Sirinić or Siriniq ( sr-cyr, Сиринић, sq, Siriniqi) is a term used for a historical region that covers , including all of the

Štrpce Štrpce (Serbian Cyrillic: Штрпце) or Shtërpca ( sq-definite, Shtërpcë), is a town and municipality located in the Ferizaj District in Kosovo. As of 2015, it has an estimated population of 13,630 inhabitants. After the 2013 Brussels Ag ...

municipality in

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 partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, the borders of which it mostly overlaps. In the past it functioned as the Sirinićka

Župa A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly translate ...

(community of villages, a county) of

Medieval Serbia Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second half ...

. The region is inhabited mostly by ethnic Serbs, who, as a result of isolation, have maintained archaic folk customs,

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Geography

It is situated in the northeastern part of the

Šar Mountains The Šar Mountains ( Serbian and mk, Шар Планина, Šar Planina, colloquially also ) or Sharr Mountains ( sq, Malet e Sharrit), form a mountain range in the Balkans that extends from Kosovo and the northwest of North Macedonia to nort ...

, and in the drainage basin of the

Lepenac The Lepenac ( sq, Lepenci ; mk, ; sr, Лепенац, ) is a river in southern Kosovo and northern North Macedonia, a long left tributary to the Vardar river. Sirinić The Lepenac springs out on the Kodža Balkan mountain, east of the ci ...

river. The highest peak is above sea level.

History

Sirinić was first mentioned in a charter of the 13th century, the second time in 1331, in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

of Emperor Stephen Dušan. At that time, it covered the whole of modern Štrpce municipality, having two cities, Gradište (in Brezovica) and Zidinac (in Gotovuša). Several remains of Byzantine forts exist in the region.In the charter of Emperor Dušan, Sevce is mentioned as ''Selce'' (Селце), a village which was granted (''

metochion A ''metochion'' or ''metochi'' ( gr, μετόχιον, metóchion or gr, μετόχι, metóchi; russian: подворье, podvorie) is an ecclesiastical embassy church within Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is usually from one autocephalous or ...

'') to the Monastery of St. Peter Koriški, submitted by the Emperor's nobleman Tošoje, as part of his heritage.Istorijski glasnik: organ Društva istoričara SR Srbije
Društvo istoričara SR Srbije, Društvo, 1989, p. 51Annuaire 1948, p. 118 Other toponyms in this region mentioned in the charter are: Blatinišica,

, Piljev potok, Borov vrh, Katunište and Ostrovica. In Brezovica, at the top of the Čajlije hill, above the mouth of the Piljevac creek of the Lepenac river, there exists the remains of the Gradište fort, which has two layers, the first from the 6th century, and the second from the 13th century.SANU, National Center for Digitization
Cultural Monuments in Serbia: Ostaci tvrđave Gradište-Čajlije
/ref> The fort is in ruins, of which a donjon tower, and outlines of other buildings, can be identified. The entrance to the city, at the north, was protected by a tower. From that tower, a rampart continued, with another tower, from where a defensive wall stretched to the foot of the hill, towards the Lepenac. Gotovuša is mentioned for the first time in an 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 ...

'' (tax register) of 1455, as a great village with 64 houses, and an

Orthodox priest Presbyter is, in the Bible, a synonym for ''bishop'' (''episkopos''), referring to a leader in local church congregations. In modern Eastern Orthodox usage, it is distinct from ''bishop'' and synonymous with priest. Its literal meaning in Greek (' ...

. The Church of Saint Nicholas was built here in the mid-16th-century, and is currently under protection of the

Republic of Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

as part of the Monuments of Culture of Exceptional Importance ( Cultural Heritage of Serbia-list, SK 1422), in the '' Churches of Sirinićka župa''-group.SANU, National Center for Digitization
Cultural Monuments in Serbia: Crkva Sv. Nikole
/ref>Šuput 1991, p. 59 The second church in Gotovuša is dedicated to the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos (Uspenja Presvete Bogorodice), built in 1557.SANU, National Center for Digitization
Cultural Monuments in Serbia: Crkva Sv. Bogorodice
/ref> Above the village, near the old fort of Zidinac, there are remains of several older churches. The village of Berevce has two cathedrals of the 16th century: the Church of Parascheva, and the Church of St. Demetrius.Dimitrije M. Kalezić, Enciklopedija pravoslavlja, Book 1, Savremena administracija, 2002, p. 166 The Church of Parascheva is in good shape, it was renovated in 1960s when a new bell was built. In the 13th century, the church was a notable literary center in which noted

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Ravul wrote in; his manuscripts today exist in museums of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Geography

History

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References

Further reading