Written by Historian Dod Progni. Translated by Petrit Latifi.

Among the first words about Mertur are those of Franc Nopce, who about 100 years ago in one of his studies on the tribes of Northern Albania said: “One of the oldest and most important tribes of the Lesser Highlands is the Meruri”. While Edith Durham, wanting to underline one of the special values ​​of Mertur, said: “In the tribal tree for Mertur researched by Nopce that leads up to 1370 until now in 1270, not even in the times when the region was included in the Serbian empire do they find Serbian names in this tribal tree and that it is entirely Catholic.

The statements of these distinguished authors for research, studies and sound scientific logic, clearly, accurately and beautifully express the historical truth that in the very Sicilian “tribal oak” of Mertur since roots to the trunk branches and its branches have always flowed pure Albanian blood.

According to various scholars and oral tradition, Merturi has ancestors from the Berisha tribe. Regarding this, F. Nopce in 1908 said “Merturi broke away from Berisha about 11 generations ago”. He even adds that “the Nika people continue to call the Merturs” Berishaj “From the genealogical tree of Mertur which in 1908 presents 19-21 generations, it is learned that the first 6-7 generations are in common with Berisha, which means that the Mertur branch begins and separates about 200 years after Berisha. Otherwise, the history of the Mertur tribe begins with Berisha.

The first Berisha tribes were not Berisha villagers from the Puka district, and who are still called “Berisha of the Country” today. In oral tradition it is said that the first father of Berisha was Kojel Pogu (Kojel-Pog-Murr-Dedi), who did not start and settled in the cave of Gralisht. He had two sons: Prendin and Gjonin. From the multiplication of their wombs and the Berisha tribe was formed with its branches.

A part of Gjonin’s womb and left Berisha and settled in the Gjakova Highlands. Their descendants are still in Tropoja today. They are of the Muslim faith but inherit from their ancestors the surnames “Kojeli” and “Berisha”. Another part of the Berishas moved to the northeast, crossed the Drini and settled on its banks, opposite Dardha e Puke, neighboring Bytyci in the Gjakova Highlands, forming a region of the “Berisha e Brigjeve” tribes. This consists of Rodogoshi, Rushte-Shengjergji and Visoca. These are also of the Muslim faith.

Berisha is known as one of the oldest, largest and most widespread tribes in northern Albania and Kosovo. Population groups that still maintain memories and tribal ties with Berisha today are in Apripe te Keqe, Spac, Porav, Gropa, Iballe, Dajc, Lohje of Malesise se Madhe, Grude, Ujnisht of Lumes, Ungrej and Konej of Fani (Mirdite), in Rrjodh, Than of Plani (Pult), Postribe, etc.

This tribe is quite widespread in the Dukagjin plain, Kosovo, etc. The largest and most well-known branch of the Berishas that broke away from the original trunk is made up of Merturi in the Gjakova Highlands, Merturi of Guri and Apripe of Guri. Together, these make up the Mertur tribe.

There are somewhat different opinions about the genealogical ties of the Mertur tribe with Berisha. One says that Berisha and Merturi descend from two brothers. Berisha is descended from Kojel Pogu (Kojel-Pog-Murr-Dedi), while Merturi is descended from Leke Pogu (Leke-Pog Murr-Dedi). According to another, Berisha is descended from Kojel Leka (Kojel-Leke-Pog-Murr-Dedi), while Merturi is descended from Leke Pogu (Leke-Pog-Prend-Kojel-Leke-Pog-Murr-Dedi).

So Merturi’s first father, Leke Pogu, was the grandson of Berisha’s first father, Kojel Leka. Father Gjon Karma in a study on Merturi e Gurit 1940, in addition to the connections of Berisha with Merturi e Gurit, referring to oral tradition, also explains the connections of the latter with Merturi on the right side of the Drini, when he says “The village of Merturi is considered a tribe with Merturi e Pertedrines …

They say that the mother (aunt) and the grandson had a son after the weather came. The mother settled in Berisha and the grandson in Merturi e Gurit From here, – he continues, – they opened up and went out to the villages of Merturi which are known to be the same tribe as Merturi e Guri and do not intermarry. Like me, Berishe did not intermarry until recently “.

Regardless of the differences observed in the oral tradition about the initial Berishe-Mertur branch, they affirm the blood ties between them and determine that, the place of formation of the Berishe and Merturi tribes was on the left side of the Drini, in the medieval Dukagjini region.
On the origin of the Merturas from these regions and their kinship ties with Berishe, Apripe te Gurit and Mertur te Gurit, some data from anthropological studies conducted by F.Nopce, E.Durham and A.Dhima shed light.

The latter has come to the conclusion that “the inhabitants of the areas in Puke, including Berishe and Iballe, appear to be of average height and with other features that we recommend you see from Dukagjini (old) have an anthropological type”.

The name “Mertur” is an ancient patronymic and not the name of the first father of the Mertur tribe. E. Durham thinks that this derives from an old Roman name “Merituri”, and was located where Merturi i Gurit is today, on the left side of the Drini, the range of the Çlum mountain.
Here Merturi’s first father, Leke Pogu, settled. His descendants formed a tribal and territorial community, which took the name Mertur.

In the Ottoman land and population census of 1529-36, the village of Mertur with 32 houses in the Iballa Nahije of the Sandzhak of Dukagjini is registered for this first time.

During the 16th-17th centuries, Merturi, like all of Dukagjini, was a participant in the center of the highlands against Turkish expeditions and local feudal lords. But as F. Bardhi said in 1638, “the Sultan could not subject these mountains to his tyranny, although year after year he sent his sanjak begs and viziers, with 5.8 and 10 thousand soldiers to subdue them to his fury”.

Another heavy burden for the highlanders of these parts was the feudal tribute rent, which the Ottomans also used as a means of pressure for Islamism and the submission of the Catholic population. For this purpose, the Ottomans increased the rent from year to year. In the years 1529-36, Merturi with 32 houses had 1382 shares of obligations. While in 1571 with 19 houses, the obligation reached 2565 shares, these two unbearable obligations as well as the economic hardship that came from the growth of the population in a very limited area of ​​punishable land forced many Merturas to leave.

A good part of these crossed the Drin to become active in the territory of Pult i Eperm between the Agri pass and the Kolci pass. The first and major migration must have occurred between 1536. This is evident from the fact that Mertur in 1536 had 32 houses while in 1591 with 16 houses for 55 years half of the population had left Mertur. Almost the same thing is stated by F. Nopce when he says: “The settlement of Merturas in Straziqe happened between 1550-1590”.

Why were Merturas settled for the first time in Brise with temporary or permanent residence? This remains unclear since the village of Brise is not mentioned in documents from 1628 to 1775.

The population was displaced from Merturi and was forced to settle in previously formed villages on the right side of the Drini. A smaller part crossed the Çlum mountain and formed the village of Apripe e Gurit. The Mertuers who settled on the right side of the Drini with the passage of the school and multiplied and expanded, forming a new tribal and territorial self-governing unit that inherited the name of the tribe that belonged to Merturi.

On both sides of the river there were two units with the name “Mertur” and that belonged to the same tribe. To distinguish them from each other, the Merturi of the left side of the Drini is also the Merturi of Gurit. Due to the Drin River that separated it from the other parts of the tribe, Merturi, in terms of organizational self-government, had separate issues from Merturi i Gurit and Apripa e Gurit.

Merturi i Gurit joined the bajrak of Bugjon, while Apripa e Gurit joined that of Thaci. Merturi, like no other tribe in our mountains, faced in some parts far from each other and with great communication and cooperation difficulties due to the strong geographical barriers that separate them, has managed to preserve and respect the family ties of hundreds of years ago.

Merturi, Apripa and Merturi i Gurit have not made any marriage ties between them and continue to celebrate the Virgin Mary of Merturi on September 7th of each year as the traditional festival of the tribe. Merturi consists of the villages: Brise, Salce, Palc, Shengjergj, Betoshe, Tetaj, Mulaj and Raje. It stretches in the shape of a semi-arc that begins in the northwest with the mountain ridge, the peak of Ershelli – the Agri pass – Kunore – Shtreziqe that connects it with Shala, Shoshi and Topla.

It continues along the banks of the Drini in the east order to Raje to climb from Raja to the Kora mountain and the Kolci pass where it divides with the Geghysen of Krasniqa and ends in Mulaj which is also the border with Nikaj in the Selbice valley. This arched belt of villages surrounds the Nikaj tribe on almost three sides, forming together the Nikaj-Mertur region. Documents and sources show that most of the villages of Mertur were formed until the 15th century before the arrival of the Merturians in.

In the Ottoman cadastral registers of the Sandzhak of Shkodra in 1485, 1582 and Rumeli for the years 1529-36, the villages of Mllaka (Blaka-Blakja) with 8 fires in 1485, Noranja (Ranja-Raja) with 25 fires, Betuci (Betosh) with 13 fires, Placi with 5 fires, Salca with 10 fires and Brisha (Brisa) with 10 fires are listed between Krasniqa and Prashta (Brashta). The inhabitants who formed and inhabited these villages before the conquests were of Albanian nationality and of the Christian faith.

Almost all the heads of their 71 houses bore typical Albanian names. These inhabitants have left behind many toponyms and material evidence, including the ruins of churches and cemeteries that the current inhabitants of Mertura say do not belong to their tribe. In Raje until the 1960s-70s The ruins of 7 churches are preserved. One in front of them, that of Anci, about 500 m east of the Leke Castle, which belonged to the 14th-15th centuries, had a 5.2 m high bell tower that was preserved until 1980.

In the mountains of Salce near Karroni, the toponym Kisha e Shnaprendes is known, where fragments of walls made of carved stone and lime mortar belonging to the 15th-16th centuries have been found. Until 1964, the side walls of the Shenkollit church were preserved in Brise. This is a very special building made of slate stones. It had a door with an arched vault on which lines and a cross were distinguished.

This served as a cemetery chapel and belonged to the pre-Turkish period. In Tetaj, traces of the walls of the Shnaprendes church and the cemetery next to it that belonged to the early Blakes have been preserved. From the documents and oral traditions it appears that almost all the villages that today make up Merturi have had continuous habitation from their formation to the present day.

At first they belonged to the Principality of Pjeterspane. Then until the end of the 18th century, the documents presented as part of Puli e Eperm. These were included in the Merturi tribe when the Merturians who arrived had become their permanent residents and owners. It is known that each village has its own history of formation and rest, since we will talk about the activity of the Merturi tribe, these villages will be seen in the framework of this tribe, we are only highlighting the village of Martish which is registered in the territory of the Pjeterspane in 1485 with 7 fires, as well as the village of Mortur which is noted in the relation of Don Vicente in 1628 near Bjake and Betoshe.

Regarding the name Martish, the linguist K. Luka says that the name Martish is a unified garment with Mortur. Judging from the list in the register where Martish is noted near the villages of Plan, Pog, Xhan and Kir, we say that there is no connection between them. Martish was very far from the territory of Merturi in time and space, therefore it cannot be identified with the Merturi tribe.

It has been argued that Merturi with its inhabitants and name has its origin from Merturi i Guri. From this it follows that Meturi, which is mentioned in the last documentation from 1628-1795 near Blake and Betoshe, was one of the settlements of the inhabitants who came from Merturi i Guri in the period 1550-1590. This was a previous village only from Mertur residents, therefore it was named Mertur, which the documents note as Mortur.

Since the Merturians were also in other villages, Mortur cannot be taken as the origin of the Merturi tribe as was the case of the village-tribe Nikaj which became the origin of the entire Nikaj tribe which from a village tribe grew and territorialized near the place of formation by creating new villages that took the names of the leaders of the brothers such as Gjonpepaj, Peraj etc. In NIkaj initially the administrative Here, most of the villages did not constitute pure tribal units, therefore they did not take the names of the chieftains of the Mertur brotherhoods, but their old name that they had.

Only Tetaj and Mulaj took the name of the chieftains. This phenomenon makes it difficult to reflect the demographic situation of the brotherhoods, but not their territorial extension. In oral tradition, it is said that Leke Pogu, the first father of the Mertur tribe, had five sons: Ndre Leka, Bibe Leka. Mark Leka, Pec Leka and Tete Leka. From these, the great brothers of this tribe were formed: Ndrelekaj, Bibelekaj, Marlekaj, Peclekaj, and Tetlekaj.

In Salce and Brise, the four sons of Ndre Marku, the grandsons of Mark Leke Pogu: Deda, Leka, Vuka and Kola, were territorialized. From the first three who settled in Salce, the Dedndreaj brothers descended. Lekndrekaj and Vukaj (Vokndreaj) which together with the Prognaj and Steaj fraternities make up the village of Salce. From Kole Ndreu and Mehill Preka that were made in Brise, the Kolndreaj and Mhillaj fraternities descend.

The first for the majority of the population of Brise. Salca is a typical example where the overlap and the longest and best coexistence between the fraternities of the Merturi tribe with the Prognaj and Steaj fraternities was realized. It is said that the Prognajs were found in Salce who came a long time ago from Qyqesh of Berisha. While the Steajs descend from a grandson and daughter and are a fraternity that is part of the tribe.

In 1671 Salca had seven houses with a total of 83 inhabitants. Some of the descendants of Ndre Leka and territorialized in the village of Palc. The rest stayed in Apripe and Mertur of Gurit. The head of the Palci Brotherhood was Mel Geci, the nephew of Ndre Leke (Mel-Gec-Nike-Ndre-Leke-Pogu). From the multiplication of the wombs of Mel Geci’s three sons: Pal Gjoli and Male, three main Palci brotherhoods were formed: Palmemaj, Gjomelaj and Malmelaj. From ten houses with 83 souls that Palci had in 1634, it reached 26 houses with 150 souls in 1671.

This population increase and led to the use of the village not in the order of east and west, forming the Kotec and Leri neighborhoods geographically somewhat separated from Palci but of a tribe with it. For Kotec which is mentioned here first in 1771 it is said that it was named after a Palquar and Kotel. In 1771 Salca, Brisa, Palci and Kotec had 54 sheep in total and 614 spirits belonging to the Mertur tribe.

The eastern part of Mertur which lies on the slopes of Mount Kore until recent times was called Bajke because the villages Shengjergj, Tetaj and Betoshe were otherwise near or in the territory of the ancient Bajke of the Upper Pult. In oral tradition it is said that the descendants of the three sons of Leke Pogu: Bibe Leka, Pec Leka and Tete Leka were territorialized in the villages of Btoshe, Shengjergj, Tetaj, Raje and Mulaj.

From the document of 1628 which we have spoken about above it appears that in this area somewhere between Btoshe and Bjake the village of Mertur was formed. Its location is determined by F. Onufri in 1768 who when talking about the parish of Raje says that among the two villages that go with this parish are “Merturi and Betoshi far 2 or 3 hours before Raje se Puli”.

This makes it understandable that Mortur of 1628 continued to be known between today’s Betoshe and Tetaj, more precisely in the territory of today’s Shengjergj. The preservation of the name Mertur for such a long time shows that only the Merturs who had given the village the name of their tribe were grouped there. These Merturs could not have been others and the growth of the population of this village led to the expansion of the area inhabited by the Merturs in order of Bajka, Btosha, Ancit and Raje.

In the village of Mertur, which later took the name of the parish priest of the church of Shengjergji, most of the descendants of Bibe Leke Pogu, who had three sons: Mengj Biba, Pepe Biba and Kole Biba, lived. From the two sons of Mengja, Nike and Prec Mengja, the Shengjergji brothers descended: NIkmengjaj and Kolprecaj. From the four sons of Nike Mengje Vate, Pjeter, Dede and Vuke, four other smaller brotherhoods were formed: Vatnikaj, Pjeternikaj, Dednikaj and Vuknikaj.

Also in Shengjergj, the Mulaj brotherhood was formed, which descended from Mule Pepe Bibla with Kole Pepe. Part of the Mulaj remained in Shengjergj while the rest moved to work in the northwest and formed the village of Mulaj. In Btoshe, the three grandsons of Pec Leke Pogu, the sons of Gjoke Peci: Pjeter, Mark and Buca, settled. From these, the main brotherhoods that make up today’s Btoshe were formed: Pjetergjokaj, Markgjokaj and Bushgjokaj.

With these brotherhoods in Btoshe, the Ukcamaj brotherhood, which has no blood relationship with Mertuti, has also coexisted in harmony for hundreds of years. Most of the descendants of Tete Leke Pogu after leaving the former village of Mertur settled in the ancient Bajka where they coexisted for a long time with the Bjakcores. In 1643, the village of Bjake had 20 septembar and 230 souls.

In 1638 – as F.Bardhi says, “it had a parish church and a priest who served the Gshi” After the departure of the Bjakcores between 1768-1770, the village took the name Tetaj from Tete Leka. The main brotherhoods that derive from him are: Gjokaj, Rrucaj and Markaj. While the Qehajaj brotherhood living in Tetaj has its ancestor Kole Bibe Leka.
Raja, one of the oldest villages in Merturi with the Leke castle and the Anci church to its west, which date back to the time of Peter the Great in 1485, is known as Noranja and had 25 fires.

During the 16th-18th centuries, it was divided into two residential centers: Raja and Anci, each with its own village. In 1634, Raja had 10 houses, while Anci had 20 houses and 200 people. In 1671, Raja was left with 8 houses and 70 people, while Anci had 12 houses and 120 people. Oral tradition says that the Merturi people who populated Anci and Raja had come from Shengjergji and Tetaj after 1671, when the previous inhabitants, who belonged to the Gash tribe, had been displaced.

The first to settle in Raje were Rame Pepa and Preke Pepa, from whom the Rampepaj and Prekpepaj brothers descended. From these, other smaller brothers were formed that make up today’s Raje: Ramaj, Pepkolaj, Kukaj, Markokaj, Kurprekaj, Maklekaj, etc. In 1957, the village of Raje officially took the name Breglumi. Documentary data and oral tradition on the genealogy of the brothers that make up Merturi show that by the end of the 18th century, the Merturians had become the dominant population of all its villages.

So in Pulti e Eperm, adjacent to Nikaj, another self-governing unit was formed based on customary law, the Tribe of Bajraku of Mertur. Despite the geographical contrast that the Brise-Raje-Mulaj triangle presents, about 6-7 hours of walking distance from each other, the Merturi have preserved a strong memory of their blood ties. The expression of their belief in blood ties is the lack of marriage ties within the Merturi tribe.

From the examination of documentary data on the demographic situation of the Merturi tribe, it appears that, from the middle of the 19th century onwards, this tribe had ur one that makes a small part of the population. In 1867, Merturi had 240 houses with 2150 inhabitants. A hundred years later, in 1964, there were 271 houses and 2008 inhabitants, changing in 1990 to 589 households (households) and 2300 inhabitants.

For 150 years only 150 inhabitants added to the population. Regarding this very special indicator, we judge that this demographic situation was a consequence of the frequent migrations of the Merturians and not a lack of vitality of this tribe. The very limited surface of arable land and mountains, especially the lack of water sources for irrigation of the land, in Brise, Palc, Tetaj, Betoshe etc. and forced the Merturs to leave to survive in other more fertile areas, within the area inhabited by Albanians.

The “interrupted” or slightly faded branches of the genealogical tree of the tribe, such as that of Kole Bibe Leke etc., show that their descendants have left the region. Even in the second half of the 20th century, a significant number of families left Mertur and settled in Cernice, Bukovo etc., within the Tropoja district. However, most of the inhabitants of the Mertur tribe have remained in the lands of their grandparents, since the 16th century until today.

The Mertur tribe was formed, grew and became known with admirable neighborliness and understanding with the Barqet and other tribes of the highlands, especially with the Nikaj, who were the closest neighbors, friends and fellow warriors of the Mertur. The two tribes united to form the Nikaj-Mertur tribe, to know the history of Pulti and the Gjakova Highlands. In the years 1990-2000, taking advantage of the direction for the free movement of the population, the Merturites and displaced more massively than ever, not to Tirana, Lezha, Shkodra, Kruja, Durrës, etc.