Written by Rexhep Dedushaj. Translated and edited by Petrit Latifi.

Plav and Gucia in Ancient times and the Medieval era

We know about the traces of prehistoric man in this region based on some drawings found in caves and stone slabs in its mountains. In these drawings we see hunters carved in stone killing a deer. This is the first trace that testifies to the life of people in these parts since the 8th century BC. i.e. since the age of metals. The clearest and most adequate such drawing preserved from this time is located on Mount Rokopeg – above the Springs of Ali-pasha Gucise.

As in most of the Balkan Peninsula, the first inhabitants here were ILLYRITS. While the Lim Valley was inhabited by the Illyrian tribe: the Ariates, the valley from Plave, including Gucine with the highlands of Albania – Shkodra and Gjakova, was inhabited by the brave Illyrian tribe: the Pirustes, the Illyrians. They are known from the Illyrian-Roman wars, especially after 167, when the Romans captured the Illyrian King – Genci (167 BC) and began to penetrate their lands.

For a full 130 years, they put up superhuman resistance to the Roman occupation, that is, until the time when the emperor Augustus Octavian came to the head of Rome, the Illyrian, around 40 BC, subdued all of Illyria, including these regions. As is known, the first to write about the Illyrians was the father of history – Herodotus. Thucydides also mentions them, since 436 BC.

Then Polybius, Aristotle, Lucan Florin, Appian etc. Ptolemy – in his maps – presents Illyria, with special emphasis on their Albanoi tribe and the famous city of this tribe – Albanopolis. There are also some sources written later by the Byzantines, Bulgarians, Serbs etc. in which the continuity of the Illyrians, respectively the Arbëreshë-Albanians, in these territories is presented, where we find them marked with different names such as: “Illyrian”, “Arvan” oi”, “alvanoi”, “raban”, “arbanas”, etc.

Based on these written chronicles and archaeological discoveries made by prof. Duje Rendiqi Miocević, Gerga Novak, Josip Kroshec, Skender Anamali, Aleksander Stipcević, Artur Evans, Truhelka, Alqjz Benac, etc., as well as on the basis of ethnographic and linguistic studies of many scientists such as: Tumani, J. G. Hain, V. Jokli, Shuflaj, Jerecek, Koticiqi, Zippeli, R. Burtoni, Sompati, Hernes, Hostetter etc., then the linguists: Garll Pauli, Heroman Hirt, Norbert Jokli, Anton Mayer and especially E. Cabej, based on “a body of facts which clearly prove that Albanians lived in their present-day lands thousands of years before the arrival of the Slavs in these regions”.

Even Gustav Mayer, in 1885, wrote that: “The Albanians should be called – young Illyrians, just as they are called today – modern Greeks. The autochthonousness of the Albanians in these lands is also confirmed by medieval sources: cadastral registers, through the cristobulas (decrees, decisions) and various laws of that time, in which “the Albanians – the Albanians are mentioned as an ethnos in these lands”. Throughout the rule of the Nemanjics in Plav-Guci and the surrounding area, it is mentioned that: “… the Latin Serbs (traders and craftsmen who came from Venice, Ragusa, etc. – R.D.) here are the ruling class, and the Vlachs and the Albanians are the shepherds (shepherds, i.e. the lower class – R.D.)”.

In 1332 in these parts the French priest Pere Brochard also stayed, who found in Serbia: “Two peoples, the Albanians and the Latins, who belong to the Roman church. The Albanians have a language completely different from the Latins. (…) That both peoples are oppressed under the very hated and disgusting slavery of the Slavs”.

The life of the Pirusts and Ariates in these parts was also influenced by the penetration of the barbarian-Germanic peoples, especially the Goths, who first invaded in the years 372-376 AD. The church writer Ambrose wrote about these invasions and about the Illyrians at this time. Meanwhile, L. Midarle writes that here: “There were few people left, because they had been previously devastated by barbarian invasions. (…) In the southern Illyrian regions, they resisted the barbarian and Slavic invasions and preserved their previous ethnic compactness…”.

Finally – says M. Krasniqi, even some Serbian scientists are of the opinion that (…) regarding the origin of the Albanians, it is known that “the Albanians (they say – R.D.) are representatives of the ancient world, while the southern Slavs are representatives of the new arrivals in the Balkans”.

As an example, he mentions Jerecek and D.K. Jovanovic, who say: “… the first of the Albanians were the Illyrians of ancient times. They appear in the Middle Ages as ancient Christian inhabitants, with a high civic culture”. Not forgetting J. Cvijici, about whom Krasniqi says: “Even Jovan Cvijici himself, who treats Albanians from the position of Serbian hegemony, writes that: “Albanians are descendants of the ancient Illyrians and that with the arrival of the Slavs, especially during the Middle Ages, in many areas some Illyrian languages ​​were Slavicized”.

After the Roman occupation, the Region of Plavë and Guci became part of the Roman province “Illyricum” with Shkodra as its capital. Traces of Roman rule in this area are found in many places, first of all in toponyms such as Vizitori – from the word “Vizitare”, Trojani, Vuthaj – from the word “Vutkagni”, Romani, and apparently also in the name Plavë itself, etc. So as can be seen “every conqueror tries that even from the aspect of toponymy, to seal the right of possession in the occupied territories by replacing the toponyms of the autochthonous population with new names in the language of the invader – Mark Krasniqi continues throughout, (…) All invaders (…) have left such traces in the occupied territories. (…)

Toponyms, especially macrotoponyms, can show who ruled in different areas, but not their national structures”. In many places in the region in question there are also cemeteries called: Roman tombs, e.g. in the village of Martinaj… In Roman times, many important trade routes crossed this region. Through them, caravans from Bosnia, the Iber Valley and Kosovo passed through Guci.

From Guci, one went to Vermoshi in Shkoder or Podgorica and Kotor, while the other went through Vuthaj-Shalé-Boge-Shkoder (via Maja e Pejes) and vice versa. (12). This is in fact the old Illyrian trade route – a prehistoric route, which the Romans must have kept alive, even more so when it is known that Shkodra was the capital of the “Illyricum” created by them, just as it was also the capital of the state of Teuta, or later of Genci.

BYZANTINE TIME, THE COMING OF THE SLAVS AND TURKS TO THE BALKANS

It is known that in the year 395 AD, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: the Western Roman Empire with its capital in Rome and the Eastern one – Byzantium, with its capital in Constantinople. Mustafa Memiqi sees the border between these two empires somewhere near Plavë and Guci: “Therefore, according to that, the present-day territory of Plavë and Guci was in the border area between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, and then between the Roman Empire and Byzantium (…) which were somewhere near Plavë and Guci”.

While the truth is this: “… from the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 9th century, when the themes of Durrës and Nikopoja were created, that is, for almost two and a quarter centuries, the Albanian lands remained free, without Byzantine military garrisons, and without an imperial provincial administration. In fact, historical sources speak of an “archond” with its center in Durrës (…), the archondiya of Durrës, which included Central and Northern Albania, was a somewhat independent political unit, until the Byzantine theme of Durrës was organized, in the first quarter of the 9th century.”

Based on this, it can be concluded that the “territory of Plav and Guci” was not “in the border area between” the two Roman Empires (Eastern and Western) – as Memiqi said, but was in the border area between Byzantium and the “archond” of Durres, within the borders of which the archond also included the Province of Plav and Guci. This means that this province was free, outside the influence of Byzantine power until the beginning of the 9th century when it became part of the Byzantine Theme of Durres.

That after the 9th century the Byzantines (or Greeks – as they are called here) came to this province is also shown by this legend preserved among the people, especially in Vuthaj. It is said that the Greek went out to sow the land in mid-May, and when it started to snow, he left the plow stuck in the field and left, saying that there is no bread here when it snows in the summer!

So the Greek, accustomed to the Mediterranean climate, could not cope with the harsh climate of the Albanian Alps. Even today, the shepherds of Vuthaj, when tired of the bad weather in late spring-summer, say: “The Greek was right to forgive the devil and leave this cursed place”! The time when the Albanian lands were almost free was the time when Byzantium was busy with numerous wars in the East with the Arabs.

This weakness of Byzantium was exploited by the Slavs who had now penetrated the Pannonian Plain and together with the Avars – who they found there (in Pannonia) they crossed the Sava and Danube and penetrated the river valleys to the Peloponnese in Greece, to settle definitively in these Balkan lands in 602 BC. It is assumed that at this time they would have penetrated the Lim Valley, up to Plava and Gucia. It is interesting how the “historians” and various Yugoslav authors, including Mustafa Memiqi, try at all costs, after the settlement of the Slavs in these lands, to completely lose the Illyrian element!

The oldest and largest people of the Balkan Peninsula! In his work he writes: “The Hiri inhabitants, who had been Romanized, withdrew to the coastal cities, or to the mountainous areas, inland. The Slavs also penetrated the territory of Albania, especially in Central Albania, mainly through Macedonia. The old Romanized Illyrian shepherds, who lived in the mountains inland (of Albania – R. D.) mixed with the Slavs and gradually became Slavized.

In the early Middle Ages, the Slavs called these shepherds, as well as the inhabitants of the cities, “Vlachs”. But let’s pause here and analyze this quote by Memiqi, which is completely in contradiction with historical reality, but also in contradiction with several other statements by the author himself and other Serbo-Montenegrin authors, whom he cites as “historical facts” to prove the “truth” such as: M. Filipović, J. Cvijić, A. Urošević, D. Popović and others.

According to the quote in question, it turns out that the Illyrians were nothing more than: “Old Romanized Illyrian shepherds, who lived in the mountains”? The question arises: Who lived in the fields before the arrival of the Slavs, since the Illyrians lived in the mountains?! Or, as Akkad says. Rexhep Qosja: “… Albanians have decided to make a difficult life in the mountains around Kosovo just to preserve a mild Kosovo for the Serbs who will come (…)

What majority could the Serbs have in Kosovo or, even, in other areas of the Balkan Peninsula, ruled by Tsar Dushan, when the Serbs in the Balkan Peninsula will be close to three million at the beginning of the 20th century”. Meanwhile, Memiqi himself in the book in question has to conclude: “In the southwest of the village of Vuthaj, in Gucia, on the present-day Yugoslav-Albanian border, next to the lake, there is a place called “Rudnice” (Rudica – in Albanian – R.D.) which even in appearance resembles an old, abandoned mine.

Dr. Josip Juricek has explained that the medieval gold mines were located in the territory of the Pirusts, in present-day Northern Albania. Since it is known that the Illyrian Pirusts inhabited the Plav and Gucia Valleys, then it is not difficult to conclude that those gold mines were also exploited by the inhabitants of this valley…” Naturally, it can be concluded that the Pirusts in their time were not only “shepherds” (shepherds as Memiqi says) but also miners and even silversmiths, and well-known traders.

The facts show, and these facts are sometimes forced to be accepted by Memiqi and his friends, that the Illyrians, and with them the Ariats and Pirusts, were not Romanized nor were they completely Slavized, but continued to live – although sparsely, throughout the Middle Ages and still live today in the Albanian Alps, in the Province of Plav and Gucia under the name Arbëreshë and later Albanians, as mentioned above. This undeniable truth is also spoken of by the English travel writer Edith Durham when she says:

“The Serbs, or rather their Slavic ancestors, invaded the Balkan Peninsula in large crowds in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, overwhelming the first inhabitants, the Albanians. Although they tried hard, in the end they could not exterminate them. We can say that the natives can be exterminated with great difficulty. The Albanian is very stubborn in his customs. He climbed into the solitudes of the mountains, fought with his shoulders against the wall, preserved his language and remained stubbornly connected to the church of Rome.”

These truths have been to some extent forced to be accepted by Memiqi himself, citing many books written before him by Tumani, G. Hon, V. Jokli, Shuflaj, Jericeku, Katiciqi, etc., but always trying with a tendency to distort this pure truth: “In the Decani cruciforms, the Hoti Mountain is mentioned above the Plava. In connection with this, the conclusion is drawn that the first settlement of the Hot tribe (…) was actually above the Plava”.

Although Memiqi is very careful and tries at all costs to lose the traces of the Illyrian genesis of the ancient Hoti by linking the name of this locality and the Albanian tribe with the invasion of the Goths in the Balkans in the year 372-376 AD (?!) i.e. long before the settlement of the Slavs in these lands (year 602 AD). We read: “… from this also comes the assumption that the name of the Hot tribe derives from the name “Hot”.

But he cannot succeed, because the Hot tribe is the most well-known tribe in Upper Albania. It is the first Albanian tribe, or the first Bajraku – as the people say. The undeniable truth is that from Hoti i Plave, or, as it is otherwise called, Hoti i Kujit, this entire great Albanian tribe derives. And from these hills, from “Mali te Hotit”, as it was called in 1330, a part of it has been displaced to “Hoti’s Plain, above Lake Shkodra” – as Memiqi says, and in other areas of Upper Albania, but always based on the Hoti Hills of Kuji, each time with 30-70 houses.

And if this tribe has been called by this name since 372-376, (from the time of the Romans) then the continuity of the Illyrians in this region is unbreakable, at least in the “Hoti Mountain” – as the Slavs recorded in the later Decani Cristobulae (1330). Such a statement is confirmed by Memiqi himself, perhaps unintentionally, when he says: “The Illyrian inhabitants, who were Romanized, withdrew (…) or to the mountainous areas”.

From this it follows that the Hoti people had nowhere to retreat to, in the mountains where they were. On the contrary, they have migrated to the plains when they have had the opportunity: to the shores of Lake Skadar, in Kosovo, but also in the Plava and Guci Valleys themselves. In Dosugje and Guci there are many inhabitants of the Hot tribe, where even today their lands are known in our village – the land of Algoga – as they call it in Hot.

We find the ‘toponyms’ “Hoti” and “Hotski” (of Hoti) even today deeper in the Lim valley and in the Peshter Plateau, and especially in the names of cemeteries” – Memiqi continues. Right in Hot i Kuji – above Plava, there are still old cemeteries that the locals call “The Graves of the Illyrians”. We have many other examples that prove the continuity of the Illyrian-Arberesh-Albanian element in these parts.

Here in the 16th century XIV, two Latin (Catholic) churches are also mentioned – one in Gracanica and the second in Trepce (today Martinaj). The presence of the Catholic church in Gracanica (a village in the Lim Valley) confirms the statement that: “… in the 15th century the geographical meaning of Albania was already standardized, both in the entire territory of today’s Montenegro, and over all the present-day territories of Kosovo.

The reasons are clear. Even in these areas the Scythian element prevailed, an element that was formed by the non-Slavicized and non-Hellenized Illyrians”. While R. Qosja adds in this regard: “The truth is, while the Serbs settled in Kosovo at the end of the 7th century, that their first land was the Russian steppes, and that the cradle of their state was Rashka.

In Kosovo they expanded under the leadership of the conqueror Stevan Nemanja and further under the leadership of their capable conqueror Tsar Dushan. When they came to the rich field of Kosovo, they found the traces of the Roman Empire, the tired Byzantine institutions and the Illyrians conquered by the Romans, by the Byzantines, respectively their descendants the Albanians”.

In the village of Martinaj (Trepce), according to the Ottoman population census of 1485, we find the traces of the Arberesh, as descendants of the Illyrians, even more visible. We also find 3 simple Albanian families, and another “mixed” one, out of a total of 42 families that existed in that village at that time. It is certain that the Ottomans were based on the factual situation, but it should not be forgotten that only Albanians of the Catholic faith were registered as Albanians during the time of the Nemanjićs, and were also taken over by the Turks.

While those who had names of the Orthodox faith, or even those who had adopted that faith, for political reasons, the Serbs marked them as “Serbs” as would later happen with the Muslim Albanians who declared themselves “Turks”. But, as Acad. Mark Krasniqi: “… Slavic onomastics in these regions does not indicate that the Serbian element has taken over.

This is because the Albanians of these regions, who were initially Catholic, were imposed by the Serbian state and church on the Orthodox religion. It is known that punitive measures were also foreseen in the Canon of Tsar Dushan against “heretics”, that is, against all those who were not Orthodox, so that Albanians also had Slavic names.”

This means that Tsar Dushan had declared war to the death on Catholics, using all means to convert them to the “true religion” – to the church of the birth. All this means that in the 15th century and even today, not all Christians were and are not Slavs, regardless of whether they bear Catholic or Orthodox (Orthodox-Slavic) names. Therefore, there is a possibility that all the families of Trepça (Martinaj) of that time (42 of them) or, at least, most of them were Albanian families with Orthodox names…?

But we will talk about this phenomenon later. It is evident the tendency of Slavic chauvinist historians, and with them also Memiqi, to add the term: “Slovensko-hriscansko selo” (Christian-Slavic village) to every settlement of that time with a Christian population. However, the historical, archaeological, ethnographic and geographical factors in the villages of Martinaj, Hot, Vuthaj, Nokshiq, Graçanicë and other settlements speak convincingly of an unbroken continuity of the Albanian ethnicity in these areas, from antiquity to the present day.

All this is also confirmed by a large number of toponyms, anthroponyms, linguistic phenomena and many words of the general lexicon in all areas of the material and spiritual heritage of the population of this region. We have here a large number of anthroponyms and toponyms that preserve to this day the fraonominy of ancient Albanian antiquity over the centuries, such as: Bardh, Bardhyl, or Guci, Gricor, Lim, Rracinë, etc., but which were subjected from time to time to the languages ​​of the ruling ethnic group, whether Roman, Byzantine (Greek), Ottoman, and especially Slavic, such as: Gucia-Gusinje, Vuthaj-Vusanje, Martinaj-Martinoviqi, Gricori-Grnçar, Komarusha-Komoraça, Pepaj-Pepiqe, etc.

All of these prove that the people of this region lived, worked, and created since ancient times, since the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval, Ottoman, etc. These people beat the waves of Roman, Oriental and European influence that penetrated with the numerous conquerors who came and went here, but always here were the Illyrians and their descendants – the Albanians, standing unbending before every downpour of history. “Going through many sufferings, pressures and severe political and religious rapes, they still triumphed over evil by preserving (jealously, most of them – R.D.) their language, customs and traditions”.

The Slavs, after taking root in the Balkan lands, formed the first state formations called “Zhupa” (Province), which, like the Archonship of Durrës from the beginning of the 9th century – as we said above, were included in the composition of the Theme of Durrës, ruled by the central Byzantine power at the head of which was the imperial family of the Komnenians.

After the death of Manuel Komnenos (1180), Byzantium weakened and in the lands of the former Archondom of Durrës, an independent Albanian state (Arbëresh) was formed under the name of the Principality of Arbërija, with its capital in Kruja, and its leader Progoni, and later his sons, Gjin and Dhirmtri. The weakening of the Byzantine Empire was also exploited by the great governor of Rashka (Serbia) – Stevan Nemanja, who strengthened and expanded his state, including Kosovo and the “Pulti Province”, today’s Dukagjini.

All this is best illustrated by this quote: “… we have a testimony from Stefan Nemanja himself in 1198, who informs us that he had conquered Pulti (or Arbanasa Pilot) from Arbërija”. According to this, it can be concluded that at that time Nemanja, together with the Province of Pult (Dukagjin), also occupied the other part of the Principality of Arberia, the Province of Plav-Gucica, which was located at the northern edge of this Albanian principality.

When it is known that: “Between the years 1203-1204, the Shkodra Zone was owned by the Serbs”. (26). He not only occupied these lands, but also devastated them, massively damaging their population. This is also confirmed by J. Seire in his book “Albania”, where, among other things, he says:

“The Serbian state of the Nemanjics towards the end of the 12th century occupied Kosovo, which was inhabited by Albanians. After the occupation of Kosovo, a large number of its population was liquidated…”.

Nemanja, after conquering Plave and Gucine with the surrounding area, apparently annexed it to one of the 11 “župas” of Dukla – “Zhupa Malore”, which included the Montenegrin ridges, or created a special “Zhupa” within it, named “Guisenijo”, which must have been today’s Gucia.

If “Zhupa” with the above-mentioned name was really created, as some scientists confirm, then it turns out that the name Guci derives from the Illyrian period? Meanwhile, during the reign of King Dragutin (1276-1282) we find this region with the name “Zhupa” of Plave, which included, in addition to Guci and its surroundings, also Lotina – this Illyrian-Albanian name, a village in the Lim Valley.

In addition to Guci, which had 90 houses, the following settlements of this time are also mentioned: Qyteti (where Plava is today), Komarusha (Komorjane), Ribari (on the shore of Lake Plave), Dobra Rijeka (Gjyriqi), Velika, Arzhanica, Trepca (today’s Martinajt), Dosugja, Gercarevo (today’s Gercari) and Vermoshi, as well as Mali i Hotit (Hotska Gora). All the properties of this region were divided among themselves by the Orthodox monasteries, i.e. they became the property of the monastery of Decan, Hilandar, Banjeska, Prizren, etc.

That these monasteries really exploited these properties in this region to the end is also evidenced by this statement: “It is mentioned that even then these areas were very attractive for fishing, in which no one dared to fish, except for the people of the monastery, otherwise the penalty was 12 che”? The lower class of property owners were the Arberes (Arbanasi – as the Serbs called them at that time) and the Vlach shepherds (shepherds), while the upper class, the ruling class, were the Serbs and the Latins (artisans and merchants who came from the coastal cities – Dubrovnik (Raguza), Venice, etc.).

The peasants who were left without land became owners of Serbian feudal lords who had the right to sell them, just like in the time of slave ownership?! Since the time of Tsar Dushan, several strong feudal families appeared, who after his death began to rule in their own properties. In the Province of Plav-Gucia, the feudal family of the Alltomanovics remained to rule.

This is also seen from this statement by Memiqi: “There are no reliable sources that after the fall of Nikola Alltomanovic, Plav and Gucia belonged to Bosnia, or the Ballshajs”! It is impossible to believe that this province was not part of the Albanian Principality of Shkodra, when at its head was the powerful Albanian feudal family of Balshaj, which principality expanded towards Peja and Prizren, territories that were captured in 1372.

That the Plav-Gucia Province was indeed an integral part of the Principality of Shkodra, namely the Principality of Ballshaj, is also evidenced by this statement: “In these times, peasant uprisings are also mentioned. One of them was the one of 1379, which Ballsha III put down very rudely”. This statement refutes Memiqi’s untenable thesis that this province supposedly once belonged to Bosnia.

If it had been Bosnia, Ballsha III would not have needed to fight to suppress the uprisings in these parts, but Tverko I of Bosnia would have done this, who certainly would not have delayed “half a year”, but would have done this earlier. Then, is it an anomaly to believe that the Ballshajs took Peja and Prizren, while Plav and Guci did not? Even a good part of the brave men of this valley participated in the Battle of Kosovo (1389), led by Gjergj Ballsha II, who best preserved the memories of this battle, passing it on from generation to generation on the lute.

After the Battle of Kosovo – where, as is known, the Balkan Christian Coalition suffered defeat, according to Yugoslav sources it appears that the Serbian princes Vuk Branković, Stefan Lazarević and then Vuk’s son – Gjergj Branković, who, according to them, also built an observation tower near the village of Zagraje – above Martlnaj (Trepgė) which is still called Stoli i Jerinė – after Irene (Jerinė) – the wife of Gj. Branković?!

During the existence of the Serbian rule of the Nemanjićs – century. XII-XIV, as well as later, during the rule of the Balshajs and the Turks, this region continued to be a strategic and very important place through which important trade routes passed that connected the coast of Shkodra with other parts of the Balkans.

This is best confirmed by this statement: “Later, in the 16th century, the fact that the mail from Venice to Istanbul passed through Plav is mentioned”. (38). That Plav and Gucia had become famous trade and craft centers of the Middle Ages at this time is also evidenced by the fact that many merchants from Kotor, Ragusa and Venice had settled there.

Then, from 1411 onwards, the Turks established their own “kadits” (judges) and customs posts in key places in this region, such as those in Lim, Vuthaj – Maja e Pejes and Gergar – Godija, which provided security for the Ottoman military units, led by the subash of Plav – Sylejman Aga. The fact that Plav and Guća were now well-known centers is also evidenced by the first Ottoman population census in these parts in 1485, which shows that around 1157 families lived in the “Plav District”, which was the most populated district in today’s Montenegro.

This is also confirmed by the Turkish taxes (haragi) that were imposed on the population, which shows that we are dealing with an economically wealthy population – that is, with a majority of merchants and craftsmen, because from agriculture and livestock it would be impossible to secure all the income that is given in these challenges. (39).

At that time, as in the 17th century, Plava was a well-known place from which long caravans (sometimes with 200 horses) loaded with wool, grain, cheese and wine departed and arrived in Kotor in 3 days. Based on the census that we mentioned above and that was made by the Ottoman authorities in 1485, it appears that this region was part of the Sandzak of Shkodra.

It had a total of 15 villages, with 1157 families, in which, as Memiqi says: “… the Slavic population lived mainly, which in this direction at that time represented a pure ethnic total of 94%. ” We can see from his next quote that Memiqi draws this tendentious conclusion on the basis of the gkaflt: “The inhabitants of the Albanian nationality participated in the total number of the population with a total of 1.2%, while for 4.8% of the population it is not possible to verify with certainty which nationality they belonged to, because they wore the m r a that they used both Slavs and Albanians, therefore they can be considered as mixed”.

These two quotes deserve more attention: What is more important, it is seen from this that the Illyrian-Arbërish-Albanian element has existed in this region continuously, from the 7th century (year 602) to the 15th century (year 1485). So the Albanians were not completely assimilated into the Romans, nor into the Slavs, as Memiqi tends to claim, but a part of them, with a certain percentage of 1.2. And if we add to this figure those of the “mixed” 4.8% as Memiqi calls them, which were certainly also Albanians, then it turns out that about 6% were Albanian families. Here is the table that Memiqi presents as a concretization of his “conclusions”:

Total: 13 Albanian families, 56 “mixed” families and 1088 “Slavic” families, making a total of 1157 families. From this table it can be seen that about 70 families were Albanian, counting also the 56 families that Memiqi calls “mixed” and that are simply Albanian families, of course with mixed Slavic-Albanian names, depending on who baptized them: the Catholic priest, or the Orthodox priest.

In addition, it is possible that even in those 1088 “Slavic” families – as Memiqi calls them, there are quite a few Albanians, if not all of them, when it is known that – as Dr. Hivzi Islami: “The process of Slavization of Albanians, which is observed in the sphere of anthroponyms, in the Middle Ages in the northern regions developed mainly from the 11th to the 14th century under the influence of political-religious and cultural factors, during the rule of the Serbian state.

That this process has gone so far is also shown by the fact that in the mentioned nahitas (…), these names are also found, which we find in the Ottoman notebooks of this time: “Radoslav, son of John, and Kojica, son of John; Stjepan, son of Gjin; Todor, the son of the Albanian (…) and Branislav, the son of the Albanian”. So these are for Memiqi “mixed” families.

We find such cases, almost, in all the villages of today’s Montenegro. Even in Nikšić in 1485 – says Selami Pulaha, all the inhabitants were Albanians. To the number of Albanian families that the Turks found in this region should be added the families of Hoti i Kuji, who, together with Shala and Malësia of Gjakova, was included in Kazan of Podgorica.

Therefore, Hoti i Plavës is mentioned continuously since the time of the Romans (year 372-376 – when the German tribes – the Goths came), since the time of the Nemanjićs (year 1330) and since the time of the settlement of the Turks in these parts (year 1485). Then the question arises: On the basis of what Memiqi claims “It is more than plausible that the current inhabitants of the village of Hot do not have direct descent from the Hots of 1330, (?) but that those Hots migrated towards Lake Skadar, and that later from there, some returned to this village and to the terrain of Gucia”.(?)

Since this was the case, then why did the Sanxhakbey of Shkodra take care to leave the “Mountain of Hoti” uninhabited by the Hots (as Memiqi presents it) in one kaza with the Hoti of Podgorica? Why did the Sanxhakbey of Shkodra leave those dry lands (Mountain of Hoti) and not give them to someone else for habitation, but waited for the Hots to return to them later, as Memiqi says: “300 years ago”? That is, for a full 200 years the Turks waited for the Hots to return to the Administrative division of Albania in the 15th century, their own lands, while protecting them from being taken by someone else?

Based on all this, it can be freely concluded that Memiqi’s thesis has no scientific basis. As we said earlier, “Hoti Mountain” has never been without inhabitants, without Hoti people. Its residence with this Albanian tribe was uninterrupted from the year 395 until today. This is a truth that Memiqi deliberately does not accept, who sometimes presents this village, or rather tribe, as Goth (German), sometimes as “Slovenskim zivlem” (Slavic inhabitants), sometimes as “staro Hoti” or “Novo Hoti” (Old Hote, or New Hoti) and sometimes as “etnicki mjesoviti” (ethnically mixed), sometimes trying to finally present the inhabitants of this village – tribe as “Muslims”.(?)

But, let’s return once again to the statistics that we had under consideration to see how unstable and tendentious Memiqi’s opinion is. According to those statistics that Memiqi presents, a certain conclusion is drawn that in 13 settlements of a total of 15 of them (without Hoti, which is not included here, because, as we said, it was part of another kaza – Podgorica), have been found Albanian.

Even in the Upper and Lower Lotina. And in Nokšić there were none?! There are none in the present-day neighborhoods of Plav – Grad (City) and Komarusha? Absurd to accept such a thing! To accept the conclusion drawn on the basis of “Slavic” or “Albanian” names so much earlier when it is known that all the names of the then inhabitants were Christian and not “Albanian”.

So Albanian names were not allowed by the churches of that time, but the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has dominated these parts for 3-4 centuries, baptized children with Orthodox Slavic names, regardless of who gave birth to them – Albanian or Serbian, rarely with Latin Catholic names, or not at all. Only the Latin Catholic Church of Graganica and Trepca (Martinaj) would have baptized Albanian children with Catholic (Albanian) names, if they were ever allowed to do so.

But apparently not, because the Ottoman records of that time report that there were no priests here, but only popes, five of them: “… three of them were in the settlement of Ribari (present-day Plave – R.D.) and one each in the settlements of Vojnihnu (Vonoselle) and Kiroshivi (Krusheve)”. Although, as M. Krasniqi says: “… some Orthodox churches have also been built (…) where there is no Serbian family, no house, except for the gendarmerie”.

This is where the aforementioned statistics come from!? In the neighborhoods of Plave: Grad (City), Komarusha and Nokshiq – there are no Latin-Catholic (Albanian) names at all? Not because there were no Albanians living there at that time, but because there were three Orthodox priests operating there, without any Catholic-Albanian priests and of course they had a free hand to Slavize all Albanians – at least with names?

This is best illustrated by the fact that in Ribari 12 “mixed” families were still found. If Turkey had not come a few years earlier, those twelve “mixed” families would not have been found, but they would all have become ethnically pure – Slavic, or rather Orthodox, of course, in terms of names… In this regard, M. Krasniqi explains: “If onomastics is taken as an argument to prove national belonging, then it can be said that today’s Albanians are not Albanians either, but Arabs, Turks, French, Germans and whatever else you want, because they bear foreign – religious names, which in the Albanian language have no meaning, do not indicate anything.” Then Krasniqi continues: “Finally, some Serbian scientists are of the opinion that: “National origin cannot be determined based on names.”

This issue is also well explained by Avzi Mustafa when he says: “If we take a critical look at all medieval Serbian documentation, despite the acceptance of the Albanian ethnos in their lands, political intentions are clearly seen, because the Albanian population was registered as Arbanas only in those places where there was an Albanian ethnos of the Catholic faith.

It should also be mentioned another fact that is very important in medieval documentation, that all settlements with Albanian Orthodox population (or at least the people had Orthodox-Slavic names – R.D.), due to the same religious and political community with the Serbs, were considered in the north as “Serbs”…”. So, the arrival of the Ottomans in these parts interrupted the assimilation policy of the Serbs, a policy that they implemented through the Orthodox Church that to some extent stopped the process of building their churches and monasteries (Serbian-Orthodox) in Kosovo.

The Ottomans, with their records of the economic and social, political, ideological, demographic and ethnic situation, made in the second half of the 15th century (year 1485) “rejected all those claims of foreign historiography (in this case the Slavic one – R.D.) about the “invasions” of Albanians from the Albanian Malians North of Kosovo and beyond. Even if there were Albanians, they were within their own territory”.

As a typical example to verify these findings presented above, we have the village of Trepca-Martinaj: There, near the current school of this village, there are its cemeteries, from Roman times to the present day, namely the graves of Romans (perhaps Illyrians), Catholic Albanians, but also of Muslims. Which shows that all of them were Albanians and entered a place in the land, regardless of which faith they had embraced during their lives.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road, there is the location of the Slavic-Orthodox cemetery, but with very few graves and, in terms of time, very new, since the beginning of this century (after 1912 or 1918). The question arises: Where are the graves of those “Slavs” that the Turks found there? The answer naturally arises that they were not Slavs, but Albanians with Slavic names (baptized by the priests of Ribari, or that of Krusheva) who have the graves of the “Catholics” next to those of the Roman-Illyrians, and of the “Turks” (Islamized Albanians).

When we are in this village, undoubtedly Albanian Or, another element is also striking: While in 1485 there were 42 families, in 1582 only 24 remained, to be increased in 1611 to 70 families, which is still known today as a village with 70 houses. Based on this oscillation in the number of families, it can be assumed that, even if there were Serbs who arrived in Martinaj (Trepcë) at that time, or Slavized Albanians, they must have been displaced between 1485 and 1582, when it is also seen that the number of families in it was reduced, from 42 to 24.

That is, that 18 families have disappeared without a trace – perhaps they have returned from where they came, one or two centuries ago – to Serbia (Raška), and only the ancient locals have remained there – 24 Illyrian-Arberesh-Albanian families. From 1582 the number of inhabitants of Trepca begins to grow not only with the natural increase of the locals, but also with the arrival of new inhabitants from the Kelmendi Valleys.

At this time, Martini-Selcian, the first of today’s Balidemajs, must have settled in Trepca, after whom, later, it seems, after 1703, the whole village takes its name. This is also illustrated by the fact that three generations after Martini preserve the Catholic religion: the son Nika – the grandson Ula, while the great-grandson Omer appears to us as a Muslim (Omeri-Nika-Wa-Martini).

This refutes Memiqi’s opinion that Martini came to Trepça in 1703 and that at the time he arrived there he found 22 families with 147 members of the Islamic religion, which makes it impossible for two generations of Martini’s descendants to have resisted Islamism. But surely 1703 must be the year! when this village took the name Martinaj and by no means “Martinoviqi” – as the Slavs call it today, and with them Memiqi.

The year 1703 is a characteristic year for this village: It seems from this village that year Hodaverdi Mahmut Begolli, who came to quell the uprising in these parts, moved to Peshter mainly those inhabitants of this village who refused to embrace the Islamic religion. “The largest number of members of this tribe (Kelmendi – R.D.) were then forcibly moved to the Peshter Plateau – writes Memiqi, (about 68%) or 251 families with 1987 inhabitants.

The least remained in the three villages (Martinaj, Vuthaj and Selcë – R.D.) in the Guci District…” Based on the above-mentioned quote, it can be concluded that the majority of the inhabitants of Trepça (Martinaj) were moved by Turkey to Peshter, some of whom still live there today, and the rest later returned to their centuries-old homes. This is also confirmed by the fact that in this village there are many families who have close relatives in Peshter, who still visit each other today, such as Bajraktaraj.

The fact that in 1703, in Martinaj we are presented with 22 families with 147 members of the Islamic religion, gives us to understand that most of those who did not move to Peshter were forced to accept the Islamic religion: “The Hasangjekaj brotherhood is evident that it accepted the Islamic religion earlier, because now the son of Gjeka is mentioned by the name Hasan”.

Memiqi’s second statement is unfounded when he writes that: “The Hasangjekaj, Prelvukaj and Balidemaj brothers (…). The first of them was Martini”. It is known that Martini is a Selcian, the first of the Balidemaj, who until recently were called Omeraj (sic. Omer-Nilra-Ula-Martini). Whereas the Hasangjekaj and Prelvukaj (along with Lecaj) are Vukel…Perhaps Martini was “their first” in the numerous wars against the Ottomans, which is why the entire village takes his name?

Therefore, we can conclude that Albanians (Arbëreshët) in the village of Martinaj (Trepçë) have lived continuously since the time of the Illyrians, the Romans and during Medieval Serbia, to be found there in 1582, numbering more than 24 families. Later, other Albanian families began to settle, mainly from the Kelmendi tribe, which is confirmed by the fact that in 1611 the village had 70 families.

This number of families has been preserved in this village for centuries… This would also be the answer to Memiqi’s statement that: “The village of Nokshiq (Nokscichi) and Trepça are known from an early age, but it is more than plausible that they must have been abandoned, otherwise there would have been no conditions for them to be formed and declared as villages with a permanent settlement of inhabitants of Albanian nationality…”

So, they have not been abandoned at all, as Memiqi says, but they have made their lives there since ancient times, increasing their number with new arrivals from Kelmendi, who were their cousins. In fact, they have only abandoned the Orthodox names, baptizing their children with Catholic (Latin) – Albanian names, or with Muslim names, when they converted to Islam.

This means that with the departure of the three Orthodox priests from Ribari (Plava), the names of people in these villages slowly began to change and instead of Orthodox names, now baptism is done with new names – Catholic or Muslim, depending on religious affiliation. Another issue that, in my opinion, should be examined very carefully is the following: Why from Ribari (Plava) to Guci, on the left side of the Luca River and from Krushevo and also to Guci, on the right side of the Luça, did the Turks not find any Orthodox church?

Even in Trepça, at that time, there was an Albanian Catholic church. Does this mean that these areas, together with Guci, were already inhabited by the descendants of the Pirust-Arbëresh, to whom the priests of Ribari, or the one of Krushevo, gave Orthodox names, even to the Vermoshas of Kelmend?! Of course they did. These priests managed to spread the Orthodox names deep into Keimend.

This is best illustrated by the case of the village of Nikcas in Kelmendi – Vuthaj, in which, at that time, we also find Orthodox Slavic names such as: Stanishë, Vuko, Vucetë etc., but names that can be taken as both Slavic names and Catholic-Albanian names, “mixed”, such as Dedë, Vatë etc. When it comes to the population of the village of Vuthaj, here too Memiqi gets confused in his own way – as the people say. Let’s see what he writes about this: 1. “It is not disputed that Gjon Bala and his brother Nrel settled in Vuthaj around 1700, after Pasha Hodaverdi Mahmut Beg expelled 247 (previously it says 251 -R.D.) families of the Keimend tribe in Peshter.

When they settled, 30-50 were Catholics. This is also evident in the reports of Catholic missionaries in the Shkodra Highlands, who in the sixth decade of the 18th century report that only 12 Catholic families remained in the Plav-Gucia Region. This is also confirmed by the analysis of the descendants of Gjon Bala and his brother Nrel Bala, which also shows that even at that difficult moment for the Christian population, the conversion to Islam was sporadic and not instantaneous and violent, and that it was a longer process caused by various conditions.

After Gjon Nreli has: Nika, Dedushi (Dede), Stanishi, Brunci, Vuku and Vaten (who are actually Nreli’s sons, except for Vaten – R.D.) for whom it cannot be proven whether they embraced Islam. After four or five generations, the descendants of Gjon and Nrel converted to Islam”. Memiqi mentions six sons of Nrel Bala, and in fact there were only five: Deda (Dedushi), Stanishi, Brunei, Nika and Vuka. While Vata is not Nrel’s, but a descendant of Nrel’s uncle, the son of Vukë Dedë Nikci (Nili).

It is not true that the descendants of Gjon and Nrel Bala accepted the Islamic religion after “four or five generations”. We can document this with the fact that Gjon’s sons had Muslim names: Asllan and Hasan, as well as Nrel’s grandsons: Isuf Dedushi, Ahmet Nika, and so on. Then, in the book of Hasan I. Gjonbalaj we find that 100-year-old Gjon advised his descendants: “Even if you change your religion, do not let go of the stick”! 2. What Memiqi Looks Like forgets that on page 66 of his book regarding Vuthaj he says: “… 202 residents of the mentioned villages, who had converted to Islam by 1703, how to put it: In Martinaj 22 families, with 147 residents, in “Vutkgni” (it is thought to be the village of Vuthaj, in Gucia, newly formed?!), 40 residents (we have no records of the number of families).

So as can be seen, Memiqi’s findings are extremely contradictory. According to them, the descendants of Gjon and Nrel Bala, if “it is not disputed” that they “settled in Vuthaj around 1700” and in 1703 in this locality with the Islamic religion we find “40 residents”, then the question arises: Who are those 40 residents of the Islamic religion that Gjon Bala found there?

Who are those residents of Vuthaj that that year the Pasha of Peja (Hodaverdi Mahmut Begolli) forcibly displaced them to Peshter, since the village was “newly formed” – as Memiqi says?! For all these questions we have only one answer: In Vuthaj, for generations Albanians have lived who later formed as the Kelmenda tribe, i.e. many, many years before Gjon Bala settled there with his five grandsons, the sons of Nreli, who was killed in the wars with the Turks.

And that some of those Vuthjans (Kelmendi) were forcibly displaced by Turkey to Peshter, because they had taken part in the uprising against it. This can also be illustrated by the fact that today in Vuthaj there are Kelmendese families living who are not descendants of Gjon Bala and his brother Nrelë, For example: the Gocajs and the Selimajs, and that those families (the Gocajs) have most of their relatives – cousins ​​in Peshter. (68).

Is it true, in Vuthaj it is said that those families came there after the settlement of Gjon Bala with the Ñipa? But there is no explanation as to whether they came from Kelmendi or Peshter? There is a possibility that they returned from Peshter to their homes, together with many other Kelmendi families who, as is known, returned later, leaving their relatives there, with whom they still maintain ties today?

That there must have been frequent movements of Kelmends – Vuthjanes in the Vuthaj-Peshter relationship and vice versa is also shown by the fact that in Peshter (Sandzhak) there are today many families of the Qosaj brotherhood (there they are called Qosoviqi) – descendants of Stanish, son of Nrel Bala, etc. Then it is known that there are hundreds of families scattered throughout Albania and Kosovo with the surname Vuthi, Vuthaj, etc.

It can be concluded that Vuthaj is an old village inhabited by Kelmends and has been an inseparable part of Kelmend for centuries, regardless of when Gjon Bala came there with his family, who are also Kelmends and settled in their own land. (69). The statement of some penitent people who have dealt with this problem, when they say that Gjon Bala is the first inhabitant of this village, does not stand at all.

On the contrary, Gjon Bala and his descendants are the last residents who still inhabit this village today. As an example of all that was said above, we are also mentioning this quote: “… At the beginning of the 14th century, there are mentions of villages that lived in tents (tébane – R.D.) and that moved from summer pastures to winter ones. However, in the 15th century, it can be observed that village after village was giving up seasonal migrations, and were settling in the lowlands (mainly in the Shkodra lowlands) and were leaning more and more towards agriculture.

The villages in Malësia had weakened but never degraded and had preserved the principle of blood ties. The decisive factor now was that the Turkish invasion brought about a widespread resettlement from the plains to the mountains. The existing villages and hamlets in the mountains were filled to capacity.

This must have happened with the Albanian villages of Plavë and Guci: Vuthaj, Martinaj, Doli, Nokshiq, I lot, Vishnjevë etc., whose inhabitants “sometimes went up into the mountains, sometimes down into the plains, sometimes from east to west and vice versa, to their lands according to the comfort or relief of the pressure of foreign invaders who came to their lands over the centuries in different waves”. Dr. Ibrahim Ahmetaj wrote more extensively about the village of Vuthaj in the magazine “Koha”, 5/1980. p.171, which was published in Podgorica during the 70s and Hasan I. Gjonbalaj, in a special study, which deals with the genealogy of the Gjonbalaj family, namely Nrel Balaj, and their descendants, and beyond. (“Kelmendi”, Peja 1989.)

Based on all that was said above, it appears that the Turks in the region of Plava and Gucia, found Albanians and some Serbs living together, both of these peoples with the Christian religion, but who confessed in the Orthodox churches and baptized their children there, in the absence of Catholic churches and the absence of educated Catholic priests in these parts, which we will discuss in more detail later.

Therefore, we can freely say that the national affiliation of these inhabitants of that time (in the Plav-Gucia region) is not real and it is impossible to determine it based on names as various Yugoslav authors and historians, including Mustafa Memiqi, claim to do. As a more concrete example to illustrate this tendency of theirs, we are mentioning the case of the chief (“chief chetnik” – as Memiqi calls him) and the son of one of the bajraktars of Kelmendi, Jovan Mërša (not “Jovan Mërsica” – as he calls him), the grandfather of the leader of the Serbian Uprising – Karadjorgje Petroviqi: “… among the Kelmendi people there were also Serbs – Memiqi reveals (?!) who were even their leaders – bajraktars and voivodes.

They also acted together with the Kelmendese against Plava and Gucia, regardless of the fact that they were of a different nationality and religion (…) the bloody clash that took place around 1698 in the Little Visitor…” Albanian historiography – which our neighbors are not consulting at all, completely and firmly denies the aforementioned statement – that “… there were also Serbs among the Kelmendese”. We read: “The center of the Patriarchate (Albanian – R.D.) would be Kelmend.

Pjetër Bogdani did not choose Kelmend as his center by chance. He knew the Kelmendese, because he had lived among them, when he was bishop of Shkodra, especially during the time when he took refuge with them to escape persecutions of the Ottoman imperial administration. Kelmendi was a natural fortress with a MONOLITHIC POPULATION from three points of view: its inhabitants were ALL ALBANIAN, ALL CATHOLIC (underlined – R. D.) and all warriors. “They are the bravest peoples of Albania; he (Bogdani – R. D.) underlined in the aforementioned report of 1684”.

During the first half of the 18th century, thanks to the furious uprisings, these brave warriors had turned Kelmendi into a fortress of Albanian resistance and had become known in European opinion, even more famous than the inhabitants of any other province of Albania.
In the conditions created during the second half of the 19th century, XVII, when the Albanians were under the double pressure of Ottoman Islamization and Serbian or Greek Orthodoxy, Pjetër Bogdani thought of turning this military fortress of armed anti-Turkish resistance into a fortress of ideological anti-Serbian and anti-Greek resistance”. Or: “Even the voivode of Kuç, Mark Milan, for his neighbors, the Kelmends (“Kliments – as Memiqi calls them?!) emphasizes that they are “Arbanasko pleme” (Albanian tribe)… This tribe, until the end of the 15th century and during the 16th century, had tribal self-government.

Reference

Author: Rexhep Dedushaj, The Plav-Gucia Region through the Centuries “Krahina e Plav e Gucis Neper Shekuj”. 1993. Edited and translated by Petrit Latifi.