Lipjan ( sq-definite, Lipjani) or Lipljan ( sr-Cyrl, Липљан) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

located in the

Pristina District The District of Pristina ( sq, Rajoni i Prishtinës, sr, Приштински округ, Prištinski okrug) is a district in Kosovo. Its seat is the capital city of Pristina. It consists of eight municipalities and 298 villages. According to t ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

. According to the 2011 census, the town of Lipjan has 6,870 inhabitants, while the municipality has 57,605 inhabitants.

Name

The town's name derives from ''Ulpiana'', the Dardanian and Roman era settlement that preceded Lipjan, possibly due to either a ''Ul-'' to ''Li-'' shift seen elsewhere in Roman toponyms. Selami Pulaha states that the shift from ''Ulpiana'' to ''Lipjan'' is in accordance with early Albanian phonetic rules, and must therefore have been inhabited by

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Ser ...

to reach its current form. It has also been connected with the Albanian term " ujk" ("wolf") (Old and Dialectal Albanian: "ulk") and the name of the city of

Ulqin Ulcinj ( cyrl, Улцињ, ; ) is a town on the southern coast of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 10,707 (2011), the majority being Albanians. As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic coas ...

probably delivers from the same variation. The Roman city of Ulpiana was located near Lipjan and it was named in honor of the Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus. In the early Middle Ages in was part of the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

and a diocese of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The neo-

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

form ''Lypenion'' for the city occurs for the first time in a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

text from 1018 AD that confirmed the town as an episcopal seat of the Bulgarian

Archbishopric of Ohrid The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid *T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276 *Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...

following the

Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria From ca. 970 until 1018, a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire led to the gradual reconquest of Bulgaria by the Byzantines, who thus re-established their control over the entire Balkan peninsula for the firs ...

in the same year.

Geography

The Municipality of Lipjan contains 422 km² of land, and consists of 70 villages. It borders the municipalities of

Drenas Drenas, also known as Gllogoc or Glogovac, is a town and municipality in central Kosovo. As of the 2011 census, there were 6,143 people residing in Drenas and 58,531 in the municipality. History The municipality of Drenas was established be ...

, Fushë Kosova and

Prishtina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

to the north, Malishevë to the west, Artana and

Gjilan Gjilan, or Gnjilane ( sr-cyr, Гњилане) is the eighth largest city in Kosovo and seat of Gjilan Municipality and Gjilan District. Name Ottoman chronicler Evliya Çelebi mentions ''Morava'' as a settlement of the Sanjak of Vučitrn. � ...

to the east and

Ferizaj Ferizaj, . or Uroševac, . Also formerly known as Ferizovići ( tr, Firzovik). is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and seat of Ferizaj Municipality and Ferizaj District. Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by t ...

Theranda ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

and

Shtimja Shtime ( sq-definite, Shtimja) or Štimlje ( sr-Cyrl, Штимље), is a town and municipality located in the Ferizaj District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Shtime has 7,225 inhabitants, while the municipality has 27,32 ...

to the south.

History

Early Period

The ancient predecessor of Lipjan, Ulpiana, was an important city in the Illyrian and

Dardani The Dardani (; grc, Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; la, Dardani) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their ...

an spheres. By the 2nd century CE, it was the economic, political and culture centre of the province of Dardania. It was situated on a road between ancient Naissus and Lissus. It suffered from barbarian raids, especially the incursion of 517CE, and from a great earthquake that damaged much of Dardania. By the time

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

began his restoration of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, Ulpiana was in a ruinous condition - after repairing the town, Justinian labelled it ''Justiniana Secunda''. Ulpiana also played an important ecclesiastical role, having had a local bishop present at the

Council of Serdica The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica (also Sardica located in modern day Sofia, Bulgaria), was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, augustus in the West, and Constantius II, augustus in th ...

in 347CE and at the Ecumenic Synod of 553CE.

Florus and Laurus Saints Florus and Laurus are venerated as Christian martyrs of the 2nd century. According to a Greek tale, they were twin brothers who worked as stonemasons. They were originally from Constantinople, Byzantium but settled in Ulpiana, Dardania, ...

were said to have settled in Ulpiana. The old Byzantine church in Lipjan serves as a reminder of the ecclesiastical importance the area once held - it continued to hold a bishopric seat in the Bulgarian empire and once again in the Byzantine empire once the region was recaptured.

Middle Ages

Lipjan is the birthplace of the Albanian noble,

Lekë Dukagjini Lekë III Dukagjini (1410–1481), mostly known as Lekë Dukagjini, was a 15th-century member of the Albanian nobility, from the Dukagjini family. A contemporary of Skanderbeg, Dukagjini is known for the ''Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit'', a code of ...

, who was born here in 1410. He was a close friend of the Albanian military commander and ruler, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, and a participant in the Albanian

League of Lezhë The League of Lezhë ( sq, Lidhja e Lezhës), also commonly referred to as the Albanian League ( sq, Lidhja Arbërore), was a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created in the city of Lezhë on 2 March 1444. The Leag ...

. He was a member of the

Dukagjini family The Dukagjini are an Albanians, Albanian feudal noble family who ruled over an area of Northern Albania and Metohija, Western Kosovo known as the Principality of Dukagjini in the 14th and 15th centuries. They may have been relatives or descenda ...

, whose

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall un ...

extended from Northern

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 share ...

to modern-day Kosovo.

Kosovo War

Lipjan was the sight of war crimes during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

. Ethnic Albanians were forced out of the area on April 20 by Serb forces, and Albanian residences were looted and burned by said forces. Serbian paramilitary forces were alleged to have shot more than 50 civilians in 3 surrounding villages.

Demographics

According to the last official census done in 2011, the municipality of Lipjan has 57,605 inhabitants. Based on the population estimates from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in 2016, the municipality has 57,415 inhabitants. The ethnic composition of the municipality:

Municipality

* Akllap/Oklap * Babush i Muhaxherëve/Muhadžer Babuš * Baicë/Banjica * Banullë/Bandulić * Breg i Zi/Crni Breg * Brus * Bujan/Bujance * Bukovicë/Bukovica * Divlakë/Divljaka * Dobrajë e Madhe/Velika Dobranja * Dobrajë e Vogël/Mala Dobranja * Gadime e Epërme/Gornje Gadimlje * Gadime e Ulët/Donje Gadimlje * Gllanicë/Glanica * Gllavicë/Glavica * Gllogoc/Glogovce * Grackë e Vjetër/Staro Gracko * Grackë e Vogël/Malo Gracko * Gumnasellë/Guvno Selo * Hallaç i Madh/Veliki Alaš * Hallaç i Vogël/Mali Alaš * Hanroc/Androvac * Janjevo/Janjevë * Kleçkë/Klečka * Kojskë/Konjsko * Konjuh * Kraishtë/Krajište * Krojmir/Krajmirovce * Leletiq/Laletić * Lipovica * Livađe/Livagjë *

Llugaxhi Llugaxhi (in Albanian, pronounced uga-dʒi is a village in Kosovo, located south of Lipjan. The village was founded by Muhaxhir-Albanians all of whom fled the invasion of Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is t ...

/ Lugadžija * Llugë/Lug * Magura * Marec/Marevce * Medvec/Medvece * Mirenë/Mirena * Okosnicë/Okosnica * Plitkoviq/Plitković * Poturoc/Poturovce * Qellapek/Čelopek * Qyqylagë/Čučuljaga * Resinoc/Rusinovce * Ribar i Madh/Veliko Ribare * Ribar i Vogël/Malo Ribare * Ruboc/Rabovce * Rufc i Ri/Novo Rujce * Rufc i Vjetër/Staro Rujce * Shalë, Lipjan/Sedlare * Shisharkë/Šišarka * Sllovi/Slovinje * Smallushë/Smoluša * Teqë/Teća * Topličane * Torina/Torinë * Trbovce/Tërbuc * Varigoc/Varigovce * Vërshec/Vrševce * Vogaçicë/Vogačica * Vrelo * Vrellë e Goleshit/Goleško Vrelo * Zlokućane

Notes and references

;Notes: ;References

External links

OSCE Profile of Lipjan
{{Authority control Municipalities of Kosovo Cities in Kosovo Illyrian Kosovo