Montenegrins Their Albanian Origin
Montenegrin’s – Their Albanian Origin</p>
Slavic invasions certainly decreased the enormous territory of Illyria, which according to APPIAN (The Foreign Wars Ill. 1.1) extended from Istri (modern Danube) to as far as Chaonia and Thesproti (precisely, Ambracia bay). A large portion of the northern Illyrian population shifted farther south in the rocky mountains of northern Albania, where their culture and ethnic identity survive today, an Illyrian identity which is represented by the modern Albanians.</p>
As Prince Nicholas of Vasoyevich states in his notes:</p>
‘... High Albania is a perfect natural Fortress that no power has ever been able to subdue or Conquer ‘. However, a considerable number of the Illyrian population did not move, but stayed in their territories for centuries. This population came to withstand Slavization up to the last few centuries. This includes the population of Herzegovina and Montenegro, who even are linguistically Slavic, although in many anthropological and ethnological aspects they still retain the old substance of their ties with Albanians (the last Illyrians not assimilated) and the evidence is more than clear.</p>
Medieval chronicles speak of a Albanian nation stretching from highlands of Herzegovina and up to Aetolia in south. A large number of foreign geographers have specified that the border of Albania touched present day Herzegovina. Thus, the prominent Danish geographer Condrad Malte Brun (1755-1826) writes that: “No geographer has determined the extent of Arnaoutlik, a country that borders on Rascia, Macedonia and Bosnia”.</p>
‘The country now called Albania is difficult of definition. It was at first confined to the little district of Albanopolis,* (now Albassan) in Southern Illyricum, afterwards called New Epirus….so that in the present day it borders to the N. upon Bosnia, to the E. upon Macedonia and Thessaly, to the S. upon Acaruania and the Ambracian Gulf, to the W. upon the lonian Sea and the Adriatic‘, says Thomas S.Hughes. Meanwhile, James Henry Skeene gives almost the same line description:</p>
‘Their country extends from the frontier of the Austrian territory of the Montenegro Cattaro round, Which may be considered an independent state, and, following the ridges Which Unite to Mount Scardus it, it reaches the Herzegovina, while it is bounded on the south by the river DRINO ‘.</p>
These geographers that underline the fact that Albania’s borders stretched until Herzegovina have not done only geographical level descriptions. The basis of these claims, have been supported by the fact that culturally, the population of these countries (Montenegro and Herzegovina) are equivalent with Albanians.</p>
Robert Elsie & Janice Mathie-Heck in their book ‘Songs of the frontier warriors‘ underline the epic character of these legendary songs of Northern Albania, an epic which also characterizes the populations (today Slavicized) of Montenegro and Herzegovina. Not only this, but also other aspects of collective behavior of Montenegrins are similar to those of Albanians. Edmund Spencer says:</p>
‘In personal appearance the mountaineers of Tchernegora rather resemble their neighbors in Albania, than their brethren in Servia; there is the same nervous, lofty form, animated expression, and a certain degree of saucy audacity in their manners and bearing; they have also imbibed from their neighbors many of their customs and manners, particularly the belief in retributive justice, and that blood can only be expiated by blood, consequently sanguinary conflicts frequently break out between different tribes‘.</p>
Even, one of the typical Albanian dances, the Sword Dance (which stems directly from ancient Pyrrhic dance that has its roots in Albanian Epirus) also played in Montenegro and Bosnia. Spencer continues:</p>
‘The Athenian dance described by Homer, although somewhat modified, is still the dance of this people the ” Kolo.” Even the ” Pyrrhic” may be seen danced here, as well as in Tchernegoria, Bosnia and Albania.‘</p>
The marked distinction between the Serbs and the Montenegrins was pointed out by Prof. Savo Birkovic in a recent work: ‘0 postanku i rasvoju Crnogorske nacje, Graficki Zavod, Titograd, 1980. M.E. Durham (1863-1944), who traveled widely in Albania and Montenegro and devoted much time to the study of Montenegrin and Albanian tribes, came to the conclusion that the Montenegrin is not so much a Slav as a Slavicized descendant of the older inhabitants, i.e., of Vlachs, and Albanians (see Some Tribal Origins, Laws, and Customs in the Balkans, London, 1928, PP. 13-59). That the Montenegrin tribes were originally Albanian tribes was already indicated by K. Jirecek, “Albanien in der Vergangenheit,” Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen, (Munchen und Leipzig 1916, p. 69).</p>
Perhaps of particular importance is the anthropological aspect of similarity between Albanians and Montenegrins (Slavicized Albanians). Carleton Coon (1904-1981) president of the ‘American Association of Physical Anthropologists’ underlines the fact that:</p>
‘The Montenegrins, who are the tallest people in Europe … are linguistically Serbs, but there can be no question that they are to a large extent Slavicized Albanians; the Cultural Continuity between the two Peoples is striking, the only real differences being those of language and religion ‘.</p>
—————————-
1. Appian, The Foreign Wars
2. Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich: ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania,
in particular on the Independent Mountains’
3. Condrad Malte Brun ‘Universal geography: or A description of all parts of the world’
4. Thomas Smart Hughes ‘TRAVELS IN GREECE AND ALBANIA’ 1830
5. James Henry Skeene ‘The Albanians’ 1848
6. Edmund Spencer ‘Travels in European Turkey, in 1850: through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria’
7. Savo Birkovic ‘0 postanku i rasvoju Crnogorske nacje, Graficki Zavod, Titograd, 1980
8. Edith Durham ‘Some Tribal Origins, Laws, and Customs in the Balkans’, London, 1928
9. K. Jirecek, “Albanien in der Vergangenheit,” Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen, (Munchen und Leipzig 1916, p. 69).
10. Carleton Stev
Ky artikull eshte marre nga: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=94. Per me shume artikuj te ngjashem vizitoni: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=94
Montenegrin’s – Their Albanian Origin</p>
Slavic invasions certainly decreased the enormous territory of Illyria, which according to APPIAN (The Foreign Wars Ill. 1.1) extended from Istri (modern Danube) to as far as Chaonia and Thesproti (precisely, Ambracia bay). A large portion of the northern Illyrian population shifted farther south in the rocky mountains of northern Albania, where their culture and ethnic identity survive today, an Illyrian identity which is represented by the modern Albanians.</p>
As Prince Nicholas of Vasoyevich states in his notes:</p>
‘... High Albania is a perfect natural Fortress that no power has ever been able to subdue or Conquer ‘. However, a considerable number of the Illyrian population did not move, but stayed in their territories for centuries. This population came to withstand Slavization up to the last few centuries. This includes the population of Herzegovina and Montenegro, who even are linguistically Slavic, although in many anthropological and ethnological aspects they still retain the old substance of their ties with Albanians (the last Illyrians not assimilated) and the evidence is more than clear.</p>
Medieval chronicles speak of a Albanian nation stretching from highlands of Herzegovina and up to Aetolia in south. A large number of foreign geographers have specified that the border of Albania touched present day Herzegovina. Thus, the prominent Danish geographer Condrad Malte Brun (1755-1826) writes that: “No geographer has determined the extent of Arnaoutlik, a country that borders on Rascia, Macedonia and Bosnia”.</p>
‘The country now called Albania is difficult of definition. It was at first confined to the little district of Albanopolis,* (now Albassan) in Southern Illyricum, afterwards called New Epirus….so that in the present day it borders to the N. upon Bosnia, to the E. upon Macedonia and Thessaly, to the S. upon Acaruania and the Ambracian Gulf, to the W. upon the lonian Sea and the Adriatic‘, says Thomas S.Hughes. Meanwhile, James Henry Skeene gives almost the same line description:</p>
‘Their country extends from the frontier of the Austrian territory of the Montenegro Cattaro round, Which may be considered an independent state, and, following the ridges Which Unite to Mount Scardus it, it reaches the Herzegovina, while it is bounded on the south by the river DRINO ‘.</p>
These geographers that underline the fact that Albania’s borders stretched until Herzegovina have not done only geographical level descriptions. The basis of these claims, have been supported by the fact that culturally, the population of these countries (Montenegro and Herzegovina) are equivalent with Albanians.</p>
Robert Elsie & Janice Mathie-Heck in their book ‘Songs of the frontier warriors‘ underline the epic character of these legendary songs of Northern Albania, an epic which also characterizes the populations (today Slavicized) of Montenegro and Herzegovina. Not only this, but also other aspects of collective behavior of Montenegrins are similar to those of Albanians. Edmund Spencer says:</p>
‘In personal appearance the mountaineers of Tchernegora rather resemble their neighbors in Albania, than their brethren in Servia; there is the same nervous, lofty form, animated expression, and a certain degree of saucy audacity in their manners and bearing; they have also imbibed from their neighbors many of their customs and manners, particularly the belief in retributive justice, and that blood can only be expiated by blood, consequently sanguinary conflicts frequently break out between different tribes‘.</p>
Even, one of the typical Albanian dances, the Sword Dance (which stems directly from ancient Pyrrhic dance that has its roots in Albanian Epirus) also played in Montenegro and Bosnia. Spencer continues:</p>
‘The Athenian dance described by Homer, although somewhat modified, is still the dance of this people the ” Kolo.” Even the ” Pyrrhic” may be seen danced here, as well as in Tchernegoria, Bosnia and Albania.‘</p>
The marked distinction between the Serbs and the Montenegrins was pointed out by Prof. Savo Birkovic in a recent work: ‘0 postanku i rasvoju Crnogorske nacje, Graficki Zavod, Titograd, 1980. M.E. Durham (1863-1944), who traveled widely in Albania and Montenegro and devoted much time to the study of Montenegrin and Albanian tribes, came to the conclusion that the Montenegrin is not so much a Slav as a Slavicized descendant of the older inhabitants, i.e., of Vlachs, and Albanians (see Some Tribal Origins, Laws, and Customs in the Balkans, London, 1928, PP. 13-59). That the Montenegrin tribes were originally Albanian tribes was already indicated by K. Jirecek, “Albanien in der Vergangenheit,” Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen, (Munchen und Leipzig 1916, p. 69).</p>
Perhaps of particular importance is the anthropological aspect of similarity between Albanians and Montenegrins (Slavicized Albanians). Carleton Coon (1904-1981) president of the ‘American Association of Physical Anthropologists’ underlines the fact that:</p>
‘The Montenegrins, who are the tallest people in Europe … are linguistically Serbs, but there can be no question that they are to a large extent Slavicized Albanians; the Cultural Continuity between the two Peoples is striking, the only real differences being those of language and religion ‘.</p>
—————————-
1. Appian, The Foreign Wars
2. Nicolay, Prince of the Vasoyevich: ‘Brief Information on the Tribes of High Albania,
in particular on the Independent Mountains’
3. Condrad Malte Brun ‘Universal geography: or A description of all parts of the world’
4. Thomas Smart Hughes ‘TRAVELS IN GREECE AND ALBANIA’ 1830
5. James Henry Skeene ‘The Albanians’ 1848
6. Edmund Spencer ‘Travels in European Turkey, in 1850: through Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria’
7. Savo Birkovic ‘0 postanku i rasvoju Crnogorske nacje, Graficki Zavod, Titograd, 1980
8. Edith Durham ‘Some Tribal Origins, Laws, and Customs in the Balkans’, London, 1928
9. K. Jirecek, “Albanien in der Vergangenheit,” Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen, (Munchen und Leipzig 1916, p. 69).
10. Carleton Stev
Ky artikull eshte marre nga: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=94. Per me shume artikuj te ngjashem vizitoni: http://www.albpelasgian.com/?p=94