Written by Petrit Latifi

In old European newspaper articles, we find many interesting publications on the Albanians of modern day Medun, the Kuči tribe, Podgorica, Shpuz, the Vasojevic tribe, the Brda tribe, and neighboring villages.

Albanians living in Shpuz and Durmitor (Zhablak), according to a German source from 1781

“Spusch (Shpuz) Castle is not far from Tschernas Gora (Montenegro). It is not large but well fortified and equipped with 18 cannons. The four branch posts mentioned above often have to deal with the people of Tschernagor (Montenegrins) who often rebel against the Turks. The villages inhabited by Arnauts, which lie below the Durmitor mountain range, are impressive and well populated. This mountain range, however, is very high and, because of the narrow passage, the Arnauts were extremely useful against the people of Tschernagor”¹

Albanian lord of Podgorica and the four castles in 1781

“From Trebinje to Tschernagora is a long day’s journey and not far from there is the fortress of Podgoriha (Podgorica) which is fairly fortified but only has a few cannons. In it there is a Begh (Beylerbey) commander who has four castles and a town under his command in which almost only Arnauts (Albanians) live. The castles in question are called Podgoriza (Podgorica), Nikeschith (Niksic) Kulaschin (Kolashin) and Spusch (Shpuz)”²

Albanians of Schadith on the Drin river and in the town of Ulog of Gacko

“… Near the village Schadith in the Drina. The village in question consists of 152 houses which are inhabited exclusively by Turks. Beyond the mountains, opposite the monastery of Piva (tribe), the plain of Gacko opens up, which has many mostly Christian villages. The market town, however, which is called Ulog and has a staff auditor, is entirely Turkish (Albanian).”³

The Albanian district of Kuči east of Morača came under the jurisdiction Vladika in 1836

“The Albanian district of Kutschi in the east of the Moratscha came under the sovereignty of the Vladika in 1836, but allegedly because of Steiner pressure and probably also because of religious differences, some of its inhabitants were Roman Catholic and returned to the Turks in 1843. Since then, the population of this district lived in bitter hostility with the Vladika and Osman Pasha of Skutari used this situation to take away the islands of Wranija (Vranina) and Lessendra in Lake Skutari and thereby almost completely cut off the indispensable fishing for the poor mountain dwellers.”⁴

Albanians of Vasojevic tribe, Shpuz, Zeta and Prokletje

“The view swept up the valley of the Scheta (Zeta) to the legendary rocky peak of Spusch (Shpuz). To the right, the Prokletija rose up to the summit of the 2600 meter high. On its slopes live the formerly purely Albanian tribes of the Kutschi Drekalowitschi and further on the Wassojewitschi (Vasojevic). They were originally Roman Catholic too, but for centuries up to the last war they made common cause with the Montenegrins against the Ottoman hereditary enemy and finally adopted the Greek Orthodox faith. The extent to which confession and nationality go hand in hand in the Balkans can be seen in these two tribes in particular Despite this, both Tribes were of pure Albanian blood and spoke Albanian, they have now become so absorbed in Serb culture that Albanian has completely disappeared from them”⁵

The Brdi tribe belonged to Albania in 1788

“The first one we choose from them is one in which the broken conditions and the sad confusion of all legal concepts among the Monte negrins and the miserable, weak, powerless rule on the part of the Turks are most clearly expressed. It dates from the second decade of the last century at the time when the Neighbourhood of the Brdi, which only broke away from the Porte in 1788 and joined Montenegro, still belonged to Albania and has as its hero the well-known raider Peter Boschkowitsch.”⁶

Shkodër officials encouraging resistance among Albanians of Shpuz and other regions in 1878

“For the benefit of the inhabitants themselves and to avoid any complications, it is very to hope that the deadline does not exceed the date set by the Berlin Treaty because it is important not to give the spirit of resistance which I regret to note and which in Guffinje (Gucia) Plawa (Plavë) and Kolaschin (Kolashin) as well as in Spusch (Shpuz) and Podgoriza (Podgorca) is fed more by the officials of Skutari than it is a spontaneous movement of the people of these places time to worsen…”⁷

Medun in the tribe of the Kuč on the Arnautian border

“… Medun in the tribe of Kuč on the Arnautian border: “Here comes the hour of the shepherd’s katun, full to bursting with the heritage of the past, armed with sling, spear and poisonous arrow, pregnant with the primal instinct of self-preservation: the …”⁸

The Kuci tribe of Medun derives from the Albanian Berisha tribe

“… Kuchi, which in turn derives from Berisha, by tradition one of the oldest of all Albanian tribes”⁹

Montenegro conquered Medun from the Ottomans

“In Kutschi, the Montenegrins stationed 100 men in the fortified town of Medun in order to maintain possession of the conquered territory.”¹⁰

Albanians of the Kuči tribe often joined the Ottomans against Montenegro”

“… Kutschi , but the majority of this tribe remained beyond the border and often joined the Ottoman army columns operating against Montenegro “¹¹

Albanians of the Kuči were expelled

“The Kutschi tribe, half of which belongs to Montenegro, has been expelled from Medun”¹²

700 Catholic Albanians (Kuči) joined the Montenegrins

“On 28 July fierce battles took place near Medun and Podgorica in which the Turks, numbering 6,000, 8,000, 15,000 and 10,000 men, were defeated by the Montenegrins, who captured or destroyed several blockhouses. At the same time, as a result of this victory, around 700 Catholics who had previously fought in the Turkish army joined the Montenegrins and the Kuči Drekalovići (Kuci Drekali) who were united with them”¹³

German publication from 1781

References

1. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Ungrisches_Magazin_oder_Beytr%C3%A4ge_zur_va/B8MAAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Spusch+albanische&pg=PA158&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
2. ibid. Ungrisches Magazin, oder Beyträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte, Erdebeschreibung, und Naturwissenschaft Volume 1 1781. Karl Gottlieb von Windisch. The Bavarian State Library. p. 158 ↩︎
3. https://books.google.se/books?id=A_-S4lpuSa8C&pg=PA159&dq=Schadith+Drina&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK_sCEu5iKAxU7KRAIHQ47ApMQ6AF6BAgIEAI ↩︎
4. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Brockhaus_Conversations_Lexicon/CgX_6NI7-RAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Spusch+albanische&pg=PA555&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
5. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Hochland/IUUvAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Spusch+albanische&pg=RA1-PA113&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
6. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Westermann_s_illustrierte_deutsche_Monat/LbYcAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Spusch+albanische&pg=PA498&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
7. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Die_Reform_Wien_1862_1881/ExOn2OymJ_QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Spusch+albanische&pg=PA1116&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
8. https://books.google.se/books?id=QncFSS5t0UIC&q=Medun+arnautischen&dq=Medun+arnautischen&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz6ayBqJiKAxUvKhAIHQpuLYkQ6AF6BAgKEAI
   ↩︎
9. https://books.google.se/books?id=jO8kDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31&dq=Medun+Kuchi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRor-UqpiKAxVTJBAIHZ0bAdkQ6AF6BAgJEAI ↩︎
10. https://books.google.se/books?id=qsBDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT123&dq=Medun+Kutschi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN5e7jq5iKAxXXGRAIHZl9LWc4FBDoAXoECAQQAg ↩︎
11. https://books.google.se/books?id=OX8lig65Z3QC&pg=PA1896&dq=Medun+Kutschi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN5e7jq5iKAxXXGRAIHZl9LWc4FBDoAXoECAgQAg ↩︎
12. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Innsbrucker_Nachrichten/wQASWtziHw0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Medun+Kutschi&pg=PA1352&printsec=frontcover ↩︎
13. https://www.google.se/books/edition/Montenegro_und_die_Montenegriner/Ipu_s70ZuWUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Medun+Kutschi&pg=PA50&printsec=frontcover ↩︎