There exists evidence that Albanian armed guards protected medieval churches & monasteries in Kosovo during the last centuries of Ottoman rule.

In the villages of Rugova, the Kelmendi the tribe took care of the security of the Patriarchate of Pec during his visit to Pec in 1889. The Serbian historian and statesman Stojan Novakovic noted that the Rugovians elected the dukes and kept the monastery for more than 300 years. There were five generations of Albanians who guarded the Patriarchate.

According to the scientific work of anthropological geographer Mark Krasnići, with a Ph.D in the area, there is substantial evidence showing that Muslim Albanians defended and protected Serbian Orthodox churches. For the local Albanians, the election of the monastery voivoda was considered a great honor. Some of them also received salaries. However, financial gain was not of crucial importance. The monastery paid one man, so that in return the whole village would protect him. As guardians of the monastery, its fraternity and the economy, they lived in the monastery quarters.

Over the course three generations, twenty Albanians died in the defense of Serbian medieval holy places. in 1941, eleven-year-old Ram Kaplani of Rugova found himself as the oldest man in the brotherhood from this house as a result of World War 2. Although it was known that the monastery would be defended in danger by all the residents of Rugova, Ramë Kapllani symbolically received a rifle and was tasked to guard the church. There were also Albanians who guarded the church of St. Peter of Koriški and the Sokolica monastery.

References

ČAST PREČA OD ŽIVOTA: Kako su albanske vojvode čuvale srpske manastire na Kosovu. 2016. Link