but they were not without laws. The mountain tribes developed
their own customary laws, put together in a code traditionally known as the
kanun. This code of laws that was adapted to local conditions and needs,
and was very detailed and specific, regulated virtually every aspect of life in
the mountains and was strictly adhered to. Even today it is largely
respected, despite the presence and force of ‘government laws’. The best
known variants of this code were the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini that was
observed among the tribes north of the Drin River; the Kanun of
Scanderbeg, also known as the Kanun of Arbëria, that was observed among
the tribes south of the Drin, including Mirdita; and the Kanun of Dibra in
the eastern Dibra region.
Rightly or wrongly, these codes have been linked to a phenomenon that
has drawn much international attention in recent years – Albanian blood-
feuding (gjakmarrje). Whether the kanuns were responsible for
institutionalising revenge and promoting the widespread vendettas that
caused the extinction of a good portion of the male population a century
ago, or whether they simply reflected an already existing tribal mentality, is
open to debate. Few of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century foreign
travellers to the northern mountains failed to notice this phenomenon – a
‘society at war with itself’. Much has been written since that time about the
kanun and about the chilling ramifications of the never-ending blood feuds
such that these topics, spectacular though they may be, will be treated only
peripherally here.

How Many Tribes Were There?

It is difficult to answer this question with precision because it depends to
what extent and for how long certain population groups defined themselves
as tribes and were recognised as such by neighbouring groups. Tribal
identity was not an entirely clear-cut matter since tribes could merge or
divide over time. Some were exterminated or otherwise died out. Of certain
tribes, like the Matagushi, Bukëmira, Juli, Lapi and Bythodosi in Malësia e
Madhe, the Mavriqi and Gzhoba in Shala, and the Fanmadhi in Mirdita, we
have only the names. According to legend, the Gzhoba died out because
they betrayed and killed a guest under their protection. Other tribes
established themselves over time and survived as tribal units well into the
twentieth century. There were large tribes (fisi i madh) and small tribes (fisi
i vogël), the former having more than 100 households.
Franz Seiner, who carried out the first thorough census of Albania on
behalf of the Austro-Hungarian occupation authorities in 1916–18, counted
and classified 65 Albanian tribes, of which he also produced an admirable
map.8 Of Seiner's 65 tribes, 19 had less than 1,000 members, 21 had
between 1,000 and 2,000 members, 12 had between 2,000 and 3,000
members, six had between 3,000 and 4,000 members, and two had between
4,000 and 5,000 members. The largest tribe he included was Zymbi (Luma)
with 11,140 members.
In this volume, we provide information on about 70 northern Albanian
tribes, each of which having had a clear and specific identity at one time or
another. As the reader will see from the table of contents, the tribes in
question have been assembled into larger groups based on general
ethnographical and geographical criteria.

Do the Albanian Tribes Still Exist?

Albania has gone through major demographic changes in recent years and
most tribal regions of the north, where life was hard and living standards
modest, to say the least, have now been largely depopulated. The population
has moved en masse to the coastal cities of Shkodra, Tirana and Durrës, or
gone abroad in the hope of finding a better life. Since the fall of the
communist dictatorship in 1990 and, in particular, since the momentary
collapse of the Albanian state in 1997, the tribes have been scattered.
Nonetheless, both those who have remained in the north and those who
left their native tribal lands retain a clear awareness of their tribal identity. It
is not uncommon to hear someone nowadays say, for instance: ‘I am
Shkreli, but my wife is Shala.’ Someone else may note in passing: ‘We are
Kabashi’ or ‘Our family is Mërturi.’ More accurate would perhaps be to
say: ‘We were Kabashi […] Our family was Mërturi,’ but sentiments and
the quest for identity run deep. This being said, for most Albanians from the
northern mountains, tribal identity nowadays involves little more than an
awareness of the origin of their families. In this sense, it may be no different
than the identity of someone born in North America who knows that he or
she is of Italian, Swedish or Korean origin.

This Book
The purpose of this volume is to assemble information about the northern
Albanian tribes, in particular by gathering what could be gathered before
the collective memory of the tribes fades and vanishes into the annals of
time. A short chapter has thus been provided for each of the identified tribes
which typically includes information on its geographical location, on the
earliest historical references to it, on its religious affiliations over time, and
on population statistics. A second part of each chapter aims to provide
information, where available, on tribal legendry and ancestry, in particular
for the monophyletic tribes, as well as notes – certainly not complete – on
the history of the tribe in question. This is often followed by a section
containing travel impressions, i.e. texts by nineteenth and early twentieth-
century travellers and explorers from abroad who ventured into the northern
Albanian mountains and recorded what they saw. The chapters conclude, in
many cases, with a brief presentation of noted historical representatives of
the tribes. The main corpus of the book is then followed by information on
a number of minor tribes (some are classed here as minor simply for a lack
of extensive information and not necessarily for reasons of size or prestige),
as well as a glossary and bibliography to assist the interested reader in
pursuing further research.
The Tribes of Albania is, admittedly, a motley collection of information
and texts with many lacunae of which the author is painfully aware.
Nonetheless, it is to be hoped that this presentation will stimulate further
interest in this very particular, indeed unique, European society and in
Albanian history and culture in general.
Robert Elsie
Berlin, April 2015

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 EDITORIAL NOTE

Albanian nouns and place names often cause confusion for international
readers because they can be written with or without the postpositive definite
article, e.g. Tirana vs Tiranë and Elbasani vs Elbasan. In line with
recommended international usage for Albanian toponyms, feminine place
names appear here in the definite form and masculine place names appear
here in the indefinite form, thus: Tirana, Vlora, Prishtina and Shkodra rather
than Tiranë, Vlorë, Prishtinë and Shkodër; and Elbasan, Durrës and Prizren
rather than Elbasani, Durrësi and Prizreni. One great exception to the rule
has been made here for tribal designations and regions, because the
English-language forms of many of them, such as Hoti, Kelmendi and
Shkreli, are better known in this definite form. In this volume, we have
therefore written all tribal designations in the definite form. For example,
the first aforementioned tribe will be called Hoti, but the main village in
that tribal territory is called Hot. Secondly, place names in and around
Albania have often changed with time, and only recently has there been a
generally accepted orthography for many of them. In earlier texts quoted in
this book we have on many occasions thus added the modern forms or
alternative forms in square brackets to assist the reader.
The tribal regions of the Northern Albanian Alps

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 CHAPTER 1

THE TRIBES OF THE NORTHERN

ALBANIAN ALPS
(MALËSIA E MADHE)

The Kelmendi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kelmendi tribal region is situated in the present District of Malësia e
Madhe in the most northerly and isolated portion of Albania. The core of
this region is the upper valley of the Cem (Cijevna) River. Kelmendi
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Gruda and Triepshi to the west,
Hoti to the southwest, Boga to the south, Shala to the east and on Slavic-
speaking tribes to the north. The administrative centre of this region, which
consists mostly of canyons and deep valleys, is now the village of Vermosh.
The main settlements of Kelmendi include: Vermosh, Tamara, Selca,
Lëpusha, Vukël and Nikç.

Population
The name Kelmendi was first recorded in an Ottoman tax register in 1497
as Kelmente1 and as nahiye Kelmenta (district of Kelmendi).2 The Turkish
traveller Evliya Çelebi (1611–85), who journeyed through northern Albania
in 1662, referred on numerous occasions to the infidel tribe of Klemente or
Kelmendi. The ecclesiastical report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari recorded the
form Clementi in 1671, as did the map of the Venetian cartographer
Francesco Maria Coronelli in 1688 and the map of the Italian cartographer
Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola in 1689. The term Kelmendi, with its early
variants Klmenti, Klmeni, Klimenti and Clementi, was at any rate known in
western Europe in the seventeenth century. Kelmendi, which is also a
common family name, in particular in Kosovo, is commonly said to be
related to the Latin personal name Clementus or to Saint Clement, borrowed
into Albanian through the influence of the Catholic Church, but it is likely
that the tribal designation is earlier than the association with Saint Clement.
There was, at any rate, a church of Saint Clement in Vukël that was built by
the Franciscans in 1651.3
Figure 1.1 A Kelmendi man and woman (copperplate etching by Jacob
Adam of Vienna, 1782)

Figure 1.2 Idriz Lohja and his family, of the Lohja tribe
In 1614, the Kelmendi tribe is reported by the Venetian writer Marino
Bolizza to have consisted of 178 households and 650 men in arms,
commanded by Smail Prentasseu and Pedda Sucha.4 He describes them as
an untiring, valourous and extremely rapacious people. In a report to the
Congregation of the Propaganda Fide in 1634, Gjergj Bardhi (Giorgio
Bianchi), the Bishop of Sappa, informs us that the Kelmendi consisted of
300 houses and 3,200 inhabitants.
In 1838, the Austro-Hungarian physician Joseph Müller was informed by
a Pater Deda of Vukël that there were 4,200 inhabitants in Kelmendi.5 At
about the same time (1841), in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High
Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains’, Nicolay, Prince of the
Vasoyevich, gave the population of Kelmendi as 2,000, of whom 500 were
men in arms.6 In 1866, Emile Wiet, the French consul in Shkodra, noted
510 households comprising a total of 3,263 people.7 In the late nineteenth
century, we can thus estimate the population of the Kelmendi tribe at some
4,000.
Figure 1.3 Classification of the Albanian tribes by Franz Seiner, 1918
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kelmendi tribe
were given as follows: 779 households with a total of 4,679 inhabitants.
This comprised the bajraks of Nikç, Vukël, Selca and Boga, and the
settlements of Nikç, Broja, Vukël, Selca, Vermosh, Kolaj and Preçaj.8
The Kelmendi were and are a Catholic tribe, although a small minority
converted to Islam in the Turkish period. The parish of Selca was founded
in 1737 when the first births and deaths were recorded.9 Their patron saint
is the Virgin Mary, called Our Lady of Kelmendi (Zoja e Kelmendit), whose
feast day is celebrated on 24 May.
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported:

On 24 September 1671, we left the land of Hotti and reached

Clementi [Kelmendi]. There is a church here dedicated to Saint
Clement. It is situated in a place called Speia di Clementi. The
church was built by the people of Clementi in 1651, when the
reverend Patres Reformati entered the country. Father Leone of
Cittadella and Brother Angelo of Milan were serving here. It is
done in whitewash without mortar, and covered in planks. It was
well looked after and is furnished with holy vestments. But the
Eucharist is not held here, although there is no danger from the
Turks, as there are no such individuals in this place.
Clementi has a number of villages: Morichi with 6 homes and
40 souls, Genovich with 7 homes and 60 souls, Lesovich with 15
homes and 120 souls, Melossi with 7 homes and 40 souls, Vucli
[Vukël] with 32 homes and 200 souls, Rvesti with 6 homes and
30 souls, Zecca with 7 homes and 40 souls, Selza di Clementi
[Selca], together with Morichi has 34 homes and 290 souls, and
Rabiena and Radenina with 60 homes and 400 souls. All of these
villages use the church of Saint Clement in Speia. They go there
to attend mass and receive the holy sacraments, and when they
die, they are buried in this church.
The plateau of Clementi and the plateau of Nixi [Nikç] and
Roiochi have 112 homes and 660 souls. It is a good 12 miles to
Clementi. The Patres Reformati come here two or three times a
month to celebrate mass and assist the people in their spiritual
needs. There is a need here for vestments because it is very
difficult for them to be transported here from Clementi every
time. They call it the plateau of Clementi because the Clementi
tribe constantly harassed the inhabitants of this area and took over
their land. The plateau is fertile and the people of Clementi can
make a living off it.10
 The Kelmendi were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
were divided into three bajraks (Selca, Vukël and Nikç) and later, around
1897, with the addition of Boga, into four bajraks. The Boga were actually
a separate tribe living to the south of the Kelmendi region, on the other side
of a high mountain range, and had closer contacts with Shkreli and Shala,
but they turned to the Kelmendi for protection and gradually became
affiliated with them.
At least from the mid-nineteenth century, like many of the northern
tribes, the Kelmendi drove their herds down to the coast every autumn
where they spent the winter months. They shared pastureland with the
Shkreli and Rrjolli tribes on Mali i Rrencit. Edith Durham described the
trek of the Kelmendi of Selca as follows:

Each autumn the tribesmen migrate with great herds of goats,

cattle, and sheep to seek winter pasture on the plains near Alessio
[Lezha], where the tribe owns land, the women carrying their
children and their scant chattels upon their backs; and toil back
again in summer to the pastures of the high mountains, a long
four days' march with the weary beasts.11

Baron Nopcsa, who was in the northern mountains at about the same
time as Durham, noted this phenomenon, too:

Among the transhumant shepherds that are common throughout

the Balkans are the Kelmendi, as well as the Hoti, Kastrati, Boga
and Shkreli. For the sake of their herds they are forced to have
two homes: winter quarters on the plains and summer quarters up
in the mountain pastures. According to Hecquard, these mountain
tribes have been spending the winter on the broad plains of the
Boyana, Drin and Mat Rivers along the Adriatic since 1847. It
must, however, be noted that not all of the tribesmen change
residence, only those who do not have suitable winter pastureland
in their own territory. Of the Kelmendi, it is probably more than a
third of them who move. In early September, the various families
begin the trek down to the plains of Shkodra and Lezha. Their
movements can be traced from the Montenegrin border near
 Gucia [Gusinje] right down to the lofty fortress of Kruja, a
distance of 140 kilometres as the crow flies. Everywhere one
looks on the otherwise monotonous plain of Shkodra one can see
the shepherds and their flocks, including some quite interesting
and picturesque groups. Whenever there is a lack of fodder in the
mountains, the members of other tribes, too, such as the Shala and
even the Rugova highlanders from the region of Peja [Ipek] move
down to the Adriatic coast. In the winter of 1908, I encountered
Rugova tribesmen and their herds in the region around Durrës.
Although it is rather difficult to calculate just how many people
wander as nomads each year in search of winter fodder, I would
think there are at least 4,000 to 5,000 of them. I rely in this
calculation on the estimation that of the 5,000 tribesmen of
Kelmendi, almost half of them take part in the trek and that their
exodus is increased substantially by the other, though smaller
tribes – the Hoti, Kastrati, Shkreli, and Boga. The flocks of
animals and shepherds are bottled up for several weeks in and
around Trush near Shkodra until they take to the hills between
Zadrima and the sea, or regain their winter quarters along the
banks of the Mat River.12

Some of these Kelmendi families, indeed, settled on the coast around

Lezha for longer periods. Johann Georg von Hahn reported in the mid-
nineteenth century:

For about the last ten years they have begun purchasing the land
that they have used for centuries for grazing purposes, thus
impeding any agricultural usage. They have now begun to
transform it into farmland. The surprising results at the start of
this endeavour will probably lead to further success. The average
harvest of the richest Kelmendi is 300 horsewaggons of grain at
80 oka.13

Their stay on the coast and contact with the outside world enabled the
Kelmendi to progress intellectually. Many of them learned to read and write
in the early years of the twentieth century, without the help of schools. They
began to look down on the neighbouring Shala as savage and filthy, gjin të
egër (wild folk), as they stated, and made fun of their bug-ridden state.14
On his travels through Kosovo in 1858, which he calls Dardanian
Albania, Hahn noted the presence of the Kelmendi tribe in the Llap valley
around Podujeva in northeastern Kosovo and in neighbouring Serbia:

Of the 22 villages of Lab [Llap], 20 of them are Clementines

[Kelmendi]. The other two belong to Betush [Bytyçi]. They
extend from Podujeva to Kurshumlija and inhabit most of the
villages in Dedić. On the other hand, there are no Kelmendi in the
regions of Vranje and Gilan [Gjilan]. They all regard the
Kelmendi, who inhabit the northern Albanian Alps and are of
Catholic faith, as their mother tribe, from which at various times
individual families moved to Dardania.15

Among the main families of Kelmendi are the following, divided here
according their usual places of residence in the tribal region:

in Vermosh: Bujaj, Bunjaj, Cali, Hasanaj, Hysaj, Lelçaj,

Lekutanaj, Lumaj, Macaj, Miraj, Mitaj, Mërnaçaj, Naçaj, Peraj,
Pllumaj, Preljocaj, Racaj, Selmanaj, Shqutaj, Tinaj, Vukaj,
Vuktilaj, and Vushaj;
in Selca: Bikaj, Bujaj, Lekutanaj, Mërnaçaj, Miraj, Pllumaj,
Rugova, Tinaj, Vukaj, Vushaj;
in Tamara: Bujaj, Bunjaj, Cekaj, Lelcaj, Mërnaçaj, Rukaj and
Vukaj;
in Vukël: Aliaj, Dacaj, Drejaj, Gjelaj, Gjikolli, Kajabegolli,
Martini, Mirukaj, Nicaj, Nilaj, Pepushaj, Vucaj, Vucinaj and
Vukli;
in Nikç: Aliaj, Gildedaj, Hasaj, Hutaj, Kapaj, Nikac, Nikçi,
Prekelezaj, Preldakaj, Rukaj, Smajlaj and Ujkaj.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Of all the tribes of the north, the Kelmendi were perhaps the best known to
the outside world. Indeed, in the seventeenth century, the northern Albanian
mountains west of Peja were often referred to simply as the ‘mountains of
Kelmendi’.16 The Austro-Hungarian consul in Shkodra, Friedrich Lippich,
Ritter von Lindburg (1834–88), described them in 1878 as the strongest of
all the Catholic tribes in the highlands of Shkodra.17 Baron Nopcsa who
recorded their oral history in 1907 noted that they were the tribe most
referred to of all,18 and Edith Durham spoke of them as ‘some of the finest
and most intelligent of the tribesmen’.19
In popular lore, the Kelmendi were known among the mountain tribes
for their heroism, as reflected in the popular saying: ‘The wisdom of the
Gashi, the watchfulness of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the Berisha, the
heroism of the Kelmendi, the slyness of the Shala, a snake in the grass like
the Thaçi’ (Mênja e Gashit, sŷni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës, trimnia e
Kelmênit, dredhia e Shaljanit, gjarpnia e Thaçit).
In oral tradition, the Kelmendi tribe is said to stem from a figure called
Klement or Kelmend who, according to Baron Nopcsa's estimate, lived
around the years 1470–80. French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard (1814–66)
narrates that this Kelmend, a runaway priest, settled in Triepshi where he
worked as a shepherd for a rich herdsman who had an aging daughter called
Bubçe.20 Kelmend and Bubçe fell in love and she became pregnant. Her
father wanted to kill the couple, but let them marry at the insistence of his
wife. Bubçe received 20 head of sheep on condition that she and Kelmend
leave Triepshi and never return. They moved to a place called Bestana at
the foot of Mount ‘Gascianik’21 on the Cem, and had numerous sons. In one
version of the legend, Kelmend is said to have two sons: Kol who founded
the settlement of Selca, and Nish or Nika who founded the settlement of
Nikç.22 Other versions of the legend give the said Kelmend as having a
larger numbers of sons – seven to nine – who at any rate were considered
the ancestral fathers of the settlements of Selca, Vukël and Nikç. These sons
had children of their own until Bestana became too small to hold them.
They thus emigrated and settled in the fertile valley of Gucia [Gusinje]
where they were occasionally in conflict with their neighbours and with the
Turks.
Johann Georg von Hahn heard the legend of the founding of the
Kelmendi tribe from a Father Gabriel in Shkodra in 1850 and recounted it
as follows:
Many years ago, there was a rich herdsman in the region of
Triepshi. A young man of unknown origin called Klement came
by and was employed by the herdsman to take care of his sheep.
This the shepherd did together with the herdsman's daughter who
was called Bubci. She was lame and had thus not been able to
find a husband. With time, their friendship developed into a love
affair and the maiden became pregnant. When the girl's mother
found out what had happened, she used all the means at her
disposal to persuade her rough and heartless husband not to
punish the young couple but to allow them to live together.
According to custom, he had the right to put them to death. In the
end, she succeeded and Klement and Bubci became man and
wife. They were given twenty head of livestock and were sent to
another mountain region where they were to settle because the old
man could not get over the shame on his family caused by their
affair.
The mountain area that the new couple received and where
they settled was called Bestana. Even today one can see the
remains of a small church, a few houses and some overgrown
grapevines. It is said that the place had to be abandoned because
of the great number of vipers that still exist there. Bestana is
situated about four hours from the villages of Selca and Vukël.
The land in that area, as the home of their ancestral father, was
never apportioned to any tribe members and thus belongs to all of
the Kelmendi tribe.
With Bubci, Klement had seven sons. With time, they became
the ancestral fathers of the seven largest families that founded the
villages of Selca, Vukël, Nikç, Vusanje [Vuthaj] and Martinovići
[Martinaj], whence the Kelmendi of Bukova in Dukagjin and of
Llap in the mountains of Kosovo stem.
The eldest son was called Kola and was the head of the village
of Selca. He had three sons: Vui Kola, Mai Kola and Rabin Kola.
The three families that descended from these men formed the
population of Selca that now has 350 households and 1,600 souls.
 The second son was called Vuco. He had only one son called
Deda (which is the equivalent of Italian Domenico). Deda, in
turn, had three sons: Uhsai Deda, Giz Deda and Zek (i.e. Joseph)
Deda, whose families now make up the village of Vukël that,
together with the earlier inhabitants has 170 households and 1,300
souls. The earlier inhabitants are the last remaining
representatives of the original population of the region who,
according to legend, were mostly driven out by the Kelmendi.
They formed the Gimaj, Pepusaj and Xhireaj families. The
Albanians call them the Anes (from Albanian anë ‘side, edge’),
i.e. people who were outside of the ruling tribe.
The third son was called Nika. He had several sons, among
whom were Del Nika, Bala Nika and Untha [Vuth] Nika. Del
Nika and his descendants founded the village of Nikç that now
has 75 households and 500 souls. The two other brothers, Bala
and Untha, left Del. They took over the pass between the
Prokletije and Plava mountains and built the village of Unthaj
[Vuthaj] that is situated half an hour south of the town of Gusinje
[Gucia] and six hours north of Selca and now has 70 households
and 500 souls.
The other sons of the ancestral father Klement were also
blessed with many children so that the tribe flourished rapidly and
counted many valiant men. Since the Albanian race is inclined, by
nature, to warfare and blood-feuding, the Kelmendi were never
satisfied with their lives as simple shepherds, but rather indulged
in robbery whenever they had the chance. As the strength of their
tribe grew, they extended their attacks more and more into
neighbouring territories and even managed to force the region
between Gucia, Pester [Pešter] and Pekia [Peja] into submission.
These raids and conquests meant that the Kelmendi were
constantly involved in warfare with the Ottomans. Three major
wars are recorded by tradition: one with Shkodra, one with
Podgorica and one with Peja. The first one is said to have lasted
ten years, and in one sole confrontation, no less than 10,000 Turks
lost their lives. During this war, the Kelmendi withdrew to a
natural fortress called Samo Gradi which was also known as the
‘Fortress of Kelmendi’ (forca e Kelmendit). It is a small plateau in
the Prokletije mountain range, about half an hour in
circumference. It is surrounded on all sides by unassailable cliffs
and has only one entrance that is extremely difficult to approach
and easy to defend. In the midst of the fortress there is a spring of
ice-cold water that never goes dry. On the southern side is a large
cave that serves to house the women, children and the few
domestic animals they take with them. Since they were often
besieged in this refuge by their foes, they suffered much,
including periods of starvation when they were often forced to eat
the bark of the trees. When the sieges subsided or when they
succeeded in outwitting or getting around the enemy positions,
the highlanders took revenge in gruesome attacks in the
surroundings and always managed to return with food and booty.
The second war was with Podgorica and lasted seven years. It
was no less brutal than the first one because the suffering that the
Kelmendi went through in this war was so great that, in seven
years, only three boys were born in the village of Selca and they
turned out to be weak and sickly.
In the third war against the Pasha of Peja, the Kelmendi were
initially lucky and managed to block the Turks in the fortress of
Gucia. At that time they made use of portable shield-like baskets
that they filled with wool and held in front of them as they
advanced over the plain. These baskets protected them from the
view of enemy artillery and enabled them to reach the besieged
Turks with their long rifles, and wreak great destruction.
They were so sure of victory that the chiefs of the various
families began to divide up the enemy territory among
themselves. However, a dispute arose during their discussions
with regard to certain pasturelands and one of the leaders called
Chiobala became so bitter in his unsuccessful endeavour to stake
a claim that he betrayed his tribe. During the night, he made
contact with the Turks and, in exchange for a promise to be given
the pastureland in question, revealed a means by which the Turks
could overcome the advance of Kelmendi forces. The Turks
followed his advice and, that same night, planted a lot of small
 stakes in the ground where the Kelmendi usually attacked with
their baskets. The next morning, when the Kelmendi realised that
they were unable to move their protective baskets freely because
of the stakes, they panicked, took flight into their mountains and
were pursued by the besieged Turks. From that time on, the war
took a bad turn for the Kelmendi and most of them were
subsequently forced to emigrate. They had probably become too
numerous to survive in the arid mountain regions they inhabited
anyway.
It is from the time of this war that we can date the emigration
of the Kelmendi to Rugova above Peja, to the mountains of Lap-
Gulap [Llap-Gollak] in Kosovo, to Selca (Slavic: Seoca) on the
eastern bank of Lake Shkodra, to the border of Montenegro, and
finally to Syrmia where, under the name of Clementines, they still
inhabit the villages of Ninkinci and Hrtkovci.
Of those who remained on their tribal land, two colonies later
emerged. One settled south of the valley of Kelmendi between the
Prokletije and Biskachi mountains and built the village of Boga
that now has 40 households and about 400 souls and a banner
(bajrak) of its own. The other colony went north and built the
village of Martinaj on the eastern bank of the Lim River, half an
hour from the place where it flows into Lake Plava. The
inhabitants of this village converted to Islam, as did their
neighbours and fellow tribesmen from the above-mentioned
village of Vuthaj.23

The Kelmendi are regarded as the ancestors of the Rugova highlanders

in neighbouring Kosovo who were Catholic until 1760. According to
tradition, the arrival of the Kelmendi in Gucia was what caused the Turks to
build a fortress there in 1612.24
The earliest historical document to mention the Kelmendi, the Ottoman
tax register of 1497, referred to four mountain tribes: the Hoti, the Kuči, the
Piperi and the Kelmendi. The Kelmendi are recorded here as having five
small shepherding communities with a total of 152 households.25 From
such documents and from oral tradition, we may assume that the Kelmendi
were thus known as a tribe in the final decades of the fifteenth century.
From the tax register, we also know that the Turks accorded the Kelmendi
the status of derbendci (mountain pass-keepers) and tax privileges. Here is
what the document in question states:

It is ordained that the Christians of these villages pay the

sancakbeyi in the form of a lump sum 1,000 akçes of haraç or
cizye [poll-tax], and in the form of a lump sum 1,000 akçes of
ispence [land-tax]. They should not pay any other dues or taxes.
They are exempted from all avariz-i divaniye [extraordinary state
taxes] on condition that they are derbendcis [mountain pass-
keepers] and guard and protect the road which runs from the
fortress of Shkodra through the territory of Petrishpan
[Pjetërspan] to Altun-ili [near Gjakova], and also the road which
runs from the fortress of Medun into the mountains of Kuči,
coming down to Plav.26

The British scholar, Sir Noel Malcolm suggests that the granting of
derbendci status and the quasi-military privileges that this entailed were of
particular importance to the development of the Kelmendi tribe in the late
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, indeed that this may have been the single
most important factor in determining their subsequent history. The
strengthening of collective identity that this involved may have played an
important part in their development as a cohesive clan. In particular, it gave
them the right to bear arms, even though they were Christians. In addition,
they may have gained leadership skills and prominence over other tribes
because it was they, as derbendcis, who maintained and probably came to
control the trade routes throughout the northern mountains.27
At any rate, in 1565 the ever-restless Kelmendi rose against the Turks,
together with the neighbouring Kuči and Piperi tribes,28 and in the 1597
they revolted again under their leader, the voyvoda, Nikšić Grdan, this time
with the Kuči, Piperi and Bjelopavlići tribes. The Venetian senator Lazaro
Soranzo commented on them in 1599–1600 as follows:

These are the Piperi, Kuči, Kelmendi and Bjelopavlići and others
in the region of Plava. Among them there are many Albanians,
who live by the Roman faith. And these are the ones who,
possessing strongholds and being by nature extremely fierce, have
 still not allowed themselves to be properly subjugated in battle by
the Turks.29

By the mid-1580s, the Catholic Kelmendi tribe seems to have ceased

paying tribute to the Ottoman state. As fierce and independent-minded
warriors, they had, by this time, gradually come to dominate all of northern
Albania. They were exceptionally mobile and went raiding and marauding
not only in the mountains, but also deep into the territories of Kosovo,
Bosnia and Serbia, indeed as far away as Plovdiv in Bulgaria. As Sir Noel
Malcolm put it: ‘The sheer mobility of the Kelmendi is one of the striking
things that emerges about them in the early seventeenth-century reports.’30
In 1612, in order to recover or at least strengthen their position in the
mountains, the Turks built a fort at Gucia and this intrusion may have
pushed the Kelmendi westwards, more towards their present homeland. In
his ‘Report and Description of the Sanjak of Shkodra’ of 1614, the writer
Mariano Bolizza of Kotor, who was in the service of the Republic of
Venice, reported on this and on the Kelmendi tribe in general as follows:

Thus, as was mentioned above, three hours from Gucia and an

equal number of hours from Kelmendi, the sultan constructed a
fort called Città Nova [New Town] at the end of 1612 on a little
hill in a well-fortified position. It is as big as a field with a
circumference of 400 paces, built of huge beams nailed together
and filled with earth, and surrounded by wide moats which are
filled with water and was spanned by three drawbridges. The fort
is guarded from within by two hundred foot soldiers and fifty
cavalrymen. The fortification was constructed at the insistence of
Sem Zaus [Cem Çaushi], the main Turkish leader in Podgorica.
Since he was ruler of Plava and was unable to enjoy his rule
there, both because of the destruction wrought by the Kelmendi
and because he could not get there safely, he sent word to the
sultan in Constantinople by means of the most illustrious lord,
Nasuf Pasha, whose concierges and courtiers were interested in
ruling over Kelmendi, for a fortress to be constructed in order to
repress the furor of the rebels and keep them in check and in
submission. And his request was granted. But those who guard it
are still unable to prevent the Kelmendi from marauding and
pillaging anywhere they want.
Mention was made above of the highland rebels in general. It
is now time to go into detail to describe their land, their customs,
their battles and things of importance which have occurred among
them in 1612 and 1613.
Aside from the fact, as was mentioned above, that these people
(who amount to over five thousand three hundred eighty men in
arms) are strong because of the nature of their territory, living in
such mighty and inaccessible mountains, the main factor of their
strength is nonetheless their unity. This unity has been seen ever
since the time they resolved at an assembly they held among
themselves not to pay the usual tribute to the sultan and, what is
more, not to give the individual spahees the duties owed to them,
as was said above. This happened because the Turks had
oppressed them heavily. They thus swore an oath, as they were
wont to do, not to abandon one another but rather to remain
united, to help those in need and never to allow the Turks to enter
their territory. Having, in this manner, attained a more favourable
situation by overthrowing Turkish tyranny and not having been
worn down by indolence, they turned to robbery, travelling in
hordes through the Turkish countryside right to Plovdiv and
plundering towns, villages and trading caravans, and have
become so rich that each of their 188 houses throughout
Kelmendi owns twice as many furnishings as usual, including
gold and silver equipment for at least one horse: i.e. scimitars,
harnesses, collars, and some even have fine saddles with silver
and jewelled armour, such a load being worth 150 to 200 gold
zecchini. They also have expensive horses, exquisite garments of
great value, gold and silver cups and bowls and an endless
number of animals, small and large. They go armed mostly with
swords, shields and spears, and with an endless number of
slingshots which they use masterfully. They rarely have
arquebuses although all those who do have them, in order to be
properly equipped, carry very good gunpowder with them. There
are no more than one hundred arquebus men among all the
 highlanders. These individuals are so agile, expert, courageous
and ready for battle and they line up so well for battle that
whoever sees them, can do nothing but marvel. They can be seen
in armed ranks, in skirmishes, doing battle, attacking and
withdrawing, cleaning up and making their escape, such that they
actually look very well-trained and versed. Military veterans
parade with them on all holidays, and especially on major feast
days. Most of them go barefoot so that when they are walking
along cliffs, they resemble mountain goats.31

The Kelmendi seem thus to have risen against the Turks, together with
the neighbouring tribes of Kuči, Piperi and Bjelopavlići, again around 1613.
A punitive expedition was sent to quell them with 15,000 men under the
command of Arsllan (Arsolan) Pasha, the former sanjakbey of Skopje.
Turkish troops spent 12 days in Kelmendi and took 80 prisoners in one
village, though only women and children. In another village, the pasha
demanded 15 slaves and 1,000 ducats. However, while he was waiting for a
reply, the Kelmendi attacked Turkish troops on a mountain pass, killed 30
men and then spirited off with 50 of their horses as booty. The pasha of
Shkodra was also badly wounded in this attack. Arsllan Pasha thus had no
alternative but to withdraw to Podgorica.32 A peace agreement was
concluded thereafter and peace reigned in the mountains for a few years.
The Porte sent troops into Kelmendi territory again in 1617, but to no avail.
The Kelmendi continued marauding and plundering, in particular in the
region of Novi Pazar, which suffered greatly from their incursions and
depredations.
The Kelmendi were at war with the Turks once more in 1624, this time
with Arvat Pasha of Shkodra. When Turkish troops advanced into the
region, the men of Kelmendi withdrew to the triangular plateau high up in
the mountains called the ‘Fortress of Kelmendi’ (forca e Kelmendit) that
was surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs. The women, children and
elderly, for their part, took refuge in caves in the Cem valley where 200 of
them are said to have died of starvation. Though they were in dire straits,
they still managed to inflict substantial losses on the Turks.33
In the following decades, the Turks made numerous efforts to subject the
Kelmendi, but with no decisive result, and the Kelmendi continued to play a
prominent role in anti-Ottoman resistance, especially in the first half of the
seventeenth century. Among their leaders of this period was a certain Vuk
Doda. The aim of all these revolts, as with virtually all Albanian uprisings
until the end of the Ottoman period in the early twentieth century, was not
national liberation, as wishfully portrayed by some modern Albanian
historians, but to ensure non-interference in tribal doings (including
plundering) and especially not to have to pay any taxes or tribute to the
Turks. At the same time, the marauding Kelmendi forced other tribes and
regions, where they could, to pay tribute to them. In a report to the
Congregation of the Propaganda Fide in Rome, dated June 1638, the
Albanian Bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi),34
noted that they attacked caravans in Albania, Bosnia and Serbia and stole at
least 40–50 horseloads of goods each year, such as wool, butter, honey,
wax, rice, salted fish, etc. Markets often had to be closed because of them.35
In 1707, an anonymous writer noted:

With raiding, arson and destruction they reduced first the region
and then the city [of Peja] itself, to paying annual contributions
[…] Every household of the Kelmendi had, in that huge and
fertile kingdom, one or more villages which paid it every year
whatever was necessary for the dignified subsistence of a noble
family.36

Increasingly, the Kelmendi learned to play a tactical role between the

Turks and the Venetians, in particular following the outbreak of the Cretan
War (1645–69) that was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the
Republic of Venice, during which Dalmatia was a prime theatre of military
activity. In 1660, Evliya Çelebi mentioned Kelmendi Albanians among the
‘infidel warriors’ he saw manning Venetian ships in the harbour of Split.37
The Kelmendi promised support to whichever side would fulfil their
requests. In 1664, for instance, some of the Kelmendi supported the Turks
on condition that they be exempted from paying tribute for five years.
Indeed some of them also converted to Islam.
In 1689, during the Great Turkish War of 1683–99, Imperial Austrian
forces launched an offensive against Ottoman troops that led to a brief
Austrian incursion into Kosovo, Macedonia and northern Albania. This
gave the Kelmendi another opportunity to rise against the Ottomans, and it
is supposed that they may have been in some tactical alliance with Vienna.
We know at least that four Kelmendi chiefs went to negotiate with the
Austrians in Peja in December 1689, though they returned discontented
because they had not been given suitable presents.38 The Kelmendi
preferred marauding for their own benefit, in particular in Kosovo.
In 1700, the pasha of Peja, Hudaverdi Mahmutbegolli, resolved to take
action against the continuing Kelmendi depredations in western Kosovo.
With the help of other mountain tribes, he managed to block the Kelmendi
in their homeland, the gorge of the upper Cem River, from three sides and
advanced on them with his own army from Gucia. In 1702, having worn
them down by starvation, he forced the majority of them to move to the
Pešter plateau in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. Only the people of Selca were
allowed to stay in their homes. Their chief had converted to Islam, and
promised to convert his people, too. A total of 251 Kelmendi households
(1,987 people) were resettled in the Pešter area on that occasion.39 Others
were resettled in the region of Gjilan in Kosovo.
Five years later, in 1707, however, over half of the exiled Kelmendi
managed to fight their way back to their mountain homeland and, in 1711,
they sent out a large raiding force to bring back some of the others from
Pešter, too.40 Deprived of their traditional sources of income (plundering
and marauding) and bereft of their herds, the Kelmendi lived in great
poverty on their return. In the summer of 1710, the Catholic Archbishop of
Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich,41 asked Franciscan missionaries in
Albania to distribute money to them to buy grain, and appealed to the pope
on several occasions to do something for the ‘poveri Clementi’.42 Some
Kelmendi did remain on the Pešter plateau. The Archbishop of Skopje
reported that there were 2,000 in 1719, when he confirmed 800 of them.43
In early August 1737, Hapsburg forces once again invaded Kosovo and
Field Marshal Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff44 recaptured Prishtina. It
was in this period that the Kelmendi, both in their homeland and in Pešter,
and other mountain tribes, decided to ally themselves with the Austrians.
The Austrian advance, however, petered out within three weeks, as did the
native uprisings against the Turks, which Austrian forces had fostered. Novi
Pazar fell on 24 August 1737, where 200 Kelmendi, 200 Hoti and 100
Gruda fighters had advanced.45 In the wake of the Austrian withdrawal, the
Albanian and Serbian rebels, including the Kelmendi, had no choice but to
retreat northwards, and suffered huge losses. On 4 October, they sent a
delegation to Seckendorff, asking for land in Banat for their seven rodova
(extended families), with 4,000 persons and their 100,000 animals.46 They
managed to reach a safe haven in Austrian-controlled territory near
Belgrade, but they lived initially in extreme hardship and poverty.
According to Ludwig von Thallóczy: ‘They wandered around Karlovac as
nomads along the Sava […] they dug holes in the ground to live in […] they
were decimated by plagues and epidemics, and they suffered from want of
food, which was always lacking, often entirely.’47 In their despair, some of
them even returned to Ottoman territory. An early nineteenth-century
German-language encyclopaedia provides the following information on the
exiled Kelmendi in its entry on the ‘Clementiner’:

In 1737 they advanced on the Turks, but were almost all

slaughtered at Valjevo. Of those who survived, 300 left for
Belgrade with their families, whence, being led by one of their
priests Suno, they continued on to Syrmia where they founded the
villages of Hrtkovci and Nikinci on the Sava, in the region of
Mitrovica, and, divided into six families, they served as brave
border guards […] Those who remained behind were attacked by
the Turks in 1738 and their main settlement of Rudnik was
conquered.48

It was only after the Peace of Belgrade in 1739 that the situation of the
Kelmendi improved. Employed as border guards and exempted from taxes
for three years, they came to form eight companies of militia, each with 25–
100 men, and kept guard along the Sava River.49 In 1749 or 1755, about
1,600 of them were finally settled in Syrmia [Srem], in particular in the
villages of Nikinci, Hrtkovci and Jarak. There they remained, preserving
their language, customs and Catholic religion until the nineteenth century.
The colourful costumes of the Kelmendi women were much commented
upon. Karl Gottlieb von Windisch (1725–93), for instance, noted: ‘The
costumes of the womenfolk of these people are extremely curious. The
peacock, indeed the rainbow, could not be more colourful than a Kelmendi
woman when she gets all dressed up.’50 In 1883 there were still 70
Albanian speakers in Nikinci and, in the census of 1900, 37 of the 2,565
inhabitants of Hrtkovci still spoke Albanian, as did 18 of the 1,773
inhabitants of Nikinci.51 In 1921, there were only five Albanian speakers
left in Hrtkovci and four in Nikinci,52 and the language died out soon
thereafter.
As to the Kelmendi who remained in Albania, they continued their
struggle to resist Turkish incursions. Major punitive expeditions of Ottoman
forces were sent into the mountains in 1737, 1738 and 1739 to put down the
rebellious Kelmendi and Kuči tribes, but to no avail. In 1740, however,
Sulejman Pasha of Shkodra killed 40 leading tribesmen of Kelmendi and
Kuči, confiscated their property and burnt their houses down. A further 400
tribesmen were imprisoned in Shkodra. The two tribes had no choice but to
capitulate and sent hostages to Shkodra. After submission, the Albanian
market towns were re-opened for them.53 Although they remained a
powerful tribe in northern Albania over the following 150 years, they never
regained the power they had enjoyed in the seventeenth century.

Travel Impressions
Baron Nopcsa travelled to Kelmendi in 1905. He records this impression of
his arrival after the long march down into the Cem Valley:

I was deeply impressed by an episode that occurred in the Cem

Valley near the Tamara Bridge in Kelmendi country. I had asked
for a glass of water at a house but, instead of water, the head of
the household, whom I did not know at all, gave me a bowl of
buttermilk, which I drank to the very last drop. I had just finished
drinking when the brother of the homeowner, also unknown to
me, happened to come home. As it was evening by this time and
he was tired from his long journey, he asked to have some
buttermilk. All that he found of course was an empty bowl. When
the owner of the house told him who had drunk all the buttermilk,
he was not upset, as one might have expected, but rather happy
and relieved that I had reached the house before he had, because
his family had thus been spared the shame of letting guests depart
without having offered them something to eat.54

Figures of Note
 Nora of Kelmendi
Nora of Kelmendi is a legendary figure in the northern mountains. She is
remembered for her courage. According to the core of the legend (of which
there are several versions), a seventeenth-century Ottoman commander,
usually called Vutsi Pasha of Bosnia, invaded Kelmendi with his troops.
There he caught sight of the fair Nora and demanded her as a condition for
his withdrawal. Nora gave herself up to the pasha, but killed him with her
dagger, thus sacrificing herself for the freedom of Kelmendi.
Prekë Cali
Prekë Cali Hasanaj (1878–1945), the nephew of Ucë Turku, the voyvoda of
Selca, was a great nationalist figure of the north, the ‘Pride of Kelmendi’.
He opposed Ottoman forces in April–June 1911, in particular at the Battle
of Dečić. Cali is also remembered as a fierce opponent of Montenegrin
expansion into Albania, especially when the Great Powers accorded parts of
the north of the country, around Vermosh, to Montenegro at the Conference
of London (1913). He later opposed Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961) and was
interned by him in Gjirokastra, but was pardoned in 1927 and was made a
captain of the reserve guards. Prekë Cali was a strident anticommunist.
When communist forces under Mehmet Shehu (1913–81) took over
Kelmendi in January 1945, Prekë Cali and 14 other Kelmendi fighters were
taken prisoner. They were tried in court in Shkodra and shot at Zalli i Kirit
on 25 March 1945. A statue was raised in Shkodra in June 2001 bearing the
inscription: ‘Prekë Cali, noted fighter from Kelmendi, resolute defender of
Albania's borders.’

The Gruda Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Gruda tribal region is situated in Montenegro, primarily in the
mountains along the Albanian border, southeast of Podgorica. The core of
Gruda territory extends eastwards from Tuz [Tuzi] up the lower slopes of
the Cem [Cijevna] River in a triangular shape towards the present
Albanian–Montenegrin border. There are Gruda settlements on both sides
of the river. Gruda land traditionally also covered much of the plain, where
it extended to the lake in the south and to the Moraça River in the west and
to the Cem River in the north of the plain. Gruda bordered on the traditional
tribal regions of Hoti to the south, Kelmendi to the east, Triepshi to the
northeast and Slavic Kuči to the north. The main settlements of Gruda
include: Dinosha [Dinoša], Pikala [Pikalja], Kësheva [Krševo], Shipshanik
[Šipčanik], Llofka [Lovka], Milesh [Mileš] and Selishta [Selište]. The
market town for Gruda was the town of Tuz on the broad plain south of
Podgorica.

Population
The name Gruda was recorded in the ecclesiastical report of Francesco
Leonardi in 1648 as Grudi and in the report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari in
1671 as Gruda. The term Gruda is also found on the 1689 map of the
Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. The word is said to be
related to Alb. grudë, gruda ‘soil, sod’, from Slav. gruda.
With regard to population statistics, in his ‘Brief Information on the
Tribes of High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains' in
1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich, gives the population of Gruda as
1,200, of whom 300 were men in arms.55 Subsequently, the Italian botanist
and geographer Antonio Baldacci (1867–1950) mentioned 400 houses, and
Edith Durham spoke in 1908 of ‘about 500 houses’. Baron Nopcsa regarded
these figures as somewhat exaggerated, and in 1907 calculated the total
population of Gruda at less than 3,000.
Gruda was a primarily Catholic tribe although much of it converted to
Islam at the end of the seventeenth century. The apostolic visitor to Albania,
Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled through the region in 1671–2,
reported on the state of Catholicism there at the time:

In Gruda, there is a church dedicated to Saint Martin that is in

ruins. It would be good to have it repaired for the numerous
people here. Costs 125 scudi,56 as mentioned in number 88. The
people of Gruda constructed a hospice for the Patres Reformati of
the Holy Congregation for the mission priests in that place, and
have kept it in good condition. There are two such fathers there,
 both of them priests. The first one is Brother Bartolomeo of
Urbino. The second one is Brother Domenico dalle Grotte. The
father did not know the Albanian language very well and was ill
with a fever […]. He did not use the Christian Doctrine. He had
high moral standards and was a good clergyman. The second one
knew some Albanian and endeavoured to instruct the people. He
also led a good life and had high moral standards.57

In the early years of the twentieth century, Edith Durham referred to the
tribe as being half Catholic, half Muslim. In 1907 Baron Franz Nopcsa
estimated that it was two-thirds Catholic and one-third Muslim, most of the
latter living in Tuz, Milesh and Dinosha. As in Lura and other regions, there
were families with both Catholic and Muslim members.
The Catholics of Gruda commemorated the feast of the nativity of the
Virgin Mary on 8 September. The oldest church of the region is that of
Priftën, known as the Church of Gruda (Kisha e Grudës), originally
constructed in 1528. The Church of Saint Martin, mentioned by Gaspari,
was constructed by the Franciscans in 1646, although with the rapid
conversion of the population to Islam, it was soon abandoned by the
order.58 It was reconstructed in 1900 by one Father Mirashi (who was
actually the Italian priest Teodosio de Parma), and a parsonage was added
in 1907.59
Gruda was a tribe that consisted of one single bajrak. It was of
polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming
descent on the male side from one common ancestor. Among the noted
families of Gruda are the: Beqja, Berishaj, Bojaj, Gjokaj, Gjolaj, Hakaj,
Haxhaj, Ivezaj, Kajoshaj, Kalaj, Lulanaj, Lulgjuraj, Neziraj, Nikaj, Pepaj,
Sinishtaj, Stanaj, Vuçinaj and Vulaj.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Before the completion of the Ottoman conquest, the Gruda region was part
of the realm of Ivan Crnojević (reg. 1465–90), Lord of Zeta, who was
married to the sister of the Albanian leader, George Arianiti (ca. 1400–61),
the father-in-law of Scanderbeg. He was defeated by the Turks in about
1477 and it was after this period that the ancestors of the Gruda tribe settled
on their present land from various origins. Some of them came from the
Berisha tribe, others from neighbouring Piperi, and others still arrived in the
early sixteenth century from Herzegovina. In oral tradition, mention is
made in particular of a certain Vuksan Gjela who fled his native Suma
region and settled in Gruda around 1550 because of a blood feud. He was a
great foe of the Turks, having been imprisoned in Anatolia for 12 years on
orders from the vizier of Shkodra, and is said to have had himself buried on
the top of Suka e Grudës (Gruda Hill, 1,212 m.) so that no hooves of
Turkish horses could ever ride over him. He had two sons, Pal and Gjela, of
whom the former is remembered as the founder of the settlements of
Selishta, Llofka and Gjokaj near Dinosha. Another version of the legend of
origin derives the tribe from one Grudë Suma of the Suma tribe60 who is
probably the same figure as the above-mentioned Vuksan Gjela. This Grudë
Suma lived in the cave of Biga e Rohëve.
In 1485, Gruda was recorded as a nahiye in terms of Ottoman
administration. In 1499 it rose with Hoti against Ottoman demands for taxes
and conscripts, and was also involved in a series of revolts in the
seventeenth century, often together with Kelmendi, Kuči, Hoti, Kastrati and
Shkreli, etc.
Despite its eclectic origins and diverse religious affiliations, the Gruda
came to form one united tribe consisting initially of two bajraks, one in
Dinosha and one in Llofka. These later united. The bajraktar of Gruda was
traditionally chosen from the descendants of Vuksan Gjela of the Suma
clan.
It was always a struggle for survival in Gruda because the soil in the
mountainous areas was not particularly fertile, and the region suffered much
from drought. The population thus lived traditionally from herding.
The Gruda tribe played a major role, together with Hoti, in an attempt to
counter the loss to Albania of this border territory which was accorded to
Montenegro by the Congress of Berlin in 1878. From April to July 1880,
under the command of Hodo Pasha Dervishi (1836–83), also known as
Hodo bey Sokoli, about 8,000 volunteers from the Shkodra region,
including many fighters from Gruda and Hoti, struggled to keep the two
tribal regions, and in particular the plain of Tuz, as part of Ottoman
Albania. Their efforts were successful for a time, and Gruda remained part
of Ottoman Albania for another two decades. The Gruda tribe also took part
in the northern Albanian uprisings against the Porte in 1910 and 1911.
In 1913, in the wake of Albanian independence, the Great Powers at the
Conference of London awarded Gruda and Hoti to Montenegro, thus cutting
them off from the rest of Albania and from the other Albanian highland
tribes. Montenegrin forces invaded Gruda territory in the spring of 1913,
and much resistance was offered to them, in particular on 30 and 31 May,
with many dead and injured. In July 1913, emissaries of Prince Nikola of
Montenegro offered tribal leaders money and grain supplies in a bid to win
them over to Montenegro, but they refused to be separated from the newly
independent Albanian state. As a reaction to the Montenegrin occupation of
Tuz in mid-July 1913, Gruda sent a large deputation to Vice-Admiral Sir
Cecil Burney (1858–1929), the head of the international administration in
Shkodra, to convey to him their resolve not to submit to Montenegro.
Border skirmishes, and often serious fighting, continued over the next six
months and, by mid-April 1914, the Montenegrin government announced
its definitive military occupation of Gruda and Hoti. Most of the settlements
in Gruda territory were razed to the ground by the Montenegrin commander
Martinović. The surviving population, some 700 families from Gruda and
Hoti, fled to Kastrati territory around 23 April 1914, and by May many of
them had reached Shkodra where they camped out in desperate
circumstances. The British journalist E. J. Dillon (1854–1933), who was in
northern Albania at the time, reported as follows:

The subjection of the Hoti and Gruda clan was accompanied by

the flight of thousands of necessitous tribesmen into Scutari,
whose arrival thrust the inhabitants of that city into dismay. The
British Governor, Colonel Phillips, on taking over the
governorship, had been assured by his predecessors, the
Admirals, that everything was in order, that the refugees would
not exceed a few hundred, and that ample provision had been
made for their reception and keep. Events belied this optimistic
forecast. Nineteen thousand fugitives swept down the hills one
day and strained the resourcefulness of the Governor to the
utmost. He drove most of them back and made provision for
nearly two thousand, despite the circumstances that there were no
funds available for them.61
 This was not the last time Gruda was to be put to task. Edith Durham
later noted:

The Powers awarded it to Montenegro in 1913 as a war prize in

spite of the prayers of the people. It was devastated and many
refugees fled to Scutari. Again, after the Great War, it was badly
handled by the incoming Serbs, who were active against Moslem
and Catholic alike. They even tore the rings from the hands of a
poor old lady whose only crime was that she was Catholic. I saw
many hapless refugees in Scutari in 1921, but was powerless to
help them. As in the days of the Turk, a new foe was forcing a
shifting of the peoples.62

Part of the population emigrated around 1914 and settled on the plain
north of Shkodra, forming the settlement of Gruda e Re (New Gruda) near
Dobraç.

Travel Impressions
Baron Nopcsa travelled through Gruda territory in August 1907 with a
group of Gruda tribesmen who were returning from work abroad. At
Dinosha, he managed to cross the border illegally into Ottoman Albania:

It was 37 degrees in the shade on 8 August 1907 when I left

Podgorica to tour the isolated reaches of the Montenegrin and
Albanian mountains, as was my plan. This region was the
Shangri-La of the ‘Accursed Mountains,’ most peaks of which
had never been climbed.
Mar Gjeku and I mixed in with a group of people shuffling
towards the Turkish border. They were members of the Gruda
tribe returning from market in Podgorica. There were also about a
dozen other Gruda men who, like Mar, had worked at the
Tótmegyer brick factory near Budapest, had made good money
and were returning home in good spirits after half a year abroad.
Mark Gjeka, another of my prominent new friends, had found
a shaggy but sturdy packhorse to carry my things, not only my
pack but all the personal effects of my travelling companions.
These consisted mainly of maize and salt. Since the Albanians
returning from abroad had all sorts of other things with them,
such as blankets, pots, a lantern and other household objects, the
back of the horse was piled high in colourful confusion. A heavy
frying pan had to be carried by its owner, much to the amusement
of the other travellers. Everyone laughed when this tall fellow
armed with a Martini rifle used the frying pan as a rather
impractical parasol. My companions were particularly aware of
the humour involved because most of them were carrying real
parasols in red and blue stripes with them. Of all luxury goods to
have entered Albania, the parasol is the most common. It could
almost compete with soap as the number-one ‘luxury article.’ The
midday heat allayed by a southern breeze, did nothing to impair
the merriment of the travellers marching on foot. Mark Gjeka and
his men were very much looking forward to getting back home
after half a year away. Their family members, who had come
down to Podgorica to meet them, were delighted to see the
adventurers back, and I was personally fascinated by the situation,
which was completely new to me. I knew Albania and its friendly,
though often uncivilized inhabitants from earlier trips. In most
cases, my expeditions had begun in Shkodra and consisted of day
journeys from parish priest to parish priest. This time, I had
suddenly left ‘Europe’ and was in direct contact with the highland
population. I had another reason to be in good spirits, too. There
seemed to be a good chance that I would be able to climb the
highest, virgin peaks of Northern Albania.
We had left the plain behind us between Podgorica with its
numerous Albanian shops, a town of importance to Montenegro,
and Tuz, or rather between Podgorica and our next stop, the
Turkish border settlement of Dinosha. It was a barren region
covered in limestone scree that evinced a few fields of harvested
grain here and there. The landscape was in pleasant brownish
hues from the limestone, the leftovers of the harvest and the
drought of the past weeks. The roundish limestone mountains
rising to the east, though not to any great height, offered no
unusual forms and glowed in a light grey colour.
 The plain, covered in diluvian scree, was neither
geographically nor geologically of interest. As such, my attention
was focused entirely on the conversations of my new
companions. The Gruda men spoke primarily of their impressions
of Budapest, and I was rather surprised how often they compared
it to Shkodra. Questions from their relatives about whether the
bazaar in Budapest was as big as the one in Shkodra were typical
of the thinking of people who had never been beyond the borders
of their own country. I suspected that what was said about
Budapest and ‘Europe’ during the march broadened the horizons
of the native family members.
From Dinosha we crossed a stream that is not marked on the
general map (1:200,000) but is probably identical to the one
mentioned by E. Schulz. Its banks, in different horizontal and
conglomerate stone strata rose sharply as a result of erosion from
recurring periods of flooding. They offered us a bit of shade, but
not much relief from the heat. The men of course took advantage
of the shade right away to smoke a cigarette. We were all
crouched under the protruding banks when, in no time, large
leather half-kilo pouches of tobacco were brought forth, none of
which contained the seals of the Ottoman Tobacco Régie. The
women in our party had to put up with a less shady spot, but were
nonetheless given some cigarettes.
My friends surprised me by offering me a large bottle of milk
that they had brought with them for me from Podgorica without
my noticing. They had been afraid that it would spill during the
march. Such little acts of unassuming kindness in detail are one of
the commonly found characteristics of the inhabitants of the
northern Albanian mountains, gestures that are, alas, so often
lacking in Europe.
Refreshed by our stop, we reached the Turkish–Montenegrin
border at two in the afternoon. The border crossing, near Omer
Bozovci, has no particular markings, unless one knows that
numerous wild-growing pomegranate shrubs and other thorny
Mediterranean-type bushes signal the presence of a near-by
settlement.
 Not far from Dinosha, I was shown the remains of an
apparently very old church. Unfortunately there were no stone
ornaments or inscriptions left to judge its age.
The Imperial Ottoman authorities were represented in Dinosha
by a customs official and a platoon of soldiers on duty, nizams, all
in fine uniforms.
When we got there, all of the policemen were sound asleep.
We had intentionally left Podgorica around noontime, knowing
that all Turkish officials had a siesta in the afternoon heat. The
only official who was awake was a koldži, a customs guard, who
was having a cup of coffee at the inn of Dinosha. The koldži
naturally wanted to inspect the baggage piled high on my horse,
which contained my rifle, too. Mar persuaded him to have a glass
of raspberry syrup with us first. The koldži agreed. The first glass
of syrup was followed by a cup of coffee, which was followed by
another glass of syrup, and then another coffee etc., etc. All of
this took up over an hour. When the koldži finally came down the
stairs to inspect the packhorse, the other Albanians explained to
him that they had not been able to wait for the inspection. They
had sent the ‘lame’ horse on with the women so that it would
reach Selita by sunset. It was very slow and, if it did not arrive by
nightfall, it would certainly break a leg in the dark, with the path
as bad as it was. The koldži was faced with a fait accompli and,
with his protest that he would inspect the horse all the more
rigorously next time, the matter was put to rest. Satisfied at
having been treated to syrup and coffee for over an hour, the
koldži did not even think of asking for my passport. I was glad of
that for, unbeknownst to Mar Gjeku, I had a visa for Shkodra so
nothing serious would have happened to me, but I knew that I
would have problems getting a travel permit for the mountains
had they sent me to Shkodra. For this reason, I thought it better
not to use my passport at all, and did not tell Mar about my visa
so that he would be extra cautious when we crossed the border.
On top of this, I had initially told him that I was not even
interested in going to Albania. I had to seem consequent with
Mar. At any rate, with his trick, I got across the Turkish–
Montenegrin border without being recognized and was for some
time able to travel in the highlands of Albania freely. Things
changed later, however, when the Turkish authorities discovered
that I was back in the country.
When we got past Dinosha, the scenery and the mood changed
dramatically. As we entered the Cem Valley, the expressions on
the faces of my placid companions changed and grew tense. Now
that they were back in the country, the Albanians all hastened to
retrieve the Martini and Werndl rifles that they had deposited at
the homes of friends on the way.
The return of the Gruda men to their tribal homeland was
celebrated as a victory. They were greeted by calls and rifle shots
from the promontories and the other bank of the Cem. News
spread like wildfire that the men of Gruda who had first ventured
to try their luck and seek employment abroad had defied the odds
and returned safe and sound. The twenty-five Napoleons that
Mark Gjeka pulled out of his pocket were better proof than
anything of the financial success of the mission. However, the
blisters on their hands caused great consternation among their
Gruda compatriots because hard physical labour is not the
favourite pastime of men in the highlands.
Our further advance was slow because everyone one who saw
and greeted us with a hoş gelden,63 the standard greeting in
Gruda, wanted to know what the returnees had been doing and
how their stay in Budapest had gone. We passed no settlement
without having to stop for a glass of milk, a cup of coffee or at
least a sip of water.
The Cem Valley, up which we travelled from Dinosha to
Selishta, is interesting because of the cave inhabitations that are
still being used and probably date from ancient times. As in
Dinosha, stone-hard diluvial sediment rises on the riverbanks over
other layers that have been washed away by the rain and have
created caverns that serve as accommodation. They are fenced off
either by a low stone wall or by a wicker fence and are used by
shepherds in the summer months. In the daytime, most of these
 people are outdoors for lack of room. We were thus welcomed
and entertained for the most part by these modern-day
troglodytes, who were neither hostile nor particularly savage.
Aside from meeting shepherds, there were other things that
delayed our progress up the Cem Valley. Wherever there was a bit
of flat land along the river, there were cultivated fields that
produced tobacco, maize or grain. Grapes hung in abundance
from the vines in the hedges. They had owners, but no one took
offense when passers-by plucked and gorged themselves on the
fruit. On the contrary, they would have found it strange if
travellers did not stop and partake.
Shepherds, kullas, cottages and grapevines thus slowed down
our progress and we reached Selishta much later than planned.
Just before we got to Mark Gjeka's house, we had to cross the
Cem on a hanging bridge made of precarious-looking woven
rods.
On 9 August I left Mark Gjeka's hospitable home and climbed
up to the parish of Gruda at 320 m. above sea level. From there, I
carried on to Trabojna.64

Figures of Note
Baca Kurti
Baca Kurti Gjokaj (ca. 1807–81) was a nationalist figure of the Gruda tribe.
He was born in Milesh near Tuz of the Catholic Gjokaj family and first
became prominent as the voyvoda of Gruda while putting down a band of
marauding rebels in Fundna in 1856. He also killed the brother of the
Montenegrin warrior Marko Miljanov (1833–1901) that year. By 1870 his
authority was well recognised and in 1878 he did much to pacify blood
feuds in Gruda and Triepshi. In June 1878, the Great Powers meeting at the
Congress of Berlin decided to hand over the Ottoman-Albanian territories
of Plava and Gucia to Montenegro. When this was militarily opposed by
Albanian rebels under Ali Pasha of Gucia, the Italian ambassador in
Constantinople, Count Luigi Corti, suggested as a compromise that territory
along the Cem River, i.e. the tribal land of Gruda and Hoti, be given to
Montenegro instead (the so-called Corti Compromise). Montenegro was to
occupy the region on 22 April 1880. Baca Kurti, who was involved
throughout this period in the activities of the League of Prizren, was among
the tribal leaders who vigorously opposed the annexation. He called on the
highlanders, Catholics and Muslims, to defend their land at the Rrzhanica
Bridge, which marked the border between Montenegro and the Ottoman
Empire. He is remembered, in particular, for proclaiming: ‘Brothers! The
enemy on the attack. Whoever wishes to die today for his country and for
the honour of his weapons, let him follow me!’ The Catholic tribes gathered
forces in Tuz and were reinforced by men from Mirdita and the Muslim
tribes, a total of some 10,000 fighters, it is said. In late April 1880, Baca
Kurti and the military commander, Çun Mula, the bajraktar of Hoti, thus
managed to repulse the Montenegrin army at the bridge, and the plan for the
annexation of Gruda and Hoti was put aside. Montenegro was instead given
the Albanian port of Ulqin/Ulcinj by the Powers. Baca Kurti died at his
home in Milesh, apparently of poisoning, and lies buried in Saint Michel's
graveyard in Dinosha.
Tringa Smajli
Tringa Smajli (1870–1917), the daughter of Smajl Martini Ivezaj, is
remembered as the highland heroine of Gruda, who took part in the uprising
of 1911 against Ottoman forces. Her father was kidnapped at the Battle of
Vranje in 1911 and was never seen alive again. She replaced him in battle
and led Gruda forces to victory. With this deed, her fame spread and ‘Tringa
of Gruda' became a legendary heroine in the Balkans. The New York Times
described her as the ‘Albanian Joan of Arc’:

A young girl, whose first name corresponds to that of the given

name of the Maid of Orleans, is now being sung in the songs of
the Montenegrin bards in the inns and coffee houses of
Podgoritsa. When at the battle of Vranye last week her father, the
hereditary commander of his clan, fell, she immediately stepped
to his place and led the Martinais to victory against the Turks […]
According to a person who is well acquainted with her, this new
Joan of Arc is not yet 22 years of age, and is ‘a tall, handsome,
well-developed young woman. All the Albanian women are
brave, and are trained from their girlhood to the use of firearms,
and in times of war, as there are no mules, they carry the
 provisions and ammunition for their soldiers and go into the firing
line to distribute them.’65

Tringa Smajli was buried in an unmarked grave in her native village of

Kësheva in Gruda territory.

The Hoti Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Hoti tribal region is situated in the District of Malësia e Madhe in
northern Albania. It stretches in a northeasterly direction up the valley that
begins at the end of the eastern arm of Lake Shkodra, near the Albanian–
Montenegrin border-crossing of Han i Hotit (‘The Inn of Hoti’), and
continues up into the mountains past Brigja to the village of Rapshë-Starje
at the summit. The road from the coast towards Kelmendi territory and
Vermosh leads initially up this valley, parallel to the Albanian–Montenegrin
border. Hoti territory also extended along the lake, into what is now
Montenegro, to the bay of Hum [Humsko Blato], and up into the first valley
to Helmes and Trabojna, on the northern side of Mount Bukoviq. Hoti
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Gruda to the north in
Montenegro, Kelmendi to the northeast, and Kastrati to the south. The main
settlements of Hoti are: Hot and Rapshë-Starje (Rapsha e Hotit) in Albania;
and Arza, Helmes and Trabojna in Montenegro.

Population
The term Hoti was recorded as a personal name in 1330. In 1474, the region
was called montanee octorum, montanea ottanorum (mountain(s) of the
Hoti). The form Hotti is mentioned in a report sent to Rome in September
1621 by the Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Pjeter Budi, and in the
ecclesiastical report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari in 1671. Hotti also occurs in
the report of Giorgio Stampaneo around 1685, and on the 1689 map of the
Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola.
In 1614, the Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza of Kotor spoke of 212
houses in Hoti, commanded by one Marash Papa, and with 600 men in
arms.66 In 1838, the Austro-Hungarian physician Joseph Müller was
informed by a Pater Deda of Vukël that there were 1,500 inhabitants in
Hoti.67 At about the same time (1841), in his ‘Brief Information on the
Tribes of High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains,’
Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich, gave the population of Hoti as 2,400, of
whom 600 were men in arms.68 On the basis of a census carried out in
1854, the French diplomat Hyacinthe Hecquard recorded the presence of
450 families in Hoti.69 Another French diplomat, Emile Wiet, consul in
Shkodra, recorded 400 households of Hoti comprising 2,442 Catholics, plus
five Muslim households in a settlement called Sunci.70 Other mid and late
nineteenth-century writers also refer to between 400 and 500 families. We
can thus estimate the population of Hoti to have been about 4,000 at that
time. Edith Durham refers to Hoti in the first decade of the twentieth
century as being one bajrak made up of 500 houses.71
Hoti is a traditionally Catholic tribe. Its patron saint is John the Baptist
whose feast day, Saint John of Hoti (Shënjoni i Hotit), was celebrated each
year on 29 August. The parish church of Brigja, built in 1699, was
dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Only a few stones and a graveyard
remain of it. The tribe also observed the winter feast of Saint Nicholas
which lasted a whole week. The church in Hoti itself was dedicated to Saint
Veneranda. The church in Rapsha e Hotit was built in 1699 by the
Franciscans who were soon, however, forced to abandon it. A parsonage
was added in 1907, funded by Austria-Hungary. In Trabojna there has been
a Catholic parish since 1648 although it was often abandoned.72
A few families in Hoti converted to Islam in the Ottoman period.
However, the religious division does not seem to have caused any lasting
problems within the tribe. Ten families in Rapsha, for instance, converted to
Islam around 1800 and were granted the privilege by the pasha of choosing
their own military leader (called a boulouk basha or voyvoda), a post
subsequently held by the Hasan Aga family.
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported:

On 12 September 1671, we left the land of Castratti [Kastrati] and

arrived at the village of Hotti [Hot] which is 25 miles from Riolo
 [Rrjoll]. It has 130 homes and 700 souls. It has a church dedicated
to Saint Veneranda, the roof of which is in need of repair. Cost 30
scudi. There is no priest, but they are under the care of Gruda
where the Patres Reformati are stationed, 26 miles from Hotti.
Due to the great distance, however, they cannot provide sufficient
assistance. Many people die without receiving the sacraments and
are buried without cross and candle, as I can testify. To care for
the needs of those souls, it would be necessary to set up a mission
in this place, either with regular priests or secular clergy, which
would involve a one-time provision of 30 scudi, and holy
furnishings.73

The Hoti tribe were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak. They traditionally married with neighbouring
Kastrati, so relations between the two tribes were close. It was also closely
related to the Triepshi and Gruda tribes.
Compared to many other regions of the Albanian highlands, the valley of
Hoti was comparatively fertile. In addition to their herds of sheep and goats,
the tribe grew wheat, barley, oats and maize, and had fish from the lake,
bleak in particular, that it shared with the Kastrati tribe. It was thus
relatively self-sufficient and able to prosper.
Among the noted families of Hoti are the: Cunmullaj, Camaj, Dedvukaj,
Dushaj, Gjelaj, Gjonaj, Gojçaj, Junçaj, Lajqaj, Lucgjonaj and Nicaj.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

As to their origins, oral tradition has it that the Hoti arrived from Bosnia.
They claimed early descent from a Slav, probably therefore a Bosnian Slav,
called Keq Preka (sometimes known as Kec Panta) who fled to what is now
Piperi territory in Montenegro and lived around 1520. He had several sons,
called Lazar Keqi, Ban Keqi, Kaster Keqi, Merkota Keqi, Vas Keqi and
Piper Keqi. The first son, Lazar, is considered to be the ancestral father of
the Hoti tribe, whereas his brother Ban was the ancestor of the Triepshi
tribe, which is thus related to the Hoti. Following a murder, the family had
to flee from the Piperi region. Only father Keq Preka and his one son, Piper,
were allowed to remain. Two of the sons, Lazar Keqi and Ban Keqi, fled to
Triepshi territory, where they prospered as herders. With time, the size of
their flocks increased to such an extent that they could no longer feed the
animals in the barren mountains there. The two brothers therefore divided
the herds up between them and Lazar migrated southwards across the Cem
River which was then said to make up the border between them. Lazar Keqi
had one son called Geg Keqi or Geg Lazri or Lazi who is regarded as the
direct father of the Hoti tribe. His son Pjetër or Pjec Gega founded the
settlement of Trabojna. Geg's other sons, Gjon Gega, Laj Gega and Gjun
Gega, are remembered as founders of the settlement of Rapsha. Gjon Gega's
descendants later lived in Brigja. The settlement of Vuksanlekaj, for its part,
is said to have been founded by one Vuksa, son of Leka, around the year
1788.
The Austrian consul in Janina, Johann Georg von Hahn, heard the legend
of the founding of the Hoti and Triepshi tribes from a Father Gabriel in
Shkodra in 1850 and recounted it as follows:

The ancestral tribal leader of Hoti and Triepshi was called Keqi. It
is not known where he came from but, like Klement of Kelmendi,
he must have been an Albanian because his descendants spoke
Albanian and were Catholic. According to legend, because he was
being pursued by the Turks, he fled to a Slavic region now called
Piperi that belongs to the Brda [highlands] of Montenegro. There,
he had six sons: Lazar Keqi, Ban Keqi, Merkota Keqi, Kaster
Keqi, Vas (Vash) Keqi and Piper Keqi. When they were growing
up, they killed one of the natives of the village and, according to
local custom, the whole family was obliged to flee. Father Keqi,
however, realised that he was too old to leave, and that his
youngest son, Piper, was too young and weak (he limped on one
leg) to follow his brothers into exile. He therefore endeavoured to
pacify the family of the dead man and begged for permission to
remain in the country in view of his and his son's precarious
situation. He received permission, which is rarely denied under
such circumstances, and thus remained in the village with Piper.
The large clan of Piperi that now has 200 households and 1,500
Orthodox, Slavic-speaking members, stems from this lad Piper.
They are in constant conflict with the neighbouring Muslim towns
of Spuž and Podgorica.
 The other five brothers settled in Triepshi that is situated on
the northern bank of the Cem River (a western tributary of the
Morača), an hour to the east of Gruda and Fundina. Merkota Keqi
soon found life in this stony region too hard so he settled on the
plain of Podgorica, two hours to the west of the town, because he
preferred to make his living in a fertile area rather than to wander
freely and independently in the mountains. His descendants gave
the village which they had founded the name Merkotaj [Mrkovići]
after their ancestral father. It now has 70 households and over 500
souls. They are followers of the Orthodox church and speak
Slavic.
The other four sons of Keqi remained for a while in Triepshi.
However, there came a time of great hardship for the region and
grain could only be procured on the fertile plains and in the valley
of the White Drin far to the east. The two youngest brothers, who
were unmarried, therefore set off for the town of Peja to buy grain
for their families. At the inn where they were staying, they met
two fair maidens who had come to Peja for the same reason. The
maidens took a fancy to the slender lads and asked them who they
were and where they came from. The young men told them the
sad tale of their family, that they were poor shepherds treated
badly by fate. The maidens replied that they were, each of them,
the only daughters of rich parents and if the young men would
marry them, they would inherit substantial fortunes. They also
told them that there was enough fertile land where they came
from to feed the two brothers. The young men raised the
objection that their older brothers would not go with them and
that they could not leave their elderly father alone. They did not
live with him, but were not so far away that they could not visit
him from time to time. After much discussion, the four young
people agreed to meet at a later date in the same inn to exchange
information about what they had achieved. Each then went his
own way. When the two young men got home, they told their
brothers what had happened and asked for their advice. The
brothers advised them not to leave because this would weaken the
position of the family and others would be able to insult them and
go unpunished. They feared that they would never see one
another again if they were to live so far away. These objections
convinced the two young brothers for quite a while, but in the
end, love won out, as did the realisation that their descendants
would live in eternal poverty if they remained in Triepshi. They
thus decided to leave home and thereby divide the family. They
invited old Keqi, their brother Merkota who had settled near
Podgorica and the lame Piper to Triepshi for a feast and, when
they had all eaten their fill, the two young men took leave of the
remaining clan and set off for Peja. They met the two maidens
there on the appointed day and followed them to their homes.
One of these maidens was from Redzica. She married the
young Vas Keqi, and from their union stemmed the large
Vasevich [Vasojevići] tribe that now counts 200 households and
3,000 souls. The Vasojevići follow the Orthodox church and
speak Slavic. They are known as inveterate robbers and carry out
raids on the neighbouring territories as often as they can. They
also ambush Muslim caravans from Gusinje [Gucia], Bijelo Polje
and Rožaje. They can be divided into two groups: the upper
Vasojevići and the lower Vasojevići depending on whether they
live on the eastern or the western side of the mountain range that
serves as the divide between the waters that flow into the
Mediterranean and those that flow into the Danube basin, as well
as the divide between the northwards-flowing Lim and the
Morača that flows southwards into Lake Shkodra. The upper
Vasojevići inhabit the valley of the Redzica that comes down
from the eastern slopes of those mountains and ends at the Lim.
The lower Vasojevići inhabit the mountains between the Morača
to the west, the Malo Rika [Mala Rijeka] Creek to the north and
the wooded Lievo Rika [Lijeva Rijeka] River to the south. It is
because of this latter name that they are also called Lijevo
Rijekjani. The region of Lijeva Rijeka was long uninhabited but
during the Turkish conquest, most of the inhabitants of Redzica
withdrew to the other side of the mountains and this region was
thereby settled. Those who remained in Redzica became tenant
farmers of the Turks. When things settled down, many of the
refugees returned in small groups and there are now 40 to 50
households of Lijeva Rijeka in Redzica. On the other side, as
mentioned, the descendants of Vas who had emigrated there
continued to harass their Muslim neighbours and many of them
had to flee. They crossed over the mountains and settled in Lijeva
Rijeka. As such, one now finds the original inhabitants mixed in
with the later immigrants on both sides of the mountains.
However, both parts call themselves Vasojevići.
Turkish rule over the valley of the Redzica was never
particularly strong. In times of trouble or whenever the
opportunity arose, the inhabitants refused to pay taxes or tribute.
Whenever the Turks gained the upper hand, the residents once
again declared their submission. The Turks usually found it to
their advantage to accept such declarations and forget the past.
The Lijevo Rijekjani living on the western side of the mountains,
whose district normally forms part of the Montenegrin Brda,
have, however, never recognized Turkish rule. Both tribes are
now (1850) led by a monk, the Archimandrite Moses, who is said
to be an intelligent and cosmopolitan man and who resides at the
Monastery of Saint George. This monastery is situated in the
valley of the Redzica, about five hours from Bijelo Polje, in a
settlement called Hasi.
The other maiden stemmed from a region of Dukagjin between
the Drin and Valbona rivers, not far from Jakovo [Gjakova]. She
married Kaster Keqi and from their union arose the clan of the
Kastravich who speak Albanian and who have mostly converted
to Islam.
We now return to the two sons of old Keqi who remained in
Triepshi. These were Lazar Keqi and Ban Keqi. Their families
and herds prospered to such an extent that the small region they
owned was insufficient to sustain them and they could no longer
remain together.
Lazar decided to move southwards to the neighbouring region
of Hoti, on the other side of the Cem River. They agreed that the
river was to be considered the border for the herds of the two
brothers. However, something odd happened during the
separation which was to become a source of much strife and
conflict among their descendants. When Lazar departed with all
of his goods, it so happened that on one of the horses he took with
him as his property, a saddle remained that belonged to Ban.
Lazar was already riding up the southern slope of the river valley
when his brother called to him from the northern side to return the
saddle. The thought of having to ride all the way back down the
mountain and up the other side was too much for Lazar and he
called back to his brother saying that, in exchange for the saddle,
he would give him the southern side of the valley, that is, the
slope he had just ridden up and that was supposed to belong to
him. As such, the Triepshi own this slope, that is to say, they own
the whole Cem valley even today.
The Hoti continued to fight over ownership of the land with
their northern neighbours, with many open confrontations. In
1849, for instance, the two tribes battled twice for possession of
the land. In the first battle, the Hoti suffered two dead and five
wounded, and the Triepshi two dead and three wounded, although
the Hoti had over 400 warriors and the Triepshi only 80. In the
second battle, the Hoti suffered four dead and many wounded,
and the Triepshi only one dead and four wounded. But in one
battle that was fought many years ago, 20 Hoti and only seven
Triepshi fell. The Triepshi attribute their constant military
advantage to the fact that they are always on the defensive and lie
in protected positions on the northern slope as they await their
numerically superior foes. In an attempt to put an end to the
eternal conflict, the Hoti offered the Triepshi a golden saddle to
replace the saddle of their ancestral father, but the Triepshi have
always refused.
From Ban Keqi stemmed the four large Catholic Albanian
clans of Triepshi that now make up over 70 families and, together
with the original inhabitants of the place, constitute the village of
Triepshi that counts 115 households and about 700 souls. The
original inhabitants are also Catholic and speak Albanian.
Triepshi is a geographically secure site, and its inhabitants are
very warlike by nature. They are thus in constant conflict not only
with their immediate neighbours but also with the distant Muslim
towns of Podgorica and Gucia which they perturb with their
frequent incursions. They lie in ambush to attack caravans and
kill as many Muslims as they can manage to find.
Lazar Keqi, who had crossed the Cem River, originally took
tenure of land from a rich Hoti man. His family grew to such an
extent that they were able to oppose the natives in the region and
gradually made themselves masters of this arid land. The original
inhabitants either emigrated or were driven out such that, in the
end, there were only six households of natives and they were in a
wretched state.
Of Lazar Keqi's son, Geg Lazari, stems the great clan of the
Hoti Gegas. He had four sons: Pjec Gega, Gjon Gega, Laj Gega
and Jun [Gjun] Gega.
From Pjec Gega stems the village of Trabojna with 180
households and 1,000 souls. The other three brothers and their
descendants formed the village of Arapshi that now has 190
households and 1,150 souls.
With the exception of four families who converted to Islam,
the Hoti are all Catholic and all speak Albanian. Both of the
villages have their own banners [bajraks] and their inhabitants are
considered to be the bravest of all these highlanders. The
bajraktar of Trabojna is even called the leader of all of the
highlands of Shkodra, and in Ottoman military formations, his
banner is second only to that of Mirdita which is to be found at
the extreme right wing, whereas the banner of Hoti is raised on
the left wing. On the battlefield he receives thrice the normal
rations, a privilege that was granted to an ancestor of his for some
great deed and which he inherited.
When the Venetians attacked Dulcigno [Ulqin/Ulcinj], the
Pasha of Shkodra hastened to save the town and camped across
from the Venetians. One day, when the pasha had given his army
a day of rest, the bajraktar of Hoti began disputing with another
highlander as to who was the bravest. The infuriated Hoti man
suddenly seized his banner and, taking the Venetian battery by
storm, planted it in amongst the enemy cannons. When the men of
 Hoti saw their banner moving, they did not want to abandon it
and set off on the attack, too. The rest of the army followed and,
in this way, the Muslims took the whole battery.74

In a census carried out in 1854, the three main settlements in Hoti

territory were given as: Hot, the main village at the base of the valley;
Rapsha on the pass leading to Kelmendi; and Trabojna, now in Montenegro.
Each of these villages formed its own bajrak, and was thus militarily
independent.
In the late Ottoman period, the Hoti tribe was regarded as the prime
bajrak of the Malësia e Madhe region and, because of its military prowess,
it was accorded the privilege of forming the left wing of the Ottoman army
in every battle. Hecquard stated: ‘the Hoti tribe, considered the most
important in the pashalik of Shkodra, marches at the head of the four Great
Mountain [tribes]’.75 Edith Durham referred to it as the ‘leader tribe of the
Malësia e Madhe’. This reputation and privileged position derived in good
part from the martial deeds of a seventeenth-century figure called Ujk Luci
who, with the help of men from Gruda, played a decisive role in the
Ottoman conquest of Dulcigno in 1696. According to tradition, Ujk Luci
was then accorded the privilege of being able to tie his horse up at the
entrance to Shkodra market without having to pay the usual market tax. The
Muslims of Hoti remembered Ujk Luci as an important ancestor.
The Hoti tribe also played a major role in an attempt to counter the loss
of border territory which was accorded to Montenegro by the Congress of
Berlin in 1878. From April to July, 1880, under the command of Hodo
Pasha Dervishi, also known as Hodo bey Sokoli, about 8,000 volunteers
from the Shkodra region, with a good proportion of Hoti men, fought to
keep Hoti and Gruda, and in particular the plain of Tuz, south of Podgorica,
as part of Ottoman Albania. Their efforts were successful and Hoti
remained largely in Albania, although Gruda was later handed over to
Montenegro.
At the Conference of London in 1913, the Great Powers then awarded
Hoti and Gruda to Montenegro. The two tribes put up much resistance to
their inclusion in that country. In mid-June 1913, the heads of the two
tribes, under the leadership of Dedë Gjo’ Luli, the voyvoda of Trabojna, met
with the International Border Commission in Shkodra to inform it that they
would resist the new border by force of arms. In late July 1913, a group of
about 150 Hoti warriors under Dedë Gjo’ Luli and Marash Uci visited Vice-
Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, the head of the international administration in
Shkodra, to convey to him their resolve not to submit to Montenegro. At a
second meeting in August of that year, Dedë Gjo' Luli stated: ‘We will
neither give our tribal land to our enemies nor abandon it. We are all agreed
and determined once and for all that we would die rather than give up our
land.’76 Such statements were, however, to no avail. In mid-April 1914, the
Montenegrin government announced its definitive military occupation of
Hoti and Gruda. Most of the settlements in Hoti territory were razed to the
ground by the Montenegrin commander Martinović. The surviving
population, some 700 families from Hoti and Gruda fled to Kastrati
territory around 23 April 1914, and by May many of them had reached
Shkodra where they camped out in desperate circumstances. One additional
tragedy to this border change was that Hoti lost access to its pastureland on
the plains of the Buna (Bojana) River, to which it was wont to drive its
flocks for the winter. Some of Hoti was subsequently restored to Albania
when the border issue was settled that year, but the Trabojna area of it
remained in Montenegro. Some of the tribesmen of Trabojna then
emigrated and settled on the plain north of Shkodra, forming the village of
Hoti i Ri (New Hoti).

Figures of Note
Dedë Gjo' Luli
The Hoti tribal leader Dedë Gjo' Luli (1840–1915), born of the Dedvukaj
family in Trabojna, was perhaps the most famous of all the highland
warriors. He resisted Montenegrin incursions into Hoti and Gruda in the
years following the League of Prizren and successfully defended Plava and
Gucia (1879–80). Dedë Gjo' Luli is, however, remembered primarily for his
leadership of the anti-Ottoman uprising in northern Albania in 1911 when
the military success of Hoti, Gruda and Kelmendi forced the Young Turk
authorities to come to terms with them. It was he who organised the
highland assault at the Battle of Dečić (6 April 1911) near Tuz, when the
Albanian flag was raised for the first time since 1479. He also led resistance
to the incorporation of Hoti and Gruda into Montenegro following the
Conference of London in 1913. A highland warrior to the end, Dedë Gjo'
Luli was slain by Montenegrin forces near Orosh in Mirdita.
Marash Uci
The highland warrior Marash Uci (d. 1914) stemmed from Rapsha. The
poet Gjergj Fishta met him there in 1902. On their many evenings together,
the elderly warrior told the young priest of the heroic battles between the
Albanian highlanders and the Montenegrins, in particular of the Battle of
Rrzhanica Bridge in which Marash Uci had taken part himself. Their
meetings proved to be a great inspiration to the poet and for his famed epic
poem ‘The Highland Lute’. Edith Durham also recalled Marash Uci as the
‘hereditary surgeon of the tribe, a singularly charming and intelligent old
man’, and recorded his lineage stemming from Gjun Gega. She
remembered the tragic circumstances of his death:

Poor Marash, who was one of the best, died of pneumonia during
the revolt of the tribes against Turkish rule in 1911. His house and
all he owned was burnt. I met him in an exhausted state among
the refugees. He smiled and pulled from his breast the two picture
postcards I had sent him from London, the only things he had
saved from the wreck. I helped him, and he begged me not to give
him more than his share. One of the Franciscans gave him shelter,
for he was generally beloved, but he did not survive the winter. I
mourned him at the time, but was later glad that he had died
before his beloved tribe was handed to the enemy.77

The Triepshi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Triepshi (or Trieshi) tribal region is situated in Montenegro above the
right (northern) bank of the Cem River near the Albanian border. Its
territory stretches northeastwards to Mount Milis (Suka e Milisit). Triepshi,
known as Zatrijebač in BCS (Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian), borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Hoti to the south, Gruda to the southwest,
Kelmendi to the east, and on Slavic-speaking regions to the north, being
Kuči tribal territory. Some regard Triepshi simply as the Albanian-speaking
part of Kuči. The main settlements of Triepshi, all tiny villages, are:
Nikmarash [Nikmaraši], Rudina [Rudinje], Muzheçk, Budëz [Budža],
Poprat, Stjepoh [Stjepov], Delaj [Djeljaj, formerly Bitidosi], Bëkaj
[Bjenkoni] and Cem.

Population
The term Triepshi, formerly Triebçi, seems to be related to the Slavic words
Trijebač and Zatrijebač. The area was also known as Little Kuči [Alb. Kuçi
i Vogël, BCS Mali Kuči, early Ital. Kucci Picoli], as it was often seen as a
part of Kuči tribal territory.
Triepshi was mentioned in 1485 in a Turkish register of the Sanjak of
Shkodra. Reference was made at that time to the settlements of: Pantalesh
with 110 households, Bardhaj with 25 households, Bonkeqi with 11
households, Bitidosi (Delaj) with 11 households, Broqini with 12
households, Radunje with 55 households, Spani with 24 households, and
Lazorce with five households.78
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Triepshi consisted of about
100 households. An apostolic report for the period 1717–30 refers to 96
households and 800 (Catholic) inhabitants, and in 1764 there is a reference
to 94 houses and 680 inhabitants.79
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2 on his way from Kelmendi to Gruda, reported:

On 17 September 1671, we left Clementi [Kelmendi] for Gruda,

which is a good two days' journey from Clementi. In the villages
of Triepse [Triepshi], Ledina, Cochie [Kuči?] and Tusa there are
306 homes. They have large families and number 2,500 souls.80

In 1866, Emile Wiet, the French consul in Shkodra, noted 111 Catholic
households comprising 593 individuals.81
The Triepshi were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common blood
ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor tribe, and
consisted of one bajrak that was Catholic in its vast majority. It also
claimed pastureland on the left (southern) side of the Cem River that
belonged to Hoti, something which resulted in constant quarrels between
Triepshi and Hoti.82 The right (northern) bank of the Cem was regarded as
neutral territory.
Among the noted families of Triepshi are the: Arapaj, Cacaj, Curanaj,
Dedivanaj, Dukaj, Gashaj, Gegaj, Gjekaj, Gjeloshaj, Gjokaj, Gjonaj,
Gjonlekaj, Gjurashaj, Gjuravçaj, Hasanaj, Lekoçaj, Lucaj, Margilaj,
Memçaj, Micakaj, Nikollaj, Nikprelaj, Palushaj, Prenkoçaj, Ujkaj and Vataj.
The bajraktars of Triepshi came primarily from the Lucaj and Ujkaj
families.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Like Hoti, the Triepshi tribe derived its origins from a Slav, probably a
Bosnian Slav called Keq Preka or Keq Ponti who fled to what is now Piperi
territory in Montenegro and settled there either before the Ottoman invasion
or around 1520. He had several sons, called Lazar Keqi, Ban Keqi, Kaster
Keqi, Merkota Keqi, Vas or Vash Keqi and Piper Keqi. The second son, Ban
Keqi, is considered to be the direct ancestral father of the Triepshi tribe,
whereas his brother Lazar Keqi was the ancestor of the Hoti tribe, which is
thus related to the Triepshi. Lazar Keqi settled in Trabojna and Ban Keqi
settled in Muzheçk and was buried in Nikmarash. Some members of the
tribe derived their origins from Ivan Crnojević, and the old families of Delaj
claimed they stemmed from immigrants from Herzegovina.83
Another version of the legend of the origin of the Triepshi tribe is as
follows. Keq Ponti was from Arta, now in Greece. When the Ottoman
Turks expanded into the Balkans, he swore that he would never live under
Ottoman rule and set off with his family to Nish and then to Dibra. Their
wanderings eventually led them to the valley of the Cem River. There, at
the fall of night, they saw a light in a cave called Borovçi, which was
inhabited by a local native called Bokshin and his three sons. Bokshin
received them and allowed them to stay. He told his visitors that he had
once had good land along the Cem River, but that a certain Lekash had
stolen his property and his livestock. In return for his hospitality, Keq
Ponti's son offered to kill the shepherds of Lekash and steal the livestock
back. And so it was done. Lekash fled on horseback, losing a sandal on his
way, and the sons of Keq Ponti, here called Vasi, Krasi, Lazri, Pipi and
Baku, settled in the region called Bregu i Lekashit, and took to herding.84
The Montenegrin warrior Marko Miljanov (1833–1901) recounts the
legend of an early conflict between the Triepshi and Kastrati tribes.

There is a tale about Albanian blood-feuding from ancient times.

It is as follows. When someone's brother or relative is killed, they
take blood from the body of the dead man and put it in a glass
where they leave it. Revenge is not taken for as long as the blood
remains coagulated. But when the blood seethes and spills over
the glass, it is a sign that the time has come for revenge to be
taken. The blood shows that the time is right and that the
murderer has no way out but to pay the price, for fate itself calls
for revenge. Among the many events of this kind, I would like to
mention only one example of revenge being taken when foaming
blood spilled over a glass. This is what happened.
A group of armed Kastrati men attacked the herds and
shepherds of Triepshi [Zatrepčani] at Bardhanja [Bardanje] near
the Cem [Cijevna] River. The attack took place at dawn, when
daylight emerges from the night. This event happened many years
ago, and yet the Kastrati and Triepshi have not been reconciled up
to the present day. But I do not intend to recall all the misfortunes
that took place between them over the last hundred years, and I
am not sure whether this attack was the actual origin of the
conflict and all the fighting between them. What I do know is that
the blood in the glass seethed and gave rise to a feud, not because
of the death of a friend or a blood brother, but because of a child.
This is what happened.
During the attack, they stole the animals and slew the
shepherds. But there was a little, eight-year-old boy there called
Brunçi [Brunči], who was tending his goats, too. They realised
that it was not proper for them to kill him because he was too
young to bear arms (only a man who himself is able to kill, may
be killed). The men decided to leave the boy alone, but when the
lad saw his goats on the move, he ran after them and no one
noticed him. He journeyed with the herd all night long. At dawn,
the attackers noticed him and asked him:
Who are you?
I am the son of Mark Pjetri [Mark Petrov], replied the lad.
But where do you think you are going?
I am looking after my goats.
But we are not from here, poor boy, and we have taken all of
the goats. However, we will give you one goat back. Take it with
you and go home.
Little Brunçi took one goat, swung it around his neck and
departed peacefully, passing by all the armed warriors of Kastrati.
They watched the little boy as he happily drove his goat home. He
was a good-looking lad and they watched him fondly, not like the
killers they were who, but a few hours earlier, had slaughtered
and pillaged everything they could find.
But among the attacking force there was a fellow called Cuc
Caka, a well-known fighter who, like a wild beast, was watching
over the men. When he came upon the little boy with his goat, he
stopped him and asked him:
Who are you?
I am the son of Mark Pjetri, replied the lad.
The warrior drew his sabre from his belt and brandished it in
front of the boy.
I am going to slice off your head.
The boy showed no fear and replied bravely: ‘You wouldn't
dare!’
I wouldn't dare because of whom?
Because of my brother, Prela [Pranlja].
Hearing this response, the warrior went berserk and, in one fell
swoop, he sliced off the head of little Brunçi. All the other
warriors spit and cursed him for the crime he committed against a
little boy who had not yet reached the age to bear arms and go to
war.
When Mark, the father of little Brunçi, found the headless
body of his son, he gathered what he could of the boy's blood and
put it in a glass. There it remained for several years until, one day,
it began to seethe and foam, and spilled over the glass. When he
saw the blood seething, Mark grabbed his sabre and went out to
the threshing floor above his home. Brandishing his sabre, he ran
back and forth across it. The wives of his three sons, who were
fetching wood, laughed at him when they saw him running
around on the threshing floor and said to one another on their way
home: ‘Father has gone crazy!’
Mark returned to his house and informed his sons that little
Brunçi's blood had begun to seethe, and that it was time to take
revenge.
I am an old man now and can no longer use my sabre. I
realised on the threshing floor now that I am unable to carry out
the deed. But you are still young and unskilled. You don't know
the roads of Kastrati, yet I think you could easily take revenge
without any great loss of life. From the foaming blood, it is clear
that the time has come for the murderer to pay for his crime.
On hearing the words of the old man, the sons' wives were
ashamed that they had laughed at him.
The sons replied to him, saying: ‘Since we do not know the
roads and you are not able to carry out the deed, we will take you
and carry you wherever you want to go so that you can tell us
what to do. You just tell us where you want to go. Once you have
told us what to do, we will bring you home and then go out and
find that Cuc Caka, and take revenge for the death of little
Brunçi.’
As such, the three sons, Prela, Dreshk [Dreško] and Gjon
[Ðon], carried old Mark up into the mountains of Kastrati, to a
high peak from where they could see everything they needed to
see so that he could give them instructions. There was a cavern
nearby with two entrances and in it were 30 shepherds and over
1,000 head of livestock, small and large. When they got back
home, they asked Mark about everything they had seen. He told
them the following:
The three of you alone will not be able to overcome Cuc and
the thirty shepherds in the cavern. You must go first to Lalë
Drekali [Lal Drekalov] who will give you three hundred Kuči
warriors to attack and take the cavern. Leave me right here. I will
not move from the spot until I hear that you have slain Cuc and
all of his men and cut them to pieces. Just bring me some bread
and water so that I do not die of hunger or thirst while awaiting
your return.
The three brothers set off and returned eight days later with the
300 men of Kuči. They then asked Mark how they should attack
the cavern, and he replied:
The cavern has two entrances, a large one and a small one. At
the large entrance you will find the thirty shepherds, and at the
small entrance you will find Cuc and his two companions.
Therefore, the two strongest of you must attack the small
entrance. When you kill Cuc Caka, his two companions will be
confused and frightened and will run towards the large entrance.
At that moment, the three hundred of you must attack.
They then said to old Mark: ‘We do not know which ones of us
are strong enough to attack the small entrance.’
Mark responded: ‘Come over here and I will tell you which of
you are the strongest.’
He began to poke his fingers in their bellies and after he had
poked at all of them, he said to his son, Prela: ‘You are the
strongest. You take over the small entrance.’
He then said to another Triepshi warrior whose belly he had
poked: ‘You, too, are strong enough for the small entrance.’
And so, all of them went off to where they were told. Prela
approached the small entrance when he got to the cavern. There
he espied Cuc and the two other men who were lying in the
 cavern singing. The closer he got, the clearer their voices became.
Prela and his companion listened to what they were singing. The
song ended with these words:
Do not slay me, Prela Marko,
By the Lord and by Saint John, no!
At that moment, Prela attacked, shouting: ‘Saint John will not
help you this time, just as he did not help our little Brunçi to
escape from you and your sabre when you slew him.’ The other
two men ran towards the large entrance but they were all killed.
The livestock was seized and taken back to Kuči, and old Mark
received them with great satisfaction, not only for the booty and
the 30 men of Kastrati who were slain, but for the death of Cuc
and for the capture of his sabre that was very famous by that time.
This was the sabre he had used to slay little Brunçi and it was
now safely in the belt of his son Prela.
Revenge had thus been taken. The booty was distributed and
the sabre of Cuc was handed over to old Mark, who kept it in
memory of the deed.85

Triepshi is remembered for its resistance to Ottoman incursions in the

region, in particular in 1717 when they killed 62 Turkish soldiers. Turkish
forces are said to have withdrawn after this disaster and left the region in
peace until 1862. At this time, at least for tactical reasons, Triepshi had
good relations not only with the Kuči tribe but also with the Petrović-
Njegoš dynasty, the rulers of Montenegro, especially with Prince Petar II
(reg. 1830–51), Prince Danilo (reg. 1852–60), and Prince Nikola (reg.
1860–1918). The tribesmen often went to Cetinje to bring the prince the
heads of Turks that they had cut off in battle, and so to receive
compensation and presents.
Triepshi was annexed to Montenegro in 1878 at the time of the Congress
of Berlin, but the border remained vague for quite a while. Some of the
Triepshi tribe fled to Ottoman Albania whereas others stayed in what was
now Montenegro. A noted figure of Triepshi in this period was Marash
Marku Gjeloshaj (1825–1902) who was appointed as a captain (kapedan) of
Triepshi by the Petrović–Njegoš dynasty. He described his situation as
follows:

In Ottoman times I was a Turkish voyvoda. Now that we are

Montenegrins, I have become captain of Montenegro. Half of the
population of Triepshi fled across the Cem River when Triepshi
was attached to Montenegro. From there they come back over and
work their fields. Those who accepted Montenegrin rule look
upon them as enemies. Since the border has not yet been defined
in this area, they hope that Triepshi will be returned to Turkey
and, if that happens, we will be punished for having accepted
Montenegrin rule. Of course as a Montenegrin captain, I will be
punished more than the rest so I am not sure whether I should
welcome the delineation of the border with a cross on my
forehead.86

Triepshi, impoverished at the best of times, was caught up in the

highland uprising of 1911 and suffered terribly. Edith Durham passed
through the area in October of that year:

I dreaded going up to the mountains, as, owing to illness, I had

not ridden for three years. But on June 10, in answer to an urgent
appeal, I decided to start for Triepshi. Sokol Batzi's son undertook
to find me a horse, and under the white mulberry-trees I saw a tall
grey stallion, Sokol's own horse, awaiting me – a beautiful beast,
he said; far too beautiful, thought I, for a middle-aged female who
is completely out of practice. I clambered with great difficulty on
top of it; it waltzed playfully round, and began to sidle up the
street. At that very moment came a telegram from old Sokol to
say he was arriving and the stallion was to be ready for him. His
son was overwhelmed with shame and apologies. An Albanian's
promise is a promise. I dismounted joyfully, however, and went
off happy on a less valuable animal.

The Triepshi tribe is Catholic Albanian, and was annexed by

Montenegro after the war of 1877. But no road has yet been made into the
territory. We rode up a mountain-side, and struck a rough mule-track. It was
to be adapted for mountain-guns as fast as possible. Wretched sheep and
goats were hobbling on swollen hoofs, and rolling over, gasping and dying,
on either side the way. The flocks saved by the refugees from the Turks
were smitten with foot-and-mouth disease. Suddenly round a rocky corner
came the heavy reek of stale blood and carbolic, and four wounded,
swaying painfully in their saddles, passed on their way to Podgoritza. A
man with them shouted there was bad news. [...] At Triepshi reigned black
despair. [...] With Cattapani I went early round the refugees, dealing out
bread and money. The irregular way in which maize was given out still
caused much suffering. The Triepshi people, on whom they were quartered,
suffered, too, greatly, for two extra families were often crowded into a one-
roomed hut. And the Triepshi folk, being Albanian, and in many cases
related by marriage to the refugees, gave, too, liberally of their small means
to the destitute.87

Figures of Note
Nikolla bey Ivanaj
Publisher and nationalist figure, Nikolla bey Ivanaj (1879–1951), cousin of
Mirash Ivanaj, was born of the Triepshi tribe in the present Albanian–
Montenegrin border region and grew up in Podgorica in Montenegro. He is
said to have studied in Belgrade, Vienna, Zagreb and Dalmatia and held
various positions as a civil servant in Serbia, including that of secretary and
interpreter (dragoman) at the Serbian foreign ministry. Ivanaj is
remembered as editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Shpnesa e
Shcypeniis (The Hope of Albania), published from 1905 to 1908 in
Albanian, Italian and BCS (Serbo-Croatian). This periodical, which was
important in diffusing the ideals of independence and Albanian-language
schooling throughout the Balkans, appeared initially in Dubrovnik, later in
Trieste and, finally, in Rome. After Albanian independence, Ivanaj
published the Shkodra weekly newspaper Lidhja kombëtare (National
League) in 1915 in defence of Albanian self-government and national
rights. In 1919, he attended the Paris Peace Conference and returned to
Albania to found and publish the biweekly newspaper Koha e re (New Age)
in 1919 and 1925, and the weekly Republika (The Republic) from 1923 to
1925, both in Shkodra. During World War II, he published an
autobiographical Historija e Shqipëniës së ré: vuejtjet e veprimet e mija,
pjesa e parë (History of Modern Albania: My Sufferings and Activities, Part
I), Tirana 1943; and Historija e Shqipëniës së ré, pjesa e II-të (History of
Modern Albanian, Part II), Tirana 1945, which dealt in particular with the
role of the Catholic clergy; as well as a volume of verse in Tirana, where he
died.
Mirash Ivanaj
Mirash Ivanaj (1891–1953) born in Podgorica as a scion of the Triepshi
tribe, was a noted political figure of the Zogist period. He graduated from
secondary school in Belgrade in 1912 and set off for Italy the following
year to study in Rome where he completed two doctorates, one in law and
one in literature. Though he was of a Catholic family, he was himself
anticlerical and a Freemason of the Grand Orient. On his return to Albania
in 1923, he assisted in the publication of his cousin Nikolla bey Ivanaj's
weekly anticlerical newspaper Republika (The Republic). He fled to
Yugoslavia in May 1924 and, upon his return in late December of that year,
worked as the principal of a secondary school in Shkodra (1928) and later
taught in Tirana (1931). From 1932 onwards he was a member of
parliament and, on 12 January 1933, he was appointed minister of
education, succeeding the deceased Hilë Mosi (1885–1933), a post Ivanaj
held for two and a half years. It was during his time as minister, on 6
February 1934, that he cut off Enver Hoxha's scholarship in France when
the latter failed to pass his exams. Mirash Ivanaj is remembered primarily
for having attempted to nationalise the school system in Albania, but his
efforts were opposed by Italy and especially by Greece because of the
particular interests of the Greek minority in southern Albania. Greece won a
court case against Albania on the matter at the International Court of Justice
in The Hague on 6 April 1935, and Ivanaj, as a result, resigned from his
post on 30 August of that year. On 7 April 1939, during the Italian invasion,
Ivanaj fled to Greece and spent the early war years in Constantinople. He
later travelled to the Lebanon, Egypt and Jerusalem in search of work. In
September 1945, having received a guarantee from the new communist
government, he returned to Albania, one of the few intellectuals to do so,
and began teaching at a school of education in Tirana in November of that
year. His return, alas, coincided with the zenith of the witch hunts against
intellectuals carried out by Koçi Xoxe (1911–49). Despite the guarantee of
impunity he had received, Ivanaj was arrested on 15 May 1947 and, after
much mistreatment and torture, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He
worked in prison as a translator, but died 12 days before he was set to be
released. Mirash Ivanaj was the author of a volume of poetry and a play,
both unpublished.

The Kastrati Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kastrati tribal region88 is situated in the District of Malësia e Madhe of
northern Albania, east and northeast of the town of Bajza on the eastern
bank of Lake Shkodra. It stretches from Bajza in the west up to Mount
Veleçik (1,725 m.) in the east. To the north, Kastrati territory borders on the
valley of Hoti, and to the south on the Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) valley in
Shkreli territory. It thus borders on the traditional tribal regions of Hoti to
the north, Kelmendi to the northeast, and Shkreli and the Koplik region to
the south. Kastrati traditionally had access to Lake Shkodra, which formed
its western border. The main settlements of Kastrati are: Aliaj, Ivanaj,
Vukpalaj-Bajza, Jaran and Gradec. The administrative centre of the tribal
region is Bajza (Vukpalaj-Bajza).

Population
The name of this tribe was recorded as Kastrati in a land register in 1416,
where it consisted of seven houses. In his ‘Report and Description of the
Sanjak of Shkodra in 1614’, Mariano Bolizza of Kotor uses the form
Castratti. The Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Pjetër Budi, also
recorded the form Castrati in a report sent to Rome in September 1621, and
another Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Frang Bardhi (Francesco
Bianchi), referred to Castrati in a report to the Congregation of the
Propaganda Fide in Rome in 1635. The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro
Stefano Gaspari, mentioned a visit to the church of Saint Mark in the land
of Castratti in 1671. The name appears as Castrati on the maps of the
Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli in 1688 and 1691, and as
Kastrati on the map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da
Vignola.
 The toponym is said to be related to Lat. castrum ‘Roman camp’,
although there is no real evidence to back this up.
The Kastrati were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common blood
ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.
The majority of the Kastrati are Catholics, but there are also some
Muslims. The Catholic parish was founded in 1678 and a church was built
there in 1726 when the registry of births and deaths began. A new church
and parsonage were constructed with Austro-Hungarian money in 1901.89
The Catholics of Kastrati celebrated the feast of Saint Mark.
Mariano Bolizza referred to Kastrati in 1614 as having 50 households
and 130 men in arms, commanded by one Prenk Bitti.90 In 1634, Kastrati
consisted of 60 houses and 660 inhabitants.The apostolic visitor to Albania,
Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled through the region in 1671–2,
reported:

On the 10 September 1671, we left Riolo [Rrjoll] and arrived in

the land of Castratti [Kastrati], 18 miles from Riolo. Here there
are 75 homes and 660 souls. There is a roofless church here
dedicated to Saint Mark. It is in need of repairs that would cost 50
scudi. It also needs a set of vestments. It is under the care of
Riolo, but since it is quite a distance away and there is only one
parish priest, he cannot pay sufficient attention to the needs of the
people there. Most of them die without receiving the sacraments
and are buried without cross and candle.91

In 1838, the Austro-Hungarian physician Joseph Müller was informed by

a Pater Deda of Vukël that there were 2,800 inhabitants in Kastrati.92 At
about the same time, in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High
Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains,’ Nicolay, Prince of the
Vasoyevich, gave the population of Kastrati as 2,400, of whom 600 were
men in arms.93 In 1866, Emile Wiet, the French consul in Shkodra, noted
153 Catholic households comprising 1,001 individuals.94
It may be assumed that the Kastrati tribe had a population of some 2,000
to 3,000 in the late-nineteenth century. In 1897, they consisted of 450
houses and 3,700 inhabitants. In the first decade of the twentieth century,
Edith Durham spoke of Kastrati as one bajrak of 500 houses.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kastrati tribe were
given as follows: 516 households with a total of 3,280 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bajza-Ivanaj, Bratosh,
Budisha, Goraj, Rranxa e Veshit, Vukpalaj and Vukpalaj i siperm.95
In 1938, 2,700 inhabitants were recorded, with 550–950 men in arms.96
Families of Kastrati tribemen settled with time in Kosovo where the
family name is common. They are to be found notably in Peja and Gjakova,
in the village of Karaçeva in Kamenica, and in the Gjilan region.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The origin of the Kastrati tribe is well recounted by Baron Nopcsa who
gathered information about them in 1907. According to what he wrote, the
Kastrati trace their origin from a figure called Dedli (also spelled Detli,
Dedali, Detal, Detali) who lived at the end of the sixteenth century. He was
originally from Drekalović in Kuči land in southeastern Montenegro and, as
such, the Kastrati regard themselves as related to the Kuči. The Kastrati
region was inhabited at that time by the so-called ‘ancient Kastrati’
(Kastrati i moçëm), consisting of the Totović, Petrović and Pelović families
of Slavic origin. This Petrović family of Kastrati is said to be related to the
Petrović dynasty of the princes of Montenegro.
Dedli had two wives and six sons, of whom three were called Pal, Gor
and Jer, names that correspond to the toponyms of Palaj, Goraj and Jaran in
the Kastrati region. Dedli and his sons lived in a cave known as the Cave of
the Flocks (Shpella e bagtive) on Mount Veleçik, an hour from the
settlement of Petrović, and originally had good relations with the native
population. However, as his family increased in size and he became more
prosperous, the natives grew jealous. An old man among the natives
advised the families to leave the rivalry to divine providence and suggested
that they invite Dedli to dinner and test him. They were to give Dedli a seat
far from the dinner table and see how he reacted. Dedli and his six sons
were thus invited over, but were not given a seat directly at the table. The
six sons then politely escorted their father to a place at the table and served
him as tradition would have it. The eldest of the ancient Kastrati was
impressed by their good upbringing and expressed the wish to be the
godfather of Dedli's grandson by cutting the child's hair for the first time.
Peace had been made. Another version of the legend had it that if the sons
moved up to the table, it would be a sign that they were submissive, but,
instead, the sons drew the table to themselves and began to eat, ignoring
their hosts. On seeing this, most of the ancient Kastrati fled the village.97
Johann Georg von Hahn heard the legend of the founding of the Kastrati
tribe from a Father Gabriel in Shkodra in 1850. He called the ancestral
father of the Kastrati Detal Bratoshi and recounted the saga as follows:

Legend has preserved the name of the ancestral father of the

Kastrati. He was called Detal Bratoshi. It is not known whether he
was an Albanian or a Slav but legend has it that he came to the
area which his descendants now inhabit, from Kuči, a Slavic
region. He emigrated with his seven sons, but no reason such as
murder or destutition has ever been given. The sons were called:
Ivan Detali, Pal Detali, Nar or Ndoc Detali, Gor Detali, Jer Detali,
Gjon Detali and Ali Detali. They initially took up residence in a
cave on Mount Veleçik that is now called the Sheep Cave
(Shpella e dhenvet) and was situated one hour from the home of
the native Pjetrović. They lived in that cave for seven years. Since
both their families and their herds grew tremendously in numbers,
the native population began to look upon them with fear and
concern for their own future. One day, they assembled the whole
tribe consisting of three clans, the Pjetrović, the Tutović and the
Pelaj, and discussed what should be done with the new cave
dwellers. Some thought they should be invited over and made
brothers. Others thought they should be attacked and slain. While
they were arguing about a strategy, without reaching a conclusion,
an aged man, one hundred years old, arose in their midst and
spoke as follows:
My dear friends, I am an old man and I have gained much
experience in life. Listen to what I have to say so that an ill-
conceived resolution does not do you harm. If it is God's will that
brought these people to us, you cannot oppose them for they will
destroy you all. However, if it is not God's will, they will flee
from you like the clouds in the sky. To find out which it is,
prepare a feast and invite the foreigners to partake of it. When
everyone is assembled for dinner, place the table so far away from
them that they cannot reach the food from where they are sitting.
Then pay attention to what they do. If they get up and go over and
sit at the table, you will know that they are submissive and will be
your slaves. If, however, they get up and draw the table over to
where they were sitting so that you are then too far away, pack up
your possessions and flee in the night, because they will
otherwise rob and enslave you.
The assembly agreed to act as the old man had told them.
Detal was invited over and arrived with his seven young, strong
sons, who all made a warlike and haughty impression. According
to custom, a calf was roasted and placed on the table, the edge of
which the invited guests could not even reach with their
fingertips. When they understood what was going on, they
frowned because they believed the natives were making fun of
them. Visibly annoyed, they rose to their feet, seized the dining
table and drew it over to them, leaving their hosts too far away,
and proceeded to enjoy their meal.
Fate had spoken out against the natives and they fled that very
night, taking their kith and kin with them and leaving only the old
and weak behind them, those who would not have survived the
journey. When Detal learned that the natives had fled, he left the
cave with his children and went down and took over their houses
and fields. The tribe he founded still owns that land to this very
day. […]
His sons took the best fields for themselves and left the rest to
the remaining original inhabitants as they deemed fit. In this
manner, although originally poor refugees, they came to form the
main stock of the population.
Having lived a long life and having seen his family grow with
many grandsons and great-grandsons and all the property they
needed, Detal died. His grave is to be found in a small field and is
covered with a cairn of rocks.
Detal's sons remained in their new settlement for some time
after his death. Since it was, however, a long and difficult way to
their fields, they decided to settle in the old village to make life
easier. They also hoped with time to acquire the region of
Budisha where some of the inhabitants of Triepshi owned
vineyards. The rest of that region lay fallow because of a lack of
labourers. The settlement was largely abandoned because the
Turks had carried off and enslaved all of the inhabitants. As such,
they managed to extend their land right to the borders of Hoti,
Shkreli and Budisha.
The tribe soon grew in numbers such that they could no longer
all live together. They therefore built several new houses that
were not far from one another. They also divided the land into
three parts and drew lots to apportion it among their families. The
southern part of the land was thus taken over by Ali, Gor and Jer,
the northern part by Pal and Ndok, the middle by Ivan, Kaça and
Leka, and the eastern part was left to the original inhabitants. The
way they divided the land up has remained to this very day, each
clan and assembly with its own property. Although they grew in
numbers, they remained in these settlements. Only Ali, who was a
shepherd and was wont to spend the wintertime on the plain,
preferred the warmth and fertility of the lowland regions. Leaving
only a few family members in the mountains, he settled on the
plain with the rest. They still live there and form the main branch
of the Kastrati tribe, although they are all Muslims.
The vineyards of Budisha belonged for a long time to the
Benkani [Benkaj] of Triepshi. They were one of the clans of
Triepshi and consisted of 25 families. However, they came from a
settlement in Montenegro called Rijeka Ivan Beka. Because of a
blood feud, their ancestors had fled to Triepshi where they swiftly
prospered. They were all brave people and were much respected
by the beys of Shkodra. One of their leaders had distinguished
himself particularly and gained favour with the pasha. On behalf
of his clan, he asked for and was granted the abandoned vineyards
of Budisha that stretch for about three-quarters of an hour up the
valley at the foot of Mount Veleçik. Initially, the Benkani came
over from Triepshi to work the land and harvest the grapes, but as
the Detali clan grew in number, the Benkani decided it was easier
to give them the vineyards in tenure and receive half of the
harvest in compensation, or one-tenth as others say. The Detali
thus paid tribute to the Benkani for many years. In the end, a
conflict broke out among them that led to the Benkani losing the
vineyards. This happened in the following manner.
One of Pal Detali's sons called Vuk Pala had many sons of his
own, among whom were Ull Vuka, Kat Vuka and Ded Vuka. No
man in the region equalled them in size and strength.
One day, Kat and Ded went over to Triepshi to call the
Benkani to come and harvest the ripe grapes. There, they learned
that two of the dogs in the house of the chief of the Benkani were
called Kat and Ded. They were so infuriated at this that they drew
their knives, slew the dogs and returned home. When they got
back, they told their brothers about the insult, i.e. that the Benkani
had named their dogs after the Kastrati, and that they had slain the
beasts. In retaliation, they decided to stop paying the Benkani the
tribute they owed them. Accordingly, they harvested the grapes
alone, without waiting for the Benkani. When the Benkani heard
what had happened, they assembled a corps of men from Triepshi
and Kuči and carried out a raid on the Detali herds that were
grazing up on Mount Veleçik. They surrounded the pen at night
and attacked at dawn, but the four shepherds who had been posted
there fought back until three of them were killed. The fourth one
managed to escape and sound the alarm, but the attackers
plundered the pen and herded the animals away.
Ull Vuka was busy putting on his sandals when he heard the
alarm call early in the morning. Without delay, and still without
one sandal, he set off in a rush. Others joined him with such speed
that they caught up with their foes at the crossing of the Cem
River.
 The Triepshi were driven back and lost four men on site. The
Detali men chopped their heads off and stuck them on poles,
returning home triumphantly with their retrieved herds. From that
time on, they paid no more tribute and divided the valley of
Budisha among themselves. One half was given to the Ivanaj and
the other half to the Goraj, who now bear the name Budishaj.
The descendants of the Detali subsequently grew in power
such that their neighbours feared them. They carried on with their
raids and incursions that caused wars with the other tribes, the
Shkreli, then the Hoti, and then the Kopliku, etc. They were even
in conflict with the pashas of Shkodra, but always won out when
the pashas sent troops against them. The pashas finally decided
that it was best to cater to the chiefs of Kastrati with gifts and
good treatment and thereby preserve peace. This turned out to be
the best strategy because the Kastrati were quiet for quite some
time, and even paid some tribute, a few paras per house.
Finally, a certain Tahir Bey of the great Chaushen family
became Pasha of Shkodra. He planned to make the Christian
Kastrati equal to all the other rayah [non-Muslims]. They were to
pay haraç [the head tax] and submit to the legal authority of the
kadi [Muslim judge] like the people living in and around the
town. The men of Veleçik were not too happy about this. They
considered the blood that flowed in their veins and resumed their
raids and incursions once again. The pasha then mustered a large
army that set off for Kastrati land. The Detali realised that they
could not match the superior numbers of the pasha's army and
took their women, children, livestock and other possessions back
up to the cave where their ancestors had once lived. Only a couple
of old people remained in the village. They were too feeble to be
harmed by the pasha's soldiers.
Ull Vuka, Detal's great-grandson, was now chief of the
mountain tribe. When the pasha discovered that the village had
been left abandoned and heard that the inhabitants had fled into
the mountains, he sent his men in their pursuit, not knowing how
difficult the terrain was. The pasha himself stayed at the house of
Ull Vuka. The attackers soon encountered fierce resistance. They
were subjected not only to the tribe's projectiles, but also to
boulders and tree trunks that were hurled down the mountainside
at them by the women and children. These resulted in many
casualties. Ull Vuka observed the assault from his doorstep and,
seized by fear, called upon Saint Mark for assistance, promising
to build him a church and celebrate his feast day if the saint
would help the men of Kastrati achieve victory. The battle then
turned in their favour. When the pasha, who was staying with
him, asked him who was winning, he replied: ‘Your men, pasha,
for they are well equipped. My men are naked and have nothing.’
The pasha sent him outside to observe the fighting again and,
when Ull saw the Turks fleeing for their lives and his own men
shouting and pursuing them, he went back inside and cried: ‘It
has been done! It has been done!’ The pasha asked: ‘What has
been done? Who won?’ Ull Vuka replied: ‘Now you will see!’
and thrust a dagger into the pasha's heart. Even today, people will
show you where the pasha was buried.
Turkish troops prevailed no longer. The Detali pursued them to
the so-called Dry Creek (Përroi i thatë) and from then on, the bed
of the river became their border. Those living on one side of it
pay taxes like all the other people and submit to the authority of
the kadi. Those on the other side live according to the laws of the
mountains and only recognise the pasha.
The church that Ull Vuka promised to Saint Mark during the
battle was built and his feast day is still held and honoured by the
Detali.
Fighting with Shkodra continued until a more reasonable pasha
took over and gave the Kastrati back their old privileges. Since
that time there has been peace between them and Shkodra.
When they grew in numbers and the region where they lived
could no longer support them, they began following Ali's
example, who upon the death of his father had moved to the plain
of Bajza between the Dry Creek and the lake. Since the land here
belonged to the beys and aghas of Shkodra, they leased it and
initially only built a few simple huts on it where they spent the
 winter. In the summer they returned to their mountains where the
climate was healthier. Gradually, however, the families on the
plain sold their land in the mountains and, in return, bought the
properties that they had earlier leased. And so it came about that
more Detali now live on the plain, which they now own almost
entirely, than in the mountains.98

In another legend, Dedli (alias Detal) sent his wife and daughter-in-law
to visit the ancient Kastrati. When the women returned home the next day,
they informed Dedli that the godfather had attempted to commit adultery
with them. Dedli was infuriated and swore revenge, promising to build a
church in honour of Saint Mark if the saint would help him. The ancient
Kastrati were overcome and defeated in a subsequent battle. After the
fighting, Dedli's sons washed their swords in the springs and creeks of the
region, polluting the mountain water with blood, which caused the springs
and creeks to dry up forever. As such, Kastrati is an arid land.
In yet another version of the legend of origin, Dedli is said to have
fought and defeated the ancient Kastrati at Gradec. There he met Bushatlli,
the Pasha of Shkodra, and, recognising the latter to be a man of substantial
power, he submitted and placed himself and his sons in the pasha's
protection. In return, the pasha offered him as much land as he could ride
over in one day. Dedli mounted his horse at Qafa e Malthit and rode around
to Qafa e Stares, Qafa e Çingens, Bardhaj, Kapa e Brojës, Rranxa e Vrithit,
Gryka e Shtinit near Goraj and back to Gradec. His horse collapsed at the
Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) where Dedli planted his sword in the soil to show
that he would hereafter defend his land from any foes. Kastrati land now
had recognized borders, and Dedli paid tribute to the Pasha of Shkodra, as
he had promised. Saint Mark also received his church and became patron
saint of the Kastrati.99 Dedli is said to be buried in the Cave of the Flocks
(Shpella e bagtive) in Kastrati.
A Shkreli legend recounts the founding of Kastrati territory differently. It
tells that an ancestor of the Kastrati once caught an owl, and a Shkreli man
took such delight in the bird that, to have it, he gave the Kastrati the whole
of Mount Veleçik, which had previously belonged to the Shkreli.100
What we do know from their history is that the tribal leaders of Kastrati
gathered for their assemblies in Bajza at the Shpella e Frashnit cave. These
assemblies usually brought together the bajraktar, four chiefs (krena), 24
elders and one man from each house to discuss tribal affairs.

Travel Impressions
The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević (1856–1920), who held a
position as provincial of the new Franciscan province of Shkodra, toured
Kastrati in 1907:

The next day we set off for Kastrati. The trail was stony and steep
enough to break your neck. From the summit we had a wonderful
view of Kastrati, Mount Veleçik, peaceful, shimmering Lake
Shkodra and its verdant surroundings. Far to the west was
Montenegro with its towns Virpazar, Rijeka Crnojevića,
Podgorica and Žabljak. Under white-haired Mount Veleçik was
the village of Kastrati before us with its church and parsonage.
The trail continued through crags, rocks and boulders such that
we had to pay more attention to the horses than to ourselves
because horses with broken legs were no rarity here. The Kastrati
are kind and gentle people, humble and pious. They are proud but
not conceited, poor but not hapless. And they love to sing heroic
songs with their lahutas.101

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on

Kastrati, which she visited in May 1908:

Having finished our scrambled eggs and fried slices of sheep

cheese, we set out again for Bratoshi in Kastrati Sypermi (Upper
Kastrati) and soon entered Kastrati land.
The track wound up a mountain-side of bare grey rocks. The
horses, sorry beasts at best, were wearied out and the rest of the
way had to be tramped. Down below lay, like a garden, the fertile
plain of Lower Kastrati, and Scutari Lake blazed silver in the
afternoon light. It was aksham, past–we had been thirteen hours
on the way–when we finally came to the church of Bratoshi.
The young Franciscan in charge made us very welcome, and
his charming old mother bustled round to make ready supper […]
 Kastrati consists of one bariak of five hundred houses and, as
do all tribes, has a definite tale of origin. It traces descent from
the famous fighting stock, Drekalovich of Kuchi, which in turn
derives from Berisha, by tradition one of the oldest of all
Albanian tribes. Kuchi, since the war of ’76–’77, has been
included politically within the Montenegrin frontier. Actually, it
first threw in its lot with Montenegro in 1835, but–together with
Piperi, another tribe of at any rate partially Albanian blood–
revolted in 1845 when Prince Danilo tried to make them pay
taxes. The rising was suppressed, but Kuchi revolted again later.
Montenegro owes the subsequent acquisition of the territory to
the heroism and military skill of Marko Drekalovich, who with
his tribe, after harrying the Turks of Podgoritza for many years,
sick of Turkish rule, joined forces with Prince Nikola when war
against the Turks was proclaimed. He lies buried on the heights of
Medun, the Turkish stronghold which he captured after a heavy
siege, and his name is famous alike in Albania and Montenegro.
The Kuchi are now largely (entirely?) Serbophone and
Orthodox. When they became so I do not know.
From Drekalovich, then, ‘a long while ago’ came one Delti
with his seven sons to the land of Kastrati. They fought the people
they found there, said to be Serbs, beat them, took land and
settled. And from Delti and his seven sons descend three hundred
houses of Kastrati. The remaining two hundred are of mixed
origin; some, doubtless with truth, are said to derive from the
conquered Serbs. They are all now Catholic or Moslem, and
Albanophone but Serb names, notably Popovich, show they have
not always been so.
The nearest approach to a date that I obtained was that the
Church of Gruda was the oldest in Maltsia e madhe, and was 380
years old, and that the Church of Bratoshi Kastrati–third oldest–
was built soon after the Delti settled. This definite statement, that
the Delti arrived less than 380 years ago, is of much interest, as in
spite of the Skenderbeg story in the land, it makes their arrival
subsequent to Skenderbeg's death (1467).102
 The Boga Tribe
Location of Tribal Territory
The Boga tribal region is situated in the upper valley of the Proni i thatë
(Dry Creek) in the District of Malësia e Madhe in northern Albania. It
makes up the uppermost part of the valley on the road from Koplik leading
over the mountains to Theth, in Shala territory. It is now part of the
Municipality of Shkrel. Boga borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Kelmendi to the north, Kastrati to the west, Shala to the east, and Shkreli,
Gimaj, and Plani to the south. The main settlement of the small tribe is the
village of Boga, which is situated at 950 m. in altitude.

Population
The term Boga occurs both on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer
Francesco Maria Coronelli and on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer
Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola as Bogu. The Slavic form Bogic also occurs in
this period, and the tribal designation would seem to be of Slavic origin.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Boga tribe were
given as follows: 34 households with a total of 228 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Kolaj and Preçaj.103
The Boga tribe was and is Catholic. It celebrates the feast of Saint
Michael on 29 September, by the slaughtering and roasting of sheep on a
spit.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The small bajrak of Boga was closely related to the Kelmendi tribe, from
which it stemmed, and had a population of about 700 in the late nineteenth
century. Their legendary ancestor is said to have been the second son of
Kelmend, the founder of the Kelmendi tribe.
Living as they do to the south of the Kelmendi region, but on the other
side of a high mountain range, the Boga actually had closer contacts with
Shkreli and Shala, but it was to the powerful Kelmendi that they turned for
protection and were always affiliated with them. Around 1897, they joined
Kelmendi as its fourth bajrak. The alliance with distant Kelmendi rather
than with nearby Shkreli and Shala enabled the Boga tribe to preserve a
good degree of autonomy within Kelmendi and independence from their
immediate neighbours.
Karl Steinmetz, who passed through Boga on his way to the Shala valley
in 1904, left the following note of the tribe:

The Boga actually belong to the Kelmendi tribe and constitute

one of its four bajraks. In actual fact, they have very little contact
with the Kelmendi because the latter live in the valley of the Cem,
from which the Boga are separated by a 2,000 m. high mountain
range. The Boga are made up of about 75 families that, with one
exception, are all Catholic and live in the following nine villages:
Gjokaj, Preçaj, Malej, Gegaj, Mihaj, Leshaj, Mikaj, Ulgjekaj and
Nrej. The bajraktar, Llesh Sokoli, does not live on tribal territory
but on the plain of Shkodra and only visits Boga for a couple of
weeks each year. The rest of the time he is represented by Zejf
Prenka. The Boga, too, are primarily herdsmen because there is
very little farmland, only around Preçaj.104

Baron Nopcsa, who collected data on the tribes of the region in about
1907, notes that the Boga were considered descendants of the Kelmendi.

They spoke very openly on all occasions about their blood ties to
this famous tribe. But this is not entirely right. It is true that Boga
is now the fourth bajrak of the Kelmendi tribe. […] But this small
tribe, that does not enjoy any particular prestige and who look
physically different from the Kelmendi, paid for the right to call
themselves Kelmendi and for protection from that powerful tribe.
The payment consisted of 600 oka (720 kilos) of butter which
they delivered collectively to Kelmendi. The Boga deny this, of
course, but in Kelmendi one quite often hears the sentence: ‘Boga
supplied Kelmendi with butter’ (Boga ka bâ Klmen me tlyen).105

The Boga tribe lived primarily from their herds, which grazed on the rich
mountain pastureland in the summer. In the winter period, they drove their
animals as far as the region of Mamurras, south of Lezha, where the men
were also involved in the lumber trade, cutting down the then dense forests
of the area.

The Shkreli Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Shkreli tribal region is situated in the upper valley of the Proni i thatë
(Dry Creek) in the District of Malësia e Madhe in northern Albania. The
valley of the Proni i thatë descends from the mountains in a northeast to
southwestern direction and widens onto the plain north of Shkodra near
Koplik. Shkreli land borders on the traditional tribal regions of Kastrati to
the northwest, and Boga and Plani to the east. On the southern side of the
valley in Lohja. The main settlements of Shkreli are Bzheta (Bërzheta),
Dedaj, Vrith and Zagora. Vrith was regarded as its traditional centre.

Population
The term Shkreli was recorded in a Venetian land register in 1416. In 1614,
the Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza of Kotor noted the forms Scarglieli
and Scarglia. The bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Pjeter Budi, recorded the
form Scarolli in a report sent to Rome in September 1621. The
ecclesiastical report of Giorgio Stampaneo in about 1685 used the form
Schrieli. The term Shkreli occurs on the 1689 map of the Italian
cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola as Scaricli. In 1703, we also
encounter the written variant Scrielli. The Slavic version of the name is
Škrijelj.
Edith Durham derived the word Shkreli from Shën Kerli i.e. Saint
Charles (Carlo), possibly the early patron saint of a church there.106
The Shkreli were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common blood
ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.
Mariano Bolizza referred to the Shkreli in 1614 as having 20 households
and 43 men in arms, commanded by one Gjon Poruba, and later as having
30 households and 80 men in arms, commanded by one Messa Porubba.107
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported: ‘The village of Scarieli [Shkreli] is
ten miles from Riolo and has 65 homes and 500 souls. A set of vestments is
needed here. There was a church dedicated to Saint Veneranda, but it has
collapsed. 50 scudi would be needed for its reconstruction.’
In 1838, the Austro-Hungarian physician Joseph Müller was informed by
a Pater Deda of Vukël that there were 1,900 inhabitants in Shkreli.108
At about the same time (1841), in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of
High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains,’ Nicolay, Prince
of the Vasoyevich, gave the population of Shkreli as 2,800, of whom 700
were men in arms.109
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Shkreli tribe were
given as follows: 415 households with a total of 2,688 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bzheta (Bërzheta), Dedaj,
Vrith and Zagora.110
The population of Shkreli is mainly Catholic. Although their tribal
designation is said by Durham to be related to Saint Charles, it was Saint
Nicholas of Bari whom they regarded as their patron saint. The feast of
Saint Nicholas on 6 December, a pre-Christian festival observed in Albania
by Christians and Muslims alike, celebrated the return of the souls of the
dead and was commemorated by the slaughtering and roasting of a sheep on
a spit. For this feast, the animal was kept in the house a long time in
advance. In Shkreli, as well as in Hoti, Gruda and Kastrati, the feast of
Saint Nicholas could last for a whole week. It was custom here to light a
candle and to leave the door open on the eve of Saint Nicholas to let the
saint and the spirits of the dead into the house so that they might take part in
the feast. The owner of the house would raise his glass of raki and say,
‘May the night of Saint Nicholas help us!’ (Nata e Shënkollit na nihmoftë!).
The longer the candle burnt, the greater the prosperity would be for the
house in question. One curse used by the tribes in this region was, ‘May the
devil blow out your Saint Nicholas candle.’ The Shkreli often concluded a
besa, i.e. a cease-fire, to facilitate celebrations during the feast of their
patron saint. It was traditional among many tribes in the north for feuding
families to meet on Saint Nicholas Day in order to reconcile and put an end
to their feuds. Saint Nicholas was also commemorated on 8–9 May, the
feast of the translation of Saint Nicholas, i.e. the anniversary of the transfer
of his remains to Bari in 1087. The Shkreli and the Shala celebrated the
May feast of Saint Nicholas when departing with their herds for summer
pasture.The Shkreli also celebrated Saint Veneranda whose feast day was 26
July. Aside from the Catholic majority, there was a Muslim minority in
Shkreli of about 15 per cent.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported that the Shkreli descended
from an old Albanian family in the region of Peja, whose chief was called
Kerli. When they settled in their new mountain homeland, he dedicated the
tribe to Saint Carlo, thus the name Shkreli.111 Edith Durham, for her part,
stated that they had come from Bosnia 300 year earlier.112 Carleton Coon
heard a similar version half a century later: ‘The people of Shkrelli,
comprising a whole bayrak, are said to have come from Bosnia en masse
around 1600 and taken over a valley whose inhabitants had been killed off
and whose church Shën Kerli (St Charles, hence Shkrelli) destroyed.’113 In
1907, Baron Nopcsa recorded that the Shkreli were able to trace their
ancestry back nine generations, which he dated to 1650114 and postulated
that they could equally have stemmed from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar rather
than from Bosnia proper.115
With time, many Shkreli tribesmen left their native region and settled, in
particular, on the coast of what is now Montenegro, in the Rugova
highlands in western Kosovo and, from there, in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.
The Shkreli of Rugova settled in the region of Rožaje in Montenegro and
nearby Tutin in Serbia in 1700. There they founded a settlement called
Shkreli [Škrijelje]. Later in the eighteenth century, they settled in the lower
Pešter region and in Novi Pazar. Most of them were gradually assimilated,
but in the village of Boroštica and Gradac in the Pešter mountains, they
maintained their Albanian language until quite recently.
As the Përroi i thatë River is usually dry, the mostly karstic land of
Shkreli is not particularly suitable for farming. Some maize and grain is
grown and there are a few orchards, but otherwise there is little agricultural
activity. Their territory is the most stony and waterless of the Malësia e
Madhe.116 The population, which never exceeded 7,000, was poor and
traditionally more devoted to herding. Hyacinthe Hecquard reported that in
the first half of the nineteenth century, the destitute Shkreli asked the pasha
of Shkodra for permission to use barren or otherwise unexploited land on
the plains in order to be able to feed themselves. Osman Pasha accorded
them the use of the lush fields and meadows along the lower banks of the
Buna (Bojana) River, between Saint George (Sveti Ðorde), Reç and Pulaj. It
was thus hither that they used to drive their herds of sheep and goats to
graze in the wintertime. They also received some pastureland among the
barren hills along the coast between Pulaj and Medua (Shëngjin), near the
mouth of the Drin River. They herded in the winter and, with time, the men
began to do some farming there in the summer months. Some Shkreli
families then settled here permanently.
Hecquard noted that with the grain and maize they grew in the lowlands
and with the wool and dairy products they sold in Shkodra, they came to
achieve modest prosperity such as could be seen in the rich silver plating on
their pistols and sabres.117
The Shkreli were in conflict with Gimaj in Shala territory over
pastureland on Mount Troshan, which is situated between them. This led to
much hostility between the two tribes in the early twentieth century.118

Travel Impressions
In 1905, Karl Steinmetz described his hike through Shkreli land as follows:

Our surroundings were bleak and desolate indeed. Neither grass

nor water. Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) was a perfect name for the
valley. It is the stoniest and most arid region in all of the
Highlands and, for this reason, the Shkreli tribe that lives here
does not do any farming but only herding. In the summer, they
drive their animals up into the lush mountain pastures, and in the
wintertime they keep them in the lowlands and feed them on the
hay they bring down from the mountains and on cobs of maize.
Only a few families move south to the warmer coastal region in
the winter. In this sense, the Shkreli are different from their
 northern neighbours, the Kelmendi, almost all of whom spend the
winter on the coast south of Shkodra.119

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Shkreli,

which she visited in May 1908 to attend the feast of the translation of Saint
Nicholas.

I had planned to stay some days at Bratoshi, but was urged to go

at once to Skreli to the Feast of the Translation of St. Nikolas, the
tribal saint, where the tribes would gather in their best array. So,
as all the world was going to Skreli, to Skreli I went. Among our
company was a Kastrati man from Podgoritza in Montenegro,
whither he had fled from blood some years ago. He spoke Serb
well, and was in the highest spirits, for the fact that by coming to
the feast he risked his life, added much spice to the outing.
‘How many have you killed?’ I asked. ‘Eight–up till to-day,’
said he cheerfully. A Moslem had shot one of his sons, whereon
he had shot four of that Moslem's near relatives, and flitted over
the border. It pleased him much. The Moslem would mind it far
more than being shot himself. He joked about his fellow-
tribesmen: ‘Wild people,’ said he.
‘Art thou wild, too?’ I asked. ‘No, no,’ said he, adding with a
beaming smile: ‘I've killed many men though, Christians and
Moslems, and God willing, I will shoot some more. Now I am
going to pray to St. Nikola.’
He had a son in training as a Montenegrin officer, and was
loud in praise of Prince Nikola. His grand-children will probably
be Orthodox and Serbophone, and his great-grandchildren swear
they have been Serb from the beginning of time. And thus for
centuries have the Balkan races been made.
The track to Brzheta led up over stones to the ridge of the
mountain, where a rough wall marked the frontier of Kastrati and
Skreli, and then down a stony zigzag, too steep for the horses,
which were led round. The church and church-house stand in the
valley of the Proni Thaat. The priest of Skreli, whose own bishop
describes him as ‘tiny but terrible,’ brimming with energy and
hospitality, was making great preparations for guests. On a feast-
day, he declared, two or three more or less made no difference, he
could find room for me somewhere.
Beyond the green bed of the valley rose, snow-capped, the
wall of mountain that parts Skreli from the Pulati tribes. Skreli
tells a tale of origin from Bosnia.
I paid visits. The people, most friendly, were delighted to let
me ‘write’ their houses. They are of stone with tiled roof. The
ground floor is stable. The dwelling-room above is approached by
an outside staircase of stone or wood, which leads often to a large
covered balcony. The windows are few and small. The fire is lit
on an open hearth at one end, the smoke escaping through the
unceiled roof. Behind the hearth is a recess in the wall to contain
cooking utensils. Many houses have a wattled larder standing on
posts in the yard, especially to keep milk in. Every house
expected guests.
In the evening the priest's guests began arriving–two
Franciscans, two priests, and last not least, the deputy Archbishop
of Scutari–and the fun began. As each and his retainers got within
howling distance they yelled aloud, hailing their host.
The priest of Skreli then dashed wildly to the window, leaned
perilously far out, and hurled his voice back, at the same time
emptying a revolver. The visitor replied with a volley, rode up full
clatter, rushed upstairs and helped to yell and fire greetings at the
next comer. They were all young, and were in the highest spirits–
for a mountain mission priest gets very little fun in his life–when
the Archbishop turned up. Finding them there, he pretended at
first to be severe, for the feast-day to-morrow was a Sunday, and
without his permission none were supposed to absent themselves
from their own parishes on a Sunday. However, they all vowed
that all their own parishioners were coming to the feast, and that it
was their duty to come and look after them, and the Archbishop
was soon as festive as every one else. Meantime guests were
arriving at all the other houses, and a continuous rifle-fire swished
and tore down the valley. We sat down to supper, a most
ecclesiastical party. I found myself on the right hand of the
Archbishop, the solitary female among six churchmen. But they
all spoke some language I did, were immensely kind, and all
invited me to visit their tribes. […]
The feast really fell on the Saturday. It was kept on Sunday
because Saturday is a fast-day, and you cannot feast without roast
mutton. Early Sunday morning the guests poured down the zig-
zag in a living cataract on the one side, and flocked from the
valleys on the other–from Hoti, from Kastrati and Boga, all in
their best–men first, their women following. As each batch came
in sight of the church they yelled for the priest; bang, bang went
fifty rifles at once; swish-ish-ish flew the bullets; pop, pop, pop,
pop, pop, pop replied the priest's old six-shooter. Before midday
the meeting-ground round the church was packed with
magnificent specimens of humanity. The visitor to Scutari rarely
sees the really fine mountain man–he is either at feud with the
Government or owes blood, and sends his women to the town
when business is necessary.
Etiquette demanded that the Skreli people, being the hosts,
should not wear their best clothes, it is for the guests to do all the
peacocking. And peacock they did. Many carried splendid silver-
mounted weapons, and even though wearing revolvers, thrust
great silver ramrods in their belts, for ‘swagger.’ Snow-white
headwraps dazzled in the sun–crimson and gold djemadans and
jeleks, the short black ghurdi, and the splendidly decorative black
braiding of the tight-fitting chakshir (trousers), and the heavy
silver watch and pistol chains–set lavishly with the false rubies
and turquoise loved of the mountain man–set off the lean supple
figures to the greatest advantage. The majority belonged to the
long-faced, aquiline-nosed type, with long, well-cut jawbone,
eyebrows that slope downwards, and either hazel eyes and brown
hair, or grey-blue eyes and fair hair. All had shaven heads, the
unshaven patch varying in shape and position. To study head-tufts
one must go to church festivals. Only then are a number seen
uncovered. […]
 The church-bell rang, the church was packed, Place was given
to visitors, and most of the Skreli tribe knelt on the ground
outside.
A week's besa had been sworn for the festival, so that all blood
foes could meet as friends.
After church there was a rush for the rifles, stacked outside; a
shooting competition began, accompanied by a general fusillade.
And all were so gay and friendly it was hard to believe that they
nearly all owed, or were owed, blood.
About three o'clock the whole gathering broke up with
amazing speed, to dine with their Skreli hosts. Firing continued
light-heartedly till late at night, but no accident marred the
festa.Festas do not always pass off so well among the wilder
tribes. The Archbishop told how, when he was parish priest in a
Pulati tribe, he once had seven shot dead just outside his church
on the feast of the patron saint.120

Figures of Note
Azem Shkreli
The Kosovo Albanian poet and writer, Azem Shkreli (1938–97) is a central
figure of modern Albanian poetry. As a scion of the Shkreli tribe, he was
born in the village of Shkrel in the Rugova highlands near Peja. He
graduated from secondary school in Prishtina in 1961, and then went on to
study at the University in Prishtina from which he graduated in 1965 with a
diploma in Albanian language and literature. As a student, Shkreli had
begun writing for the daily newspaper Rilindja and served as secretary for
the Kosovo Writers' Union. From 1960 to 1975, he worked as director of
the People's Provincial Theatre (Teatri Popullor Krahinor) in Prishtina. For
a time, he was also a member of the executive board of the Writers' Union
of Yugoslavia. In 1975, Shkreli became director of Kosovafilm film studios,
a post he held until he was expelled by the imposed Serbian administration
in 1991. He was then forced into exile and lived on and off in Germany for
several years. He died at Prishtina airport during a visit to his homeland.
Azem Shkreli began publishing in the early 1960s. Although he also wrote
short stories and plays, he remained primarily a poet throughout his life,
and published a total of ten verse collections from 1960 to 1997. His works
have had an influence on almost all Kosovo poets of the younger
generation. His verse was published in English in the volume Blood of the
Quill, (Los Angeles, 2008).

VDEKJA E MALSORIT
Asnjë kokë përkulur
Se ia rrëxoni lisat
Asnjë gjëmë mësa guri
Se ja shembni majet
Asnjë lot asnjë
Se ja shterroni krojet
Në sytë e tij vetëm
Harroi prendimin dita
Ç'mendim i vrugët
Ç'mendim i ftohtë ndër vetulla
Lum ky çfarë vdekje

THE DEATH OF THE HIGHLANDER

Bow not a single head,
For you will topple his oak trees.
Mourn not, be hard as stone,
For you will cause his peaks to crumble.
No tears, not one,
For you will dry up his springs.
In his eyes only
The daylight forgot to recede.
What a gloomy thought,
 What a chilling thought beneath all brows.
Lucky him. What a death!121

The Lohja Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The small Lohja (or Lohe) tribal region is situated in the upper valley of the
Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) in the District of Malësia e Madhe in northern
Albania, around the village of Dedaj on the southern side of the valley. It
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Shkreli and Kastrati to the west
and north, and Reçi and Rrjolli to the south. The main settlements of this
tribe are Lohja e Poshtme (Lower Lohja) and Lohja e Sipërme (Upper
Lohja), about 15 kilometres northeast of Koplik.

Population
The term Lohja occurs, according to Edith Durham, in a Serbian document
in 1348 as Loho.122 The form Loeia is mentioned in the ecclesiastical report
of Pietro Stefano Gaspari in 1671. On the 1688 map of the Venetian
cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli, the region is called Loheia, and in
an ecclesiastical report in 1703 the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari],
Vincentius Zmajevich, records the forms Locheia and Loheia.
The Lohja, initially with two bajraks, formed one bajrak with the
neighbouring and equally small Reçi tribe, which lived slightly farther
down the valley. It was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the
sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common
ancestor.
Lohja was originally a Catholic tribe. It later turned Muslim, though it
retained a large Catholic minority. The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro
Stefano Gaspari, who travelled through the region in 1671–2, reported:

The village of Loeia [Lohja], 6 miles from Riolo, is the site of the
church of Saint Nicholas, that seems to be roofless. There are 20
homes here, and 183 souls. 30 scudi would be needed to repair
 the church. Needed in this village are a set of vestments and an
icon of Saint Nicholas.123

Edith Durham described Lohja as one bajrak, consisting of 80 Moslem and

40 Catholic houses.

It has a mosque and a hodza, and shares a priest with Rechi, the
tribe next door – also mostly Moslem. Rechi-Lohja is of mixed
stock, mainly originating from Pulati and Slaku, and was
originally all Catholic.124

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-Hungarian

administration, the population statistics of the Lohja tribe were given as
follows: 94 households with a total of 709 inhabitants.125
French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard regarded the Lohja, together with the
neighbouring Reçi, as a particularly intelligent tribe. Their renown was such
that their chiefs and elders were almost always consulted by the other tribes
in matters of war or when important decisions were to be taken, and the
opinion of this tribe was generally followed. Because of their intelligence
and fidelity, they were also much sought after as servants for large Muslim
families and pashas.126
The Lohja tribe shared pastureland on the coast on the slopes of Mali i
Rrencit with Shkreli, Rrjolli and Kelmendi, where they were wont to spend
their winters with the herds.127

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Edith Durham states that the Lohja were of mixed descent from Shllaku and
Pulati. ‘Probably families flowed down into this more fertile district not far
from the lake when Serb rule broke up, for “Loho” and its mills are
mentioned in 1348 by Stefan Dushan among the districts which are given to
the Church.’128 Baron Nopcsa estimated that they arrived in their present
tribal territory in about 1590, which was equivalent to 11 generations before
his time (ca. 1907).129
 The Reçi Tribe of Malësia e Madhe
Location of Tribal Territory
The small Reçi tribal region130 is situated in the upper valley of the Proni i
thatë (Dry Creek) in the District of Malësia e Madhe in northern Albania,
on the southern side of the valley. It borders on the traditional tribal regions
of Lohja, Shkreli and Kastrati to the north and west, and Rrjolli to the south.
The main settlement and centre of the tribal region is the village of Reç,
about ten kilometres northeast of Koplik.

Population
The Reçi were a primarily Muslim tribe. They formed one bajrak with the
neighbouring and equally small Lohja tribe, which lived slightly farther up
the valley. They were of polyphyletic origin and were thus not a fis in the
sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common
ancestor.
The Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza referred to Rassa in 1614 as having
20 households and 45 men in arms, commanded by one Gion Salico (Gjon
Saliko).131 In his 1671 report, the apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro
Stefano Gaspari, mentions Prelnikaj (Prendnikaj) with the modern church
of Saint Elias, and Ulnikaj near Ricci with 25 households and 163 Catholic
souls, both of these being hamlets of Reçi. The form Reci occurs in 1689 on
the map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola and in
1688 and 1691 on the maps of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria
Coronelli (although the latter misplaces it).132
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Reçi tribe of
Malësia e Madhe were as follows: 172 households with a total of 1,414
inhabitants.133 The village of Reç has a current population of some 600.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard regarded the Reçi, together with the
neighbouring Lohja, as a particularly intelligent tribe. Their renown was
such that their chiefs and elders were almost always consulted by the other
tribes in matters of war or when important decisions were to be taken, and
the opinion of this tribe was generally followed. Because of their
intelligence and fidelity, they were also much sought after as servants for
large Muslim families and pashas.134
Hecquard dated the Reçi from the sixteenth century. The oral tradition he
encountered described them stemming originally from two Catholic
families of Reç, a settlement of the same name on the lower banks of the
Buna (Bojana) River. They are said to have fled from there, for reasons
unknown, to take shelter in the mountains where they were protected by the
neighbouring Shkreli tribe.135 Edith Durham regarded them as of mixed
descent from Shllaku and Pulati, like the neighbouring Lohja tribe.136
As the soil in Reçi is poor and arid, only some maize and grain will
grow. The tribe has traditionally, thus, devoted itself primarily to herding.

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Reçi,
which she visited in May 1908:

Rechi we reached through a forest of monumental chestnuts.137

The church and house, which are new, stand high on a shelf with
a great free view over the sweep of plain and the lake of Scutari.
The priest of Rechi, a keen student of Albanian custom, was full
of information both about Rechi and Pulati, where he had spent
several years.
He told us of oaths which, if very solemn ones, are always
sworn in Rechi and among all the Pulati tribes on a stone as well
as on the cross: ‘Per guri e per kruch’ (By the stone and the
cross). The stone is the more important and comes first. At a
gathering of Elders to try a case, the accused will often throw a
stone into the middle of the circle, swearing his innocence upon
it.
A man when he has confessed something extra bad, and
received absolution, generally says, ‘I suppose I must bring a
 stone to church next Sunday?’ The stone is carried on the
shoulder as a public sign of repentance. And, though told it is not
necessary, he usually prefers to bring it. The priest of another
district held that the publicity of stone-bringing had such a good
moral effect that he never discouraged it. His parishioners
sometimes brought very large ones. Whether in proportion to the
sin, I know not.
The priests say that, in spite of all their efforts, their
parishioners all regard the shooting of a man as nothing compared
to the crime of breaking a fast–eating an egg on a Saturday.
Fasting in Albania means complete abstinence from any kind of
animal food.138

The Rrjolli Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Rrjolli tribal region is situated in the District of Malësia e Madhe in
northern Albania, about 15 kilometres east of Koplik. It is to be found along
the banks of the small Rrjoll River which flows from Mount Bishkaz into
Lake Shkodra. Rrjolli borders on the traditional tribal regions of Lohja,
Reçi and Grizha to the northwest, Shkreli to the north, and on the tribes of
Plani, Xhani, Mëgulla and Suma to the east, on the other side of Mount
Bishkaz. The settlements of Rrjolli are primarily on the left (southern) side
of the river, along the northern slopes of Mount Maranaj. Among them are
Linaj-Egç-Lepurosh and Kurt-Kurtaj.

Population
The term Rrjoll, which can refer to the tribe and the river, is first mentioned
as Rioli in the Catasto di Scutari in 1416,139 as fiume clamado Rivola (the
river called Rrjoll) in 1426;140 as Rivoli in 1614 in the report of the
Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza; as Rioli in about 1685 in the ecclesiastical
report of Giorgio Stampaneo; as Riolo in 1671 in the report of the apostolic
visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari; as Rioli in 1689 on the map of
the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and as Rioli in 1688
and 1691 on the maps of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria
Coronelli. The word would seem to be derived from Latin rivulus ‘river’.
Rrjolli was and is a primarily Catholic tribe. Mariano Bolizza referred to
Rjolli in 1614 as having 60 households and 140 men in arms, commanded
by one Drè Mida (Ndre Mida).141
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported:

Riolo [Rrjoll] is situated in the mountains above some hills and is

the centre and is equally distant from the villages around Scutari.
Riolo has 20 homes and 156 souls. There is a church here
dedicated to the Ascension of Our Lord, built at the recently
constructed residence of the Bishop of Scutari. The other villages
around Riolo that are under its care are: the village of Ciasamarne
(?) with 11 homes and 64 souls, the village of Dodeci [Dedaj]
with 3 homes and 26 souls, the village of Rieci [Reç] with 25
homes and 163 souls, the village of Racci (?) with 8 homes and
52 souls, and the village of Vorfa [Vorfa] with 3 homes and 15
souls. At that time, the reverend father Clemente of Brindisi, of
the Apostolic Mission of the Patres Reformati, was serving and
assisting the people there. The Eucharist is not held here although
there is no threat from the Turks. There are other settlements a bit
farther away that are also under the care of Riolo.142

French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard referred to Rrjolli in the first half of

the nineteenth century as having two hamlets that made up one bajrak, and
as possessing 220 houses. He estimated the population as 1,600, of whom
1,240 were Catholic. He noted a large, beautiful and recently restored
church with a square bell tower dating from the thirteenth century, as well
as mills on the river that were used to produce flour and cloth.143 Half a
century later, Edith Durham remarked that ‘cloth-fulling mills still clack on
the river’.144
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Rrjolli tribe were
given as follows: 211 households with a total of 1,530 inhabitants.145
Slightly later the population figure was 1,560, of which 360 were Catholics
and 1,200 Muslims.146
Rrjolli constituted one bajrak, although neighbouring Lohja and Reçi
were regarded by some as the second bajrak of Rrjolli. It was of
polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming
descent on the male side from one common ancestor.
Many Rrjolli families spent their winters on the coast between the
Bojana River and Shëngjin where they shared pastureland on Mali i Rençit
with the Kelmendi and Shkreli tribes. Many of the men of this tribe also
worked as bakers in Shkodra.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

As to the origin and history of Rrjolli, Hyacinthe Hecquard noted the
following:

Although they are not numerous, this tribe has always managed to
conduct itself with courage and to conserve its independence.
Like the large tribes, it has its chiefs and bajraktars who are ever
ready to discuss and defend their interests. According to tradition,
they descend from two families of Drivasto [Drisht] who, having
retired to the countryside around the town before the siege,
abandoned it to live in the mountains at a time when their
coreligionists were converting to Islam in order to keep their land.
Although the date of this emigration changes from person to
person depending who is telling the story, there is no doubt that it
cannot go back more than one and a half centuries because, in his
report on Il Sandjiacato di Scutari [The Sanjak of Shkodra] of
1614, which is preserved in the Library of Venice, the Venetian
writer Mariano Bolizza does not mention this tribe, nor a village
of this name.147

Other sources tell that the Rrjolli tribe came from Herzegovina after the
Turkish conquest of the early sixteenth century.148

Travel Impressions
The German geographer, Kurt Hassert (1868–1947), making his way
through the mountains of northern Albania in the summer of 1897,
reported:

We carried on through a rather monotonous countryside of

flatland and hills until we reached the valley of Rrjoll, where the
pasha had recently burned down a number of houses because the
fanatic Christians of the region had been in the forefront of a
religious conflict with the Mohammedans. The latter had
damaged a Christian cemetery and destroyed a cross that the
Christians had set up along the path. The Christians then threw a
dead pig into a mosque and painted crosses on its walls with the
pig's blood.149

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Rrjolli,

which she visited in May 1908:

We left that afternoon for Rioli, but a two and a half hours' walk
over a ridge and up the valley of a crystal-clear stream that turns
many corn-grinding and wool-fulling mills, both of the usual
Balkan pattern. In the fulling mill a large wooden axle, bearing
two flanges, is turned by a water-wheel. The flanges, as they turn,
catch and raise alternately two large and heavy wooden mallets,
made preferably of walnut, which falling, pound and hammer the
yards of wet hand-woven woollen material (shiak) which is
heaped in a box beneath them. In forty-eight hours it is beaten
into the cloth that is the common wear of Bosnia, Montenegro,
and North Albania.
Corn-mills are often very small–a tiny shed on posts over a
little cataract that shoots with great force through a pipe, made of
a hollowed tree-trunk–the exit hole very small–against a small
turbine wheel. The upright axle passes through the two stones,
turning the upper one. The maize is fed from a wooden hopper, its
flow ingeniously regulated by a twig that plays on the surface of
the upper stone. Mills are generally private property of a group of
families, each grinding its own maize in turn.
 The church of Rioli stands high on the right bank of the valley,
that is here richly wooded. In the cliff on the opposite side is the
cave in which Bishop Bogdan refuged from the Turks in the
seventeenth century.
Rioli is a small tribe of one bariak, I believe of mixed origin. It
belongs to the diocese of Scutari.150
The tribal regions of Pulat

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 CHAPTER 2

THE TRIBES OF THE PULAT REGION

The Plani Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Plani (formerly Plandi or Planti) tribal region is situated in the District
of Shkodra in northern Albania. It is located at the very upper (northern)
end of the Kir River valley in the mountainous and isolated Pulat region.
Plani borders on the traditional tribal lands of Boga to the north, Shala to
the east, Kiri and Xhani to the south, and Shkreli to the west. The main
settlements of Plani are the little villages of Plan and Gjuraj-Boks.

Population
The term Plani was recorded as Plandi Villa in 1628, as Planti in 1671 in
the ecclesiastical report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari. It is found as Plandi on
the map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli in 1688,
and as Planti in 1703 in the report of the Catholic Archbishop of Bar
[Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich.
The Plani tribe consisted of one bajrak. It was of polyphyletic origin and
was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side
from one common ancestor.
 Plani was a primarily Catholic tribe. It was traditionally about 85 per
cent Catholic and 15 per cent Muslim. The patron saint of the Catholics of
Plani was Saint Anthony the Abbot, known in Albanian as Shna Ndou or
simply Shnou. The feast of this Saint Anthony (not to be confused with
Saint Anthony of Padua) is 16–17 January. The Catholic parish of Plani
dates from 1839.1
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported:

The village of Plani has 52 homes and 312 souls. There is a

church here dedicated to Saint Anthony the Abbot, built of stone
and in good condition. In this village lives Don Francesco
Samerissi, parish priest of the said villages. This church is devoid
of vestments and thus needs a chasuble, chalice, missal, book of
rites and linen cloth for the host. Its chalice is cracked at the
bottom and can only be used with great difficulty for mass. The
said priest takes care of the holy garments. All the other,
aforementioned churches in these villages are devoid of
vestments and holy furnishings. The priest must therefore bring
his own vestments when he celebrates mass in these villages,
which he does three to four times a month. It is quite exhausting
for him because the village is 12 miles away. The villages of
Buccamira [Bukëmira] and of Daizza [Dajca] have 10 homes and
73 souls. It has no church. The inhabitants go to hear mass at the
village of Planti. These villages provide the priest with quantities
of grain for his household and four pounds of cheese.2

The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported in the first half of the
nineteenth century that the Plani tribe had 180 houses and 1,135
inhabitants.3
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Plani tribe were
given as follows: 171 households with a total of 980 inhabitants.4

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Plani constituted one bajrak.Edith Durham noted that it consisted of three
stocks that were intermarriageable and that traced their descent from
Kelmendi, Mërturi and an earlier population called the ‘Anas’.5 Baron
Nopcsa explained further that the segment of the population of Plani that
made up the village of Gjuraj and part of Mëgulla was from Kelmendi. The
people from the village of Thana were from Mërturi, and Gjinaj stemmed
from Montenegro. The inhabitants of Boksh represented the oldest stratum
of the population and settled in this region in pre-Turkish times. It was
generally thought that the inhabitants of Boksh were the people responsible
for the fall of the ancient fortress of Plan, known as the Castle of Boksh
(kalaja e Bokshit). It is said that the Turks were not able to take the fortress
despite years of siege. One day, however, the Boksh people showed the
Turks where the water supply entered the fortress from the mountains above
it. The Turks threw a dead dog into the water pipe and, when those inside
the fortress tried to find out why the water had gone so bad, they came
across the carcass. From then on, they refused to drink any more water and
were, as such, forced to abandon the fortress. The commander of the
fortress was a certain king Gjergj Pulatik or Gjurgj Epulatik.
One subsequent historical event discredited Plani in the eyes of the other
tribes. Their bajraktar (standard bearer) was killed in a war with
Montenegro and lost the tribe's flag, which was seized by a warrior from
Gimaj in neighbouring Shala. Thereafter, the flag of Plani, much to their
shame, was in the possession of a family in Gimaj.6

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham described her arrival in Plani in the spring of 1908 as
follows:

We reached Plani at midday; it lies at the head of the valley of the

Kiri. The church stands in a most charming spot. A small
catacract leaps down from high above, through a wooded gorge–a
bower of coolness and greenery after the roasting track.
Plani, a tribe of one bariak, traces origin from three stocks
which are intermarriageable. One hales from Kilmeni. Fifty years
ago, people say, they dressed like Mirdites; but I heard no tale of
relationship with them.
Plani owed very little blood within the tribe, but was in blood
with several neighbour tribes.
When a feud is reconciled in Plani (and some other districts I
believe), a woman brings an infant in a cradle and turns it upside
down between the foes, turning the child out on the ground. As it
is always tied down tightly by the cradle cover; it can be gently
released–the ceremony is not so violent as it sounds.
There are a good many ceremonies about the laying of blood
to be learnt. […]
Plani knows many strange things. There is a group of houses
not far from the church, which has had a curse upon it for many
years, so that the families never increase in number. I visited one
small house; it contained eighteen people, so perhaps the failure
to increase is rather a blessing than a curse.
Talk ran on the chytet (fortress), very ancient–who knows,
perhaps, a thousand years. Was it far? I asked, for I was tired.
‘Oh, no,’ said the Franciscan, ‘we can go and come back easily in
an hour.’
We started; the track degenerated into a narrow ledge crawling
along the side of the mountain, betwixt heaven above and the
river below; and at the finish, the spur of the hill, there was a
rocky pinnacle to climb.
An extraordinarily wild spot. The sharp peak rose high, with a
deep valley on three sides of it. In the gap between it and the
range of which it was the final point are traces of the chytet; the
remains of three wells, now choked with stones. Part of the rock
face is roughly hewn, and a few small ledges are cut in it. A
rudely-built bastion overhangs the precipice. […]
Plani has little maize land, and has to buy. Some men and very
many women were toiling in long weary strings over Shala to
Gusinje, climbing two high passes–a frightfully severe two days'
march–maize being cheaper there than at Scutari. The return
 journey of wretched beings, staggering under loads of 60 or 70
lbs., is horrible to see. The cords that bind on the burden often cut
right into the shoulder. The maize lasts little more than a week,
and the weary journey begins again. Small wonder that the toil-
broken people begged that the Powers would enforce the making
of a railway to Scutari.7

The Xhani Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The tribal region of the Xhani (also spelled Xhaj, Gjani and formerly Joani,
Ghoanni) is situated in the District of Shkodra in northern Albania. It is
located on the right (western) side of the upper Kir River valley in the
mountainous and isolated Pulat region. Xhani borders on the traditional
tribal lands of Plani (and Mëgulla) to the north, Kiri to the east, Suma to the
south, and Rrjolli to the west. The main settlement of Xhani is the village of
the same name, Xhan or Gjan.

Population
The term Xhani was recorded as Giovanni in 1671 in the ecclesiastical
report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari and as Zuanni on the map of the Venetian
cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli in 1688. It would seem to be
related to the Christian name John, Ital. Giovanni.
The Xhani were a small, primarily Catholic tribe (bajrak) that lived in
close proximity to the Kiri and Suma tribes. They were about two-thirds
Catholic and one-third Muslim. Gaspari referred to the place as follows in
1671: ‘The village of Giovanni has 22 homes and 80 souls. There is a
church here dedicated to Saint Nicholas, built of stone, covered in slabs,
and in good condition.’8 The Catholic bishop of the whole Pulat region
resided in Xhan, before being transferred to Kodra e Shëngjergjit.9
The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported in the first half of the
nineteenth century that the Xhani tribe had 115 houses and 662
inhabitants.10
 In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Xhani tribe were
given as follows: 62 households with a total of 435 inhabitants.11

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Xhani tribe were said to have lived originally in what is now Shkreli
land. When the Shkreli arrived from Kosovo and took possession of the
Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) valley, they expelled the Xhani and pushed them
over the mountains into their present territory in Pulat.12

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Xhani,
which she visited in May 1908:

We came late to Ghoanni [Xhani], though the distance was little.

The track was broken away; the horses had to slide down what
looked like an impossible slope, with a man hanging on to the
head and tail of each to break the speed, and we made a long
circuit. When we came finally to the Palace of the Bishop of
Pulati–a ramshackle little place in native style, with a crazy
wooden balcony–his Grace was having an afternoon siesta. To my
horror he was waked up to receive me, but such was his Christian
spirit that he took me in and fed me.
The Palace is snugly stowed among trees, and running water in
plenty flows hard by. It is characteristic of the land that no decent
path leads to it. I lay and lounged in the meadow at the side. The
air was leaden-heavy, there were lordly chestnut trees near, and a
drowsy humming of bees. All the world seemed dozing. The
peace was broken suddenly by two gunshots that thudded dully
down in the valley–then two more–and silence.
‘What is that?’ I asked, mildly interested.
‘A wedding, probably,’ said Marko. ‘It is Monday–the
marrying day with us.’
 We strolled from the field, and scrambled along the hillside
towards a group of cottages. The first woman we met asked us in
to hers at once–a most miserable hovel, windowless, pitch-dark in
the corners; a sheep was penned in one and a pig wandered loose.
She began to blow up the ashes and make coffee. Life was hard,
she said–maize dreadfully dear. You had to drive ten kids all the
way to Scutari and sell them to get as much maize as you could
carry back. Shouts rang up the valley; a lad dashed in with the
news. The shots we heard had carried death. At a spot just over an
hour away an unhappy little boy, unarmed and but eight years old,
had been shot for blood, while watching his father's sheep on the
hillside, by a Shoshi man.
The Shoshi man had quarrelled some time ago with a Ghoanni
man, who in the end had snatched a burning brand from the
hearth and thrown it at him. A blow is an unpardonable insult.
The Shoshi man demanded blood and refused to swear besa.
He had now washed his honour in the blood of a helpless
victim, whose only crime was that he belonged to the same tribe
as the offender.13

The Kiri Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kiri tribal region is situated in the District of Shkodra in northern
Albania. It is located on the left (eastern) side of the upper Kir River valley
in the mountainous and isolated Pulat region, from the border with Plani
down to Ura e Shtrejtë. Kiri borders on the traditional tribal lands of Plani
to the north, Xhani and Suma to the west, Shoshi to the east, and Shllaku to
the south. The main settlements of Kiri are the villages of Kir and Prekal.

Population
The Kiri tribe is named after the Kir River that flows down through the
Pulat region to Shkodra, where it joins the Drin River. It was mentioned in
antiquity by the Roman historian Livy14 as Clausala, and in the fifth-
century Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger Table) as Cleusis. The Scutarine
historian Marinus Barletius (ca. 1450–1512) referred to it in 1474 as Kiri.
Jacques de Lavardin, in his book Historie of George Castriot, Surnamed
Scanderbeg, King of Albanie records the form Clyre in 1576 (French
edition) and 1596 (English edition). The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro
Stefano Gaspari, mentioned Chiri in his ecclesiastical report of 1671. The
river name appears as Kiri and Chiri in 1688 and 1691 on the maps of the
Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli, and as Chirli in 1689 on
the map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. All of
these early instances of the word refer, however, to the river rather than to
the Kiri tribe living in relative obscurity on its upper banks. Baron Nopcsa,
nonetheless, records an instance of Kiri used as a personal name in 1364
(Nilus Chirist).15
The Kiri tribe consisted of one bajrak. It was of polyphyletic origin and
was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side
from one common ancestor.
The Kiri were a small, primarily Catholic tribe that lived in close
proximity to the Xhani and Suma tribes. They were about three-quarters
Catholic and one-quarter Muslim.
The patron saint of the Kiri tribe was Saint Veneranda, She Prenja,
whose feast was commemorated on 25–26 July, which is also the feast of
Saint Anne. The first church of Saint Veneranda of Kiri dates from before
1636. Kiri also celebrated the feast of Saint Michael on 29 September,
which was observed by the slaughtering and roasting of a sheep. Near the
old parsonage of Kiri there was once a Benedictine monastery dedicated to
Saint Michael, which was razed in the early Ottoman period. The
Franciscans first visited the Kiri region in 1636 and settled there in 1750
when they constructed a church and parsonage for their parish.16
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported: ‘The village of Chiri [Kiri] has 43
homes and 300 souls. There is a church here dedicated to Saint Veneranda,
that was recently restored. The village of Casnessi has 9 homes and 45
souls. There is no church so the inhabitants go to the village of Chiri to
attend mass.’17
 The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported in the first half of the
nineteenth century that the Kiri tribe had 93 houses and 620 inhabitants.18
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kiri tribe were
given as follows: 87 households with a total of 534 inhabitants.19

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Kiri are said to descend from two stocks, one from Kuči in Montenegro
and the other from Peja.20 Nopcsa calculated that their ancestors from Kuči
must have arrived in their present territory sometime around 1550. The Kiri
knew their genealogy from Kuči through 12 generations down to Nopcsa's
time (around 1907): Nrekal (Drekal) Kuči > Petal Nrekali > Vuz Petali >
Gjin Vuzi > Pep Gjini > Nreh Pepa > Palush Nreu > Nik Palushi > Pal Nika
> Lul Pali > Pal Lula > Mihil Pali. The arrival of the families from Peja,
who lived in Nonaj, was said to have taken place six generations before
Nopcsa's time, i.e. about 1750.21

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Kiri,
which she visited in the spring of 1908:

Following up and then fording the Kiri, we struck up country by a

narrow shady lane, near Muselimi, rich with great clusters of wild
purple clematis. Green and steel-blue dragon-flies flashed in the
sun, and countless big scarlet-winged grasshoppers danced in
dizzy round, whirring harshly. All nature seemed full of the joy of
life. The maize grew fat and luxuriant in the well-tilled fields.
There were great fig and olive gardens, and the few vineyards
looked flourishing. This, some years ago, the best wine-growing
land of the district, was devastated by Phylloxera, and replanting
has but just begun. It belongs partly to Moslems and partly to
Christians. The desolate stony wastes that now border the Kiri
were similarly rich, but floods have torn down all the soil and left
ruin behind.
 We ascended the valley of a small tributary, and cultivation
ceased. The low hills of crumbly red soil are fairly clothed with
vegetation and the track good; but neither a house, nor a beast,
nor a soul was to be seen, nor any sign of man. Higher up was
some cultivated ground, and some men hard at work making an
aqueduct, leading water from the stream through a channel they
had banked along the hillside and bridging a gap with dug-out
wooden troughs on trestles.
To the right of the track, on a wooded hill, stand the ruins of an
old church, Kisha Shatit. Deserted churches throughout Albania
often stand in thick woods, as some superstition prevents even the
Moslems from cutting wood near them.
The ruins are large. The remains of a tower still stand, and
walls of large buildings, said to have been a bishop's palace and a
monastery, cover all the hilltop. Within the church lay heaps of
human bones, for the natives have grubbed up all the floor in vain
search of hidden treasure.
A rude altar, built with sticks and boards against a tree, showed
where mass is still served once a year. It is not known when the
church fell into ruin, but it must have been long ago. The present
church of the district is at Mazreku, hard by, and is included in the
diocese (but not the district) of Pulati.22

The Suma Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Suma (also Summa) tribal region is situated in the District of Shkodra
in northern Albania, about 20 kilometres northeast of the city of Shkodra. It
is to be found on the right (western) side of the upper Kir River in the
mountainous and isolated Pulat region. Suma borders on the traditional
tribal lands of Xhani to the north, Kiri to the east, Drishti to the south, and
Rrjolli to the west. The main settlement of Suma is the little village of
Bruçaj (formerly known as Suma).
 Population
Baron Nopcsa notes a personal name ‘Demetrius Suma’ recorded in 1332.
Edith Durham informs us that:

The name Suma occurs in a document of Tsar Dushan, who in

1335 gives to the monastery of Dechani, among other districts,
‘the Albanian katun Tuzi’ along with a number of luckless
Albanians who are named: ‘Petrus Suma, Mataguzh (the village
of Mataguzhi was burnt by the Montenegrins in 1913) with his
brothers Laz and Prijezda... Progon, Mira, Marcus Suma, etc.’23

The Suma tribe was a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.24
Suma had a majority of Catholics, though with a good number of
Muslim families. In 1920, it was reported to have 374 Catholics and 240
Muslims.25
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Suma tribe were
given as follows: 95 households with a total of 641 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Shakota and Suma.26

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Suma believed that they came from Mirdita, more specifically from the
tribe of Oroshi, and that they were thus related to the Shala and the Shoshi.
They divided into several branches near Bojët e Sumës, a place situated
close to the church of Xhani.27 Edith Durham confirms this belief: ‘The
present Suma tribe states that it comes from Mirdita. But as the Mirdites do
not seem to have arrived till early in the fifteenth century, the “Suma”
referred to in 1335 must be the elder population.’28

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Suma,
which she visited in the spring of 1908:
 From Shoshi a fairly good route took us by Chafa Kirit, over the
mountains that form the watershed between Shoshi and Lower
Pulati, to the church of Kiri, and thence down to and across the
river Kiri, tame and shrunken by summer drought. A short ascent
on the other side, a descent to cross a tributary stream took us to
the church of Suma by about seven.
The priest was away, the house locked up, but we had not long
to wait for quarters. A fine young man came down, and asked us
to be his guests. The house was a stone one of the shed pattern,
one long, windowless room; three men and two women were its
inmates, and all at once set to work to make ready for us. One
man hurried off, cut great bundles of walnut branches, and made
me a springy and deliciously scented couch on the ground just
outside the door, where I rested luxuriously. Another rushed to the
rising ground above the house, and yelled aloud to the four
quarters of the compass: ‘We have guests; a man from Scutari,
two from Shala, one from Shoshi, and a strange woman.’ The cry
echoed around. The house was in blood, and this was to warn all
whom it might concern that to-night was ‘close time for
shooting.’ A house with guests in it is exempt; and again, as the
light faded from the sky, rang the warning yell, ‘We have guests.’
For it is in the gloaming that the blood-hunter seeks his prey.29

On her second visit to Suma, to distribute humanitarian aid during the

uprising in the autumn of 1911, she found the region devastated:

One district, the tribe of Summa, remained unvisited. We started

there on horseback to inspect. It was September 24, a golden
autumn day, glorious with brown bracken, scarlet berries, and
crimson and yellow foliage. Before us, all blue and mysterious,
lay the Kiri Valley. It was with extraordinary joy that I, once more
after three years' absence, rode into the mountains, past Drishti,
which was then a bower of silver olives, up the slopes of Maranaj,
and over his shoulder. But the turf, as we began to descend on the
farther side, was ringed with the marks of Turkish tents, and the
remains of a pack of playing-cards were bleaching in the sun, left,
 perhaps, by some ‘advanced’ officer; for it is a common saying
‘He is a Moslem, but almost a Christian; he drinks and gambles.’
The track was very bad. We lost it more than once, and it was
only after nearly ten hours of riding and scrambling we arrived in
the dusk at the miserable house of the priest of Summa. It had
been completely pillaged. Save that he had a roof, he was little
better off than the poorest of his parishioners, and he gladly
shared the food we had brought.
The Summa tribe had made a futile little rising, had failed to
reach the other insurgents, been surrounded by troops who burnt
thirty-five houses, of which twelve were Moslem, and plundered
many of the others. As the wretched people had not succeeded in
reaching Montenegro, they were not considered by the Turkish
Government as entitled to the maize ration.
Summa was always poor, it was now in abject misery. We
found the luckless creatures half-naked among the ruins, the
women boiling chopped grass and nettles to feed the children,
who shivered in the chill autumn morning in the ragged remains
of shirts.
Food was obviously the first necessity here. We gladdened
them by the offer of six loads (a load is about 250 pounds) of
maize if they would fetch it themselves. I fed them at intervals all
through the winter.30

The Drishti Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Drishti tribal region is situated in the District of Shkodra in northern
Albania. It is located in the Postripa area, i.e. in the lower valley of the Kir
River and on the southern slopes of Mount Maranaj, about 15 kilometres to
the northeast of the town of Shkodra. Drishti borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Reçi and Rrjolli to the north, Suma and Kiri to the east,
Mazreku to the south and southeast, and the plain of Shkodra to the west.
The main settlements of Drishti are: Myselim, Mes, Drisht and Domën.

Population
The fortress of Drisht was well known in the Middle Ages. The word is
recorded in mediaeval Latin as early as 743 as Drivastum, Drivasto,
Drieuasto, Drivastensi.31 We find Drivastinensem in 1067,32 Drivascensis
in 1332, and Drivastum in 1419.33 The fortress occurs as Drivasto in 1515
in the Breve memoria di Giovanni Musachi; Drivasto in 1570 in the
anonymous Relazione dell' Albania; Drivasto in 1621 in a letter of Pjetër
Budi; Driuasti in 1629 in the ecclesiastical report of Giezzi Biancho;
Driuasto in 1641 in a report by Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi); Driuasto
on the 1684 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola;
vendi j Drijnsctit in Albanian in 1685 by Pjetër Bogdani; Driuasto and
Dristi in 1688 and 1691 on the maps of the Venetian cartographer
Francesco Maria Coronelli; and Drivasto in 1821 on the map of French
consul Hugues Pouqueville.
As to the original form of the word, in addition to the early variants with
an intervocalic -v- there are also records of forms with an -n-, for instance
Drinasto on the 1689 map of Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola. This form either
arose through contamination from the word for the nearby river Drin or was
the original form. A form drinast would have resulted in the Albanian
drinst and drisht. Albanian linguist David Luka, while agreeing that the -n-
form is the original, relates the toponym to Alb. drinjë ‘jagged rock, cliff’.
The Drishti tribe, at any rate, took its name from the old fortified settlement
of Drisht, whatever may have been its etymology.
The Drishti tribe consisted of one bajrak. It was of polyphyletic origin
and was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male
side from one common ancestor.
The Drishti were a small Muslim tribe who are said to have converted to
Islam when three bishops quarreled for Postripa.34
In the mid-nineteenth century, there were 85 houses in the fortress of
Drisht that were made of stone taken from the ruins. The Drishti tribe did
not have enough land for crops such as maize and wheat but, as there was
sufficient water, they grew fruit and vegetables in the surrounding gardens.
They also had olive trees and vineyards.35
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Drishti tribe were
given as follows: 169 households with a total of 1,191 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Domën, Drisht, Ura e
Shtrejtë and Vilza.36

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

In the ninth century, the mountain village of Drisht, that towers over the Kir
River, was part of the realm of Zeta and, in the course of the next four
centuries, it was to become one of the major settlements of northern
Albania. In the eleventh century, it owed its allegiance to the metropolitan
See of Bar [Antivari], which was founded in 1089. Though Byzantine up to
the mid-twelfth century, it pledged allegiance to Serbia in 1185. It was
ravaged by the Mongols in 1242 and was acquired by the Venetians in 1396
at a time when it issued its own coins marked Civitas Drivasti. It also had
its own 44-page charter – the ‘Statutes and Regulations of the Cathedral
Church of Drisht,’ dating from 1468.37 Drisht was finally destroyed in 1478
when it was taken by the Ottomans. Turkish forces are said at that time to
have beheaded the captured leaders of Drisht before the walls of the
besieged fortress of Shkodra in order to terrify its inhabitants into
submission.38 The fifteenth-century historian Marinus Barletius, a
contemporary of the events, recorded the siege of Drisht as follows:

While the surrender of Žabljak was truely shameful, the Drishtans

proved more manly and strong. During the siege of Shkodra they
had made it a habit, both by day and by night, to emerge
seemingly out of nowhere and attack the barbarians' chariots,
cavalry units, camel flocks, and other animals valuable for
transport, as well as all the common soldiers. They plundered and
took captives. Often they even hit the enemy pavilions, thereby
inflicting inestimable damage. When this news reached the
sultan's ear, he became indignant and waited for the moment
when the youths of Drisht left the town, in order to take it with
greater ease. On August 11, he sent the pasha of Asia with all his
 units to invade Drisht. The pasha, after he cut off the path of the
Christians' strongest detachment, blocking them from the city, set
artillery in the proper positions and began to demolish the walls
of the city at the point where they were weakest and would easily
fall. The walls were razed to the ground within sixteen days, after
which the sultan himself came on August 31, ready to occupy the
city that was to be seized on the morrow. Sure enough, on
September 1 at sunrise, the sign was given, so the barbarians
stormed the city from all sides and infiltrated it without difficulty,
primarily because there was no one to resist them, but also
because the walls and fortifications had been reduced to rubble.It
should be known that Drisht's castle had a large perimeter.
Besides this, all the youths, who may have numbered eight
hundred, had been left outside the city (as mentioned earlier).
Furthermore, those inside the city were dying day by day from
pestilence. The few who tried to repel the enemy from the fortress
were cut down and killed, one by one. Three hundred people were
captured alive, and on September 2 they were taken to the main
camp. Thereafter, at the sultan's command, they were executed all
at once as the Shkodrans watched.39

Remaining at the site are a small hilltop village within the old walls and
fortifications, as well as archaeological ruins that have not yet been
properly excavated.
The Drishti tribe are of mixed origin but formed a bajrak of their own.
Some of them, in particular those living in the fortress, claimed to stem
directly from Ottoman Turks who settled in the ruins after its conquest and
destruction.
The following legend is associated with the conquest of Drisht in 1478.
Lekë Dukagjini was at Drisht, defending the fortress from the Turks. Taking
the advice of the blinded Pal Dukagjini, he fired a canon at his foes that was
loaded with gold coins. This, however, did not have any result because the
hungry Turkish soldiers besieging the fortress used the gold to buy food and
then continued the siege. The Turks later captured Lekë's wife and
threatened to kill her. In her fright, she revealed that the fortifications on the
eastern side of the castle were not made of solid stone but simply of animal
hides mixed with mortar. With this information, the Turks were able to
penetrate and take the fortress. Lekë Dukagjini escaped and fled eastwards
into the mountains. The Mërturi tribe are said to be his descendants.40
The tribal regions of Dukagjin

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 CHAPTER 3

THE TRIBES OF THE DUKAGJIN

REGION

The Shala Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Shala tribal region is situated in the Dukagjin area north of the Drin
River in the present District of Shkodra in northern Albania. The Shala live
in the uppermost part of the Shala River valley around the village of Theth
where the valley ends and is surrounded by high mountains on all sides.
Shala borders on the traditional tribal regions of Boga, Shkreli, and Plani
over the mountains to the west, Kelmendi over the mountains to the north,
Krasniqja and Nikaj over the mountains to the east, and Shoshi to the south.
The main settlements of Shala are: Abat, Bregluma, Gimaj, Lekaj, Lotaj,
Ndërlysa, Nënmavriq, Pecaj, Theth and Vuksanaj.

Population
The name Shala occurs in the Italian-language ecclesiastical report of
Bonaventura di Palazzolo from Vercelli in Piedmont in 1634. He called the
region Sciala.In his 1671 ecclesiastical report, the apostolic visitor to
Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari used the term Sala and noted
 On this side of Mount Agari at the end of Upper Pulat is the
village of Shala consisting of 32 households and 200 souls. They
are strong and well armed both with regard to their physical
conditions and to the site that is kept entirely free and they
continually attack the neighbouring Turkish region and almost
always return in victory.1

Figure 3.1 Two of the djelmnia or young tribal warriors of Shala

Figure 3.2 Nik Marashi and family of Gimaj in Shala
On the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli
the region is called Scialia. It also appears as Scialia on the 1821 map of the
French diplomat Hugues Pouqueville. The term is said to be relate to Alb.
shalë, shalësinë ‘arid, infertile land’, but this is not a very convincing
etymology because Shala is one of the few places in the northern mountains
that is not arid and infertile.
The Shala tribe consisted of one fis, i.e. a community that is aware of
common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male
ancestor.
The Shala are closely related to the Shoshi tribe. They were both
overwhelmingly Catholic and would earlier not tolerate any Muslims in the
valley. The patron saint of the Shala is Saint John the Evangelist, whose
feast day was celebrated on 27 December. Nonetheless, as in Nikaj, many
of the men were given Muslim names at birth. The Catholic parish of Shala
was founded in 1763 though it was abandoned numerous times in the
course of history. Theth became a parish of its own in 1892.2
Shala also celebrated the feast of Saint Michael on 29 September, which
was observed by slaughtering and roasting a sheep. Before dinner on the
eve of Michaelmas, a candle would be lit and, after prayers, a meal would
be eaten in honour of the saint. Someone in the family would hold vigil all
night and all the next day to ensure that the candle did not go out. If it did
happen to go out, it brought shame and bad luck upon the family in
question.

Figure 3.3 Mar Lula, bajraktar of Shala

In his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania, in particular on
the Independent Mountains' in 1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich,
gives the population of Shala as 4,000, of whom 1,000 were men in arms.3
Hyacinthe Hecquard reports in the first half of the nineteenth century that
the Shala tribe had 275 houses and 2,500 inhabitants. In the late-nineteenth
century, the region is said to have had over 3,000 inhabitants.4
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the Shala
region in August 1903, noted the following:

Shala is the strongest and most reputable of the tribes in the

Catholic highlands. It consists of 500 households and of about
4,500 souls. These are the people who most strictly hold to blood-
feuding and outdated customs. The most evident proof of this
were the many destroyed buildings I observed on my way through
their territory. They are closely related to the Shoshi who live in
the southern part of the valley. In all of the valley there are three
missionaries: one in Abat, one in Shoshi and one, since last year,
in Theth. The bajraktar of Shala lives in Pecaj, above Abat.5
Figure 3.4 A Shala bride
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-Hungarian
administration, the population statistics of the Shala tribe were given as
follows: 431 households with a total of 2,512 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of: Abat, Lekaj, Lotaj, Nënmavriq, Nicaj,
Pecaj and Theth.6
The Shala tribesmen were known as herders, farmers and brigands. The
valley is well watered and has good pasture land. Maize is the usual crop,
although some wheat is grown for local use.
Many Shala families emigrated to the Peja region of western Kosovo.
The village of Isniq near Deçan is said to be entirely composed of Shala.
Johann Georg von Hahn, who in 1858 travelled through Kosovo, which he
calls Dardanian Albania, also noted the presence of Shala people around
Vushtrria in northeastern Kosovo:

The Shalj [Shala] constitute the main population of the region of

Vuçitërn [Vushtrria] and recognise the Catholic Shala of the
northern Albanian Alps as their mother tribe.7

Nowadays in Kosovo, the Shala are concentrated primarily around

Mitrovica and Trepça, in the hilly region known as Shala of Bajgora (Shala
e Bajgorës), Bajgora being the largest of their 37 settlements. They are
divided into four clans or vllazni: the Gima, the Peci, the Maleti (related to
the Lotaj in Albania proper) and the Lopçi. There are also good numbers of
Shala in Isniq, Lluka e Epërme and Strellç i Ulët near Deçan, in Ujmir east
of Klina, in Kopiliq i Epërm in Drenica, in Rakosh and Çitak in Podgor, and
in several villages of the upper Lepenc valley. Indeed, in smaller numbers
they are present throughout Kosovo. Most of them have retained a good
sense of tribal identity.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The legendary ancestral father of the Shala tribe was called Zog Diti, son of
Dit Murri and grandson of Murr Deti, also known as Murr Dedi. Zog Diti's
brother, Mark Diti, was the ancestral father of the closely related Shoshi
tribe, and his other brother, Mir Diti, was considered to be the ancestral
father of the Mirdita tribe.
According to an alternative but similar oral tradition, the ancestral father
of Shala was called Nikë Gjeku, son of Gjek Murrës and grandson of Murrë
Dedi. This Nikë Gjeku had four sons: Pec Nika, Lot Nika, Lek Nika and
Ded Nika, the first three of whom accordingly founded the settlements of
Pecaj, Lotaj and Lekaj. The descendants of Pec Nika subsequently founded
several settlements under the slightly altered name of Nicaj.8
Yet another, though less known, oral tradition describes the Shala
descending from an individual called Bal Shiroka.
Together with the neighbouring Shoshi, the Shala had close historical
ties with Mirdita. They seem, thus, to have advanced up the Shala valley
from the south. Edith Durham dates their arrival in the upper Shala valley to
about 1430. As to their connection with Mirdita, Baron Nopcsa noted in the
early years of the twentieth century that, not long before his time, the Shala
still wore the dollama, an almost knee-length smock characteristic of the
tribes of Mirdita.9 In the eighteenth century, perhaps as a result of
persecution by the Muslim authorities, they lived in caves ‘without taking
confession and without working the fields’.10 They were, at any rate, among
the poorest tribes of the north, yet they were the ones who preserved many
of the old traditions. It was here that the famed kanun of Lekë Dukagjini
was most strictly observed.
The Russian scholar, Julija Vladimirovna Ivanova (1922–2006), who
conducted field research in northern Albania in 1956 and 1958, managed to
gather some interesting information about the early history of the Shala: At
the end of the fourteenth century, there were population movements in the
Pashtrik mountain region near Prizren. Part of the population moved into
the northern part of the Dukagjin Plateau (Metohija). Another group,
including the family of Murr Deti, moved into the mountains of Puka, to the
left (south) of the Drin River. This region is also known as Old Dukagjin
(Dukagjini i Vjetër). A new migration occurred from here in the fifteenth or
seventeenth centuries. Part of this population moved over the Lok Pass
(Qafa e Lokut) and settled in what is now known as Mirdita. Another part
of the population (i.e. the Shala) moved to the southeast banks of Lake
Shkodra and, from there, farther northwards up into the Shala Valley. When
they arrived there, they encountered an old native population called
Mavriqi.11
Shala consisted of four bajraks: Theth, Pecaj, Lothaj and Lekaj, the latter
three having separated in about 1530. Others, however, divide Shala into
three bajraks: Shala itself on the left (eastern) bank of the Leshnica River,
Gimaj and Theth, with the latter two sometimes being considered tribes in
their own right.12 Edith Durham, for instance, records that the bajrak of
Theth consisted of 180 houses.13 The bajrak of Gimaj was usually
considered as part of Shala, but was sometimes regarded as entirely
independent.
The Shala were known among the mountain tribes for their slyness and
cunning, as reflected in the popular saying: ‘The wisdom of the Gashi, the
watchfulness of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the Berisha, the heroism of the
Kelmendi, the slyness of the Shala, a snake in the grass like the Thaçi’
(Mênja e Gashit, sŷni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës, trimnia e Kelmênit,
dredhia e Shaljanit, gjarpnia e Thaçit).

Travel Impressions
The German geographer, Kurt Hassert, making his way through the
mountains of northern Albania in the summer of 1897, was not too thrilled
with his visit to Shala:

We then reached the territory of the rapacious Shala who are

feared for their savagery, and this for good reason. We were not
received hospitably. The moment we got through the dense
deciduous forest and reached Bosh Pass, we were attacked by
robbers and ‘welcomed’ with bullets that whizzed by. As there
were six men in our party, our people set off on the attack, led by
the audacious Nikola. It was only with great difficulty that we
managed to restrain them from doing things that would have
resulted in blood feuds and made the continuation of our journey
quite impossible […].
In the poor, scattered settlements, we were pestered and
annoyed by the shameless begging and impertinence of the
inhabitants. Everyone owned a rifle, but no one owned a shirt.
They seemed to change their clothes only when the garments fell
off their backs. As a result, they live in incredible filth and the
lack of hair on their cleanly shaven heads made their savage and
ugly faces look even worse. We were greatly relieved when we
got to the clean parsonage of Abat and were heartily welcomed by
Father Camillo, a knowledgeable Franciscan from Austrian
Trentino. The venerable priest runs one of the most thankless and
dangerous parishes because blood-feuding is particularly rampant
among the Christian barbarians of Shala and their no less savage
Catholic and Muslim neighbours. Only the church offers asylum
and refuge, but there are also specific trails where one can travel
in safety without being shot. Those who leave the said trails are,
however, in mortal danger.
The next day, when we climbed one of the peaks of the Shala
range, to a height of 2,019 m., we had to be particularly cautious
because the rugged limestone cliffs here constituted the tribal
border between Nikaj and Shala. A few nights earlier, the Nikaj
had shot four Shala who had fallen asleep at a spring that was
outside the confines of the safe trail. From the distance, we could
hear the moaning and screaming of their relatives that lasted for
several days. It sounded more like the lowing of wild animals
than the crying of human beings. When the men had cried their
fill and were hoarse, the women took up the repulsive refrain.
Blood-feuding is the worst scourge of Albania. Religion has
been unable to moderate it at all. It demands 3,000 victims a year
in all of Albania. In High Albania, a full 25% of annual deaths are
the result of feuding. It would, however, be wrong to condemn the
feuding entirely. In the final analysis, it is a reflection of a certain
sense of justice or of legal protection in a country of total anarchy
where there is no government authority. What makes the century-
old custom particularly abhorrent, however, is the fact that it is
often used simply as a pretext to get rid of rivals and to take
possession of their property or their wives. The custom relies to a
good extent upon false witness statements and there are many
people who are willing to say whatever is needed, generally out
of fear of their foes. In addition to this, the feuds affect not only
the guilty parties as such, but their innocent male family
members, right to the most distant relations. Since, in Albanian
thinking, every victim must be avenged, the duty to take revenge
passes on from father to son and has led to the eradication of
whole families, except in cases where reconciliation was achieved
from mutual exhaustion. One is not even safe in one's own home.
For this reason, houses are built of solid stone and have
embrasures instead of windows. In many villages there are
fortified blockhouses with numerous embrasures where the men
sleep at night and can defend themselves if attacked.
Feuding has such an impact on the natives that not only
families are affected. Whole villages and tribes can be caught up
in the vendettas. For this reason, contacts between the tribes have
been reduced to nothing. Farming is only possible in the
immediately vicinity of a village and wherever there are
landmarks, there is fighting. To protect themselves more
effectively, many of the tribes or banners join forces for a time
and conclude a besa or so-called blood friendship. Whenever a
member of one of these banners is murdered, the whole tribe is
obliged to take revenge by shooting and killing any member of
the opposing tribe that they can get their hands on. Since there is
no due process of law, many innocent people die instead of the
guilty ones, and even foreigners are not completely safe. In cases
of extreme animosity, it is regarded as a point of honour to
murder guests because the tribe who hosts them is then forced to
take revenge twice over.
 On our journey the next morning to Sheher i Shoshit, our
porters kept their fingers on the triggers of their revolvers. We
could only hire them on condition that we took men from two
different settlements, because a potential killer would then face
revenge from two villages. We climbed 1,000 m. down the steep
slope leading to the Kir Valley and returned to Shkodra in the
company of an old woman because none of the men would take
us, out of fear of blood feuds. We were relatively safe in her
company because no honorable Albanian would ever attack a
weak, defenceless and, to boot, unworthy woman, and her
companions.
As with most savage and semi-savage peoples, the Albanians
accord a subordinate role to their oppressed women. For all their
troubles, the women receive little thanks or affection. Their
suffering begins the moment they get married. They are the pack-
mules of the family because the whole family depends on them.
Since men are restricted in their activities because of the blood-
feuding, whereas women are inviolable, it is that latter who must
do most of the field work and must often hike for days over to the
nearest town to exchange their miserly produce for the necessities
of life. Nonetheless, they never forget to take their knitting or
distaff with them. Even when they are burdened down with the
goods they must carry, their hands are always busy.14

The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who visited the Shala Valley on
foot in 1904, recorded the following impressions of the valley and the tribe:

Theth is marked on the maps as a settlement, but this is not

completely accurate. It is more of a region. The valley of the
Shala River from its source southwards down to the Bosh Pass
(Qafa e Boshit) is the territory of the Shala tribe. At Ndërlysa, the
valley is interrupted by a ravine several kilometres long through
which the river makes its way. The area north of the ravine, the
region of the river's source, is called Theth, and the area to the
south is known as Shala e Madhe (Greater Shala), or simply
Shala. Although both areas belong to the Shala tribe, they live
more or less separated from one another and do not regard one
 another as relatives. Marriages between the two halves of the tribe
are thus allowed. Each of the areas has its own missionary. The
one in Theth resides in Nrejaj and the one in Shala resides in
Abata. Theth comprises the following seven hamlets, 90 houses in
all: Nrejaj, Markdedaj, Gjeçaj, Nikgjonaj, Okol, Leçaj and
Ndërlysa. One is wont to calculate seven souls per household, but
for some villages and areas this gives erroneous results because,
due to the patriarchal customs of the highlanders, whole extended
families can live under one roof. Even if there are several married
sons in the family, none of them leave home to build houses of
their own. They all continue to live together. In some cases, fifty
people can be found living under one roof. It is obvious that such
circumstances do not promote proper sanitary conditions. Syphilis
is particularly prevalent. Until quite recently, this dreadful
scourge was unknown in the Highlands. It was brought in from
Shkodra five or six years ago and spread rapidly, promoted by the
customs and living conditions of the highlanders but also by a
lack of knowledge about the way the disease is spread. Nowhere
have any precautionary measures been taken, not even the
simplest. The people of Theth are active in herding and farming
but the proceeds of the latter activity are not sufficient since there
is too little farmland available. The crops consist almost entirely
of maize, which is processed at the watermills, of which there are
several in the valley. The main food staple is maize flour, and
what is lacking is brought in from Peja because it is cheaper there
than in Shkodra. Every week a group of villagers from Theth and
Shala sets off to get flour which they carry on pack animals or on
their own backs. Because of the difficult mountain terrain, the
only pack animals used in the valley are mules. They are
astoundingly sure-footed and can clamber up difficult rocky
slopes like chamois. There are no horses to be found in the Shala
Valley, or in the neighbouring areas to the east and south.15

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Shala,

which she visited in the spring of 1908:
The ever-rising track swung round the head of the valley, above
the source of the Kiri, and over the Chafa Bashit (some 4000
feet), into Shala. Once up and over, all Shala lay before us and
below us, a long, lorn wall of huge, jagged mountains, still snow-
capped, with the Lumi Shalit flowing in the valley at their feet.
I daresay you have never heard of Shala. I have looked
towards Shala and the beyond for years–the wild heart of a wild
land.
Do you know the charm of such a land? It has the charm of
childhood. It has infinite possibilities–if it would but grow up the
right way. It has crimes and vices; I know them all (that is to say,
I trust there are not any more). But it has primitive virtues,
without many of the meannesses of what is called civilisation. It
is uncorrupted by luxury. It is cruel–but so is Nature. It is
generous as a child that gives you its sweets. It can be trusting
and faithful. And it plays its own mysterious games, that no
grown-ups can hope to understand. […]
We descended to the river's bank by Gimaj, a village of Shala,
and followed up the valley. The river became a torrent, leaping
from rock to rock–the pine-clad mountains towered on either
hand, and the houses were all kulas–tall stone towers, loopholed
for rifles.
A final ascent brought us to the plain of Thethi, a grandly wild
spot where the valley opens out. The ground is cultivated, and
well watered by cunning little canals. Great isolated boulders are
scattered over it, on which stand kulas.
The eyes, some one has said, are the windows of the soul. In
extreme wrath, at fighting-point, when a man goes white and
strikes, the pupils of his eyes contract to black specks. So do the
blank, windowless walls of the kulas, with their tiny loopholes,
stand ever threatening.
I think no place where human beings live has given me such an
impression of majestic isolation from all the world. It is a spot
where the centuries shrivel; the river might be the world's well-
spring, its banks the fit home of elemental instincts–passions that
are red and rapid.
A great square-topped cliff on the left was covered with
broken fir trunks, torn down by a heavy snow-slide in the winter.
Bleached and white in the sun, they lay scattered like the bones of
the dead. Others stood erect and gaunt. ‘It is the altar of God, with
candles upon it!’ cried one of the men who was with me.
At the very end of the valley rises the range of mountains
called the Prokletija (the Accursed Mountains), so named, I was
told in Shala and Lower Pulati, because it was over them that the
Turk came into High Albania. Other routes seem more possible;
but for my own part I believe in local tradition. And the bitter
truth remains that over all the land is still the curse of Turkish
influence. […]
Local tradition in Shala tells that three hundred and seventy-
six years ago (i.e. in 1532) the bariak of Shala had sufficiently
increased in numbers to be divided into three main ‘houses’–
Petsaj, Lothaj, and Lekaj–which, as separate bariaks, still exist.
This is evidence that at that date they must have been settled for
some time. Lothaj and Lekaj have recently decided that they are
sufficiently far removed to be intermarriageable. But Petsaj still
refuses on the ground of consanguinity.
The bariak of Thethi consists of 180 houses, of which 80 form
the village of Okolo at the extreme end of the valley.
Thethi can, and does, grow enough maize for its own support,
and has passed a law strictly forbidding the export of any, as has
all Shala. The only near maize-supply is the Moslem Gusinje, and
in case of that being cut off by ‘blood’ or war, there is no nearer
supply than Scutari, a dear and distant market.
Life at Thethi was of absorbing interest. I forgot all about the
rest of the world, and having paid off and dismissed the kirijee
and horses, there seemed no reason why I should ever return. […]
The days passed. I visited dark kulas perched on rocks, and
met everywhere the same frank hospitality and courtesy, though it
 weighed on my soul that I was receiving it under false pretences;
for, in spite of my frequent and emphatic denials, all Thethi
persisted in believing me to be the sister of the King of England
come to free them, and addressing me always as Kralitse
(Queen).16

Figures of Note
Mehmet Shpendi
Highland warrior Mehmet Shpendi (1851–1915), born in Pecaj, was a noted
warrior of Shala from the time of the League of Prizren (1878). He headed
the Djelmnia e Shalës (Young Men of Shala) after its formation.Shpendi is
remembered, in particular, for his resistance to the Young Turks when
General Shefket Turgut Pasha invaded the mountains in 1910 with the
express purpose of exterminating the highlanders and settling Bosnian
emigrants along the Turkish–Montenegrin border in their place.17 It was at
that time, at the battle of Qafa e Agrit (July 1910), that he led 3,000 men
from throughout Dukagjin against Turkish infantry and artillery. Edith
Durham spoke of him in 1911 as follows:

Mehmet Shpend (Mehmet the Raven), a Catholic, in spite of his

Moslem name, one of the most influential of the Shala headmen,
was another notable. A strange, wild creature, dark-eyed, lithe in
spite of his years, decked with silver chains, and the silver and
crimson waistcoat, which is characteristic of his district, he
played a great part in the insurrection. Of Mehmet it is told that
once, when crossing a pass that was deep in snow, he and his wife
found a perishing lamb. Mehmet at once gave it to his wife to
suckle, and they took it safely home. Shala had blocked the passes
with hewn trees last year, and Mehmet and a small following had
subsequently refused to yield up their arms. They took to the
heights, and the Turks burnt their houses as punishment. To
Mehmet, Shala was the centre of the world. He could grasp no
external politics. That a great Power should come to Shala's
rescue was all his desire, and if only Shala could get a sufficiency
of arms, it would be invincible. The whole of Shala-Shoshi was
ready, said Mehmet, but Montenegro had not given the promised
 weapons. He prayed me to ask help of England. Nor could he, nor
any of them, understand that England would only give help where
she expected gain, for they always declared themselves ready to
serve the King of England loyally. Mehmet, like the rest of the
Maltsors, was wholly ignorant of the science of war, but an adept
in the art of stalking and sniping small Turkish outposts, and the
capture of their rifles and cartridge belts filled his soul with joy.18

The Shoshi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Shoshi tribal region is situated in the Dukagjin area north of the Drin
River in the District of Shkodra in northern Albania. Its land stretches
through the mountainous countryside on the right (western) side of the
Shala River, south of Shala land. Shoshi thus borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Shala to the north, Toplana and Dushmani to the east,
Shllaku to the south, and Kiri to the west. The main settlements of Shoshi
are: Brashta, Nicaj-Shosh, Palaj, and Pepsumaj, with Ndreaj serving as its
administrative centre.

Population
The term Shoshi was recorded as Sosi in 1671 in the ecclesiastical report of
Pietro Stefano Gaspari and as Sciossi in the 1672 report of Giorgio
Vladagni. The name was recorded in Italian again in 1703 as Sciosci, and as
Scosei on the 1821 map of French diplomat Hugues Pouqueville. The term
is said to be related to Alb. shoshë ‘winnowing screen, sieve’, but this is
doubtful. It is more likely that the toponym Shosh is derived from Saint
Cyriacus (Alb. Shën Qurk; Ital. San Ciriaco), who is the patron saint of the
region.19
The Shoshi tribe was a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor. The
tribe was known for its pride (Shoshi krenín).
 The Shoshi, like the Shala, are an entirely Catholic tribe. The patron
saint of the Shoshi region, Saint Cyriacus (Shën Qurk), is commemorated
on 13 or 15 July at a feast called ‘Qurku i Shoshit’ (Cyriacus of Shoshi).
However, according to Edith Durham, it was Saint Bonaventura they
celebrated, whose feast day is also 15 July.20 The Franciscans first arrived
in Shoshi in 1636 and settled there definitively in 1705.21
As regards population statistics, the apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro
Stefano Gaspari, who travelled through the region in 1671–2, reported:
‘The village of Shoshi has 30 homes and 250 souls. There is a church here
dedicated to Saint Henry, built of stone and in good condition.’22
In his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania, in particular on
the Independent Mountains' in 1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich,
gives the population of Shoshi as 1,600, of whom 400 were men in arms.23
The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported in the first half of the
nineteenth century that the Shoshi tribe had 170 houses and 1,500
inhabitants.24

Figure 3.5 Kolë Vatë Mirashi of the Shoshi tribe

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Shoshi tribe were
given as follows: 272 households with a total of 1,293 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Brashta, Cilikok, Ndreaj,
Ndregjinaj and Prekal.25 In 2008 Shoshi had a population of 1,716.
In Kosovo, there are Shoshi settlements in the region of Deçan.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The legendary ancestral father of the Shoshi tribe was called Mark Diti,
who was son of Dit Murri and the grandson of Murr Deti, also known as
Murr Dedi. Mark Diti's brother, Zog Diti, was the ancestral father of the
closely related Shala tribe, and his other brother, Mir Diti, was the ancestral
father of the related Mirdita tribe.
The Shoshi, like the Shala, are said to have settled the land in a
northwards migration from Mirdita. They are said to have established
themselves originally in Kodra e Shën Qurkut under the leadership of Gjol
and Pep Suma, the grandsons of Mark Diti.26 The Shoshi intermarried with
neither Shala nor Mirdita. As one of the main Dukagjin tribes, they may
have an original tie to the mediaeval Dukagjini family.Much of their local
legendry is, at any rate, connected to the figure of Lekë Dukagjini (1410–
81), comrade-in-arms and later rival of Scanderbeg. The forested area of
Kodra e Shëngjergjit, which was once regarded as the capital of all of
Dukagjin (including Shala, Shoshi, Pulati, Nikaj and Mërturi), is situated in
Shoshi territory.

Figure 3.6 Well-moustached member of the Shoshi tribe

 Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Shoshi,
which she visited in the spring of 1908:

We left for Shoshi early next morning, walked down a steep

descent to the river, which we crossed on a high wooden bridge
protected by a shrine to St. Antony. Following the right bank of
the Shala River a little way, we struck up the hill through most
magnificent chestnut forests. Shala, under better law, might be a
happy valley. It has a superlative water-supply, springs that
bubble crystal-clear from out the rock; it is well timbered, and
such cultivable land as it has is very fertile. Nor is there any lack
of pasture for flocks. We passed many big kulas, and the fields of
sprouting maize were all guarded by wooden crosses painted
white.
Descending, we crossed a small stream, a tributary of the Shala
River, ascended, and arrived at Kisha Shoshit, the church of
Shoshi.
The Franciscan (a Tyrolese from the Italian-speaking district),
who has spent a large part of his life with Shala-Shoshi, has been
collecting and transcribing manuscripts from the churches, and
painfully putting together details that throw light on the history of
the country. But so many churches have been burned, with all that
they contained, that records are few. The earliest he showed me
was of 1648, and recorded the assassination that year of five
Franciscans; one at Podgoritza. […]
According to local tradition, it was to Shoshi that the hero, Lek
Dukaghin, came on fleeing from Rashia. A rock – Guri Lek
Dukaghinit – that stands high on the hillside across the valley,
marks the spot where he first stayed.27

The Shllaku Tribe

 Location of Tribal Territory
The Shllaku tribal region is situated in the District of Shkodra north of the
Drin River and south of Mount Cukali, about halfway between Shkodra and
Koman in northern Albania. It borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Drishti and Shoshi to the north, Dushmani to the east, and Qerreti to the
south across the Drin River. The main settlements of Shllaku are: Barcolla,
Bena, Kroni i Madh, Palaj, Ukbibaj and Vukaj, and its small administrative
centre is now Vukjakaj-Gegaj.

Population
The name Shllaku was recorded in 1641 as Scelacu in a report submitted to
the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide in Rome by the early Albanian
church figure, Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi). The Catholic Archbishop
of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich, records the form Scelaku in 1703.
The term probably derives from the name of a saint, perhaps Saint Luke.
The Shllaku tribe were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak. It was and is an entirely Catholic tribe. Edith
Durham, who visited the region in 1908, described it as follows: ‘Shlaku
tribe consists of about three hundred houses, all Christian. It is an offshoot
of the tribe of Toplana. A third of it lives by charcoal-burning, the others by
keeping goats. There is very little cultivable land.’28
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Shllaku and
Mazreku tribes together were as follows: 276 households with a total of
2,023 inhabitants. This comprised the settlements and surroundings of:
Barcolla, Mazrek, Vukaj and Vukjakaj.29
In 1922, Shllaku had a population of 1,500 and, in 2008, it had a
population of 1,595.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

As a tribe, Shllaku is said to be an offshoot of the Toplana. Baron Nopcsa,
who inquired about the origins of the tribe around 1907, reported the
following:
 The earliest ancestor of the Shllaku, a certain Gabeti or Gabeta, is
said to have come from Montenegro and was of Orthodox faith.
When he arrived in Shllaku, he came across the original native
population who were the ancestors of the Kolë Pep Fura family
and whose last male descendant died about 1900. [...] The
original population of Shllaku was apparently called Lorehic and
is said to be related to the family of the same name in Guri i Zi on
the plain of Shkodra. The said Gabeti had two sons: Gjergj Gabeti
[who was the ancestral father of the Mëgulla tribe], and Can
Gabeti [who was the ancestral father of the Shllaku tribe]. The
eldest son of Can Gabeti was Jak Cani who is remembered as the
oldest in the lineage of the most distinguished family of Shllaku.
The inhabitants of Gushta, for their part, stemmed from the
younger lineage founded by Kolë Cani.30

The earliest named ancestor of the Shllaku was thus Can Gabeti. He was
the younger brother of the unnamed ancestral father of the Toplana, and the
brother of Gjergj Gabeti, the ancestral father of the Mëgulla tribe. The
Gashi tribe also seems to be related to this old family who originally lived
in Shllaku where they had land.
As concerns economic activity, there was a small copper mine in Palaj,
and some charcoal is still produced in the region. However, as with other
areas of the northern mountains, much of the population of Shllaku has left
the region and lives in Shkodra as there is little work in the mountains.

Travel Impressions
Poverty and misery were the impressions gained of Shllaku by Baron
Alexandre Degrand (1844–1911), who served as French consul in Shkodra
from 1893 to 1899, when he visited the region:

I arrived in Shllaku without too much difficulty by horse in six

hours, of which at least two were spent walking on foot. The trail
was relatively good up to an elevation of 800 m. and the descent
down into Shllaku, which is situated at an altitude of 600 m. was
more exhausting than dangerous. The tribe in these mountains is
poor indeed. All they have to live on is a small bit of good
 agricultural land and charcoal, which the women lug into town
and sell, and then return with the flour they procure there.
In all of my travels, I have never encountered such a wretched
tribe. The poor make up the majority of the inhabitants, and one
woman told me in tears that she had no way of making clothes to
be buried in. These women are nonetheless very attractive. Here,
as elsewhere in High Albania alas, vendetta rages. The parish
priest who showed us around pointed out the spot where once a
year, at Easter, he celebrates mass outdoors. The parish church is
too small to hold all the faithful. This year, at the very moment he
turned to the congregation to bless them at the end of the service,
a young mountain man, having caught sight of a fellow who had
killed one of this relatives, judged the moment to be opportune to
take revenge as custom required. He fired and killed the fellow
with one shot. Other shots rang out immediately, fired by the
relatives and friends of the victim and the murderer. Before the
priest could intervene, he told me, there were eleven people dying
in the meadow. Among them were two women who had been hit
by mistake. He hardly had time to administer last rites to the
dying men who called for his assistance in the midst of the crowd
still stunned by the awful consequences of the insane deed. Their
tombs now covered the earth around us. If it were not for the
sinister memory of the murders that took place there three days
ago, it would be a pleasant place to spend the day. The clearing is
surrounded by trees on all sides and the nightingales were singing
without pause. It was cool out and everywhere there were flowers
and creeping tendrils.31

Poverty and misery were what struck Edith Durham, too, during her visit
to Shllaku in the spring of 1908:

From here onward the country was barer and barer, rocky and
waterless; the houses were few and wretched. And we came to
Kisha Shlakut (Church of Shlaku) about five in the evening. The
village–some dozen scattered houses–is called Lot Gegaj.
The priest was absent–had been sent for up country.
 I have been in many melancholy spots, but Lot Gegaj is one of
the worst. All around the parsonage was a desolation of huge
slabs of rock. It splits in narrow strata, and the cleavage is so
sharp that it appears machine-cut–the remnants of a giant factory
of roofing slabs. Only the scantiest vegetation manages to cling in
the crevices. Deep down below flowed the Drin, turbid and
yellow, half empty, with bare tracts of shingle on either side, but
still flowing rapidly between the forbidding flanks of the grim
valley. […]
Three months' unbroken drought, destined to last three more,
had already brought the people to dire straits. It took two hours to
fetch a small barrel of water to the church, and other houses were
much farther away. The wretched, half-starved goats and sheep
were driven to water once in twenty-four hours. Shlaku tribe
consists of about three hundred houses, all Christian. It is an
offshoot of the tribe of Toplana. A third of it lives by charcoal-
burning, the others by keeping goats. There is very little
cultivable land.
One sample of the life of grinding misery will suffice. A man–
most honest and hard-working–supported himself, his widowed
sister-in-law, and her child, by charcoal-burning. Weekly, he took
as much as he could carry, and drove a loaded donkey down to
Scutari, exchanging the charcoal for the maize upon which they
lived. But he fell ill, and entrusted his donkey to a neighbour, who
ill-treated it, and the wretched beast died. Ill, he crawled to
Scutari with all the charcoal he could carry, but it was no longer
enough to buy the week's food. Only by spending a whole day in
the town and begging scraps of food, which he carried home,
could they manage to live. A Scutarene took pity on him, and
gave him enough maize to sow his little field. He sowed it, but the
cruel drought killed almost the whole of it. The sickly, under-fed
child and its mother–who was crippled with acute rheumatism–
could do nothing to help in the charcoal-burning. And thus do
folk in Shlaku drag out a miserable existence.32

Figures of Note
 Bernardin Palaj
Bernardin Palaj (1894–1946), who was born in the mountains of Shllaku,
was a Catholic folklorist and poet. He attended a Franciscan school in
Shkodra, joined the Franciscan order in September 1911, and finished his
education in Salzburg (Austria). Ordained as a priest in 1918, Palaj was an
organist at the Franciscan church in Shkodra from 1916 to 1946, taught
Albanian and Latin at the Collegium Illyricum (Illyrian College), and
served as a parish priest in Pulat and Rubik. From April 1923 to December
1924, together with Shuk Gurakuqi (1888–1967), Ndre Mjeda (1866–1937),
Gjergj Fishta (1871–1940) and Anton Harapi (1888–1946), he edited the
Shkodra weekly newspaper Ora e maleve (The Mountain Ora), affiliated
with the parliamentary opposition. He was arrested by Ahmet Zogu (1895–
1961) around 1924 but was released upon the intervention of Archbishop
Lazër Mjeda (1869–1935). In the period 1919–34, he collected folklore
from the mountains, material that was published in the leading periodical
Hylli i Dritës (The Day-Star). Together with Donat Kurti (1903–83), he
published Kângë kreshnikësh dhe legenda (Songs of the Frontier Warriors
and Legends) in the impressive Visaret e kombit (Treasures of the Nation)
collection, Tirana 1937. From 1934 to 1941, he also increasingly produced
literary works of his own, mostly classical lyric and elegiac verse and short
stories. From 1939 to 1944, Palaj served as a police captain under Italian
rule and German occupation, though he was apparently ill from 1942
onwards. He also devoted the war years to research on customary law and
tribal organisation in the northern mountains. His police work under the
occupation, whatever form it took, did not endear him to the partisans. With
the communist takeover in late 1944, Palaj fled into the mountains, but was
arrested in Rubik in 1946. Bernardin Palaj died in prison of tetanus in
February or December 1946 before he could be sentenced, and was buried
in the courtyard of the sanatorium in Shkodra.

Marie Shllaku
The political activist and nationalist figure of the World War II period,
Marie Shllaku (1922–46) was born in Shkodra of a Catholic family from
the Shllaku tribal region. She received a Catholic education from the
Stigmatine Sisters in Shkodra and studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at
the University of Rome during the Italian occupation. In 1942 she returned
to Tirana where she got a job with the ministry of public works. On 25
November of that year, during the ephemeral unification of Albania and
Kosovo, she was seconded to Prizren as a ministerial finance inspector. In
November 1943 she was back in Tirana where she worked as secretary to
the minister of the interior, Xhafer Deva, until May 1944. The focus of her
interests was now Kosovo where, after a brief visit to Shkodra, she
returned, committed to defending ethnic Albania (i.e. unification). There
she worked with political leader Ymer Berisha and was associated in
Drenica with the anticommunist Albanian National Democratic
Organisation (Organizata Nacional Demokratike Shqiptare). With Shaban
Polluzha and Ymer Berisha, she played an active role in resistance against
the increasingly victorious communist partisans in August 1945 and, on 12
September of that year, she took part in fighting in Siqeva (Drenica) where
she was seriously wounded. At the end of the year, she and 26 other
members of the Albanian National Democratic Organisation were arrested
by the communist security forces who beat and tortured her. On 15 July
1946, after a mock 13-day trial in Prizren, she was sentenced to death. The
prosecutor, Ali Shukrija, ranted at her during the proceedings, stating that
she was unfit to be shot and should be burnt alive. Her final words in court
were: ‘One day, your sons and daughters will be ashamed of your treachery
and the inhumanity you have shown to us and the whole Albanian people.’
Marie Shllaku was sent to a firing squad at the age of 23. Her place of
burial is unknown.

The Mazreku Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Mazreku (formerly also Mazareku) tribal region is situated in the
District of Shkodra in northern Albania. It is located on the right (northern)
side of the Drin River, now the Vau i Dejës artificial lake, about 10
kilometres directly east of Shkodra. Mazreku borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Shllaku to the north and east, on Drishti and Boksi to the
west, and on the Drin River to the south. The main settlement of Mazreku is
the village of Mazrek.
 Population
The name of this tribe was recorded as Maserecu in 1641 in the
ecclesiastical report of the Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Frang
Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi), and as Masareccu in 1703 in a report of the
Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich. The word
comes from the Albanian mbas rekës ‘behind or beyond the river,
transfluvium’. This toponym also occurs in Greece: Mαζαράκι and
Mαζαρακιά in Epirus.
The Mazreku tribe was a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Mazreku were a small Catholic tribe related closely to Shllaku. They
regarded themselves as autochthonous on their territory and claimed in
1907 to know the names of their ancestral fathers for 14 generations back.33

The Dushmani Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Dushmani tribal region is situated on the right (northern) bank of the
Drin River in the present District of Shkodra in northern Albania. It borders
on the traditional tribal regions of Shoshi to the west and northwest,
Toplana to the northeast, Berisha and Kabashi across the Drin River to the
east, and Shllaku to the southwest. The main villages of Dushmani, all tiny
settlements, are Vila, Arrëz, and Telumë-Kllogjën.

Population
The term Dushmani may have been recorded in the sixth century by the
early Byzantine geographer and scholar Procopius of Caesarea (ca. 500–ca.
565) as Dousmanes who uses this name to refer to a Thracian-Illyrian castle
restored by the Emperor Justinian. It occurs with more certainty a
millennium later in a Turkish document as Düşman in 1581, and as
Dusimani on the maps of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria
Coronelli in 1688 and 1691. One is reminded of the Turkish oriental term
dushman ‘enemy, foe’, but there does not seem to be any etymological
relationship to the Turkish here. Dushmani also occurs as a family name.
Edith Durham records a document from 1403 which mentions ‘Goranimus,
Damianus and Nenada, brothers Dusmani, Lords of Polati Minor’ who
offered themselves as subjects of Venice and swore fidelity on condition
that Venice guarantee them possession of their lands.34 Baron Nopcsa
believed the name was more likely to be a link between the Albanian
personal name Dush, Latin Dussus, and Albanian personal name Mani, the
latter being recorded in 1319.35
The Dushmani tribe was a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of two bajraks, Dushmani and Temali. The bajrak of Dushmani
was also occasionally known as the bajrak of Dushamir.
Dushmani is a Catholic tribe. The patron saint of Dushmani was John the
Baptist (Shën Gjon), whose feast day, normally on 24 June or 7 January,
was celebrated there on 13–14 June. The church and parsonage of the
Catholic parish of Dushmani were built at the foot of Mount Cukali in
1745.36
As to population statistics, the French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard
reported in the first half of the nineteenth century that the Dushmani tribe
had 145 houses and 1,200 inhabitants. It had a population of about 1,400 in
the late nineteenth century. Edith Durham counted 160 houses while she
was in Dushmani in 1908: ‘Of these no fewer than forty were, at the time of
my visit, in blood within the tribe. As for external bloods, they were
countless.’37
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Dushmani (and
Temali) tribe were given as follows: 181 households with a total of 939
inhabitants. This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Dushman,
Qerreti i Temalit, Teluma e Dushmanit (Telumë-Kllogjën) and Temal.38

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Dushmani tribe, said to be originally from the area of Tuz, south of
Podgorica in Montenegro, was related to the Thaçi tribe. According to
Baron Nopcsa, when they arrived in their current homeland, the Dushmani
found it inhabited by the Lumabardhi (White River) tribe, which was said to
be related to Toplana and Gashi. The arrival of the Dushmani forced the
Lumabardhi tribe eastwards, to the region of Peja in Kosovo. Nopcsa was
able to trace the genealogical ancestry of the Dushmani for five or six
generations back to 1750.39 The Dushmani intermarry with Shllaku and
Shala.

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham, who called the Dushmani ‘one of the wilder tribes’,40
described her impressions from a visit in the spring of 1908 as follows:

Then came a very deep descent, and we saw the church of

Dushmani far below on a little green oasis, and lower still the
river Drin, all walled in by grim, iron-grey ramparts of rock.
Dushmani–consisting of two bariaks, Dushmani and Temali–is
one of the wilder tribes.
It is part of the district of Postripa. Postripa consists of
Mazreku, Drishti, Shlaku, and Dushmani. Ecclesiastically all are
included in the diocese of Pulati, but are not properly part of the
Pulati group. Dushmani takes its name from Paul Dushman, a
chieftain of the fifteenth century. Dushman is a Turkish word,
meaning enemy–possibly a nickname given him by the Turks.
The tribe is wholly Christian.
The bariak of Dushmani consists of a hundred and sixty
houses. Of these no fewer than forty were, at the time of my visit,
in blood within the tribe. As for external bloods, they were
countless.
Dushmani believes in Lek Dukaghin as the One-that-must-be-
obeyed, and that he ordered blood-vengeance. The teaching of
Christ, the laws of the Church, fall on deaf ears when the law of
Lek runs counter to them. But they believed vaguely in the
symbol of Christianity, for I found, on asking, that most men had
a tiny cross tattooed upon the breast or upper arm. Then, in case
of being found dead in a strange place, they would be certain of
Christian burial.
Yet many of the grave-slabs in Dushmani churchyard are
rudely scored with mysterious patterns in which the sun and
crescent moon almost invariably occur, and the cross seldom–the
symbols of the pre-Christian beliefs that still influence the people.
I vainly and repeatedly asked for their meaning, but only met the
old answer, ‘Per bukur’ (For ornament). No other graveyard
yielded me so many of these, but I could not hear that the sun and
moon were ever a tattoo pattern here as in other parts.
Bones, and fragments of them, were strewn all over the place.
The explanation was that a huge feast has to be held before each
funeral. Any one in the tribe can come to it, and, owing to the
long distances that folk have to journey, it is very late before the
interment takes place. It is, therefore, often half dark before–when
the feast is over–the relatives of the deceased dig the grave, and
they dig heedlessly anywhere, digging up the former remains.
There appears to be a great prejudice against digging the grave
some time before, as various unlucky things may happen to it. No
one may step across it, nor may it be left empty–something made
of iron must be placed in it–was all that I could learn.
One of the tribe bloods has lasted for five generations. The
chief man in this feud–grey-eyed and fair-haired, but with the
other physical characteristics of the local dark type–lamented his
position bitterly. Five generations were too much. The quarrel had
had nothing whatever to do with him, but he was liable to be shot
for it after all these years. I asked why he did not pay blood-gelt
and compound the feud. He replied indignantly that his side was
the innocent one, so why should it pay?
The Franciscan–priest of Dushmani–laughed heartily. ‘They
are all innocent!’ he said, ‘every one of them, according to their
own account, and all at blood with some one or other.’ He added
that because of ‘blood’ they would very rarely come to
confession. His own servant, for example, had killed three.41
 Figures of Note
Martin Camaj
The Albanian scholar, linguist and writer Martin Camaj (1925–92) was an
emigrant writer of significance both to Albanian scholarship and to modern
Albanian prose and poetry. Born in the village of Temal, in the Dushmani
region, he attended the Jesuit Saverian College in Shkodra from 1935 to
1946. He seems to have taught at a school in Prekal for a while and then in
1949 managed to escape over the border to Montenegro. In Tuz, he taught
school again and in the summer of 1949 he attended a three-month teacher
training course in Peja. In 1950, Camaj began studies at the University of
Belgrade. After graduation in Romance philology in 1955, he continued
postgraduate studies at the University of Sarajevo under the ailing Professor
Henrik Barić (1888–1957) and completed a doctoral thesis on the language
of Gjon Buzuku in 1956. In September 1956, he was in Rome as a student
of Ernest Koliqi (1903–75), who held the chair of Albanian language and
literature at the University of Rome. There he taught Albanian and finished
his education in linguistics with a dottore in lettere con lode degree from
the University of Rome in March 1960, again with a dissertation on the
language of Buzuku. In December 1960, Camaj got a German scholarship
to continue his studies in Munich under ethnologist Alois Schmaus (1901–
70) and, after receiving his venia legendi in January 1965, he began
lecturing in Albanian studies. From 1970 to September 1990, he was full
professor of Albanian studies at the University of Munich and lived in the
mountain village of Lenggries in Upper Bavaria until his death on 12 March
1992.
Martin Camaj's academic research focused on the Albanian language and
its dialects, in particular those of southern Italy. He was also active in the
field of folklore. He began his literary career with poetry, a genre to which
he remained faithful throughout his life, though in later years, he devoted
himself increasingly to prose. He relied on the traditional and colourful
linguistic fountainhead of his native Gheg dialect to convey a poetic vision
of his pastoral mountain birthplace near the Drin River, with its sparkling
streams and shining forests. His verse has appeared in English in the
volumes Selected Poetry, (New York, 1990), and Palimpsest, (Munich,
1991). General themes that occur in Martin Camaj's work are the loss of
tradition, loneliness in a changing world and the search for one's roots.
Needless to say, his works only became known to the Albanian public after
the fall of the communist dictatorship. Up until then, only a handful of
people in Albania had ever heard of him.

The Toplana Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Toplana tribal region is situated on the right (northern) bank of the Drin
River in the very eastern part of the District of Shkodra in northern Albania.
It borders on the traditional tribal regions of Shoshi to the west, Mërturi to
the northeast, Berisha to the southeast across the Drin River, and Dushmani
across the Leshnica River to the southwest. It is still a very isolated region.
The main settlements of Toplana include Serma and Toplana.

Population
The term Toplana occurs as Toplana in 1671 in the ecclesiastical report of
Pietro Stefano Gaspari. We find the form Toplaia in 1688 and 1689 on the
maps of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola, and the
forms Toplana and Toplaia in 1688 and 1691 on the maps of the Venetian
cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli. The Catholic Archbishop of Bar
[Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich, records the form Toplana in1703, and
Toplaia occurs on the 1821 map of French diplomat Hugues Pouqueville.
The tribal designation seems to be derived from a Slavic toponym, related
to BCS topao ‘warm’.
The Toplana tribe was a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.
The Toplana were a Catholic tribe. Their patron saint was Saint George
(Shën Gjergj), whose feast day was celebrated on 22–23 April. The feast
day of Saint George marked the beginning of summer. Indeed in the old
days it marked the beginning of the new year and was associated with
numerous popular customs, most of which were designed to ensure growth
in children, farm animals and crops. Shepherds gathered flowers and herbs
on Saint George's Day and fed them to the farm animals, which were
adorned with ivy leaves and ‘smoked’ with incense. The parish church of
Toplana was built in 1696 on the mountainside, on the right bank of the
Drin.42
The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled
through the region in 1671–2, reported:

The village of Toplana has 22 houses and 120 souls. In this

village there are 5 churches: Saint George which is structurally
the most beautiful, the church of the Assumption of the Virgin,
the Church of Saint Nicholas embellished with various statues
that were taken from those in the town, the church of Saint
Catherine and the church of Saint Veneranda. All these churches
are built of stone walls and are in good condition with regard to
building material. The Eucharist is not held here, and they are all
without vestments or holy furnishings.43

As to population statistics, the French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard

reported in the first half of the nineteenth century that the Toplana tribe
consisted of 53 houses. It seems to have had a population of about 400 in
the late nineteenth century.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Toplana tribe were
given as follows: 52 households with a total of 254 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Serma and Toplana.44
Among the noted families of Toplana are the: Ndrepepaj, Lekaj, Geraj,
Bicaj, Malutaj, Gjoklekaj, Gjomicaj, Mertiaj, Kolicaj and Prezhmeshaj.
Baron Nopcsa, who made a survey of death statistics among all the
Catholic tribes of the north covering the years 1894 to 1904, and on whom
Edith Durham probably based her information, found that the parish of
Toplana had the highest percentage of violent deaths (42.3 per cent) of all
the tribes.45 Relying again on her friend Nopcsa, Durham notes that the
Toplana were a very wild tribe: ‘Toplana holds a sinister record; its annual
death-rate from gunshot wounds is double that of most other Christian
tribes.’46
 Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History
Baron Nopcsa, who investigated the origins of the Toplana tribe in about
1907, reported the following:

The Toplana tribe would seem to be very old. The ancestral father
of Toplana, whose name I do not know, was the younger brother
of Can Gabeti, the ancestral father of the Shllaku. Can Gabeti
lived 14 or 15 generations ago. He had another brother called
Gjergj Gabeti who was the ancestral father of the Mëgulla tribe. A
fourth brother, whose name is not known, was the ancestral father
of the Gashi tribe. […] The four brothers originally lived in the
Shllaku region. […] The genealogy of the Toplana comprises 13
generations. The emigration of the Gashi and Toplana from
Shllaku must therefore have taken place around 1524 or perhaps
somewhat earlier, probably as a result of the first Turkish war in
Albania. When the Toplana reached their current location, it was
of course already inhabited. The original native population was
gradually driven out and limited to the present village of Gjuraj.
The name Gjuraj reminds one of the Slavic Djuro. One interesting
colonisation in the eighteenth century had its origins in Toplana.
Pep Marku of Toplana emigrated to Iballja and displaced the
Gruda to the hamlet of Koprat in Iballja, whose inhabitants even
today wear the costume of Toplana in the midst of a larger
community that dresses itself in Gjakovar fashion.47

Edith Durham learned from Nopcsa that the Toplana came to their
present site from Vasojević tribal territory. The Slavic Vasojević tribe is said
to have shifted its ground from somewhere near Foča in Herzegovina to
Medun, near Podgorica, and thence to its present site. In one of these shifts,
she concludes, it probably drove Toplana out.48 She agreed, at any rate, that
‘it is a very old tribe. Shlaku and Gashi are both offshoots of it.’49

Travel Impressions
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled up the Drin valley in the summer of
1863, recorded that the Toplana were extremely poor:
It was here that we came across the first naked children, who go
unclothed all winter, too. Only the men had shirts on. The women
wear their originally white, and now sallow brownish woollen
dresses right on their bodies. Grisebach states of these people, in
the style of Tacitus, ‘No man of Dukagjin owns a shirt, but all of
them have rifles.’ This is true not only for the people of Dukagjin,
but for all of their northern neighbours, too. In the northern
mountains, however, shirts have apparently started making
inroads in recent times, together with the red fez.50
The tribal regions of the Gjakova Highlands

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 4

THE TRIBES OF THE GJAKOVA

HIGHLANDS (MALËSIA
E GJAKOVËS)

The Nikaj Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Nikaj tribal region is situated north of the Drin River in the western
part of the District of Tropoja in northern Albania. It borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Shala to the west, Krasniqja to the north and
east, and Mërturi to the south. The Nikaj live primarily on the right (west)
side of the Curraj/Nikaj River that flows into the Drin. The left (eastern)
bank constitutes the border with Krasniqja for much of the river's upper
course. The main settlements of Nikaj are: Lekbibaj which serves as its
administrative centre, Gjonpepaj, Peraj, Curraj i Poshtëm, Curraj i Epërm,
Qereç-Mulaj and Shëngjergj.

Population
The term Nikaj was recorded as Nicagni in 1671 in the ecclesiastical report
of Pietro Stefano Gaspari, and as Nicagni and Nichagni in 1703 by the
Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich. As a tribal
and family name, which also may occur in an Ottoman land register in
1485, it would seem to be related to the Latin and Italian personal name
Nicola ‘Nicholas’.
The Nikaj are a primarily Catholic tribe. The patron saint of the Nikaj
was Saint Sebastian, known in Albanian as Shën Mastjan, Shën Mashjan or
simply Shmashjan. His feast, Alb. Nata e Shmashjanit (the Night of Saint
Sebastian), also called Shmashjani i Nikajve (Saint Sebastian of the Nikaj),
is observed there on 19–20 January. The parish of Nikaj dates from 1827
but the church and parsonage burned down in 1867. A new church was then
built by the Franciscans.1 Although the Nikaj were Catholics, Muslim
names were common among them. Many of them, as in Shala, received
these Muslim names at birth. Paolo Dodmassei, the Catholic Bishop of
Sappa in Pulat, reported in 1854 that the Nikaj tribesmen used Muslim
names when they went to market in Gjakova, Peja and Prizren. The reason
for this, they stated, was that they had to pass through Muslim regions and
thought it was more appropriate to use Muslim names even though
everyone knew they were Christians. Nor did they otherwise make any
attempt to conceal their faith, as did the crypto-Christians in the Diocese of
Skopje.2 As in Mërturi and Lura, it was not unknown in Nikaj for there to
be Catholics and Muslims in one and the same family.
The Nikaj tribe were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak.3 Edith Durham regarded them, however, as being
of mixed origin.4
Nikaj forms a common ethnological unit with neighbouring Mërturi.
Today, one thus often speaks of Nikaj-Mërturi, although they are not blood
related.
With regard to population statistics, in the period 1867–70 Nikaj
consisted 240 households and 2,360 inhabitants.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population of the Nikaj tribe was as follows:
289 households with a total of 1,652 inhabitants. This comprised the
settlements and surroundings of Curraj i Epërm, Gjonpepaj, Nikprenaj and
Peraj.5
 During his visit to the region in August 1903, the Austrian engineer Karl
Steinmetz stated that Nikaj consisted of 2,445 souls inhabiting 24 villages,
of which the main ones were Mëser, Peraj (also known as Palkolaj), Curraj i
Poshtër (Curraj i Poshtëm), Nikbibaj, Kapit, Prebibaj, Threvalaj, Çokaj,
Gjonpepaj, Slakaj and Nergjush.
In 1990, there were 911 households and 3,167 inhabitants in Nikaj,
primarily in the settlements of Lekbibaj (pop. 849), Gjonpepaj (pop. 638),
Peraj (pop. 630), Curraj i Epërm (pop. 623), Curraj i Poshtëm (pop. 245),
and Qereç and Kuq (pop. 137). Since that time, the population has declined
substantially, as throughout the northern mountains in general, due to
migration to the coast.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The legendary ancestral father of the Nikaj tribe was a herdsman from
Krasniqja called Nikë Mekshi, who left the Krasniqja region around 1550–
1600 when it was still Christian, and settled in the area of Paplekaj i
Epërm.6 This area was said to be the oldest part of Nikaj and had the ruins
of an old church and graveyard. Nikë Mekshi was the brother of Kolë
Mekshi who is considered to have been the ancestral father of the
Kolmekshaj branch of the Krasniqja tribe. For this reason, Nikaj does not
traditionally intermarry with Krasniqja, in particular with the Kolmekshaj.
They consider the Krasniqja to be their brothers, i.e. the same fis, even
though they traditionally had stronger relations with the neighbouring
Mërturi tribe who are geographically closer.
Nikë Mekshi's son, Bibë Nikaj (or Biba i Nikës), had three sons of his
own: Lekë Bibaj, Kolë Bibaj and Mar or Mark Bibaj, the latter of whom
was also called Curr. Lekë Bibaj, in turn, had a son called Pap Lekaj, who
was founder of the settlement of Paplekaj, and Lekë's grandson, Nikë Preni,
founded Nikprenaj (Nikprendaj). The inhabitants of Curraj are said to
descend from Mark Bibaj and his two sons, Nikë Bibaj and Pre Bibaj.7
In oral tradition, the Nikaj tribe is said to have replaced an earlier
population called the Mavriqi. They were said to stem from Vajush near
Shkodra8 and settled in the mountains of Nikaj in the period 1416–1500.
With the spread of the Nikaj, most of the earlier inhabitants emigrated to the
Gucia region, although some of them remained and were assimilated. This
earlier population is associated, in particular, with the settlement of Kapit.
Some families in Nikaj may also have been of Kelmendi or Bosnian
origin.9 Baron Nopcsa noted: ‘In contrast to many other tribes of northern
Albania, the Nikaj stress that they are not from Dukagjin. Rightly or
wrongly, the Nikaj regard themselves, like the Krasniqja and Vasojević, as
being blood-related to the Hoti.’10
The Nikaj were the hereditary enemies of the equally Catholic Shala
tribe, and were considered, together with the Dushmani, to be among the
wildest inhabitants of the northern mountains. The water divide in the
mountains between Nikaj and Shala at Kryqi i Bajraktarit was the site of
much fighting between Nikaj and Shala over the decades, and probably
over centuries. In times of need, the Nikaj were assisted by the Krasniqja,
and the Shala were assisted by their allies from the Shoshi tribe. In return,
Nikaj came to the assistance of the Krasniqja tribe whenever it was in
conflict with Gashi. Typical of the fighting between Nikaj and Shala is the
following piece of oral history recorded by a Nikaj tribesman in 1956:

A Mërturi man killed two fellows from Shala at Lugi i

Ndërmajnës which was on Nikaj territory. Shala sent word to
Nikaj: ‘We want our men back!’ The elders of Nikaj gathered and
after much investigation and talk, discovered that the two Shala
fellows had indeed been killed by a Mërturi man. Two different
opinions reigned at the tribal assembly. Some said: ‘We are not
responsible because we have concluded a shepherds' besa with
Shala. We do not kill them and they do not kill us.’ Others said:
‘The men of Shala were killed on our land so they were our
“guests” and we are responsible. The murderer should have killed
them elsewhere, not on our land.’ The second opinion won out
and Nikaj was dishonoured. Nikaj then sent word to Nikë
Myftari, the bajraktar of Mërturi: ‘Hand over the murderer
because he has dishonoured us.’ Mërturi sent word back, saying:
‘We simply took the blood that the Shala owed us.’ Nikaj let out a
warcry to attack Mërturi. Mërturi responded with a warcry to
fight Nikaj. The Mërturi fighters assembled on the banks of the
Drin at the Mërturi Bridge and lay in ambush for the Nikaj, but
 the Nikaj men overcame the ambush, burned down four or five
kullas in Mërturi and killed four or five of their men, though they
lost several fighters of their own on the battlefield. The elders of
the tribes intervened and decided that an equal amount of blood
had been spilled on both sides. Nikaj had thus taken revenge for
the ‘guest’ from Shala who had been treacherously slain.11

In the first half of the twentieth century, the Nikaj tribe had a voyvoda,
three tribal elders and a bajraktar. The leading figure of the tribe by this
time was the voyvoda, who resided in Lekbibaj, whereas the bajraktar was
simply a military chief in time of war. The last bajraktars of Nikaj were:
Bash Bajrami (d. 1906), Sokol Basha (d. 1925), Deli Sokoli (d. 1936) and
Sokol Delia (d. 1945). Nikaj had originally formed a common bajrak with
Krasniqja for defence purposes. At the battle of Cernica, however, Nikaj
won a banner from its enemy and declared itself to be a bajrak of its own
right. The banner of Nikaj was white with a black hand in the middle of it.
It was with this banner that the last bajraktar Sokol Delia was laid to rest.

Travel Impressions
Karl Steinmetz, who travelled on foot through Nikaj in 1904, reported on
the region as follows:

The Nikaj are the hereditary enemies of the Shala. Where Nikaj
and Shala meet, rifles always ring out. In some cases, however,
the member of one tribe can travel in the other tribal region on
condition that he be accompanied by a member of the tribe he is
visiting. […] The Nikaj and the Mërturi are notorious horse and
cattle thieves. Hardly a day goes by that a horse stolen in the
region is not taken from Nikaj down to Shkodra. When I was out
seeing the sites with the missionary of Gjonpepaj the next day, I
saw three such horses in a pasture that were waiting to be
transported. The pastor told me that his mule had been stolen by a
few Mërturi a week earlier.12

Steinmetz recorded great poverty in Nikaj as well as much unbridled

violence, but also hospitality:
The Nikaj engage in herding and farming, but the results are not
enough to survive on because the tribal territory is karstic and
infertile by nature. Water must be brought in from afar to irrigate
the fields on the small terraces along the slopes (there is no room
for farming or herding at the bottom of the valley). Despite all
their efforts, the harvests can fail and this often means starvation.
Everywhere you go in Nikaj, you come across emaciated figures.
I saw many men who did not even have a shirt to wear. However,
none of them lacked rifles and cartridge belts. The latter are
essential as can be understood from the following. I took
advantage of the opportunity of my stay here to find out whether
a substantial percentage of the men do actually die violent deaths
or whether such stories were exaggerated. It so happened that the
missionary in Gjonpepaj kept a record of all deaths in Nikaj.
According to this register, 13 men died in 1902, of whom only
three died of natural causes. Ten were shot. The number is not this
high every year, but it can nonetheless be stated that at least half
of all men die a violent death. It must be stressed, however, that
this is only true for the four warrior tribes of the mountains:
Nikaj, Mërturi, Shala and Shoshi. The other tribes of northern
Albania have much lower percentages.13
After sunset or whenever a Nikaj and a Shala come across one
another, rifles are in unbridled action. Shots ring out in ecstasy
whenever they hear that a member of the opposite tribe has been
expedited to kingdom come. It is gruesome. One is reminded of
the blood-curdling tales of the redskins when one hears of the
Shala and Nikaj stealing over the mountain pass at nightfall to
ambush and slay their rivals. They often spend several days in
enemy territory with only a bit of bread and cheese with them to
eat. In the daytime they hide up in the cliffs or in the bushes until
they get their opportunity to shoot. On the second day of my stay
there, I met a Nikaj tribesman in Gjonpepaj who, as the
missionary revealed to me, had already shot twenty Shala. The
Shala tribe, as they later told me, would do anything to get their
hands on him14
 The uncle of one of my Nikaj guides had been shot two weeks
before my arrival and, as the closest relative, my guide was
obliged to take revenge. He came across the murderer, another
Nikaj tribesman, a week later and shot at him, but only managed
to wound him slightly. One can imagine my amazement when I
found out that, at the place where we had stopped to rest that day
before crossing the Valbona River, not far from Bunjaj [Bujan],
we had encountered the man my guide was pursuing and had
exchanged a few innocent words with him. When I asked him
why he did not shoot the fellow, he replied that he refrained from
doing so out of respect for me as his guest. He would have done
the same if the two had met at the house of a third party. They
would have smoked cigarettes and drunk coffee together, even
talked to one another quite normally. But if they met again a
quarter of an hour later, their rifles would have been in use. From
this, one can see how the Albanians honour and respect their
guests. The right of hospitality has absolute priority even over a
blood feud!15

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Nikaj,

which she visited in the spring of 1908:

‘Nikaj,’ said a priest bitterly, ‘is a land abandoned by God and

man.’
The tribe is of mixed origin, and consists of some three
hundred houses, so widely scattered over a wild country that the
one Franciscan in charge struggles vainly with a hopeless task.
Twenty of these houses trace origin from Kilmeni, and are
intermarriageable with the others, which are an offshoot of
Krasnich. […]
Practically it is without any form of government. The wild
population does not even obey its own council of Elders.
Wretched, abjectly poor, clad often in rags that are barely enough
for decency, lean, dark men prowl the wild valleys, knowing no
rule but that of their own most primitive instincts. And in that
forlorn land it was fated that I should stay. […]
 The tribesmen received me extremely well. Few things please
them more than almost endless pow-wows and arguments. The
only thing that they objected to about me was my straw hat. They
had never seen one before, and frankly said it was foolish,
useless, and ugly. When I discarded it, and tied my head up in a
towel and a pocket-handkerchief, in imitation of a tribesman, and
then squatted cross-legged on the ground among them, they were
quite childishly delighted, and ready to pour out the tales of blood
and horror that are part of the dull routine of their lives.16
Baron Nopcsa very much enjoyed his stay in Nikaj in 1908:
A subsequent stay in Curraj i Epërm for several days was the best
part of my Albanian travels in this period. In Curraj there was an
uninhabited building. It was actually a church and was being used
during my travels as a corn loft. It also had several unfurnished
rooms devoid of whitewash. I spent my nights in this building
with Mehmet Zeneli. We made ourselves a bed of insect-free hay.
The Curraj people soon learned of my arrival. They also knew
that there was nothing to eat in the church building, so every
evening a family invited us over to dinner. I delighted in their
invitations and returned home late at night, torch in hand, to my
modest quarters. Every morning, various men of Curraj would
come and visit. Each of them brought food with them: fish, meat,
salt, onions, sauerkraut, apples, schnapps, etc. Mehmet used all of
the provisions to make us lunch. A cloth was spread out as a table
for me and my guests, and we had great meals. In 1908, as far as I
could see, the Curraj and the Mërturi were the tribes that were the
least touched by outside influence. The worst of them were the
money-grubbing Thethi people.17

Others travellers described Nikaj in much less favourable terms. ‘The

inhabitants of Nikaj are regarded as the most pugnacious of all the
highlanders.’18 ‘The district is sterile and often waterless. Nikaj is the
wildest and most inaccessible of Albanian clans, gloomy, taciturn, and
easily offended.’19

Figures of Note
 Ndoc Nikaj
Prose writer and publisher, Dom Ndoc Nikaj (1864–1951), has been called
the father of the Albanian novel. Scion of the Nikaj tribe, he was born in
Shkodra, studied at the Jesuit Kolegjia Papnore Shqyptare (Albanian
Pontifical Seminary) there, was ordained in 1888, and subsequently worked
as a parish priest in the Shkreli mountains. As a publisher, he began his
career by founding the weekly newspaper Koha (The Time) in January
1910. In the spring of 1913, he founded another newspaper, the Besa
Shqyptare (The Albanian Pledge), which was published two to four times a
week until 1921. In addition to running newspapers, Ndoc Nikaj also had
his own small publishing company, the Shtypshkroja Nikaj (Nikaj Press),
founded in 1909, at which many of his own works and those of others were
published. Although the publishing company was not a financial success,
businessman Nikaj was able to compensate for the loss with profits earned
in other more lucrative fields, such as lumber and gunrunning. After World
War I, Nikaj turned increasingly to writing and published both educative
works for schools, religious works for the church and some literary prose.
Little is known of his personal life in later years. In the realm of creative
literature, Nikaj is the author of numerous volumes of prose in the main,
though also of some plays. During the persecution of the Catholic clergy in
northern Albania in 1946, Dom Ndoc Nikaj was arrested by the
communists, at the age of 82, on the absurd charge of ‘planning the violent
overthrow of the government’, and died in Shkodra prison in 1951.

The Mërturi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Mërturi tribal region is situated on the right (north) and left (south)
sides of the Drin River in the Districts of Puka and Tropoja in northern
Albania, basically the area to the west of the settlement of Fierza. It borders
on the traditional tribal regions of Shoshi to the west, Nikaj to the north,
Krasniqja and Thaçi to the east, Berisha to the south, and Toplana to the
southwest. On the northern side of the Drin, the Mërturi traditionally inhabit
land both to the right and to the left of the Curraj/Nikaj River that flows into
the Drin. The main settlements of Mërturi are: Raja (now Bregluma), Tetaj,
Apripa (Apripa e Gurit), Mërtur (Mërturi i Gurit), Brisa and Palç.

Population
The term Mërturi was recorded as Marturi in 1629 in an ecclesiastical
report by Giezzi Biancho.
The Mërturi tribe were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted of one bajrak. They now form a common ethnological unit with
neighbouring Nikaj. Today, one thus often speaks of Nikaj-Mërturi.
The Mërturi were almost entirely Catholic. The patron saint of the tribe
was the Virgin Mary, Zoja e Mërturit (Our Lady of Mërturi), whose feast
day, 7–8 September, commemorates her nativity. The first Franciscans
visited the Mërturi region in 1636 and settled there in 1755. In 1835 they
built the parish church of Mërturi which was constructed in Raja on a cliff
on the right bank of the Drin River.20 It was, however, dedicated to Saint
Veneranda. There were about 100–200 Muslims among them in the early
twentieth century. As in Lura and Nikaj, it was not unknown in Mërturi for
there to be Catholics and Muslims in one and the same family.
There were also Mërturi in and around Gjakova. Edith Durham noted in
the first decade of the twentieth century that ‘Djakova was founded about
four hundred years ago by two stocks from Bitush Merturi – Vula and
Merturi. Of these two the Vula stock still flourishes.’21
Johann Georg von Hahn who travelled up the Drin Valley in 1863
described the Mërturi as being much larger than the Thaçi tribe and as
living on both sides of the Drin. Their main settlements were: Saint
Sebastian, Salca, Palç, Kotez and Raja (Saint Veneranda).22
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1903, noted the following:

Tetaj is the largest settlement of Mërturi, that has a total

population of some 2,000 souls, not including the members of the
tribe who live south of the Drin River around Çelumi i Mërturit.
The two next largest settlements are Bëtosha and Raja. The
 bajraktar, Beg Delia, lives in Shëngjergj. All of the houses here,
as in Nikaj, take the form of kullas.23

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-

Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Mërturi tribe were
given as follows: 354 households with a total of 2,211 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Apripa e Gurit, Bëtosha,
Brisa, Curraj i Poshtëm, Mërturi i Gurit, Palç, Raja, Salca, Shëngjergj and
Tetaj.24

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The legendary ancestral father of the Mërturi tribe was called Lek Poga, son
of Pog Murri and grandson of Murr Deti, also known as Murr Dedi. His
brother, Kol Poga, was the ancestral father of the closely related Berisha
tribe.
This Lek Poga, also known as Leka Pogu, had five sons who settled in
the various parts of Mërturi: Bib Leka in Shëngjergj, Raja and Mulaj; Ndre
Leka in Palç, Apripa and Mërturi i Gurit; Mar Leka in Salca and Brisa; Tet
Leka in Markaj, Tetaj and Bëtosha; and Pec Leka in Bëtosha.25
The Berisha and Mërturi were initially one tribe and separated in 1520,
with the Mërturi tribe moving northwards into their present territory. While
leaving Berisha land, the Mërturi first arrived in a stony and very poor
region called Straziç where they managed gradually to drive the original
Toplana population off the slightly more fertile parts of the land. They are
said to have created a settlement here around the year 1556. In 1590, they
settled in Brisa and in some areas south of the Drin River. In 1650, the
Mërturi divided into two halves that later settled on the northwestern and
southern slopes of Mount Korja (Korja e Mërturit).26 By the early years of
the twentieth century it was, as Baron Nopcsa notes, separated into three
parts:

The Mërturi tribe is a classic example of how geographical

barriers influence tribal divisions. The Mërturi inhabit a region
that is divided by the Drin River and by the tribal land of the
Nikaj into three geographical parts: northeastern Mërturi or actual
 Mërturi north of the Drin on the slopes of Mount Korja (Korja e
Mërturit); southern Mërturi, also called Mërturi i Gurit, south of
the Drin on the slopes of Mount Shllum (Shllumi i Mërturit); and
northwestern Mërturi (Salca) on the slopes of Mount Ershell
(Maja e Ershellit). All three parts are beginning to grow
independent of one another. The two parts north of the Drin still
regulate many of their affairs in common, but the southern part
does not even attend the tribal gatherings. Of particular interest
are the relations of Salca and Mërturi i Gurit to Toplana. No doubt
as a result of the earlier expulsion of the Toplana from Straziç, the
Mërturi and Toplana are hereditary foes, and firearms are often in
action when the two tribes meet. Sometimes they conclude a
besa. What is curious is that Toplana will conclude a besa with
Salca but it is not valid for Mërturi i Gurit which is nominally the
same tribe. Mërturi i Gurit is thus forced to conclude its own
ceasefires with Toplana. It was only after a few days in Salca that
I learned that it was even related to Mërturi i Gurit. As to the
Mërturi village of Apripa, that is separated from Mërturi i Gurit
by Mount Shllum and from the rest of Mërturi by the Drin River,
it has now quite openly joined Thaçi, although it did so only for
lack of alternatives.27

Both Nikaj and Mërturi, though Catholic tribes, did their trading in
Muslim Gjakova rather than in Catholic Shkodra. Karl Steinmetz reported
as follows in August 1903 on their struggle to get to market:

The market for the whole of the Malësia e Gjakovës including

Nikaj and Mërturi is Gjakova. It is here that the mountain tribes
bring their products and it is here that they buy their goods.
However, since it is dangerous for Nikaj and Mërturi, who are
often involved in bloody skirmishes with Krasniqja, to pass
through the latter's territory, those who want to go into town
[Gjakova] gather every Friday early in the morning and they all
set off together. They return on Mondays, again all of them
together. As it happened to be a Monday on which we crossed
through Krasniqja […], we came across the Nikaj and Mërturi
returning from Gjakova. The women and girls, who are used as
 beasts of burden throughout the mountains, as they are in
Montenegro, were all loaded down, mostly with sacks of flour
and salt. Some of the men here preferred to carry only their
weapons. These poor people have to carry weights of 35 to 40
kilos for a day and a half, and climb not only over Kolsh Pass
(Qafa e Koshit) but over two other passes, which are, admittedly,
much lower. They spend the night out in the open. From time to
time, we also saw mules which are used in the mountains rather
than horses because they are sure-footed. However, because of the
trackless territory in Nikaj, Mërturi, Shala and Shoshi, there are
few mules, and none at all in Toplana and Dushmani.28

The Krasniqja Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Krasniqja (also called Krasniqi) tribal region is situated in the District
of Tropoja in northeastern Albania, north of the Drin River, from Fierza
eastwards to the District of Has, and northwards to the Montenegrin border,
including most of the upper Valbona valley. It borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Nikaj and Mërturi to the west, Thaçi and Bugjoni to the
south, Bytyçi to the east, and Gashi to the northeast. The main settlements
of Krasniqja are: Bajram Curri (Kolgecaj) which is the capital and
administrative centre, Selimaj (Gegëhysen), Bujan, Llugaj, Margegaj and
Dragobia.

Population
The term Krasniqja was recorded as Crastenigeia in 1634 in the
ecclesiastical report of the Franciscan priest Bonaventura di Palazzolo (d.
1657), as Krastenigje in 1636 in a report of the Albanian bishop of Sappa
and Sarda, Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi); and as Grastenichia in 1688
on the map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli. The
word is of Slavic origin, possibly related to BCS hrasto ‘oak’. Krasniqi is a
common family name, in particular in Kosovo.
 The Krasniqja were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common
blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and
consisted initially of one and later of two bajraks.
The Krasniqja tribe was primarily Muslim, and had close relations with
the Gashi and Bytyçi tribes. In the first decade of the twentieth century,
Edith Durham described them as ‘Albanophone and fanatically Moslem’.29
Before the coming of the Turks, they were Catholic, at least nominally.
They were strictly exogamous until about 1945, i.e. there were no marriages
within the tribe until that time. Now the custom is no longer observed.
As to population statistics, in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of
High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains' in 1841, Nicolay,
Prince of the Vasoyevich, gives the population of Krasniqja as 4,000, of
whom 1,000 were men in arms.30
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled up the Drin Valley in 1863,
reported that Krasniqja consisted of 400 households divided into four
groups, but acted as one bajrak.31 They extended down to the right bank of
the Drin River.32
On his earlier trip through Kosovo in 1858, Hahn also discovered that
the majority of the population of Prishtina was Krasniqja:

The Grashnich [Krasniqja] are to be found mainly in and around

Prishtina and constitute virtually the entire Muslim population of
that town. […] Upper and Lower Gollak are the main villages of
the Krasniqja in the region of Prishtina, where they are more or
less equal in number to the Kelmendi. They are also prominent in
Leskovac and Mitrovica, and are equally to be found in the region
of Vranje.33

There are still many people in Kosovo who identify themselves as

Krasniqja or Krasniqi, in particular in the villages of Dumnica, Drenica,
Gjilan and Prishtina as well as in Bujanovc (Bujanovac) in southern Serbia.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Krasniqjatribe
were given as follows: 864 households with a total of 4,803 inhabitants.
This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bratoshnica, Bujan,
Çerem, Dega, Dragobia, Gria, Koçanaj, Kolgecaj (Bajram Curri), Lekurtaj
(Gegëhysen), Margegaj, Pjani i epër, Pjani i poshtër, Selimaj i Madh,
Selimaj i Vogël and Shoshan.34
Krasniqja consisted traditionally of two bajraks: Dragobia in the
Valbona valley, and Bujan situated between Bajram Curri and Fierza. The
last bajraktar of Dragobia was Kadri Smajli (d. 1945), and the last
bajraktar of Bujan was Sali Mani (d. 1947), whose kulla, which served as
the site of the conference of Bujan in early January 1944, is now preserved
as a museum.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The ancestors of the Krasniqja are said to have stemmed from Bosnia and
migrated through Montenegro to the area of Reç, north of Shkodra. Then,
sometime after 1600, they moved inland to the area of Dushaj i Epër, east of
Fierza, in what is broadly their present region. Here they took over land that
had been settled by the Gashi and gradually drove the latter tribe eastwards.
In the process of establishing themselves as a tribal unit, they also drove the
Thaçi westwards across the Drin River.35
The ancestral father of the Krasniqja was Kolë Mekshi from whom the
Kolmekshaj branch of Krasniqja was formed. The Kolmekshaj are now
native to the villages of Shoshan, Kocanaj, Dragobia, Bradoshnica, Dega,
Murataj and half of the village of Margegaj. They can trace their genealogy
back 15 or 16 generations, to about the year 1600. It is said that Kolë
Mekshi had a brother called Nikë Mekshi who is regarded as the ancestral
father of the Nikaj tribe. The Nikaj and the Krasniqja, in particular the
Kolmekshaj, did not therefore intermarry.
The Krasniqja are also said to be closely related to the Slavic-speaking
Vasojević tribe in Montenegro. They were a relatively prosperous tribe,
who in addition to their own land in the upper Valbona valley and on the
eastern slopes of the Krasniqja mountains, possessed pastureland on the
southern slopes of the Curraj valley towards Nikaj territory.
The main market for the Krasniqja tribe was Gjakova, which they
reached over the 568 m. Morina Pass (Qafa e Morinës) or through Bytyçi
over the 651 m. Prush Pass (Qafa e Prushit).
 The Krasniqja were known among the mountain tribes for their
watchfulness, as reflected in the popular saying: ‘The wisdom of the Gashi,
the watchfulness of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the Berisha, the heroism of
the Kelmendi, the slyness of the Shala, a snake in the grass like the Thaçi’
(Mênja e Gashit, sŷni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës, trimnia e Kelmênit,
dredhia e Shaljanit, gjarpnia e Thaçit).

Travel Impressions
The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević, travelled through Krasniqja
in 1907:

On 17 June we set off early in the morning along the banks of the
Valbona River for Nikaj and had to cross through the Muslim
village of Krasniqi. It is a fine and wondrous place, and well in
accord with its name ‘Krasniqi’ that can be translated as
‘beautiful village.’ All around us were lush groves and hedges,
and well-cultivated fields with different crops of grain growing in
them. The white kullas of the beys and aghas were scattered here
and there like white swans as the green waters of the Valbona
foamed and made their way through the middle of the plain until
they flowed into the Drin. Above Krasniqi was the village of
Gegëhysen, where an inn welcomed weary travellers. On the way
to the inn, we came across an old graveyard under ancient oak
trees. Across from it were the remains of a monastery near which
there was once a church, the foundations of which were still
visible. The church was roofless and exposed to the elements. The
entrances to both the church and the monastery were blocked up
with rocks so that no one could enter. Until about eighty years
ago, holy mass was held in this church, when the people of
Krasniqi were still Catholic, but when they converted to Islam,
the church was barricaded and the dead were no longer buried in
the graveyard around it. Nonetheless, the people still call it ‘our
church’ and ‘our graveyard’.
We dismounted in front of the inn to rest for a while. While we
were having coffee, we were approached by a myriad of men and
women. They were exceptionally fair-skinned people who were
 gentle, polite and affable to visitors. They were all Muslims. The
women surrounded me and asked me for medicinal herbs. I had
no choice but to get up and take them over to a near-by garden
where I showed them matricaria chamomilla [camomile],
equisetum arvense [common horsetail], cichorium [chicory],
menta piperita [peppermint], althaea officinalis [marshmellow],
sambucus nigra [elderberry], verbascum [mullein], symphytum
officinale [wild comfrey], achillea millefollium [yarrow], and
tussilago farfara [coltsfoot], etc. and explained to them how they
could use them and how to prepare them. Then we got back on
our horses and proceeded along a dreadful trail for two hours to
reach the summit of Kolsh Pass from where we had a wonderful
view of the surrounding nature, of the villages of Gashi, Krasniqi,
Curraj and of the valley of the Black Drin.36

Figures of Note
Haxhi Zeka
The Kosovo Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter, Haxhi Mulla
Zeka (1832–1902), also known as Zek Mehmet Byberi and in Turkish
sources as Zejnül Abedin, was born in Shoshan, now in the District of
Tropoja. He was among the organisers of the League of Prizren, at which he
represented Peja, and was chosen as a member of its central council on 10
June 1878. As a landowner and military commander, Zeka took part in
fighting in Gjakova against Mehmet Ali Pasha in September 1878. He is
also said to have been behind the murder of Ali Pasha of Gucia in the
Rugova canyon. In 1890–2 an armed rebellion took place against Turkish
rule after years of widespread discontent about taxes and conscription into
the Ottoman army. In late May 1893, Haxhi Zeka organised forces in Peja
and the surrounding region, which were joined by men from Gjakova and
elsewhere in Kosovo. When Turkish troops were sent in to quell the
uprising and many villages were burnt down, Haxhi Zeka negotiated with
the authorities. He declared he would submit only to the authority of the
sultan and set off with five other men (two Muslims, one Catholic and two
Orthodox Serbs) for Constantinople. He arrived there in December 1893
and was received cordially by Sultan Abdulhamid II. He remained in
Constantinople for two years of ‘voluntary’ exile, and on his return to
Kosovo, on 15 October 1895, he was accorded a triumphant welcome by
the population on his way from Skopje to Peja. From 1896 to 1900, Haxhi
Zeka was once again at the head of the Albanian struggle for autonomy and
national self-determination, and led another armed uprising in Kosovo in
1897. In an effort to revive the spirit of the League of Prizren, he founded
the Besëlidhja shqiptare (Albanian League) in the same year. In Peja, on
26–30 January 1899, Haxhi Zeka organised a meeting of 450 leaders, most
of them from Kosovo, that gave rise to the Albanian League of Peja, which
he also headed. He was extremely popular with the rural and mountain
population at the turn of the century and it was rumoured that he was to be
appointed governor of a new Albanian vilayet. Soon there after, however, in
February 1902, Haxhi Zeka was murdered in the bazaar of Peja by one
Adem Zaimi of Gjakova in what was said to be a tribal dispute. His death
brought the Albanian uprising in Kosovo, Dibra and parts of northern
Albania to an end. Haxhi Zeka's well-marked grave is situated in the
courtyard of the Bajrakli Mosque in the centre of Peja.

Mic Sokoli
The nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter, Mic Sokoli (1839–81), was born
in the village of Fang near Bujan in Krasniqja. He was a noted guerrilla
leader during the years of the League of Prizren and took part in the
fighting in Gjakova against Mehmet Ali Pasha. Mic Sokoli is remembered
in particular for an act which has entered the annals of Albanian legendry as
a deed of exemplary heroism. At the battle of Slivova against Ottoman
forces in April 1881, he thrust himself against a Turkish cannon, his chest
pressed against its mouth, and perished when it was fired.

Bajram bey Curri

The noted political figure and guerrilla fighter, Bajram bey Curri (1862–
1925), had a strong connection with Krasniqja. He was one of the best-
known guerrilla commanders of Kosovo and made a name for himself in
the struggle against Ottoman and later Serbian rule. Bajram Curri was
among the founders of the Albanian League of Peja in 1899–1900 and took
part in several local armed rebellions against Ottoman rule, but also served
as an officer in the Turkish army for several years. Like most educated
Albanians, he initially supported the Young Turk movement, but distanced
himself from it when it ignored Albanian calls for autonomy. He
subsequently became a proponent of more active resistance to Turkish rule
and took part in the Kosovo uprising of 1913. In particular, together with
Hasan bey Prishtina (1873–1933) and Isa bey Boletini (1864–1916), he
organised resistance to the 1913 Treaty of London, which recognised
Serbian claims to his native Kosovo. During World War I, he supported the
Central Powers, believing that they would be more likely to liberate Kosovo
from Serbian rule. In 1918, he was forced to flee to Vienna with Hasan bey
Prishtina. Back in Albania in 1920, Bajram Curri was appointed minister
without portfolio in the Albanian government created by the Congress of
Lushnja and assisted in suppressing the forces of Essad Pasha Toptani
(1863–1920). He also led the Committee for the National Defence of
Kosovo (Komiteti Mbrojtja Kombëtare e Kosovës) in the autumn of 1920 to
promote an armed struggle against Serbian forces in Kosovo. Fearful of
international criticism, the Albanian government, however, impeded any
concrete action by Curri's committee. After the coup d'état in Albania in
December 1921 and the uprising that he himself initiated in March 1922 to
counter the Albanian government of Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961) that was
increasingly falling under Yugoslav influence, he was relieved of all his
posts. In January 1923, he and Hasan bey Prishtina organised an uprising
against Zogu, but the movement was suppressed jointly by the Albanian
and Yugoslav governments. In June 1924, he supported the so-called
Democratic Revolution of Fan Noli (1882–1965) and the latter's short-lived
government, and led the rebel movement in Kosovo and Dibra. He
accompanied Noli to Geneva to represent Albania's interests at the League
of Nations. A price was put on Bajram Curri's head when Ahmet Zogu took
power, and he fled to Krasniqja territory. On 29 March 1925, he was
surrounded by Zogist troops while hiding in a cave at Gryka e Matinës near
Dragobia in the Valbona valley. After a shoot-out, he is said to have killed
himself in order to avoid capture. The main settlement of Krasniqja tribal
territory, Kolgecaj, was later renamed Bajram Curri after him. It is now the
capital of the District of Tropoja.

The Gashi Tribe

 Location of Tribal Territory
The Gashi tribal region is situated in the District of Tropoja in northeastern
Albania, from east of the town of Bajram Curri (Kolgecaj) into the
Municipality of Gjakova in Kosovo. Much of Gashi corresponds to the
valley of the Llugaj and Bushtrica rivers. Gashi borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Krasniqja to the west, and Bytyçi over the 815 m. Luzha
Pass (Qafa e Luzhës) to the south. The Gashi tribe also possessed summer
pastureland north of the mountain to the east of Vuthaj/Vusanje (now in
Montenegro). The main settlements of Gashi are: Tropoja, Ahmataj
(Shushicë-Ahmataj), Mejdan and Luzha.

Population
The term Gashi was recorded as Gaasi in 1634 in the ecclesiastical report of
the Franciscan priest Bonaventura di Palazzolo (d. 1657), as Gassi in 1650
in the report of Fra Giacinto, and as Gassi and Gasi in 1671 in the report of
Pietro Stefano Gaspari.
The Gashi were a Muslim tribe and were the traditional enemies of the
Catholic Shala.
They were a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of common blood ties
and of a common history reaching back to one male ancestor, and consisted
of two bajraks: Gashi centred on Koçanaj, and Shipshan centred on Kasaj.
The Gashi regarded themselves as related to Krasniqja, both having come
from the west.
As to population statistics, in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of
High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains’ in 1841,
Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich, gives the population of Gashi as 4,000,
of whom 1,000 were men in arms.37
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through the region in the summer
of 1863, noted that Gashi consisted of 500 households divided into two
bajraks, the Shipshaj and the Bardhaj.38 In 1858, he had also noticed the
presence of the Gashi in the region of Leskovac in southern Serbia:

Mixed in with the Krasniqja in the region of Leskovac are

branches of the Sopi (hay), Berisha and Gashi tribes. […] Gashi
 can also be found in the region of Masurica, most of which,
however, belongs to the Krasniqja. The Gashi inhabit six villages
in the district of Leskovac, but have no relations with the rest of
their tribe in Prishtina and Vranje. Their one-time chief was Latif
Aga, famed throughout the land for this bravery. He has now been
replaced by his eldest son Reshid Aga, whose brother Emin
commands the five-man garrison at the guardhouse in Lebana
[Lebane].39

Gashi was estimated in 1908 to have a population of 4,000, with 800

households and 800 armed men.40
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Gashi tribe were
given as follows: 591 households with a total of 3,628 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Babina, Begaj, Berbat
(Shkëlzen), Buçin, Gegaj, Kernaja, Kovaç, Mehjan, Papaj and Tropoja.41
Gashi is a common family name, in particular in Kosovo, where there
are Gashi settlements in and around Prishtina (in particular in Mramor),
around Gjilan, Klina and Ferizaj.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Baron Nopcsa, who investigated the origins of the Gashi tribe in about
1907, reported that they were originally related to the Toplana:

The ancestral father of Toplana, whose name I do not know, was

the younger brother of Can Gabeti, the ancestral father of the
Shllaku. Can Gabeti lived 14 or 15 generations ago. He had
another brother called Gjergj Gabeti who was the ancestral father
of the Mëgulla tribe. A fourth brother, whose name is not known,
was the ancestral father of the Gashi tribe. […] The four brothers
originally lived in the Shllaku region where they divided up their
possessions. After the division, the ancestors of the Gashi and
Toplana moved eastwards. The Gashi settled in the region of
Serma between the Nikaj and Leshnica rivers. […] The Gashi
settlement in Serma was of short duration because its move from
that region to its present-day territory took place around 1660. As
 Monsignor Mjeda told me on the basis of an old manuscript that
is now lost, this happened because some of the remaining
Catholics of Gashi murdered two hodjas. The tribe was then
surrounded by the troops of Begolli Bey of Peja and forced to
give up their Catholic religion and to take up residence in the new
region where a native population called Anas lived. Another
legend in Toplana has the Gashi emigrating from the Toplana
region around the year 1600. […] The genealogy of the Toplana
comprises 13 generations. The original emigration of the Gashi
and Toplana from Shllaku must therefore have taken place around
1524 or perhaps somewhat earlier, probably as a result of the first
Turkish war in Albania.42

At any rate, the Gashi are thought to have been the first tribe in the
region of Tropoja, i.e. before the Krasniqja. Historical reference is made to
another ancestral father of the Gashi called Leka, the son of Petri Spani,
who lived in the settlement of Selimaj (Gegëhysen) in the second half of the
fifteenth century.43 Frang Bardhi, the Bishop of Sappa and Sarda, noted
their presence in a report in 1636:

After crossing the Drin River, we visited a village called

Krastenigje [Krasniqja]. From this village, we crossed the
Valbona River and visited another village called Gash where we
were well received. This village is quite large – 97 households
with 866 Christian souls. The centre of this village is Selimaj. The
head of the Gashi tribe is called Pjetër Spani, formerly Lord of
Pulat.44

Another component of the Gashi tribe were the Bardhët (i bardhë means
‘white’) who, in the seventeenth century, stemmed from the Kuči tribe in
Montenegro, which was originally Albanian and is now Slavic-speaking.
Their descendants are Muslim and can trace their origins back 13 or 14
generations. They settled in the village of Gosturan in the upper reaches of
the Tropoja River sometime between 1600 and 1650.45
The Shipshan bajrak of the Gashi tribe is said, according to legend, to
have been founded in the seventeenth century by a gypsy man who married
the daughter of the tribal leader of Gashi and moved with her to Shipshan.
The toponym was first recorded in the Ottoman register of 1485 as a village
of 42 households.
The main market for the Gashi tribe was Gjakova that they reached over
the Morina Pass (Qafa e Morinës) which was in their territory. They
traditionally met with the neighbouring Krasniqja tribe at Vorret e Shalës
(Shala Graves), which was situated on a ridge between the Valbona and
Tropoja rivers.
The Gashi were known among the mountain tribes for their wisdom, as
reflected in the popular saying: ‘The wisdom of the Gashi, the watchfulness
of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the Berisha, the heroism of the Kelmendi, the
slyness of the Shala, a snake in the grass like the Thaçi’ (Mênja e Gashit,
sŷni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës, trimnia e Kelmênit, dredhia e Shaljanit,
gjarpnia e Thaçit).

The Bytyçi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The tribal region of the Bytyçi, also spelled Bityçi, Bitiçi and Bytyqi, is
situated in the southeastern part of the District of Tropoja in northeastern
Albania, north of the Drin River. It borders on the traditional tribal regions
of Gashi to the northwest over the 815 m. Luzha Pass (Qafa e Luzhës),
Krasniqja to the west and Hasi to the south. East of Bytyçi, over the 651 m.
Prush Pass (Qafa e Prushit), is Gjakova in Kosovo. The main settlements of
Bytyçi, which consists of a plain surrounded by low hills, are: Kam, which
is its administrative centre, Çorraj, Viliq (Çorr-Velaj), Kepenek, Leniq,
Mash, Pac, Prush, Visoça, Vlad, Zogaj and Zherka. The traditional territory
of Bytyçi also includes the high mountain pastures of Sylbica.

Population
The term Bytyç was first recorded in the register of the Sanjak of Dukagjin
in 1571 as being a neighbourhood (mahalla) of Rodogosht and part of
Rudina. It had 39 households at that time. The term is said to stem from
Aromanian and means ‘potter’, since clay pots were produced here,
although this etymology is uncertain.
The Bytyçi are a Muslim tribe. They were a fis, i.e. a community that is
aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one
male ancestor, and consisted of one bajrak. They were traditionally herders
and farmers.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Bytyçi tribe were
given as follows: 354 households with a total of 2,044 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Berisha, Kam, Kepenek,
Luzha, Pac, Vlad, Zherka and Zogaj.46 In 2004, Bytyçi had a population of
2,078, and in 2008 of 2,185 inhabitants.
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through Kosovo in 1858, also
noted the presence of two Bytyçi villages in the Llap valley around
Podujeva in northwestern Kosovo.47 There are still many Bytyçi families in
and around Ferizaj, Gjakova and Suhareka.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Bytyçi tribe derives its ancestry from a figure called Lekë Bytyçi, who
stemmed from the lower Drin Valley around Koman. He and his people
moved eastwards and settled in what is now Viliq. Lekë Bytyçi had three
sons: Vili, Biba and Karli. Vili, the eldest son, moved on from Bytyçi land
and settled in the region of Prizren. Biba settled in the eastern part of the
Bytyçi valley, around Rasada and Pac. He had three sons: Martin, Gjon and
Pac. Karli, the youngest son of Lekë Bytyçi, settled with this family in the
western part of the Bytyçi valley, around Viliq. He had one son, Vili, and
many daughters whom he married off to the Krasniqja and Hasi tribes.48
Another, although similar version of their ancestry, has them stemming
from the Shkreli tribe. They took the name Bytyçi from the new region in
which they settled, some time after 1600.49
In Ottoman times, the Bytyçi region was traditionally part of the kaza of
Gjakova (Altun-ili). In the second half of the eighteenth and the first half of
the nineteenth century (up to 1864) it was under the sway of the Begolli
pashas of Peja, and from 1864 to 1912 it formed part of the Vilayet of
Kosovo. The Serbian invasion of the region in 1912 resulted in Bytyçi
being cut off from its market towns of Gjakova and Peja and in the
consequent destitution of the tribe. Bytyçi was on the Albanian side of the
border, and its nearby markets were in Serbian-occupied Kosovo.
Bytyçi and the rest of the Gjakova Highlands (Malësia e Gjakovës) were
invaded by Serbian forces in October 1913. In Bytyçi itself, 2,000 homes
were burned to the ground and 51 men were killed. The Bytyçi region was
attacked by Serbian forces again in June and August 1915. In the autumn of
that year, the village of Qerret inhabited by the Ukshi family was wiped out
almost entirely. Only one family member survived, who had not been in the
village at the time of the attack.

Travel Impressions
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1903, left the following impressions:

On the other side of Luzha Pass, I glimpsed a beautiful little

plateau surrounded by low mountains draped in bushes. It was
covered from one end to the other in green meadows and fields,
and there were houses scattered all around the slopes. Here and
there were grazing flocks and a brook meandering through the
beautiful scene. Before me lay the basin of Bytyçi, the richest
region of the mountains. As mentioned earlier, the Bytyçi are a
much weaker tribe than the Krasniqja and the Gashi, but they
nonetheless enjoy a great reputation among the other two for their
prosperity and their bravery.50
The tribal regions of Puka and Mirdita

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 5

THE TRIBES OF THE PUKA

REGION

The Qerreti Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Qerreti (also Chereti) tribal region is situated in the District of Puka in
northern central Albania. It is located on the left (southern) side of the Drin
River in the area northwest of the town of Puka. Qerreti, which is
considered one of the ‘seven tribes of Puka’ (shtatë bajrakët e Pukës),
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Mazreku and Shllaku on the
other side of the Drin River to the north, on Puka and Kabashi to the east,
and on Spaçi in Mirdita to the south. The main settlements of Qerreti are:
Qerreti i Madh (‘Greater Qerret’, also known as Qerreti i Epërm, ‘Upper
Qerret’), Qerreti i Vogël (‘Lesser Qerret’, formerly known as Qerreti i
poshtër, ‘Lower Qerret’), Kçira and Dush.

Population
The term Qerret occurs as Cetereti in a report of the Catholic Archbishop of
Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich, in 1703. It seems to be
etymologically related to Alb. qarr ‘Turkey oak tree’ (Quercus cerris).
 The bajrak of Qerreti was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in
the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common
ancestor.
The Qerreti were primarily Catholic (85 per cent) with a minority of
Muslims (15 per cent). They were closely related to the Kabashi and other
Puka tribes.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Qerreti tribe were
given as follows: 327 households with a total of 2,080 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Dush, Karma, Kçira,
Koman, Qerret i Epërm (Qerret i Madh) and Qerret i Poshtër (Qerret i
Vogël).1

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Qerreti were a relatively old tribe in the region. According to tradition,
they were related to the Bytyçi, who moved eastwards from their original
homeland around Komani, and to the autonomous house of Pervozi in
Qelëza. The Qerreti of Vilza, now in Drishti tribal land, stemmed, however,
from the Dushmani.2

Travel Impressions
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled up the Drin Valley by boat in the
summer of 1863, was impressed by the impetuous behaviour and the
hospitality of the natives of the region:

At Don Angelo's request, when we left Malç, we took on board

with us four men to serve as boat hands. He spoke to them,
saying, ‘Come with us and help us, otherwise it will all be in
vain.’ The men immediately clambered into the barques. None of
them requested time to fetch his coat or other necessities, and
none of them asked those staying behind to inform their wives.
Nor did any of those staying behind ask to be taken with us. The
ease and light-heartedness with which Albanians make decisions
is one of their chief characteristics. They are men given to deeds,
but no more than that. A consequence of their impetuous
behaviour is that they change moods very quickly. I asked Don
Angelo about this and he confirmed my perception of things
entirely. He spoke in particular about the legendary touchiness of
the Albanians and their violent tempers. He gave me several
examples of young people who were good friends and who went
out together, laughed and joked around, and then, all of a sudden,
one of them would draw his pistol and shoot the other. This swift
change of mood is something that can be encountered in
predatory animals. I do not regard it as a positive characteristic of
the Albanians, but rather as a sign of their low level of
civilization. This explains their erratic behaviour, something
which has often been noticed about this people.
However, we were also offered ample proof here of a positive
aspect of the Albanian character –their boundless hospitality.
From Malç onwards, hardly an hour went by on the river that we
were not called over to the bank to stop and were given gifts.
These consisted mostly of grapes, figs and peaches, the latter
being of excellent quality and without any doubt the best produce
of this stony land. But we were also given apples and pears,
though of lesser quality than the peaches, and indeed brandy and
a sort of pancake that the Greeks call tiganites. In some places we
were veritably heaped with fruit. I remember one day that the 21
of us on board (7 travellers, 6 sailors, 2 kavasses and 6 natives)
had so much fruit that lay in heaps in boxes on the boat, that we
could not manage to eat it all. None of the Albanians took any of
it themselves, but only ate what I gave them or what I ordered to
be given to them. When they took off their clothes to enter the
water, they always excused themselves, saying there was no other
way and I had hired them for the job, and when they got back into
the boat naked, they covered themselves as best they could and
turned their backs to us. There were no incivilities, and no
inappropriate words or gestures.
When we got past the village of Karma, we came across six
natives on the riverbank whom Don Angelo had asked, via a
messenger, to come. They explained that we would have no
problem with the gorge, but that at its upper end there was a
 difficult stretch because there was no bank. They suggested that
we all get out and use the mountain path that would take us to the
top of the gorge in one and a half hours. There we should wait
until the barques arrived. I could see the gorge, but I did not want
to leave all of our things unattended. In addition to this, the crew
stated that they would not proceed without one of us being
present with them. As such, I remained on board and the others
got out and took the said path. The tallest of our new native
companions, pointing to my high boots, said to me: ‘You are
going to get wet even with your boots on.’ I replied: ‘Then I will
ride piggy back on you.’ The others laughed and I was happy to
have established a good rapport with them, because I was the first
Frank that these children of nature had ever seen, and they had no
place for me on their social ladder (short as it may have been).
The men all behaved properly. They answered my questions
without delay and carried out all of my orders without any
arguments.3

The Puka Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Puka tribal region is situated in the District of Puka in northern central
Albania. It is located on the left (southern) side of the Drin River along the
old road from Shkodra to Prizren. Puka, which is considered one of the
‘seven tribes of Puka’ (shtatë bajrakët e Pukës), borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Qerreti to the west, Dushmani and Berisha to the north,
Kabashi to the east, and Spaçi in Mirdita to the south. The main settlement
of the Puka tribal region is the town of Puka, which is currently the
administrative centre of the District of Puka.

Population
The term Puka first occurs as Epicaria recorded by the Greco-Roman writer
Ptolomy in about 150 A.D. It occurs in Latin as Ad Piccaria about 100 years
later in the Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger Table). A Turkish-language
document records the form Puka in 15834 and we find the forms Pucha and
Puuka in 1634 in the ecclesiastical report by Pietro Maserecco, Puucha in
1641 in the report of Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi), Puuca around 1685
in the report of Giorgio Stampaneo, Puka on the 1689 map of the Italian
cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola, Puca in 1691 on the map of the
Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli, Puka in 1703 in a report
of the Catholic archbishop of Bar [Antivari] Vincentius Zmajevich, and
Poucha in 1821 on the map of French consul Hugues Pouqueville.
The word Puka is said to be a corruption of Latin via publica ‘public
road’, for which we find the Alb. expression udhë e pukë in a text of Frang
Bardhi, the settlement being an important stop on the Roman highway from
Lissus (Lezha) to Ulpiana in Kosovo. However, although this Latin publica
seems to have influenced the Albanian form, it must be secondary in view
of earlier forms Epicaria and Piccaria.
The bajrak of Puka was entirely Muslim. It was of polyphyletic origin
and was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male
side from one common ancestor.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Puka tribe were
given as follows: 234 households with a total of 1,525 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Blinisht, Buzhala, Dedaj,
Duzhneza, Lëvrushk, Midha, Puka and Ukth.5

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

A town was founded on Puka tribal land in 1673 to secure the trade route
from Gjakova to Prizren from the attacks of the Iballja tribe in Thaçi. It was
destroyed soon after the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, but was rebuilt. It had
a modest fortification with a circumference of less than a fifth of a mile and
with low walls. Only the commander lived in the fortress. The houses of the
troops, consisting of Catholics and Muslims alike, were outside the walls.
From time to time, the authorities sent out punitive expeditions against the
unruly tribes in the region, but with few long-term results.6
The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported in the mid-nineteenth
century on the ruins of this fortress not far from present-day Puka, which,
according to tradition, had been inhabited by an Albanian prince called
Paolo Zenta. Several of the families with land around the ruins enjoyed
great prestige and claimed to descend from the prince. They added his name
to the Turkish names they took on when they converted to Islam. Hecquard
adds that among the many noted chieftains of Dukagjin, whose names
survived and were recorded by Marinus Barletius, was this Paolo Zenta, a
relative of the Lekë Dukagjini, after whom the kanun was named.7

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Puka,
which she visited in the spring of 1908:

About 4.30 we arrived at a han not far from Puka, men and beasts
all tired out, and camped for the night in a field. There was plenty
of water. The horses, freed from their packs, were turned out to
graze at two pence a head.
Two time-expired soldiers had joined our caravan, one a
Moslem Serb from Plevlje, and the other an Albanian from
Mitrovitza, both homeward bound. The Serb, a civil fellow, spoke
little Albanian and kept quite apart from the others. He was
deathly tired, groaned at the thought of the week's tramp yet
before him, and rolled over fast asleep upon the ground as soon as
we halted.
The hanjee provided hay for my bed and a stewed fowl for my
supper. The hides were piled high, the horses picketed in line. We
sat round a fire on the ground–the two beaky-nosed, grey-eyed
Djakova men and the two soldiers. The Serb–though a Turkish
subject and a Moslem–appeared to be considered as much a
foreigner as myself. There was a red glow of firelight and a
crackling shower of sparks as dry brushwood was piled on. The
picketed horses munched steadily at a feed of maize. Over all was
the intense blue depth of the cloudless night sky, ablaze with a
myriad stars. I wondered why people ever lived in houses as I
rolled up in my rug on the hay bed.
 Two faithful dogs guarded us all night, and had they not
chosen my hay as the most comfortable place to sleep in, and
barked loudly close to my ear whenever an imaginary danger
threatened, I should have slept very well. But to lie awake under
the stars is not the misery of sleeplessness in a room–rather it is
pure joy. I saw them fade slowly as the dawn crept up–the
crescent moon hung low–there came a dash of brilliant yellow
over the hills–another day had begun. We rose and shook
ourselves, and those that wished went and dipped their hands and
face in the stream.
The weary task of pack-saddling began again. I walked with
Marko to the brow of one hill and saw over to the land of Berisha.
Puka is a very large tribe of seven bariaks–Puka, Komani,
Dushaj, Cheriti, Chiri, Berisha and Merturi-Gurit, and Kabashi. It
is partly Moslem and partly Christian. Puka is the gathering-place
for all. Three days before they had celebrated ‘Constitution,’ and
enjoyed themselves immensely, said the hanjee. Now they would
like to know what Constitution was.8

The Kabashi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kabashi tribal region is situated in the District of Puka in northern
central Albania. It is located on the left (southern) side of the Drin River in
an area directly north of the towns of Puka and Fushë Arrëz. Kabashi,
which is considered one of the ‘seven tribes of Puka’ (shtatë bajrakët e
Pukës), borders on the traditional tribal regions of Puka and Qerreti to the
west, Dushmani on the other side of the Drin to the northwest, Berisha to
the north, Iballja in Thaçi to the east, and Spaçi in Mirdita to the south. It
centres on the basin of the Gomina River that flows into the Drin. The main
settlements of Kabashi are: Qelëza, Kabash, Meçja, Ukth, Bushat, Dedaj,
Micój and Kryezi.

Population
The term Kabashi occurs as Gabasu, a ‘fortezza di legno in monte’ (wooden
mountain fortress), on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco
Maria Coronelli, as Kabasci on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer
Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola, as Kabasi on the 1691 map of Coronelli, as
Cabassi in 1621 in an ecclesiastical report by Giezzi Biancho, and as
Cabasci in1703 in a report of the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari],
Vincentius Zmajevich. The term may also be reflected in the family name
Kabasilla, which goes back to the twelfth century.9
Kabashi was one of the tribes of the Puka region. It was a bajrak and not
a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from one
common ancestor. Karl Steinmetz, who travelled through the region in
August 1903, defined Kabashi as having two bajraks, Puka and Qelëza.10
Others have referred to the two bajraks as being the Kabashi and the
Tërthora in Puka.11
Kabashi was an originally Catholic tribe before its conversion to Islam.
The main Catholic church in Kabashi was dedicated to Saint John the
Baptist, although there were other churches dedicated to Saint Nicholas,
Saint Peter, Saint Jeremiah (Jeremia), Saint Elijah (Ilia) and Saint
Veneranda. More importantly, there was also an old Benedictine abbey of
Saint Paul in Grykë-Kabash, southeast of Kodër-Qafaliaj on the right side
of the Gomina River, which may have dated back to the middle of the
fourteenth century. It was well known in the region in the seventeenth
century and, perhaps for this reason, Saint Paul served as patron of the
regions of Kabashi and Puka.12 In about 1930, the Italian geographer
Ermanno Armao spoke of Kabashi as being two-thirds Muslim and one-
third Catholic.13 The Christian tradition has not died out entirely as one still
finds some Catholics among the Muslim majority.
Nonetheless, Kabashi is said to have been the first northern Albanian
tribe to convert to Islam. This conversion took place in the seventeenth
century. The main mosque of Kabashi dates from the mid-nineteenth
century.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kabashi tribe
were given as follows: 223 households with a total of 1,494 inhabitants.
This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bicaj, Hadroj, Kabash,
Micoj, Qelëza, Rrapja and Rrypa.14
Families of Kabashi tribesmen also migrated to Kosovo where one finds
the family name particularly in the regions of Prizren and Vitia.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Kabashi are said to have emigrated northwards from an original
homeland of Kaloja in southern Albania, which was said to be in the region
of Janina, now in northern Greece, but which may simply be Kolonja in
southeast Albania. The emigration of the Kabashi may have taken place as
early as 1500. Baron Nopcsa dates their appearance in the region south of
the Drin to before 1600 because they encountered the Dushmani and Qerreti
tribes there on their arrival. Tradition has it that they were accorded the
region as a reward for the conversion to Islam.15
The Kabashi tribe was composed traditionally of four leading families:
the Kokaj, the Qafaliaj, the Lushaj and the Hadroj. In oral tradition, these
families are said to stem from four brothers: Koka Leka, Qafa Leka, Lusha
Leka and Hadro Leka, who settled in various parts of present-day Kabashi
territory. According to legend, the eldest brother, Koka, was insensed when
the youngest brother, Hadro, ‘turned Turk’, i.e. converted to Islam. Fearful
of his brother's wrath, Hadro and his family fled to Kosovo. Koka caught
them on their way, while they were crossing the Vizier's Bridge over the
Drin, and shot his brother dead. Kabashi reacted badly to this killing, and
leadership of the tribe was given to the second brother, Qafa Leka, whose
family later converted to Islam too.16
An Ottoman document dating from 1571 refers to one Gjin Kabashi in
Rrapja, which had 20 households.
At the time of the Bushatlliu dynasty in Shkodra, i.e. in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Kabashi held the honour of
being the third of the 12 tribes of Leka, coming after Hoti and Oroshi.
We know that a group of Kabashi emigrated to Prizren in 1736. The
Russian consul there, Ivan Stepanovič Jastrebov (1839–94), reported that
their ancestors had arrived from the Janina region 400 years before his
time.17
 Within the Kabashi region there was also a group called the Qelëza,
around the current settlement of the same name. The earliest representative
of the Qelëza (formerly also Qelza, Čelza) tribe, if we may regard them as a
separate tribe, was an autochtonous family called Pervoci that lived around
the parish church of Qelëza (the Church of Saint Paul), perhaps in the early
fifteenth century. Around 1450, four shepherds arrived from Kçira and
settled in Qelëza, too. Nopcsa collected a genealogy of these Qelëza that
began with a Mark and his son, Gjon Marku, and estimated that they lived
around the year 1720.18

The Berisha Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Berisha tribal region is situated south of the Drin River in the present
District of Puka in northern Albania, to the west of the settlement of Fierza.
Berisha, which is considered one of the ‘seven tribes of Puka’ (shtatë
bajrakët e Pukës), borders on the traditional tribal regions of Dushmani and
Toplana to the west, Bugjoni to the north, Iballja to the east and Kabashi to
the south. Its territory centres on the basin of the Sapaç River that flows into
the Drin. According to Baron Nopcsa, the early traditional borders of
Berisha were Mount Kunora (Maja e Kunorës) and the Balç Pass (Qafa e
Balçit) and from there to Korabi and to a stone tower (kulla) near Papi.19
The main settlements of Berisha, all tiny hamlets, are: Berisha e Vogël
(Little Berisha), Shopël and Berisha e Epërme (Upper Berisha).

Population
The term Berisha was recorded as Berisa in 1691 on the map of the
Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli. Berisha is a common
family name, in particular in Kosovo. It is internationally best known in the
figure of the political leader Sali Berisha (b. 1944) who was president
(1992–7) and prime minister (2005–13) of Albania.
As opposed to the other tribes of Puka, the Berisha were a fis, i.e. a
community that is aware of common blood ties and of a common history
reaching back to one male ancestor. Indeed they were the only
monophyletic tribe in the Dukagjin region south of the Drin.20
The Berisha are a Catholic tribe. In the villages around Peja in Kosovo,
where many Berisha settled, they celebrated the feast of the Assumption of
the Virgin Mary, known as Zoja e Berishës (Our Lady of Berisha),
traditionally on 15 August. The feast was also known as Shën Mëri i gushtit
(Saint Mary of August).
As to population statistics, in his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of
High Albania, in particular on the Independent Mountains' in 1841, Nicolay,
Prince of the Vasoyevich, gives the population of Berisha as 16,000, of
whom 4,000 were men in arms, although this figure, being very high,
probably includes neighbouring tribes.21
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through Kosovo in 1858, noted
the presence of various Berisha clans in the Karadag mountains on the
present border between Kosovo and Macedonia, north of Skopje: ‘Almost
all of the inhabitants of Karadag22 are Berisha. […] The Berisha have seven
branches: (1) Asqur, (2) Ali Shiça, (3) Dodo, (4) Murtur, (5) Livosh, (6)
Kuç, (7) Gec, and these branches divide into even smaller units.’23
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Berisha tribe were
given as follows: 171 households with a total of 1,013 inhabitants.24 It was
later said to have a population of some 2,300.25

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Berisha are reputed to be one of the oldest tribes in the northern
mountains, with a genealogy reaching back to about 1360–70,26 and seem
to have inhabited what is broadly the same region for centuries. The Berisha
people told Edith Durham that they had always been in their present
homeland.27 They are said to be among the ancestors of the now Slavic-
speaking Kuči tribe, who go back to 1416, of the Slavic-speaking Piperi and
Crnojević tribes, and of the Albanian-speaking Gruda and Mërturi tribes. A
distinction was made between White Berisha (the ancestors of present-day
Berisha, Mërturi and Piperi) and Red Berisha (the ancestors of the Kuči
tribe – i kuq meaning ‘red’ in Albanian).
 Baron Nopcsa dated the term Berisha at least back to 1510. The
legendary ancestral father of the Berisha tribe was called Kol Poga, son of
Pog Murri and grandson of Murr Deti (or Murr Dedi). His brother, Lek
Poga, was the ancestral father of the closely related Mërturi tribe that
separated from Berisha in 1520.
According to legend, Scanderbeg cursed the Berisha of Muhurr when he
discovered that they were collaborating with the Turks:

Or Berish, Berish qeni,

Kërkund vend mos t'zantë kuvendi,
Si n'të raj, si në pleqnajë,
Kurr mos u bafsh tri shpajë.

(Hounds of Berisha, curse upon you,

May you never find assembly,
May you, young and old, ne'er flourish,
May you never have three houses.)

From the late fifteenth century onwards, the Catholic Berisha were in
conflict with the Turks and, in particular, with the neighbouring Kabashi
tribe that had converted to Islam. With the help of Kabashi, the Turks were
able to conquer virtually all of Berisha territory, with the exception of the
church of Berisha. Some of the population was then exiled to the coast and
others were sent abroad to a place called Mahmur Dedi.28
Around 1650, the Berisha were involved in serious border skirmishes, in
particular with the Thaçi tribe, and lost much territory to them, especially
around Iballja. Nopcsa reported that there was still much hostility between
Berisha and Thaçi in his day. After the conflict with Thaçi, the Berisha,
under their leader Mem i Dodës, were involved in a struggle with Mahmud
Begolli Bey of Peja around 1737–40, when the latter led his troops from
Gjakova via Vau i Spasit to Shkodra. Mahmud Begolli Bey is said to have
burnt Berisha to ashes, such that the smoke from the raging fires could be
seen as far away as Vau i Dejës, near Shkodra. He also seized the bell of the
church of Berisha as booty and took many Berisha women and children as
his prisoners. For these deeds, he was murdered by Osman Deda of Berisha
and Gjonush Pali of Shllaku, both of whom were subsequently executed.
The two men were later canonised by the Church for their bloody deed on
behalf of their Catholic faith.29
Many Berisha emigrated to the Gjakova region, and there were
numerous Berisha settlements to the northwest of the town. There they
became Muslim.30 There were also some Berisha in Dibra and Ulqin/Ulcinj.
The Berisha were known among the mountain tribes for their wrath
(Berisha mënin), as reflected in the popular saying: ‘The wisdom of the
Gashi, the watchfulness of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the Berisha, the
heroism of the Kelmendi, the slyness of the Shala, a snake in the grass like
the Thaçi’ (Mênja e Gashit, syni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës, trimnia e
Kelmênit, dredhia e Shaljanit, gjarpnia e Thaçit).

The Thaçi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Thaçi tribal region is situated in the District of Puka on the left
(southern) side of the Drin River in northern Albania. It is basically the
region to the south and southeast of Fierza. It borders on the tribal regions
of Krasniqja to the north across the Drin River, and Mërturi and Berisha to
the west. Thaçi corresponds alternatively to the regions of Bugjoni and
Iballja, which are its two bajraks, and forms part of the ‘seven tribes of
Puka’ (shtatë bajrakët e Pukës). The main settlements of Thaçi are: Bugjon,
Porav, Apripa e keqe, Miliská, Arst, Mëzi, and Iballja, which is now its
administrative centre.

Population
The term Thaçi was recorded as Tatschi in 1867 by Johann Georg von Hahn
on his journey through the region.
The Catholic Thaçi tribe consisted of two bajraks, Bugjoni and Iballja.
The latter, which is geographically separated from the rest of Thaçi by the
Bugjon River and a mountain, was also inhabited by numerous immigrant
settlers from Toplana and, in the early twentieth century, it showed a good
deal of autonomy from Thaçi proper such that it was sometimes regarded as
a tribe of its own.
In his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania, in particular on
the Independent Mountains' in 1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich,
gives the population of Thaçi as 2,800, of whom 700 were men in arms.31
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled up the Drin Valley in 1863,
reported that Thaçi consisted of 400 households and was divided into four
main family groups called Buçaj, Gegaj, Bobi and Brengaçi. Altogether, as
he stated, they made up one bajrak that stretched along the southern bank of
the Drin River.32
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Thaçi tribe
(Bugjon and Iballja) were as follows: 688 households with a total of 4,395
inhabitants. This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bugjon,
Fierza, Kokëdoda, Porav, Arst, Dardha, Flet, Iballja, Kulumbria, Kryezi,
Miliská, Mëzi, Truen and Xath.33
Thaçi was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a
tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common ancestor.
Of Thaçi origin is the Vokshi tribe that settled in Kosovo in the region
between Junik and Deçan, originally in the villages of Junik, Lloçan and
Pobërxha. The Helshani, Sopi and Kabashi are also said to have Thaçi
ancestry.
The Thaçi were known among the mountain tribes for their snake-like
qualities of slyness and deception, as reflected in the popular saying: ‘The
wisdom of the Gashi, the watchfulness of the Krasniqja, the wrath of the
Berisha, the heroism of the Kelmendi, the slyness of the Shala, a snake in
the grass like the Thaçi’ (Mênja e Gashit, syni i Krasniqes, inati i Berishës,
trimnia e Kelmênit, dredhia e Shaljanit, gjarpnia e Thaçit). The totem-like
association of the Thaçi with the snake or serpent was used during the
Kosovo War of 1998–9 when the code name gjarpëri (the snake) was given
to the KLA leader and subsequent prime minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi
(b. 1968). There are numerous Thaçi families in the Drenica region.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Thaçi area was populated in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by the
Thaçi and Bobi tribes that came originally from the coastal region
(Zadrima, Lezha). Baron Nopcsa, who investigated the origins of the Thaçi
tribe in about 1909, reports the following:

The ancestors of the Thaçi tribe came from Muriqan in Anamali

on the territory of present-day Montenegro and, for this reason,
the surrounding tribes make fun of the Thaçi by saying that they
stem from the Slavs. I was not able to ascertain who the ancestral
father of the Thaçi was, but tradition holds that he settled in
Bushat, from where one of his descendants, Bib Bushati, fled into
the mountains of Berisha around 1450–80 and settled in Fusha e
Thaçit. From Fusha e Thaçit, Bib Bushati's descendant, Gjeci,
moved to Kodra e Gegës in Kryeziu territory. There he had three
sons: Geg Gjeci, Buç Gjeci and Pren Gjeci, who lived in the
second half of the sixteenth century. The brothers initially lived in
harmony with one another, but one day, Buç and Geg decided to
convert to the Muslim faith. As they were afraid of Pren Gjeci's
reaction, they hid their intention from him. Buç converted first,
but when Geg's turn came, he grew fearful of the consequences of
such a step because he was afraid of his elder brother Pren. He
endeavoured rather to reconcile Pren and his other brother Buç,
who had already abandoned his original faith. For Pren's sake,
Geg went back on his intention of becoming a Muslim, but at the
same time, for Buç's sake, he promised that neither he nor his
descendants would ever eat pork. Because of the younger
brother's intervention, Pren decided not to kill Buç as he had
originally resolved to do, and the brothers separated after this
conflict. Buç became the ancestral father of the Muslim Thaçi in
Iballja. Geg founded Bugjon and Gralisht, and Pren became the
ancestral father of the rest of the Thaçi.
All of Geg Gjeci's descendants kept his pledge until 1908 and
it was only in 1909 that some of them began to keep pigs and eat
pork. The fact that some families in Bugjon had begun to keep
pigs became widely known and was talked about, and there was
almost a shoot-out in the village between the conservative side
who remained true to the pledge and the liberal side who favoured
 the change. The chief of the conservative side was later forced
under protest to put up with the new regulation. However, he
himself refused even to touch a pig.
When the three brothers separated, the whole region of Bugjon
and Gralisht belonged to the Kojeli, i.e. the Berisha. The position
of the Thaçi who had newly arrived in Iballja was therefore
arduous. For this reason, the newcomers placed themselves under
the protection of the ancestors of Liman Aga. Initially, the
protection was to their advantage because they succeeded in
pushing the Berisha out, down to the Lumi i Dardhës (Dardha
River). Later, however, their liege lord, a certain Sulejman Aga,
began to bully them and even went so far as to demand of Bal
Alija, who lived around 1780, that he bring a sheaf of grain back
from a mountainside where grain did not grow. This was not the
end of it. He scolded Bal Alija and sent him back up the
mountain. This deed led to a revolt among the Thaçi against their
landowner. They refused to recognise his authorities and the
conflict has resulted in a good number of persistent skirmishes up
to recent times. Because the Bugjoni drove the Berisha out, there
is still hereditary hostility between the two tribes today, and a
murder committed between them cannot be atoned for with
money.34

The unruly Thaçi tribe proved to be difficult to subdue in the Ottoman

period. From time to time, the Turkish authorities, holed up in the fortress
of Puka, sent out punitive expeditions against them. In 1744, the homes of
105 families in Iballja were burned to the ground and the tribe was resettled
in the Gjakova region. Soon, however, they began returning to their
homeland, having reached agreements with the authorities and with the
neighbouring tribes.35 Such punitive resettlement policies as practiced by
the Ottoman authorities rarely worked.

Travel Impressions
The German geographer Ami Boué (1794–1881) travelled through the
mountains of Thaçi in the late 1830s and reported as follows on his arrival
in the little village of Flet.
 Thereafter, one descends gradually to the bed of a large torrent
that flows from west to east and has to climb back up for about an
hour to reach Flet, a village consisting of 19 scattered houses with
16 Catholic families and 9 Muslim ones. A quarter of an hour
before the village, one leaves the torrent and follows the course of
one of its tributaries that flows down from the northeastern slope
of Qafa e Malit, whereas the large torrent takes its source to the
west, in the southern or rather southwestern extension of the same
range.
Flet, at 2,066 feet in elevation, has two inns and two or three
other houses that are visible in the valley which is otherwise
occupied by pastures, whereas the slopes of Qafa e Malit to the
east and those of the mountains to the south of the large torrent
are covered in fir trees and pine trees. There also seem to be the
ruins of a small fortress here, if I am not mistaken. We took up
residence in the lower inn which is the better of the two and had
not only a large stable but also a very clean çardak [open
balcony] with a large wooden armchair, the fron [throne] of the
Albanians. This was the first time we had seen this type of
furniture which is to be encountered in many of the Catholic inns
in Albania. It seems to be reserved for the parish priest on his
visits or for the gjobar [fine-collector] or plak [elder] of the
villages. Some Turkish pilgrims had arrived before us and had
taken possession of the çardak where they plagued us with their
songs and prayers. We were therefore forced to content ourselves
with a large wooden platform with holes in it and with no roof,
but it was situated right under a splendid walnut tree. What is
more, they had both chickens and eggs to offer, but the wine and
bread that they brought us were limited in quantity. There were no
spirits, and the bread was made of maize.36

The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević, travelled from Berisha to

Thaçi in the summer of 1907 and remarked:

The next afternoon, we continued our journey from Berisha to

Iballja. We hiked up and down steep, stony trails, through forests
 and bush land, and passed many villages and hamlets until we
reached our destination in the evening.
Iballja is famous throughout Albania not only for its central
location between Shkodra, Prizen and Gjakova, but also for its
valiant and heroic inhabitants. Iballja is a veritable oasis, a lush
and verdant plateau in the otherwise arid mountains of Albania.
The inhabitants, both Muslims and Catholics, are brave and
hearty men who are ardent promoters of peace, fraternal harmony
and modern enlightenment. Near the parsonage, they used to have
a school, but it burned down in 1906 and could not be rebuilt. The
Muslims have their mosque.
The people of Iballja are more or less independent of the
Turkish government. Although they recognise the decisions taken
on important matters by the kajmakam in the village of Puka, they
have two rich and respected Muslim families in their own village,
the Lamanaga and the Mustafaga, who arbitrate in local conflicts
in the region. The ancestors of the Mustafaga were given great
privileges by the sultan. Mustafaga himself, however, was later
accused of treason and abuse of power and lost not only all of his
privileges but all of this wealth. Through clever and undaunted
action, nonetheless, this capable man later managed to regain
what he had lost. How he survived and regained the sultan's
confidence is another story. He is an educated and tolerant fellow
and enjoys talking to Catholic clergymen, who in this region are
of the Franciscan order. He also offers them shelter in his home
and even enjoys letting them read mass in his house. In general,
the Muslims and the Catholics get along very well here.
Many villages of Albania, both Catholic and Muslim, celebrate
the feast day of Saint Nicholas the Bishop. This is particularly
true of Iballja.37

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Thaçi,

which she visited in the spring of 1908:

We entered into a desolate wilderness of sandhills–or rather hills

of earth so friable that it disintegrates at every shower, and no
blade nor leaf can find a hold upon it. Nor was there any living
creature–nothing but round bare hills, fantastically water-hewn,
and dead as the mountains in the moon. Part of the track had to be
taken very carefully–a narrow, friable ledge high along the
mountain-side.
We got down into Arshi [Arst]–a fertile valley, an arm of
Mirdite land, the bariak of Spachi, that runs into Puka–and pulled
up at midday at Han Arshit.
Han Arshit provided nothing–not even coffee.
Marko and I ate the remains of last night's fowl which we had
saved. The wretched horse that had fallen over the cliff the day
before was dead lame, and had to be left at the han.
Trade, said the hanjee, was not what it was in the old days.
Then a hundred horses at a time were often put up at the han. The
railway to Salonika had ruined Albania by diverting all the traffic
that used to go to Scutari and Durazzo. They were all being
starved out; nothing but the long-talked-of railway to the Adriatic
could save the land–let the Constitution hurry up with it.
Arshi lies on a river–Ljumi Gojanit. We followed it up a stony
valley, steeper and steeper, to its source at the top of the pass,
Chafa Malit.
There is a joy that never palls–the first glimpse into the
unknown land. On the other side of the pass, a magnificent valley
lay below us, thickly wooded with beech, and beyond were the
lands which two rival races each claim as their birthright–one of
the least-known corners of Europe.
I hurried eagerly down the steep descent on foot, by a rough
track to Flet. Flet is Moslem, save for six families, all large; one,
consisting of fifty members, showed quite an imposing group of
stone houses. A church, but three years old, served occasionally
by the priest of Dartha [Dardha], showed trim and white.
We pushed on to Han Zaa [Xath]. The han was shut up. The
hanjee, on being summoned, said he could supply nothing–
nothing at all, and that there were neither fowls nor eggs in the
 neighbourhood. He gave us leave, however, to pick as many
beans as we liked from his field for twopence. The two soldiers
started bean-picking, and I shucked industriously. Marko sent a
child foraging for a fowl, and went to borrow a cauldron. An
ancient hen was produced, and Marko, who is a perfect camp
cook, had it simmering in a huge pot of beans within half-an-hour.
The hanjee volunteered two wooden ladles and a large bowl, and
in due time we fed the entire company off beans stewed with hen.
As they would otherwise have had nothing but the remains of the
day before yesterday's maize bread, this put all in high good
humour. I declined a kind offer that I should sleep in the lee of the
pile of odoriferous hides, lay down on a heap of hay about 10
p.m., and slept right through till half-past five next morning,
when I was surprised to find I had rolled into a dry ditch, and had
slept on top of Marko's thick walking stick and a large stone.38

The Mali i Zi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Mali i Zi (also Malziu) tribal region is situated in the District of Kukës
in northeastern Albania. It is located on the left (southern) side of the Drin
River along the old Shkodra–Prizren road, about 10 kilometres to the west
of the town of Kukës. Mali i Zi, which despite its proximity to Kukës and
Luma is considered one of the ‘seven tribes of Puka’ (shtatë bajrakët e
Pukës), borders on the traditional tribal regions of Thaçi to the north and
northwest, Hasi across the Drin River to the northeast, Luma across the
Black Drin River to the east, and Mirdita to the south and west. The main
settlements of Mali i Zi are: Kalimash, Kolsh, Kryemadh, Shtana, Mëgulla,
Shënmëria (Shëmria) and Shikaj.

Population
The tribal region of Mali i Zi, meaning ‘Black Mountain’, is not to be
confused with Mali i Zi, the Albanian-language term for Montenegro (also
meaning Black Mountain), or with Mali i Zi, also known as Karadag or
Skopska Crna Gora, the mountain range that now forms the eastern part of
the border between Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia.
The term Mali i Zi, seemingly from Alb. mal ‘mountain’ and i zi ‘black’
was first recorded in 1444: ‘opidum Dagni cum Satho et Cerna Gora vel
Mali lxii’. It occurs as Montagna Nera in 1515 in the Breve memoria di
Giovanni Musachi; as Monte Nero in 1637 in the report of the Albanian
bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi); and as Malzi
in an ecclesiastical report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari in 1671. It is said to
have this name from the black pines (pinus negra) that once covered the
mountains there. It may also be a loan translation from Serbian crnogorica
‘conifer’.
Mali i Zi was a Muslim tribe of one bajrak, consisting traditionally of
about 3,000 inhabitants. It was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis
in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common
ancestor. Like neighbouring Luma and Lura, Mali i Zi was an ethnographic
region of mixed origin, but with a distinct history and identity. There were
families of Morina origin in the settlements of Petkaj, Shikaj, Shpataj and
Mëgulla; there were Gashi in Shtana; Krasniqja in Shikaj; Berisha in Pista;
and Shala in the village of Dukagjin.39
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Mali i Zi tribe
were given as follows: 385 households with a total of 2,528 inhabitants.
This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Dukagjin, Kalimash,
Kryemadh, Mëgulla, Petkaj, Pista, Shënmëria (Shëmria), Shikaj and Spas.40

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Predominant in the early history of Mali i Zi was the Gegaj clan of Petkaj.
Their ancestral father Gega, who came from Spaç in Mirdita, had three
sons: Ndreu, Preçi and Papi. Ndreu was the father of the Hasanaj, Shabanaj,
Isufaj, Avdiaj, Metaj, Idrizaj and Halilaj families. Preçi was the father of the
Kobi family, some members of which emigrated to the region of Peja, and
from Papi stemmed the Brungaj and subsequently branches of the Metaj,
Hasanaj, Sejdiaj, Imeraj, Çoba, Profka and Beqiri families. Other prominent
clans were the Kovaçi, said to be from southern Albania, and the Simoni or
Simonsi, originally from Mirdita.41
 As elsewhere in the region, the early history of the Mali i Zi tribe was
characterised by frequent fighting with Ottoman forces to avoid paying
taxes and handing over conscripts, in particular in the years 1565, 1568,
1579, 1580, 1582, 1584, 1588, 1602, 1614, 1638 and 1680.
One early record of the tribe tells of a Sali Dema of the Gegaj clan who
fought in Greece in 1730 and received the title of ‘agha’.42
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled up the Drin Valley in 1863,
reported that the Mali i Zi tribe had it origin in Koman much farther down
on the Drin: ‘I was unable to find any legends about Komana although it is
extremely likely that Komana is the tribal origin of all of the inhabitants of
Mali i Zi, who are said to have emigrated from there.’43
In 1850, a certain Demë Simoni led Mali i Zi fighters in an uprising
against Jusuf Begu of Puka. Following an Ottoman punitive expedition in
1894, the Mali i Zi tribe rose again under Rexhep Aga, Tahir Sinani of
Kalimash and Hasan Rrahmani of Çam. They set upon the representatives
of the Porte, based in Puka, and expelled Fejzulla Bey from their territory.
In November and December 1912, Mali i Zi was occupied by Serbian
forces invading northeastern Albania, and hundreds were killed on both
sides in fighting, in particularat Vau i Spasit and Flet. Mention is made in
the spring of 1913 notably of a cannon made of pear wood that fired three
shots at Serbian forces, opposed by Halil Mustafa, whereby 24 tribesmen
were killed.44
As one of the ‘seven tribes of Puka’, Mali i Zi was led by the bajraktar
of the Skaci/Skacaj family in Mëgulla. He was killed in a battle with
Montenegrin forces and, to his family's great shame, the tribe's standard
(bajrak) was captured. The date of this event, recorded in oral history, is
unknown. The next bajraktar of Mali i Zi lived in Shikaj and was of
Krasniqja origin.45

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Mal i Zi,
which she visited in the spring of 1908:
Having crossed, we went back up the river to a point opposite
Han Brutit. And I saw that there were two, not one, tributary
streams by the han, and that Bruti, the village, lay high on the hill
between them, not on the river-brink as in the map.
Striking uphill from the Drin, we reached a fine grassy plateau
and village, Kolchi [Kolsh], and then came to a tributary of the
Drin that flows into it, opposite to and rather above Han Brutit.
We rode up its right bank till it forked in two, then followed its
right branch, bore to the left away from it, and came out on the
top of the watershed. Here, on a grassy plateau, is the village of
Mal i zi. The whole district is called Mal i zi (Black Mountain).
According to the map we should then have been on the mountain-
side above the Drin; but the men assured me that Drin was far,
and we were on the other side of the mountain.46
The tribal regions of the Lezha Highlands

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 6

THE TRIBES OF THE LEZHA

HIGHLANDS
(MALËSIA E LEZHËS)

The Bulgëri Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Bulgëri tribal region is situated in the Districts of Lezha and Mirdita in
northern central Albania. It is located along the banks of the Mat and lower
Fan rivers, approximately from Milot to Rubik. Bulgëri borders on the Mat
River to the south, and on the traditional tribal regions of Manatia to the
west, Kryezezi to the north, and Kthella to the east. The main settlements of
Bulgëri are: Bërzana, Fang, Fierza, Rasfik and Bulgër (now Katundi i
Vjetër).

Population
The term Bulgëri occurs as the toponym Bulgari in the 1866 memoir of
French diplomat Emile Wiet, who estimated the population of this tribe to
be 97 households.1 In 1905, Karl Steinmetz estimated it to be 110
households.2 The Bulgëri were a Catholic tribe, like those of the rest of the
region.
 In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Bulgëri tribe were
given as follows: 122 households with a total of 769 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlement and surroundings of Bulgër.3

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Bulgëri and the other three bajraks of Lezha (Kryezezi, Manatia and Vela)
joined Mirdita in 1818, giving the Mirdita tribe a total of 12 bajraks.

Figures of Note
Preng Doçi
The political and religious figure and poet, Preng Doçi (1846–1917), known
in Italian as Primus Docci, was born in Bulgër and studied at the Kolegjia
Papnore Shqyptare (Albanian Pontifical Seminary) in Shkodra and at the
College of the Propaganda Fide in Rome. In 1871, he returned to the
Catholic Mirdita region to serve as a parish priest in Korthpula, Orosh, and,
subsequently, in Kalivarja near Spaç. He was among the leaders of the
Mirdita uprising against Ottoman rule in 1876–7. In preparation for this
rebellion, Doçi travelled to Cetinje, the mountain capital of Montenegro, to
seek financial and military assistance. Although the northern Albanian
tribes were equally suspicious of Montenegrin designs on their homeland,
they had agreed this time to ‘shake hands with their southern Slavic
brothers in order to resist the burden they jointly bore’. Though Doçi
managed to return from Cetinje with a pledge of Montenegrin assistance
and, equally important, a promise of non-interference, the rebellion proved
a failure and was put down by Turkish troops in March 1877. Preng Doçi
was captured, exiled to Constantinople, but was later released and expelled
to Rome. From the Vatican, Cardinal Simeoni of the Propaganda Fide sent
him to the west coast of Newfoundland where he worked as a missionary
until 1881. To Doçi goes the honour, as far as can be ascertained, of being
the first known Albanian resident of North America. Western
Newfoundland's rugged coastline and inhospitable climate, however,
proved too much for Doçi, whose desire it was to return to his
Mediterranean homeland. As an initial compromise, the Vatican transferred
him to St John in New Brunswick, where he worked from October 1881 to
March 1883. After his return to Rome, he was sent on another missionary
assignment, this time to India as secretary of the apostolic delegate to India,
Cardinal Agliardi. In 1888, after years of petitioning and with the
intercession of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Preng Doçi finally received
permission from the Ottoman authorities to return to Albania. In January of
the following year, he was consecrated head of the Abbey Nullius of Saint
Alexander of Orosh in Mirdita, a position that enabled him to exercise
considerable political and religious influence in the region for many years
to come. In 1897, he travelled to Vienna to propose the creation of an
autonomous Catholic principality in northern Albania under Mirdita
leadership. Two years later, in 1899, he founded the Shoqnia e bashkimit të
gjuhës shqipe (Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language), usually
known as the Bashkimi (Unity) literary society, together with Ndoc Nikaj
and Gjergj Fishta, and devised the so-called Bashkimi alphabet.

The Kryezezi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kryezezi tribal region is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern
central Albania. It is located on the right (northern) side of the Fan River
from the point where the Greater Fan (Fan i Madh) and Lesser Fan (Fan i
Vogël) rivers unite down to about Rubik. Kryezezi borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Vela to the north, Manatia to the west, Bulgëri to the south,
and Dibrri in Mirdita to the east. The main settlements of Kryezeziare are
Rubik, Munaz, Vau i Shkjezës, and the now abandoned Kryezez.

Population
The term Kryezezi, meaning ‘black head’, occurs as the toponym Criesesi
in the 1866 memoir of French diplomat Emile Wiet, who estimated the
population of the tribe to be 60 households.4 In 1905, Karl Steinmetz
estimated the population of Kryezezi to be 120 households.5
The Kryezezi were a Catholic tribe like those of the rest of the region. It
was in their tribal region, on a cliff overlooking the Fan River, that the
ancient monastery of Rubik (Rubigo) was founded by the Benedictines. The
Church of the Holy Savour, the only remnant of the monastery there, was
later taken over by the Franciscans and restored in 1782 and 1837.6
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kryezezi tribe
were given as follows: 138 households with a total of 879 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlement and surroundings of Kryezez.7
Kryezezi consisted of one bajrak. In 1818, together with the other three
bajraks of Lezha (Bulgëri, Manatia and Vela), it joined Mirdita, giving the
Mirdita tribe a total of 12 bajraks.

Travel Impressions
During his visit to Kryezezi in August 1905, Karl Steinmetz described the
tribe as peaceloving:

The population is exceptionally destitute and has been on the

verge of starvation for many years. Despite this, it is the most
peaceloving of all the Catholic tribes of northern Albania. Unlike
their neighbours, Mirdita, Kthella and Bushkashi, they are not
focussed on plundering in the lowlands. No murders have been
committed even on their own territory for years now.8

Edith Durham left the following impressions of Rubik and Kryezezi,

which she visited in the summer of 1908 on her way back from Mirdita:

Time did not permit further wandering in Kthela [Kthella]. I left it

for Robigo [Rubik], where, said the priest, I should find good
quarters at the Franciscan's. The Kthela lad volunteered to guide
us again. Passing through Rsheni [Rrëshen], where there is a
flourishing school–due to the energy of the local priest–we
descended to the Fani i vogel, followed it, and crossed it just
above its junction with the Fani i madh (which is, I believe, the
same river whose source I saw on the Chafa Malit, under a
different name). Here there is a piece of debatable land, claimed
both by Mirdita and the tribes of the Alessio Mountains, over
which there has been so much bloodshed, that for the time being
it has been left by both, and the trees have grown tall and fine.
Then we pounded along the shingly half-dried bed of the united
Fanis till, as evening was closing in, we saw the church of Robigo
high on a crag above the river, approached it on the wrong side,
found no track in the dim light, and scrambled up on foot.
I was extremely surprised on the top to find a large block of
buildings, and not at all surprised to be met by a stern and foreign
Franciscan and the word ‘clausura.’ It was a friary, and he could
do no other than refuse me admission. My faithful guides were
horrified. As usual with Albanians, they cared no pin for Church
rule when it ran counter to Albanian custom. Hospitality to a
stranger guest was a sacred duty. To refuse it was an outrage on
the Albanian people. They told the foreign Franciscan their
opinion of him. They would, I believe, have spoken in like
manner to the Pope himself. I was anxious only to go and find
other shelter before it was pitch-dark.
The foreign Franciscan, naturally, remained unmoved by the
tale of my many virtues and the quantities of ecclesiasts much
higher than himself who were only too glad to know me. But he
sent a boy to guide us to possible quarters.
We forded the river in the dark, and stumbled along to a large
house, whose owner received us at once, lamenting only that he
had not been warned in time to make preparations. To all he had
we were welcome. A ladder in the dark led us to a great
cavernous room devoid of all furniture and lighted only by the
fire that blazed beneath the huge hood that reached from the
raftered roof to within some three feet of the floor. We sat round it
with the large family. Our host was very angry at my rejection by
the friary. I said in vain that they could not do otherwise. It was
an insult, he said, to Albanian hospitality. He made broad remarks
on the celibacy of the clergy, heard with great interest of all our
wanderings, but only returned to rage that I should have gone so
far and have been insulted at Robigo. Nor would he look on it in
any other light.9
 The Manatia Tribe
Location of Tribal Territory
The Manatia tribal region is situated in the District of Lezha in northern
central Albania. It is located in the mountains directly east of the town of
Lezha and extends southwards in the direction of the Mat River. Manatia
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Vela, Kryezezi and Bulgëri to the
east, the Mat River to the south, and the lowlands of Lezha and Zadrima to
the west and north. The main settlements of Manatia are: Manatia and
Grykë-Manati, Lalm-Lukaj and Kapruell (now Prull).

Population
The term Manatia for the region and tribe occurs as Emanatia in 1621 in the
ecclesiastical report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino; as Manatia in 1672 in
the report of Giorgio Vladagni; as Manatia in the 1866 memoir of French
diplomat Emile Wiet; and as Manattia on the 1928 map of Herbert Louis.
The Manatia were a Catholic tribe, like those of the rest of the region.
Above Grykë-Manati, on the left bank of the Manatia creek, there was a
Church of Saint Michael (Kisha e Shën Mëhillit), a popular saint in the
region. It seems to date from the early twentieth century.
In the 1860s, Emile Wiet estimated the population of Manatia to be 82
households.10 In 1905, Karl Steinmetz estimated it to be 75 households.11
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Manatia tribe
were given as follows: 96 households with a total of 629 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlement and surroundings of Manatia.12

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Manatia consisted of one bajrak. In 1818, together with the other three
bajraks of Lezha (Bulgëri, Kryezezi and Vela), it joined Mirdita, giving the
Mirdita tribe a total of 12 bajraks.
 The Vela Tribe
Location of Tribal Territory
The Vela tribal region13 is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern
central Albania. It is located in the basin of the Vela River that flows to the
east of Mount Vela into the Fan River to the north of Rubik. Vela borders on
the traditional tribal regions of Kryezezi to the south, Dibrri in Mirdita to
the north and east, and Manatia and the Zadrima region to the west. The
main settlements of Vela are Rreja e Velës to the east of the mountain, and
Vela on the western slope.

Population
The tribal term Vela derives from the name of nearby Mount Vela (Mali i
Velës, 1,770 m.). It was first recorded as Monti di Velia in the 1621
ecclesiastical report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino; as Velia in the 1629
report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino; as Monte di Veglia in 1641 in the
report of Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Frang Bardhi (Francesco
Bianchi); as Veglia in 1641 in the report of Marco Scura; as Vellia in 1694
in the report of Nicolò Vladagni; and as Veglia in the 1866 memoir of
French diplomat Emile Wiet.
The Vela were a Catholic tribe, like those of the rest of the region. In and
around the settlement of Vela there were a number of Catholic churches: the
Church of the Holy Saviour (Kisha e Shën Shelbuemit) first mentioned in
1636, with the present building dating from the early twentieth century; the
Church of Saint Veneranda (Kisha e Shën Prendës) first mentioned by
Orsini in 1629; the Church of Saint Alexander (Kisha e Sh'Llezrit) on the
peak of Mount Vela which the tribes visited on a pilgrimage once a year;
and the Church of Saint John (Kisha e Shën Gjinit) to the south of the Vela
River on the hill of Malung.14
Emile Wiet estimated the population of Vela to be 108 households in his
day.15 In 1905, Karl Steinmetz estimated it to be 74 households.16
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Vela tribe were
given as follows: 130 households with a total of 840 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Rreja e Velës and Vela.17

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Vela consisted of one bajrak. In 1818, together with the other three bajraks
of Lezha (Bulgëri, Kryezezi and Manatia), it joined Mirdita, giving the
Mirdita tribe a total of 12 bajraks.
The tribal regions of the Kruja Highlands

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 CHAPTER 7

THE TRIBES OF THE KRUJA

HIGHLANDS
(MALËSIA E KRUJËs)

The Kurbini Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kurbini tribal region is situated in the District of Kurbin (Laç) in
northern central Albania. It is located in the mountains immediately to the
east of the town of Laç and includes the basin of the Hurdhaz River that
flows northwards into the Mat River. Kurbini borders on the traditional
tribal regions of Bushkashi to the east and Benda to the south, on the Mat
River to the north, and on the coastal plain of Laç to the west. The main
traditional settlements of Kurbini are: Milot, Skuraj, Shullaz, Delbnisht,
Gallata, Gjonëm, Zheja and Mafsheq. Its market town is Laç.

Population
Kurbin or Kurbini, referring to the tribe and the region, was known as
Corvinus in Latin. It was recorded historically as Curbin in 1570 in the
anonymous Relazione dell'Albania; as Corbini in a 1621 letter of Pjetër
Budi; as Corbini around 1685 in a report by Giorgio Stampaneo; and as
Corbino on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da
Vignola. There is also reference to a Benedictine monastery called S.
Veneranda de Curbino.1 If the term Kurbini is related to Latin Corvinus, it
would seem to derive from Latin corvus ‘crow, raven’, Alb. korb ‘raven’.
Indeed, large numbers of ravens existed in the region until recently. They
descended onto the swampy plain of Laç at night and returned to the
mountains in the daytime. An Italian expression, popolo dai capelli corvini
‘raven-haired people’, is also recorded, which may have something to do
with the tribal designation, too.
Kurbini was one of the three bajraks of the Kruja region, and had close
relations with the other two, Benda and Rranza. It was a primarily Catholic
tribe. It was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a
tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common ancestor. It is an
ethnographic region with a good degree of collective identity.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kurbini tribe were
given as follows: 253 households with a total of 2,209 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Brretja, Gallata, Gjonëm,
Mafsheq, Milot, Shkreta, Shullaz and Zheja.2

History
The earliest settlements in Kurbini territory were in the hills and mountains.
The swampy and mosquito-infested coastal plain was only used as winter
pastureland for the herds and was largely uninhabited until the twentieth
century.
The historical centre of the Kurbini tribe was Skuraj, which was known
from the time of Scanderbeg and was the home of the bajraktar. An early,
perhaps legendary, figure of Kurbini was Kokë Malçi of Skuraj, a farmer
who is said to have met Scanderbeg and advised him on how to attack and
defeat the Turkish forces that were camped at Fusha e kuqe near Milot.
Another early figure was Ndue Skuraj, a tribal leader of Kurbini, who
departed for Italy, presumably during the Ottoman occupation. He left
behind two children and a baby who were taken care of by the tribe, and
returned to get them 15 years later. Little else is known about him.
 Representatives of the Kurbini tribe took part, with Mirdita, in the
movement of the League of Prizren in 1878–81. Like many of the mountain
tribes in the late Ottoman period, they voiced their opposition to paying
taxes and providing conscripts. This opposition led to armed resistance to
the Turkish authorities, in particular in 1881, when the kullas of the Pervizaj
family and of other notables were burned down by Dervish Pasha. Other
uprisings followed, led in particular by Gjin Pjetri, also known as Gjin
Pjetër Mark Pervizaj, of Skuraj. In the spring of 1904, the tribes of Kurbini
and Kruja gathered at the Plain of Tallajbesa near Kruja where, under Gjin
Pjetri and Dullë Kulla, they defeated a Turkish contingent. In early August
1906, the elders of Kurbini gathered at Delbnisht, where they elected Gjin
Pjetri as their leader (and thus their bajraktar) and enforced their own code
of customary law, the Kanun of the bajrak of Kurbini. In August 1909, after
the Young Turk revolution, the elders of Kurbini gathered in Gjonëm to call
for the creation of the first Albanian-language schools in Milot and
Gjonëm. Such schools had been forbidden under Turkish rule. In the spring
of 1912 there was a general uprising of the tribes of Kurbini and the
highlands of Lezha, again under the leadership of Gjin Pjetri, and a
significant victory was gained over Turkish forces at Milot on the banks of
the Mat River on 22 June of that year. Shortly thereafter, in July 1912,
government forces surrounded and burned down the kulla of Gjin Pjetri in
Skuraj, but were soon on the withdrawal. In August 1912, two months
before the outbreak of the first Balkan War and three months before the
declaration of Albanian independence, fighters from Kurbini, Bregu i Matit
and Kthella set off from Milot to attack Durrës, although by this time the
Turkish government had agreed to local demands. The attack was not
completely senseless because its real aim was to get hold of the weaponry
stored at the Turkish arms depot there.
In November 1912, Dom Nikollë Kaçorri (1862–1917), one of the
leading figures of Albanian independence, gave Gjin Pjetri an Albanian flag
in Rubik. This was the flag that was raised at Milot in a festive atmosphere
in the presence of the leaders and population of Kurbini.

Figures of Note
Prenk Pervizi
Born in the village of Skuraj in Kurbini tribal territory, Prenk Pervizi
(1897–1977), also known as Preng Previzi, was a noted military figure of
the 1930s and 1940s. He attended secondary school in Shkodra and a
military academy in Vienna. He returned to Albania in 1918 and played an
active role in the creation of armed forces after the Congress of Lushnja in
1920. In June 1924 he followed Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961) into exile in
Yugoslavia, and returned with him in December of that year, taking over the
region of Lezha. Pervizi was one of Zogu's four officers (the quadrumvirate
of chiefs) who played a major role in the Albanian military in the coming
years, in particular in the suppression of anti-Zogist uprisings and in
making Zogu's rule absolute. From 1929 to 1934, he attended military
colleges in Turin and Florence and accompanied Italian troops as a
representative of the Albanian army during the Italian military campaign in
Abyssinia in 1935–6. He was in Korça at the time of the Italian invasion in
April 1939 and helped King Zog and his family escape to Greece. Pervizi,
however, returned to Korça. In the Italo-Greek war of 1940–1, working
with the Italians, he commanded Albanian forces in the Korça region. In the
end, he and his men retreated from the front and Mussolini subsequently
used them as scapegoats to explain the Italian defeat in Greece. In April
1943, Pervizi was appointed to command a new Albanian brigade and then
headed the Albanian army formed at the Conference of Mukja in August
1943. When Italy capitulated on 8 September 1943, he took over command
of the Albanian armed forces from General Dalmazzo (b. 1886) and was
named minister of defence in October of that year, with the rank of a
general. His opposition to German interference in domestic Albanian
military affairs caused him to take to the hills with his men and join the
British mission, with which he remained until October 1944. When the
communists took power in November 1944, he went into hiding, spending
two years in the mountains of Kurbini while waiting for an Allied
intervention that never materialised. In September 1946, he escaped to
Greece and lived there for 19 years. The final years of his life were spent in
Belgium, where he died.

The Rranza Tribe

 Location of Tribal Territory
The Rranza (formerly also Rranxia, Rranxhia) tribal region is situated in the
southeastern part of the District of Kruja in northern central Albania. It is
located about eight kilometres southeast of the town of Kruja, around
Mount Gamtit (Mali i Gamtitit, 1,268 m.). Rranza borders on the traditional
tribal region of Benda to the east, on the area of Kruja to the north, and the
coastal plain of Tirana to the west and south. The main settlements of
Rranza are: Rranza, Barkanesh, Mukja and Virjon.

Population
The term Rranza would seem to be related to Gheg rranzë ‘foot (of a
mountain)’, standard Albanian rrëzë.
Rranza was one of the three bajraks of the Kruja region, and had close
relations with the other two, Benda and Kurbini.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Rranza tribe were
given as follows: 79 households with a total of 423 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Barkanesh, Mukja and
Virjon.3

The Benda Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Benda (or Bena) tribal region is situated in the Districts of Kruja and
Tirana in northern central Albania. It is located in the upper basin of the
Tërkuza River about 15 kilometres northeast of the city of Tirana. Benda
borders on the traditional tribal region of Rranza to the west, and the Mat
region to the north and east. The main settlements of Benda are: Cudhin,
Bruzja, Mëner, Vilza and Bastar.

Population
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-Hungarian
administration, the population statistics of the Bendatribe were given as
follows: 317 households with a total of 1,643 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of Bruzja, Cudhin, Dusha, Frallesh,
Kumardha and Mëner.4
Benda was one of the three bajraks of the Kruja region, and had close
relations with the other two, Rranza and Kurbini.

Travel Impressions
Johann Georg von Hahn, who visited the Benda region in August 1863,
reported on it as follows:

We left Tirana on the main road leading in an easterly direction to

Matja. It passes through the southernmost of the five gaps in the
Kruja mountains, which is named after the village of Skala of
Dunja that is located at the western entrance thereof, three hours
east of Tirana. […] On the top of the ridge near the entrance to
the Skala of Dunja is the village of Wendscha [Vença?]. The
natives claim that it was once a town and the see of a bishop. And
indeed, among the dioceses of Albania, Farlatti includes one
called Benda, though without stating where it was located. The
whole region is now inhabited by Muslims only. They make up
400 households in all, that are scattered about in Albanian
fashion, either as individual farmhouses or as loosely settled
hamlets that all fall under one name. For instance, the southern
part of the eastern slope across from Vença is called Bastari and
consists of 200 houses. If my informant counted them properly, it
can be divided into 13 different hamlets.
After taking a first look at this valley, I decided to change my
travel plans and spend the night in Vença to gather information
about this new region. The people of Vença were, however, not in
agreement with this, and no one was willing to take us in. They
said they had neither barley nor stables for the horses, and one
could not leave the animals outdoors for fear of wolves. Our
guide from Mat invoked the Prophet to denounce their lack of
hospitality and used such injurious terms that even these sluggish
villagers reacted to them, and I had to intervene to prevent a
brawl. Finally, the chief of the village, a young man with a
pockmarked nose who was dressed in gold-embroidered clothes,
whom I had summoned, gave way and opened his house to us,
after swiftly removing the women. In all of my travels, this was
the only time that I ever had difficulty obtaining accommodation
for the night. But even when this was achieved, the people of
Vença were not what one would exactly call amicable. If they had
had the courage, I believe that they would have entirely hindered
me from inspecting their valley. The grumbling I heard from the
men around me did not sound encouraging, but no one dared to
leave any of my questions unanswered. Of course, I directed my
questions to those who seemed the most upset by my presence.
The longer we talked, however, the more peaceful and courteous
they became. By the time it got dark, we had established good
relations, and I bid them farewell.5
The tribal regions of Mirdita

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 8

THE TRIBES OF THE MIRDITA

REGION

The Composite Mirdita Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Mirdita tribal region (formerly also Merdita) is situated in the District
of Mirdita in northern central Albania. It is a comparatively large region
and corresponds broadly to the current District of Mirdita and the basin of
the Greater and Lesser Fan Rivers. Indeed, in terms of population and
geographical expanse it was the largest of all the tribal regions in Albania,
being actually a composition of a number of tribes (Dibrri, Kushneni, Spaçi,
Fani, Oroshi, etc.).
Mirdita borders on the traditional tribal regions of Puka (Qerreti,
Kabashi, Berisha, etc.) to the north; on the tribes of the Lezha highlands
(Bulgëri, Kryezezi, Manatia, Vela) to the west and southwest; on the coastal
plain of northern Albania around Zadrima and Lezha, from the Drin River
to the Mat River, to the west; on the Mat River and the District of Mat to
the south; and on the region of the Black Drin River to the east.
The main settlement of Mirdita is now Rrëshen, which is currently its
administrative centre. Among other settlements are Rubik and a great
number of long-established small villages such as Orosh, Spaç, Kurbnesh,
Kaçinar, Blinisht, Perlat and Kalivaç.

Population
The term Mirdita occurs as Mirdita in an Ottoman document in 1571;1 as
Miriditti as the tribal name in a report by Marino Bizzi in 1610; as Meredita
in a letter from the Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda, Pjetër Budi, in
1621; as Mireditta in an ecclesiastical report by Pietro Maserecco in 1634;
as Miriditi in an ecclesiastical report by the bishop of Lezha, Benedetto
Orsini Ragusino, in 1642; as Miriditi in an ecclesiastical report of Pietro
Stefano Gaspari in 1671; as Mirediti on the 1689 map of the Italian
cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and as Meredita(i) in a report of
the Catholic archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich, in 1703.
The region was earlier also known as Ndërfandina, i.e. ‘land between the
(Greater and Lesser) Fan Rivers’.

Figure 8.1 The tribal leaders of Mirdita

Etymologically, the word Mirdita is derived from the nebulous ancestral
father of the tribe, Mir Diti. Less likely is a relationship to Arabic marid,
marada ‘rebel’ that is said to have entered Albanian from Byzantine Greek.
Totally implausible is the folk etymology linking the term to the Albanian
mirëdita ‘hello, good-day’.2
Mirdita is a wholly Catholic tribe and in the nineteenth century was
regarded as fanatically Catholic. The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard,
who visited it in the 1850s, records the following:

Figure 8.2 Two tribesmen in fine Mirdita costumes

Figure 8.3 Gjon Markagjoni (1888 – 1966), kapedan of Mirdita

The Mirdita men all profess to be Catholics and no Muslims are

allowed to settle in their mountains where they exercise their
faith. There are no examples of anyone in Mirdita forswearing his
religion and anyone who tried to do so would most certainly be
put to death if he did not flee from Albania. The men of Mirdita,
who understand only the ceremonial practices of our faith and
have no idea of its moral teachings, are not wont to pardon insults
and are excessively fanatic. They strictly observe all fasts and
abstinence and look upon those who do not as infidels. No insult
to their religion has ever gone unpunished. The Muslims of the
surrounding regions learned this lesson well when their mosques
were defiled one time after a Muslim fired a shot at a cross or
 damaged a Catholic building. When the pasha recently banned the
construction of a seminary and removed what had already been
built, the men of Mirdita resolved to descend to the plain and tear
down a mosque in order to avenge the outrage done to
Catholicism.3

Figure 8.4 Two Mirdita women carrying cradle and supplies

The French diplomat Emile Wiet travelled through the diocese of Lezha
and Mirdita in the 1860s and lamented the state of religious education and
indeed of any education in Mirdita:

Of the 17,279 Catholics in the diocese, only about fifty know how
to read, and only just ten know how to sign their names.
Education has been severely neglected. That is, there are neither
 schools nor persons willing to teach young people about the
obligations of the Catholic Church and society. If one compares
this state of ignorance to that of the Orthodox in the other
provinces of the Empire, one is not surprised to see that the latter,
in general, have managed to rise above their original state and
attain a certain level of prosperity. Up to the age of eleven, young
people attend schools that even the poorest Greek villages in the
Pindus Mountains maintain, financed by the communities in
question. The Muslims of the Diocese of Lezha send their
children to the hodja or to a simple muezzin serving the mosque,
who teaches them to read and instructs them in their religion.4

In his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania, in particular on

the Independent Mountains’ in 1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich,
gives the population of Mirdita as 20,000, of whom 5,000 were men in
arms.5
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1903, noted the following population figures:

Mirdita is the most reputable and powerful of the tribes of

northern Albania. It is all Catholic and can be divided into the
following five bajraks with a total of 1,900 families: Dibrri (600
families), Kushneni (110 families), Oroshi (120 families), Spaçi
(650 families) and Fani (420 families).6

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-

Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Mirdita tribe were
given as follows: 2,376 households with a total of 16,926 inhabitants. This
comprised the bajraks of Dibrri, Fani, Kushneni, Oroshi and Spaçi, and the
settlements and surroundings of: Fregna, Gryka e Gjadrit, Kaçinar, Kalivaç,
Kalor, Kashnjet, Kashnjet-Kaftalli, Korthpula, Korthpula-Kaftalli, Mnela,
Rras, Sukaxhia, Tejkodra, Ungrej, Vig, Vrith, Bisak, Domgjon, Konaj,
Sërriqja, Shëngjin, Xhuxha, Blinisht, Kushnen, Ndërfana, Orosh, Breg,
Doç, Gjegjan, Gojan, Gomsiqja, Kalivarja, Kimza, Kisha e Arstit,
Lumbardhë, Mesul, Qafa e Malit, Shkoza, Spaç and Tuç. Mirdita was thus
by far the largest of the tribes of the north, matched only by Luma.7
 The Mirdita tribe consisted traditionally of three bajraks: Kushneni,
Spaçi and Oroshi that traced their origin from the legendary brother of
Shala and Shoshi. Being consanguineous, these three bajraks did not
intermarry, nor did they intermarry with Shala or Shoshi. They were then
joined by two other bajraks,Fani and Dibrri, that could intermarry with the
former three.8 These five bajraks,Dibrri, Kushneni, Spaçi, Fani and Oroshi,
thus joined forces to form the Mirdita tribe. It had a common flag showing a
white hand on a red background, with the five fingers of the hand
representing the five bajraks.
In 1818, three bajraks of Little Ohrid [Ohri i Vogël], being Kthella,
Selita and Bushkashi, seceded from the Mat region to the south of Mirdita,
and joined Mirdita, which then had eight bajraks. The four bajraks of the
Lezha highlands also joined Mirdita that year, giving the tribe a total of 12
bajraks: Dibrri, Fani, Kushneni, Oroshi, Spaçi, Selita, Kthella, Rranza,
Kryezezi, Bulgëri, Manatia and Vela.
The English traveller, Henry Tozer (1829–1916), who visited the Mirdita
region in 1865, described governance there in the following terms:

They have the reputation of being the fiercest and most warlike of
all the Albanians, and have never been subdued by the Turks, of
whom they are absolutely independent, being governed by a
Prince of their own, who is a descendant of Scanderbeg. They are
the hereditary enemies of the Montenegrins; and it was strange to
think that within so short a distance we should visit two Christian
peoples so strongly contrasted with one another, differing in race,
political organization, and even religion, for the Mirdites are all
Roman Catholics.
The constitution of the Mirdita is a sort of military aristocracy;
for though there is a hereditary chief, and an assembly, in which
the whole people is represented, yet the power is really vested in
the heads of the chief families. All the relatives of the Prince have
the title of Captain, and command the divisions of the army under
him in time of war; but they have no direct political influence in
the country. Each district has its bayrakdar, or standard bearer,
under whom are the senators. These are the heads of their
respective clans, so that the office is hereditary, and a child may
 be a senator, only in that case his functions are administered by
his guardian until he is of age. No measures can be taken without
the consent of the bayrakdars and senators; and when matters of
the greatest importance have to be discussed, a council of the
whole nation is called – that is to say, a representative is sent from
each family; but these have practically no influence in the
deliberations, and are only summoned in order to give weight to
the general decision. When called together by the Prince, this
senate meets at Orosch; but they have also the power of meeting
on their own account, in which case their rendez-vous is a church
of St. Paul in another part of the country, which belongs to no
parish, but serves for an independent central point for the whole
Mirdita. Only two days before our visit one of these parliaments
had been held at the palace; on which occasion three oxen and
several sheep and goats had been killed, and great feasting had
taken place at Bib Doda's expense. This kind of hospitality is
always expected of the chief; and when he is at Scodra, he keeps
open house for any of his tribe who come there, and a sheep is
killed every day for the entertainment of the lower classes.9

The German geographer, Kurt Hassert, making his way through the
mountains of northern Albania in the summer of 1897, also noted the
autonomy of Mirdita:

We crossed Albania's largest river, the Drin, on a primitive ferry

that consisted of two dugouts attached by crossbeams. Here on
the left bank began Mirdita land. The Catholic Mirdita are the
most populous tribe of the highlands and have managed to wrest a
whole series of privileges from the Sublime Porte. They live in
complete autonomy and, like the other independent mountain
tribes, will not suffer the presence of any Turks on their land.
Only in wartime are they obliged to provide troops, although
Christians in Turkey are otherwise exempt from military service.
Indeed, they enjoy the dubious honour of fighting on the right
wing of Turkish forces, whereas the Hoti tribe, also Catholic, has
the same privilege for the left wing.10
 Compared to the other tribes, the Mirdita had a better developed military
organisation, which they used to defend themselves from Turkish and other
incursions, but also for raiding and pillaging. Hyacinthe Hecquard remarked
that they were the greatest looters in the world.11
Another writer, Baron Alexandre Degrand, who served as French consul
in Shkodra from 1893 to 1899, noted:

An irresistible fondness for vengeance, inflexible religious

fanaticism, and fidelity in general to the promises they make –
such are the distinctive character traits of the Mirdita and, indeed,
of the other mountain inhabitants of High Albania. However, I
must confess that the Mirdita have a particularly sad reputation,
and it is well deserved. They are notorious as looters and
pilferers, which they incontestably are, but they are made out to
be worse than is the case. Among them are some very poor
people, in particular those who live at the foot of the mountains,
and from time to time they succumb to temptation and steal a few
animals from their rich, fat neighbours on the fertile plains of
Zadrima. Such thefts occur frequently in the summer because
they use up all of their provisions in the winter and harvest time is
not yet at hand. These ravages also take place before major
religious feasts which they are in the habit of celebrating. Perhaps
they believe that the patron saint they are honouring will
intercede to mitigate the consequences of their base deeds. Alas,
there are many feast days and many saints. The owners of the
coveted animals strive to defend their property and this almost
always results in deaths.12
A decade later, Edith Durham described them as follows:
On a point of honour Mirdita can and has shed blood in torrents.
The Mirdites are famed of old as cattle-lifters, going a-raiding
joyfully, as did the clans on the English border, and successfully
capturing a hundred head at a time from the plains – of which
they were the terror – and even from far Moslem tribes.13

Karl Steinmetz noted similarly on his journey through Mirdita in August

1905:
 The men of Mirdita, whose infertile soil can barely feed them,
steal down to the fertile plain of Zadrima at night to rustle
livestock. There had been a lot of raids recently, many of which
were accompanied by bloody skirmishes. The inhabitants of the
plains were so bitter about this that they shot and killed anyone
from Mirdita who ventured down to the lowlands. One of the best
known chieftains of Mirdita was shot on his way to Shkodra. A
cry of vengeance then rose throughout Mirdita.14

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The legendary ancestral father of the Mirdita tribe was called Mir Diti, son
of Dit Murri and grandson of Murr Deti also known as Murr Dedi. His
brother, Zog Diti, was the ancestral father of the closely related Shoshi
tribe, and his other brother, Mark Diti, was the ancestral father of the Shala
tribe.
The sons of Mir Diti, who formed the core of the Oroshi, Spaçi and
Kushneni tribes in the sixteenth century, were: Bushi, Lluli (Luli), Skanda
(Skana) and Qyqa.15
As it was a federation of bajraks of different sources, the Mirdita tribe as
a whole was of polyphyletic origin. It was thus not a fis in the sense of a
tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common ancestor,
although some of its bajraks, such as Oroshi, Spaçi and Kushneni, did trace
their origins back.
From their oral history, it seems that the Mirdita, together with the
ancestors of the Shala and Shoshi tribes, stemmed originally from the
region of Mount Pashtrik on the border between Albania and Kosovo, near
Prizren. They seem to have lived there under a Bulgarian chief, and there is
ample evidence of Orthodox influence in the early history of the later so-
Catholic Mirdita tribe. It is then said that the arrival of the Turks pushed
these tribes westwards into the mountains. Around 1450, at the time of
Scanderbeg and when the Turks had taken Shkodra, the Mirdita fled back to
their original homeland at the foot of Mount Pashtrik and only returned to
their present position around 1750.16
 The Russian scholar, Julija Vladimirovna Ivanova, who conducted field
research in northern Albania in 1956 and 1958, gathered very similar
information. She noted that at the end of the fourteenth century, there were
population movements in the Pashtrik mountain region. Part of the
population moved down onto the northern part of the Dukagjin Plateau
(Metohija). Another group, including the family of Murr Deti, moved into
the mountains of Puka, on the left (south) side of the Drin River. This
region is also known as Old Dukagjin (Dukagjini i Vjetër). A new migration
occurred from here in the fifteenth or seventeenth centuries, whereby part
of this population move over the Lok Pass (Qafa e Lokut) and settled in
what is now known as Mirdita. Another part of the population (i.e. the
Shala) moved to the southeast banks of Lake Shkodra and, from there,
farther northwards up into the Shala Valley, where they encountered an old
native population called Mavriq.17
Early historical information about the Mirdita tribe points to them living
in the mountains north of Blinisht, in what were subsequently the bajraks of
Spaçi and Kushneni. The chieftains of the Mirdita tribe lived in Blinisht
itself, which was long also the venue of their tribal assemblies.
The Mirdita regard themselves as stemming from Pal Dukagjini, said to
be a brother of the somewhat better known Lekë Dukagjini (1410–81). It
has been suggested that at this early period, the Mirdita tribe was known
simply as the Dukagjini tribe. Pal Dukagjini was the father of Kol Pali and
the grandfather of a certain Mark, who had a son in Pashtrik called Gjon
Marku.
According to further information gathered by Ivanova, the core of the
Mirdita tribe stemmed from three old families. One was that of a certain
Bushi, the son of the above-mentioned Mir Diti. The second family were
the Lluli. Their ancestral father, Lluli, was the son of the above-mentioned
Pal Dukagjini. The third family were known as the Skana who were either
native to the region or arrived from Kruja in the fifteenth century.18 It was
from the second family, the Lluli, that the subsequent ruling Gjomarkaj
family is said to have stemmed.

The Gjomarkaj Family

The recorded history of the Mirdita tribe begins in the mid-eighteenth
century and is closely linked to the said Gjomarkaj (or Gjonmarkaj) family,
a leading, and later ‘princely’ clan that held a position of influence in
Mirdita right up to the mid-twentieth century.
The first historical figure of this dynasty was a Gjon Marku, who is
thought to have lived around 1720. He was the first to bear the traditional
title of kapedan (‘captain’, though later often translated as ‘prince’). A
descendant of the same name fought with Hysejn Bey and Tahir Bey of
Lezha against Mehmed Pasha Bushatlliu (d. 1775) in 1769. He arrived
‘with many men from Mirdita and other villages’19 to keep Mehmed Pasha
out of the Zadrima area, although unsuccessfully. In the following year, we
find him in the service of Mehmed Pasha when he helped the pasha take
Lezha. On Mehmed Pasha's behalf, Gjon Marku also fought against Ahmet
Kurt Pasha of Berat (d. 1787) and died at the battle of Peqin in September
1775.20
The Mirdita tribe and the Gjomarkaj family remained vassals of the
powerful Bushatlliu dynasty under Mehmed Pasha's second son and
successor, Kara Mahmud Pasha Bushatlliu (1749–96), who reigned over
much of northern and central Albania for about 20 years. Gjon Marku
supported this pasha in particular on 25 November 1787 when the men of
Mirdita helped put to flight Turkish forces that had been besieging the
fortress of Shkodra since August of that year under Çerkez Hasan Pasha.
Under their next leader, Kol Gjomarkaj (d. 1806), the Mirdita tribe
supported the next pasha of Shkodra, Ibrahim Pasha Bushatlliu (d. 1809), in
a campaign to put down Serb rebels. During this campaign, however,
Ibrahim Pasha executed the Mirdita leader for reasons that have remained
unclear. This execution led, of course, to a sudden rupture in relations
between Mirdita and the Bushatlliu dynasty.21
In 1810, under their new kapedan Prenk Lleshi (d. post 1815),22 the
Mirdita tribe invaded the fertile Zadrima area south of Shkodra and
destroyed all the Muslim settlements there. Zadrima was also to become the
favourite region for Mirdita marauding and pillaging in the following seven
years, and thereafter. Aware of Mirdita's growing power, Ali Pasha of
Tepelena (1744–1822), the great southern Albanian rival of the northern
Albanian Bushatlliu dynasty, endeavoured to win them over by sending
lavish presents to Prenk Lleshi and other leaders and by doubling the salary
of the 500 Mirdita fighters in his service.23 It was only in 1815 that Mirdita
made peace with the Mustafa Pasha Bushatlliu (1796–1860). On this
occasion, Mustafa Pasha confirmed:

We, Highness and Vizier Mustafa Pasha of Shkodra and Albania

[…] have always recognised the house of Gjon Marku and held it
in high esteem as the first in all of Mirdita […] this was
recognised by all of my ancestors, my uncle viziers of our divan
[…] 24

Prenk Lleshi fell several years later in a battle against the Turks that was
waged at Sappa, probably near Nënshat. He was succeeded by his son,
Prenk Doda, who initially allied himself with Ali Pasha of Tepelena and,
after the latter's death, set off with Mustafa Pasha Bushatlliu on a military
expedition to the Morea to put down the rebellion in Greece. The great
Suliot Albanian fighter of the Greek war of independence, Marko Boçari
(1790–1823), known in Greek as Markos Botzaris, is said to have been
killed below Prenk Doda's tent. On his return home, Prenk Doda suppressed
a revolt in Dibra on behalf of Mustafa Pasha. He was then apparently
poisoned by a Turkish woman in Shkodra and died in Kotor where he had
hoped to recover.25
Prenk Doda, whose body is said to lie in a simple grave at the Catholic
cemetery in Kotor, was succeeded by his young brother, Nikola or Kol
Doda. As Nikola was not of age at the time, Mirdita was taken over by his
uncle Black Llesh or Black Alexander (d. post 1831), known as Lleshi i zi
in Albanian. According the Hyacinthe Hecquard, Black Llesh was known
both for his bravery and for his cruelty. He fought with the Turks against the
rebel Greeks, but in 1830, he then threw his support behind Mustafa Pasha
Bushatlliu who had risen against the Porte. Together with Mustafa Pasha, he
resisted the Turkish siege of the fortress of Shkodra until the fortress fell in
November 1831 and he was exiled to Janina. Black Llesh was then replaced
as kapedan of Mirdita by his nephew Nikola who took part in Turkish
expeditions against Montenegro. Through his military prowess, Nikola won
the admiration and support of the Grand Vizier, Reshid Pasha, who gave
him command of a wing of the Turkish vanguard in a battle in Konya
against Mehmet Ali (1769–1849) of Egypt. While he was away, the three
sons of Black Llesh attempted to overthrow him back home in Mirdita.
When Nikola heard of the plot, he had his rivals murdered, which then led
to a chain reaction of Albanian blood-feuding. Black Llesh, who had been
pardoned by the Turks, returned to Mirdita and murdered Nikola. Less than
a year later, Nikola's wife, in turn, slew Black Llesh one night. As there
were no more male heirs in the family of Black Llesh, this time it was his
wife who took revenge and murdered Gjok Doda, the son of Prenk Doda.
After this, a truce was arranged and peace was gradually restored when the
surviving members of the dynasty agreed that enough blood had been
spilled and an equal number of deaths had been caused on both sides.26
In the early 1840s, Bibë Doda, later known as Bibë Dodë Pasha (d.
1867), son of the murdered Gjok Doda, took over as kapedan of Mirdita. In
1844, he assisted Mehmed Reshid Pasha in putting down rebels in southern
Albania and was given an Ottoman medal for his efforts. At the same time,
however, he was in contact with Montenegro and Serbia, in particular with
the Serbian minister of the interior, Ilija Garašanin (1812–74), whose noted
political treatise Načertanije (‘Draft’) called for Serbian expansion into
Albanian territory as a means of acquiring an outlet to the sea. Around
1846, Serbian diplomats secretly offered Bibë Doda rule over an
independent Mirdita in exchange for his support for Serbian rule of Shkodra
and Ulqin/Ulcinj. Soon thereafter, in 1849, Bibë Doda was made a pasha
and in 1852 he had the men of Mirdita take part in a Turkish campaign
against Montenegro. During the Crimean War (1853–6), a contingent of
Mirdita fighters also fought with the Turkish army on the Danube. In 1862,
however, Mirdita forces refused to support the Turkish army in another
attack on Montenegro, this time to put down a revolt in Herzegovina. They
had been dissuaded from doing so by two Catholic clergymen, Pal
Dodmasej (Ital. Paolo Dodmassei, 1814–68), who was the Bishop of Pulat
(1847–58) and later Bishop of Lezha (1858–68), and Gasper Krasniqi (Ital.
Gaspero Crasnich, d. 1876), who was the Abbot of Saint Alexander in
Orosh (ca. 1860–75). Both of these men were to play prominent roles in the
history of Mirdita. Then, and in following years, the Gjomarkaj family was
often at odds, at times indeed was in an open power struggle, with the
hierarchy of the Catholic Church, represented in particular by Krasniqi.
The capital of Mirdita in the nineteenth century was the mountain village
of Orosh, which was both the home of the Gjomarkaj family and the seat of
the famed Abbey of Saint Alexander (Shën Llesh). People from as far as
Dubrovnik used to come to Orosh on pilgrimages. According to the Orbis
Seraphicus in 1688:

The abbey is famous in the region and many great Albanian and
Serbian families have enriched it with precious gifts. The remains
of Saint Alexander, a Roman soldier who was decapitated under
Maximian, are preserved there, as is a piece of the True Cross.
The latter is enclosed in a silver shrine left to the care of the
priest. All the other riches have been lost with the exception of a
casket encrusted in gold, a silver cross and two chalices. The rest
was stolen by the Turks or by wicked Christians, or disappeared
over the course of time.27

It was custom in Orosh in the nineteenth century, before the animals

were driven up to their summer pastures in the mountains, to have them
blessed by the abbot of the church with the relics of Saint Alexander. The
head of the saint in a silver reliquary with a Greek inscription on it actually
disappeared in 1765 and was replaced by a reliquary allegedly containing
the bones of Saint Benedict, which the Bishop of Lezha brought from
Rome. Nonetheless, popular tradition in Mirdita had it that the reliquary
was that of Saint Alexander. The reliquary in question and two fifteenth-
century processional crosses were preserved at the abbey in Orosh in a
jewelled casket until 1895 when they were destroyed by fire. The feast of
Saint Alexander was observed throughout Mirdita on 13 May, though the
men of Mirdita still preferred to swear their oaths by Saint Benedict (për atë
Sh'Venedik!).
The abbots of Orosh were appointed by the Congregation of the
Propaganda Fide in Rome. Throughout the nineteenth century, the kapedans
of the Gjomarkaj family endeavoured to exert their influence on the
appointments. Pjetër Gurakuqi (Ital. Pietro Guracuchi) of Shkodra, a
favourite of Prenk Lleshi, was appointed as abbot in 1810, as were Pjetër
Zarishi (Ital. Pietro Zarisci, 1806–66) in 1847, Gasper Krasniqi in 1860, and
Preng Doçi (Ital. Primus Docci, 1846–1917) in 1889. It was under Krasniqi
that the abbey began to play a major political role in Mirdita. Krasniqi, who
favoured an alliance with Montenegro and Serbia as the best means of
overthrowing Ottoman rule in Albania, had facilitated contacts between
Bibë Doda and the Serbian government in 1846. He corresponded with
Garašanin (in Latin) and visited him in Belgrade in the spring of 1849.28
In general, Bibë Doda found it wiser to collaborate with the Turks than
to rise against them with the Montenegrins. An open conflict broke out
between Krasniqi and Bibë Doda in 1862 when the former sabotaged the
latter's plan of assisting the Turkish army in attacking Montenegro, as
mentioned above. The conflict came to a head and Gasper Krasniqi was
exiled in June of that year, but managed nonetheless to do much damage to
Bibë Doda's reputation with the Porte. The Mirdita chieftain was
accordingly stripped of his kapedan and pasha titles in February 1863.
Realising that his position in Mirdita was severely compromised, Bibë
Doda hastened to Constantinople and managed to convince the Porte of his
innocence of any anti-Ottoman conspiracy. He returned to Albania in July
1864, but the tribal leaders of Mirdita now refused to recognise him as
kapedan because he had not paid the wages of their fighters, including
money for their participation in the Crimean War. Bibë Doda died of dropsy
in August 1868.29
Bibë Doda was succeeded by his son, Prenk Bibë Doda (1858–1919),
who was ten years old at the time. In 1869, shortly after his father's death,
the boy was taken as a hostage to Constantinople, where he was educated
and spent his adolescent years. In 1876, he returned to his native Mirdita
region and officially inherited the hereditary title of kapedan of Mirdita.
Immediately after accession, on the suggestion of some Russian diplomats
he had met in Constantinople, he made contact with Montenegro and, when
unrest broke out in Mirdita due to an Ottoman military recruitment
campaign, he supported an uprising and took over as its leader. Not having
received the Montenegrin support he had been counting on, however, the
revolt flagged by the end of December 1867 and its only noted success was
that the fighters of Mirdita took control of the Shkodra–Prizren road for a
time. The uprising collapsed entirely when Doda tactically withdrew his
support. In this period, and later, Prenk Bibë Doda was primarily interested
in the creation of an autonomous Catholic principality in Mirdita and
northern Albania over which he would reign himself.
Prenk Bibë Doda played an important role in Mirdita at the time of the
League of Prizren. On 3 April 1880, he was made deputy head of a so-
called Defence League (Lidhja Mbrojtëse) in Shkodra to oppose the
internationally sanctioned annexation of Albanian territory by Montenegro.
However, he soon abandoned the defence of the Tuz (Tuzi) area and
withdrew with his forces to Mirdita. In October and November 1880, he
indeed showed himself to be accommodating to the Montenegrin takeover
of the Albanian port of Ulqin/Ulcinj.
The Ottoman authorities increasingly suspected that Doda was becoming
a supporter of Albanian independence and had him exiled in 1881.
‘Meeting him one day, at dinner, at the Austrian Consulate, Dervish Pasha
invited him to inspect a Turkish war vessel, then off Medua. Contrary, it is
said, to the advice of his friends, the young Prince went. The vessel at once
got up steam, and the little pleasure trip became a twenty-eight years’ exile,
passed, for many years in Kastamuni, in Asia Minor’.30
The exile of Prenk Bibë Doda left Mirdita without a leader and plunged
the whole region into anarchy and turmoil. The years of chaos took their
toll on the population of the tribe, and poverty reigned, much worse than
elsewhere in the country. The British barrister and journalist Edward Knight
(1852–1925) who travelled through Albania in 1878 described the Mirdita
tribe thus:

Some tribes, like the Mirdites, are in a wretched condition,

starving in their mountains, the result of a long protracted war
with the government, originating probably in some petty dispute
with a tax collector. These wars hang on in a desultory way for
years, until the wretched highlanders, in order to support
existence, are obliged to become bandits and cattle-lifters –
outlaws – the enemies of all men. A Mirdite is now a wretched
object generally. I have seen them crawl through the narrow
alleys of the bazaar of Scutari, ragged, scowling at every one,
haggard and weak with hunger, their arms sold for bread – the
sign of extreme poverty, for it is a bitter thing for an Arnaut to
part with his beloved weapons, heirlooms as a rule. The ramrod of
his lost pistol alone dangles from his belt. This, curiously enough,
no man ever seems to part with – probably because it is
unsalable.31
 In 1908, after the Young Turk revolution, the 50-year-old Prenk Bibë
Doda was finally allowed to return to Albania. Edith Durham, who heard of
his arrival while she was travelling through the mountains, hastened to meet
the fabled prince. She described the event as follows:

The impossible had happened; the Prince had returned to his

people. He dismounted with the air of one that knows not if he be
asleep or awake. It is hard to be called on suddenly to play the
part of a demi-god.
We thronged into the wood, where, under a great tree, was
spread a carpet. He took his seat upon a chair, his crimson fez
making a brilliant blot on the greenleaf background. Then all his
male relatives – many born since he was exiled – were presented
to him. I thought of the Forest of Arden, where they ‘fleeted the
time pleasantly as in the Golden Age’ – as each in turn strode up,
‘an hero beauteous among all the throng’ dropped on one knee,
and did homage, kissing his chieftain's hand with simple dignity.
The tribesmen stood around in a great circle, the sunflecks
dancing on their white clothes, and glinting on gunbarrel and
cartridge-belt.
There came a pause. Nature, exhausted by emotion, needed
food; moreover, it was midday. I shared a cold sheep's liver with
the two Young Turks, who, though it was Ramazan, made each a
hearty lunch, as was noted by the tribesmen with contempt, for a
Mirdite holds that to break a fast is the one unpardonable sin. The
red wine flowed, and the cold mutton was hurled about in lumps.
A few minutes emptied the bottles and bared the bones.
We awaited the coming of the Abbate. Mirdita without the
Abbate is ‘Hamlet’ without the central figure. Nor had we long to
wait. His gold-banded cap shone over the heads of the crowd, that
parted and let him through on his fat white horse, gay with a gold
saddlecloth, followed by the rest of the priests of Mirdita.
We went out on to the bare hillside. There was no room among
the trees for the great concourse now assembled. The men of the
five bariaks – Oroshi, Fandi, Spachi, Kusneni, and Dibri – and the
neighbour tribe of Kthela squatted or knelt in a huge and dense
circle.
It struck me suddenly that among some two thousand five
hundred armed men I was the solitary petticoat. The Young Turks
and I were the only anachronisms – blots on the old-world
picture. The Abbate stepped into the middle, and spoke with a
great voice that rang over the land. His words were weighty –
‘The Constitution was the will of the Sultan. Mirdita would
remain loyal to him – but would retain, as before, her privileges,
and be self-governed according to the Canon of Lek Dukaghin –
from this day forth those laws would be truly enforced. Blood-
vengeance was to cease. Peace was to be sworn until Ash
Wednesday, 1909, by which time all bloods were to be pacified;
and hereafter any man that kills another shall be banished, not
only from Mirdita, but from all Albania. Robbery between the
tribes was to be stopped, and the law enforced (for one thing
stolen two should be returned), even were it necessary to summon
three battalions from Scutari to help to enforce it.
Prenk Pasha briefly confirmed the Abbate's speech; Kapetan
Marko stepped forward and emptied his revolver over us; the
circling crowd fired in return, and broke up at once into the five
bariaks, which withdrew – each with its priests – to discuss the
momentous announcement.
It was a very momentous announcement. I could only admire
the skill and policy of the Abbate, who, after working for fifteen
long years with all the means in his power to cleanse the land of
the curse of blood in vain, had seized this supreme moment in the
tribes’ existence – the return of the man whom they were born to
obey – to make a bold effort to crown his labour and wipe out the
custom finally and for ever. If he succeeded, this day was the end
of the old life, its sins and sorrows.
The Mirdites are a silent people. The meetings of other tribes
are a continuous roar, as each shouts the other down. But there
was no clamour from the five groups that discussed in earnest
undertones the question of ‘to be or not to be.’ How was a man to
 keep his honour clean if he might not shoot? vexed many an
honest soul. It is better to die, said they, than to live dishonoured.
It seemed doubtful, very doubtful, if the tribe, as a whole, would
accept the terms that had taken but a few moments to explain.
Finally, hereditary loyalty to the Chief triumphed over private
passions—each priest came forward and announced that his flock
was agreed. Peace was proclaimed till Ash Wednesday, 1909, and
by then ways and means were to be determined.
The five bariaks spread again in a great circle. The Abbate had
triumphed. He stood erect in the centre, ordering with uplifted
arm the final volleys, as the Pasha rode round acclaimed by all.
The great meeting was over, the white groups melted away,
like snow on the mountains. The Pasha, the Abbate, and all the
chief actors in the scene filed in long procession down to the
valley of the Fani i vogel, on their way to the Abbate's Palace at
Oroshi. Soon none were left on the historic spot, but the dead
asleep in the lonely graveyard. A chill wind arose, and the autumn
leaves fell in showers. For better or for worse, a page had been
turned in Albania's history. The summer had gone, the year was
dying. I had seen the Land of the Living Past.32

Prenk Bibë Doda hoped to accede to the new throne of Albania after
independence in 1912, but nonetheless showed his solidarity with the
government created in Vlora under Ismail Qemal bey Vlora (1844–1919).
He also had good contacts with Serbian forces that had occupied much of
northern Albania. The Great Powers, however, decided on a German prince
to rule the new Albanian state. Doda remained loyal to Prince Wilhelm zu
Wied (1876–1945) in the spring of 1914, whom he supported militarily and
under whom he served for a short time (28 May–22 June 1914) as foreign
minister. From 1 January 1919, he also served as deputy prime minister in
the government of Turhan Pasha Përmeti (1839–1927). On 22 March of that
year, however, as he was travelling from Durrës to Shëngjin with British
consul Morton Eden (1865–1948), Prenk Bibë Doda was assassinated in the
marshes of Bregu i Matës near Lezha by his rival Ded Coku, who took
belated revenge for the murder of his brother Gjeta Coku on 7 October
1913.
 With the death of Prenk Bibë Doda, who had no male heirs, the
Gjomarkaj lineage passed on to a cousin or nephew called Marka Gjoni
(1861–1932). Marka Gjoni's initial attempt to claim the title of kapedan was
fraught with difficulties because many of the leaders of Mirdita refused to
recognise him. He was never a popular figure. Edith Durham reports that he
displayed such cowardice in 1914 when he fled from the front and said he
had come ‘to fetch vaseline to clean the rifles’ that he lost all chance of
chieftainship.33 In 1921, with financial backing from Belgrade, Marka
Gjoni rebelled against the new ‘Muslim’ government of Albania and
proclaimed Mirdita independent. This so-called Republic of Mirdita, called
to life in Prizren on 17 July 1921, supported by Serbia and recognised by
Greece, was put down swiftly by Albanian government forces and ceased to
exist on 20 November 1921. Marka Gjoni was forced to flee to Yugoslavia,
though he later returned to Albania and was active in Mirdita for a few
years until his death.
The next titular kapedan of the Mirdita region was Marka Gjoni's son,
Gjon Markagjoni (1888–1966), who was born in Orosh. With this father, he
had been a main protagonist in the secession of Mirdita in July 1921 and
fled to Serbia with him and his son when it was suppressed. In 1922,
however, Gjon Markagjoni returned to Albania and, after reaching an
understanding with Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961), who was minister of the
interior and of defence and then prime minister, he was made a lieutenant
colonel under Zogu. In 1926, Markagjoni headed a commission to arbitrate
blood feuds that were still widespread in Mirdita and the northern Albanian
mountains, and finally in 1927 he succeeded his father as the hereditary
kapedan. In April 1939, having rebelled against King Zog and allied
himself with fascist Italy, he is said to have signed a petition calling for
Italian military intervention to do away with the ‘disorder, corruption and
dissolution of the Zogist regime’. During the Italian occupation, he was
courted by Rome, given the position of an Italian senator on 3 June 1939
and was offered a lavish reception by Mussolini. From December 1941 to
January 1943 he was a member of the Supreme Fascist Corporative Council
(parliament). He was also Albanian minister of the interior in the short-
lived cabinet of Maliq bey Bushati (1880–1946) from 12 February to 28
April 1943 and collaborated with the German occupation authorities in
1943–4. In late 1944, he fled to Italy and was given asylum by the Vatican.
In September 1949, Gjon Markagjoni agreed to join the anticommunist
National Committee for a Free Albania,though he was not particularly
politically active in the postwar period. He died in Rome.
Mark Ded Gjomarkaj (1912–46), the son of Gjon Markagjoni, was the
next titular kapedan of Mirdita. He had fled to Yugoslavia as a boy with his
father in 1921, and returned to Albania with him. Mark Gjomarkaj attended
the Jesuit Saverian College in Shkodra and studied in Rome, where he
finished a doctorate in law. In 1943 he was involved in the nationalist
movement, the main aim of which was to prevent the southern Albanian
communists from taking power. In the autumn of 1944, his fighters in
Mirdita were finally overcome by communist partisans and he fled with
Muharrem Bajraktari (1896–1989) to Luma. It was at this time of turmoil
that he inherited the title kapedan from his father who had taken refuge in
Rome. Anticommunist resistance and fighting continued in the northern
mountains into the early months of 1946 when Mark Gjomarkaj and his
armed band were liquidated. In June of that year he was murdered in his
sleep in Prosek, near Kthella, by his brother-in-law who hoped thereby to
buy reprieve from the communists. Mark's brother Skënder then took
bloody revenge for the deed and extinguished the brother-in-law's whole
family, i.e. the brother-in-law himself, his own sister and their children.34
Mark Gjomarkaj's son, Gjon Markagjoni (1938–2003), grew up and
lived his life in internment under the communist regime, together with the
other surviving members of the Gjomarkaj dynasty. The title of kapedan or
Prince of Mirdita was now but a memory of the past.

Travel Impressions
The English traveller Henry Tozer left the following impressions after his
visit to Mirdita in 1865:

We were now within the territory of the Mirdites, and the

wildness of the scenery harmonized well with all that we had
heard of the character of the natives. Here and there, however,
gentle nooks appeared, where bright green poplars, with patches
of maize and small vineyards, gave an aspect of cultivation; and
the cows coming up from the water, and the sheep following the
shepherd, as in the parable, suggested thoughts of rural life,
though these were somewhat marred by the long gun which the
shepherd carried on his shoulder. At one point, where the river
makes a considerable bend, an armed party suddenly appeared
from behind a mass of rock which projected above the valley,
and, after hailing us, enquired where we were going. Our guide
was not with us, having made a detour into the mountains to
avoid wading the stream, but Nicola satisfied them by shouting
that we were on our way to visit the Prince. […]
On waking the next morning we found at our heads a large
cross carved on the bark of the tree, a sure sign that we were
among Christians. Around us was a pretty glade, surrounded by
oak brushwood and dwarf pines, and hard by ran a narrow stream,
down the steep side of which our man had tumbled the night
before.
The shepherds were an uncouth-looking set, and, like all the
Mirdites, excessively plainly dressed, in which respect they are a
great contrast to the other gay Albanians, and especially to those
of Scodra, in whose rich costumes there is a tasteful mixture of
white and red, while the women wear a large crimson cloak with
a covering for the head, reminding one of the costume which old
women used to wear in England. Amongst the Mirdites the dress
of the men consists of a long white woollen coat, which serves
also for a shirt, fastened round the waist by a red belt; underneath
this are white pantaloons of the same material, tied with
ornamented bands about the ankles: their feet are protected by
shoes of hide, and their heads by a close-fitting cap of white felt.
Their women present a more picturesque appearance, as, in
addition to a coat similar to that of the men, they wear red
trousers, an embroidered apron with a fringe eighteen inches long,
and a blue handkerchief twisted round the head. They are a wiry,
active people, but small in stature; indeed they appeared to us
quite pigmies after seeing the Montenegrins: their faces are sharp
and keen, with a rough expression, but by no means an unpleasant
one, for they are less wild and cruel-looking than the other Ghegs.
They shave all the head except the back part, where the hair is
allowed to grow to its full length ('óπιθϵν κoμóωντϵς); and from
this and other customs of theirs, which are generally characteristic
 of the Mahometan races in Turkey, the stranger finds it hard at
first to persuade himself that they are Christians.35

Henry Tozer and his party met Bibë Doda Pasha in Orosh and learned of
the customs of the Mirdita, several of which he details:

The custom of forming fraternal friendships, and having adopted

brothers (pobratim), is common among the Mirdites, as it is also
among some of the other races of European Turkey. According to
this, two young men engage to support and aid one another during
their lives in all contingencies, whether of war or peace. This
relationship, which reminds us of some of the passionate
attachments of ancient history, such as those of David and
Jonathan, of Achilles and Patroclus, is regarded as of the most
sacred and inviolable character, insomuch that in some places,
according to M. Hecquard, the children of those who have
contracted the alliance are not allowed to marry one another; and
the same writer mentions the ceremony of initiation observed by
some, in which the two persons, after receiving the Communion
together, have a small quantity of their blood mixed in a bowl of
wine, which is drunk by both when they have sworn an oath of
fidelity, – a primitive form of contract mentioned by Herodotus as
existing among the Lydians and Scythians, and by Tacitus, as
practised by the Armenians and Iberians. It used even to happen
that alliances of this sort were formed between persons of
different sexes, but this is now of rare occurrence, for ‘messieurs
les prêtres,’ said the Secretary, appealing for confirmation to Don
Giorgio, who was standing by, ‘find that it often leads to
concubinage, and use all their influence to put it down.’ […]
The account he gave of the vendetta confirmed all that we had
already heard of its ravages. Rightly, indeed, has it been called
‘the web of murderous feuds at which the barbarian sits all his life
weaving, and which he bequeaths to his children.’ The following
instance which he mentioned may give an idea of its interminable
character. Fifty years ago two men of this country quarrelled, and
fought so desperately, that both of them died of the wounds they
received. Time rolled on, until it might have been thought that the
event was forgotten. But it had happened that as they lay
wounded on the ground, one of them had managed to deal the
other a blow over the head, which caused him to die first. The
recollection of this circumstance had been preserved, and only the
other day a descendant of the one who died first presented himself
before a descendant of the other, and reminded him of the fact,
threatening at the same time to burn his whole village unless he
gave him one hundred goats by way of satisfaction. The Prince
heard of the affair, and, sending for the man, persuaded him to
delay his vengeance; but beyond this he could not proceed, for the
laws of blood are superior to every other law. Thus the matter
stood at the time of our visit. This state of things has given rise to
an institution, the existence of which forcibly realises to us the
value of a similar establishment among the Jews. A number of the
Mirdites who had fled their country as compromised persons from
fear of assassination, formed themselves into a colony, and settled
in the plain near Prisrend, where they work as labourers. They
have since been joined by many others who have left their homes
for the same reason, and in this way the place has become a
complete city of refuge. […]
One other custom of this people remains yet to be noticed, viz.,
their habit of capturing their wives. The Mirdites never
intermarry; but when any of them, from the highest to the lowest,
wants a wife, he carries off a Mahometan woman from one of the
neighbouring tribes, baptizes her, and marries her. The parents,
we were told, do not usually feel much aggrieved, as it is pretty
well understood that a sum of money will be paid in return; and
though the Mirdites themselves are very fanatical in matters of
religion, yet their neighbours are reputed to allow the sentiment of
nationality to prevail over that of creed; so much so that at Easter
the Mahometan shepherds undertake to guard the flocks of the
Christians, while at the Turkish Bairam the Christians do the
same for the Mahometans. Prince Bib himself won his present
spouse in this way. My reader will naturally enquire, as I did on
hearing this strange statement, what becomes of the Mirdite
women? The answer is, that they are given in marriage to the
neighbouring Christian tribes. If any one considers this incredible
 in so large a population, he is at liberty to adopt the more
moderate statement of M. Hecquard, who only speaks of this
custom as existing among the chiefs; but I state the facts as they
were stated to me, and since the ground of the custom was
distinctly affirmed to be the feeling that marriage within the tribe
is incestuous, and wherever in similar cases this belief has
existed, the custom of exogamy, as it is called, together with the
capture of wives, has existed also. I feel very little doubt in my
own mind that the stronger statement is the true one. As the
Mirdites are the only people in Europe, as far as I can learn,
among whom this practice exists.36

French consul, Baron Alexandre Degrand, was also particularly shocked

by the rampant feuding:

The sentiment of vengeance is particularly strong among the

Mirdita and they often carry the deeds out with terrible cruelty. A
sixty-five-year-old man from a village that owed blood to another
village of Mirdita had worked for many years as a cook in
Shkodra. He had often been abroad and had probably forgotten
the dispute when he returned to his village to marry a woman
from his clan. He would send her his wages to buy livestock so
that they would have a means of livelihood when he was no
longer able to work and returned to the mountains. One evening, a
Mirdita man arrived at the door of the place where he was
working and told him that his eldest son had fallen gravely ill and
needed to see him. With the permission of his employer, the poor
man took the highlander in, made him dinner and let him spend
the night there so that they could find out what happened to his
son. The next morning at dawn he hastened forth to find his ailing
son, but he was never to see the child. He had been trapped and
was murdered five hours from Shkodra. I later learned from the
priest of the village where the murder took place, of the
conditions in which the old man was slain. He was stopped along
the road by four Mirdita men who told him to say his prayers as
they were going to kill him. ‘But why?’ he protested. ‘Your
village owes blood to ours and you must pay the price.’ He tried
 in vain to explain to them that he had lived abroad for most of his
life and could therefore not be held responsible, but they refused
to let him go and repeated what they had said. He then understood
and fell to his knees to pray. When he finished making the sign of
the cross, they shot him dead and sent for the priest to inform his
widow. This was the forty-second murder to have taken place in
the mountains within a month.37

The Dibrri Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The bajrak of Dibrri38 is situated in the border region of the Districts of
Lezha, Mirdita, Puka and Shkodra in northern central Albania. The northern
part of Dibrri territory occcupies the upper basin of the Gjadër River that
flows into the Drin River, and the southern part occupies the basin of the
Dibërr or Dibrri River, a tributary of the Greater Fan River. Dibrri borders
on the traditional tribal regions of Spaçi to the north, Kushneni to the east,
and Vela to the south, and on the lowlands of Zadrima to the west. The main
settlements of Dibrri are: Ungrej, Fregna, Kaluer, Kalivaç, Kashnjet,
Shëngjergj, Kaçinar and Vig.

Population
The term Dibrri occurs as Dibri in an Ottoman document in 1571; as
Diberri in 1641 in the report of the Albanian bishop of Sappa and Sarda,
Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi); as Diberri in 1671 in the report of the
apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari; as Dibberi in about
1685 in the ecclesiastical report of Giorgio Stampaneo, as Diberri on the
1688 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli, as
Diberri in the 1694 report of Nicolò Vladagni; and as Dibri in the 1866
memoir of French diplomat Emile Wiet. The tribal designation,39 originally
a toponym, is related to the Slavic root *dbbrb ‘valley’.
The Dibrri tribe is entirely Catholic, like the rest of Mirdita. The
apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled through
the region in 1671–2, a period during which the Catholic Church was in
profound decay, reported:

Leaving the village of Giunali, we arrived in the village of

Cacinari [Kaçinar]. There is a church here dedicated to the Birth
of the Madonna. This village has 50 homes and 400 souls. The
church is made of stone and is well constructed and, with regard
to its material, it is covered in boarding. Its floor is in a bad state.
The Eucharist is not held here, although there is a tabernacle and
no danger from the Turks. It has two chasubles, one of rough
cloth of various colours with an overlay stole and a maniple
provided by the Holy Congregation. The other one is of purple
silk. It has a silver chalice with a gilded cup. The paten is made of
gilded pewter. Don Pietro Stampaneo serves here as the parish
priest. He takes care of these items. This church has 15 arable
fields and a 26-row vineyard. It has a mill and a good number of
livestock. Those who take communion, being about 200 in
number, give the priest two quarts of grain. He also serves the
village of Curta Pulla [Korthpula] that is 12 miles from Cacinari.
This village has no church. It has 70 souls, 40 of whom take
communion. The priest goes there twice a month to celebrate
mass in a private home and more often during Lent for confession
and communion. This priest,Don Pietro Caccinari, is ignorant. He
can barely read and has no education. He does not know how to
write. He does not teach the Christian Doctrine. These mountain
people are given to raiding and thievery. They are ignorant of the
significance and the mysteries of our holy faith. Despite his
ignorance, he sets a good example and has not caused any
scandals, nor does he cavort with rogues.40

The patron of the Dibrri tribe was Saint Michael. There was an old
Church of Saint Michael (Kisha e Shën Mëhillit) overlooking the Gjadër
valley in Kashnjet that was first mentioned in 1629 in the ecclesiastical
report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino. It was torn down during the cultural
revolution in 1967 but has since been reconstructed. There was another
Church of Saint Michael in Ungrej that was also destroyed in the cultural
revolution of 1967.41
 In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Dibrri tribe were
given as follows: 800 households with a total of 5,774 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Fregna, Gryka e Gjadrit,
Kaçinar, Kalivaç, Kaluer, Kashnjet, Kashnjet-Kaftalla, Korthpula,
Korthpula-Kaftalla, Mnella, Rras, Sukaxhia, Tejkodra, Ungrej, Vig and
Vrith.42

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Dibrri is one of the five bajraks of Mirdita. It was not consanguinous with
the original three bajraks, Oroshi, Spaçi and Kushneni, so it could
intermarry with them. Among the Mirdita tribes, Dibrri was said to be one
mixed with Tosk (southern Albanian) blood.43

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham travelled through Dibrri territory on her way to Orosh in
1904 before returning to ‘civilisation’. She left the following impressions of
her trip through the region:

Having lunched at the village han, we struck up into the

mountains of the Mirdites. It is all mountainous, but quite unlike
any of the other Albanian districts that I know. The soil is a light
brown sandy loam with but little rock. Roads could be made here
without much difficulty, as little or no blasting would be required.
And the whole is thickly wooded. Mirdita, in fact, so far as I saw
it, is a huge tract of forest-land, a large part valueless, except for
firewood, as the young trees have been browsed by goats and
ignorantly lopped, but there are thousands of pounds’ worth of
fine timber too, for the most part oak on the lower slopes, and
pine above. But though timber can be floated down the Drin from
the heart of the land, the Turkish Government, unwilling that
Mirdita should earn money, stops the wood before it reaches the
sea, and has forbidden the Princess to export. With all its capital
locked up, development is a matter of extreme difficulty, and
Mirdita is bitterly poor. The people make a little money by selling
firewood, sheep's and goat's hides, fox and wolf skins, and the
roots and bark of the sumach-tree (for dyeing and tanning). They
buy some of their maize from the plain-land, otherwise the
country is almost ‘self-contained.’ Everything is home-made, and
all a man has to buy is his gun and ammunition. Every man is
armed, usually with ‘Martina’ and revolver.
Oroshi can be reached in one day from Skodra, but my friends
there, unaware of the iron condition into which Albania had
wrought me, arranged that I should take two over it. We tracked
along in leisurely fashion up the Gjadri, a small tributary of the
Drin, meeting now and again a party of natives heavily laden,
carrying their goods for sale at the frontier, or a herdsboy, who
stared with astonished eyes. Otherwise a few scattered huts were
all that told it was an inhabited land. But after the grey desolation
of the other mountain tracts of Albania, its greenness and the
warm colour of the soil looked almost English.
At eventide we all arrived at a nice little house on a hilltop,
with a great wooden cross alongside and a little old priest at the
door – a charming old man, who spoke just enough Italian for me
to understand him. […]
Next morning the worthy old man took me out to see his
garden, where the roses hung heavy with dew. His village,
Kasinjeti [Kashnjet], is scattered, as all the villages are, and but a
house or two showed among the trees. Below us lay the densely-
wooded valleys, and far away snow-clad peaks showed clean-cut
and sharp through the clear pure air of the dawn – an
incomparably magnificent view, all wild nature, as unmarked by
man as though Adam had not yet been created; and, travelling
express, it can be reached from London in seven days! […]
With Antonio as guard, we followed the route we had come by
as far as the Fan i vogele [Fani i Vogël], which we crossed and
followed downstream by the track to Kolouri [Kaluer]. This led
through a more populated district. Stone block-houses with
cultivated patches of ground were more frequent. In one lonely
valley a woman's voice shrilled from the rocks above, a long,
melancholy recitative; a rhythmic, barbaric chant in strange
harmony with the landscape. ‘Someone is dead,’ said Jin. ‘She is
telling all about him and what he did.’
He hailed the nearest herdsboy. A man had been shot, he said
briefly; that was all. We rode on, and the wild notes died away in
the distance.
Kolouri possesses the only shop in Mirdita – a wooden shanty,
whose owner serves as go-between in trade between Mirdita and
Skodra, and who sells petroleum and tin-pots, the only luxuries in
which Mirdita indulges. Here I passed the night and had a festive
supper with Jin, Antonio, and the two shopmen.
A short ride next day brought me to the borders of Mirdita. Far
below lay the plain of Alessio, and a steep descent brought us
down to the village of Kalmeti [Kallmet] and the Princess Bib
Doda's country-house by midday.
Antonio was in a hurry to depart and prepare for guests at
home on St. Alexander's Day. He said goodbye, and as I sat in the
shade of the trees, and looked at the great mountain-wall I had
just descended, I realized with a pang that Mirdita, too, was now
in the past.
Time had flown. Five months had gone all too quickly. The
tribes of the mountains all called me. The Shali and the Shoshi,
the Klementi; there were Gusinje and Plava all to see, and they
were all within my reach. But I had overstayed my time by
weeks, and had little more than the clothes I stood up in. For ten
wild minutes I believe I cherished the idea of buying native
garments, flying back to the mountains, and ultimately borrowing
my return fare from the nearest British Consul. But my route lay
over the plain to Skodra, and thence via Cetinje to London.
After Cetinje the charm was broken. I dropped into the West
with a shock. Nor did I look as though I belonged to it, for most
of those that I met on the four days’ whirl to England said: ‘May I
ask where you have come from?’ And I said: ‘I have come out of
the wilderness, and I am going back there some day!’44
 The Kushneni Tribe
Location of Tribal Territory
The bajrak of Kushneni, also spelled Kuzhneni, is situated in the District of
Mirdita in northern central Albania. It is centred on the basin of the Greater
Fan (Fani i Madh) River and extends southeastwards to the Lesser Fan (Fan
i Vogël) River. Kushneni borders on the traditional tribal regions of Dibrri
to the west, Spaçi to the north and east, Oroshi to the southeast, and Kthella
to the south. The main settlements of Kushneni are: Ndërfana, Gëziq,
Blinisht, Pëshqesh and Simon.

Population
The term Kushneni is recorded as Cuscnen in the 1795 report of Tommaso
Mariani; as Cusneni in the 1866 memoir of French diplomat Emile Wiet;
and as Cusceni, Cusneni on the 1928 map of Herbert Louis.
Kushneni is an entirely Catholic tribe. Its patron is Saint Stephen the
Martyr. The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who
travelled through the region in 1671–2, reported:

Leaving Lower Fan, we arrived at the village of Blinisti

[Blinisht]. There is a church here dedicated to Saint Stephen the
Protomartyr. The church has stone walls and the altar is made of
wood. Over half of the church is uncovered. Fifteen scudi would
be needed to complete the roofing. The Eucharist is not held here,
although there is no danger from the Turks. There is a chasuble of
rough cloth that is not in a bad state. It was purchased by Don
Andrea Cogna, parish priest of the church of the Patres Riformati,
for two and a half reals. It has a silver chalice and a gilded pewter
paten. The church owns 15 stony and infertile fields and a 16-row
vineyard. The priest makes his own wine, which is good. He also
receives enough grain to cover his needs. This village has 20
homes and 150 souls. Those who take communion, about 80 in
number, give the priest a quart of grain. Near the village of
Blinisti there are two other villages. The first is called Fandi
maggiore (Greater Fan) that has 25 homes and 200 souls. This
 village is about 8 miles from Blinisti and has a church dedicated
to Saint Demetrius. It is in good material condition. There are no
garments of any sort. The Eucharist is not held here. The other
village is Rosa [Ras] that has no church. It consists of 8 homes
and 64 souls. All of these people go to Blinisti to hear mass and,
during Lent, for confession and communion. Two months ago, the
priest went blind and the Bishop of Alessio now has to provide
for him. Those who take communion in these two villages, being
about 100, give the priest two quarts of sorghum. As to the priest,
Don Andrea Cogna, he has not been doing his job well, and has
not been teaching the Christian Doctrine to his parishioners,
among whom ignorance reigns and who do not even know how to
make the sign of the cross.45

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-

Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kushneni tribe
were given as follows: 318 households with a total of 2,430 inhabitants.
This comprised the settlements and surroundings of Blinisht, Kushnen and
Ndërfana.46

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Kushneni is one of the five bajraks of Mirdita, and indeed one of the
original three bajraks (Kushneni, Oroshi and Spaçi). These three bajraks
are consanguineous and thus do not intermarry. Kushneni can, however,
intermarry with Dibrri or Fani. The legendary ancestral father of the
Kushneni tribe was Gjin Biba, son of Bib Kola. He was the brother of Dodë
Biba, the father of Spaçi, and of Mark Biba, the father of Oroshi.47

Figures of Note
Ambroz Marlaskaj
The Catholic religious figure, Ambroz Marlaskaj (1884–1939), also known
as Ambrosio Marlaskaj, was born in Kushneni and, after schooling in Rubik
and Shkodra, was ordained as a Franciscan priest on 26 December 1900. He
studied theology and philosophy in Innsbruck (Austria) from 1902. From
1908 to 1910 he taught at Catholic educational facilities in Austria and
Bohemia. On his return to Shkodra in 1910, he served the Church in various
functions. From 1918 to 1921 he was director of the Franciscan college of
Troshan and became increasingly involved in national politics. In 1923 he
was elected to parliament for the Catholic Mirdita region, in opposition to
Ahmet Zogu, and was a member of the budget and finance commission, and
a captain in the Albanian army. When Zogu seized power in December
1924, Marlaskaj fled to Rome, as did many leading political figures. There
he returned to his ecclesiastical career and completed a doctorate in moral
theology at the Collegium Antonianum. Marlaskaj was eventually
amnestied by King Zog and returned to Albania, but he was arrested in
1933 and interned for a time in Vlora. Returning to Rome, he taught moral
theology at the Collegium Antonianum from 1934 to 1938, where he died.
He was particularly incensed at the ‘mixed marriage’ of King Zog and
regarded the participation of Catholic dignitaries at the king's wedding in
April 1938 as scandalous. Marlaskaj was the author of numerous articles in
Hylli i dritës (The Day-Star) and the Franciscan press.

Daniel Dajani
The Jesuit priest Daniel Dajani (1906–46) was born in Blinisht. He attended
school and the Catholic pontifical seminary in Shkodra, and in July 1926
became a novice of the Jesuit order in Gorizia (northern Italy). In Chieri
near Turin, he studied theology, philosophy and literature and finished a
doctorate with a ‘summa cum laude’. In July 1938, he was ordained as a
priest. He returned to Shkodra in 1940 to teach, and in 1944, he was made
director of the Catholic Saverian College. In September 1945, almost a year
after the communists had taken power in Albania, he became rector of the
pontifical seminary in Shkodra. The new regime was fanatically anti-
Catholic and the situation for the clergy was hopeless. On 31 December
1945 Daniel Dajani was arrested while visiting a village to hold mass for a
Jesuit student who had been tortured to death. In early March 1946, after a
show trial at which he was accused of being a traitor and a spy for the
Vatican, he was shot at the Catholic cemetery in Shkodra.

The Spaçi Tribe

 Location of Tribal Territory
The bajrak of Spaçi is situated in the Districts of Puka and Mirdita in
northern central Albania. Spaçi borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Kabashi, Puka, Dibrri and Kushneni to the west, Thaçi to the north, Mali i
Zi and Fani to the east, and Oroshi to the south. The main settlements of
Spaçi are: Fushë-Arrëz, Gojan, Kalivarja, Gjegjan, Dom, Kimza and Spaç.

Population
The term Spaçi occurs as Spacci in the 1866 memoir of French diplomat
Emile Wiet.
Spaçi is an entirely Catholic tribe, whose patron is Saint Nicholas.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Spaçi tribe were
given as follows: 598 households with a total of 4,230 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Breg, Doç, Gjegjan, Gojan,
Gomsiqja, Kalivarja, Kimza, Kisha e Arstit, Lumbardha, Mesul, Qafa e
Malit, Shkoza, Spaç and Tuç.48

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Spaçi is one of the five bajraks of Mirdita, and indeed one of the original
three bajraks (Spaçi, Kushneni and Oroshi). These three bajraks are
consanguinous and do not thus intermarry. Spaçi can, however, intermarry
with Dibrri or Fani. The legendary ancestral father of the Spaçi tribe was
Dodë Biba, son of Bib Kola. He was the brother of Mark Biba, the father of
Oroshi, and of Gjin Biba, the father of Kushneni.49

The Fani Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The bajrak of Fani is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern central
Albania. It is located in the upper reaches of the Lesser Fan (Fani i Vogël)
River. Fani borders on the traditional tribal regions of Mali i Zi to the north,
Luma and Arrëni to the east, Lura and Oroshi to the south, and Spaçi to the
west. The main settlements of Fani are: Bisak, Klos, Shënjin, Domgjon and
Thira.

Population
The Fani tribe took its name from the Fan or Fani River and most of the
historical references to the term refer to the river. The term occurs as Fanti
in 1515 in the Breve memoria di Giovanni Musachi; as Fandi in the 1610
report of Marino Bizzi; as Fanta picciola, Fanta grande in 1621 in a letter
of Pjetër Budi; as Fandeimade (i.e. Fani i Madh) in 1629 in the
ecclesiastical report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino; as Fante in the 1634
report of Pietro Maserecco; as Fanti uoghele and Fanti grande in the 1641
report of Marco Scura; as Fandi grande in the 1642 report of Benedetto
Orsini Ragusino; as Fandimade and Fandivogel in the 1663 report of
Giorgio Vladagni; as Fandi maggiore and Fandine minore in the 1671
report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari; as Fandi piccolo about 1685 in the report
of Giorgio Stampaneo; as Fande minore and Fandina on the 1689 map of
the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and as Fandi on the
1691 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli.
Fani is an entirely Catholic tribe, whose patron is Saint Mark. Marino
Bizzi, the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], passed through the Fani
region in the summer of 1610 and made the following observations on the
state of Christianity there:

That evening we arrived at Bini [Bena], one of the villages of Fan

where the main chieftains of the people there live. Taking
advantage of the mountainous terrain in the region, these people
have always maintained their freedom without ever submitting to
Turkish rule. They are continually at war with the Turks and
maraud not only in Albania, which is situated along the coast, but
also in Serbia, which is deep in the interior and stretches up to the
Danube. They spare neither the Turks nor the Christian subjects
of the Turks and with their continuous incursions have laid waste
to great reaches of the said province, no less than the
misgovernment of the Turks has done, who, as was noted above,
have no desire other than to extort and steal from their subjects as
much money as they can get out of them. There, I met one of their
chieftains, Gjek Laloshi, who, before I went to Rodon, had
arrived in Blinisht with a passport issued by the revenue collector
of Zadrima. There, publicly, he fell on his bare knees in front of
me and begged me, as I was the highest spiritual leader in the
country after the Pope in Rome, to give him my blessing since he
acknowledged his great sin in having murdered, with his own
bare hands, a great number of his people of every class, many of
whom he murdered simply out of greed. I did my best to console
him. I was informed that he had been living for many years in that
house with a concubine, so I exhorted him to marry the woman
because he was committing a sin in the presence of the Almighty.
He promised to do everything I said before my arrival in that
region, so I fulfilled his request. Following his example, another
one of the chieftains, a friend of his who had been living with a
concubine for many years, got married at the same time. Both
held their weddings on this occasion and almost all the chieftains
of the region took part. Whole roasts of mutton were grilled on
spits and the meat was distributed on wooden platters with no
particular care to cleanliness or refinement, which is missing in
these regions.
They are a proud people accustomed to suffering. Most of
them walk or run barefoot, both over rocks and on earth. Those
who do wear shoes, have them made of rawhide. They wear short
pants with their thighs remaining bare so that they can walk more
easily and run more quickly. Indeed, they wear little more than
these short pants and a shirt both in summer and in winter. They
go about armed with shields, javelins, arrows and scimitars, and it
is with these weapons that they attack and terrorize the
inhabitants of all the surrounding regions. Most of the women are
not dressed any better. They wear only a sort of open cloak, but
tied in front and with bare arms. Few of them wear blouses, and
when they walk, it happens that all the parts of their bodies are
exposed by their movement and by the wind. I spoke to the elders
about this and urged them, being Christians, to correct this abuse
in order not to give the devil an opportunity to promote licentious
behaviour among the young people. In this connection, I also
 gave orders to the confessors to see to it that the women dressed
with greater modesty. They, however, replied that no one in that
country would be scandalized, for such had been the custom of
the land since ancient times. The women of the villages situated
on rivers in Albania wade into the water without any concern in
order to fill their water jugs and to wash clothes. Their garments
float to the surface of the water to such an extent that they are
totally exposed. But such was the reply of the inhabitants of this
region […].
They have a church named after Saint Mark which was half
razed by the Turks who had made incursions into the region over
the past years. But the people had now assembled the material
needed for its restoration. There is a bell on the roof and another
one inside the church for the elevation (of the sacraments). It has
a chalice and a silver paten. There are graves around the church,
at which the sixty-year-old Dom John Zaguri was serving.50

The apostolic visitor to Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, who travelled

through the region in 1671–2, reported half a century later:

Leaving Cacinari [Kaçinar], we arrived in Fandine minore [Lesser

Fan]. This village has a church dedicated to the Birth of the
Madonna. It is built of stone. There is an altar set up to Our Lady.
The Eucharist is not held here, although there is no danger from
the Turks. There is a ragged chasuble of rough cloth, and a
chalice with a silver paten. It is in need of a chasuble, a missal, a
book of rites and a ciborium. It owns 12 fields and a 10-row
vineyard. It is served by Don Theodoro Giansi who was recently
ordained as a priest and who takes care of these items. This
village has 22 homes and 200 souls. Eighty people take
communion. The parishioners provide the priest with two quarts
of grain per household. As to the priest, he was accused of having
committed thefts before he was ordained, and this was known to
the Bishop. He is ignorant. He can read but has no education. He
has a bad reputation and does not teach the Doctrine. He goes
around bearing a firearm and a knife.
 In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Fani tribe were
given as follows: 504 households with a total of 3,332 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bisak, Domgjon, Konaj,
Sërriqja, Shëngjin and Xhuxha.51
There were also substantial colonies of Fani tribesmen in western
Kosovo (around Peja, Gjakova and Prizren). As the Fani region was
extremely poor and they did not have enough arable land to support
themselves, 300 families emigrated to the mountains of Hasi near Gjakova
in 1840. In the 1850s, there were 4,000 of them working the land and caring
for their herds there.52 They were noted and feared for their courage and
personal pride. It was said that they bought no land, and owned only
animals and goods, so that they could flee in time of trouble.53 Many of
them originally left Fani for the Gjakova region because of blood feuds.54
Emile Wiet, the French consul in Shkodra, noted the presence of Fani
tribesmen in Gjakova in 1866:

The Catholic element [is] composed of colonists from the bajrak

of Fani originating in Mirdita. They have lived in this region for
several generations and govern themselves, recognizing no one
but the prince of Mirdita as their leader. They are entirely devoted
to the sultan and constitute the sole armed force available to him
in case of an attack from the Muslim highlanders in the
mountains. Last year, they were the victims of an injust
aggression by these highlanders who, because of repeated
persecution, want to force the Fani to leave the province so that
they can plunder the plains unhindered when the season forces
them to leave the mountains.55

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Fani is one of the five bajraks of Mirdita, though not one of the original
three bajraks (Spaçi, Kushneni and Oroshi). It was originally part of the
Lura group to the east, but joined Mirdita when Luma turned Muslim. Fani
is not consanguinous with the three original bajraks and can thus intermarry
with them.
 The Fani were an unruly group in Ottoman times, and thereafter.
Because of their continuous marauding and pillaging, the inhabitants of
Fani were expelled from their tribal territory by the Sanjakbey Vërlaci in
1666. Two years later, however, they returned to their homeland. Such
punitive resettlement policies, as practised by the Turks in Albania, rarely
worked.56

The Oroshi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The bajrak of Oroshi is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern central
Albania. It is located on the left (south and southeastern) bank of the Lesser
Fan (Fani i Vogël) River. Oroshi borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Kushneni to the west, Spaçi and Fani to the north, Lura to the east, and
Kthella and Selita to the south. The main settlements of Oroshi are Orosh
and Mashtërkor.

Population
The term Oroshi occurs as Orosci in the 1671 report by Pietro Stefano
Gaspari; as Orossi on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco
Maria Coronelli; as Orosci on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer
Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; as Orosci in an ecclesiastical report in 1703
by the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich; as
Orocher on the 1821 map of French consul Hugues Pouqueville, and as
Orosci on the 1928 map of Herbert Louis. The Croatian historian Milan
Šufflay (1879–1931) derived the toponym from Aromunian oraş ‘town’,
claiming that the Aromunians fled the region when the Turks conquered it.
The Austrian linguist Norbert Jokl (1877–1942) envisioned the possibility
of an etymological relationship to Greek 'óρoς ‘mountain’. Neither
etymology is particularly satisfactory.
Oroshi is an entirely Catholic tribe. Its patron is Saint Alexander (Shën
Llesh), to whom the most famous church in Mirdita, the old Abbey of Saint
Alexander, was dedicated. This abbey, located in the settlement of Orosh,
was first mentioned in 1313 and is said to have been founded by the
Benedictines or Basilians.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Oroshi tribe were
given as follows: 156 households with a total of 1,160 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlement and surroundings of Orosh.57

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Oroshi is one of the five bajraks of Mirdita, and indeed one of the original
three bajraks (Oroshi, Spaçi and Kushneni). These three bajraks are
consanguinous and do not thus intermarry. Oroshi can, however, intermarry
with Dibrri or Fani. The legendary ancestral father of the Oroshi tribe was
Mark Biba, son of Bib Kola. He was the brother of Dodë Biba, the father of
Spaçi, and of Gjin Biba, the father of Kushneni.58
In the 1860s, the French diplomat Emile Wiet noted that although Oroshi
was the weakest of all the tribes of Mirdita in terms of population, it had
general command over the ten bajraks.59

Travel Impressions
The British traveller, Henry Tozer, travelled through the mountains of
Mirdita in 1865. His goal was Orosh where he journeyed to meet the tribal
leader Bibë Doda Pasha at the latter's mountain residence. He left the
following description of the palace:

The palace or castle of Orosch is an ideal residence of a mountain

chieftain, and both the building itself and the life enacted within it
carried our thoughts back in many respects to the wildest times of
the Middle Ages. The walls are massively constructed of stone,
with loopholes at intervals, for purposes of defence, and the
whole structure forms an irregular oblong, one end or wing of
which is occupied by the Prince and his family. This part we did
not enter, for the women are kept in as complete seclusion as in a
Turkish harem; of the rest, the ground floor is taken up with
stables, while a flight of stone steps leads up to a large hall, open
to the air in front, which occupies the greater part of the upper
 storey. From the roof of this was suspended an iron frame,
containing pieces of resinous pine-wood, whose bright flame sent
forth the light that we had seen on our approach. The walls on
three sides of it were hung with long guns, richly set with silver
and beautifully polished, for this is the occupation of the men,
while the women perform the more menial offices. At the back of
this are large unfurnished chambers occupied by the retainers and
guards, who, from their fierce look and long locks that streamed
from the backs of their heads, appeared some of the wildest of the
human race; and its sides are flanked by two good-sized rooms,
one of which formed the dining-hall, while the other was
appropriated to our use as a bedroom. Both of these are roofed
with the pinewood of the mountains, which was fragrant as cedar
and beautifully carved. Round the walls, about a third of the way
down, runs a cornice of the same material, below which stand
handsome buffets for containing valuables. The windows are
small, and carefully guarded with iron bars, and the hearths are
open, the chimney not commencing until near the roof, which in
consequence is blackened with smoke.60

The German geographer, Kurt Hassert, making his way through the
mountains of northern Albania in the summer of 1897, found his journey
through Mirdita quite adventurous:

On our third day, after an exhausting 16-hour march that took us

along steep trails up and over four mountain passes and, each
time, down into deep valleys, we reached Orosh, the capital of
Mirdita, and were graciously entertained by the abbot. His
Eminence Primo Docci [Preng Doçi] is an extremely interesting
and politically important figure – the real king of the Mirdita
region. He is a true son of the Albanian highlands, although he
received a comprehensive education and much experience from
twelve years of spiritual activity in North America, India and
Europe. I was quite amazed and delighted, in this isolated and
barbaric land, to hear him reminiscing about Germany and in
particular about the beer in Munich. Under the protection of
armed guards, we journeyed over the broad forested ridges of the
 wild and karstic Nan Shenjt [Nënshat]. Dr Baldacci then returned
to Shkodra by another route and I carried on inland. The
considerate abbot was kind enough to have a clergyman
accompany me to the border of Mirdita, and this measure of
precaution was by no means superfluous. As we later learned, one
of the bajraktars of a region we passed through had followed us
with the intent of robbing us. He would have seized upon the
collection of topographic sketches I had made on my journey.
Because we were quite a way ahead of him, we were able to get
away, but in actual fact, things only got more dangerous from
then on because we had entered the region made insecure by the
Luma tribe.61

Edith Durham travelled to Orosh in 1904 and left the following

impressions, like Kurt Hassert, of her meeting with the Abbot of Mirdita,
Preng Doçi (1846–1917).

From the zaptieh's house it is but a short way to Oroshi, and

Oroshi was a great surprise. It is in the midst of what is, perhaps,
one of the least-known and most isolated peoples of Europe, and
it contains one of the most civilized houses in all Albania, the
home of a man who is one of the strong personalities of the Near
East, Monsignor the Abbot of the Mirdites, who, single-hearted
and single-handed, a man of culture and learning, has devoted
himself to the saving of his wild brethren, and lives in the
wilderness cut off from all the world.
The Abbot is his own engineer and his own architect. On a
wide shelf on the mountain-side stand the church he has planned
and built, his house, and the school. The tall white bell-tower of
the church stood up white against the mountain beyond, which is
cleft by a wide gully, terraced and cultivated. Some twenty houses
are scattered up it. This is Oroshi, the capitaI of the Mirdites.
Before the inroad of Dervish Pasha it was a flourishing village of
a hundred houses. Now ruins mark where many a house has
stood, and the home of the Bib Dodas has never been rebuilt.
 The Abbot, whose title is the traditional one for the head of the
Church in Mirdita, is in reality a secular priest, for the
Benedictine abbey of Oroshi was long ago destroyed. His position
is quite a unique one. This wild land of 30,000 people has no
temporal head. It is princeless, and there is no tribunal of any kind
before which a criminal can be brought. The Abbot is the only
power in the land, and his power is purely spiritual.62

The Kthella Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Kthella tribal region is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern
central Albania. It is located in the basin of the Greater Smaj (Smaj i Madh)
and the Lesser Smaj (Smaj i Vogël) rivers, to the west of the Holy Mountain
(Mali i Shenjtë). Kthella borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Kushneni and Oroshi to the north, Selita to the east, Bulgëri to the west, and
the Mat region to the south. The main settlements of Kthella are: Rrëshen,
Prosek, Perlat, Malaj, Sheba and Kthella e Sipërme.

Population
The term Kthella occurs historically as Chtella in 1610 in the report of
Marino Bizzi; as Kthella in 1634 in the report of Pietro Maserecco; as
Stfella di Selita in 1642 in the report of Benedetto Orsini Ragusino; as
Kthella in 1672 in the report of Giorgio Vladagni; as Chesella about 1685
in the report of Giorgio Stampaneo; as Nchtella in an ecclesiastical report in
1703 by the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich;
and as Ksella on the 1928 map of Herbert Louis.
Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in August 1905, reported
on Kthella as follows:

The region is completely Catholic and has about 300 houses. It is

a bajrak of its own that consists of ten settlements: Perlataj,
Kamec, Rrëshen, Kthella e Epër, Malaj, Sheba, Shqalsh, Tena,
Prosek and Lursh, of which only the first three are important. The
 bajraktar lives in Rrëshen. There are churches in Kamec, Perlataj
and Rrëshen, the first one being the main church, which is thus
known simply as the church of Kthella.63

Kthella was of polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a
tribe claiming descent on the male side from one common ancestor.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kthella tribe were
given as follows: 839 households with a total of 3,952 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Ferra-Skurraj, Kthella e
Sipërme, Malaj, Perlat (Perlataj), Prosek, Rrëshen and Sheba.64

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Kthella was composed of three bajraks. Their place of assembly was a
spring under a fig tree in Perlat. In 1818, the bajraks of Kthella seceded
from the Mat region to the south of Mirdita, because of the high taxes
imposed by Pasha Sakat Zagolli, and joined Mirdita, which then had eight
bajraks.
Kthella, Selita and Bushkashi, which is south of the Mat River, were
known as the ‘three bajraks of Little Ohrid’.
Kthella with Mirdita led the tribes of the whole highlands in war
southwards, as Hoti did to the north.65 They were also notorious as pillagers
and robbers. Karl Steinmetz reported in August 1905:

The Kthella tribe is similar in character to Mirdita and Bushkashi.

They go on raids to the coastal plain, too, as I have noted, forced
as they are by need. In former times, this profession flourished.
On many occasions, 50 to 100 men would join forces to go
pillaging. Nowadays, there are only small groups. The Turkish
government has understood that it cannot overcome this
phenomenon with foreign gendarmes and has hired men from
Kthella as zaptiehs in its service, who of course know the routes
of intrusion and the tricks of their own people. Backed up by
regular forces in ample amounts, they guard the passes leading
down to the coast. This is, however, not a perfect solution because
 the guards have families back in Kthella and are afraid of
revenge. Confrontations, as a result, rarely involve blood.
Normally, the zaptiehs and soldiers, who are not keen on risking
their lives, begin shooting at a safe distance so that the robbers
can take cover. This is not difficult because most of the raids take
place at night. When they get back to their camp, the soldiers and
gendarmes boast of the courage of their attack and of how many
shots were exchanged.
In the interior of this region, there is less security than in
Bushkashi. The inhabitants of one settlement do not even trust
their neighbours. Attacks and treacherous murders occur among
them. It is advisable to keep a good eye on passers-by for a while,
even when they have passed you. The number of men who do not
dare to leave their kullas out of fear of revenge is particularly
high in Kthella.66

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Kthella,
which she visited in the summer of 1908:

I started off for Kthela with him as guide. He was a Kthela man,
he said, but was originally of Kilmeni (Seltze). ‘A long time ago’
a family had emigrated and settled in Kthela, and had now
expanded into twenty houses, which are intermarriageable with
the rest of Kthela. The track, a good one, led along the left bank
of the Fani i vogel, over it and up the other side to the church-
house of Blinishti, in the bariak of Kushneni.
The little old church is of the usual Mirdite pattern. The tiled
roof projects at the end, and is supported on posts to form a large
entrance-porch or verandah. A huge oak hard by was thickly
covered with a species of mistletoe–not the English one. I asked
about it in hopes of learning some superstition, but found it an
object of no interest. From Blinishti we went on to Shpal–the
church which is the gathering-point for all Mirdita–and,
descending again into the valley of the Fani, crossed it at Peshkes
and struck up through wooded slopes for Kthela. A sad massacre
 of big oaks was going on. A tree is felled, and then the whole
trunk is chopped down into one small, irregular plank. The track
and the hillside were heaped with chips. A man was hard at work
hacking the last felled giant. I vainly urged that a saw was very
cheap, and that four or five planks at least could be made from
one trunk–much more result for the labour. He and the Kthela
men were cross at this, and said this was the proper way. They
had always made planks like this, always would, and did not want
to be interfered with. They had the right to do as they pleased
with their own trees–which was unanswerable.
We rode through wood along the hillside, and, coming out of it
at the end, saw all Kthela below us–a sea of forested hills in
which scarce a house is visible. One great square-headed
mountain, Mal Selatit, rose on the left. At its foot, said our guide,
was a fortress of Lek Dukaghin, and beyond it, on the other side,
the ‘city of Skenderbeg,’ ruins which few strangers have ever
seen. His account was vague; he had been there, but it was very
dangerous–all Moslems.
The priest of Kthela welcomed us. His house was very
primitive, the short broad planks all axe-hewn, and his beehives,
at the back, fenced round with ox and horse skulls on posts, ‘to
keep off the evil eye,’ he said, laughing.
Kthela consists of three bariaks–Kthela, Selati, and Perlati.
Kthela is all Catholic, the two others mixed. They border on
Luria, and Islamism is spreading.
Kthela is chiefly forest, and lives largely by cattle-lifting.67

The Selita Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Selita tribal region is situated in the District of Mirdita in northern
central Albania. It is located in the upper basin of the Uraka River to the
northwest of Mount Kunora e Lurës (2,120 m.). Selita borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Kthella to the west, Oroshi to the north, Lura to
the east and the Mat region to the south. The main settlements of Selita are:
Kurbnesh, Zajs, Bardhaj (formerly Bozhiq), Lëkunda, Lufaj and Kumbulla.

Population
The term Selita is common in Albania and elsewhere in the southern
Balkans. It occurs historically for this region as Selita in 1672 in the report
of Giorgio Vladagni.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the Selita tribe was about two-
thirds Catholic and one-third Muslim. It was of polyphyletic origin and was
thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming descent on the male side from
one common ancestor.
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1905, noted the following:

Selita consists of one bajrak and counts about 280 households in

the following settlements: Lëkunda, Bozhiq [Bardhaj], Lufaj,
Gjoçaj, Dajç, Zajs, Kurbnesh, Mëkurth and Kumbulla. Most of
the population is Catholic, almost 200 of the families. The rest are
Muslim in the settlements of Lufaj, Gjoçaj and Dajç situated near
the Matja region. The tribal elder (plaku i parë) and the bajraktar
both live in Kurbnesh. The former is called Gjetë Lesh Gega and
the later, Kol Gjetë Bajraktari.68

In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-

Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Selita tribe were
given as follows: 393 households with a total of 1,877 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Bozhiq (Bardhaj), Dajç,
Gjoçaj, Kurbnesh, Lëkunda, Lufaj and Zajs.69

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Selita, Kthella and Bushkashi, which is south of the Mat River, were known
as the ‘three bajraks of Little Ohrid’.
 Selita was described as very poor, uncivilised, violent and predatory.
Most of the dwellings were kulla towers.70 Karl Steinmetz noted in 1905
that the men of Selita were notorious for their raids on Reka (now in
western Macedonia) and their large-scale sheep-rustling there:

The raids that are conducted on Reka are astonishing. When one
hears of them, one is amazed that such things could still be
unknown in ‘Europe’. One has the impression of being far away
from this continent, or somewhere in another age. Reka is a
region on the eastern side of Mount Korab and mountain range of
Deshat (Dešat planina) that separates it from Dibra. Its population
is almost exclusively Bulgarian. In the summertime, the rich
pastures of the extensive mountain plateaux there are covered in
grazing herds. The men of Selita are attracted by such wealth and
are emboldened by the more peaceful nature of the people of
Reka. In large bands normally consisting of 100 to 200 men, and
never under 50, they set off, usually with the help of the men of
Lura, and travel for several nights on end. In the daytime, they
hide in the forests, but at night they advance surreptitiously
through the valleys and over the mountains, crossing the Black
Drin and climbing the eternally snow-covered slopes of Mount
Korab, until they reach the Reka region. There, in one fell swoop,
they spirit off thousands of sheep and goats, even taking the
shepherds with them back across the Black Drin so that their deed
is not uncovered until they have left the region. The few bridges
that can be used to cross the Drin with herds are guarded by
military posts, but what can the soldiers do in the face of such an
overwhelming mass of well-armed and resolute men? The success
of the raid is celebrated at home with gunshots and feasting, and
then the booty is divided up. Raids can, on occasion, fail when the
region to be targeted gets wind of their coming in advance. This
was the case six weeks before my arrival when a band of some
100 robbers returned bloodied and empty-handed. They had
already seized some 10,000 sheep and goats and taken 20
shepherds captive, but the large number of animals slowed down
their return. The inhabitants of Reka were able to muster 500 men
and catch up with them.71
The tribal regions of Mat

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 9

THE TRIBES OF THE

MAT REGION

The Bushkashi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Bushkashi tribal region1 is situated in the District of Mat in northern
central Albania. It is located along the Mat River to the west and northwest
of the town of Burrel. Most of its territory was on the left (southern) side of
the Mat River. Bushkashi borders on the traditional tribal regions of Kurbini
to the west, Kthella to the north, and the Mat region to the east and
southeast. The main settlements of Bushkashi are: Kokërdhok, Bushkash,
Stojan (formerly Brinja) and Baz.

Population
The term Bushkashi seems to occur as Pescasi on the 1689 map of the
Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola, although this may also
refer to a Peshkesh in Mirdita.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Bushkashi tribe
were given as follows: 473 households with a total of 2,191 inhabitants.
This comprised the settlements and surroundings of Baz, Brinja, Hotaj,
Kokërdhok, Shtog and Stojan.2
The Bushkashi tribe, consisting of one bajrak, was primarily Catholic
(about 70 per cent), although there were Muslims in the Baz area. Although
they were situated in the Mat region, they were not really part of the Mati
tribal group, but were a tribe in their own right. Bushkashi was of
polyphyletic origin and was thus not a fis in the sense of a tribe claiming
descent on the male side from one common ancestor.
The Bushkashi were traditionally very poor. There was little cultivation
of the land and, as such, much thieving in the lowlands.3

Tribal History
In the early eighteenth century, the Bushkashi had a reputation, at least for
the Catholic hierarchy, of being a particularly wild tribe. The tribesmen
physically attacked their parish priest and murdered the archbishop's vicar
general. Since the poor parish priest was unable to defend himself, the
parish was given to the Franciscans in 1702, who then also fell victim to
violent attacks from the tribe. In 1704, two new Italian missionaries were
slain the moment they arrived in Bushkashi and their belongings and the
ecclesiastical apparel they had brought with them were stolen. The
Franciscans found no solution but to abandon Bushkashi entirely and settle
in a neighbouring village where the inhabitants were more peaceful and
civilised. The Bushkashi tribe continued to have a bad reputation among
church leaders. In 1754, Archbishop Niccolò Angeli Radovani wrote of
them that they were nominally Catholics, but that their actions were those
of the devil because they robbed, murdered and sold Christians to the Turks
as slaves.4

Travel Impressions
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through the region in August of
1867, noted that the Bushkashi were very intent on preserving their
independence from the Mati tribes:

We left the mudir at two o'clock and thought that we would have
enough time to get to Bushkashi before sunset, since it was said to
 be three hours from Zogolli. However, the fox seems to have
measured this timespan with its own tail, because we were caught
by nightfall while we were still on the trail. We got lost in some
maizefields and so I fired off a few shots to attract the attention of
the people of the parish who had been expecting us for several
days. Almost immediately, the bells of a nearby church rang out
and there were several shots fired that were answered by others at
closer and closer range. Although we were aware that bells were
often rung to welcome special guests to Greek monasteries, we
felt very perturbed about this dramatic noise coming from a
Catholic community, that is, until we were informed that we were
wrong to interpret it as a sign of welcome. It was, indeed, quite
the opposite. We had terrified the whole region that, since its
separation, had kept a watchful eye on anything and everything
coming from Matja. A group of armed men approaching from
Zogolli in the twilight awoke mistrust, and when we fired our
weapons in the dark, there was no longer any doubt that the men
of Matja were on the attack, and they gave the alarm signal.
Firing back would have made the situation all the more
dangerous. However, some families who lived in the vicinity of
the parish church understood who we were, and hastened down
the mountainside with torches in their hands to meet us.5

Hahn stayed with the local parish priest and gathered the following
information about Bushkashi:

The parish priest was a young and exceedingly intelligent

Franciscan from Naples who had been able to make an
impression upon the wild natives and gain prestige among them.
The parsonage, a one-storey building, consisted of three rooms
and a kitchen, and was all spick-and-span, as was the new church.
As another example of the geographical names of the Matja
region, the reader should know that the parish is called Brinja, not
Bushkashi. There is no actual village called Bushkashi or
Biscasio as this term refers to the four villages altogether that
make up the rural parish. The natives call it sheher, which is, of
course, the Turkish word for ‘town.’ The remains of such a town
 can, indeed, be found one and a half hours to the north of Brinja,
on the right bank of the Mat River, where one can apparently still
see the foundations of a large church dedicated to Saint Peter. The
missionary priest believed that this settlement was the one that
was originally called Bushkashi. He added that he had often asked
old people from the region about this town, but that no one had
been able to give him the slightest information about it. As to his
parishioners, he noted that some of them lived off theft, whereas
others struggled to make a living from handicrafts. On occasion,
Christians and Muslims – 10 to 40 men at a time – gather to go
raiding, expeditions which they undertake down to the coastal
plain as far away as the vicinity of Durrës. They are particularly
keen on rustling grazing cattle, but will pilfer anything they can
get their hands on. The followers of both faiths, of which the
Muslims are a small minority, live here in complete equality and
relative harmony. The priest denied that they intermarry, but was
then forced to admit this fact during our conversation. It was said
that in the neighbouring parish of Pedana [Bërzana], there used to
be mixed marriages in which pork and mutton were stewed in the
same pot, with the Christian spouse eating the one meat and the
Muslim spouse the other. Blood-feuding in this region is so
unbridled that the parish priest is unable to do anything about it.
In Matja, he stated, that there are more weeks of the year in which
more than one man falls victim to feuding than weeks in which no
one dies. He insisted that he would accompany me to the
archbishop because I would otherwise never get there alive.6

The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1905, reported the following of the wild Bushkashi tribe:

Bushkashi is the smallest of the territories that I visited this time.

It comprises only the northeastern slopes of the mountain after
which it is named, Mount Bushkash. It borders on the Mat River
to the north, on Mount Bushkash to the west and southwest, and
on the Karica stream to the east and southeast. Bushkashi is a
poor mountain region that is difficult to reach. It has
extraordinarily steep slopes with deep ravines cut into them. It is
out of these ravines that the two largest streams, the Lunreja and
the Traja, flow in the direction of the Mat River. There is little
agriculture and larger homesteads are rare. The crops consist here
mostly of maize, with some rye. Here and there one sees
vineyards, but all the households grow tobacco, and they have
onions, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes and paprika in their gardens.
The land is used principally for herding. Particularly suitable for
this purpose are the high pastures of Maja e Skanderbegut and
Trolla on Mount Bushkash. This is where the herds spend the
summer months. In the winter, they are kept in pens near the
houses. The cows and oxen are then fed on maize cobs and the
abundant hay, whereas the sheep and goats, that make up the
majority of the domestic animals, get only the leaves that were
raked up and stored in the summertime. They also keep a lot of
pigs, and every household has chickens. Many families also keep
bees. However, agriculture and herding together are not enough to
survive on, and both have declined substantially over the past few
years. The result has been extreme destitution. Bushkashi and the
Lezha highlands (Malësia e Lezhës) are among the regions of
Albania that suffer the most. Many families go hungry. Under
such circumstances it can be of no surprise that they endeavour to
get what they need from the more prosperous coastal plain. There
are few men who do not claim to have taken part in predatory
raids. For this reason, any man from Bushkashi caught in the
lowlands, whether he has come for peaceful or hostile purposes,
is arrested by the authorities. Men from this region are not
allowed to visit the nearby market towns of Kruja and Lezha.
Only the women are allowed to attend market there. Plundering
has a long tradition here. It has become a custom, passed from
one generation to the next, even when there is no material need
for it. This custom derives from an earlier age when the
Bushkashi lived high up in the isolated ravines of Mount
Bushkash and when the present-day villages in the lower regions
did not exist. It was only half a century ago, when life got very
difficult up in the mountain ravines, that they gradually descended
and settled in the valley.
 Mention must be made here of one famous bandit from
Bushkashi, Marka Kuli, because all of Albania knows him and his
courage has been praised in many lands. All the people I asked,
both farmers and missionaries, replied: ‘He was a real man!’ He
became lord and master of the coastal plain after his repeated
raiding and pillaging, expeditions that he carried out with
audacity and much luck. The people of the lowlands regarded him
as invincible and trembled at the very sound of his name. In the
spring of 1903, the Turkish government decided to send a
punitive expedition up to Bushkashi and to Kthella, a tribe of
equally predatory proclivities. The commander of the
gendarmerie of the Vilayet of Shkodra, Essad Pasha, marched up
to Bushkashi with several hundred foot soldiers and two pieces of
mountain artillery, and surrounded the kulla of Marka Kuli that
was located near Shtog in the Mat valley, about an hour away
from Brinja. There, in the stone tower, they found their man with
five of his companions, but he refused to surrender. The artillery
tore large holes into the walls of the kulla, but Marka Kuli held
out all day long. When it got dark, he and his companions broke
through the enemy lines and sought revenge for the destruction of
the house by cutting off the food supply route for the troops,
provisions that could only reach them through the Mat valley and
over Mount Derven. The expeditionary corps was thus obliged to
abandon its mission before completion. Since the men of
Bushkashi and Kthella had blocked the above-mentioned route
back, the Turkish forces were obliged to ask for Mirdita's
permission to cross its territory to get back to the coast.
Marka Kuli did not enjoy his reputation for long, although this
event probably took it to new heights. He died a year later in the
lowlands, south of the Mat. He had gone horse-rustling there and
was busy driving the stolen horses up into the mountains at dawn.
On his way, Marka Kuli came across a farmer who shot him
without even knowing who he was. Had he known, he would
never have had the courage to exchange fire with him. Marka's
younger and less known brother, Zef Kuli, tried to maintain the
family reputation. He was, however, shot six months later, though
not while raiding in the lowlands. He was slain by a fellow
tribesman not far from his own kulla. Zef Kuli had lent money to
this neighbour and had tried in vain to get the sum back. One day,
as he was put off again, he withdrew muttering that he was going
to recuperate the money by force of arms. The next day, he turned
up with a Mauser in his hand in front of the kulla of the debtor.
Hardly had he reached the gate when the debtor and his two sons
opened fire on him. Zef Kuli was hit in the chest and in one arm,
yet he managed to fire five shots at his foe, one of which, having
penetrated the heavy door, wounded the debtor in the hand. This
event is typical of conditions in this territory.
Bushkashi and neighbouring Matja and Kthella do not enjoy
the autonomy granted by the authorities to the Catholic mountain
regions north of the Drin River and to Mirdita. In actual fact,
however, as can be seen from the above-mentioned expedition of
Essad Pasha, all three tribes are independent. They pay no taxes
and govern themselves, without paying the slightest attention to
Shkodra or Istanbul. The Turks only enter Bushkashi territory
when they are well-armed.
Bushkashi forms a bajrak of its own with Baz. However, it is a
loose association with the latter settlement situated in the
direction of Matja. Usually they only hold one annual tribal
assembly, a kuvend, which is devoted to deciding on relations
with the neighbouring tribes. Baz has 60 Catholic and 40 Muslim
households. Bushkashi, for its part, is entirely Catholic and
consists of five settlements: Kokërdhok, Shtog, Stojan, Brinja and
Hot, a total of 150 households. But relations among these five
settlements are loose. The head of the bajrak, the bajraktar, has
no power at all. In contrast to the rigidly organized mountain
tribes north of the Drin River, there is almost total anarchy and
individual independence here, as in Kthella, Selita and Lura. In
the north, there is due process of customary law valid for the
whole region. Here, on the other hand, everyone decides and acts
as he pleases - every man for himself. It is the responsibility of
the family in question to take revenge on a murderer, robber or
thief. The tribe as such does not get involved. The only retribution
known, even for minor offences, is the bullet because no one can
 force a perpetrator to appear for trial, nor can peace and pardon be
bought here with money. All that is known is the bitter maxim of
‘blood for blood.’ As such, blood-feuding in Bushkashi and the
other above-mentioned tribes is much more prevalent than it is
among the notoriously feuding tribes of Nikaj and Shala. If a
family is caught up in a feud, the adult males are no longer able to
leave their kulla and often spend years indoors in voluntary
detention, and the women have to do all the farm work. It is
evident that the extreme poverty of the region is a result of this
phenomenon. As a result of the feuds, many families leave
Bushkashi entirely and settle in Matja where they are willingly
taken in. They live there as tenant farmers or are employed as
shepherds because the families in Matja live off agriculture and
do not know much about herding. The tenants give the
landowners half of the crops they produce, but are allowed to
keep their own animals.
Despite all of this, one should not gain the impression that the
people of Bushkashi are wild and savage robbers. I was quite
surprised, if not to say disappointed. Everywhere I went, I was
treated with kindness and they all made such a peaceful
impression on me that I felt more at home here with the wild
Bushkashi than with any other tribe on the whole trip.7

The Composite Mati Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Mati tribal region8 corresponds broadly to the District of Mat in
northern central Albania. It is located in the interior basin of the Mat River.
Mati borders on the traditional tribal regions of Bushkashi and Benda to the
west, Kthella, Selita and Lura to the north, and Dibra to the east. The main
settlements of Mati are: the capital and market town of Burrel, Burgajet,
Macukull, Shulbatër, Gurra e Madhe, Klos and Zibër-Murriza.

Population
The Mati tribe derives its name from the Mat River. This river name was
recorded in Latin as Mathis by the fourth-to-fifth century writer Vibius
Sequester and in ancient Greek as Mάτη. The term also occurs historically
as Mathia in 1308 in the Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis; as Mat in
1488 in an Ottoman tax document;9 as Matia in 1515 in the Breve memoria
of Giovanni Musachi; as Machia on the 1554 Mercator map; as Mattia in
the 1570 anonymous Relazione dell'Albania; as Ematthia in the 1591 report
of Lorenzo Bernardo; as Emathia in 1596 in Jaques De Lavardin's Historie
of George Castriot; as Mathia in 1610 in the report of Marino Bizzi; as
Matthia in 1614 in the report of the Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza; as
Ematia in 1621 in a letter of Pjetër Budi; as Man, a misspelling or
misreading for Mat, in 1662 in the Seyahat name of Evliya Çelebi; as
Emathia in the 1671 report by Piero Stefano Gaspari; as Mathia in about
1685 in the report of Giorgio Stampaneo; as Matis in 1821 on the map of
French consul Hugues Pouqueville; and as Máthis in 1848 in the journal of
Edward Lear.
Mati was a large, mostly Muslim, tribe made up traditionally of six
bajraks: Burrel, Klos, Lis, Lukan, Prell and Xibër. It was closely related to
the tribes of Dibra and Lura.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Mati tribe as a
whole were as follows: 3,986 households with a total of 23,643
inhabitants.10

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Mati, like Dibra, is not a tribal region in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community
that is aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back
to one male ancestor. It is far more a region with a good degree of collective
identity that acted as a military unit in times of conflict, in the sense of a
bajrak.
The Mat region in the interior of Albania, i.e. the basin of the Mat River,
consists of rolling hill surrounded on all sides by mountains and has offered
protection to its inhabitants since early times. Because of its isolated nature
yet clement environment, the German historian Georg Stadtmüller (1901–
85) advanced the thesis that the Mat region was the cradle of the Albanian
nation,11 i.e. that one can trace the origins of the Albanian people
specifically to this region. Yet, although it has been settled since the Bronze
Age at least, there were never any large urban settlements in Mat until the
modest growth of Burrel in the mid-twentieth century.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Mat region was
divided into the realms of four ruling families: (1) the Zogolli family in the
northern part of Mat. It inhabited the right (northeastern) bank of the Mat
River. This family, from which Ahmet Zogu, later known as King Zog,
stemmed, had its fortified seraj (manor, palace) on a hill above the village
of Burgajet; (2) the Allamani family in the western part of Mat. It inhabited
the Mat River south of Burrel, primarily on its left (western) side and had
its seraj in the village of Kurdaria, later known as Kujtim; (3) the Çelaj
family in the eastern part of Mat. It inhabited the right (eastern) bank of the
Mat River and it had its seraj in the village of Patin; and (4) the Bozhiqi
family in the southern part of the Mat region. It had its seraj in the village
of Klos.
Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through the region in August
1867, reported on these families as follows:

The Mat region is very divided. This can be seen in the fact that it
is inhabited by four different clans headed by one or more leading
families, each of which is, of course, only a primus inter pares in
the region. The Bozhiqi inhabit the upper valley of the Mat, then
come the Çelaj who rule over the southern part of the valley.
After this are the Olomani or Alamani, and the north of the valley
is the homeland of the Zogolli. This is, however, only the general
view for, on closer inspection, we find that these families are
mingled and that all four of them are present in some villages. In
addition to this, these families can be divided into what are more
or less major groupings and smaller groupings that would need to
be studied separately for better information.12

The history of Mat in the twentieth century is very much associated with
the figure of Ahmet bey Zogolli (1895–1961), also known as Ahmet Zogu
who ruled Albania from 1924 to 1939, most of this time as a monarch, King
Zog. He inherited rule of the Zogolli clan at an early age on the death of his
father, Xhemal Pasha Zogolli (1860–1911).

Figures of Note
Pjetër Budi
The early Albanian writer, Pjetër Budi (1566–1622), known in Italian as
Pietro Budi, was the author of four religious works in Albanian. He was one
of the great figures of early Albanian literature. Pjetër Budi was born in the
village of Gur i Bardhë in the Mat region. He could not have benefited from
much formal education in his native region, and trained for the priesthood at
the so-called Illyrian College of Loretto (Collegium Illyricum of Our Lady
of Luria), south of Ancona in Italy, where many Albanians and Dalmatians
of renown were to study. At the age of 21 he was ordained as a Catholic
priest and sent to Macedonia and Kosovo, then part of the ecclesiastical
province of Serbia under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Antivari
(Bar), where he served in various parishes for an initial 12 years. In 1599,
he was appointed vicar general (vicario generale) of Serbia, a post he held
for 17 years. In 1610, Budi was referred to as ‘chaplain of Christianity in
Skopje’ and, in 1617, as chaplain of Prokuplje. In Kosovo, Budi came into
contact with Franciscan Catholics from Bosnia, connections, which in later
years, proved fruitful for his political endeavours to mount support for
Albanian resistance to the Ottoman Empire. As a representative of the
Catholic Church in the Turkish-occupied Balkans, he lived and worked in
what was no doubt a tense political atmosphere. His ecclesiastical position
was in many ways only a cover for his political aspirations. In 1616, Pjetër
Budi travelled to Rome, where he resided until 1618 to oversee the
publication of his works. From March 1618 until about September 1619, he
went on an 18-month pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Back
in Rome in the autumn of 1619, he endeavoured to draw the attention of the
Roman curia to the plight of Albanian Christians and to raise support for
armed resistance. In this connection, he was in contact with the influential
Dalmatian diplomat, Francesco Antonio Bertucci. On 20 July 1621, Budi
was made bishop of Sappa and Sarda (Episcopus Sapatensis et Sardensis),
i.e. of the Zadrima region, and returned to Albania the following year. His
activities there were now more openly political than religious in nature. One
of his interests was to ensure that foreign clergymen were replaced where
possible by native Albanians, a step that could not have made him
particularly popular with some of his superiors in Italy. In December 1622,
some time before Christmas, he drowned while crossing the Drin River.
Pjetër Budi's principal publication is the Dottrina Christiana or Doktrina e
Kërshtenë (Christian Doctrine), a translation of the catechism of Saint
Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621). It was published in Rome in 1618 and is
preserved in only one original copy. The Albanian Christian Doctrine was
subsequently reprinted by the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide in
Rome in what would seem to be relatively large editions in 1636, 1664 and
in 1868. In 1759, it is known that there were still 960 copies of the book in
the depository of the Propaganda Fide. Of more literary interest than the
catechism itself are Budi's 53 pages, some 3,000 lines, of religious poetry in
Albanian, appended to the Christian Doctrine. Pjetër Budi is the first writer
from Albania to have devoted himself to poetry.

Ahmet Zogu (King Zog)

The Mat region is most commonly associated with Albania's one-time
monarch, King Zog. Ahmet Muhtar bey Zogolli, later Ahmet Zogu (1895–
1961), was born in Burgajet in the Mat district. Through his mother Sadije
he was related to Essad Pasha Toptani (1863–1920). He spent his early
years, from 1903 to August 1912, in Constantinople, where he had been
sent as a hostage, and, after his return to Albania, he commanded an
Albanian volunteer brigade fighting on the side of Austria-Hungary during
World War I. After much time in Vienna, he took part in the Congress of
Lushnja in January 1920, and in the period 1920–2 he served as minister of
the interior under Sulejman bey Delvina and then as minister of defence. It
was in this period of his gradual rise to power that he changed his surname
from Zogolli to Zogu. On 2 December 1922, he formed a conservative
government himself and held onto power until 23 February 1924, when an
attempt was made on his life. Zogu fled to Yugoslavia after the so-called
Democratic Revolution, which saw the ephemeral rise to power of Fan Noli
(1882–1965) in June 1924. With Yugoslav support he organised volunteer
corps including remnants of tsarist White Russian forces and returned to
take over Albania. His forces occupied Tirana on 24 December 1924,
bringing an end to Noli's short experiment in democracy. On 15 January
1925, Zogu formed a new cabinet of so-called ‘constitutional legality’. He
declared Albania, which was nominally still a monarchy under a formal
Regency, to be a republic and made himself president thereof on 31 January
of that year. Despite the fact that he had come to power with Yugoslav
support, he began to ally himself increasingly with Yugoslavia's rival in the
Adriatic, fascist Italy. After an initial trade agreement between Albania and
Italy, the two countries signed a first Pact of Tirana on 27 November 1926
and a second Pact of Tirana on 22 November 1927, the latter providing for
mutual assistance in case of attack. These treaties gave Italy de facto control
over Albania as a protectorate.
On 1 September 1928, with Italian support, Ahmet Zogu declared
himself to be Zog I, King of the Albanians, and the Zogu clan became the
new royal family. Over the coming decade, the authoritarian monarch
endeavoured to maintain a degree of independence from Mussolini's
increasingly colonialist designs, but, in the end, he was forced to give in.
When Italian troops invaded Albania on Good Friday, 7 April 1939, with
the firm intention of staying, Zog and his family, Queen Geraldine (1915–
2002) and their newly born son Leka (1939–2011), left Albania for good
and fled overland to Greece. On 15 June 1939, Zog received news that he
had been granted asylum in Britain on condition that he be financially
independent (he had taken seven crates of gold from Tirana with him!) and
refrain from political activity. The exiled royal family initially settled in
France, but moved in June 1940 to The Ritz Hotel in London until they
could find permanent quarters. Also residing at The Ritz during World War
II were King George II of Greece and King Peter II of Yugoslavia. In
November 1941, the Albanian party moved to Parmoor House in Frieth,
Buckinghamshire, in the Thames Valley, although the king later also kept an
office at The Ritz. King Zog spent the war years in Britain trying to gather
support for the Albanian resistance and for himself. By this time, his
authority among the Albanians and his royal title were severely questioned.
British official circles ignored him as a potential galleon figure to rally
opposition to the Italian and German occupation of Albania.
With the communist takeover of Albania in late November 1944, Zog
realised that there was no hope of return. He was formally deposed in
Albania on 1 January 1946. Through his friendship with the Egyptian
ambassador in London, he was invited to settle in Egypt under King Farouk
(1920–65), who was himself partly of Albanian origin. On 12 February
1946 he set sail from Liverpool with an entourage of 30 people and with
2,000 pieces of luggage. From Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria) where he and
his family stayed from February 1946 to the summer of 1955, Zog
reorganised the monarchist Legaliteti (Legality) movement and
endeavoured to gain the support of anticommunist Albanians in exile, but
with limited success. By this time, the chain-smoking Zog was ill with
cancer and the project was dropped. His last move, organised by the queen,
was to Villa St Blaise in Cannes on the French Riviera (July 1955). The
exiled king died of stomach cancer at Hôpital Foche in Suresnes near Paris
and was buried in Thiais. His remains were transferred to Tirana in
November 2012.
The tribal regions of the Upper Drin Basin

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 10

THE TRIBES OF THE UPPER

DRIN BASIN

The Hasi Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Hasi tribal region is situated in the Has Mountains (Malësia e Hasit)
around Mount Pashtrik (1,983 m.) on both sides of the Albania–Kosovo
border. It corresponds to the present District of Has in northeastern Albania
and part of the Municipality of Prizren in Kosovo. Hasi is located on the
right (northern and western) bank of the White Drin River to the northwest
of the town of Prizren, approximately from Zhur in the south to Gjakova in
the north. It borders on the traditional tribal regions of Bytyçi to the north
and Luma across the White Drin River to the south.
The main settlements of Hasi are: Kruma (the administrative capital of
the district), Perollaj, Cahan, Tregtan, Pogaj, Shalqin, Golaj and Nikoliq in
Albania, and Zym, Pllaneja, Mazrek, Gjonaj, Karashëngjergj, Rogova and
Bishtazhin in Kosovo.
Hasi is traditionally divided into Hasi i Rrafshit (Hasi of the Plateau),
also called Hasi i Butë (Soft Hasi), Hasi i Prizrenit (Prizren Hasi) or Hasi i
Gjakovës (Gjakova Hasi) consisting of 60 villages mostly in Kosovo; and
Hasi i Brijës, also called Hasi i Gurit (Stone Hasi) or Hasi i Thatë (Dry
Hasi) consisting of 24 villages mostly in Albania. The Hasi had close
contacts with the other tribes of the Gjakova highlands (Malësia e
Gjakovës).

Population
The term Hasi occurs as Hassi in 1570 in the anonymous Relazione
dell'Albania; as Has in 1634 in an ecclesiastical report by Pietro Maserecco,
as Hassi in 1650 in an ecclesiastical report by Giacinto da Sospello, as
Hassi on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da
Vignola; and as Hassi in 1821 on the map of French consul Hugues
Pouqueville. The term is related to Turkish has, an Ottoman military fief, as
the region was referred to in Ottoman source material in 1571 and 1591 as
the nahiye (subdistrict) of the military fiefs.
The Hasi are a primarily Muslim tribe, although there are also Catholic
settlements on the Kosovo side of the present border, in particular around
Zym, Karashëngjergj and Bishtazin. The region itself was earlier ethnically
mixed with Serbian and Albanian speakers. At the beginning of the
twentieth century there were 50 villages with 2,400 Serbian-speaking
Muslims, 1,550 Albanian-speaking Muslims, 750 Catholics and 200
Orthodox.1
Hasi is not a tribal region in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community that is
aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one
male ancestor. Like Luma and Lura, it is an ethnographic region with a
distinct history and identity, and consisted of two bajraks. The large Bajrak
was centred in Vlahna and the small Bajrak in Helshan.
As with the neighbouring Luma and Mal i Zi tribal regions, Hasi was
inhabited by peoples of various tribal origins. There were Berisha in the
settlements of Kruma and Perollaj; Bytyçi in Mujaj, Cahan and Qarr; Gashi
in Kishaj, Mujaj and Metaliaj; Kastrati in Kruma, Golaj and Pus i thatë;
Hoti in Qarr; Krasniqja in Kruma, Mujaj, Qarr and Vlahna; Thaçi in
Helshan, Kishaj, Kruma, Mujaj and Vlahna; Morina in Gjinaj, Helshan,
Kishaj, Kruma, Pus i thatë, Metaliaj and Perollaj; and Shala in Kishaj,
Kruma, Metaliaj and Vlahna. The Serbian anthropologist Milenko Filipović
(1902–69) collected the following data on the presence of various tribes in
Hasi i Rrafshit, i.e. on the Kosovo side of the present border, in 1940:
Krasniqja with 110 families in nine villages; Berisha with 128 families in
15 villages; Thaçi with 188 families in 20 villages; Morina with 127
families in 16 villages; Kabashi with 66 families in eight villages; Bytyçi
with 114 families in 19 villages; Shala with 105 families in 14 villages;
Hoti with 32 families in six villages; Gashi with 22 families in two villages;
and Shkreli with 13 families in seven villages.2
On the Albanian side of the border, the population is primarily Muslim,
and traditional customs are adhered to here somewhat more than elsewhere
in the region. Although men and women eat separately in many Muslim
regions of the north, at mealtime in Hasi households the women did not
even enter the dining room to serve the meals, but gave the men their food
through a kitchen hatch. This tradition is still observed in some Hasi homes.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Hasi was under Ottoman administration from the time of the Turkish
conquest in the late fourteenth century until 1912. It revolted against its
Ottoman rulers in Gjakova on several occasions in the nineteenth century,
notable during the uprisings of 1837, and took part in the League of Prizren
in 1878 and the League of Peja in 1899. The villages of Hasi suffered much
damage and destruction during the anti-Ottoman uprisings from 1909 to
1912 and during the Serbian invasion of 1912.
With the Serbian conquest of Kosovo and the independence of Albania
(1913), a political border was created that cut Hasi territory into two. The
population on the Kosovo side of the present border was now under Serbian
and later Yugoslav rule, and the population on the Albanian side of the
border was within the newly independent Albanian state. Albanian
independence initially brought no gain for Hasi as the settlements on the
Albanian side lost access to their two main trading markets in Gjakova and
Prizren, and were reduced to hunger and extreme poverty. The border
separating the two halves of Hasi remained more or less impervious until
1999.

Travel Impressions
The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević, travelled through Hasi in
1907:
 When we left the New Inn, we had a good look at both banks of
the Drin River. On the left we could see the Koritnik mountains
and Luma behind them. On the right side was Mount Pashtrik, at
the foot of which was the region of Hasi and its villages. There is
no easy explanation of the word Hasi. In Turkish, one would use
the word has or hasi to describe a tribe or an individual who has
received great privileges and special rights from his master, and is
now strong, proud and disobedient. In Croatian, there is also an
expression that the Croats use for an individual who has attained
power and has become self-conceited: ‘poasio se’ (he has become
hasi). Indeed, the inhabitants of this region are insolent, hot-
tempered and cruel, even though they are appallingly poor. They
are tall, have a proud and fiery expression on their faces, have a
high and proud brow, and twirl their moustaches. One can see that
the name quite suits them.3

Edith Durham, who visited the region in the summer of 1908, left the
following impression of Hasi:

Following Drin down a short way to its junction with the Kruma,
we struck up the valley of the Kruma, and were in the land of the
Hashi [Hasi]. A great wall-like cliff, rising on the stream's left
bank, is known as the fortress of Lek Dukaghin.
Hashi is a large tribe, variously reckoned at 600 to 1,000
houses, the large majority of which are Moslem. It is separated by
the White Drin from the Moslem tribe of Ljuma [Luma] on the
one side, and on the other marches with the Moslem Krasnich
[Krasniqja]. Hashi land includes the Pestriku [Pashtrik]
Mountains, which the Mirdites state to be their own ancestral
home. They migrated to their present home, and the land was
subsequently occupied by Hashi, which is no relation to Mirdita.
We left the Kruma, and rode on to a high undulating plateau of
loose, friable soil, covered with stunted oak-scrub, parched and
sun-scorched. There was neither shade nor spring. A Moslem
friend of the kirijee's hailed him, and invited us all to take our
midday rest at his place. The nearest spring on the track, he said,
 was two hours' distant, but he had plenty of water. We accepted
gratefully, and followed him uphill. He had two houses side by
side–ramshackle shanties made entirely of wood, save for the
large chimney and fireplace of clay built up at the side. […]
Returning to our track, we rode for over an hour through dull,
dusty oak-scrub, then into a wood, where we watered the horses
at the two-hour spring, and pushed on, as it was absolutely
necessary to arrive before nightfall–passed a few wooden houses
at Helshani, and met scarce a soul upon the road. It was a deserted
wilderness. A long ascent brought us to the top of the pass, Chafa
Prushit, and there lay Djakova [Gjakova] on the plain below, with
a long descent of rolling hill between us and it–red roofs glowing
among green trees, slim white minarets twinkling delicate like
lilies.4
They had never seen a woman in European dress, and were
greatly amused at my arrival armed only with an umbrella. They
occupy the Pestriku mountains, traditionally a former home of the
Mirdites. They were hospitable and allowed me to pass through
their land, but were so unused to foreigners and so afraid that
their admission might bring about foreign annexation that I asked
no questions about origin or anything personal.5

Figures of Note
Pjetër Bogdani
One prominent representative of the Hasi tribe was the Catholic religious
figure and writer of early Albanian literature, Pjetër Bogdani (ca. 1630–89),
known in Italian as Pietro Bogdano. Born in Gur i Hasit (now Bregdrini or
Gjinan) near Prizren, Bogdani was educated in the traditions of the Catholic
Church to which he devoted all his energy. His uncle Andrea or Ndre
Bogdani was archbishop of Skopje. Bogdani is said to have received his
initial schooling from the Franciscans at Čiprovac in northwestern Bulgaria
and then studied at the Illyrian College of Loretto near Ancona (Italy), as
had his literary predecessors Pjetër Budi and Frang Bardhi. From 1651 to
1654, he served as a parish priest in Pulat in northern Albania and, from
1654 to 1656, he studied at the College of the Propaganda Fide in Rome
where he graduated as a doctor of philosophy and theology. In 1656, he was
named bishop of Shkodra, a post he held for 21 years, and was also
appointed administrator of the archdiocese of Antivari (Bar) until 1671. In
1677, he succeeded his uncle as archbishop of Skopje and administrator of
the Kingdom of Serbia. His religious zeal and patriotic fervour kept him at
odds with Turkish forces and, in the atmosphere of war and confusion that
reigned, he was obliged to flee to Ragusa (Dubrovnik), from where he
continued on to Venice and Padua, taking his manuscripts with him. Pjetër
Bogdani is remembered as the author of the Cuneus prophetarum (The
Band of the Prophets), Padua 1685, the first prose work of substance
written originally in Albanian (i.e. not a translation). After arranging for the
publication of the Cuneus prophetarum, Bogdani returned to the Balkans in
March 1686 and spent the next years promoting resistance to the armies of
the Ottoman Empire, in particular in Kosovo. He contributed a force of
6,000 Albanian soldiers to the Austrian army, which had arrived in Prishtina
in October 1689, and accompanied it to capture Prizren. There, however, he
and much of his army were met by another equally formidable adversary –
the plague. Bogdani returned to Prishtina but succumbed to the disease
there in December 1689. His nephew Gjergj reported in 1698 that his
uncle's remains were later exhumed by Turkish and Tartar soldiers and fed
to the dogs in the middle of the square in Prishtina. So ended one of the
great figures of early Albanian culture, the writer often referred to as the
father of Albanian prose. His Cuneus prophetarum is a vast treatise on
theology and was published in Albanian and Italian with the assistance of
Cardinal Barbarigo. It is considered to be the masterpiece of early Albanian
literature and is the first work in Albanian of artistic and literary quality.

The Luma Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Luma tribal region is situated in the District of Kukës in northeastern
Albania and in the western part of the Municipality of Sharr (Dragash) in
Kosovo. It is centred on mountainous terrain around the valley of the Luma
River that flows into the Drin River near Kukës. It is the mountainous
territory situated to the south of the White Drin River and mostly to the east
of the Black Drin River. Luma borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Hasi across the White Drin River to the north, Mirdita across the Black
Drin River to the west, and Dibra to the south. Traditionally, Luma territory
extended from Zhur, west of Prizren in Kosovo, to Kalis in the south. The
traditional market town and regional administrative centre for Luma is now
Kukës, although in the nineteenth century, it was heavily dependent for its
necessities upon Prizren. The main settlements of Luma, mostly small
villages, are: Bardhoc, Bicaj, Domaj, Gostil, Gjegjën, Kolesjan, Lusna,
Përbreg, Shishtavec, Shtiqën and Topojan.

Population
The tribal or regional term Luma was first recorded in 1571 as a nahiye of
the sanjak of Dukagjin. The name is no doubt related to Alb. lumë, luma
‘river’.
The Luma were a relatively large and powerful tribe. However, they
were not a tribe in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community that is aware of
common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one male
ancestor. Luma is an ethnographic region with a distinct history and identity
and some authors do not regard it as a tribe in any sense. As with the
neighbouring Hasi and Mal i Zi tribal regions, Luma was inhabited by
people of various tribal origins. There were Gashi in Nanga; Krasniqja in
Shtiqën; Shala in Bicaj, Surroj and Manza; Thaçi in Kolesjan; and Berisha
in Ujmisht.
Luma consisted of seven bajraks: 1) Rrafshja or Luma proper with its
bajraktar residing in Bicaj – they stemmed from a seventeenth-century
ancestor called Xhuxh Bici; 2) Tejdrinia with its bajrkatar in Domaj and
formerly in Kolsh; 3) Kalis with its bajraktar in Mahalla e Poshtër; 4) Qafa
with its bajraktar in Bushtrica; 5) Radomira with its bajraktar in Tejs; 6)
Çaja with its bajraktar in Fshat; and 7) Topojan with its bajraktar in
Brekija. The Russian scholar Ivan Stepanovič Jastrebov (1839–94) who
travelled through the region at the end of the nineteenth century referred to
these seven bajraks and noted their respective strengths as follows:
Rrafshja (Bicaj) 800 households
Tejdrinia 460 households
Kalis 130 households
 Qafa (Bushtrica) 280 households
Radomira 530 households
Çaja 130 households
Topojan 500 households6
The Luma tribe was entirely Muslim. Islam spread here in the Ottoman
period, initially along the right side of the Black Drin, i.e. into areas that
had formerly been Orthodox. Shi'ite dervish sects were also active in the
spread of Islam in Luma, in particular the Halveti sect.7
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Luma tribe were
given as follows: 2,781 households with a total of 17,978 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Arrën, Bicaj, Kolesjan,
Kolsh, Lusna, Mamëz, Surroj, Ujmisht, Bushtrica, Buzëmadhja, Ceren,
Gjegje, Doda, Fshat, Shkinak, Kalis, Matranxh i epër, Matranxh i qafës,
Palush, Ploshtan, Radomira, Shullan, Vasije, Vau Vila, Bardhoc, Dobrusha,
Gostil, Kukës, Kulla e Lumës, Morin, Nanga, Përbreg, Shkoza, Shtiqën,
Vërmica, Xhahi and Zhur.8 Despite the substantial decimation it suffered
during and after the Serbian takeover of the region in 1912–13, Luma was
by far the largest of the tribes of the north, matched only by Mirdita.

History
Like the other tribes of the region, Luma was in constant conflict with the
Ottoman authorities in the nineteenth century and no doubt earlier, not only
because they refused to pay taxes and provide conscripts, but also because
of their custom of plundering and pillaging the surrounding region. Indeed,
the Luma tribe was notorious in the late nineteenth century for its rapacious
ways. In this, it was no different from marauding Mirdita, Kelmendi and
other tribes. The merchants of the nearby town of Prizren lived in constant
fear of Luma attacks and were often unable to conduct trade and furnish the
town with goods because the trade routes could not always be used. The
Luma were the terror of the region.
At the time of the League of Prizren (1878), the seven bajraks of Luma
joined forces and demanded that the Porte cease interfering in their affairs.
Uprisings occurred in 1884–5, 1893 and throughout the first decade of the
twentieth century. By 1903, the leaders of Luma were demanding local
autonomy and sent the Turkish governor Shemsi Pasha a note stating: ‘The
people of Luma are resolved to live according to the customs they have
inherited from their ancestors.’9
During the First Balkan War beginning in October 1912, Serbia took
advantage of the power vacuum left by the crumbling Ottoman Empire to
invade and conquer Kosovo and the Luma and Dibra regions in late
October and early November of that year. While the Great Powers
recognised Albania as a sovereign state on 29 July 1913, Kosovo, Luma,
Dibra, Ohrid and Monastir remained under Serbian military rule and, on 7
September 1913, King Peter I of Serbia proclaimed the annexation of the
conquered territories. A large uprising against Serbian rule took place in the
Luma region and in the mountains west of Gjakova, which was suppressed
by a force of over 20,000 Serbian troops who advanced into Albania,
almost reaching Elbasan. An amnesty was declared by the government in
Belgrade in October 1913, yet the pogroms against the Albanian population
continued. During this uprising and later during World War I, the Luma
tribe was decimated by Serbian forces. Edith Durham recalled:

When I knew it, this was a large and strong Moslem tribe. In
1912–1913 it suffered very heavily. A Serb officer in my presence
described how he and his battalion had bayoneted all the women
and children in part of the tribe, because ‘women bear children,’
and laughed till he choked over his beer. The Serbs were
‘liberating the land from the Turkish yoke.’ On subsequent
inquiry, I learnt that some 1,400 persons had been massacred. Part
of this tribe is now under Serb rule.10

In a letter to Lord Cromer, she wrote from Podgorica:

Some Serbs came here, and at the diner table mentioned the
Ljuma (Albanians, Moslems, near Prizren). I said that when I was
there I was hospitably received. A burst of laughter followed: ‘Go
there now and look for your friends; you won't find one! We have
killed them all.’ I asked why, and was told: ‘They killed one of
our telegraphists and sixteen men who were with him, and we
sent back a battalion and exterminated them! Not one man
 survives.’ I have been repeatedly assured that there will be no
Moslem problem ‘because not enough will survive to make
one.’11

An ‘Official Report to the Great Powers’, published in December 1913,

detailed:

No less terrifying were the horrors perpetrated in the District of

Luma, in particular: in Shullan, general pillaging, torching. All
the population had their throats slit, with the exception of three
persons who, hearing the screaming and trepidation of the women
and children, understood what was going on and took flight into
the forest. In Dodaj and Kiushtan, the houses were pillaged and
torched. There were 13 victims. In Tropojan, the houses were
reduced to ashes and the population of over 500 souls was
exterminated. In Çerem, everything was pillaged. Over 350
animals were carried off. There were 23 victims, among whom
were seven religious leaders. In Krusheva, on the orders of
Loglop, secretary of the Serb Government in Prizren, the family
of Haxhi Ibrahimi, composed of eight members, among whom
were three women and a one-year-old baby, two four-year-old
girls and one six-year-old girl, were killed in cold blood by the
soldateska. In Bushtrica and Bilush, pillaging and torching of
everything. The population, irrespective of gender and age, was
put to the sword or burned alive. The animals, caught while
grazing, were carried off after the shepherds were slaughtered. In
Çaja and Matranxh, general plundering. About 600 animals were
carried off. In Vasiaj, Palush, Gjabrec and Draç, general
plundering. All supplies and all objects having any value
whatsoever were stolen. Over 800 animals were carried off. In
Gjinaj, Lusna, Kalis and Vila, in addition to looting, 71 houses
were torched, 123 people killed – men, women and children – and
2,121 animals were carried off. In Ujmisht, plundering and
torching of 21 houses. There were 15 victims, among whom a
woman, a three-month-old baby, a little boy of four, one of five,
and two of eight. 480 animals were carried off. In Xhaferraj,
Brekija, Nimça, Lojmja, Përbreg, all the houses were razed to the
 ground. The population encircled by the Serbs was ruthlessly
massacred. Several were hanged from the branches of trees, most
of them had their throats slit. Some were cast into the flames and
others suffered even worse torture before perishing. In Brekija
alone, a large village of over 150 houses, there were over 1,300
victims – men, women and children. In Përbreg, the number of
victims probably exceeds 400. Of the whole population of these
five villages, only two inhabitants of Xhaferraj and five of Nimça
managed to escape extermination. Other scenes of savagery and
carnage took place in Surroj where 130 houses were torched and
55 men and 2 women were slain. The two villages of Bardhovca
and Novoseja were burnt to the ground. The population fled up
into the mountains, except for the wife of Islam Hanxhi and her
four small children and the family of Ramadan Jusufi, who were
burnt alive. The 1,620 animals caught while grazing, among
which 320 large ones, were carried off. In Sula e Fushës and
Arrëza, 34 houses were torched. There were 11 victims and all the
animals, 610 of them, were carried off.12

Serbian forces only withdrew from the region in late 1916 when Austro-
Hungarian troops conquered much of northern and central Albania.
Thereafter the devastated region was returned to Albania.

Travel Impressions
The German geographer, Kurt Hassert, making his way through the
mountains of northern Albania in the summer of 1897, reported:

The Luma tribe was originally Christian. Now they are fanatic
devotees of Islam and are the greatest robbers in upper Albania
who, with their continuous attacks, have destroyed the once
flourishing herding industry in the Sharr mountains and are a
constant peril for the commerce of Prizren. They live in total
independence and neither provide troops nor pay taxes; their
mountains have never been visited by travellers. As such, we did
not continue our journey with very positive expectations.13
 The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1903, noted in a similar vein:

When I arrived, there was hectic military activity on the roads

because a mobilization was underway. The wild inhabitants of
Luma made up the strongest contingent. Although they refuse to
do regular military service, an opportunity for plundering and
marauding now meant that they were ready for war.14

The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević, travelled through Luma

in 1907:

We soon caught sight of the Luma [Ljuma] River and proceeded

along the left bank of the Drin until we reached the Novi Han
(New Inn) located on the bank of the Drin. ‘So this is dreaded
Luma!’ I thought to myself, ‘of which I had heard in Scutari.’ The
inhabitants of its banks have a grisly reputation, even for Albania.
They are the terror of the town of Prizren where, as if out of the
blue, shrieks of horror of ‘Luma, Luma!’ are wont to echo in the
streets. The whole town loses its head at this call. The merchants
swiftly close their shops and run home, barring and securing the
gates of their courtyards to protect themselves from the attacks of
these marauding savages.15 […]
Luma is a kajmakamat of its own of the Sanjak of Prizren and
stretches in the west to the Vizier's Bridge. Its southwestern
border is on the Black Drin, and the mountains make up the
western edge of it. The kajmakam resides in the village of Bican
or Bicaj where the military barracks are also located. Luma is also
a bajrak of its own. The region is fertile and has enough water,
but there are not many people. A good number of the men die in
blood feuds or in raids on the neighbouring regions. Up until the
eighteenth century they spoke a mixture of Croatian and
Bulgarian here. Nowadays they are all Muslims and all speak
Albanian.16

Edith Durham, who visited the region in 1908, described her journey as
follows:
Following Drin down its lonely and most beautiful valley, we
came to its junction with Lumi Ljums (the river of Ljuma), and
crossed it by a slim and elegant stone bridge, guarded on the
farther side by a kula. We were in Ljuma, the land of the most
notoriously independent of all the Moslem tribes.
As we were watering the horses, up rode a fine old man, who
leapt from his saddle and greeted us hilariously–shook hands with
me and rubbed cheeks with Marko. My presence struck him as a
huge joke. No strangers were allowed in his land, he said, but, as
they had given besa, I could go where I liked. He wished us ‘Tun
ghiat tjeter,’ and rode off. The men at the kula roared with
laughter. He and his whole house were the most notorious
‘holders-up’ of wayfarers in the district. Our kirijee told with glee
how this very man and his party had ‘held him up’ on this very
track two years ago, when he was travelling with a priest, to
whom he had promised safe-conduct. ‘Stand aside,’ they said;
‘you are a Moslem. Our business is with the Giaour.’ I said:
‘Those I convoy are my business. If this is a joke, it is a silly one.
I am a Vula. If you shoot me you will have to settle with all my
people.’ They let me through. Not many people care to quarrel
with all the Vulas.
Following down the White Drin, we crossed it by the Ura
Nermienies (middle bridge), one of many arches built by the
Vezir who built Ura Vezirit, and came to where White Drin meets
Black Drin.
A little below this stands Han Brutit, by a stream that flows to
the river. The han is a large stable, with a small house attached.
The hanjee and two wayfarers were hobnobbing outside.
‘You can have a room up there,’ he pointed, ‘if you like. But I
am an honest man, and tell you plainly it is swarming with bugs. I
wouldn't sleep in it myself. You had better sleep in the stable.’
The rest of the company corroborated this–from experience. I
decided on the stable. There was hay to sleep on; three eggs each
for supper. Board and lodging were secured.17
 The French travel writer Gabriel Louis-Jaray (1880–1964), who was
making his way from Kosovo to Mirdita, stopped at Kukës in the summer
of 1909 and met representatives of the Luma tribe there:

Kukës is wonderfully situated on a small plateau about a hundred

metres above the Drin River. It looks like an island or a fortress,
with the Drin to the north serving as its moats. To the west and
south is the Black Drin that emerges out of the mountains here
and flows into the White Drin not far away. Just below Kukës, it
forms a large curve, the inner side of which contains a dried-up
lake with ponds here and there reflecting in the sunshine. To the
east, the Luma River, whence we arrived, encloses the fourth side.
This little plateau dominates the three valleys, those of the Drin to
the east and the west, and that of the Black Drin to the south, the
waters of which subside and dissipate at Kukës. There are three
high mountains in the background. To the north are the mountains
of Has, the distant peaks of which form a continuous line. To the
southwest is the Maja e Runës and the neighbouring lower hills
that separate Mirdita country from Luma. To the southeast,
finally, is the cone-shaped Gjalica, which raises its rocky head to
an elevation of over 2,500 metres and dominates the whole
region. It is the heart of Luma territory.
Sul Elez Bey and his men were waiting for me outside the
entrance to his kulla, around which about a dozen wretched huts
had been built that made up the whole village. From the
information I was given and from what I was able to confirm
here, I understood that the bey was only the head of a village, a
peasant among peasants. He was both the chief and equal to the
rest. He was not the sort of landowning bey who owned a whole
village and populated it with his tenant farmers. Each family had
its own hut, its own flocks and its own land. But Sul Elez Bey
was the head of an old family that traditionally commanded this
tribe. He was wealthy in property, he had a large family and
extended relatives, and his influence was widely acknowledged.
As the bey of Kukës, a site that is strategically located at the
confluence of the rivers and at the junction of trails constituting
the most important routes of communication in the region, Sul
Elez Bey played an important role in the country and his support
was nothing to be sniffed at.
There he stood, a bit in front of a dozen fine men, the oldest of
whom were just as upright and sturdy as the younger ones. The
clothes that many of them were wearing were different from those
of the Albanians in the lowland towns. Their white flannel or
woollen trousers with black trim were baggy and were closed at
the ankles with gaiters. Their woollen shirts were replaced by a
wide cloth garment that fell to their knees. Over it, all of them
were wearing a vest or bolero in more or less coarse cloth but also
more or less embroidered. The vest of the chief was luxurious
compared to the rest, and he had a silver chain around his neck.
The white cap, as round as that of an altar boy or flat like a
travelling bonnet, was standard apparel for all, as were the
rawhide sandals and the wide belts in which each of them had
stuffed cartridges, weapons, tobacco, watches and such
provisions. A further complement to this costume were the rifles
over their shoulders. You can imagine the impression they made
on me when I first caught sight of them.
Once we exchanged greetings, Sul Elez Bey invited me into
his house. The moment I entered, I was, as it were, under the
protection of his sacred besa. I was his guest and was thus
inviolable. All the men of the tribe were now obliged to be
hospitable towards me and to defend me with their weapons. I
entered the kulla. It was a square building with four thick stone
walls and deep foundations anchored in the soil. The main floor
was a simple room to store wood and tools and did not have a
direct connection to the upper floor. The latter was reached by a
wooden staircase, rather more like a ladder placed against the
outer wall of a building that could be removed in an instant. The
upper floor consisted of one large room divided into two parts:
one side was for the provisions and the other side was for guests.
This is where one spent the night. As to furnishings, there were
only carpets laid out on both sides of the high wood fireplace.
Both air and light penetrated the room by means of the low-
placed doorway on which the staircase was leaning, and by two
windows which were rather more like slits in the wall, high above
the ground. Between the carpets was the brick flooring right to
the hearth. The embers were at once stirred up and coffee was
made. When I entered, I removed my boots, as is custom here. No
one enters the living room with his shoes on as the carpets in an
Albanian home also serve as beds and chairs. Everyone thus takes
them off and places them carefully in a corner of the room,
together with his weapons, and then takes his seat on the carpet.
The cafedji [coffee maker], a servant especially for this job,
prepared the coffee and offered me a cup. In the meanwhile,
someone went out to pick some pears and I was given several of
them. They were small, but ripe and juicy.
My hosts sat cross-legged. This position exhausts me,
especially after a seven-hour horse ride, so I stretched out with
the saddlebags behind me to support my back, and the
conversation began. With the help of my dragoman, I explained to
them where I had come from and where I was going, what my
plans were and what I wanted to ask of them. I wanted to cross
Luma territory to get to Mirdita to the south. No European had yet
taken this trail and I was curious to see it. They deliberated
among themselves for quite some time. The bey, his brother and
the eldest man of the tribe who seemed to constitute a village
council discussed what trail ought to be taken. The Luma tribe
was in bad relations with the neighbouring tribes, and it was
important to avoid their lands and to get to Mirdita via friendly
territory. With Sul Elez's recommendation, the Mirdita would give
me their besa. The discussion continued for some time. I noticed
that they were a bit uneasy. Finally, the bey told me that I was to
take the mountain trail which was safer at the moment than the
track up the valley. He would give me an escort of men from his
tribe who would accompany me to the border of their land and
would hand me over to a friendly tribe to whom their tribe had
earlier provided assistance.
I then asked them about the situation in Albania. The bey had
just received news from Prizren that the mutasarrif was
demanding the payment of tithes. I asked what he intended to do,
and he replied: ‘We have never paid them, why should we start
now? They give us nothing and we ask for nothing. There is
nothing and no one we need from them. So why do they make
such demands of us?’ Indeed I could think of no service that the
State had ever rendered to them.
The central government has not existed for them for decades,
probably for centuries. They do not recognise the Turkish
Government, only the religious authority of the sultan in matters
of faith. Aside from this, these tribes are entirely independent.
They are traditionally grouped into confederations. Luma,
Mirdita, Hasi and Malësia, etc. are the names given to them. But
in the northern mountains, these confederations do not recognise
any sovereign authority. They are an agglomeration of tribes,
whose territories have long been marked out, and each of them
governs itself freely. In case of grave danger, the chiefs of the
tribes gather and take decisions jointly. These are usually
experienced warriors who rise either against the Turkish
authorities, against the Christians, upon an appeal from the sultan
for holy war, or against other tribes. In their relations, however,
they observe one common law. This is a sort of traditional code
like the law of the Salian Franks or that of the Visigoths in ancient
Gaul. It is called the law of Dukagjin. Conflicts arise between the
tribes for many reasons and result in blood feuds. Blood can only
be requited by blood. It is thus always uncertain as to whether one
can travel from one tribe to the next. One day they are friends and
the next day they are enemies. As such, they have only
intermittent and varying relations. During my visit, the Kukës
clan had good relations with the neighbouring tribes of the
Mirdita confederation, but claimed that it had good reason to
complain about the other clans of Luma, of which it was part.
[…]
This region is very poor in arable land and hardly able to
sustain its inhabitants. The people thus feel the need to emigrate,
temporarily or permanently, to make a living, or sometimes only
to purchase the fine arms of which they are extremely proud – an
abundance of gunpowder, cartridges, modern rifles or the pistols
 that they hang around the pommels of their horses. They are well
informed about most modern weapons and, while they may not all
have them, some do and others want them. The oldest among
them asked my dragoman: ‘Does the Frank have rifles?’ On
hearing our reply in the negative, he added: ‘Well, tell him when
he goes back to his country that he would make us very happy if
he sent us a Mannlicher. That would be the finest present he could
give us.’18

Figures of Note
Muharrem Bajraktari
Colonel Muharrem Bajraktari (1896–1989) from Ujmisht, a political figure
and guerrilla fighter of the Zogist and World War II periods, was a
prominent leader of the Luma tribe. He attended school in Shkodra and
trained in 1914 at a military academy in Innsbruck (Austria). In World War
II, he served with Austro-Hungarian troops and subsequently with the
Serbs. He joined the forces of Ahmet Zogu in 1919. In June 1924, he was
expelled as commander of Kukës by Bajram bey Curri (1862–1925), and in
December of that year he took part in the successful coup d'état of Zogu. He
subsequently sentenced members of the so-called Democratic Revolution
who had not fled the country to prison. He was then made commander of
the police force in the northeast of the country. In 1926, he led a punitive
expedition against the rebels of Dukagjin, and in 1929, he was made
supreme commander of the gendarmerie under Sir Jocelyn Percy (1871–
1952). In 1931, he was appointed aide-de-camp to King Zog. In December
1934, having been dismissed from the gendarmerie for lack of co-operation
with Percy, Bajraktari rose in revolt against increasing Italian
encroachments and fled to Yugoslavia and, in 1936, to Paris. He returned to
Albania after the Italian invasion in April 1939 and organised a band of
approximately 1,000 guerrillas in his native Luma region, where, as an
independent northern tribal chieftain, he took part in the Legality resistance
movement until the end of the German occupation. A report in the British
Foreign Office archives by Billy McLean (1918–86) describes him as
having a persecution complex that sometimes verged on insanity.
Bajtraktari took to the hills after the communist takeover in 1944 and then
escaped abroad. He and his men fled to Macedonia and, in September 1946,
they crossed the border from Monastir (Bitola) into Greece. After some
time in a refugee camp in Piraeus, he continued on to Rome where in
September 1949 he became an independent non-party member of the
National Committee for a Free Albania. In 1957 he moved to Brussels,
where he died.

The Lura Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Lura tribal region is situated in the District of Dibra in northeastern
Albania. It is located between the eastern slopes of the Mount Kunora e
Lurës (2,120 m.) and the left (western) bank of the Black Drin River. Lura
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Mirdita to the west and
northwest, Arrëni to the north and northeast, and Mati and Dibra to the
south. The main settlements of Lura, all very small, are Arrë-Mallë, Arth,
Borie-Lurë, Gur-Lurë, Krej-Lurë, Lura e vjetër (Katundi i vjetër), Pregj-
Lurë, Suma and Vlashaj.

Population
The term Lura was recorded as Luria in 1641 in the report by Marco Scura;
Luria on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da
Vignola; Luria about 1685 in the report of Giorgio Stampaneo; Luria in
1707 on the map of the French cartographer Guillaume Delisle;19 and Luria
on the 1928 map of Herbert Louis.
Lura not a tribal region in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community that is
aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to one
male ancestor. Like neighbouring Hasi and Luma, Lura is an ethnographic
region with a distinct history and identity. Some authors do not regard Lura
as a tribe in any sense.
The Lura tribe consisted of four bajraks: Lura, Dardha, Çidhna and Reçi
(of Dibra). The latter three were, however, often considered independent
tribes of their own right.
 Lura was originally a Catholic tribe but rapidly turned Muslim in the
nineteenth century. As in Mërturi and Nikaj, it was not unknown in Lura for
there to be Catholics and Muslims in one and the same family.
The original Catholic parish was founded in 1639 but it only had a
resident priest from 1826 onwards.20 Its conversion to Islam was noticed by
several scholars. Johann Georg von Hahn, who travelled through the Black
Drin region in the late summer of 1867, reported as follows on the situation:

I had alway regarded the Lura tribe, the only Catholics in the
region of the Black Drin River, as vassals of the chief of Mirdita
who lived only six hours away from them. Surrounded as they are
by Muslims, it is only to the west that they have contact with a
Catholic area, the district of Orosh; and it would thus seem a
political necessity, given their vulnerability, that they seek support
from their powerful neighbours against the common foe. But this
was not the case. When I was in the region, I heard only that the
Lura and Oroshi tribes were in constant conflict over their
common border. I therefore broached the subject with the parish
priest and received the following information from him. The
border of Lura traditionally stretched to the Camadolese21
monastery of Saint John (Shën Gjin), the ruins of which are
located one and a half Turkish miles east of Varosh. At its zenith,
this monastery owned not only the large southern pass but also
the smaller eastern pass to the narrow valley of Oroshi. The trail
to Lura leads over the latter.
In front of this monastery stood, and stands to this very day, a
huge tree that marked the border between the territory of Oroshi
and that of Lura. This tree was decorated every year at the Feast
of Saint John with the banner of Lura, and the parish priest of
Oroshi came over to hold mass here. Many people from the area
attended this feast, both Christians and Muslims, and a fair was
held that was of some importance. Such was the tradition until
1830. Then, the Oroshi tribe laid exclusive claim to all of the west
side of the Buza e Malit mountain, and would only allow the Lura
tribe to let their animals graze up to the pass. The result was war
and much bloodshed. Even more damage was done to the herds
 on both sides because every time one side grew in strength, they
stole all the flocks of the other side that were found grazing in this
disputed area.
Finally, however, the Lura tribe, as the weaker, was forced to
give way, and the border was fixed on the pass of Buza e Malit
mountain, as Oroshi had wanted. Although peace has been
restored, there is still much ill will between the two sides, and
marriages between them are as rare as between Christians and
Muslims, although both sides acquire their women only from
outside the tribe.
According to what the prefect told me, the Christian
population of Lura is now on the decline. The situation is as
follows. Lura was once entirely Catholic. In the parish register for
1757, mention is made of 124 households and of 1,001 souls.
From then on began the gradual process of conversion to Islam.
The following tale is told about the reasons behind this. The
Muslims of the neighbouring settlement of Çidhna once murdered
the parish priest of Lura, Pater Gervasius, who held the office of
an apostolic prefect. To avenge the death of their priest, the men
of Lura slew 14 Muslims and, when Osman, the pasha of Prizren,
heard of this deed, he banned the Lura tribe under threat of death
from visiting Prizren market and all the other markets in the
region. In addition, no priest had been found to take up the parish
of Lura, which remained unoccupied for 15 years. The fall of
Catholicism dates from this period, such that there are now only
23 Catholic households in Lura as opposed to 90 Muslim
households.22

The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz, who hiked through the region in
August 1905, added the following information half a century later:

According to Hahn in 1863, who was never in Lura himself, the

once so Catholic region had 90 Muslim and 23 Catholic
households. Today, there are only 22 Catholic families in Lura,
out of a total of 300 families. The Muslims have thus tripled their
population, without immigration, whereas Catholicism has
 receded. One finds families in which some members are still
Catholic, whereas the others have converted to Islam. There are
eight Catholic families left in Lura e epërme, six in Kreja, five in
Sumaj, two in Vlashaj and one in Pregja.23

The Bosnian Croatian priest, Lovro Mihačević, arrived in Lura in August

1907, exactly two years after Steinmetz, and remarked:

The next day, accompanied by the local parish priest, Brother

Bono Nikaj, we went to see Brother Jozo Messi in the next parish.
That evening we told them all about what we had seen and
experienced in Lura and they told us about the members and non-
members of their parishes, i.e. about the Catholics and Muslims.
One could almost say that in Lura, the Muslims are still half-
Christian and the Christians half-Muslim. In Lura we had stayed
at the home of a Catholic village elder whose brother was a
Muslim. One of the brothers celebrated Christmas and the other
Bajram. One of them baptised his children as John and Peter and
the other one gave them names such as Syla and Osman. In Lura,
Catholic families give their daughters in marriage to Muslims, as
do Muslim families to Catholics.24

In his ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania, in particular on

the Independent Mountains’ in 1841, Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich,
gives the population of Lura as 4,000, of whom 1,000 were men in arms.25
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Lura tribe were
given as follows: 265 households with a total of 1,605 inhabitants.26

Travel Impressions
The Austrian engineer Karl Steinmetz noted his impressions of Lura in the
following text:

Drizzle falling from the grey heavens impeded our view as we left
the kulla of Mark Zoçi. The sombre atmosphere was, however,
conducive to the wild nature we were entering and to the mystery
 of the goal I had set myself. My heart was throbbing hard. In a
few hours I would be in Lura, a land that no one had ever seen, a
realm blocked off from the outside world and torn to pieces by
blood-thirsty vengeance unparalleled anywhere in Albania. On
the other hand, it was also described as a pearl of nature. The old
parish priest of Kthella had told me much about it on the arduous
trail over the pass to Lura – of an underground river and of the
imprint of a horseshoe left in stone by Scanderbeg's stallion. [...]
Hiking down the slopes covered mostly in oak forests, we passed
the little settlement of Pregja, situated on a small terrace of land.
A quarter of an hour farther down, someone called up to us from
a hut made of branches and leaves. It was Gjetan Ajazi who had
built an alpine refuge here because his animals were up in
summer pasture in the nearby mountains. Herding is the main
occupation of the men of Lura because they have excellent
mountain pastureland and lots of hay. Farming is only conducted
in the valley of Lura e epër and on the little terraces along the
slopes. The main product here is maize, although they also have
enough wheat that grows well in Lura e epër despite the
elevation. Also produced is an exceptionally strong form of
tobacco, but the tobacco fields are few and far between. Grape-
growing has been abandoned altogether because, as pious
Muslims, they drink neither wine nor brandy.27

He did not fail to note that blood-feuding was a major problem in the
region:

Of the 300 families in this land, no less than 250 are caught up in
blood feuds. In no other region of Albania are there fewer men
outdoors than here. They are all in hiding, fearful of the avenger's
bullet.28
Lovro Mihačević, for his part, was fascinated by Lura's natural
beauty:
From Holy Mountain (Mali i Shenjtë), we rode down to the
village of Kreja where we had to change guides. There were no
men available anywhere, because they were all hiding in their
homes and dared not go out because of a recent blood feud. They
were afraid of the avenger. We were given a chubby and healthy
twelve-year-old girl who proved to be quite talkative and told us
all about the recent case of blood-feuding. At noon we arrived in
Lura, a village and parish, where we spent two days and two
nights with the parish priest to rest and enjoy the beauties of this
wonderful mountain region. We were itching to climb up to the
top of Mount Kunora e Lurës to see the majesty of nature with
our own eyes, and were told that the mountain top was a veritable
pearl to behold.
The village of Lura is 1,100 m. in altitude and Mount Kunora
rises to an elevation of 2,110 m. Accordingly, we had 1,010 m. to
climb on foot. We left early in the morning, accompanied by
some locals, and reached the lake in a splendid forest of beech
and fir trees that stretched proudly to the heavens. We enjoyed the
fresh air and fragrant resin. The lake was about one kilometre
long and not quite half as wide in the deepest and darkest part of
the fir tree forest. The branches of the trees dipped right down
into the water. The icy water was dark blue and made me think
that it must be very deep.
A little farther up, above the large lake, there is another smaller
lake that flows into the larger one below. I was fascinated by
everything I saw at this lonely altitude, over 2,000 metres, and
rejoiced for a full two hours in the tranquillity and idyllic scenery.
As to the lake, I can only say that it was marvellous, but awesome
in its isolation. We climbed for a further fifteen minutes until we
reached the mountain peak and could catch a glimpse of the
surroundings. And what a view! Before us lay all of Albania. To
the east we could see Dibra and Svetigrad, the site of the epic
battles of the courageous George Castriotta Scanderbeg and his
band of fearless fighters. Below was the Zeta [the Black Drin]
and the verdant hills around it where Scanderbeg once concealed
his troops so that they could come out to ambush and vanquish
Turkish pasha with their iron grip. And today? The decaying
bones of fallen heroes cried out to us: Exoriare aliquis nostris ex
ossibus ultor [An avenger shall arise from my bones].
 It was 5 August [1907], a warm and pleasant day. One could
not have wished for better weather. The time had come for us to
leave hospitable Lura. Returning to the village of Kreja, we
climbed up over Mount Valmora, crossed several creeks and
torrents, and entered the bajrak of Selita, where we passed
through the settlements of Macukull, Bozhiq [Bardhaj] and
Barbullej, and waded across the Uraka, Lusa and Mat rivers, the
latter of which gives its name to the region as a whole. We lost
our way for a while but then, late in the evening, managed to find
the parish of Bushkashi.29

Edith Durham left the following impressions and information on Lura,

which she visited in the summer of 1908:

We came out of the wood, and dropped down over grass land to
the river. We were in a splendid and most fertile plain, ringed
round with lofty mountain and lordly forest–quite the finest spot I
know in all Albania. Beyond the river stood the wretched half-
ruined church and house of Katun i veter, where a luckless young
Franciscan–a solitary outpost in a Moslem land–wrestles vainly
with his first parish.
Luria tribe is of great interest, as here one sees Christianity
disintegrating and giving way before advancing Islam, as history
shows it has been slowly doing for the last four hundred years in
these parts.
Luria consists of two hundred houses (average ten to a house).
Of these now only twenty are Christian at all, and scarcely one
wholly Christian–some, indeed, mainly Moslem, with a few
Christian members.
Within the last five-and-thirty years, eleven whole houses have
turned Turk, and members of very many others. A mosque is
being built, and a Hodja had already arrived. The Franciscan was
in despair. The Church, with curious apathy, let the whole district
slip without making an effort till too late. Luria is in the diocese
of Durazzo. The former Bishop, an Italian, had only Italian friars.
By the time one knew the language, he was changed for another.
 And, till lately, there was no priest at all in Luria, save in the
summer.
Islam all the time has kept on a steady propaganda. No
persecution of any kind has taken place. All has been done by
persuasion and heavy bribes. The beggarly methods of
Christianity, compared with the open-handed liberality of Islam–
the wretched hovel of the church and the new mosque–were
enough alone to convince a quite ignorant people that the one was
a dying, the other a living, cause.30

Figures of Note
Nikollë Kaçorri
The Catholic political and nationalist figure, Dom Nikollë Kaçorri (1862–
1917), was born in the village of Krej-Lura in the Lura tribal region. He
trained for the priesthood in Troshan near Lezha and studied theology in
Italy, being ordained as a Catholic priest. On his return to Albania in 1893,
he began work as a parish priest in Durrës. In the early years of the
twentieth century, Kaçorri was increasingly involved in the nationalist
movement, and was one of the organisers of an armed uprising in Kurbin,
Kruja and Mirdita in 1905–7. In 1906, as a man of the cloth, he was made
protonotary apostolic, and later in life bore the ecclesiastical title of vicar
general. In 1907, Kaçorri was a member of the nationalist Vllaznia
(Brotherhood) society in Durrës and co-founded the Bashkimi (Unity)
society in 1909. In November 1908, he took part in the Congress of
Monastir, which was held to decide on an Albanian alphabet. In 1910,
during an uprising in Kurbin in which he was involved, he was arrested by
the Ottoman authorities for sedition and was sentenced to four years in
prison, though the sentence was soon reduced to 13 months. In November
1912 he was present at the declaration of Albanian independence in Vlora,
as a representative of Durrës. There, he was made deputy prime minister in
the first provisional government, but resigned in March 1913 after marked
differences with Ismail Qemal bey Vlora. Kaçorri left Albania at the end of
1913 or soon thereafter, and met Prince Wied (1876–1945) in Berlin in
January 1914. On 28 February 1914, he was in Vienna with an Albanian
deputation that was received by the Austrian Emperor at Schönbrünn
Palace. He was to spend the rest of his life in Vienna. In April 1917, though
increasingly ravaged by cancer, he took part in another Albanian deputation
to pay homage to the Emperor in Vienna, but died two months later at the
Fürth sanatorium. He was buried on 2 June 1917 at the Vienna Central
Cemetery. Nikollë Kaçorri's remains were repatriated from Vienna to Tirana
almost a century later, on 9 February 2011.

The Arrëni Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Arrëni (also spelled Arni, Arrni, Arnji and Arrnji) tribal region is
situated in the southwestern corner of the District of Kukës in northeastern
Albania. It centres on the area between the eastern slopes of Mount Zeba
and the left (western) bank of the Black Drin. Arrëni borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Lura to the west, Dardha to the south, Luma to
the east and northeast, and Fani in Mirdita to the northwest. The chief
settlement of Arrëni is the village of Arrën.

Population
The term Arrëni was recorded as Areni in 1641 in the report of Marco
Scura; and as Arena and Areni in 1703 in a report of the Catholic
archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich.
The Arrëni were a wholly Muslim tribe, although there was once a
church dedicated to Saint Barbara in Arrën.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

The Arrëni were a small tribe positioned geographically between three
larger groupings, Luma, Dibra and Mirdita. Although they had close
relations with all three, they were actually quite independent of them. They
were traditionally more closely allied to Luma than to Dibra.
Nonetheless, Arrëni was not a tribal region in the sense of a fis, i.e. a
community that is aware of common blood ties and of a common history
reaching back to one male ancestor. Like neighbouring Luma and Lura,
Arrëni was an ethnographic region with a distinct history and identity.
Historically the Arrëni are said to have separated from the Berisha tribe.
They were culturally related to the Catholic Mirdita and their women wore
Mirdita dress.31 In 1854, Paolo Dodmassei, the Catholic Bishop of Sappa in
Pulat, noted, for instance, that there were six Muslim families in Arrëni who
had originally been Catholic. They had fled to the Muslim Arrëni tribe
because of blood feuds in their original homeland and converted there to
Islam.32

Travel Impressions
Edith Durham visited Arrëni (Arnji) in 1908 and left the following
impressions:

Fortune favoured. Our stable companions were a very pleasant

Catholic and his servant, bound for Arnji, in the heart of the
Moslem land, to start a shop. He was travelling under the besa of
Arnji, with two packbeasts laden with salt, sugar, and coffee. We
should be safe with him, he said, under the double besa –the
general one and the private and particular one of Arnji; and Arnji
would give us safe-conduct on.
It was night. The full moon rose majestic, flooding the vale
with mystic splendour. Somewhere out in ‘that faeryland forlorn’
lay Arnji. I did not stop to ask in which direction, but accepted the
salt-and-sugar man's offer at once.
We retired to the stable, lit a fire in the middle, and I
slumbered peacefully on hay, till waked by a horse, that had
broken loose, eating it from under me.
We started very early. After this for three days the Austrian
staff was useless. Its makers, I learnt afterwards, had not been
through here, and had relied on imagination. I made such notes as
I could, but even had I had the means of making a survey, it
would have been too dangerous in a land where all strangers are
suspect. […]
 Sroji [Surroj] gave us an old man as safe-conduct, and we
started up the Lek Dukaghin range, a long and steep ascent
through fine beech forest to the pass, Chafa Benks, at the top.
This is unmapped, as is indeed the whole route. We descended a
steep slope on the other side (rough above, and studded with
bushes of sweet yellow plums, and cultivated below), and reached
Arnji, a wide level, covered with well-irrigated maize fields, and
scattered with good stone kulas.
Our salt-and-sugar friend led us straight to one of the largest,
which stood in an enclosure with a second smaller house within
it. Out came the whole household of staring, wondering people.
The Head welcomed the Sugar man warmly, and looked at us
with doubtful astonishment. I had been instructed to hold my
tongue, and did so.
After explanations, he laughed at our coming, and said, had we
not been brought by his good friend here, he would certainly not
have admitted us, as the tribe wanted no strangers. As it was, we
were his guests, and very welcome.
The women were sent in to make ready, and Marko and I were
left alone, sitting on the ground outside. Time passed. Marko was
depressed. It was not till the light was fading that we were
summoned within to a large, very clean room, with an earthen
floor and a low ceiling. A pile of logs blazed on the hearth. I lay
on sheepskins, and stretched blissfully in the grateful warmth, for
evening brought a touch of autumn chill to the air. A dozen or so
of men came in–fairish, with grey or hazel eyes–all friendly. Talk
and tales went round. […]
The women spread supper–a large bowl of cheese melted in
butter, into which we dipped our maize bread, and very good it
was. Then came the inevitable sour kos, followed by hand-
washing, mouth-rinsing, and sweeping up of the crumbs. The
whole was over in twenty minutes. Large stones were then set in
the two loopholes that were the only windows, to make all safe
for the night.
 We lay down and slept on sheepskins. The women slept in
another room. They were not veiled, and wore, like the Mirdite
women, long cotton drawers, with knitted ankle pieces in red and
white patterns, which show beneath the skirt; also Mirdite pattern
earrings, and four or five large silver coins on a black cord round
the neck.
Arnji is a small independent tribe that goes with Debra. I am
told it is an offshoot of Berisha, but my men were fearful of
arousing suspicion by asking questions for me. It is all Moslem
now, but crosses stood in many maize fields.33

The Composite Dibra Tribe

Location of Tribal Territory
The Dibra tribal region34 is situated in the District of Dibra in eastern
central Albania. It is located in the valley of the Black Drin River from
Luma territory in the north down to the town of Dibra35 in the south. Dibra
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Lura and Mati to the west, Arrëni
and Luma to the north, and non-tribal regions, some Slavic-speaking, to the
east and south. The main settlements of Dibra are: the district capital
Peshkopia in Albania and the town of Dibra in the Republic of Macedonia.
Among the other settlements of Dibra (in Albania) are: Shupenza,
Maqellara, Klenja, Zall-Dardha, Tomin, Kastriot, Zerqan and Muhurr.

Population
The term Dibra, referring primarily to the region, occurs in ancient Greek as
Δεύφρακoς and in Latin as Deborus. We encounter the toponym as Debrè,
episcopo Debre in 1107;36 as colonum Debrae in 1223;37 as contrata de
Deber in 1308;38 as Debre in the Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis in
1308; as Debri in an Ottoman document in 1466; as Debria, Dibra, Dibra
Bassa ‘Lower Dibra’ in the Breve memoria of Giovanni Musachi in 1515;
as Dibra on the 1593 map of the Flemish cartographer Cornelis de Jode;
and as Diberi, Dibra on the 1689 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo
Cantelli da Vignola.
The Dibra tribe is actually a geographical grouping of quite a few small
tribes in the valley of the Black Drin. These tribes are found primarily, but
not solely, on the left (western) side of the river.

Tribal Legendry, Ancestry and History

Like Mati, Dibra is not a tribal region in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community
that is aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back
to one male ancestor. It was and is an ethnographic region with a distinct
history and identity that acted as a military unit in times of conflict, in the
sense of a bajrak. In his demographic study of the Albanian tribes in 1918,
Franz Seiner included 12 groupings in Dibra that he regarded as tribes: the
Reçi, the Dardha, the Ploshtani, the Trojaku, the Çidhna, the Kastrioti, the
Muhurri, the Luznia, the Zogjaj, the Skandëri (Homeshi), the Dervishaj
(Krajka) and the Sheh Hysenaj (Zerqani).
Dibra has a long history as a border region between Albania and
Macedonia. For the Albanians, it is the homeland of the national hero,
Scanderbeg (1405–68), who revolted against the Ottoman Empire and held
the sultans at bay for many years. Dibra was divided when Serbian troops
invaded, conquered and devastated the region during and after the First
Balkan War (1912–13). The largest town, Dibra, became part of Yugoslavia
and is now in the Republic of Macedonia, whereas the rest of the region
remained in Albania. Despite the amnesty proclaimed by King Peter I of
Serbia on 7 September 1913, the carnage continued and most of the tribes
of Dibra were decimated. An ‘Official Report to the Great Powers’
published in December 1913, detailed for Homesh, for instance:

In Homesh, only three of the 150 houses originally standing in the

village remained. All the others were torched after having been
pillaged. After the village surrendered, the Serbs killed: Musa
Ismajli, Shemsedin Bajrami and Halit Sulejmani who had
returned to the village after the amnesty. The first time, they took
1,000 head of sheep, 150 head of cattle and 40 horses. The second
time, they took 50 head of sheep, nine head of cattle and nine
horses. In Shupenza, after robbing the houses and taking all the
 valuables and supplies, the Serbs massacred: Ali Myslimi and his
brother Abdi, Hasan Abazi and Dalip Elmazi. In Okshatina, only
one house remains intact of the original 74. They were all
pillaged and torched. Two men called Ferhat and Nazif were
bayoneted. All the animals were carried off. In Topojan, a village
of 68 homes, there was general plundering and burning. A man
called Abdullah Xhaferri had his throat slit as he was not able to
come up with the sum of five Turkish lira (115 Italian lira), the
ransom demanded by the Serb officer commanding the
detachment. The Serb soldiers carried off all the animals. In
Çerenec, they torched 23 houses and massacred Hasan Abazi and
his wife, Ramadan Salihu and Rrustem Sulejmani. They pillaged
the whole village and carried off all valuables, supplies and
animals.39

Figures of Note
Scanderbeg
The real name of Scanderbeg (1405–68) or Skanderbeg (Alb. Skënderbeu)
was George Castriotta (Alb. Gjergj Kastrioti). George Castriotta stemmed
from a family of landowners from the Dibra region who were no doubt of
mixed Albanian–Slavic ancestry. His father John Castriotta had initially
submitted to Ottoman rule but, after the Battle of Ankara in 1402, he
declared his independence from the Turks, extending his influence from
Dibra through the Mat valley to the Adriatic. According to legend, as a
pledge of his submission, John Castriotta sent his sons, Stanisha, Reposh,
Constantine and George, in ransom to the sultan's court at Adrianople
(Edirne) in 1423. It was here that George was made a court page, received
military training, was converted to Islam and took the name Alexander
(Iskander). For his military valour, Iskander was awarded the title of bey
(beg), and thus the name Scanderbeg by which he was to be universally
known. In 1432, having gained the confidence of Sultan Murad II (reg.
1421–51), he was appointed subaşi (captain) of the fortress of Kruja
(Croia), replacing the former commander Hizir Bey. Scanderbeg's father
was poisoned by the sultan in 1437 and Scanderbeg expected to take over
his land and inheritance, but was instead deprived of them and abruptly
exiled. At some point in this period he seems to have made the
acquaintance of John Hunyadi (ca. 1387–1456), the leader of Hungarian
resistance to the Ottomans. The murder of his father meant, in Albanian
customary law, that Scanderbeg was obliged to take revenge on the sultan,
and the military success of the Hungarians convinced him that the time was
now ripe to abandon Ottoman forces. In the spring of 1443, Sultan Murad
attacked Ibrahim of Karaman in Anatolia, taking his favourite son,
Alaeddin Ali Çelebi, with him. The sultan was victorious but his beloved
son perished, strangled by a courtier. Recent evidence, uncovered by
historian Oliver Schmitt, shows that Scanderbeg was the prime mover
behind the plot to kill the sultan's son. He had avenged the death of his
father in an eminently Albanian manner.
An opportunity for open revolt against the sultan then arose during the
Battle of Nish (Niš) in November 1443 when Turkish troops were in
disarray after a Hungarian offensive. Scanderbeg, his nephew Hamza (son
of Reposh), and 300 horsemen abandoned Turkish forces and returned to
Dibra, whence they carried on to the fortress of Kruja. Within a matter of
days, Scanderbeg had assembled his own Albanian forces for a general
uprising. The fortresses of Petrela, south of Tirana, and Svetigrad in Dibra
were soon taken by the Albanians. On 2 March 1444, Scanderbeg convened
an assembly of all important Albanian nobles at Lezha (Alessio) during
which it was decided to set up a standing army to counter an impending
Turkish invasion. Scanderbeg was selected to head this force of about
15,000 men. A large Turkish army soon flooded into Albania but was
beaten back in Dibra at the end of June 1444. Two further Ottoman
invasions were repelled, one in October 1445 on the Mokra Plateau near
Pogradec, and a second in September 1446 in Dibra. In May 1450, Sultan
Murad II arrived personally at Kruja and besieged the fortress for four and a
half months. Although overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Albanians
managed to resist Turkish forces and conferred a humiliating defeat upon
the sultan, who was obliged on 26 October to return to Adrianople empty-
handed. Scanderbeg's victory over the Muslim hordes was widely
acclaimed in the Christian world. Pope Nicholas V (reg. 1447–55), King
Ladislaus V of Hungary (reg. 1444–57), and King Alfonso of Aragon-
Naples (reg. 1435–58) sent messages of congratulations and offered
Scanderbeg their support.
 The alliance of Albanian nobles that Scanderbeg had cemented in Lezha
in March 1444 began to break up. The Dukagjini, Arianiti and Balsha
families withdrew their support and even Scanderbeg's commander Moisi
Golemi and Scanderbeg's nephew Hamza abandoned him. Scanderbeg
nonetheless carried on and repulsed two Turkish invasions in 1456 and
1457. For his defence of Christendom against the Muslim hordes, Pope
Calixtus II (reg. 1455–8) awarded the Albanian warrior the title of Athleta
Christi.
In 1466, Sultan Mehmed II himself arrived in Albania with a large army,
and laid siege to Kruja. After two months of siege, the sultan was forced to
return to Turkey and left his troops under the command of Balaban Pasha.
In July 1467, Mehmed II returned to Albania, this time with even more
forces, determined to bring Scanderbeg to his knees. The Albanian leader
requested assistance from Venice and called for a new assembly of nobles
in Lezha in January 1468. On 17 January 1468, however, before the
assembly could convene, the heroic Scanderbeg died, and resistance to the
Turks soon collapsed. Albania was to return to Ottoman rule for another
four and a half centuries.
Elez Isufi
The nationalist figure, Elez Isufi (1861–1924), also called Elez Isufi Ndreu,
was born in the village of Sllova in the Dibra region. He and his guerrilla
band resisted Serbian troops in 1912. A close ally of Bajram bey Curri
(1862–1925), Isufi led an armed uprising in Dibra on 15 August 1921 to
free the region of Serbian forces. The fighting continued up to December
1921. He was involved in a further uprising on 1 March 1922 against the
regime of Ahmet Zogu (1895–1961), and his Dibran fighters were able to
cross the mountains and take Tirana. He took the side of Fan Noli (1882–
1965) during the so-called Democratic Revolution and was killed by
Yugoslav troops at the end of 1924. Elez Isufi was the father of Cen Elezi
(1884–1949), a resistance fighter of World War II.
Fiqri bey Dine
Fiqri bey Dine (1897–1960) was a political and military figure of the World
War II period. Born in Maqellara in the Dibra region, he attended school in
Dibra and studied at a military cadet college in Wels, Austria. He returned
to Albania in 1918 as the tribal leader of his region and took part in the
reorganisation of the gendarmerie as a district commander. Dine took the
side of Ahmet Zogu in 1924 and, in support of Zogist forces, seized Tirana
with 600 Dibran fighters in December of that year. In the following years,
he was in the circle of Zogu's most trusted officers. In 1928, he was made
commander of the Tirana battalion and was later regiment commander in
Berat. In 1936 he was army inspector at the royal court of King Zog and in
1938 was commander of the gendarmerie. Dine served as minister of the
interior in the short-lived cabinet of Eqrem bey Libohova (1882–1948)
from 18 January to 11 February 1943, but was distrusted by the Italians for
his nationalism. During World War II, Italian forces are said to have burned
down his sumptuous four-storey manor in his native Dibra region. Dine
assisted German forces in an offensive against the partisans in Dibra in late
1943, but is said to have discreetly informed the other side of the German
approach. On 17 July 1944, he became prime minister and minister of the
interior in what was described as a moderately Zogist government, but
because of the chaotic civil war situation, he resigned five weeks later, on
28 August 1944. Fiqri bey Dine managed to get out of Albania during the
communist takeover. In mid-October 1944, he fled from Shkodra to
Brindisi in southern Italy on a little fishing boat with leading members of
Balli Kombëtar and died in Brussels in 1960.

OceanofPDF.com
 CHAPTER 11

MINOR ALBANIAN TRIBES

The Bobi Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Bobi was located in the District of Shkodra in northern
Albania in what is now Shala tribal territory, specifically in the settlements
of Nicaj and Bob i Shalës (now abandoned), and around Nënmavriq. The
term Bobi occurs as Bobi in the 1671–2 report of the apostolic visitor to
Albania, Pietro Stefano Gaspari, and (erroneously) as Robbi on the 1688
map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli. According to
oral tradition, the Bobi originally stemmed from Bushat or Shiroka near
Shkodra, but moved into the interior at a relatively early period, as they
were in the mountains before the arrival of the Shala.1 Pietro Stefano
Gaspari, who travelled through the region in 1671–2, reported: ‘The village
of Bobi has 13 homes and 58 souls. It has two churches, one dedicated to
the Assumption and the other to Saint Nicholas. Both of them are built of
stone walls and are in a good condition, but without vestments.’ As opposed
to the surrounding Shala who increased in numbers over the years, the Bobi
remained a small tribe. In 1905, almost two and a half centuries later, they
still had only 13 homes.2 Under pressure from the Shala, most of the Bobi
tribe was forced southwards to Berisha, Bugjoni and Thaçi tribal lands in
the Puka region, specifically to the villages of Fierza and Kokëdoda. This
apparently occurred before the arrival of the Thaçi, i.e. before 1600, with
whom they later had close relations.3 Their ancestral father here was one
Kol Deti (Kolë Dedi) who was related somehow to Murr Deti, the oldest
ancestor of Berisha. A few households of Bobi still remain in Shala, and
there are several families around Kokëdoda, but the Bobi largely
disintegrated as a tribe a century ago.

The Boksi Tribe

The Boksi or Bokshi were a small bajrak in what was otherwise Drishti
tribal territory in the Postripa area, i.e. the lower valley of the Kir River
northeast of Shkodra. The main settlements of the Boksi were Boks (Kodra
e Boksit), Dragoç, Mes, Myselim and Rrashi i Vorfës. In his demographic
study of the Albanian tribes in 1918, Franz Seiner regarded Boksi as a tribe
of its own right. He gave the population statistics of Boksi at the time as
158 households with a total of 1,498 inhabitants. This comprised the
settlements and surroundings of: Boks, Deraj, Dragoç, Mes, Myselim,
Rrash and Vorfa.4

The Buza e Ujit Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Buza e Ujit (meaning ‘waterside’) was situated in the
District of Malësia e Madhe of northern Albania. They lived to the west of
Koplik around the mouth of the Proni i thatë (Dry Creek) along the shores
of Lake Shkodra. In his demographic study of the Albanian tribes in 1918,
Franz Seiner regarded Buza e Ujit as a tribe of its own, although their
territory is an entirely lowland region. He gave the population statistics of
Buza e Ujit at the time as 201 households with a total of 675 inhabitants, of
whom ca. 500 were Muslim and the rest Catholic.5 The main settlements of
Buza e Ujit are: Kamica, Flaka (now Kamicë-Flaka) and Jubica. It is said
that the Buza e Ujit originally came from the area around Podgorica in
Montenegro.6

The Çidhna Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Çidhna (also spelled Qidhna) is situated in the
northern part of the District of Dibra in eastern Albania, on the left
(western) and right (eastern) banks of the Black Drin River. Çidhna borders
on the traditional tribal regions of Dardha and Lura across the Black Drin to
the west, Ploshtani and Trojaku to the northeast, and Muhurri and Kastrioti
to the south. The main settlements of Çidhna are: Arras, Kodër-Leshja,
Fushë-Çidhna (formerly Fushë Alie) and Çidhna e Poshtme.
The term Çidhna is recorded historically as Chidina in 1641 in the report
of Marco Scura; as Chidina around 1685 in the report of Giorgio
Stampaneo, as Chidena superiore and Chidena inferiore on the 1689 map of
the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and as Cidena in the
1866 memoir of French diplomat Emile Wiet.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Çidhna tribe were
as follows: 268 households with a total of 1,338 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of Arras, Mustafaj and Sina.7 Çidhna was
part of the composite Dibra tribe.

The Dardha Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Dardha is situated in the northern part of the District
of Dibra in northeastern Albania. It is located on the left (western) bank of
the Black Drin River. Dardha borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Reçi to the north, Luma and Ploshtani to the east, Lura to the west, and
Trojaku to the southeast. The main settlements of Dardha are Zall-Dardha,
Lashkiza and Tartaj.
The term Dardha is thought to be related to the Albanian word dardhë,
dardha (pear). It is a common toponym and there are settlements in various
parts of Albania with this name: Dardha in Berat, Dardha in Korça, Dardha
in Librazhd, Dardha in Puka, Dardhas in Pogradec, Dardhaj in Mirdita, and
Dardhës in Përmet. The ancient term Dardania may also be related to this
root. Dardha in Dibra occurs as Darda in 1671 in the ecclesiastical report of
Pietro Stefano Gaspari when it consisted of 130 inhabitants, and as Darda
on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli.8
 In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Dardha tribe were
as follows: 229 households with a total of 1,198 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of Lashkiza, Tartaj and Zall-Dardha.9
Dardha, although usually seen as part of the composite Dibra tribe, was
often also considered to be a bajrak of Lura.

The Dervishaj Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Dervishaj, also known as Krajka, is situated in the
District of Bulqiza in eastern Albania. It is located between the towns of
Bulqiza and Dibra. Dervishaj borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Zogjaj and Skandëri to the north, and Sheh Hysenaj to the south, the Slavic-
speaking Golloborda region to the southeast, and the Mat region to the
west. The main settlements of Dervishaj are: Peladhia, Godvija, Krajka and
Sofraçan.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Dervishaj tribe
were as follows: 150 households with a total of 995 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Krajka, Godvija, Sofraçan
(Karmishta) and Peladhia.10 Dervishaj was part of the composite Dibra
tribe.

The Dushi Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Dushi is located on the banks of the Drin River just
below the present Koman dam and power station, in the Districts of
Shkodra and Puka in northern Albania. It is part of what are otherwise the
tribal territories of Shoshi and Qerreti. The main settlements of Dushi are
Karma, Palaj (now Palaj-Gushta) and Dush. They were a Catholic tribe.
The term was recorded as Dusci in 1671 in the ecclesiastical report of Pietro
Stefano Gaspari and on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer
Francesco Maria Coronelli. The latter refers to the settlements of Dusci
superiore (Upper Dush) and Dusci inferiore (Lower Dush).
The Dushi tribe derived its ancestry from a figure called Geg who
stemmed from Karma. In oral tradition, it is said that Geg was out hunting
on Mount Guri i Sokolit with his brother one day when he caught a falcon
alive, which he subsequently presented as a gift to a local prince, said in
some versions of the legend to be Lekë Dukagjini. The prince was
impressed by Geg's skill and generosity and, in return for the gift, gave him
as much land as he could ride around in one day. Geg thus mounted his
horse and rode around the land that presently forms Dushi territory. A saga
of this type, for example riding around a circumference of land to take
possession of it, is also known to the Kastrati. Geg of Dushi had one son
called Kolë Gega and four grandsons called Meksh Kola, Zef Kola, Mark
Kola and Losh Kola. Baron Nopcsa dated the legend of Geg and the falcon
to around the year 1590.11

The Gimaj Tribe

The Gimaj tribal region is situated in the District of Shkodra in northern
Albania as part of what is now Shala tribal territory. Their main village,
called Gimaj, is located on the right (western) side of the Shala River to the
northwest of the village of Nënmavriq (formerly Dakaj). Other minute
Gimaj settlements include Camaj, Xhaferaj, Marvataj, Kodër Limaj,
Rrogam, Radoja and Pjeshullaj. The Gimaj are normally considered part of
Shala, but in his demographic study of the Albanian tribes in 1918, Franz
Seiner regarded Gimaj as a tribe of its own. He gave the population
statistics of Gimaj at the time as: 103 households with a total of 565
inhabitants, all of whom were Catholic.12 As late as the 1950s, elderly
Shala men, when asked, would state that the Gimaj were not of the same
tribe as Shala and say: ‘We live and work together with the Gimaj but we
are not brothers.’ It is likely that the Gimaj moved into the Shala Valley
from Plan to the west, and originally constituted a bajrak of their own.13
 The Grizha Tribe
The small tribe (bajrak) of Grizha is situated in the District of Malësia e
Madhe on the right (northern) side of the Rrjoll River where it reaches the
plain of Shkodra, half way between Shkodra and Koplik. It borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Reçi to the north, Rrjolli to the east, and the
plain of Shkodra to the west. The settlement existed in 1416 when it was
mentioned in the Venetian Catasto di Scutari as having 39 households.
Grizha is recorded as Grisca on the 1688 map of the Venetian cartographer
Francesco Maria Coronelli.14 It formed one bajrak including Gruemira. In
the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-Hungarian
administration, the population statistics of the Grizha tribe were given as
follows: 130 households with a total of 1,044 inhabitants, the vast majority
of whom were Muslims.15 The French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard left the
following description of Grizha:

In a large valley on the southern slope of Mount Privas between

lands belonging to Rrjolli and Kopliku are the small tribes of
Grizha and Gruemira, whose two villages have a total of 69
households and 900 inhabitants. They once formed a single
bajrak. Most of them profess the Mohammedan religion, and the
few Christian families living among them are of the same race
and have the same customs and costumes. As with the Rrjolli, the
land they occupy is rocky and barren, but offers some good
pastureland. The inhabitants use the limestone ground to make
lime that is reputed to be the best in the province and is very
much sought after in Shkodra.16

The Kastrioti Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Kastrioti is situated in the District of Dibra in eastern
Albania, on the right (eastern) side of the Black Drin River. It is located
about ten kilometres northwest of the town of Peshkopia. Kastrioti borders
on the traditional tribal regions of Trojaku to the north, Çidhna to the west,
and Muhurri to the southwest. The main settlements of Kastrioti are
Kastriot, Fushë-Kastriot and Sohodoll.
 The Kastrioti tribe bears the name of the Albanian national hero Gjergj
Castriota Scanderbeg who stemmed from this region. Kastrioti was part of
the composite Dibra tribe.

The Komani Tribe

The Komani tribal region is located on the banks of the Drin River around
the present Koman dam and power station in the Districts of Shkodra and
Puka in northern Albania. It is part of what are otherwise the tribal
territories of Shoshi and Qerreti. The Komani are said to stem from the
region on the right (western) side of the Zeta River valley, south of
Danilovgrad and northwest of Podgorica in Montenegro where there is a
Montenegrin Komani tribe. At some point in time they moved southwards
and settled around Qerret i Poshtër (now Qerret i Vogël) in what is
otherwise Qerreti tribal territory in the District of Puka. Situated on
traditional Komani territory is the archaeological site of the fortress of
Delmaca (Kalaja e Delmacës) that dates back to Illyrian times. The
toponym Komani occurs as Comani in 1629 in the ecclesiastical report of
Giezzi Biancho, and as Comani in 1703 in a report of the Catholic
Archbishop of Bar [Antivari], Vincentius Zmajevich. Like the Bobi, the
Komani largely disintegrated as a tribe a century ago.17

The Kopliku Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Kopliku is centred on the town of Koplik in the
District of Malësia e Madhe in northern Albania. Kopliku bordered on the
traditional tribal lands of Kastrati to the north, Rrjolli to the northeast, Reçi
to the east, Grizha to the southeast, Buza e Ujit to the west and the lowlands
of Shkodra to the south. The Slavic toponym from which the tribe derived
its name occurs as Cupelnich around 1200 in the work of Presbyter
Diocleas; Kupêlnik in 1348; Copenico in 1416; Chopilich in 1614 in the
report of the Venetian writer Mariano Bolizza; Coppilico on the 1688 map
of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria Coronelli; Coplico on the
1689 map of the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and as
Copelico in the 1703 report of the Catholic Archbishop of Bar [Antivari],
Vincentius Zmajevich.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Kopliku tribe
were given as follows: 208 households with a total of 1,455 inhabitants, the
vast majority of whom were Muslims.18 It was a heterogeneous tribal
region composed at times of three bajraks: Kopliku i Sipërm (Upper
Kopliku), Kopliku i Poshtëm (Lower Kopliku), and Grizha and Gruemira.
As a lowland region, the population lived more off farming than herding.
There were also numerous Slavic settlements in the surroundings.19

The Luznia Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Luznia is situated in the District of Dibra in eastern
Albania. It is located on the left (western) side of the Black Drin River and
stretches from Hotesh up to the Muhurr River. Luznia borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Muhurri to the north, Zogjaj and Skandëri to the
south, and the Mat region to the west. The main settlements of Luznia are:
the local administrative centre Lishan i Poshtëm, as well as Lishan i Epërm,
Hotesh, Arapaj i Epërm, Arapaj i Poshtëm and Katundi i Ri.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Luznia tribe were
as follows: 258 households with a total of 1,415 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of Hotesh, Lishan and Luznia e Epër.20
Luznia was part of the composite Dibra tribe.

The Mëgulla Tribe

The small tribe (bajrak) of Mëgulla is situated in the District of Shkodra in
northern Albania. It is located on the right (western) side of the upper Kir
River valley in the mountainous and isolated Pulat region. Mëgulla borders
on the traditional tribal lands of Plani to the north, Shala to the east, Xhani
to the south, and Shkreli and Rrjolli to the west. The main settlement of
Mëgulla is the little village of Mëgulla. Further to the south was Mount
Mëgulla (Mali i Mëgullës). This Slavic toponym, no doubt related to the
Slavic mogula > ‘grave, tomb,’ was recorded as Megula in 1638 in a report
by Frang Bardhi (Francesco Bianchi); Mongulla in 1671 in the
ecclesiastical report of Pietro Stefano Gaspari; Mogulla on the 1689 map of
the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola; and Mengula in 1703
in a report of the Catholic archbishop of Bar [Antivari] Vincentius
Zmajevich.
The Mëgulla, an entirely Catholic tribe, were largely regarded as part of
the Plani tribe with which they had, at any rate, close ties. According to
legendry, the ancestral father of the Mëgulla was Gjergj Gabeti, who was
the younger brother of Can Gabeti, the ancestral father of the Shllaku
tribe.21

The Morina Tribe

The Morina were a small tribe located in the highlands of Gjakova along
the present Albania–Kosovo border. Morina tribal territory bordered on the
traditional tribal lands of Gashi to the west, Bytyçi to the southwest and
Hasi to the south. The present border post between Albania and Kosovo,
known as Qafë Morinë (Morina Pass), is on Morina territory, but the
Morina subsequently settled in various parts of Kosovo, in particular in
Gjakova, Kamenica and Gjilan.They seem to trace their origin from
Mirdita. The Morina were a tribe in the sense of a fis, i.e. a community that
is aware of common blood ties and of a common history reaching back to
one male ancestor.

The Muhurri Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Muhurri is situated in the District of Dibra in eastern
Albania, on the left (western) side of the Black Drin River. It is located
about ten kilometres west of the town of Peshkopia. Muhurri borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Çidhna and Lura to the north, and Kastrioti to
the east. The main settlements of Muhurri are Fushë-Muhurr, Hurdhë-
Muhurr and Vajmëdhej.
The term Muhurri is recorded historically as Muhuri and Muhurri in
1641 in the report of Marco Scura; and as Muchriri on the 1689 map of the
Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Muhurri tribe
were as follows: 236 households with a total of 1,304 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Muhurr and Vajmëdhej.22
Muhurri was part of the composite Dibra tribe.

The Ploshtani Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Ploshtani is situated in the northeastern part of the
District of Dibra in northeastern Albania, on the right (eastern) side of the
Black Drin River. It is located more specifically on the right (northern) bank
of the Veleshica River, which is a tributary of the Black Drin, and on the
western side of Mount Sarakoli (2,204 m.). Ploshtani borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Luma to the north, Reçi and Dardha across the
Black Drin River to the west and Trojaku to the south. The main settlement
of Ploshtani is Ploshtan. The term Ploshtani is Slavic and means a ‘bald
patch of land’. Ploshtani is part of the composite Dibra tribe, but has also
often been considered a bajrak of Luma.

The Reçi Tribe of Dibra

The tribe (bajrak) of Reçi23 in Dibra is situated in the northernmost part of
the District of Dibra in northeastern Albania. It is located on the left
(western) and to a lesser extent on the right (eastern) bank of the Black Drin
River. Reçi borders on the traditional tribal regions of Arrëni to the north,
Luma and Ploshtani to the east, Dardha and Muhurri to the south, and Lura
to the west. The main settlements of Reçi are: Gurrë-Reç, Zall-Reç,
Hurdhë-Reç, Draj-Reç and Bardhaj-Reç. The term Reçi was recorded as in
1641 as Reci in the report of Marco Scura.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Reçi tribe of the
Dibra region were as follows: 239 households with a total of 1,429
inhabitants. This comprised the settlements and surroundings of: Bardhaj i
Reçit, Draj i Reçit, Gur i Reçit, and Kraj i Reçit.24
Reçi is the northernmost part of the composite Dibra tribes. It was,
however, at times regarded as a bajrak of Lura.

The Sheh Hysenaj Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Sheh Hysenaj, also known as Zerqani, is situated in
the District of Bulqiza in eastern Albania. It is located between the towns of
Bulqiza and Dibra. Sheh Hysenaj borders on the traditional tribal region of
Dervishaj close to the north and the Slavic-speaking Golloborda region to
the south. The main settlements of Sheh Hysenaj are Zerqan, Sopot and
Strikçan.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Sheh Hysenaj
tribe were as follows: 305 households with a total of 1,760 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Gurishta (now Sopot), Sheh-
Hysenaj (now Zerqan), and Thatusha (now Strikçan).25 Sheh Hysenaj was
part of the composite Dibra tribe.

The Skandëri Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Skandëri, also called Homeshi, is situated in the
District of Bulqiza in eastern Albania. It is located on the left (western) side
of the Black Drin River, on the slopes of Mount Homesh (Mali i Homeshit)
about ten kilometres west of the town of Dibra. Skandëri borders on the
traditional tribal regions of Zogjaj to the north, Dervishaj to the southwest,
and the Slavic-speaking Golloborda region to the south. The main
settlements of Skandëri are: Çerenec, Shupenza, Boçeva, Homesh,
Okshatina and Topojan.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Skandëri tribe
were as follows: 612 households with a total of 2,773 inhabitants. This
comprised the settlements and surroundings of Bukureshti i Madh (Garica),
Bukureshti i Vogël, Kuglosh (now Boçeva), Mirosh (now Okshatina),
Skandëri (Homesh), Sukth (now Çerenec), Ujth (Shupenza), Urnaj
(Topojan) and Vlashaj.26 Skandëri was part of the composite Dibra tribe.

The Trojaku Tribe

The tribe (bajrak) of Trojaku is situated in the northern part of the District
of Dibra in northeastern Albania, on the right (eastern) bank of the Black
Drin River. It is located on the western side of White Mountain (Mali i
Bardhë, 1,961 m.). Trojaku borders on the traditional tribal regions of
Ploshtani to the north, Kastrioti to the south, and Çidhna to the west. The
main settlement of Trojaku is Trojak. Trojaku was part of the composite
Dibra tribe.

The Ura e Shtrejtë Tribe

The small tribe (bajrak) of Ura e Shtrejtë (sometimes written erroneously as
Ura e Shtrenjtë), meaning ‘narrow bridge’, is situated in the District of
Shkodra in northern Albania. It is located on the left (southern) side of the
Kir River valley in the mountainous Pulat region. It consisted of one
settlement of the same name, Ura e Shtrejtë, with a population of about 360
in the early twentieth century. The ‘narrow bridge’ in question was a 4–5
metre wooden construction over a deep torrent. The term occurs as
Vraestrent on the map of the Venetian cartographer Francesco Maria
Coronelli in 1688. As a very small tribe and the last Muslim settlement in
the Kir River valley, it had close ties with the Drishti and Kiri tribes and
then gradually came to lose its specific tribal identity.
 The Zogjaj Tribe
The tribe (bajrak) of Zogjaj is situated in the District of Dibra in eastern
Albania, on the left (western) side of the Black Drin River. It is located
about 15 kilometres to the southwest of the town of Peshkopia. Zogjaj
borders on the traditional tribal regions of Luznia to the north, Skandëri and
Dervishaj to the south, and the Mat region the west. The main settlements
of Zogjaj are Zogjaj, Stushaj, Bllaca, Mazhica and Gjuras.
In the first reliable census taken in Albania in 1918 under Austro-
Hungarian administration, the population statistics of the Zogjaj tribe were
as follows: 434 households with a total of 1,656 inhabitants. This comprised
the settlements and surroundings of Dushkaj (now Stushaj), Gjuras, Gurra e
mirë, Qafaz (now Mazhica), Rrunja (now Bllaca), and Zogjaj.27 Zogjaj was
part of the composite Dibra tribe.

OceanofPDF.com
 GLOSSARY

anas
‘native, ancient, original inhabitants’. The term anas occurs often in
northern Albanian tribal legendry for the original inhabitants of the region
settled by a tribe. The word may be related to standard Alb. anë, def. ana
‘side’, in the sense of people who were sidelined. In most cases, the anas
population continued to live side by side with the newcomers and came to
form part of the tribe.

bajrak
‘tribe’. Standard Alb. bajrak, def. bajraku ‘tribe, banner’. A bajrak was a
‘tribe’ in the sense of a collectivity of individuals united under one banner
and with a specific tribal territory. The term bajrak, also bayrak, which
stems from Turkish bayrak ‘banner, standard’, is occasionally confused
with the term fis (q.v.) which refers to a tribe in terms of blood relations and
ancestry. Usually, all the men of one bajrak belonged to the same fis, but
there were cases of a bajrak being made up of several fis, or of several
tribes banding together to form one united bajrak for defence purposes. A
bajrak could and usually did constitute a tribe of its own, but several
bajraks could also unite to form a tribe. For instance, the original five
bajraks of Mirdita formed the one large Mirdita tribe. A bajrak was, at any
rate, usually associated with a specific tribal territory. It could be composed
of several mëhalla (q.v.) ‘neighbourhoods or hamlets’ or of several vllazni
(q.v.) ‘brotherhoods’. There were about 150 bajraks in northern Albania in
the early twentieth century.
 bajraktar
‘chief of a tribe’. Standard Alb. bajraktar, def. bajraktari ‘tribal
leader,banner chief, standard bearer’. The bajraktar was the military head
of a bajrak (q.v.), usually being responsible for defence and military affairs.
He could also oversee obedience to tribal laws and deal with issues that
affected the bajrak as a whole. The position of bajraktar was often
inherited from father to son or the next male heir, but in some cases the
bajraktar was elected by the tribal elders. In some tribes, the bajraktar had
little power or prestige at all, and was not necessarily regarded as a tribal
leader. Most essentially, the bajraktar was the figure who led the fighters of
his bajrak into battle. This he did by calling the forces of the tribe together
with a warcry (kushtrim), being the only figure permitted to do so, and by
raising the tribal standard to set off into battle.

bark
‘children of one family’. Standard Alb. bark, def. barku, plur. barqe
‘brood’, refers to all the (male) children of one mother and father. In the
more general sense, a bark is thus a term for the descendants of a family.
Several barqe make up a vllazni (q.v.).

besa
‘word of honour, treaty, cease-fire’. Standard Alb. besë, def. besa ‘word of
honour’. The besa was an oath, promise or truce that could be concluded
between parties to end fighting or a feud, or to provide safe passage.

bey
The Turkish title of bey referred in Ottoman times to a feudal lord or local
ruler.
 djelmnia
‘young tribal leaders’. Gheg Alb. djelmni, def. djelmnia, standard Alb.
djemuri, def. djemuria ‘youth, boys’. Djelmnia was a collective term for the
young tribal leaders or youth of a tribe. The institution of the djelmnia arose
in particular in Shala, when the young tribal leaders under Mehmet Shpendi
opposed the authority of the bajraktar (q.v.) whom they felt was
representing Ottoman interests. They acted to ensure the application of
tribal law (the kanun) over Ottoman legislation. The word is related to
standard Alb. djalë, def. djali, plur. djem ‘youth, boy’.

Dukagjin
Region of northern central Albania. The term usually refers to the
mountains east of Shkodra and north of the Drin River, i.e. Shala, Shoshi,
Shllaku, Toplana, and as far east as Tropoja. According to tradition, the
Dukagjini tribes consisted of Pulat, Shala, Shoshi, Dushmani, Toplana,
Nikaj and Mërturi. However, the region of Puka and Berisha, south of the
Drin River, was also considered part of Dukagjin and was once referred to
as Dukagjini i Vjetër (Old Dukagjin). In Kosovo, the term Dukagjin usually
refers to western Kosovo, broadly equivalent to the BCS term Metohija, i.e.
the populated plateau running from Istog and Peja in the north down almost
to Prizren in the south. This region is known more accurately as Rrafshi i
Dukagjinit (the Dukagjin Plateau) to distinguish it from Dukagjin proper in
the northern mountains. The term originally referred to the mediaeval
Dukagjini family, whose homeland was between Lezha and the Fan River.
This word is said to derive from duka ‘duke’ and Gjin ‘John’, i.e. Duke
John, but this may be a folk etymology.

fis
‘tribe’. Standard Alb. fis, def. fisi ‘tribe, ethnic group, relatives, nobles’. A
fis was a tribe in the sense of a collectivity of individuals who saw
themselves as descended in patrilineage (male line) from one common male
ancestor. The term is not to be confused with the bajrak (q.v.), which had
more to do with a tribe in the sense of territory and defence. Since the
members of a fis regarded themselves as blood-related, i.e. as brothers and
sisters, they did not intermarry within the fis, however distantly the actual
relationship on the male side (the ‘blood line’) may have been. The
proximity of family relationships on the female side (the so-called ‘milk
line’) did not count because the tribes believe that there was no blood
relationship through women. A fis could sometimes be composed of several
bajraks and marriage was only permitted between them if they were not
inter-related. Oral tradition speaks of the ‘twelve tribes (fis) of the northern
mountains’ although there does not seem to be any agreement on which 12
tribes these were. Most often mentioned are: Kelmendi, Kastrati, Hoti,
Gruda, Shkreli, Gashi, Krasniqja, Bytyçi, Berisha, Thaçi, Morina and
Kabashi, but Shala and Shoshi also occur in this list. Oral tradition also
speaks of the northern tribes as the 12 mountains: Triepshi, Piperi, Kuči,
Vasojevići, Kelmendi, Hoti, Gruda, Shkreli, Kastrati, Krasniqja, Gashi and
Bytyçi.

Gheg
‘northern Albanian’. Standard Alb. gegë, def. gega ‘Gheg’. The term Gheg
refers to the northern Albanians, i.e., all Albanians living north of the
Shkumbin River and speaking Gheg dialects. The territory of the Ghegs is
poetically referred to as Gegëria or Gegnia – Gheg Alb. Gegni, def. Gegnia,
standard Alb. Gegëri, def. Gegëria. The term is usually spelled with an ‘h’
in English to preserve the hard ‘g’ pronunciation. The southern Albanians
are called Tosks (q.v.). Scholar Rrok Zojzi suggests that the term Gheg
originally referred only to the inhabitants of northern central Albania,
between the Shkumbin and the Drin rivers, i.e. Mat, Mirdita, Puka and
Dibra etc., rather than of the northern Alps.

gjakmarrje
‘blood feud, vendetta’. Standard Alb. gjakmarrje, def. gjakmarrja ‘blood-
taking, blood feud’. The term derives from Albanian gjak ‘blood’ and
marrje ‘taking’.

hise
‘offspring of a patrilineal line’. Hise refers to a married son (together with
wife and children) who lives with his parents. Several hise, i.e. sons and
their families, make up a bark (q.v.).

kaimakam
A local Turkish governor or mayor in Ottoman Albania. The term stems
from Ottoman Turkish kaymakam, a representative of the government or
state at the local level.

kanun
Code of consuetudinal or customary law, originally handed down orally
from generation to generation. The Alb. term kanun, def. kanuni, is derived
from Turkish kanun ‘rule, law, code of law’. The kanun of northern Albania
regulated virtually every aspect of life in the mountains and was strictly
adhered to. Even today it is largely respected, despite the presence and force
of ‘government laws’. The best known variants of this code were the Kanun
of Lekë Dukagjini that was observed among the tribes north of the Drin
River; the Kanun of Scanderbeg, also known as the Kanun of Arbëria, that
was observed among the tribes south of the Drin, including Mirdita; and the
Kanun of Dibra in the eastern Dibra region.

kapedan
‘captain, prince’. Standard Alb. kapedan, def. kapedani ‘commander of a
military unit, brave person’. The kapedan was the title given to the
hereditary leader of the Mirdita region. The term, which is also spelled
kapidan, is related to the English word ‘captain’, but it was usual in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to speak of the ‘prince’ of Mirdita.

katun
‘village, settlement, pastoral community’. The term katun originally
referred to a band of warriors or to a community of shepherds that formed
the early nucleus of a tribe. Standard Alb. katund, def. katundi, is now
synonymous with Alb. fshat, def. fshati ‘village’.

kry
‘chieftain’. The kry, plur. krenë, krena, standard Albanian krye, plur. krerë,
meaning ‘head, headman’, was usually the assistant of the bajraktar (q.v.)
in the tribe. He often represented one of the vllazni (q.v.) of which the tribe
was composed. The decisions of the chieftains in a tribal assembly had the
force of law.

kryeplak
‘chief elder’. Standard Alb. kryeplak, def. kryeplaku ‘headman’. The
kryeplak was the headman or village elder of a settlement. The term derives
from Albanian krye ‘head’ and plak ‘elder, old man’.

kulla
‘stone tower’. Standard Alb. kullë, def. kulla ‘tower’. A kulla was a multi-
storied stone dwelling designed to house and defend an extended family and
its livestock. Many of these architecturally notable ‘stone towers’ still exist
in northern Albania and Kosovo, and some are still inhabited. The word is
related to Turkish kule ‘tower, turret’.

kuvend
‘assembly, tribal assembly’. Standard Alb. kuvend, def. kuvendi
‘conversation, assembly, parliament’. The word derives from Latin
conventus ‘gathering, assembly’. Tribal assemblies were attended either by
one man per household or by the tribal chieftains (krena).

lekë
‘highlander, inhabitant of the northern mountains’. Alb. lekë, def. leka is
related to the personal name Lekë which is the short form for Alexander. It
may derive from the mediaeval ruler Lekë Dukagjini (1410–81) or from
Scanderbeg (1405–68), whose name is composed of ‘Alexander’ (Turkish
Iskander) and ‘bey’. The term usually refers to highlanders living north of
the Drin, their land sometimes being called Leknia.

malësor
‘inhabitant of the northern Albanian Alps, highlander’. This term, standard
Alb. malësor, def. malësori ‘highlander’, stems from standard Alb. malësi,
def. malësia ‘the northern Albanian Alps, the Albanian Highlands’, which
is the collective form of the noun mal ‘mountain’. The word was once more
common in English in the Italian plural form malissori.

mëhalla
‘neighbourhood, hamlet, subdivision of a village’. Standard Alb. mëhallë,
def. mëhalla ‘neighbourhood’. The word is derived from Turkish mahalle
‘neighbourhood’.
 nahiye
‘sub-district’, a local administrative division of the Ottoman Empire.The
nahiye was the sub-division of a kaza, which in turn was the sub-division of
a sanjak (q.v.).

plak
‘elder’, Standard Alb. plak, def. plaku, plur. pleq, ‘old man, elder’. A plak
was the head of a brotherhood or village.

pleqni
‘council of elders’. Gheg Alb. pleqni, def. pleqnia, standard Alb. pleqëri,
def. pleqëria ‘old age, old people, council of elders’.

sanjak
An administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. From Turkish sancak.
The original Sanjak of Albania (Sancak-i-Arnavid) was created in 1385 and
lasted until 1466 when it was divided up between the sanjaks of Vlora
(Avlona) and Elbasan.

sanjakbey
The governor or commander of a sanjak (q.v.).

serai
‘mansion, manor, palace’, in particular of a ruling family of beys (q.v.). The
term derives from Turkish saray ‘palace, mansion, government house’.

shpi
‘house, household’. Gheg Alb. shpi, def. shpia, standard Alb. shtëpi, def.
shtëpia ‘house’. This was the basic unit of northern Albanian society. The
sons of the head of the household traditionally continued to live under one
roof with their parents, even after marriage. This led to an ‘extended
family’ unit. In Kosovo, sons still often build their homes next to that of
their parents, thus creating a compound of two or three homes traditionally
surrounded by high walls that formed one single residential and economic
unit. Income and the means of production were administered jointly within
the family. This system had its equivalent among the southern Slavs in the
zadruga. Such extended family units could be large. Margaret Hasluck
noted a family with 95 members in Zdrajsh in Librazhd in 1923, and
another one in Shala with 70 members.

Tosk
‘southern Albanian’. The term Tosk, standard Alb. toskë, def. toska, refers
to the southern Albanians, i.e. all Albanians living south of the Shkumbin
River and speaking Tosk dialects. The territory of the Tosks is poetically
referred to as Toskëria. The northern Albanians are called Ghegs (q.v.).

vali
The governor of a vilayet (q.v.) of the Ottoman Empire.

vilayet
A province of the Ottoman Empire following the administrative reforms of
1864.

virgjinesha
‘sworn virgin’, Gheg Alb. virgjineshë, def. virgjinesha, standard Alb.
virgjëreshë, def. virgjëresha ‘virgin’. A virgjinesha was a girl in northern
Albania who took on the male role in society and was accepted by her
village and tribe as a man. Many such ‘sworn virgins’ still exist.

vllazni
‘brotherhood, fraternity’. Gheg Alb. vllazni, def. vllaznia, or vëllazni, def.
vëllaznia, standard Alb. vëllezëri, def. vëllezëria ‘brotherhood’. A vllazni is
a social unit composed of the sons (hise) of several families. They are often
united by marriage and live as a single economic unit, sharing pastureland
and defending one another's interests in times of feuding. The vllazni can be
seen more simply as an extended family unit. Several vllazni make up a
bajrak (q.v.).

voyvoda
‘chief of a tribe’. Initially, in the pre-Ottoman period, the voyvoda or
voyvode was the leader of a tribe. In order to weaken resistance to Ottoman
rule, the Turks gradually replaced the office of the voyvoda with that of the
bajraktar (q.v.). In some tribes, both titles were maintained, and often, the
voyvoda of the tribe gained the upper hand over the bajraktar who was
demoted to defence functions only.

zaptieh
An Ottoman policeman or guard.
OceanofPDF.com
 NOTES

Introduction
1. I. Whitaker 1968, p. 254.
2. Also spelled Geg. The ‘h’ is often added in English, i.e. Gheg, to show
that the word is pronounced with a hard ‘g’ sound.
3. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 40.
4. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 210.
5. F. Seiner 1922, p. 104.
6. One can also speak of Albanian ‘clans’ instead of ‘tribes’. We regard
these two terms as largely synonymous and interchangeable here in the
Balkan context.
7. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 271.
8. F. Seiner 1922, p. 102.

Chapter 1 The Tribes of the Northern Albanian

Alps (Malësia e Madhe)
1. M. Gökbilgin 1956, p. 273.
2. S. Pulaha 1974.
3. E. Armao 1933, p. 117.
4. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, p. 155, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
 5. J. Müller 1844, p. 13. Müller actually gives 42,000 with one zero too
many.
6. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
7. E. Wiet 1868, p. 35.
8. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
9. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 86.
10. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
11. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 83–4.
12. F. Nopcsa 1910, pp. 57–8.
13. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 34. In the late Ottoman Empire, one oka was
equivalent to about 1.3 kilos.
14. F. Nopcsa 1910, pp. 60–1.
15. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 126.
16. N. Malcolm 2000–2001, p. 149.
17. F. Lippich in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 83.
18. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 210.
19. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 22.
20. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 178–84.
21. Possibly Maja e Kashticës.
22. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 211.
23. J. G. von Hahn 1854, vol. 1, pp. 183–5.
24. P. Bartl 1978, p. 125.
25. K. Luka 1980, pp. 219–52; N. Malcolm, 2000–1, p. 152.
26. N. Malcolm 2000–1, p. 155.
27. Ibid.
28. S. Pulaha (ed.) 1978, pp. 69–70.
29. L. Soranzo, 1600, pp. 178–9 ‘Questi sono li Piperi, Cucci, Clementi,
Bellopauligi, & altri nel paese della Plaua: trà quali vi sono molti
Albanesi, che vivono alla Romana. E questi sono quelli, che per hauer
 sito forte, & esser di natura ferocissimi, non ancora si son lasciati ben
soggiogare dall'armi del Turco.’ Translated by Noel Malcolm in: N.
Malcolm 2000–1, pp. 153–4.
30. N. Malcolm 2000–1, p. 154.
31. R. Elsie 2003, pp. 157–8, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
32. I. Zamputi (ed.) 1963, vol. 1, pp. 276–8.
33. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 212–3.
34. Frang Bardhi (1606–43), known in Latin as Franciscus Blancus and in
Italian as Francesco Bianchi, was an early Albanian church figure of
note. He is remembered, in particular, as the author of the first
Albanian dictionary, the Dictionarium latino-epiroticum, Rome 1635.
35. I. Zamputi (ed.) 1965, vol. 2, p. 160.
36. J. Tomić (ed.) 1905, pp. 56–7; N. Malcolm 2000–1, p. 157.
37. R. Dankoff & S. Kim 2011, p. 165.
38. N. Malcolm 2000–1, p. 159.
39. Ibid., p. 160.
40. Ibid.
41. Vincentius Zmajevich (1670–1745), also written Vinzenz Zmajević,
from Perast in the Bay of Kotor, was the Archbishop of Bar [Antivari],
Administrator of the Diocese of Budva and Apostolic Visitor in
Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria from 1701 to 1713. He did
much to improve the lot of the oppressed Albanian Catholics, and in
particular to assist the starving Kelmendi tribe on their return to
Kelmendi land from 1707.
42. P. Bartl 1978, p. 133.
43. M. Jačov (ed.) 1983, p. 246.
44. Friedrich Heinrich Reichsgraf von Seckendorff (1673–1762), was a
Franconian field marshal and diplomat in the service of the Hapsburg
monarchy.
45. M. Kostić 1930, pp. 217–19; P. Bartl 1978, p. 134.
46. M. Kostić 1930, p. 222; P. Bartl 1978 p. 134.
47. L. von Thallóczy 1916, p. 314.
48. Entry by Julius Löbe (1805–1900) of Rasephas, suburb of Altenburg
in Thuringia, in Encyclopädisches Wörterbuch der Wissenschaften,
Künste und Gewerbe (Altenburg 1824, 3rd edn Altenburg 1840):
‘1737 waren sie mit gegen die Türken gezogen, wurden aber in
Walliewo fast alle niedergehauen. Von den Geretteten gingen 300 mit
ihren Familien nach Belgrad und von da, von einem ihrer Priester
Suno geführt, nach Syrmien, wo sie in der Gegend von Mitrowiz die
Dörfer Herkofze und Nikinze an der Save anlegten, und in 6 Familien
getheilt tapfre Grenzwächter waren[…] Die Zurückgebliebenen
wurden 1738 von den Türken überfallen und ihr Hauptsitz Rudnik
erobert.’
49. M. Kostić 1930, p. 232; P. Bartl 1978, p. 134.
50. K. von Windisch 1782, p. 82.
51. L. von Thallóczy 1916, p. 321.
52. Dh. Shuteriqi 1955, p. 181; P. Bartl 1978, p. 135.
53. G. Stanojević 1962, pp. 395–6; P. Bartl 1978, p. 137.
54. F. Nopcsa 2014, pp. 15–16.
55. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
56. scudo, pl. scudi, a type of coin used primarily in Italy until the
nineteenth century.
57. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
58. E. Armao 1933, p. 134.
59. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 85.
60. L. Lucaj 2001, p. 56.
61. E. J. Dillon 1914, p. 8.
62. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 19.
63. Turkish: ‘welcome’.
64. F. Nopcsa 2014, pp. 27–31.
65. The New York Times, 21 May 1911.
 R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, p. 155, also at:
66. http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
67. J. Müller 1844, p. 13. Müller actually gives 15,000 with one zero too
many.
68. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
69. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 161.
70. E. Wiet 1868, p. 35.
71. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 67.
72. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 85.
73. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
74. J. G. von Hahn 1854, vol. 1, pp. 185–8.
75. H. Hecquard, 1858, p. 157.
76. L. Freundlich 2012, p. 88.
77. M. E. Durham, 1928, pp. 20–1.
78. L. Lucaj 2001, p. 24.
79. Ibid., pp. 26–7.
80. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
81. E. Wiet 1868, p. 36.
82. See the section on the Hoti tribe for the legendary origin of these
quarrels.
83. L. Lucaj 2001, pp. 29–38.
84. Ibid., pp. 32–3.
85. M. Miljanov 1967, vol. 2, pp. 13–17.
86. L. Lucaj 2001, pp. 53–4.
87. M. E. Durham 1914, pp. 43–5, 52.
88. The Kastrati tribe is not to be confused with the unrelated Kastrioti
tribe of Upper Dibra who occupy the left (eastern) bank of the Black
Drin.
 89. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 85.
90. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, p. 155, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
91. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
92. J. Müller 1844, p. 13. Müller actually gives 28,000 with one zero too
many.
93. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
94. E. Wiet 1868, p. 35.
95. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
96. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 162.
97. This is the version of the legend recounted by D. Kurti 2010, pp. 25–6.
98. J. G. von Hahn 1854, vol. 1, pp. 188–92.
99. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 217–21.
100. Ibid., p. 227.
101. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 103–4; 2006, p. 19.
102. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 41–4.
103. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
104. K. Steinmetz 1905, pp. 4–5.
105. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 216.
106. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 22. Saint Charles (Borromeo, 1538–1610), a
reformer of the Council of Trent, is, however, a highly unlikely figure
for a patron saint in Albania.
107. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, pp. 148, 155, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
108. J. Müller 1844, p. 13. Müller actually gives 19,000 with one zero too
many.
109. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
110. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
111. H. Hecquard 1858, p 199.
112. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 22.
113. C. Coon 1950, p. 45.
114. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 227.
115. F. Nopcsa, Beiträge… 1912, pp. 249–50.
116. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 172.
117. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 199.
118. F. Nopcsa 1932, p. 364.
119. K. Steinmetz 1905, p. 3.
120. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 45–52.
121. From the volume: Azem Shkreli, Blood of the Quill, Selected Poetry
from Kosova, edited and translated by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-
Heck (Copenhagen & Los Angeles 2008), pp. 95–6.
122. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 23.
123. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html. The ruins of a Church of Saint Nicholas, known
simply as Kisha e Lohes, could be seen in the 1930s in Kozaj. Cf. E.
Armao 1933, pp. 78, 137.
124. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 103; M. E. Durham 1928, p. 23.
125. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
126. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 158.
127. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 164.
128. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 23.
129. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 227.
130. This Reçi is not to be confused with a Reçi tribe in the District of
Dibra, commonly known as Reç Dardha.
131. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, p. 147, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
132. E. Armao 1933, pp. 96–97.
133. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
134. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 158.
135. Ibid.
136. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 23.
137. The magnificent forest of monumental chestnut trees was still there in
2014 [R.E.].
138. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 103–4.
139. E. Armao 1933, p. 98.
140. K. Jireček 1916, p. 95.
141. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, p. 146, also at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
142. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
143. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 149–50.
144. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 23.
145. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
146. N. Malcolm 2013, p. 458.
147. H. Hecquard, 1858, pp. 150–1. In fact, Bolizza does refer to them as
Rivoli, as mentioned above, see:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–1799/AH1614.html.
148. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 171.
149. K. Hassert 1898, pp. 365–6.
150. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 108.

Chapter 2 The Tribes of The Pulat Region

1. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 88, 2006, p. 81.
2. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
3. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 144.
4. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
5. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 114; M. E. Durham 1928, p. 25.
6. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 241–2.
 7. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 114, 116, 117.
8. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
9. E. Armao 1933, p. 118.
10. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 144.
11. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
12. Rr. Zojzi 1944, p. 63.
13. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 110–11.
14. Livy 44, 31.
15. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 242.
16. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 87; 2006, p. 80.
17. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
18. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 144.
19. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
20. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 25.
21. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 242–3.
22. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 159–60.
23. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 29.
24. F. Nopcsa 1932, p. 304.
25. N. Malcolm 2013, p. 457.
26. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
27. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 243.
28. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 29.
29. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 155–6.
30. M. E. Durham 1914, pp. 92–4.
31. L. Thallóczy et al. 1913, vol. 1, no. 50, p. 11.
32. L. Thallóczy et al. 1913, vol. 1, no. 63, p. 17
33. S. Ljubić 1868–91, vol. 7, pp. 282, 286, 287, 289, 291, 292.
34. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 28.
35. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 137, 141.
36. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
37. Statuta et ordinationes capituli ecclesiae cathedralis drivastiensis,
preserved in Copenhagen in the Danish Royal Library. cf. V. Novak
and M. Šufflay 1927.
38. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 28.
39. M. Barleti 2012, pp. 153–4. Translated by David Hosaflook.
40. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 246–7.

Chapter 3 The Tribes of the Dukagjin Region

1. E. Armao 1933, p. 101.
2. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 88.
3. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
4. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 143.
5. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 62.
6. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
7. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 127.
8. S. Pulaha, Mbi gjallerimin… 1975, p. 130.
9. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 228.
10. Ibid., p. 231.
11. J. V. Ivanova 1973, p. 32; D. Kurti 2010, p. 24.
12. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 172.
13. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 26.
14. K. Hassert 1897, pp. 538–42.
15. K. Steinmetz 1905, pp. 11–13.
16. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 118, 119–20, 123–4, 130–1.
17. F. Nopcsa 2014, p. 102.
18. M. E. Durham 1914, pp. 35–6.
19. A linguist parallel can be seen in the Albanian toponym of Shopël in
Puka that is derived from Saint Paul (Alb. Shën Pal, Ital. San Paolo).
20. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 215.
21. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 88; 2006, p. 81.
22. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
23. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/AH1841_2.html.
24. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 143.
25. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
26. B. Palaj 1943, p. 69.
27. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 151–2.
28. Ibid., p. 161.
29. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
30. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 237–8.
31. J. A. Degrand 1901, pp. 249–50.
32. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 160–1.
33. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 245.
34. M. E. Durham 1928, pp. 28–9.
35. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 240.
36. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 87; 2006, p. 80.
37. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 165–6.
38. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
39. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 240.
40. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 165.
41. Ibid., pp. 165–7.
42. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 88; 2006, p. 81.
43. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
44. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
 F. Nopcsa, Beitrag… 1907. English version at:
45. http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1907.html.
46. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 192; M. E. Durham 1928, p. 26.
47. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 237.
48. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 26.
49. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 192–3.
50. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 58.

Chapter 4 The Tribes of the Gjakova Highlands

(Malësia e Gjakovës)
1. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 87–8, 2006, p. 81.
2. P. Bartl 2013, p. 306.
3. F. Nopcsa 1932, p. 304.
4. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 195.
5. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
6. A settlement of this name no longer exists.
7. K. Steinmetz 1904, pp. 15–16; F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser
(eds) 1996, pp. 234–5. cf. also S. Pulaha, Mbi gjallërimin… 1975, p.
131.
8. There is a settlement called Vajush that is located six kilometres east
of Koplik.
9. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 169.
10. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 234.
11. Rr. Zojzi 1993, p. 116.
12. K. Steinmetz 1905, pp. 19, 37.
13. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 16.
14. Ibid., p. 20.
15. Ibid., p. 27.
16. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 195–6.
17. F. Nopcsa 2013.
18. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 68.
19. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 169.
20. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 87.
21. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 242.
22. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 75.
23. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 57.
24. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
25. S. Pulaha, Mbi gjallërimin… 1975, p. 131.
26. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 244–245.
27. Ibid., p. 301.
28. K. Steinmetz 1904, pp. 25, 26.
29. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 68.
30. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
31. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 75
32. Ibid.
33. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 126.
34. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
35. I. Malaj 2007, p. 17.
36. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 99–100; 2006, pp. 15–16.
37. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
38. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 75.
39. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 126.
40. Naval Intelligence Division 1945 (ed.), p. 159.
41. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
42. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 237.
43. I. Malaj 2007, p. 16.
44. I. Malaj 2007, p. 16.
45. Ibid., p. 1.
46. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
47. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 126.
48. A. Kaloshi 2004, pp. 225–46.
49. I. Malaj 2007, p. 17.
50. K. Steinmetz 1904, pp. 27–8.

Chapter 5 The Tribes of the Puka Region

1. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
2. F. Nopcsa, Beiträge… 1912, p. 248.
3. J. G. von Hahn 1867, pp. 45, 49.
4. S. Pulaha 1988, p. 290.
5. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
6. P. Bartl 2013, p. 302.
7. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 218.
8. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 234–5.
9. Xh. Meçi 2008, p. 29.
10. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 49 fn.
11. Xh. Meçi 2008, p. 33.
12. E. Armao 1933, p. 137.
13. Ibid., p. 68.
14. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
15. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 250.
16. Xh. Meçi 2008, p. 95.
17. I. S. Jastrebov 1904.
18. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 255–6.
19. Ibid., p. 246.
20. F. Nopcsa 1932, p. 304.
 N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
21. http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
22. This region of Karadag, meaning ‘black mountains’ is called Mal i Zi i
Shkupit in Albanian, and Skopska Crna Gora in BCS. It is not to be
confused with Montenegro or with the tribal region of Mali i zi.
23. J. G. von Hahn 1868, p. 127.
24. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
25. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 156.
26. F. Nopcsa, Beiträge… 1912, p. 248.
27. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 27.
28. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 247.
29. Ibid., pp. 246–7.
30. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 156.
31. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
32. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 75.
33. F. Seiner 1922, pp. 109, 110.
34. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 248–9.
35. P. Bartl 2013, p. 303.
36. A. Boué 1854, p. 328.
37. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 96–7.
38. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 235–7.
39. Sh. Hoxha, Malziu 2013, p. 264.
40. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
41. Sh. Hoxha, Malziu 2013, pp. 28–30.
42. Ibid., p. 172.
43. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 54.
44. Sh. Hoxha, Malziu 2013, p. 172.
45. Ibid., p. 259.
46. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 303–4.
 Chapter 6 The Tribes of the Lezha Highlands
(Malësia e Lezhës)
1. E. Wiet 1866; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_2/AH1866.html.
2. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 5.
3. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
4. E. Wiet 1866; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_2/AH1866.html.
5. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 5.
6. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 84.
7. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
8. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 5.
9. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 329–31.
10. E. Wiet 1866; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_2/AH1866.html.
11. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 5.
12. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
13. Also spelled Velja. The tribe is sometimes called the Rreja e Velës.
14. G. Hoxha et al. 2007, pp. 106–9.
15. E. Wiet 1866; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_2/AH1866.html.
16. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 5.
17. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.

Chapter 7 The Tribes of the Kruja Highlands

(Malësia e Krujës)
1. M. Šufflay 1916, p. 273.
2. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
 3. Ibid., p. 111.
4. Ibid., p. 109.
5. J. G. von Hahn 1867, pp. 15–16.

Chapter 8 The Tribes of the Mirdita Region

1. S. Pulaha 1988, p. 291.
2. This often cited and rather insipid folk etymology speaks of three
brothers as the ancestors of Shala, Shoshi and Mirdita. The first
brother had a saddle (Alb. shalë), the second brother had a sieve (Alb.
shoshë) and the third brother had nothing at all so he said ‘hello’ (Alb.
mirëdita).
3. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 224–5.
4. E. Wiet 1866.
5. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
6. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 39.
7. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
8. M. E. Durham 1920, pp. 29–30.
9. H. Tozer 1869, pp. 287–8, 307–8.
10. K. Hassert 1897, p. 534.
11. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 231 (‘Ils sont, du reste, les plus grands pillards
du monde’).
12. J. A. Degrand 1901, pp. 149–50.
13. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 323.
14. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 2.
15. S. Pulaha, Mbi gjallërimin… 1975, p. 133.
16. M. E. Durham 1920, p. 30.
17. J. V. Ivanova 1973, p. 32.
18. Ibid., p. 71; P. Bartl 1978, p. 31.
19. S. Naçi 1964, p. 261.
20. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 235; S. Naçi 1964, pp. 72, 118, 261, 276; P.
Bartl 1978, p. 32.
21. G. L. Arš 1963, p. 246; P. Bartl 1978, p. 32.
22. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 236–8. Prenk Lleshi can be translated at Prince
Alexander.
23. F. Pouqueville 1820, vol 1, p. 545.
24. S. Naçi 1964, p. 74: ‘Noi altezza vessir Mustafa Pascià di Scutari et
Albania… la casa di Giovanne Marcu è statto conosciutto e stimatto
sempre primiera in tutta la Miredita… è statto conosciutto dalli miei
antenati, miei zij vesiratti di nostro divano…’
25. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 238; P. Bartl 1978, p. 33.
26. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 238–41; H. Tozer 1869, pp. 303–6; P. Bartl
1978, pp. 33–4.
27. D. De Gubernatis 1688, p. 408.
28. P. Bartl 1978, p. 38.
29. Ibid., pp. 40–6.
30. M. E. Durham 1909, p. 324.
31. E. F. Knight 1880, pp. 123–4.
32. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 340–4.
33. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 29.
34. W. Peinsipp 1985, p. 77.
35. H. Tozer 1869, pp. 291, 292–3.
36. Ibid., pp. 309–10, 318–19.
37. J. A. Degrand 1901, p. 159.
38. Dibrri is not to be confused with Dibra, a region on the Albanian–
Macedonian border.
39. S. Pulaha 1988, p. 290.
40. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
41. G. Hoxha 2007, pp. 118–21.
42. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
43. F. Nopcsa 1932, p. 304.
44. M. E. Durham 1905, pp. 370–4, 383–4.
45. English translation at: http://www.albanianhistory.net/en/texts1000–
1799/AH1671.html.
46. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
47. B. Palaj 1943, p. 69.
48. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
49. B. Palaj 1943, p. 69.
50. R. Elsie (ed.) 2003, pp. 117–19.
51. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
52. H. Hecquard 1858, p. 221.
53. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 159.
54. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 29.
55. E. Wiet, 1868, p. 30.
56. P. Bartl 2013, p. 303.
57. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
58. B. Palaj 1943, p. 69.
59. E. Wiet 1866.
60. H. Tozer 1869, pp. 300–1.
61. K. Hassert 1897, pp. 534–5.
62. M. E. Durham 1905, pp. 376–7.
63. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 31–2.
64. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
65. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 168.
66. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 32–3.
67. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 325–6.
68. K. Steinmetz 1908, p. 62.
69. F. Seiner 1922, p. 112.
70. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 171.
71. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 63–4.
 Chapter 9 The Tribes of the Mat Region
1. Also formerly known as Beshkashi and Bishkashi.
2. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
3. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 156.
4. P. Bartl 2011, pp. 274, 318; P. Bartl 2013, pp. 301–2.
5. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 27.
6. Ibid., p. 28.
7. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 11–15.
8. Also referred to as Matja.
9. Ö. Barkan 1964, p. 77.
10. F. Seiner 1922, p. 108.
11. G. Stadtmüller 1966. English summary at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_2/AH1936.html.
12. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 26.

Chapter 10 The Tribes of the Upper Drin Basin

1. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 161.
2. M. Filipović 1958; M. Tirta 2013, p. 275.
3. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 168.
4. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 237–9.
5. M. E. Durham, 1927, p. 32.
6. I. Jastrebov 1904.
7. Sh. Hoxha, E drejta dokesore në Lumë 2013, p. 56.
8. F. Seiner 1922, pp. 110–11.
9. Sh. Hoxha, E drejta dokesore në Lumë 2013, p. 53.
10. M. E. Durham 1928, p. 31.
11. British National Archives, Foreign Office document FO 424/243 4216,
no. 340, reproduced in G. Rizaj 2011, p. 509.
12. M. D. Skopianski 1919; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_4.html.
13. K. Hassert 1898, pp. 362–3.
14. K. Steinmetz 1904, p. 33.
15. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 167–8.
16. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 170.
17. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 301–2.
18. G. Louis-Jaray 1913, pp. 92–8, 100–1.
19. F. Nopcsa 1929, p. 683.
20. L. Mihačević 1913, p. 90.
21. The small Camadolese community of Benedictine monks, founded by
Saint Romuald, stems from the hermitage of Camadoli in the hills of
Tuscany near Arezzo (Italy).
22. J. G. von Hahn 1867, p. 85.
23. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 50–1.
24. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 117–18; 2006, p. 31.
25. N. Vasoyevich 1841. English translation at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19_1/ AH1841_2.html.
26. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
27. K. Steinmetz 1908, pp. 44, 55.
28. Ibid., p. 48.
29. L. Mihačević 1913, pp. 115–16; 2006, pp. 29–30.
30. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 312–13.
31. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 156.
32. P. Bartl 2013, p. 305.
33. M. E. Durham 1909, pp. 302–8.
34. Dibra is not to be confused with the tribal region of Dibrri in Mirdita.
35. The Albanian-speaking town of Dibra, now in the Republic of
Macedonia, is often referred to in Albanian as Dibra e Madhe (Great
Dibra) and is known in Macedonian as Debar and in Turkish as Debre.
36. L. Thallóczy et al. 1913, vol. 1, no. 78, p. 26.
37. L. Thallóczy et al. 1913, vol. 1, no. 160, p. 50.
38. G. Valentini, vol. 1, p. 589; M. Šufflay 1924, p. 18.
39. M. D. Skopianski 1919; English version at:
http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_1/AH1913_4.html.

Chapter 11 Minor Albanian Tribes

1. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 254–5.
2. E. Armao 1933, p. 41.
3. M. Galaty et al. 2013, p. 58.
4. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
5. Ibid.
6. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 157.
7. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
8. E. Armao 1933, p. 60.
9. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
10. Ibid.
11. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 252–3.
12. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
13. M. Galaty et al. 2013, p. 58.
14. E. Armao 1933, p. 72.
15. F. Seiner 1922, p. 109.
16. H. Hecquard 1858, pp. 151–2.
17. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, pp. 253–4.
18. F. Seiner 1922, p. 110.
19. Naval Intelligence Division (ed.) 1945, p. 163.
20. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
21. F. Nopcsa in: F. Baxhaku & K. Kaser (eds) 1996, p. 237.
22. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
 This Reçi tribe is not to be confused with the Reçi tribe in the northern
23. Albanian Alps (Malësia e Madhe), north of Shkodra.
24. F. Seiner 1922, p. 111.
25. Ibid., p. 112.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.

OceanofPDF.com
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