Origins By oral tradition, the first Shkreli to settle in this region of Albania was Lek Shkreli, who had four sons: Vrith, Ded, Buzhet and Zog/Zag, hence the names of the four main villages of Shkrel: Vrith, Dedaj, Bzheta and Zagora. Vrith was the oldest of the sons, his family grew largest, and its people are Bajraktar of Shkreli. Deda, Leka’s second son, had three sons: Çek Deda, Pap Deda and Vulet Deda. Buzheta, his third son had three sons as well: Preknici, Duci and Prekduci. Leke’s fourth son, Zogu, only had two sons: Andrea and Jusuf/Joseph (this son said to be islamized). When the Shkreli tribe arrived in this region of Albania they found a population that was already there and this population was admitted into the tribe; they are called “Anas”: • Xhaj in Xhaj • Vukaj or Vukelaj in Preknicaj • Kolajt in Zagorë • Baushi or Kapllajt in Dedaj • Luizi in Grykën e Lugjeve • Tuçajt who live in Leskovac Oral traditions and fragmentary stories were collected and interpreted by writers who travelled in the region in the 19th century and early 20th century about the origins of Shkreli. French consul in Shkodra, Hyacinthe Hecquard in his 1858
Histoire et description de la haute Albanie ou Guégarie notes that Shkreli descend from an old
Albanian family in the region of
Pejë, whose chief was called
Kerli (Carl). Sixty years later,
Edith Durham who travelled in the region wrote in
High Albania (1908) that she recorded a story in Shkreli that they came from an unknown region of
Bosnia. In her 1928 book
Some tribal origins, laws, and customs of the Balkans she also notes that this even must have happened around 1600.
Baron Nopcsa, a well-known scholar of the Albanian
fis system, noted that the mention of an unknown region of
Bosnia could well mean an area of the
Sanjak of Novi Pazar or adjacent to it. This region until the late 19th century was administratively part of the
Eyalet of Bosnia. Indeed, Albanian pastoral communities from the
Plav area used to move their herds in Bosnia during the winter months and then move back in the spring and summer months to their natural grazing lands. In the decades that followed analysis of recorded historical material, linguistics and comparative anthropology have provided more historically-grounded accounts. A particularly important work in this respect was the publication of the cadaster of Shkodër of 1416-7 in 1942 and the subsequent registry of names of the cadaster in 1945 by Fulvio Cordignano. The full document was translated into Albanian in 1977. It is the first known historical document that mentions Shkreli both as a settlement and as a family name in 1416. The village of Shkreli appears in the cadaster of Shkodra as a small settlement of eight households headed by a Vlash Shkreli. In 1416, Shkreli appears as a tribe in the process of formation as the village name is also the surname of most of its households, an indication of the kin organization of the settlement.
Scarglieli was mentioned by
Mariano Bolizza in 1614, being part of the
Sanjak of Scutari. It was Roman Catholic, had 20 houses, and 43 men at arms commanded by Gjon Poruba. In the late Ottoman period, the tribe of Shkreli consisted of 180 Muslim and 320 Catholic households. In 1901, in a study conducted by Italian Antonio Baldacci, Shkreli has 4,500 Catholic and 750 Muslim citizens. In years 1916–1918 Franz Seiner observed Shkreli had 415 houses, 2,680 individuals: 2,300 Catholics and 388 Muslims. During the Ottoman Empire, the Shkreli tribe was in constant warfare with the Empire and enjoyed intermittent autonomy from the Porte. Years at war 1614, 1621, 1645 (which won them autonomy until 1700), 1803-1817,1834-1840, 1871 war with Turks of Shkodra over mistreatment of local Catholic population of city, Albanian revolts in 1910–1911, etc. Shkreli tribe participated in the League of Prizren 1878-1881 represented by Bajraktar Marash Dashi. During the
Albanian revolt of 1911 on 23 June Albanian tribesmen and other revolutionaries gathered in Montenegro and drafted the
Greçë Memorandum demanding Albanian sociopolitical and linguistic rights with four of the signatories being from Shkreli. Before converting to
Islam in the 18th century, most of the Kosovo part of tribe professed
Catholicism. The descendants of this tribe in Kosovo have also maintained the
Albanian language as their mother tongue. A majority of the Shkreli tribe is Catholic, speaks Albanian and they live in Albania (Shkrel-Shkodër-Lezha-Velipoj) and Montenegro (Ulcinj). The Tribes Patron Saint is St. Nicholas and feast day is celebrated on May 9. ==Emigration==