Mataruge

The Mataruge are an extinct tribe of non-Slavic origin recorded at the end of medieval period in the region of modern-day Montenegro and Albania.[1] Different version of their name include Matranga and Matarango.[2] The name Mataruge is derived from the name of the spears used by warriors from this tribe.[1] It is assumed that they belong to group of indigenous Balkan tribes which were first partially or completely Romanized and then Slavicized.

According to legends, Mataruge were only a part of larger, regarded the oldest, tribe of the region, the Španje.[3] It is assumed that ancient tribes of Balkans were already completely or partially Romanized before Slavs overwhelmed them at the end of the 6th century.[4] When they received an influx of Serbs into their society, Mataruge mixed with them.[5] It is assumed that they imposed name of their tribe to some groups of Serbs.[5] Mataruge were frequently mentioned in historical documents of 14th and 15th century as a pasture society, with some of the most prominent of them being organizers of caravans for transport of salt and other goods from the seaside into mainlands.[6] The Albanian noble family of Mataranga is mentioned since 13th century.[1] In the regions of Grahovo, (Old Herzegovina) the Mataruge were mentioned between 1318 and 1398.[7] With the Ottoman advance in their region, Mataruge, together with other ancient tribes, such as Kriči and Macure, migrated from Montenegro to the west and north-west.[8] According to some late 19th century legends, the Mataruge were one of the brotherhoods of the Kriči tribe.[9]

In Bosnian scholarship,[10][11][12] and according to Karl Kaser, the Mataruge during the late medieval period are attributed to a Vlach and/or Albanian background, or being a combination of both peoples, that emerged out of Romanized and semi-Romanized indigenous Balkan tribes.[13]

Names of many toponyms in Montenegro and Serbia are derived from the name of this tribe, such as Mataruška Banja, Mataruge in Pljevlja and Mataruge in Kraljevo.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Vukanović 1974, p. 228.
  2. ↑ Društvo 1965, p. 237.
  3. ↑ GZM 1977, p. 20.
  4. ↑ OZO 1974, p. 169.
  5. 1 2 Cetinjski muzej 1977, p. 96.
  6. ↑ ND 1993, p. 74.
  7. ↑ Cvijić, p. 53.
  8. ↑ SGZ 1962, p. 7.
  9. ↑ Зечевић, p. 96.
  10. ↑ Naučno društvo Bosne i Hercegovine (1965). Centar za balkanološka ispitivanja. p. 145. "su »nesumnjivo nasleđena od starih plemena ilirsko-romanskih starose- delaca Vlaha ili Arbanasa, kao npr. današnja plemena Kuci, možda Bratonožići, Sotondći, Paštrovići i dr., i negdašnja imena Mataguži, Ma-taruge, Bukumiri i dr.«224. [are »"no doubt inherited from ancient Illyrian tribes-the Roman old dwellers- part Vlach or Albanians, for example. Today's tribe Kuci, perhaps Bratonožići, Sotondći, Paštrovići etc., and former names Mataguži, Ma- taruge, Bukumiri and others. «224.]"
  11. ↑ Radovi odjeljenje društvenih nauka (1983). Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine. p. 95. "Pojedine istaknute družine su, po etničkom poreklu svog jezgra i, nesumnjivo, pretežnog dela svog sastava, bile arbanaske (Tuzi, Hoti, Mataguži, Pamalioti, Tronsi (Trompsi), Krampsi, Mogulsi, Bitidosi i drugi), a Arbanasi su, bar u staroj srpskoj državi, imali isti, ili približno isti, društveni položaj kakv su imali i Vlasi. [Some prominent families were, by ethnicity of its core and, undoubtedly, the substantial part of their composition, were Albanian (Tuzi, Hoti, Mataguži, Pamalioti, Tronsi (Trompsi), Krampsi, Mogulsi, Bitidosi i drugi) and Albanian, at least in the old Serbian state would have the same, or nearly the same, the social position they were at and with Vlachs too.]"
  12. ↑ Mulić, Jusuf (2005). "O nekim posebnostima vezanim za postupak prihataanja Islama u Bosni i netačnostima koje mu se pripisuju." Anali Gazi Husrev-begove biblioteke. 23-24: 184. "U popisima, Arbanasi su iskazivani zajedno s Vlasima. To otežava uvid u moguće razlike kod prihvatanja islama od strane Vlaha i Arbanasa. Jedino se kod plemena za koja se izrijekom zna da su arbanaška, mogla utvrditi pojavnost u prihvatanju islama (Bjelopavlići, Burmazi, Grude, Hoti, Klimente/Koeljmend, Kuči, Macure, Maine, Malonšići/Malonze, Mataruge/Mataronge i Škrijelji). [In the lists, Albanians are reported together with Vlachs. This makes studying the possible differences in the acceptance of Islam by Vlachs and Albanians. Only with the tribes that are specifically known to be Albanian, could establish the occurrence of the acceptance of Islam (Bjelopavlići, Burmazi, Grude, Hoti, Klimenta / Koeljmend, Maine, Macura, Maine, Malonšići/Malonzo, Mataruge/Mataronge and Škrijelj).]"
  13. ↑ Kaser, Karl (2012). Household and Family in the Balkans: Two Decades of Historical Family Research at University of Graz. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 978-3-643-50406-7. p.117. "The Illyrian people escaping Romanization probably became the core of the later Albanian population; the Romanized Illyrian people, through a process completed by Roman colonists, were the origin of the later Vlach population. This means that the latter-day Vlachs are, so to speak, the successors of the Roman and Romanized Illyrian population. Just as the Germanic Anglo-Saxons had called the Romanized Celts ‘Welsh’ and their land ‘Wales’, or the Germanic tribes one day to be French had called them ‘Walloon’, so the Slavs called these Illyrians and other Latinized populations ‘Vlach’ (Hammel 1993: 5). The populations of the western parts of the Balkans were able to continue their normal life only until the arrival of the Slavs in the second half of the 6th century. The Slavs (together with the Avars) more or less completely destroyed the existing Roman culture, its cities and churches. We know in detail, for instance, how they unsuccessfully besieged the Greek city of Thessaloniki and completely destroyed the Roman city of Salona near the later city of Split (on the Adriatic coast). The Roman and Romanized population fled mainly to the mountainous regions (Southern and Central Dinaric and Northern Pindus range) where they survived and kept their Roman identity as pastoral nomads. They mixed with the indigenous Illyrian/Albanian population of the mountains. As such they were later on called ‘Vlachs’ (as to the origin of this term, there are many theories). For centuries Albanians and Vlachs dominated the higher levels of the Southern/Central Dinaric and Northern Pindus ranges, while the Slavs and Greeks dominated the plains. The former developed special technical skills of herding and certain forms of social organization and cooperation. But we know almost nothing about that until the 11th century because of the poverty of the archaeological sources and the lack of written historical sources. Information from the 11th to the 14th centuries shows that the highest concentration of Vlach and Albanian mountain populations was between the mountainous part of Herzegovina (part of today’s Bosnia-Herzegovina) and the lonian sea’s Gulf of Arta in Northern Greece, including the mountainous regions of Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Epiros, Thessaly and Macedonia. The Albanian core region in the north and south was flanked by territories occupied by Vlachs. From the 11th century onward we have strong evidence about Vlach summer pastures in the Northern Pindus and their winter pastures in the plains of Thessaly and Southern Macedonia. In the 11th century Byzantine writers called this region Megali Vlachia (Greater Vlachia) and a part of Epiros was known as ‘Upper Vlach Country’ (Wace & Thompson 1971: 258-259; Weigand 1898: 13; Antonijević 1982: 28-29; Beuermann 1967: 174-175). Moreover, there is also strong evidence of Vlach presence in Herzegovina and, to a degree, in Montenegro. Linguistic investigation of toponymies and ethnonymies makes it certain that an autochthonous stratum of Roman population (Vlachs) lived there before the Slavs (Serbs) moved in (during the late medieval period) and slowly assimilated the Vlachs. Many Vlach lineages organized in special pastoral units are known by name. The Slavic oral tradition of these areas, even in the 20th century, still preserves knowledge of a pre-Slavic population, called ‘Lužani’, ‘Špani’, ‘Kauri’, ‘Latini’, ‘Mataruge’ or ‘Mataguži’ (Kulišić 1980: 7-26; Palavestra 1965-66: 24-34; Hrabak 1956: 37-39)."

Sources

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