The Rrjolli is a historical
Albanian tribe (''fis'') and region in
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 ...
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 tribal region is centred along the banks of the Rrjoll river that stems from Mount Bishkaz and empties into
Lake Shkodër
Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern ...
. The Rrjolli 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 territorial unit, consisting of villages in mountainous frontier regions of the Balkans, from which military recruitment was based. It was introduced in the late 17th c ...
'' (military-administrative unit).
Etymology
The name of the tribe, their region and their river seems to be derived from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''rivulus'', meaning 'river'.
Geography
The Rrjolli tribal region is located around 15 km east of
Koplik
Koplik (also known as Koplik i Poshtëm) is a town and former municipality in the northwestern tip of Albania. At the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision, and the seat of the municipality Malësi e Madhe. It was the seat of the ...
. Rrjolli borders the
Shkreli to the north, the
Plani,
Xhani,
Suma
Suma may refer to:
Places
* Suma, Azerbaijan, a village
* Suma, East Azerbaijan, a village in Iran
* Sowmaeh, Ardabil, also known as Şūmā, a village in Iran
* Suma-ku, Kobe, one of nine wards of Kobe City in Japan
** Suma Station, a rai ...
and
Mëgulla past Mount Bishkaz to the east, and the
Lohja
Lohja (; sv, Lojo) is a city and municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland. The city has a population of 47,518 (2017), and it covers an area of of which , or 8.3 percent, is water. The population density of Lohja is . The municipality is b ...
,
Reçi and
Grizha tribes to the northwest. Most of the Rrjolli settlements are located on the left side of the river, along the northern slopes of Mount Maranaj. The Rrjolli tribe occupies the Rrjoll valley between Mali i Kurrilës to the west, Tarabosh to the north, Mali i Bishkazit and Maranaj to the east.
Origins
Rrjolli is not a tribe of common patrilineal ancestry, it is made up of different brotherhoods and lineages. According to
Giuseppe Valentini
Giuseppe Valentini (14 December 1681 – November 1753), nicknamed ''Straccioncino'' (Little Ragamuffin), was an Italian violinist, painter, poet, and composer, though he is known chiefly as a composer of inventive instrumental music.
He studied ...
, Rrjolli can be divided into two main groups: the brotherhoods who arrived from the tribal territory of the
Kuči in eastern
Montenegro
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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''. 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
Drisht ( sq-definite, Drishti) is a village, former bishopric and Latin titular see with an Ancient and notable medieval history (Latin ''Drivastum,'' Italian ''Drivasto'') in Albania, 6 km from Mes Bridge (Albanian: ''Ura e Mesit''). It is l ...
. 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.
Several Albanian tribes inhabited Rrjolli during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
up until the Ottoman period, when they were grouped into a single military-administrative unit. These include the Egçi (Egreshi),
Lepuroshi, and Linaj (Feralinaj).
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
Lohja (; sv, Lojo) is a city and municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland. The city has a population of 47,518 (2017), and it covers an area of of which , or 8.3 percent, is water. The population density of Lohja is . The municipality is b ...
(''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 (''Gjergj 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'').
Rrjolli appears again in the Ottoman ''
defter'' 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 ...
. In the register, it appears as the village of ''Rijol'' which had 32 households and produced a total of 1510
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 ...
per annum. The personal names recorded are overwhelmingly Albanian in character. Likewise ''Bisht Rjola'' (alternatively, ''Barsh'') is also recorded, this time with 15 households, two of which were still from the Marsheni (''Gjin'' and ''Marin Marshejni''). Other villages now within Rrjolli, such as ''Kurta'' and ''Lepurosh'', are recorded in the register.
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
The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to th ...
. 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
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
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.
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.
Distribution
Historically, numerous Rrjolli families would spend winters on the coast that lies between
Shëngjin
Shëngjin is a coastal town and a former municipality in Lezhë County, northwestern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality of Lezhë. The population at the 2011 census was 8,091. and the river
Buna, sharing pastureland in Mali i Rrencit with
Shkreli and
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 Mo ...
tribes. Many Rrjolli men worked as bakers in
Shkodër.
References
Bibliography
*
*{{cite book , last=Valentini , first=Giuseppe , title=Il Diritto delle Comunità - Nella Tradizione Giuridica Albanese , date=1956 , publisher=Vallecchi Editore , location=Florence , pages=345, 346 , url=https://www.dimarcomezzojuso.it/autore.php?id=36
Tribes of Albania