Lale Drekalov

Lale Drekalov (Serbian Cyrillic: Лале Дрекалов, fl. 1608-1614) was a chieftain of the Kuči tribe in the Zeta nahija. His father was chieftain Drekale and his mother, the daughter of a local chieftain.^[1] Raised Catholic, he converted to Serbian Orthodoxy following an agreement with Ruvim II, Metropolitan of Cetinje.^[2] Soon afterward, the majority of his clansmen 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] His father Drekale 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