Kastrati (tribe)

Anthropology

According to a local legend they are descendants of Dedli who was a brother of Grča, the ancestor of Kuči. It was also recorded that Alexius Kastrati, a lord of three villages, had in 1403 received a gift from the governor of Scutari. In a work of Jovan Cvijić it was recorded that in one of the villages (Kamenicë) of the Kastrati region the majority of the population were Orthodox Serbs. Cvijić also recorded that the Kastrati themselves have a story about their mixed Albanian and Serbian origin. The region had 300 Catholic and 200 Muslim households. According to the founding legend of the clan, 300 houses descend from a Delti or Dedli Bratoshi from Drekalovići of Kuči, while 200 houses descend from Slavs, Totović, Petrović and Pelović family who were living on the territory before arrival of Delti. The Petrović family is said to be related to the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty.

Genetics

History

The Kastrati clan was recorded for the first time in 1416. The clan's centre was once at the ruins of a Roman castra on the Scutari-Orosh road.

In Mariano Bolizza's 1614 report, Kastrati had 50 households and 130 men-in-arms led by Prenk Bitti.

Theories of name origin

According to Edith Durham the name Kastrati derives from the Latin Castrum, for the main road from Shkodër to Dioclea must have passed through lower Kastrati and would have needed to have guards to protect it. According to local legend, the name comes from Gjergj Kastrioti.

Families

Johann Georg von Hahn registered 408 families with 3,157 people living in two groups of families: highland and lowland. Highland families were Martinaj, Gjokaj, Theresi, Bradosoi, Budischia, Kurtaj, Goraj and Pjetroviç while lowland families were Puta, Copani, Hikuzzaj, Skandsehi, Pjetrosçinaj, Moxetti, Dobrovoda and Aliaj. All of them were Catholics except the Aliaj, who were Muslims.

Religion and economy

The predominant religion in Kastrati is Roman Catholicism. The Kastrati celebrate the feast of St. Mark. They have traditionally supported themselves with livestock and agriculture.

Relations with Montenegro

In 1831, during the Ottoman attack against Montenegro, the Kastrati and other clans of Northern Albania expressed their support of Montenegro and refused to participate on the Ottoman side. In 1832 they joined Montenegrin forces and defeated Ottoman forces on Hoti mountain. According to the Treaty of San Stefano the region of Kastrati (together with Hoti, Kelmendi and Grudë) was to be annexed to Montenegro, but after the Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1878 this decision was changed and Kastrati remained in the Ottoman Empire. However, as other Albanian-inhabited areas were formally annexed to Montenegro the delimitation process was not concluded. In 1883 Kastrati, Hoti, Gruda and Shkreli formed another pact to prevent the delimitation of the expanded Montenegrin borders.

During the Albanian Revolt of 1911, Kastrati sent five delegates to Gerče (a village in Montenegro) as signatories of the Gerçë memorandum that demanded, inter alia, the recognition of Albanians as a separate nation in the Ottoman Empire and the use of Albanian in state and private schools. Kastrati was a battleground area during the Balkan Wars. During the Siege of Scutari in 1912/1913 Catholics from Kastrati, Hoti and Grude, joined the forces of Kingdom of Montenegro and robbed and burned houses of Muslim members of their clans who retreated to the Ottoman-controlled fortress of Scutari.

On May 26, 1913, a delegation from the chief families of Hoti, Gruda, Klemendi, Shkreli and Kastrati met Admiral Cecil Burney of the international fleet and petitioned against the annexation of Hoti and Gruda by Montenegro. The delegation warned that hostilities would resumed if those areas didn't remain "entirely Albanian". Eventually, due to the influence of Austria, the region of Kastrati was incorporated into the newly formed Kingdom of Albania, although it was agreed with some of the Great Powers that it should be annexed to Montenegro.