Rrjolli
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The Rrjolli is a historical
Etymology
The name of the tribe, their region and their river seems to be derived from the Latin rivulus, meaning 'river'.[1]
Geography
The Rrjolli tribal region is located around 15 km east of
Origins
Rrjolli is not a tribe of common patrilineal ancestry, it is made up of different brotherhoods and lineages. According to Giuseppe Valentini, Rrjolli can be divided into two main groups: the brotherhoods who arrived from the tribal territory of the Kuči in eastern Montenegro during the 16th or 17th century, and the anas who represent the native population of the region. Among the anas are the Çangaj, Keqani, Kokaj, Toskaj, and Vitaj.[3] Alternatively, the French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard (1814–1866) recounted an oral tradition which maintained that the Rrjolli trace their ancestry back to two families from Drisht. The legend states that the two families had fled Drisht prior to the Ottoman siege of the citadel in hopes of escaping persecution and conversion to Islam.[4]
Several Albanian tribes inhabited Rrjolli during the Middle Ages up until the Ottoman period, when they were grouped into a single military-administrative unit. These include the Egçi (Egreshi), Lepuroshi, and Linaj (Feralinaj). The Dara tribe also inhabited Rrjolli in the Middle Ages. The Dara family was one of the first to migrate from Albania to Italy and Greece after Skanderbeg's death. When they migrated to Greece they named their settlement Dara after their own surname. The Dara family in southern Italy exist as a part of the Arbëreshë community in Palazzo Adriano, a town in Sicily. Gabriele Dara, was an Arbëreshë politician and poet of the 19th century. He is regarded as one of the early writers of the Albanian National Awakening.
History
In the Venetian cadastre of 1416-17 for Scutari and its environs, Rrjolli (Rioli) appears as a settlement split between the administrative authority of Bolca (now in Reçi) and Lohja (Logoan). The village had a total of 11 households and was not inhabited by a single fis, in the part within Bolca a branch of the Shkreli had settled while in the part under Lohja a branch of the Gruda (Jon Gruda) was settled. In the latter part of the village a certain Mihal Viti is recorded and was likely an ancestor of the modern Vitaj brotherhood. In the same register, the settlement of Bishtrrjolla is also attested as led by Stefan Spani and with 9 households. Among those, two of the households were from the Marsheni tribe (Dabesej and Petro Marsheni) while one also belonged to the Hoti (Radogost Hoti).[5]
Rrjolli appears again in the Ottoman
Rrjolli (Riolo) appears in a report of 1671 written by Stefano Gaspari as a settlement with 20 homes and 156 inhabitants headed by a certain Ndre Mida. The village had a church dedicated to the Ascension of Jesus. Later in the 19th century Hyacinthe Hecquard recorded that Rrjolli was one bajrak and had two hamlets. It had a population of 1600, roughly 1240 of whom were Catholic in faith. In the second half of the 19th century, the local Pasha had burned down some of the Rrjolli homes due to inter-religious conflict between the tribe; some Muslim members damaged a Christian cemetery and destroyed a cross that the Christians had set up along the path, and the Christians retaliated by throwing a dead pig into the mosque and painted crosses on its walls with the pig's blood. Later censuses from the 20th century, conducted by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, showed that Rrjolli had a population of between 1530 and 1560, 1200 were Muslim and only 360 Catholic.[7]
The original bajraktars of Rrjolli came from the Catholic Kokaj, however, due to their support of the Dervishi family against the Bushati of Shkodra, their position was given to the Muslim Kurtaj.[8]
Distribution
Historically, numerous Rrjolli families would spend winters on the coast that lies between
References
- ^ a b Elsie 2015, p. 93.
- ^ Albania. Great Britain: Great Britain. Naval Intelligence Division. 1945.
- ^ Valentini 1956, pp. 345, 346.
- ^ Elsie 2015, p. 95.
- ^ Zamputi, Injac (1977). Regjistri i kadastrēs dhe i koncesioneve pēr rrethin e Shkodrës 1416-1417. Academy of Sciences of Albania. pp. 47, 68. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ^ Pulaha, Selami (1974). Defter i Sanxhakut të Shkodrës 1485. Academy of Sciences of Albania. pp. 383, 384, 389, 490. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ^ Elsie 2015, pp. 95, 96.
- ^ Valentini 1956, pp. 345.
- ^ Elsie 2015, p. 94.
Bibliography
- Elsie, Robert (2015). The Tribes of Albania: History, Society and Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780857725868.
- Valentini, Giuseppe (1956). Il Diritto delle Comunità - Nella Tradizione Giuridica Albanese. Florence: Vallecchi Editore. pp. 345, 346.