Mirdita (tribe)

The name Mirdita derives from a legendary ancestor named Mir Diti from whom the tribe claims descent. Other alternative folk etymologies have been presented. Another folk etymology links the word to the Albanian greeting "mirëdita" meaning hello, "good day". ==Geography==

Historically Mirdita was the largest tribal region of Albania in terms of geographic spread and population. The region is situated in northern Albania, and it borders the traditional tribal areas of Puka (Berisha, Kabashi, Qerreti) in the north; the Lezha highlands (Vela, Bulgëri, Manatia, Kryeziu) in the west and southwest; the northern Albanian coastal plain of Lezha and Zadrima between the Drin and Mat rivers in the west; the river Mat and region of Mat in the south and the area of the Black Drin river in the east. The traditional areas and settlements of Mirdita are: Bisak, Blinisht, Breg, Doç, Domgjon, Fregna, Gojan, Gomsiqja, Gryka e Gjadrit, Gjegjan, Kaçinar, Kalor, Kashnjet-Kaftali, Kashnjet, Kalivaç, Kalivarja, Kimza, Kisha e Arstit, Korthpula-Kaftalli, Korthpula, Konaj, Kushnen, Lumbardhë, Mesul, Mnela, Ndërfana, Orosh, Qafa e Malit, Rras, Sukaxhia, Sërriqja, Shkoza, Spaç, Shëngjin, Tejkodra, Tuç, Ungrej, Vig, Vrith and Xhuxha. The current district of Mirdita is located within the Mirdita tribal region that contains the Lesser and Greater Fan rivers. The largest town and administrative centre of the modern period is Rrëshen, and other significant settlements exist in the area such as Rubik, Orosh, Blinisht, Kaçinar, Kalivaç, Kurbinesh, Perlat and Spaç. File:Mirditë District, Albania - panoramio.jpg|Munella Mountain, Mirdita File:Rrëshen, Albania 2017-04 Downtown 02.jpg|Town centre in Rrëshen, Mirdita File:Rrëshen, Albania 2017-04.jpg|Rrëshen cathedral, Mirdita File:Fan Valley at Reps.jpg|Fan Valley at Reps, Mirdita File:Snow in Mirdita (WPWTR17).jpg|Durrës-Kukës Highway or Rruga e Kombit (Nation's highway) linking Albania with Kosovo passes through Mirdita == History ==

Origins The Mirdita tribe claimed descent from a legendary ancestor named Mir Diti, the son of Dit Miri and the grandson of Murr Deti known also as Murr Dedi. According to the oral history of tribe, the Mirdita along with the ancestors of the Shala and Shoshi tribes originated from the area of Mount Pashtrik (on the modern Kosovo-Albania border) and lived under a Bulgarian chieftain. Ottoman period Mirdita is for the first time cited in 1416 as a surname for 2 families living in the village of Mensabardi which was located very near Shkodër, the patriarchs of these 2 families were Jon Mirdita and Petër Mirdita. Later research done by Milan Šufflay showed that these 2 families migrated from the area of the rivers Mat and Fan where historical Mirdita was located. After this period the word Mirdita is cited as Mirdita in an Ottoman document of 1571 and in a report by Marino Bizzi the tribal name appears as Miriditti in 1610. In a letter from 1621 by Albanian bishop Pjetër Budi it is written as Meredita, in the ecclesiastical reports of Pjetër Mazreku (1634) as Mireditta, bishop Benedetto Orsini Ragusino (1642) as Miriditi and Pietro Stefano Gaspari (1671) as Miriditi. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century they were ruled by kapedan (captain) Prenk Llesh who died fighting the Ottomans and succeeded by his son Prenk Doda Tusha who partook in wars on side of the Ottomans against the Greeks who were fighting for independence. By the 1860s, the kapedan of Mirdita was Bib Doda Tusha and ran into difficulties with the Ottoman Empire over an alleged involvement in an uprising and from fellow tribesmen who refused to recognise him as leader after he had not paid them wages for their participation in the Crimean War. File:Cikut.jpg|Malet e Shënjtit (holy mountains) close to Orosh File:Steinmetz Orosh.jpg|The St Alexander church of Orosh in 1903 File:Ad144.jpg|Processional cross at the Church of St Alexander in Orosh, Mirdita (1890s) File:Ovg1912.057.jpg|Young Mirdita man near a cross (1912) File:Orosh_Church,_Mirditë,_Albania_2018-04_01.jpg|The rebuilt new church of Orosh In the late Ottoman period, the Mirdita tribe were all devoutly Catholic, had 2,500 households and five bajraktars (chieftains). In times of war the Mirdita could mobilise up to 5,000 irregular troops when expected by the Ottoman state. File:Ad130.jpg|Women from Mirdita (1890s) File:Ad131.jpg|Men from Mirdita (1890s) File:Kst1908.035.jpg|Kulla (fortified tower house) in Perlat, Mirdita (1908) File:Durham 2543.jpg|Mirdita male mountain guides and female porters (1908) File:Msg059.jpg|150 Mirdita fighters enter Durrës to support prince Wied (May 1914) , Don Domenico, and other armed Mirdita tribesmen (1890s) During the Great Eastern Crisis, Prenk Bib Doda as hereditary chief of the Mirdita initiated a rebellion in mid-April 1877 against government control and the Ottoman Empire sent troops to put it down. Following the revolt Doda was exiled and after the Young Turk Revolution (1908) was allowed home where his return was celebrated by tribesmen and the new government expected him to secure Mirdita support for the Young Turk regime. During the Albanian revolt of 1910, Ottoman forces and their commander Mahmud Shevket Pasha briefly visited Mirdita during their wider campaign to quell the uprising within the region. During the Albanian Revolt of 1911, Terenzio Tocci, an Italo-Albanian lawyer who had spent year with the tribe gathered the Mirditë chieftains on 26/27 April in Orosh and proclaimed the independence of Albania, raised the flag of Albania and declared a provisional government. In the latter half of the 19th century, there was a cholera outbreak in the region of Mirdita, Albania which caused some clan members to migrate elsewhere. At least one Mirdita member fled to what is current day Ulcinj, Montenegro. Independent Albania During the Balkan Wars, Albania became independent and Mirdita was included in the new country. His son Gjon Markagjoni became the next kapedan and reached an understanding with the Albanian state, later being given prominent government ministries to lead. During the Second World War he collaborated with Italian and later German military forces occupying Albania and by 1944 fled to Italy. In early 1946 he was killed in his sleep by his brother in law hoping for a reprieve from communist forces who in turn was killed by Mark's brother. Mark's son, Gjon Markagjoni (1938-2003) spent his years in a communist internment camp, as did other members of the Gjonmarkaj family. == In literature ==

In the English Translation (Robert Elsie, Janice Mathie-Heck) of the Albanian National Epic The Highland Lute by Gjergj Fishta, the Mirdita Tribe, as well as other northern tribes, is mentioned. The glossary entry for Mirdita is written as: == Ethnography ==

Traditionally Mirdita consisted of three bajraks (clans or tribes): Kushneni, Oroshi and Spaçi that claimed an origin from a legendary brother of Shoshi and Shala. The Mirdita tribe had a flag with a white hand upon a red background and the five fingers represented the bajraks. During the First World War occupation of Albania, Austro-Hungarian authorities conducted the first reliable census (1918) of the area and Mirdita had 2,376 households and 16,926 inhabitants. ==References==