The Plani are a historical Albanian tribe (''fis'') and region in

Pult Pult or Pulat ( sq-definite, Pulti or Pulati), is a region in northern Albania. It is bordered by the Malësia Region to its north and by the Dukagjin Highlands to its east and its south. The region has traditionally been inhabited by the Plani ...

of north

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. The Plani tribe is not a traditional ''fis'' in the sense of a community that claims paternal descent from one common ancestor; rather, it is polyphyletic. During the Ottoman period it formed a single ''

bajrak The ''bajrak'' (pronounced or , meaning "banner" or "flag") was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Administrative division, territorial unit, consisting of villages in mountainous frontier regions of the Balkans, from which military recruitment was base ...

'' (military-administrative unit).

Geography

Plani tribal territory corresponds to the mountainous

region in the district of Shkodra, and it is situated at the upper end of the Kir river valley. They border

Shala Shala (Šala) was a Mesopotamian goddess of weather and grain and the wife of the weather god Adad. It is assumed that she originated in northern Mesopotamia and that her name might have Hurrian origin. She was worshiped especially in Karkar an ...

to the east, Boga to the north, Shkreli to the west, and Kiri and Xhani to the south. The main Plani settlements are the villages of Plan, Mëgulla and Gjuraj-Boks.

Origins

Despite consisting of a single bajrak, the Plani tribe is considered to be a conglomeration of four different Albanian populations; one from the

Kelmendi Kelmendi is a historical Albanian tribe (''fis'') and region in Malësia ( Kelmend municipality) and eastern Montenegro (parts of Gusinje Municipality). It is located in the upper valley of the Cem river and its tributaries in the Accursed Moun ...

tribe, one from the Mërturi, one from the region of

Malzi Malzi is a former municipality in Kukës County, Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Kukës. The population at the 2011 census was 3,072.Selcë Selcë is a settlement in the former Kelmend municipality, Shkodër County, northern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Malësi e Madhe Malësi e Madhe () is a municipality in Shkodër County, in nor ...

, the Plani in Thana are from Mërturi, those in Gjinaj arrived from Malzi, and the anas population of the tribe is that of Boksh/Boks. The Plani of Boksh settled in the region prior to the Ottoman conquest of Albania, but were said to have been the group responsible for the downfall of the Castle of Boksh (''Kalaja e Bokshit'') by revealing the location of the castle's water supply to the besieging Ottomans. According to local oral traditions, many of the brotherhoods of Plani trace their ancestry back to a man from Boksi who took a bride from

Malësia Malësia e Madhe ("Great Highlands"), known simply as Malësia ( sq, Malësia, cnr, / ), is a historical and ethnographic region in northern Albania and eastern central Montenegro corresponding to the highlands of the geographical subdivision ...

(possibly Kelmendi). The couple had three sons; ''Prendi'', ''Gjuri'', and ''Manga''. The three brothers would consequently father their own families and expand, founding the settlements and brotherhoods of ''Prendrejaj'', ''Gjuraj'', and ''Mëgulla''. The Thani trace their patrilineal lineage back to a certain ''Gjin Berisha'' from Mërturi and, according to legend, took their name from the cornel plant (''thanë'' in Albanian) under which one of their forefathers sought shelter during his first night in Plani.

History

The native Boksi (alternatively, ''Boksa'', ''Baksi'') are attested in the Venetian

cadastre A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes and bounds, metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented gra ...

of 1416-17 for Scutari and its environs as an Albanian tribal community spread across a number of settlements in northern Albania. A certain ''Pali Boksa'' is attested in the nearby settlement of ''Bishtrrjolla'' in the region of

Rrjolli The Rrjolli is a historical Albanian tribe (''fis'') and region in Malësia of north Albania. The tribal region is centred along the banks of the Rrjoll river that stems from Mount Bishkaz and empties into Lake Shkodër. The Rrjolli tribe is not a ...

, while in ''Podgora'' a ''Nikolla Baksi'' is recorded as a pronoiar of the village alongside his brothers and others, including members of the Hoti tribe. In the later Ottoman ''

defter A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Description The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...

'' of 1485 for the

Sanjak of Scutari The Sanjak of Scutari or Sanjak of Shkodra ( sq, Sanxhaku i Shkodrës; sr, Скадарски санџак; tr, İskenderiye Sancağı or ''İşkodra Sancağı'') was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Otto ...

, Plani appears as the settlement of ''Blanda'' in the

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

of Petrishpan-ili with 21 households that produced 1500

ducats The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

per annum. The register attests to a dominance of Albanian personal names (e.g., ''Mali'', ''Gjergji'', ''Gjoni'') and also identifies a branch of the Prekali tribe in the village with a certain ''Gjon'' son of ''Prekali'' being recorded. It is also made clear Plani was not yet a fully formed tribal territory as Mëgulla (''Dugul'') is recorded as a separate community in the region with 5 households that produced only 500 ducats per annum. Plani is later recorded as ''Plandi Villa'' in 1628 and as ''Planti'' in 1671. In 1671–1672, the village of Plani was documented by Pietro Stefano Gaspari (an apostolic visitor) as having 52 homes and 312 inhabitants. In the first half of the 19th century, French consul Hyacinthe Hecquard reported that the Plani tribe consisted of 180 houses 1,135 inhabitants. In 1918, an Austro-Hungarian census recorded the Plani tribe as having 171 households with 980 inhabitants. During a conflict with

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, the Plani standard-bearer was killed and the flag of the Plani was seized by a warrior from Gimaj in Shala - this shamed the Plani as their flag was in the possession of a family in Gimaj.

Religion

Historically, the Plani tribe has been primarily Catholic with a Muslim minority. Saint Anthony the Abbot (''Shna Ndou'', ''Shnou'') is the patron saint of the Catholics of Plani, with the feast day being on the 16th-17 January. The Catholic parish of Plani dates to 1839. In the 17th century, there was a stone church in Plani dedicated to Shna Ndou - this church also served the villages of Bukëmira and Dajca, which lacked their own church.

References

{{Reflist Tribes of Albania