Medieval Albanian toponyms in Southern Serbia and Kosovo

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Toponyms such as Arbanaška River, Arbanaško Hill, Arbanaška Mountain, Arbanaška, Arbanasce, Arbanashka Petrila, Arnautski Potok, Alban, Arbanashka Brenica, Arbanas, Gjinofc Kulla, Marash, Gjinofc, Đake, Kastrat, Berišane, Mandi, Muzace, Mazarać etc. shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) and in the Preševo Valley since the late Middle Ages.

In 1330, Serbian king Stefan Dečanski explicitly mentioned the presence of Albanians and the Albanian names of villages in Kosovo, in particular in the districts of Prizren and that of Skopje. A chrisobull of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan that was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence of Albanians in the vicinity of Prizren, the Dukagjin Plain and in the villages of Drenica. Within this chrisobull, nine Albanian stock-breeding villages within the vicinity of Prizren are mentioned explicitly - these villages are known with the names Gjinovci (Gjinajt), Magjerci, Bjellogllavci (Kryebardhët), Flokovci (Flokajt), Crnça, Caparci (Çaparajt), Gjonovci (Gjonajt), Shpinadinci (Shpinajt) and Novaci. Entire Albanian villages were gifted by Serbian kings, particularly Stefan Dušan, as presents to Serb monasteries within Prizren, Deçan and Tetova Additionally, people with Albanian anthroponomy are repeatedly mentioned in a 1348 chrysobull of Stefan Dušan that lists those who pray at the monastery of St. Michael and Gabriel in Prizren as well as some of the inhabitants of the city itself and the surrounding villages. In one of Stefan Dušan's documents in 1355, a soldier with Albanian anthroponomy is exclusively mentioned as one of the people who must continuously pay the Monastery of St. Nicholas in the village of Billushë near Prizren. People with Albanian anthroponomy are also mentioned in a 1452 register within the vicinity of Prizren in villages such as Mazrek, Kojushe, Milaj, Zhur, Xerxe, Pllaneje, Gorozhup, Zym etc.




The name of the settlement translates to good water (Albanian: ujë-water, mirë-good). In the 1330 Chrysobulls of Dečani, the settlement is recorded as Ujnemir. During the Colonization of Kosovo 14 Serb and Montenegrin families settled in Ujmir

Arbanaška River - Wikipedia

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Arbanaška Mountain - Wikipedia

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Arbanaška (Prokuplje) - Wikipedia

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Ujmir - Wikipedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voksh[/URL ]

 

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Mazrek is an Albanian toponym which means 'horse breeder' and can be found throughout the region in placenames including Mazrek, Shkoder and Mazrek, Tirana.

The village was first recorded in the Ottoman register of 1452. The village was also recorded in the Ottoman register of 1571. The village then had 27 households.

Mazrek, Prizren - Wikipedia

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For example, in the area of Prizren, there are Rudina e Leshit, the ground of Gjon Bardhi (a place to keep horses), Llazi i Tanushit, the Site of Komani, the House of Bushati, names of fraternities such as Gjinovci, Flokovci, Gjonovci, Shpinadinci, and many more.
The Albanian toponyms of the fifteenth and sixteenth century are also found in the area of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini. Among these names mentioned for the first time in the fourteenth century is Ujmirë, the name of a village on the east of Peja. Such toponyms in the nahija of Vuçitern are Shalc, Kuciq, Guri i Kuq. In the nahija of Llapi we find the village Arbanas; according to the cadastral registration of 1487 in the nahija of Morava we find the village Marash; in the nahija of Ostrolic we find the village Arbanashka Petrila; in the nahija of Treboshnica we find Arbanashka Brenica, Arbanas, Gjinofc Kulla; in the nahija of Morava we find Gjinofc e Marash. According to the cadastral registration of 1566-1574 in the nahija of Karatonlu we find the village Tanushofc. Similarly, in the region of Has we find the villages of Bunjaj, Guri and even the name of the whole district Shullan.

Let us consider the situation as it appears in the cadastral registers. From the cadastral materials published up to now, we find out that the nahija of Altun-ili (an area included in the triangle Gjakovë-Junik-Tropojë) was inhabited almost entirely by the Albanians. Thus, according to the registration of year 1485, the inhabitants of the villages of the plain of Gjakova-Junik, such as Plakani, Mel, Dujak, Gorna Çirna Gonja, Dolina Çirna Gonja, Peronja, Rodosh, Dolina Buqani, Bozhani, Vuçidol, Brekoc, Trenova, Vogova, Kaliq, Popoci, Bonoshuci, Stubla, Rogam, had typical and distinct Albanian names such as Gjin, Gjon, Leka, Kola, Gega, Progon, Llesh, Gjec, Tanush, Bushat, Mazarak, Pal, Duka, and other names similar to these.

In the registration of the year 1485, in the nahija of Peja we find 15 villages-such as Oça, Çirna Potok, Dujak, Usak, Dobriçadol, Kolivaça, Lepovaç, Trenova, Nika, Vraniq, Romaniça and others-whose inhabitants, with rare exceptions, have Albanian names. Although in smaller percentages, in 86 other villages out of 194 of the nahija of Pejë, we find that the inhabitants had Albanian names. Similarly, out of 28 villages in the nahija of Suhagërlë, fourteen villages had a majority of inhabitants who carried Albanian names. Out of the fifteen villages that had the nahija of Plava, twelve villages had a majority of inhabitants who carried Albanian names.

With the cadastral registration of 1455, the Ottomans created a new unified administrative unit in Kosova that they called sanxhak. In this sanxhak were included all the lands which had been the dominion of Brankovic family, except the Plain of Dukagjini. In this register are mentioned a considerable number of heads of families with distinctive and typical Albanian names such as Gjon, Gjin, Llesh as well as with Slav names but that are explicitly qualified as Albanian-Arbanas. Such names are mentioned in the commercial centers, in the towns, as well as in over 100 villages distributed in all the nahija of the sanxhak. They are found in Morava, Prishtinë, Lab, Topolnicë, Vuçitern, Dolc, Klopotnik, Tërgovishta, and even at the villages that neighbored villages inhabited by the Slav population.


The Ragusan archives and documents witness the presence of a considerable number of Albanians in the city of Novobërda. At that time, Novobërda was not separated from the compact territories inhabited by the Albanians. Novobërda continued to be a part of the Albanian compact territory well into the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. In the Ragusan documents, citizens with Albanian names such as Gjergjash and Gjinko (1399) or Albanian Catholic priests are mentioned. Such Albanian priests mentioned in the Ragusan documents are Gjini, the son of Gjergj, the presbyter (1382); the reverend Gjergj Gega, Nikollë Tanushi, Gjergj Andrea Pellini, and Nikolla Progonovic in the fifteenth century. There is ample evidence to prove that in Novobërda there was a considerable Albanian Catholic population.

In this context, an important source is the book of debtors held by the Ragusan merchant Mihail Lukarevic. During the third decade of the fifteenth century, Lukarevic resided in Novobërda. Approximately 150 Albanian heads of households that were living in Novobërda with their families are mentioned in his book of debtors. They worked as artisans, specialists and miners in the mines of the town. The anthropomyny of the heads of households was distinctively and uniquely Albanian; they had distinctive Albanian names such as Gjon, Progon, Gjin, Lek, Tanush, Gjergj, Bibë. Some of them had a mixed Slav-Albanian anthroponymy. Said differently, they have a Slav name but their last name is Albanian or they held Albanian patronyms which were adopted to the Slav norm such as Gjonoviç, Gjinoviq, Progonoviq, Bushatoviq, Dodishiq, Kondiq, Lekiq and similar names to these. Among the Catholic clergy many Albanians priests as residing in Novobërda, as well as in towns such as in Janjeva, Trepçë, Prizren and others are mentioned.

 

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Numerous other evidence has been provided for the region of Kosova. These documents are a further proof that the Orthodox anthroponymy was a common and widespread phenomenon among the Albanians who lived there. The Albanians in Kosova had carried Slav anthroponymy - names such as Radosav, Brajko, Petko, Bogdan, Radoslav, Branislav, Bozhidar, Millosh, Miloslav and other names - not only during the period before the Turkish occupation of Kosova, but also after the Turks occupied Kosova in 1455. For example, in the book of debtors of the Ragusan merchant Mihail Lukarevic in the third decade of the fifteenth century, together with the names of the inhabitants with names and last names which are distinctively Albanian, we find mentioned there even Albanians with mixed names, Albanian-Slav or with the Albanian names but with the Serb characteristic suffix -ic ,-ovic. For example, there we find names such as Radosav Gjonovic, Ivan Gjonovic, Dimiter Bushatovic, Tanush Bodganovic, Petko Progonovic, Radosav e Jakob Leshovic and others. In the cadastral registration of the year 1455 in the villages of the nahijas of Vuçiternë and Prishtinë, we find Albanians who carry Slav names. However, they are identified as Albanians from the qualification arbanas, or from the Albanian names of their parents. Among such cases are Todori, the son of Arbanas; Bogdani and Radoslavi the sons of Todor; Branislav, the son of Arbanas (the village of Kuçica); Radoslavi, the son of Gjon (the village Çikatovo); Bogdani, the son of Gjon and Bogdani, his son (the village Sivojevo); Gjoka, the son of Miloslav (the village of Gornja Trepz). Even more explicit evidence has been offered by the register of the sanxhak of Vuçitern of the years 1566-1567. According to the register of the sanxhak, over half of the inhabitants of the Albanian quartier in Janjeva had Albanian names. However, although they were clearly defined as Albanians by nationality (Arbanas) they either carried Orthodox Slav names - such as Pejo, Stepan, Jovan, Mlladen, Bozha, Raja, Stoja and others - or had a mixed Albanian-Slav anthroponymy such as Jova Jaku, Mati Stepa, Gjura Kola, Koka Dobroshi, Dida Stojini. Similarly, in Prizren we find entire Albanian quartiers which have Albanian names as Madhiq, which have Catholic churches such as that of Dimitri Pulitit (Pulti), but whose inhabitants carry distinct Orthodox Slav and Byzantine anthroponymy.


According to the registrations of the years 1571 and 1591, the Northeastern region of the Sanxhak of Dukagjini, or to use the name given to it in the sixteenth century, the region of Hasi, were territories inhabited entirely by the Albanians. The region of Hasi was divided in the nahija of Rudina (Gjakova with its villages in its south), nahija of Domeshtiçi (villages that were located in the area between Gjakova and Prizren), and the nahija of Pashtrik (villages in the eastern and western sides of the mountain of Pashtrik). This is proven by the fact that, similarly to the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the hinterland of the Northern Albania, the inhabitants of these areas had overwhelmingly distinct and typical Albanian names, such as Gjin, Gjon, Gac, Bac, Kol, Gjec, Doda, Prend, Biba, Nue, Dida, Shtepan, Vata, and other similar names. The influence of Slav anthroponymy in these areas was extremely weak. The differences between inhabitants with Albanian anthroponymy and those with Slav anthroponymy in these three nahija taken together are striking. Out of 2507 heads of households and bachelors that were Christians, 1768 had Albanian names, 643 had mixed Albanian-Slav names and 96 had only Slav names. On the other hand, out of the 492 Muslim heads of family, 205 had Albanian last names and only 37 had Slav last names. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the relationes that we have from Catholic clergymen confirm that there was an overwhelming Albanian majority in the region. The region of Hasi, writes in his report of the 1634 the Catholic Archbishop of Antivar, Pjetër Mazreku, is “inhabited by the Albanians.” Out of the fifty villages, there were only five Catholic villages while all other 45 villages were converted to Islam.

The nahija of Opoja (south of the city of Prizren) was inhabited entirely by Albanians. The Albanian population had converted to Islam and consequently, the anthroponymy of the inhabitants was Islamic. However, these registrations bring evidence which proves that the Islamicized inhabitants were Albanians. During the second half of the sixteenth century, these inhabitants continued to carry as their last names, the Christian names of their parents. These last names, by and large, were distinct Albanian names. The influence of the Slav anthroponymy is found only in very rare cases. According to the registration of the year 1591, in the nahija of Opoja there were 369 Muslim heads of households and bachelors and 78 Christian heads of households and bachelors, the overwhelming majority of whom had distinctive Albanian names.

 

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In the Ottoman Defter of 1591, the city of Prizren itself was recorded under the Sanjak of Prizren - this includes the household heads of the city. By this time, Prizren had been significantly Islamised, as reflected by the anthroponomy of the inhabitants; several cases of Muslim inhabitants with mixtures of Muslim and Albanian anthroponomy exist (i.e. Ali Gjoci, Hasan Gjinaj, Ferhad Reçi, Hasan Bardi...). The Muslim neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted of Xhamia e Vjetër (Old Mosque, 53 homes), Levisha (50 homes), Ajas beu (15 homes), Haxhi Kasem (48 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (71 homes), Çarshia (also called Jakub beu, 18 homes), Kurila (31 homes) and Mëhalla e lëkurëpunuesve (neighbourhood of the leatherworkers, 34 homes). The Christian neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted of Pazari i Vjetër (Old Market, 8 homes), Madhiq (37 homes), Vasil (27 homes), Kodha (13 homes), Çarshia/Pjetri Nikolla (14 homes), Bogoi Riber (11 homes), Radmir (51 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (mentioned beforehand, 24 homes), Pandelja (29 homes), Prend Vriça (9 homes) and Ajas (13 homes). The neighbourhoods of Pandelja, Jazixhi Sinani and Kodha were dominated by inhabitants with characteristically Albanian anthroponomy; the other neighbourhoods saw a blend between predominantly Slavic/Slavic-Albanian (or rather, Orthodox) anthroponomy.

Lazaro Soranzo, writing in the 16th century, noted the town was inhabited "more by Albanians than by Serbs". In 1624 Pjeter Mazrreku reported the town was inhabited by 12,000 Muslims, almost all of them Albanians (‘Turchi, quasi tutti Albanesi’), 200 Catholics and 600 'Serviani'. Gjergj Bardhi, during his visit in Prizren, wrote in 1638 that the area was inhabited by Albanians and that the Albanian language was spoken there. In the 1630's, the Ottoman Turkish traveller Hajji Khalifa wrote that the town of Prizren was inhabited by Albanians. In 1651, the Albanian Catholic priest of Prizren Gregor Mazrreku reported that many men within Prizen converted to Islam to avoid the Jizya tax, and that they would ask Gregor to give them confession and Holy Communion in secrecy, which he had refused to do.

During the Austrian-Ottoman wars, the local Albanian population in the Prizren region rallied to support the Austrians against the Ottomans under the leadership of the Albanian priest Pjeter Bogdani. Documents and dispatches refer to the Austrians marching to "Prizren, the capital of Albania" where they were welcomed by Bogdani and 5,000-6,000 Albanian soldiers. The Albanian Catholic priest Toma Raspasani wrote that, once the Austrians had been expelled and Prizren was firmly in the hands of the Ottomans yet again, nobody was able to leave Prizren. In 1693, Toma also wrote that many of the Catholics in Kosovo had gone to Hungary where most of them died of hunger or disease.

Prizren - Wikipedia

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What was the ethnic composition of the towns in the Plain of Dukagjini and in Kosova during the second half of the sixteenth century (there are plenty of data for this period), almost a century before the supposedly massive migration of Serbs from Kosova happened? Historical documents clearly prove that the Albanian population was present and constituted the overwhelming majority of the urban population. The best way to clarify this matter is to consider the evidence we have from the cadastral registration conducted by the Ottoman Empire during that time. According to these data, the number of urban households appears as follows: the town of Prizren had 557 houses; the town of Prishtina had 506 houses; the town of Trepça had 447 houses; the town of Novobërda had 366 houses; the town of Vuçitern had 286 houses; Janjeva had 288 houses; Peja had 158 houses; while Gjakova, at that time only a village, had only 46 houses.
In the cities, the process of conversions to Islam had progressed with accelerated rhythms. When taken together, the inhabitants of the towns of Peja, Prizren, Vuçitern, and Prishtina had 1000 Muslim houses or about 65 % of their population compared to 547 Christian houses which constituted only 35%. In the towns of Janjeva, Trepça, and Novoberda, where at the time of registration, the Muslim population constituted something around 25% of the population, the process of Islamization had been less effective. Taken together, these three towns had 273 Muslim houses and 828 Christian houses.

If we take every town separately, the percentage of the households which had converted to Islam is as follows: Peja, 90%; Vuçitern, 80%; Prishtina, 60%; Trepça, about 21%; Novobërda, 37%; and Janjeva 14%. There is not the slightest doubt that the population which converted to Islam were Albanians. This is clearly shown by the fact that in most cases the people who converted to Islam preserved the Christian surnames of their parents, or they carried last names that were distinctive and characteristic for the Albanians. Among many such cases are Ali Gjoci, Hysein Barda, Hasan Gjini, Ali Deda, Ferhat Reçi, Hasan Bardhi, Iljaz Gaçja, Hëzër Koka in Prizren; Mustafa Gjergji, Aliu the son of Bardhi, Ahmeti, the son of Ali Deda, Rexhep Deda in the town of Vuçitern. Outside these towns, such as for example in the villages of the nahija of Peja, the nahija of Altun-Ili, the nahija of Rudina, the nahija of Domeshtiç, the nahija of Pashtrik, the nahija of Hoça and the nahija of Opoja in the Plain of Dukagjini - an area where the process of Islamization was still going on at the time of this registration - we find numerous Muslim inhabitants that during the second part of the sixteenth century continued to retain their Albanian surnames. In the Plain of Dukagjini, the population was almost entirely Albanian and the process of conversions to Islam in the towns and in the villages continued with the same pace. However, a distinctive feature of the pattern of conversion to Islam in the urban areas was that the rhythms of conversions there were accelerated when compared to the countryside. To be sure, the same factors that pressured the peasantry to convert to Islam - the repressive economic and political measures - determined the pace of conversions in the towns. The relative acceleration of the conversion process in the towns was mainly due to other factors which were more influential in the urban environment, such as the presence of administrative apparatus, the cultural influence and the concentration of religious institutions.

Evidence that the Muslim population was Albanian is attained by the reports of the various emissaries of Papacy, such as Pjetër Mazreku, and Gjergj Bardhi. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, these high Catholic prelates, were often traveling and visiting the territories under consideration. Speaking about several cities, these authors explicitly point out that the Muslim population there was of the Albanian nationality. In many cases, the relators of the sixteenth century tell us that the term ‘Turk’ used by them to define the Albanians converted to Islam, was employed due to the religious significance and without any considerations about the ethnic aspect of the individual. This is quite clear when they write about the Muslim peasants. On the other hand, the ethnic element is clearly distinguished in the registrations of the cities where Turkish ethnic elements are clearly distinguished by the Albanians, such as the Bali the Turk, Ahmet the Turk, or Hasan the Turk, in the town of Janjeva. The need on the part of the registrar to make such a distinction shows that the Muslim population which was not Turkish, was Albanian. In short, the conversion of the Albanians to Islam did not bring about their cultural and ethnic assimilation. Independently of the conversion to another religion, the population remained ethnic Albanians.
In the urban areas of Kosova, in addition to the Albanian population that converted to Islam and which was in clear majority in the towns, there lived other inhabitants who carried distinctive and characteristic Albanian names such as Pal, Gjon, Lika, Deda, Doda, Kola and others. There are 188 heads of households who carry these names in the towns of Prizren, Janjeva, Trepçë, and Novobërdë. They make up 17.5% of the heads of the households that are Christians (Orthodox and Roman Catholics) in the town of Prizren, 33% in the town of Janjeva, 12% in the town of Novobërdë, and 7% in the town of Trepçë.

If taken as a single unit, the towns of Pejë, Gjakovë, Prizren, Vuçitern, and Prishtinë had a majority of the heads of households that were Muslims (1006 households). They also had 547 Christian households. Within this group, about 217 heads of household carried distinctive Albanian names or mixed Albanian-Slav names. Only 330 heads of households carried names that are characteristic for the anthroponimic sphere of the Orthodox Serb and Byzantine Greek denominations. Clearly the ethnic Slav element is in minority. It must be remembered that within the Slav anthroponymy there are many families that are actually Albanians that were Orthodox Christians. Therefore, the number of ethnic Slav households could not have been as high as 330. The Albanian Orthodox element was spread more in Prizren and in Prishtina. In addition, as we can deduce from the Slav names held by the Catholic inhabitants of the Quartier of Latins (Catholics) in Prishtina, there must have had also colonies of the Ragusan merchants. From the anthroponymic evidence, we can conclude that even in the towns of Trepçë, Janjeva and Novobërdë, the Albanians constituted the majority of population. If these three towns are taken as a single unit, there were a total of 273 heads of households that were Muslims, 222 that held distinctive Albanian names, and 606 that had Slav and Byzantine names. However, the Slav element in these towns must have been more numerous than in Prizren and Prishtinë. These areas were very important minerary centers and of particular importance to the Serb state. The Slav colonization of these towns - mainly people employed in the administrative apparatus of the Serb state, Serb Orthodox clergy and Serb merchants - was more consistent and of greater intensity. As we know from the documentation of the pre-Ottoman occupation of Kosova, in these towns, there must have been present Slav Orthodox elements and Slav Catholics who had come from other places. An exemplary such case is the presence of the Ragusan merchants in Janjeva. Similarly, in Trepçë, more here than in the other towns, we find inhabitants who carry names characteristic for the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs. These names have suffixes characteristic of Slav names. We also find remnants of the German Saxons who, in the previous centuries, had come to these areas to work as specialists in the mines. The existence of the Serb minorities in these towns is quite understandable. Due to their geographic proximity to the Serb enclaves, these areas were a target for the neighboring Serb. On the other hand, these territories had been for centuries occupied by Serbs. They had become very important state, administrative, and religious centers. For all these reasons, these towns were more exposed to the colonization by Serb elements.

As the evidence shows, in the sixteenth century, the towns of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini were inhabited almost entirely by the Albanians. This is almost one century before the so-called massive Serb migration supposedly occurred in 1690’s. At least this is the thesis which is being defended by the Yugoslav and Serb historiography. In so far as the villages of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini are concerned, it is quite clear that we cannot speak of a significant presence of the Serb minorities in the peasant dwellings of Kosova. The Serb colonization of the villages had been very limited.

 

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In the cadastral register of 1451–52, the Skopje neighborhood Gjin-ko (Gjinaj), is mentioned, being named after the medieval Albanian Gjini family. The neighbourhood displayed mixed Christian Albanian anthroponymy with cases of Slavicisation present (e.g. Palić; Pal + Slavic suffix ić). During this time period, a number of timariots of the city are recorded as bearing the name Arnauti (meaning Albanian) alongside a Muslim name, i.e. Hamza Arnauti, Shahin Arnauti, Jusuf Arnauti. Another group bore Slavic Christian names, whilst also carrying bearing the surname Arbanas/Arnaut, i.e. Bogdan Arbanas, Bogoslav Arbanas, Milosh Arbanas, Bozhidar Arnaut, etc. These individuals are not noted as having the Slavic appellatives došlac, prišlac or uselica, which were given by Ottoman authorities to new settlers of a given region, likely indicating they were locals. In the year 1451 or 1453 a neighborhood was registered bearing an Aromanian name, Mahalle-i Todor Vlaja-Vlaha. Amongst the 45 family heads of this neighborhood, Christian Slavic and Albanian anthroponyms were recorded (Gjon-çe, son of Noriç, Koljko Bibani, Tusho, son of Rada, etc.), whilst a sizeable number of individuals bearing mixed Slavic-Vlach anthroponyms are also registered, such as: Petko, son of Vllah (Iflak), Petru, son of David, Andreja, kozhuhar, Nikul Çikun, etc.

In the mahallah Ahrijan Hasan in the year 1451 or 1453, a head of the family from the noble Albanian Muzaka family, who had converted to Islam, was re-registered amongst the Muslim heads of the family. In the other register of 1467/68, now in the Christian mahallah named Svetko Samarxhi, amongst the 29 heads of families with Slavic Christian anthroponyms, a number also carried Albanian anthroponyms. In the neighborhood of Jazixhi Shahin, amongst the residents with Muslim names, the head of the family was registered only with the surname Zenebishi, without mentioning his social position or his profession, indicating a higher social status. This may suggest a relation to Hasan Bey Zenebishi, a descendant of the Zenebishi family and the Soubashi of the Nahiyah of Kalkandelen. Individuals bearing Albanian anthroponyms, be they in conjunction with Islamic, Slavic or Christian ones, also appear in the neighbourhoods of Kasim Fakih, Dursun Saraç, Kujumxhi Mentesheli, Çerep, Jandro, Stanimir, Vllah Dançu and Rela. A number of Sipahis were also of Albanian origin, with these individuals holding timars in areas which had a Christian Albanian symbiosis with Slavic anthroponyms in the vicinity of Skopje. The defters noted that these were old sipahis, likely having been landowners. These individual Sipahis were closely related by descent and blood, and taking account kinship ties, even though they had heterogeneous, Christian, Slavic and Oriental names, they appear to have been Albanians. Some have names indicating their origin, such as Shimerd Vardarli from Skopje, making it likely these timariotes were locals.

Around 1529, the Christians of Skopje were mostly non-converted Slavs and Albanians, but also Ragusan and Armenian tradesmen. Mustafa Pasha Mosque, built in 1492, is reputed to be "one of the most resplendent sacral Islamic buildings in the Balkans." In 1535 all churches were demolished by decree of the Ottoman governor. In 1555, the city was hit by another severe earthquake, collapsing much of the city. The Old Bazaar of Skopje, the columns of the Stone Bridge, and the murals in the upper parts of the Church of Saint Panteleimon, Gorno Nerezi were all severely damaged. Some modern sources estimate this earthquake to have been a Category XII (Extreme) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale, although others believe this is an overestimate.

In 1623–1624, Pjeter Mazreku, a Roman Catholic prelate, reported the town was inhabited by "Turks (Muslims), the majority of them being Albanians, the rest are of Asiatic origin", Mazreku further wrote, "there are also Jews, Serbs and some Greeks in the town". In the Ottoman period, Turk was used within Christian writings as a name for a Muslim or for Islamised Albanians. Sources from the years of 1689–1690 considered the town of Shkupi (Skopje) during those periods as part of Albania.

Skopje - Wikipedia

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In 1582, Ottoman cadastral records indicated that 23 villages in the Nahiya of Peja were inhabited by an Albanian majority due to the dominance of Albanian anthroponomy amongst its inhabitants; 85 villages had mixed Albanian-Slavic anthroponomy, and the rest contained almost exclusively Slavic anthroponomy. The villages with a certain Albanian majority were Osak (Usak), Kramor, Ljepovaç, Trakagjin, Strelec, Romaniça, Sredna Çirna Goi, Nivokas, Temshenica, Trepova pole, Novasel, Dobri Lipari, Boshanica, Brestovac, Baç (Beç), Tokina pole, Novasel (another Novasel), Dujak, Dobroshi i Madh, Vraniq, Mraç or Çirna Potok, Dolina Çirna Goi and Preloniça. The documentation of Albanians in Peja at the end of the 15th centuries - which coincides with the very beginning of Ottoman rule in Kosovo - presupposes that the Albanians of Peja were early inhabitants of the region. By the 1582 Defter, the city of Peja itself had been significantly Islamised - several cases exist where Muslim inhabitants have a blend of Islamic and Albanian anthroponomy (such as the widespread Deda family - Rizvan Deda, Haxhi Deda, Ali Deda...). The Muslim neighbourhoods include Xhamia Sherif, Sinan Vojvoda, Piri bej, Ahmed Bej, Hysein, Hasan Çelebi, Mustafa bej, Mahmud Kadi, Orman, Kapishniça, Mesxhidi Haxhi Mahmud, Bali bej and Çeribash. The Christian neighbourhoods include Gjura Papuxhi, Nikolla (abandoned), Nikolla Vukman (abandoned), Andrija (abandoned) and Olivir. The inhabitants of the two Christian neighbourhoods - Olivir and Gjura Papuxhi - had a blend of characteristically Albanian and Slavic/Orthodox anthroponomy.

Travelling Kosova in the 1660's, Evliya Celebi wrote that the town and the mountains lay in Albania.

Peja - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

'Other ancient toponyms that belong to the Albanian territories in the former Yugoslavia have evolved in accordance to the historical phonetic rules of the Albanian language. Such cases are Naissus-Nish, Scupi-Shkup, Astibos-Shtip, Scardus-Shar, Ulpiana-Lipjan and many more. The explanation of why these ancient names have arrived to us in the form they did, is that these territories have been inhabited by Albanians continuously and not intermittingly. The presence of an Albanian speaking population has been preserved mostly in the names of the towns. This evidence demonstrates that the Albanian population could not have been made up of shepherds sheltered in the highlands or the mountains. Quite on the contrary, that population was urbanized and apparently with an advanced standard of living for its time. Among other factors, the ancient toponomastic data, such as the contemporary names of places used by Slavs, which are explainable only through the phonetic rules of the ancient Albanian language, has convinced scientists that these territories were inhabited by Albanians. Distinguished linguists such as Norbert Jokl, Gustav Weygand, and Petrovici, and even some Yugoslav scholars like Henrik Baric and others, have argued that it was precisely Dardania, defined as an enclave by the use of the ancient names such as Nish, Shkup, Shtip that was one of the centers of the formation of the Albanian people.'


Popullsia shqiptare e Kosovës gjatë shek studime dhe dokumente. XV-XVI - Selami Pulaha 1984

 

[TheOne]

While most details about the movement of the early Slavs into the Balkans are unclear, the basic facts are known. A large tribal population of Slavs - among whom the Serbs and the Croats were two particular tribes, or tribal groupings - occupied parts of central Europe, north of the Danube, in the fifth and sixth centuries ad. The Serbs had their power-base in the area of the Czech lands and Saxony, and the Croats in Bavaria, Slovakia and southern Poland. This central European location was not the earliest known home of the Serbs; most of the evidence points to an earlier migration from the north and north-eastern side of the Black Sea. At that earlier period the Serbs and Croats seem to have lived together with more warlike Iranian tribes, and their tribal names may derive from Iranian ruling elites: Ptolemy, writing in the second century ad, located the 'Serboi' among the Sarmatians (an Iranian grouping) on the northern side of the Caucasus. Little is known about the Slavs' way of life in these earlier periods. The first descriptions we have of them are by Byzantine writers, who portray them as a wild people, more pastoral than agricultural, with many chiefs but no supreme leader. [1]

For a tribal population with a fairly low level of material culture, reaching the line of the Danube and looking south was the equivalent of a hungry man pressing his face against the window of a grocery. The Balkans, fully restored to Byzantine control under the energetic Emperor Justinian (527-65), contained many flourishing towns and cities, supported by productive agriculture and active trading routes. The Slavs were not the first to cross the Danube in search of better things. Germanic Goths had done so (with Byzantine permission, at first) in the fourth century, and had gone raiding as far as Greece and the Albanian coast thereafter; Huns, under Attila, had attacked in the 440s, and Bulgars (a Turkic tribe) had started raiding at the end of that century. [2] But none of these earlier invaders left any imprint on the Balkans comparable to that of the Slavs. Indeed, by the time that the Turkic-speaking Bulgars came to settle permanently in the Balkans in the seventh century, the Slav element was already so well established there that the conquering Bulgars were eventually to lose their own language and be absorbed by their Slav-speaking subjects. [3]

The first major Slav raids took place in the middle of Justinian's reign. In 547 and 548 they invaded the territory of modern Kosovo, and then (probably via Macedonia and the Via Egnatia across central Albania) got as far as Durres on the northern Albanian coast. [4] More substantial invasions took place in the 580s, bringing Slavs deep into Greece. Historians used to think that it was only these later invasions that involved any permanent settlement; but there is evidence of Slav place-names in the Balkans - particularly along the river Morava - by the 550s, which suggests a more continuous process of infiltration. [5] One factor which may have turned the southward movement of Slavs from a trickle to a flood was the arrival, in the north-western part of the Balkans, of an especially warlike Turkic tribe, the Avars, who subjugated or coopted some Slavic tribes but drove many others away. By the early seventh century the Avar armies were raiding as far as the walls of Constantinople, and threatening the very existence of the Byzantine Empire.

It was at this point, in the 610s or 620s, that the Emperor of the day (according to a detailed but somewhat confused account by a later Emperor-cum-historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus) invited the Croats to come down from central Europe and deal with the Avar threat. [6] This they did, bringing with them their neighbours, the Serbs. Both populations then settled in the territories abandoned by the Avars: the Croats in modern Croatia and western Bosnia, and the Serbs in the Rascia area on the north-western side of Kosovo, and in the region of modern Montenegro. In some of these areas they supervened on an already existing Slav population, which, as a result, must gradually have taken on a 'Croat' or 'Serb' identity. The Serbs did not have anything like a state at this stage, but they developed several small tribal territories, each called a zupa and ruled by a tribal chief known as the zupan. [7]

By the mid-seventh century, Serbs (or Serb-led Slavs) were penetrating from the coastal lands of Montenegro into northern Albania. Major ports and towns such as Durres and Shkodra held out against them, but much of the countryside was Slavicized, and some Slav settlers moved up the valleys into the Malesi. By the ninth century, Slav-speaking people were an important element of the population in much of northern Albania, excluding the towns and the higher mountainous areas (especially the mountains in the eastern part of the Malesi, towards Kosovo). [8] Slav-speaking people lived in the lowlands of this area, gradually becoming a major component of the urban population too, until the end of the Middle Ages. [9]

What had happened to the local populations of the western and central Balkans during and after the Slav invasions? Something is known about the urban inhabitants, but much less about the people in the countryside. Despite the apocalyptic tone of early Byzantine writers, who give the impression that all civilization came to an end here in about 600, there is good evidence that the main cities survived (or were revived), just as they had done after earlier sackings. Refugees from central Balkan towns such as Nis and Sofia fled to the safety of Salonica at first, but many must have gone back home later. [10] The main towns on the Dalmatian and northern Albanian coastline, too, retained their Latin-speaking populations and stayed under Byzantine rule. (For naval and commercial reasons, Durres was the most important Byzantine possession on the entire Adriatic coast of the Balkans.) [11] But outside the major cities there are signs of decline and contraction; typical of the seventh to ninth centuries are the remains of small townships based on hill-forts, such as the one at Koman in the mountains of north-central Albania, where a Christian and probably Romanized (Latin-speaking) population must have led a rather limited existence. [12]

Kosovo, Origins: Serbs, Albanians and Vlachs - Noel Malcolm

 

[TheOne]

The town's name derives from Ulpiana, the Dardanian and Roman era settlement that preceded Lipjan, possibly due to either a Ul- to Li- shift seen elsewhere in Roman toponyms. Selami Pulaha states that the shift from Ulpiana to Lipjan is in accordance with early Albanian phonetic rules, and must therefore have been inhabited by Albanians to reach its current form

Lipjan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

Between the end of the 14th and the middle of the 15th century, Ottoman rule was gradually imposed in the town. In 1477 Pristina had a small Muslim population. The settlement at the time had about 300 households. About 3/4 were Christian and 1/4 Muslim. In the 15th century the toponym Arnaut was recorded in the town, which indicates an Albanian presence. The 1487 defter recorded 412 Christian and 94 Muslim households in Pristina, which at the time was administratively part of the Sanjak of Viçitrina. According to Ottoman defters from the 16th century, Prishtina had been significantly Islamised, with more than half of the population having Muslim names. Islamised Albanian names appear among the inhabitants while the Christian neighborhoods had Orthodox Slavic, Christian and Albanian names.

During the Austro-Turkish War in the late 17th century, citizens of Pristina under the leadership of the Catholic Albanian priest Pjetër Bogdani pledged loyalty to the Austrian army and supplied troops. He contributed a force of 6,000 Albanian soldiers to the Austrian army which had arrived in Pristina. According to Noel Malcolm, the city in the 17th century was inhabited by a majority population of 15,000 Muslims, probably Albanian but very possibly including some Slavs. Sources from the 17th century mention the town as "situated in Albania". Austrian military archives from the years of 1689-90 mention "5,000 Muslim Albanians in Prishtina who had risen against the Turks". Gjergj Bogdani, a nephew of Pjeter Bogdani, wrote later: 'My uncle, being found already dead and buried, was dug up from his grave and put out as food for the dogs in the middle of Prishtina'.

Pristina - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

Between 1402 and 1425, Vushtrri was home to the castle of the Branković dynasty where they received deputies and issued charters. During this time, Vushtrri was a market town and home to many merchants and businessmen hailing from the Republic of Ragusa. In 1439, the town fell to the Ottoman Empire.

In 1487, Albanian toponyms, such as Shalc, Kuçiq and Guri i Kuq are mentioned in the Nahija of Vushtrri.

According to historian Oliver Jens Schmitt, Vushtrri in 1486/87 already had a majority Muslim population, there were 43 Muslim families and 33 non-Muslim families. According to the Ottoman defter of the 16th century, Vushtrri had been significantly Islamised.

In his 1662 work, Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi noted that the residents of Vushtrri were "Rumelians" of which "most of them do not speak Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) but do speak Albanian and Turkish."

Vushtrri - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

During the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans, Junik and the Municipality of Junik were part of the Nahiya of Altun-ili during the 15th century. In a 1485 defter of the region, Junik was mentioned with the name Lunik. In the 15th century, around half of Junik's population had typical Albanian anthroponomy. The Ottoman register from 1485 indicates that Junik was mostly inhabited by an Albanian population whom bore Albanian names mixed with Slavic and Christian. During the early period of Ottoman occupation, Gjakova and the Gjakova Municipality were part of the Nahiya of Altun-ili. Most of the villages in the Nahiya of Altun-ili were dominated by inhabitants with Albanian anthroponomy, which indicates that during the 15th century (as supported by Ottoman defters), the lands between Junik and Gjakova were inhabited by a dominant ethnic Albanian majority

Junik - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

During the early period of Ottoman rule, Gjakova and the Gjakova Municipality were part of the Nahiya of Altun-ili. Most of the villages in the Nahiya of Altun-ili were dominated by inhabitants with Albanian anthroponomy. This is seen by Selami Pulaha as an indication that during the 15th century (as supported by Ottoman defters), the lands between Junik and Gjakova were inhabited by a dominant ethnic Albanian majority. In the 1571 and 1591 Ottoman defters, the majority of the inhabitants of Gjakova as a settlement itself were recorded with Albanian anthroponomy; Albanian onomastics prevailed over Slavic onomastics


In the year 1638, the Archbishop of Bar, Gjergj Bardhi, reported that Gjakova had 320 Muslim homes, 20 Catholic homes and 20 Orthodox homes, and wrote that the region is inhabited by Albanians and that the Albanian language is spoken there.

Gjakova - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

Dushkaja's etymology derives from the Albanian word dushk (which in itself is derived from the Proto-Albanian language), meaning 'oak', as the region is covered with many oak forests

Dushkaja - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

The name for Vokshi is claimed to stem from the Albanian word vogël, which means “small” or “little”

Voksh is mentioned for the first time in the Dečani chrysobulls in 1330 as a village named Укша (lat. Ukša)

The village of Voksh is mentioned under the name Vokshiq in the Ottoman defter of the Sanjak of Scutari in 1485 as having 19 households

Voksh - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

Let us consider now the problem of the presumed Albanian migrations from the mountainous Albanian hinterland to Kosova. This is asserted constantly by the Serb historiographers. In spite of all the facts at the contrary, the Serb historiographers continue to insist on the existence of this migration.

The Albanian population in the Plain of Dukagjini and in Kosova was an auctochthonous population that it not appear there as a result of a massive migration as it is pretended by the Serb historiography. The evidence and documents we have from the historical sources that pertain to the period of Serb domination are fragmentary and do not allow us to create a complete picture of the Albanian population in these areas. However, the cadastral registrations of the fifteenth and sixteenth century, reveal to us what was the demographic composition of the Plain of Dukagjini and Kosova.

they give us the incontestable argument that the Albanian population even during the period of Serb domination had been present in these territories. Moreover, the cadastral registers tell us that the Albanian population was auctochthonous and did not migrate from somewhere else. This is also proven by the fact that all the known historical sources and documents do not mention any kind of massive movement of the Albanian population from the mountainous hinterland and regions such as Mirdita, Dukagjini and Mbishkodra (Pult, Kelmend, Shosh, and Shalë). There is not mentioned any massive movements that would have caused radical changes in the demographic composition of these areas. Quite on the contrary, the documents we now possess give us very clear indications that there was absolutely no real possibility for such demographic movements in the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. At the time when the Turkish occupation began, the core mountainous regions of the sanxhak of Dukagjini such as Iballa, Spasi, Fandi i Madh, Fandi i Vogël and Puka as well as the districts of the sanxhak of Shkodra (Pulti and Kelmendi) - according to the registrations of the years 1485 and 1529 - had a total of only 2014 households. On the other hand, the region of the Plain of Dukagjini and Kosova had around 28000 households. Moreover, even when it is compared with the number of the houses of a number of nahija in Kosova taken separately, the number of households in the core mountainous Albanian region was very small.

For example, in 1455, the nahija of Vuçitern had 3267 households, the nahija of Morava had 3152 households, and the nahija of Labi had 4092 households. In 1485, the nahija of Peja had 4196 households. The total number of households of the Northern mountainous region of Albania was only one-seventh of the houses of the sanxhak of Vuçitern which had 14782 houses. For that matter, the total number of households in the Northern mountainous region of Albania was almost the half of the houses of the nahija of Peja. Even if the whole population of the mountainous region had migrated - something which is really inconceivable - and even if we would assume that the population of Kosova before that had been entirely Serb, the ethnic character of the population would not have changed. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we find that there was a relative growth in the number of the population and dwellings in the mountainous regions of Albania. This shows that there were no possibilities for a considerable movement of the population in the neighboring regions, especially for migrations that would totally upset the ethnic ratio of the population in the region of Kosova.

The cadastral registers bring further evidence which proves that the Albanian population in Kosova was stable and aucthochtonous,

Contrary to what has been pretended by the Serb authors, the Serb population changed places quite often. Usually, in the cadastral registers, for the heads of the households who had moved in a village are added the remarks prishlac, doshlac-i (newcomers in Serbian language) or haymanegan for the peregrines. The names of the heads of households that are new carry overwhelmingly Slav names. These people were not coming from the hinterland of Northern Albania. If that supposition was true, they would have held Albanian names, similarly to the other inhabitants of these districts which were included in the sanxhaks of Shkodra and Dukagjini, a fact which is clearly proven by the registers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The majority of the newcomers were Slav ethnic elements that were moving within these regions or that came from other areas with the Slav population in the North of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini. Keeping in mind the large number of the heads of households with Slav names that are defined as newcomers in these areas in the fifteenth and sixteenth century,

According to the historical and ethnographic data, during the seventeenth and nineteenth century, there was some migration from the hinterland of Northern Albania to Kosova and viceversa. However, these movements occurred within a territory where the overwhelming majority of population was already Albanian.

 

[TheOne]

Other historical documents help us to uncover the falsity of the argument that Albanians came to Kosova after the Austro-Ottoman War of the years 1683-1699, the time when the massive migration of Serbs from Kosova is supposed to have happened. One important source are the documents of the Austrian High Command. These documents offer a clear description of the situation in Kosova and these territories during the united fight of the Austrian Armies and the Albanian uprising against the Ottoman forces in the years 1689-1690. These documents describe the ethnic composition of the regions of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini only a few months before the presumed migration was supposed to have happened.

The evidence from the Austrian documentation proves once again that Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini were regions inhabited by the Albanians. One important indication is that the Austrian High Command includes these territories within the borders of Albania. The Austrian High Command does not use for these territories the label Serbia. This term had been used by numerous authors, especially by clergymen during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The term Serbia had been used in a religious and political sense and as a continuation of the tradition that used to include these territories in the Serb state (these territories had been a part of that state for some centuries) or consider it in a separate dioceses altogether with other territories inhabited by Slavs in Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. In the documents of the Austrian High Command, for example, in the promemorie on Albania of the General Marsiglio, a high ranking member of the Austrian General Staff dated April 1, 1690, in the letters of the Catholic Vicar of the Shkup, Thoma Raspasan who had substituted the leader of the Albanian uprising, the Archbishop of Albania, Pjetër Bogdani, it said clearly that “Prizren was the capital of Albania,” that “Peja and Shkup were parts of Albania,” and that in the area of Kosova people spoke the Albanian language.

When his armies entered into Kosova, the Emperor of Austria, Leopold I remarked that his armies were fighting in Albania. There were no reasons for Leopold I to alienate Serbs if they were as they say, the majority in Kosova. The Archbishop Pjetër Bogdani is called “Archbishop of Albania,” and the Bishopric of Shkup was included within Albania. In numerous works of Austrian and Italian historiography that also rely on these documentary sources, it is unequivocally admitted that the territories of Kosova were inhabited by Albanians and these territories were included within the territories of Albania.

Furthermore, the evidence we have shows that the number of Albanian fighters that came from these territories and that joined the Austrian Armies in the year 1689 was in such numbers that they could have come out only from a territory inhabited by the Albanians. At the time when the Austrian armies were entering in the Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini, the uprising against the Ottoman domination that here had started some time ago was reaching its peak. At the beginning of November 1689, when the Austrian forces entered in Prishtina they were received there by 5000 Albanian fighters. When Austrian armies entered in Prizren, they were received by 6000 other fighters. It is here that the Austrian Commander-in-Chief, General Piccolomini, met and spoke with the leaders of the uprising, the Catholic Archbishop of Shkup, Pjetër Bogdani

The Austrian Command had paid special attention to the incitement of the revolt from the oppressed people of the Balkans and especially to the uprising of the Albanian people. The obvious reason is that by allying with Albanians the Austrians could reach an easier victory over the Ottoman Armies. For the sake of truth we must say that the easiness with which the Austrians swiftly swiped Turks and entered in Albania until they reached Luma was made possible only by the war fought by the Albanian fighters of Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini. This is understandable if we remember the fact that the Austrian forces that were fighting in these areas did not exceed 8000 troops. If it were not for the Albanian fighters, that small army was clearly insufficient to defeat the Ottoman armies.

The Albanian insurgents participated also in the battle that the Austrian forces fought with the Ottomans on January 2, 1690 at the Valley of Kaçanik which ended with the defeat of the Austrian forces. After that, the Ottoman armies, within a brief time and before the Spring, managed to conquer once again, one after the other all the towns of the Plain of Dukagjini and Kosova. The Albanian insurgents were still fighting side by side to the Austrians against the Ottomans. Thus on March, 17, 1690, they participated in the battle fought between the Austrian military unit commanded by Kutschenbach against the Ottomans in Novobërda, a battle won by the Austrians. On March 23, 1690, 1500 Albanian insurgents, incorporated in a unit commanded by Schekendorf participated in the expedition against Ottoman forces in Pirot.

The fact that these areas were inhabited by Albanians and the very important role played by the Albanian uprisings on the international scene were a factor to which was paid very special attention in the military and long term plans of the European states against the Ottomans. These were among the reasons that convinced the Emperor Leopold I to address a proclamation to the oppressed peoples of the Balkans. This happened on April 6, 1690 and the proclamation was addressed first of all to the Albanian people. Albanians were encouraged to begin the fight against the Ottomans and to intensify their attempts to strengthen their relations with the Albanian insurgents in Kosova.
The data from the archival Austrian sources of the seventeenth century on the uprising of the Albanians in Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini are a further proof that these areas were almost completely inhabited by the Albanians. Recently, Serb historiographers like Veselinovic, have sought to deny the participation and the contribution of the Albanians in these uprisings. They aim to prove that the only participants in these uprisings was the Serb minority of Kosova. According to Veselinovic, those insurgents from Kosova that are mentioned as Albanians (albaner) and kelmendas (klimenten) were neither Albanian nor from Kelmendi. They were nothing less or else but Serbs. This deformation and distortion is done simply because, at this juncture, the Serb historiographers could not accept and justify such a massive presence of Albanians in Kosova. Otherwise, they would have no grounds to deny the auctochthony of the Albanians in Kosova and the Plain of Dukagjini.

 

[TheOne]

The 16th century Ottoman defters also show that Janjevo contained an Albanian population of Muslim and Christian faith and a Christian Albanian neighborhood in Janjevo called "Arbanas". The Muslim population had Islamised Albanian names and Muslim names while the Christian population of Arbanas had a mixture of Albanian, Christian and Slavic names. As such, the historian Mark Krasniqi considers the inhabitants of Arbanas to be Albanians who bore Orthodox Slavic names or Albanian-Slavic names. Albanian names were also present in other neighborhoods and some of the inhabitants would have a mixture of Albanian and Slavic names. The neighborhood 'Arbanas' was mentioned with 74 homes.

A letter survives in Janjevo from 1664 from the Albanian Catholic Andrea Bogdani whom wrote that the Orthodox Serbs, whom were being protected by the Ottomans and which he considered the Catholics worst enemies, were trying to collect tributes from the Catholics.

Janjevo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[TheOne]

Ottoman cadastral records indicate that the Opoja region was inhabited by a dominant Albanian majority of mixed Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic faith during the 15th-16th centuries due to the anthroponomy present; additionally, most of the region was islamised by 1571. In the second half of the 16th century, the Ottoman defters of 1571 and 1591 indicated that Opoja had become a territorial administrative division with a dominant Timar system. 18 timars were recorded in the 23 villages of Opoja in 1571, and 13 timars in 1591. At the end of the 16th century, in the Nahiya of Opoja, of the 27 newly-Islamised households spread across 9 villages, 24 had Albanian last names and only 3 had Slavic last names. Of the 37 Christian households spread across 8 villages, 36 had Albanian or Albanian-Slav anthroponomy whereas only 1 had Slavic anthroponomy. Of the 23 field owners of the Nahiya, 18 had Albanian names and 5 had Slavic names

Opolje - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org