The Discovery of Albania

Travel Writing and Anthropology in the Nineteenth Century Balkans

Johann George von Hahn, Robert Elsie

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781784532925
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780857738189
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Johann Georg von Hahn - a nineteenth-century Austrian diplomat and explorer - is generally considered to be the founder of Albanian Studies as a scholarly discipline. It was he who first studied the Balkan country and its people, and who brought them to the attention of the academic world. Despite this acclaim, his work has not been widely available in English until now. In this volume, Robert Elsie has translated Hahn's most important works relating to his travels and studies in Albania during the mid-nineteenth century. Hahn's interests were broad, but he was especially interested in the tribes of Albania and Kosovo and made several ethnographic studies of the cultures and traditions of the tribes he encountered on his travels - including the Kelmendi, Hoti and Kastrati tribes. This volume will be invaluable readers for scholars of Balkan history and anthropology.

PART I

TRAVEL WRITINGS

TRAVELS THROUGH ALBANIA

In June 1847, Hahn was appointed Austrian vice-consul in Janina. Among his duties was to find out more about Albania. He began learning the language and gathering information on the country's history, philology and folklore. His major journey through this ‘terra incognita’ took place from late July to November 1850. Hahn travelled through Gjirokastra, Vlora, Durrës, Elbasan, Kruja, Lezha and Shkodra to Ulcinj/Ulqin and Kotor, from where he continued by ship, returning to Vienna in late November 1850 to present his report. The following are excerpts from Volume 1 of Albanian Studies.

The Population of the Vale of Gjirokastra

This valley is formed by two almost parallel chains of limestone mountains, the highest peaks of which reach up to about 4,000 feet. They extend from south-southeast to north-northwest and look uninterrupted because the side valleys of the Suha [Shuka]¹ to the east and the Kardhiq [Gardiki] stream to the west stretch in such a manner that one does not notice them with the naked eye. Between the two chains there is a fertile valley that is about ten hours in length and about one and a half hours in width at its broadest point. Through it runs a river that according to the inhabitants has no name although it is the main source of water in the region. Foreigners have named it after the capital of the region, Gjirokastra [Argyrokastron].

The southern continuation of the valley is in more of a north–south direction and is divided by ranges of hills, if I am not mistaken, into three parallel valleys, the most westerly of which is quite charming. The valley and the creek flowing in it are called Dropull [Δρóπoλιϛ]. The creeks in these valleys, of which at least the two farthest ones are dry in the summer, form the said river into which they flow.

About two hours before the river flows into the Vjosa [Wiússa], the two chains of mountains approach one another, and the riverbed is so constricted by two protruding cliffs at the Subashi Bridge that one gains the impression that the valley was blocked here in earlier days and that its floor was once a lake until the water in it finally broke its way through the cliffs. From there onwards, the valley remains narrow (although there is room here and there for fields, broad and narrow), until it enters the wide valley of the Vjosa, into which the Drino [Dryno] flows about half an hour above Tepelena [Tepelén].

To the north of the Kardhiq creek, i.e. to the east of the river, the mountains rise to stony pinnacles that form a rugged highland, as will be described in a subsequent section. The western chain divides the valley of Gjirokastra from a smaller and more rugged valley that bears the Slavic name of Zagoria [Çagoria].

The Gjirokastra region is among the most densely populated in Albania and the structure of its population is so curious that it merits closer attention. The southern part of the valley is Greek and the northern part is Albanian, and the language border crosses the valley at about the middle.

The border between the two ethnic groups is much clearer here than in the west and south of the country where the two groups are mostly mixed. The language border is all the more curious because there is no natural barrier that would have created it. It seems to be an accident of human settlement.

Seen by an outside observer, the Albanian and Greek languages here and elsewhere in the country resemble the relationship between the German and French languages. That is to say, of fifty Albanians who can speak Greek, there is hardly one Greek to be found who can speak Albanian. Greek is the literary language of the Tosks, and their nomadic lifestyle may have helped them learn it. In general, the Albanians feel they are doing themselves a favour by learning Greek, whereas the Greeks look down upon the Albanian language as a barbaric idiom.

The Greek population is entirely Christian whereas the Albanians are partly Muslim. Gjirokastra and Libohova are inhabited by Muslim and Christian Albanians, the former of which constitute the overwhelming majority. The Greeks are considered foreigners here. The inhabitants of Nepravishta [Pravista] and Kardhiq and all the villages in Kurvelesh are Muslim. On the other hand, the villages of handicraftsmen in Lunxheria [Ljuntscherei] and Riza [Riça] on the northern part of the eastern side are Christian as are all the farming villages of the northern, i.e. Albanian, half of the valley.

Aside from the differences in ethnicity and religion, the population is also divided into different groups according to their trades, and such divisions are so remarkable that we must take a closer look at them.

All of the landed gentry of the region live in Gjirokastra. They own all the villages on the plain and they also have other property outside the valley. They live in high-rising solid homes that have only loopholes and embrasures on the main floor, but high windows on the third and fourth floors. The courtyards are protected by high solid walls, and the heavy gates are usually in double rows. The outer gate leads to a small forecourt that can be reached from everywhere in the interior of the house. The inner courtyard is situated so that one cannot see it from the other courtyard. These buildings much resemble the town manors of the Middle Ages and even the primitive, though characteristic style in which they are constructed is more attuned to the West than to the Orient.

The lifestyle of the inhabitants was, at least in earlier times, not unlike that of our knights. Individuals of means all spent their income on maintaining as many retainers as possible. With these retainers, they went to war whenever the sultan so commanded or whenever they entered the service of the pashas and potentates of the empire as mercenaries. In peacetime, when the parties who had divided the town up among themselves were in conflict – and this situation was often the norm – they used their retainers to protect their homes and wasted a lot of gunpowder by shooting from behind their walls at the embrasures of the neighbouring houses with which they were in conflict. As they all remained behind protective walls, blood was rarely spilled in the urban wars.

The lesser families were involved from time to time in highway robbery when the outlook was promising and whenever they could do so in secret. The aristocrats, for their part, never indulged in such activities openly as they did in Western Europe. It was more a pastime of the lesser families. Like the Roman knights, the aristocrats had another form of income better than warfare. This was profiteering from the imposition of customs, tithes and monopolies that were their exclusive domain. Usually, rival domains arose that supported various political groupings. This pastime has continued among Albanian aristocrats up to the present day and is still their prime occupation.

The landed aristocracy that keeps the mercenaries and collects the taxes was and, of course, is always faithful to the religion in power. The lower orders which are made up of fighters from the town and its surroundings gather around these wealthy landowners and make their living – some as soldiers and others as tax collectors. The more adventuresome characters among them engaged in soldiering and tax collecting for their own benefit. Few Muslims of the town engaged in commerce or manufacturing because these professions were not considered respectable in the past and were considered the domain of the Christian population.

The Muslims residing in the fine towns of Libohova and Nepravishta on the eastern side of the valley are closely related to the inhabitants of Gjirokastra by virtue of their customs, lifestyle and party politics. On the other hand, the Muslim inhabitants of Kardhiq and the Christian inhabitants of Hormova – places that achieved tragic fame from the terrible vengeance wreaked upon them by Ali Pasha – engage more in mercenary activities. The men of Hormova were also well-known as robbers. Their village is strategically situated in the above-mentioned gorge, such that travellers journeying northwards usually preferred the difficult, though hardly less dangerous trail through the mountains of Kurvelesh. The men of Hormova are by no means the only example of southern Albanian warriors who have remained faithful to the Christian religion. The Christian inhabitants of Zagoria that borders on this valley to the north-east and the region of Himara [Chimara] that is situated in the coastal Acroceraunian region also make their living for the most part as mercenaries. Such mercenary activities are common throughout Kurvelesh. However, most of the exclusively Muslim population are shepherds. Farming is less important because there are few fields and the soil is not rich. They say that Kurvelesh produces enough bread for eight months in a good year and four months in a bad year. The rest must be bought.

The slopes of the eastern mountain range are not as steep as those on the western side. They therefore offer more space and, here and there, one finds larger fields although the soil is far less fertile than in the valley itself. However, the land produces enough to make farming worthwhile here. This is particularly true of the middle section across from Gjirokastra, which is known as Lunxheria. There are nine prosperous independent villages with houses scattered about over a broad expanse, in typical Albanian fashion, and surrounded by groves of trees. However, their Christian inhabitants are not farmers. The soil is not good enough for this occupation. They are labourers who do their work abroad, not at home. The population of Lunxheria therefore usually consists of women, children, old people and the ailing who are left to work in the fields and, in particular, in the many vineyards, and take care of the houses. All able-bodied men go abroad and only return rarely to visit their homeland.

The same custom is to be found in the region of Riza to the north. Of the eleven villages there, that are located on the eastern side of the above-mentioned passes, six are inhabited by migrant labourers. The other four villages are so-called çifligia, i.e. they belong to Muslim landowners whose land is farmed by tithe farmers.

The people of Lunxheria are butchers, gardeners and occasionally merchants. A few families in the three villages of Lunxheria and in the two villages of Riza are hydraulic experts who since time immemorial have tended, as a guild, to the water pipes in Constantinople and therefore enjoy various privileges accorded to them in imperial fermans. Almost all of the men of Lunxheria work in Constantinople.

The men of Riza, on the other hand, are mostly textile merchants. There are also weavers among them. Several families have inherited skills in the art of healing. There is also some change from one profession to the other. For instance, the inhabitants of Labova [Ljabovo] were once all weavers. Now the weavers are in the minority. The majority deal in textiles. One of the families there, the Mihanchulates, who were almost certainly immigrants, were formerly shepherds. Now they all work for the same textile merchant.

These two regions are not the only homes of migrant Epirots. The aforementioned men of Zagoria and Himara spend their lives abroad as mercenaries. The Greek-speaking inhabitants of Delvinaki, whose region borders to the north of Zagoria and stretches in the west to the eastern side of the mountains of Gjirokastra, seek employment abroad as butchers and gardeners. They find most of their work in Constantinople. In the regions of Pogoniani, the capital of which is Delvinaki, and of Kurrendo, there are few villages in which the men do not work abroad.

The valley of the lake of Janina is bordered on its eastern side by a range of barren mountains that divides it from the Zagoria region. It comprises forty-four villages that, with the exception of a few farming settlements, are all inhabited by bakers, shopkeepers, publicans, physicians and tax collectors. There is hardly a town in European Turkey, in the kingdom of Greece or along the coast of Asia Minor that does not have a colony of labourers from Zagoria. They are even to be found in the remotest corners of Asia.

The same can be said of house-builders (for they are masons and carpenters at the same time) from central Albania, in particular from the regions of Kolonja and Dibra. There, not only whole villages but whole regions have one and the same profession. All the men in European Turkey and in the kingdom of Greece who build walls, fell trees and saw lumber are from Albania, almost without exception. There are areas that are inhabited exclusively by traditional woodcutters, sawmill people and diggers. These professions are carried out by journeymen who wander in groups under their master craftsmen and take pack animals with them to carry the material they need. It is said that there are 6,000 Epirot labourers employed in Constantinople and the surrounding region.

Most of the masons, carpenters and diggers return home around the time of the feast of Saint George and depart again at the feast of Saint Demetrius because they believe that they can only maintain good health if they spend the summer in the mountain air of their villages. This may be quite true because, at least in Greece, Thessaly and Macedonia, the number of villages that are considered unhealthy in summer is probably greater than the number of villages considered healthy. The above-mentioned labourers prefer to carry out their work in one spot, or at least in one area, but only return there the next year if they have not found something better. Where they go for work is thus an important issue for them. The groups emigrating for work under a master craftsman usually stay together, although it does happen that members of one group join another, or that a whole group breaks up, though this gives them a bad reputation. The groups can join forces for major work, but more often than not, they separate into smaller groups and work in different places at the same time. A group of masons rarely consists of less than twenty men. Woodcutters are often in larger groups, and diggers from northern Albania often consist of over 100 men in a group. The master craftsman arranges the contracts and is often not on site with them so that he can look around for more work. The contracts usually involve a certain amount of money for a cubic ell [0.36 m²], which is the equivalent of two feet, but there are also contracts for day wages or for the job as a whole.

Merchants and urban handicraftsmen are not as consistent concerning the periods in which they return and stay in their home villages, and can be abroad for decades on end. Mention is made of a very rich merchant from Zagoria near Janina who died recently. He set off for his place of business a few days after getting married and only returned to see his wife twelve years later. This type of profession does not usually involve much movement because merchants tend to do their business in one place where they are considered to be local inhabitants.

The men of Epirus are usually industrious and thrifty, prosper easily and are thus able to provide their families with a certain degree of prosperity. For this reason, one sees a lot of impressive houses in such emigrant villages and many of the inhabitants dress in fine, colourful textiles, whereas the peasants tend to wear colourless homespun garments of wool and cotton. Many of the merchants from this region have attained great wealth. In Epirus one thus finds whole regions consisting of families whose men are working abroad as labourers and merchants, and whose professions are handed down from father to son. […]

Finally, let us turn to the last group among the inhabitants of this valley. These are the farmers. Like everywhere else, they are at the proverbial bottom of the barrel. All the farmers, without exception, are tenant farmers since the land they work on belongs to Muslim owners in the towns. As elsewhere in the Orient, the harvest is usually divided into three parts: two parts for the farmer and one part for the landowner. There is no serfdom in the Ottoman Empire as such. Legally, the tenants have the right to move wherever they want, but in practice they seldom do. It is equally rare for a tenant farmer to be driven off his land by the owner. The sons usually take part in the farm work with their fathers. If there are only daughters in a family, it is the husband of the eldest daughter who inherits the farm. There is no right to force tenants to work, but the Muslim landowners usually take the female personnel off the land. Acts of violence are occasionally committed by these landowners against the girls and women, but they are not approved of. The relationship between the landowners and the farmers is, however, usually patriarchal. The farmers regard their landowner as their protector and advisor to whom they can turn in times of need and who can represent them in contacts with the authorities and other persons. Formerly, acts of despotism could only be held in check by custom and tradition, and it is evident that there were occasions when those who did not respect custom and tradition committed terrible crimes and violence. Revolt against tradition is, however, not in the character of the Albanian. […] This latter population group is a class of servile, unpropertied farmers who exert no political weight in the valley.

We have endeavoured here to paint a picture of the various groups into which the population of this valley can be divided on the basis of origin, religion and profession. These divisions lead one to wonder about the relations between the groups. In fact, these groups all live in strict isolation from one another – there are no marriages between them. The members of the groups marry exclusively within their own communities. It may come as no surprise that the Muslims and Christians do not intermarry, although in other regions of Albania, e.g. the district of Vlora [Avlona] such marriages existed at the beginning of the century and they are still no rarity in the isolated regions of northern Albania. But Albanian Christians will not mix with Greek Christians. What is more, no Albanian handicraftsman would ever marry into a family of Albanian farmers. […]

Gjirokastra

In earlier times, this town was a sort of aristocratic republic that paid obedience to its ruler, the pasha of Delvina, to whose pashalik it belonged, but only to the extent that circumstances required. Whenever the pasha in question had great power and was energetic in character, the men of Gjirokastra bowed to his will. Whenever this was not the case, they ignored the reigning governor and lived on their own.

The power of the governor was never so great as to suppress the private squabbles that the men of Gjirokastra indulged in among one another of their own volition, or that they inherited as blood feuds from their fathers. In Ali Pasha's time, there were few houses in Gjirokastra that were free of blood feuds, and the manner of construction of these houses makes it evident that they were designed for protection in bad times.

The proprietors of such houses, who owed blood to someone more powerful, often cowered in them for their entire lives, without ever leaving them, and universal ceasefires were more of an exception in this town. Hardly a day ever went by that two feuding houses were not shooting at one another. Sometimes the whole town was up in arms because there were political conflicts in addition to the private feuds. Whenever an important issue was involved, one party took up arms en masse against the other side. However, these blood feuds calmed do...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• Part I Travel Writings
• Part II Oral Literature and Ethnographic Writings
• Part III Correspondence
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Back Cover