User talk:Zoupan/Slavs in medieval Albania

Slavs settled the Balkans, including what is today Albania, in the Early Middle Ages. Two Slavic states, Bulgaria and Serbia, ruled parts of the country.

Slavic settlement
Sclaveni raided and settled the western Balkans in the 6th and 7th century. The Serbs are mentioned in De Administrando Imperio as having settled the Balkans during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641), however, research does not support that the Serbian tribe was part of this later migration (as held by historiography) rather than migrating with the rest of Slavs. Through linguistical studies, it is concluded that the Early South Slavs were made up of a western and eastern branch, of parallel streams, roughly divided in the Timok–Osogovo–Šar line. Slavic toponymy is widespread in Albania, mainly northern Albania, Slavs having settled there in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Albanian core, Krujë, was surrounded by mixed Slavic–Albanian nomenclature. Vlach and Albanian shepherds, remnants of native populations, lived in the mountains, while Slavs subsequently settled highlands as well. Based on toponymical studies, the Slavs that settled in southern and central Albania were part of the eastern South Slavic group; in the 7th–8th centuries, or a little later, they settled also north of Shkumbin, however, around Shkoder and Drin the western South Slavic group (Serbs) dominated.

Slavs did not came into conflict with the Proto-Albanians and Vlachs, shepherd populations. The nature and character of agrarianism in the South Slavs led to the distribution of work, and socio-economic symbiosis between the groups, leading to social integration in new ethnically mixed feudal formations. At the beginning, the Albanians lived in the mountains, while only later, with population expansions, but mainly with deeper changes in the feudal structure of society, the agrarian population expanded into the mountain zone, adopting the cattle industry, while the mountain population descended into the valleys.

History
Areas of what is today Albania were densely covered by a web of Slavic settlements. The most dense Slavic settlements were in the northwest, in the area of Skadar, and in the central and south provinces in the basins of Devoll and Vjosa (Vojuša).

In the second half of the 11th– and during the 12th century Serbian rule strengthened in areas of what is today Albania. Constantine Bodin (r. 1081–1101) had a residence in Scutari (Skadar). After 1180, Stefan Nemanja took over Skadar, Antivari, Dalcino and some other settlements, and also the whole province (oblast) of Pilot (Palatum), a mountainous area stretching between Skadar and Prizren. Serbia ruled the northwest also during the Angevin kingdom of Albania, and during the reign of Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55) Macedonia, Albania, Epirus and Thessaly were part of the Serbian Empire. The northwest belonged to the Balšić after 1360, while in the 15th century despot Stefan Lazarević held the north.

Communities
A Serb population was present in northwest Albania, confirmed by toponymy, and surnames ending in –ić (as recorded in 1416). The Ottoman defter (tax registry) of 1497 bears witness to the fact that the tribes of Klimenti, Hoti and Kuči were flooded with pure Serb katuns or families, among whom were Miholjani, Pobrežani, Brežani, Ljubicite, Pavlovići, Petrovići, Lješovići, and others.

Slavic toponyms
There are Slavic toponyms throughout Albania, mentioned since the Middle Ages. Many towns with historical Serb population derive their name from the early Middle Ages when Slavs ruled Albania. Examples of Slavic toponyms, are, south of Altin: Tlsto brdo, Dlgoševci, Duga šuma, Radogošta, Dlga, Visoč, Nikolići, Vlahinja, Vranište; in Upper Pilot (Holy Archangels' charter): Bor'c, Brěsnica, Črna gora, Tmna rěka, Mokri dol, Istok, Vranova planina, Zbor, Lěšnik, Běloš, Bobni potok, and others.

Notable people

 * Golem of Kruja (fl. 1250s), nobleman
 * Vlado (fl. 1274–79), nobleman
 * Vladislav Jonima (fl. 1303–19), nobleman
 * John Koukouzelis (1280–1360), composer
 * Konstantin Balšić (fl. 1378–d. 1402), nobleman
 * Pavlo Kurtik (fl. 1431–32), nobleman
 * George Strez Balšić (fl. 1444–57), nobleman
 * Gojko Balšić (fl. 1444), nobleman
 * Ivan Strez Balšić (fl. 1444–69), nobleman
 * Ninac Vukoslavić (fl. 1450–59), scribe
 * Božidar Dušman (fl. 1451), nobleman
 * Vladan Jurica (fl. 1465), nobleman