Lale Drekalov

Lale Drekalov (Albanian: Lalë Drekali) (fl. 1608-1614) was a chieftain of the Kuči tribe in the Zeta nahiya. His father was Drekale, an Albanian leader and his mother, the daughter of a local Montenegrin chieftain.^[1] Raised Catholic, he converted to Serbian Orthodoxy following an agreement with Montenegrin prince-bishop (vladika) Ruvim II Boljević.^[2] Soon afterward, the majority of his clansman in Kuči followed suit. He participated in the two councils of Serbian Patriarch Jovan II Kantul, in which the Serbian clan chiefs met and planned war on the Ottoman Empire; in the Morača monastery (1608), and in Kuči (1613). According to Mariano Bolizza (1614), he and Niko Raičkov held 490 houses of the Chuzzi Albanesi (Albanian Kuči, a village of predominantly Roman Catholic religion), with 1,500 soldiers, described as "very war-like and courageous". They were among the 11 highland villages that actively fought against the Ottoman Empire; others included Vasojevići, Bjelopavlići, Kelmendi and Hoti. He married a daughter or sister of a Bratonožići voivode, Pejo Stanojev,^[1] with whom he had four sons: Vujoš, Iliko, Čejo and Mijo.^[2] He is the eponymous founder of the Drekalovići, a brotherhood of the Kuči clan.

Sources

• Pavle S. Radusinović, "O nekim pitanjima migracije stanovništva i etnokulturnih odnosa na teritoriji Stare Zete, odnosno Sjeverne Albanije i dijela Crne Gore", Zbornik radova sa međunarodnog naučnog skupa održanog na Cetinju 21, 22. i 23. juna 1990. godine