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Vithkuq is a village and a former municipality in the
Korçë County Korçë County ( sq, Qarku Korçë, italic=unset), officially the County of Korçë ( sq, Qarku i Korçës, italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the seventh most populous of ...
, southeastern
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 ...
. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau some ...
. The population at the 2011 census was 1,519. The municipal unit consists of the villages Vithkuq, Leshnje, Gjanc, Lubonjë, Rehovë, Roshanj, Trebickë, Grabockë, Treskë, Stratobërdh,
Panarit Panarit ( sq-definite, Panariti) is a community in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Korçë. Notable people * Iljaz Hoxha, famous janissary and founder of the first mo ...
, Shtyllë and Cemericë. The village gave its name to a particular Albanian alphabetic script, the
Vithkuqi script Vithkuqi script, also called Büthakukye or Beitha Kukju after the appellation applied to it by German Albanologist Johann Georg von Hahn, was an alphabetic script invented for writing the Albanian language between 1825 and 1845 by Albanian scho ...
.


Name

The place name ''Vithkuqi'' (variant ''Bythkuqi'') means "red butt" in
Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
. It is a compund of two Albanian words: ''bythë'' and ''vithë'' are dialectal forms of the word "butt"; ''kuqi'' means "red".


History

The history of Vithkuqi is known immediately after the
fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...
, although other data about the village existed also before that event. The first reference about this settlement dates back to the Byzantine period. According to the tradition the first church in Vithkuqi, dedicated to St. Athanasios, dates from the year 1162. An account of the teacher from
Moschopolis Moscopole or Voskopoja ( sq, Voskopojë; rup, Moscopole, with several other variants; el, Μοσχόπολις, Moschopolis) is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial ...
, Skenderis, which reports that Vithkuq was built before Moschopolis, implies a construction before the year 1330. Efthim K Mitko recorded on a 19th century report about Korça for the French consul of Thessaloniki that Vithkuq had 8 thousand inhabitants at the time of the fall of Constantinople. Vithkuq was one of the seven villages located in the
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau some ...
area that the Ottoman Albanian lord Ilias Bey Mirahori received in 1484 from the Sultan
Bayezid II Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...
, as a reward for being the first equerry and conqueror of Psamathia in the Ottoman capture of Constantinople. Vithkuq along with Leshja were accorded to Ilias Bey as
mülk Mülk was a type of land unit under the Ottoman Caliphate, Ottomans. Characteristics of mülk Mülk was similar to freehold (law), freehold land; owners could buy, sell, and mortgage freely. It was exempt from some kinds of land taxes. Mülk was a ...
(land tenure). However he met difficulties while collecting the incomes and after twelve years these villages turned into their earlier status of
timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...
s. Being subjected to the Kaza of Korça, the villages of Episkopi, Boboshtica, Leshnja and Vithkuq were used in 1505 as sources of income on behalf of the five institutions of Ilias Bey's vakfa. During the 17th-18th centuries Vithkuq became a local center of culture and trade, being on a strategic location on the
Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and east of Fier. Berat is located in th ...
-
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau some ...
road. In 1724 the residents of Vithkuq sponsored the foundation of the first Greek school in Korçë. In the eighteenth century, Vithkuq was inhabited by Orthodox Albanians and by smaller numbers of
Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an Ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian language, Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Alba ...
(Vlachs). From the end of 18th century, various factors turned Vithkuq into a small mountain village. By the late eighteenth century socio-political and economic crises alongside nominal Ottoman government control resulted in local banditry and Muslim Albanian bands raided Greek, Aromanian and Orthodox Albanian settlements located today within and outside contemporary Albania. Vithkuq, mainly an Orthodox Albanian centre that had Greek literary, educational and religious culture was destroyed in addition to other settlements in the region. Those events pushed some Orthodox Albanians and Aromanians from Vithkuq to migrate afar to places such as Macedonia, Thrace and so on."Of these Vithkuq... All these villages have a Vlach element in their population, and it is Vlach tradition that they were large and important... This culture was of course Greek culture..." In 1792, Vithkuq was composed of the following neighborhoods: Borisha, Tataçi (of the Tatars), Llas, Qyrsa, Syrbashi, Krekasi (of the Greeks), Palasi, Kolaqerkasi, Kovaçasi, Saraçi, Rusasi (of the Russians), Dukasi, Dukates, Boris. Vithkuq hosts several churches and monasteries that were built during its period of prosperity. In 1936, in Vithkuq was constructed the first hydroelectric plant of
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 ...
.


World War II

On August 15, 1943, during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the first storm brigade of the
Albanian National Liberation Army The National Liberation Movement ( sq, Lëvizja Nacional-Çlirimtare; or ''Lëvizja Antifashiste Nacional-Çlirimtare'' (LANÇ)), also translated as National Liberation Front, was an Albanian communist resistance organization that fought in World W ...
was formed near Vithkuq under the command of
Mehmet Shehu Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 18, 1981) was an Albanian communist politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Albania from 1954 to 1981. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist p ...
. Around 800 partisans took part in the following parade, which was attended by important members of the Albanian Communist party like
Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...
and
Mehmet Shehu Mehmet Ismail Shehu (January 10, 1913 – December 18, 1981) was an Albanian communist politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Albania from 1954 to 1981. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist p ...
.


Contemporary times

In contemporary times Vithkuq is inhabited by Orthodox Albanians and an Aromanian population who were previously pastoral nomads that settled there after the settlement was abandoned by its earlier inhabitants.."Particularly interesting is the case of Vithkuq, south of Moschopolis, which seems to have shared closely in the town's evolution, though it is far from clear whether it was inhabited by Vlachs in the glory days before 1769. It may well have had Vlach inhabitants before 1769, though the Arvanites were certainly far more numerous, if not the largest population group. This is further supported by the linguistic identity of the refugees who fled Vithkuq and accompanied the waves of departing Vlachs. Today it is inhabited by Arvanites and Vlachs, though the forebears of the modern Vlach residents arrived after the village had been abandoned by its previous inhabitants and are mainly of Arvanitovlach descent. They are former pastoral nomads who settled permanently in Vithkuq." as well as Muslim Albanians who have settled in it during communist times. Vithkuq, known in Albania as being a traditionally Christian settlement is neighbours with various Muslim and Christian Albanian villages that surround it, although the latter have become "demographically depressed", due to migration. During the communist period some Muslim Albanians from surrounding villages settled in Vithkuq making locals view the village population as mixed (''i përzier'') and lamenting the decline of the Christian element.


Notable people

*
Spiro Dine Spiro(s) may refer to: * Spiro, Oklahoma, a town in the U.S. ** Spiro Mounds, an archaeological site * Spiro (band), a British music group * Spiro (name), including a list of people with the name * Špiro, South Slavic masculine given name * ARA ...
,
rilindas The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...
and writer. *
Naum Veqilharxhi Naum Veqilharxhi (born Naum Panajot Bredhi; 1797–1846) was an Albanian lawyer and scholar. In 1844, he created a unique alphabet for the Albanian language using characters he had created himself, the Vithkuqi script. Veqilharxhi is one of the ...
,
rilindas The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...
, lawyer and writer. He named the Albanian script he invented after Vithkuq. * Jan Evstrat Vithkuqari, scholar and writer. *
Saint Nicodemus of Elbasan The new martyr Nicodemus also known as Saint Nicodemus of Berat (Albanian: ''Shën Nikodhimi i Beratit'') was born in Vithkuq in present-day Albania. He was married and had children there. Later he converted to Islam and then became a Christian aga ...
, Orthodox
New Martyr The title of New Martyr or Neomartyr ( el, νεο-, ''neo''-, the prefix for "new"; and μάρτυς, ''martys'', "witness") is conferred in some denominations of Christianity to distinguish more recent martyrs and confessors from the old martyr ...
. *
Ligor Buzi Ligor Buzi (1915–1994) was an Albanian-Americans, Albanian-American journalist. Buzi is remembered as one of the early pro-Fascists in Albania. After World War II, he settled in US and played an active role as member of the Albanian-American ...
, Fascist leader and journalist from the village of Lubonjë


References


Bibliography

* *


Further reading

*Kurtiqi, Gjikë. ''Vithkuqi i 24 Kishave dhe 100 Krojeve, Libri i Parë'', Tirana 2008. *Kurtiqi, Gjikë. ''Vithkuqi: Larg dhe Afër, Libri i Dytë'', Tirana 2009. {{Korçë div Former municipalities in Korçë County Administrative units of Korçë Villages in Korçë County Aromanian settlements in Albania