Kiri (tribe)

Kiri is a historical Albanian tribe (''fis'') and ethnographic region located on the eastern side of the upper Kir river in the wider region of Pulti, northern Albania.

Etymology

The Kiri derive their name from the River Kir which flows through the region of Pulti in northern Albania. The river itself is recorded for the first time in Livy's ''Ab urbe condita'' (written between 27 and 9 BCE) in the form ''Clausula''. It is later recorded in the 5th century ''Tabula Peutingeriana'' as ''Cleusis''. The name appears in later sources from the Middle Ages and into the modern era in the forms of ''Clyre'', ''Chiri'', and ''Kiri''.

Geography

The lands of the Kiri are largely located on the eastern banks of the upper Kir and include a number of settlements and '' mëhallë'' (quarters): ''Kir'', ''Nonaj'', ''Kasnec'', ''Lekgjonaj'', ''Telash'', ''Aliaj'', ''Palucaj'', ''Shkuq'', ''Gjeshgoraj'', ''Marknonaj'', ''Palnonaj'', ''Petal'', and ''Prangull''.

Origins

Despite forming a single military-administrative unit (''bajrak'') in the Ottoman period, the Kiri are not a tribe of the same patrilineal ancestry. According to oral traditions, the current brotherhoods of Kiri arrived during the 16th and 18th centuries. A number of the brotherhoods trace their origins back to the four brothers ''Ndue'', ''Tel'', ''Byk'', and ''Ali Bezhani''. Tradition maintains that they had arrived from Peja in western Kosovo and initially only constituted a single household in Telash. According to Giuseppe Valentini the brotherhoods originating from Peja are called the ''Petali''. On the other hand, another portion of the Kiri claim to have arrived from the Ndrekalorë of Kuči in eastern Montenegro during the 16th century and had first settled in an area now called ''Stinjok''. They are the ''Nonaj''. According to Franz Nopsca, the Kiri descending from Kuči could trace their ancestry back to 12 generations in 1907 (from father to son): ''Nrekal Kuçi'' > ''Petal Nrekali'' > ''Vuz Petali'' > ''Gjin Vuzi'' > ''Pep Gjini'' > ''Nre Pepa'' > ''Palush Nreu'' > ''Nik Palushi'' > ''Pal Nika'' > ''Lul Pali'' > ''Pal Lula'' > ''Mihil Pali''. Other unrelated brotherhoods include the ''Kodra'' and ''Selimi''.

History

In the Ottoman ''defter'' of 1485 for the Sanjak of Scutari the settlement of ''Klir'' is recorded in the nahiyah of Petrishpan-ili with a total of 20 households that produced 1100 ducats per annum. The anthroponyms recorded in the register are overwhelmingly Albanian and indicate that the village was not inhabited by a single related ''fis''. Branches of the Bukumiri (''Milashi'' son of ''Bukmiri'', ''Gjoni'' son of ''Bukmiri'', ''Andrija'' son of ''Bukmiri'') and Prekali (''Dimeniko'' son of ''Prekali'', ''Gjorgji'' son of ''Prekali'') tribes were settled in Kiri, while possible members of the Kuči are also attested with ''Andrija'' and ''Pali'', sons of ''Kuça''.

Kiri (''Chiri'') appears in a report of 1671 written by Stefano Gaspari as a settlement with 43 homes and 300 inhabitants. The village had a church dedicated to St. Veneranda. It appears as by 1671 the Kiri had started expanding as the village of Kasnec (''Casnessi'') is also recorded with 9 homes and 50 inhabitants. The locals of Kasnec had no church and attended mass at the church of St. Veneranda in Kiri.

In 1881 Kiri had 75 houses and 550 inhabitants and as of 1892 the ''bajraktar'' was based in Kasnec.

References

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Tribes of Albania