Summary: This section from Stevo Vučinić’s “PRILOZI PROUČAVANJU LJETOPISA POPA DUKLJANINA I RANOSREDNJOVJEKOVNE DUKLJE” (2017) explores pre-Slavic and early medieval tribes in what is today Montenegro. Drawing from The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja and regional folklore, Vučinić examines how ancient names, clans, and toponyms—such as Kriči, Macure, Mataruge, Španji, and Lužani—reflect Illyrian and Albanian roots in the area. The study highlights how folk traditions preserved memories of these populations, often referred to as “Greeks,” not ethnically but as a symbol of ancient, Orthodox, or pastoral peoples. It also traces their gradual disappearance due to migrations, wars, and Slavic expansion between the 12th and 15th centuries.

Terminology and culture

Vučinić begins by examining key terms that appear in both the Chronicle and local folk traditions from the Dinaric region. Expressions such as “Greek” (Grk) and “Latin” (Latini) survive in popular memory and reflect more than simple ethnic labels. Rather than denoting ethnic Greeks, the term “Greek” referred broadly to members of the Eastern Orthodox faith, associated with Byzantine culture and liturgy. As ethnographer Filipović noted, Orthodox Christians were called “Greeks” in contrast to “Latins,” who represented the Roman Catholic sphere. Vuk Karadžić also observed that “Greek” lived in the popular consciousness as something ancient, distant, and mysterious, reflecting a perception of antiquity rather than national identity.

These linguistic remnants suggest that the collective memory of Montenegro preserved echoes of an ancient population more closely tied to historical reality than in other regions. The persistence of archaic elements in Montenegrin oral tradition underscores the strength of cultural continuity within the Dinaric mountains.

Pre-Slavic tribes and toponyms

In the Dinaric area—particularly in Montenegro—oral traditions preserve names of ancient tribes such as the Kriči, Macure, Mataruge, Mataguži, Lužani, Mugoše, Španji, Latini, Jaudije, Malenze, and Bukumiri. Their remembered territories correspond closely to known archaeological and historical regions, many retaining Albanian and Illyrian toponyms. These traces offer a window into the pre-Slavic world of the Western Balkans.

The Kriči, for instance, are first mentioned in a charter of Stefan Uroš I around 1260, associated with the Tara River region. Scholars like K. Jireček believe that the Kriči were gradually displaced or absorbed by neighboring tribes such as the Drobnjaci during the late medieval period. Folk traditions record their migration from Durmitor and Sinjavina after major conflicts in the 15th and 16th centuries. Even in later centuries, traces of their name persisted in family surnames and place names across Montenegro, Bosnia, and Dalmatia, indicating a prolonged cultural survival.

The Španji are remembered across a wide area encompassing Bjelopavlići, Lješkopolje, Zeta, Pješivci, Cuca, and northern Albania. Their ethnonym is often linked to the ancient Illyrian population, though some scholars, such as Palavestra, interpret the term through the Greek spanos (“beardless”), possibly reflecting perceived anthropological differences from incoming Slavs. Historian Šobajić proposed that the Španji, Mataruge, and related clans descended from the same Illyrian substratum.

Religious labels

The term “Latini,” appearing mainly in northern Montenegro under Raška’s influence, denotes Roman Catholics rather than ethnic Latins. Similarly, terms like “Greek” or “Roman” in folk speech represent religious affiliation more than ethnicity. This reflects the layered cultural and confessional landscape of the medieval Balkans, where faith and language often defined identity more than ancestry.

In modern dialects, echoes of these distinctions persist: for instance, coastal and urban Montenegrins sometimes use pejorative terms for highlanders or rural newcomers, while Albanian-speaking populations distinguish between mâlacák (mountain people) and fushalí (plainsmen). Such vocabulary illustrates how medieval confessional divisions evolved into social and regional identities.

Historical background and population changes

The study also contextualizes these traditions within the broader history of invasions and migrations. According to Procopius and other Byzantine sources, Avar, Slavic, and Hun incursions during the 6th century devastated the provinces of Illyricum. Cities such as Risan and Lješ were destroyed, as confirmed by a letter from Pope Gregory the Great in 591. These invasions likely initiated the first major displacements of the Illyrian-Albanian populations and laid the foundation for later Slavic settlement.

Conclusion

Vučinić’s analysis demonstrates how folklore and toponyms preserve deep historical memory. In Montenegro, oral tradition retained fragments of the pre-Slavic, Illyrian, and early Christian heritage of the region, revealing continuity beneath centuries of cultural transformation. By reading these traditions alongside medieval documents and Byzantine chronicles, one can trace how the collapse of Duklja in the 12th century and the ensuing migrations reshaped the ethnic and religious map of the western Balkans.

Source

Stevo Vučinić “PRILOZI PROUČAVANJU LJETOPISA POPA DUKLJANINA I RANOSREDNJOVJEKOVNE DUKLJE”. 2017. Cetinje. FCJK. Biblioteka POSEBNA IZDANJA KNJIGA 25 Izdavač FAKULTET ZA CRNOGORSKI JEZIK I KNJIŽEVNOST CETINJE Urednik ADNAN ČIRGIĆ Recenzenti ĐORĐE BOROZAN ALEKSANDAR RADOMAN.