Post by todhrimencuri on Jun 24, 2010 17:12:32 GMT -5
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Contributions to the Internal History of Albania in the 19th Century
Sultan Mahmud II, who began his rule over the Ottoman Empire in 1808, was responsible for profound changes in the Empire’s political system. Until that time, the system provided for a feudal-based autonomy for the provinces that gave them and the non-Turkish nationals living in them complete freedom, unimpeded by centralism.
The country was administered by traditional families of agas and beys whose positions were inherited. The government in Constantinople, i.e. the sultan and his divan, only exerted its influence in the appointments of high-level officials for the provincial administrations, the positions of sandjak beys, beyler beys and viziers.
Sultan Mahmud wanted to replace this loose autonomist organisation with a strong central administration that would accord better with the reforms introduced into the army. These plans were strongly opposed by the non-Turkish nationals of the empire – the Albanians, Bosnians, Kurds, Syrians and Arabs, and gave rise to major domestic strife that continued until the middle of the nineteenth century […]
When Sultan Mahmud began his reign, Albania was being governed by two viziers. In northern Albania, the Bushatli family had managed to make of their rule an inheritable institution, now in the fourth generation. Mustafa Pasha of Shkodra bore the title Vali of Iskenderiyye (i.e. Shkodra), Ohrid, Elbasan and Dukagjin. The Vizier of Shkodra, from the Bushatli family, thus ruled over the present Vilayet of Shkodra and the Sandjak of Elbasan, Peja (Ipek) – once known as the Sandjak of Dukagjin, and Monastir (Ohrid and surroundings), i.e. all of northern Albania with the exception some eastern districts.
In southern Albania, the Vizier Ali Pasha of Tepelena held sway. He acquired the Pashalik of Janina in 1770 and gradually expanded his rule throughout southern Albania by acquiring dominions for his sons: the Sandjak of Berat for Muhtar Pasha, the Sandjak of Tirhala (Thessaly) for Veli Pasha, and the Pashalik of Lepanto (Aetolia and Acarnania) for Salih Pasha.
The plans and intentions of Sultan Mahmud conflicted in particular with the power of Vizier Ali Pasha of Tepelena. The excesses and brutality of Ali Pasha, and the appeals and submissions of the many enemies he had made gave rise to a conflict between the sultan and his powerful vassal. The bone of contention was the fact that Ali Pasha tried to murder one of his foes, Ismail Pasha Bey, in Constantinople. The sultan summoned Ali Pasha to appear before him within 40 days to justify his actions. Otherwise he would be treated as a rebel. As Ali Pasha did not comply with the order, the sultan deposed him as Vali of Janina and Delvino and sent out a military expedition against him.
The fighting that ensued is described in detail in the book Histoire de la régéneration de la Grèce by the French consul-general in Janina, Hugue Pouqueville, who witnessed the events at first hand and whom I have followed here. After two years of resistance, Ali Pasha surrendered to the Serasker Churshid Pasha, who then broke his promise and had Ali murdered on 5 February 1822, on orders from the sultan.
The overthrow of the vizier of southern Albania was a spark that ignited a great bonfire: the Greek insurrection and their struggle to rid themselves of Turkish rule. In the years from 1821 to 1829, this insurrection, that soon turned into a real war, absorbed all the time and energy of Turkey, in particular since during the time of the war with the Greeks, Turkey was also involved in a war with Russia (1828-1829). In this period, the sultan set aside his endeavours to reform the domestic structures of the Empire.
The Grand Vizier Mehmed Reshid Pasha who led the war against the Greeks in the final years, had had bad experience with the Albanians. All of southern Albania was mobilised as irregulars under their beys and agas in support of the imperial army against the Greeks. Disputes regularly arose between the army high command and the irregular contingents as the Turkish army administration was not able to pay these irregular troops the wages they had earned. The latter mutinied, abandoned their positions, and either took possession of State property or demanded compensation from the local population. These irregular troops going to war or coming back from the war pillaged and plundered the law-abiding subjects of the sultan. All of these problems caused Mehmet Reshid Pasha to hate the Albanians. He made his feelings known to the sultan and it was thus decided to break the haughty pride and independence of the Albanian population and force them into unconditional submission to the government in Constantinople.
These plans were postponed in early 1829 when Mehmed Reshid Pasha was appointed Grand Vizier and commander of the armed forces fighting with Russia. The Russian-Turkish war did not last long since Reshid Pasha was defeated everywhere he encountered the Russians. The Treaty of Adrianopolis was concluded on 26 September 1829 and Reshid Pasha was free to return to his previous activities and satisfy his needs to take vengeance on the Albanians.
He followed the example of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt, who dealt a blow to the Mamelukes, whom he despised, in a massacre in the citadel of Cairo in 1811. This action had the blessing of Sultan Mahmud who copied it in the massacre of the Janissaries at At-Meydan in June 1826.
In June 1830, Reshid Pasha invited all the beys who had served in the Greek war to appear before him in Monastir in order to distribute the outstanding wages of the irregulars sent into battle and in order for him, the Grand Vizier, to have an opportunity to recompense the Albanian leaders for their services. A large number of those summoned did appear, each bey being accompanied by his entourage, a total of about 500 people.
A few days later, the Grand Vizier parade the troops of his garrison in accordance with the European regulations recently introduced in the Turkish army. He invited all the Albanians to watch, but warned some of the ones he was more attached to not to appear. During the drill, the artillery and infantry were lined up across from the group of Albanian leaders and fired several rounds at them, enough to exterminate the whole group of unsuspecting spectators. Among the excellent leaders who perished were Arslan Bey of Karamuratades who had participated in the conquest of Athens, and Veli Bey Gjorosani, who had been Governor of Preveza and Arta.
The massacre of Monastir did not do away with all the Albanian leaders, and the Grand Vizier, Reshid Pasha, began to hunt down the rest. The brother of Arslan Bey, Edhem Bey, and the brother of Veli Bey Gjorosani, Muslim Bey, were in Janina. Reshid Pasha ordered his son, Emin Pasha, who governed the Sandjak of Janina, to summon the two of them to the fortress and slay them. Muslim Bey fell into the trap and was killed, but Edhem Bey was not that easy to deceive. When he heard of the execution of Muslim Bey, he ordered his followers to pillage the town of Janina in revenge and then returned to his native territory. The Governor, Emin Pasha, was unable to stop him.
Aliko Bey Lamci, whom Reshid Pasha wanted to kill too, held out against the Grand Vizier’s troops for twenty days at the monastery of Ostanica in the Pogoniani region, broke through their lines and then escaped into the mountains.
Reshid Pasha was interrupted in this campaign when the Vizier of Shkodra, Mustafa Pasha Bushatli, rose against the Constantinople government. Reshid Pasha left Janina in March 1831 and took command of the forces marching against Mustafa Pasha.
In 1820, on orders from the sultan, Mustafa Pasha of Shkodra had sent his forces against Ali Pasha of Janina, but the moment he crossed the Shkumbin, he was forced to return to Shkodra to defend his territory against the Montenegrins who had invaded, no doubt at the behest of Ali Pasha of Janina. In 1823, on orders from the sultan, Mustafa Pasha sent his troops to the Greek front once again. He advanced to Karpenisi. The well-known figure Marko Boçari was killed in fighting Mustafa Pasha’s troops, who also laid siege to Missolonghi. Mustafa Pasha was later forced to abandon the siege of Missolonghi when the plague broke out among the Anatolian troops and they were left without food and winter clothing due to lack of preparation. Since he was unable to find winter quarters for his men in southern Albania, he was forced to return home.
Sultan Mahmud was furious at the withdrawal of the Vizier of Shkodra and resolved to eliminate him in the same way he had eliminated the Visier of Janina, since Mustafa Pasha, too, was an impediment to the new centralist policies, which included the abolition of local autonomy. Mustafa Pasha learned what the sultan was up to and endeavoured to make sure that he was armed and prepared for the coming fight. He refused to return to the front in the Greek war and, when Russia declared war on Turkey in April 1828, Mustafa Pasha delayed the deployment of his contingent for quite a while. He only appeared anywhere near the battlefront after the conquest of Adrianople (30 August 1829), when General Diebich was advancing on Lule-Burgas and Çorlu, almost at the gates of Constantinople.
Those who opposed the sultan’s policies stored their hopes in the army of Mustafa Pasha. They hoped that it would conquer Constantinople and dethrone Sultan Mahmud. The sultan, who was aware of what was going on, made numerous arrests in the capital. Around 600 men were hanged as members of a conspiracy. He then hastened to conclude a peace treaty with Russia to ensure that Mustafa Pasha of Shkodra would no longer have any reason to keep his forces anywhere near the capital.
Although the indecisive Mustafa Pasha was aware that Sultan Mahmud wanted to destroy him, he did not have the courage to attack first and depose the sultan, something he could well have achieved in 1829.
The Monastir Massacre of 30 July 1830 terrified Mustafa Pasha of Shkodra and catapulted him into action. He reached an agreement with the remaining leaders of southern Albania, Ismail Pota in Toskeria, commonly known as Silihdar Pota, and the Beys of Filates and Aydonat [Paramythia] in Chameria, and attacked.
Mustafa Pasha advanced on Monastir that was held by Grand Vizier Reshid Pasha and his army. The first battle took place in the Babuna mountains near Prilep. Mustafa Pasha’s troops were defeated and scattered, and Mustafa Pasha, having no further opportunity to fight the Grand Vizier, withdrew to Shkodra, where he locked himself in his fortress and waited for Reshid Pasha to besiege it. The Grand Vizier, who was now not held back by any Albanian opposition, got to Shkodra and immediately began to besiege the citadel.
Vizier Mustafa Pasha appealed for Austrian intervention. In November 1831 he was forced to capitulate, but Austrian mediation with the Turkish Government had the result that Mustafa Pasha was not punished but was only to change his place of residence to Constantinople. His private property was untouched and is now in the hands of this grandsons.
During these events, the son of Grand Vizier Emin Pasha, who had been left in Janina by his father to serve as governor, took up the struggle against the allies of the Vizier of Shkodra in southern Albania. He defeated the beys of Chameria, who were attacking Janina, near the village of Velshista on 3 July 1831. The beys barricaded themselves in the fortress of Aydonat but were compelled to surrender to Emin Pasha after two month of resistance to the siege.
The Grand Vizier sent the Pasha of Salonica, Mahmud Pasha, out against Ismail Silihdar Pota, the other ally of the Vizier of Shkodra. Silihdar Pota was so successful in his defence for five months that Mahmud Pasha finally granted him the right to withdraw with all of his moveable property.
This Albanian leader, Ismail Aga, came from the village of Pota or Poda in the district of Leskovik and, in line with southern Albanian custom, took on the name of his village. He was a loyal follower of Vizier Ali Pasha of Janina, who appointed him as Silihdar, weapon-bearer, in his court (this is the reason why Ismail Aga is called Silihdar Pota). He fought for his master, Ali Pasha, against the troops of Serasker Churshid Pasha, and served the sultan after Ali’s fall in the war against the Greek rebellion in Thessaly.
In 1832 rumours were spread against him at the court of the sultan and he was proscribed in a ferman, but survived by personally killing the four Kapudji Bashi who had been sent out to slay him. He then abandoned the battleground with his irregulars and returned to his home in bitter hatred of the sultan, the Sublime Porte and all Ottomans (Pouqueville, Histoire de la régéneration de la Grèce, IV, p. 449).
In March of the following year, 1833, there was a new uprising against the Turkish government in southern Albania. Some of the beys and agas, who, horrified at the Monastir Massacre, had fled to Greece, returned to southern Albania and tried to overthrow the new administration and drive its representatives out of the country. Among them were Abdul Bey Koka of Delvino, Tafil Busi, Zejnel Aga Gjoleka and Mahmud Bajraktari. However, Emin Pasha of Janina opposed them with a strong military force and they withdrew into the mountains along the Turkish-Greek border.
In the summer of the same year, the region of Gjirokastra rose in revolt against the new administration and slaughtered the government officials. The Albanians also occupied the passes of Episkopi and Xerovalti near Delvinaki that provided access to the Valley of Gjirokastra from Janina. They were, however, forced by Emin Pasha to abandon their positions, who encircled and dispersed them. In this expedition, Emin Pasha made use of the Christians of the Pogoniani region who served him well. The rebels of Gjirokastra later punished them for their services to the Turks by roasting their leader, Captain John Daka, alive on a spit and by killing his sons and three other family members.
In March 1834, the aforementioned Albanian leaders repeated their invasion of southern Albania. This time, they were successful. They seized Kurvelesh and mustered a force of 2,000 men. They then took Berat and surrounded the Turkish troops in the fortress there, from where they set off for Janina. The Kaimakam of Janina, Hasan Aga, set upon them with a force of 8,000 regular troops near Cervari, six hours north of Janina, and surrounded them. Tafil Buzi, a rebel leader, broke through the siege with great courage and returned to Kurvelesh and Tepelena. The government began to negotiate with the rebels and succeeded in persuading them to end the uprising.
The Grand Vizier Mehmed Reshid Pasha finally defeated the hereditary governor of Shkodra, Mustafa Pasha Bushatli, in northern Albania, but was unable to continue his work of subjecting the Albanian feudal lords as Sultan Mahmud had ordered, because he was summoned urgently to Asia Minor in March 1832 to take over the command of the army which was to block the forces of the Pasha of Egypt advancing on Constantinople from Syria. Mehmet Reshid Pasha fell near Konya on 21 December 1832.
When the external threats to Turkey subsided with the peace agreement with the Pasha of Egypt, brought about on 4 May 1833 with Russian mediation, Sultan Mahmud was once again able to devote his energy to domestic reform.
General Hafiz Pasha, Governor of Shkodra, had instructions to break the resistance of the people of Shkodra in order to introduce the centralist administration adopted for Turkey by Sultan Mahmud. He was also to introduce a new system of recruitment for the standing army. The offensive launched by Hafiz Pasha, in accordance with his instructions, caused an uprising in Shkodra in 1835, which the governor was unable to put down. In August 1835, Sultan Mahmud sent the Rumili Valisi of Monastir, Mahmud Hamdi Pasha, to Shkodra, but he, too, was unable to defeat the rebels. He was only able to restore peace for a time by reaching a compromise with them.
Even though the Rumili Vasili, Mahmud Pasha, was unable to suppress the people of Shkodra, he continued the work of Sultan Mahmud that the Grand Vizier Mehmet Reshid Pasha had begun in northern Albania after the defeat of Mustafa Pasha Bushatli, by removing a few minor feudal lords from their hereditary posts. He arrested Ibrahim Bey of Kavaja, sent him to prison in Constantinople, and confiscated the substantial riches of his family, that now constitute profitable assets for the imperial civil lists.
In 1836, the Rumili Vasili arrested the feudal lord Arslan Pasha Mahmud Begolai of Peja, Sejfuddin Pasha of Gjakova, the brothers Mahmud and Emin Pasha of Prizren, and Sulejman Bey Gulogli or Hodjogli (i) of Dibra, dismissed them from their offices as governors of the districts in question, and sent them into exile, mostly to Anatolia.
He died in Skopje in September 1836, and was thus unable to complete the abolition of feudal power in Albania.
In 1840, the sons of Sulejman Bey Gulogli, Omer Bey and Mersid Bey, who were still in Dibra, were arrested by the Rumili Vasili, together with other family members, and exiled to Ankara because the imperial authorities had come to the conclusion that, although this family had been removed from office, its influence was impeding the subjugation of the districts to the central government in Constantinople.
Among the feudal families of Albania that remained untouched were the hereditary governors of Tetovo (Kalkandele) and Skopje, (ii) the brothers Abdurrahman Pasha and Avdi Pasha, and the rulers of Prishtina and Kosovo Polje, Abdurrahman and Jashar Pasha.(iii) The Pashas of Skopje and Tetovo were summoned to Constantinople in 1843 because of a dispute between them that had resulted in a private war. They were relieved of their charges in their original districts and were interned in Asia Minor.
The Turkish government also removed the feudal lords of Prishtina from their hereditary lands. The grandchildren of the above-mentioned Jashar Pasha of Prishtina grew up in Constantinople and now live there permanently.
Once the major dynasties of Albania were deprived of their power, the Constantinople government began replacing the old feudal structures with the newly adopted centralist bureaucracy. The northern parts of Albania were comprised in an administrative unit that had its capital in Monastir and that was run by the Rumili Vasili. This eyalet of Rumili [Roumelia] was created by an imperial Hatt-i Sherif [decree] on the sixth of Rebiul-ewel 1252 (= 1836) and consisted of the following territories:
Shkodra, Prizren and Peja were each made a liva (district) under a general (usually Ferik) of the regular army. Prishtina, Skopje, and Tetovo were under the control of local pashas and belonged at times to the eyalet of Rumili and at other times to the eyalet of Sofia. Kavaja, Durrës, Tirana, Peqin, Elbasan, Mat, Dibra, Gora, Mokra, Korça and Starova [Pogradec] belonged to the liva of Ohrid, ruled by the kaimakam of the Rumili Vasili. Monastir and surroundings were administered directly by the Vali.
The southern part of Albania belonged to the eyalet of Janina. It comprised the kaimakamliks of Berat, Gjirokastra, Arta and the districts around Janina. Thessaly as a kaimakamlik also belonged to the eyalet of Janina at times.
The collection of taxes was left to the Vali. Taxes were not assessed and collected by government bodies; this activity was farmed out (Turkish: iltizam). The collection of taxes for a certain province was auctioned to a private individual for one or more years in return to a lump sum that the individual in question paid to the treasury in Constantinople. How the individual assessed or collected the taxes he raised was of no further interest to the government authorities. On many occasions it was the Vali who collected the taxes. The Vali Mahmud Hamdi Pasha bought the right to collect taxes in the eyalet of Janina in 1833 for a year. It was later the Vali Nuri Osman Pasha for the three years from 1842 to 1844. It is not difficult to imagine what excesses can occur when the governor of a province, who has all the forces of the government under his control, is the same person as the one collecting taxes on a private basis and is interested in making as much money as possible out of the deal.
The Hatt-i Sherif of Gülhane described the system as follows: “Dans ce système l’administration civile et financière d’une localité est livrée à l’arbitraire d’un seul homme, c’est à dire quelque fois à la main de fer des passions les plus violentes et les plus cupides, car si ce fermier n’est pas bon, il n’aura d’autre soin que celui de son propre avantage.”
This system was not particularly suitable to instilling in the Albanian population the conviction that they had got a good deal out of replacing their hereditary feudal governor with a permanent foreign functionary dependent for everything he needed on the central administration of the Empire.
The vague notions in the mind of Sultan Mahmud about the need to reform the administration of the Turkish Empire became more concrete and were formulated in a decree issued by his successor, Sultan Abdul Mejid, known as the Hatt-i Sherif of Gülhane (The Noble Rescript of the Rose Chamber), issued on 3 November 1839. This decree formed the basis for a number of administrative reforms, in particular in the fields of defence and taxation. The imperial rescript stated: “Il est nécessaire d’établir des lois pour régler le contingent que devra fournir chaque localité selon les nécessités du moment et pour réduire à 4 ou 5 ans le temps du service militaire.” It also added: “Il est nécessaire que désormais chaque membre de la société Ottomane soit taxé pour une quotité d’impôt déterminée en raison de sa fortune et de ses facultés et que rien au-delà puisse être exigé de lui.”
The defence law was issued on 6 September 1843.
The administration of taxes was taken away from the governors and transferred to special officials of the Ministry of Finance in Constantinople. Among the new taxes introduced were a livestock tax (Turkish: agnam, also known as jeleb), a house and farm tax (Turkish vergü), and tithes which were formerly collected by the spahees, and were now to be paid into the treasury.
The Hatt-i Sherif of Gülhane was made known in Shkodra on 4 January 1840 by a special commissioner sent from Constantinople. The Constantinople government, however, merely read out the imperial decree and did not bother to implement the new laws in Albania.
Emin Pasha, the son of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Peshid Pasha and a fervent supporter of the centralist thinking of Sultan Mahmud, was Vali of southern Albania from March 1831 to October 1833 and from November 1836 to September 1837, and, as a true son of his father and just as much a foe of the Albanians, he endeavoured to carry out forced recruitment campaigns and other changes in southern Albania that Sultan Mahmud had ordered. These measures had caused the uprisings of 1833 and 1834 mentioned above. In 1837, a new revolt, provoked by Emin Pasha’s administration, broke out on the Myzeqeja Plain and in the districts of Berat and Vlora under the leadership of Ali Bey Frakulla. The Constantinople government realised that Emin Pasha’s harsh actions had been a mistake, called him back and stopped implementing the reforms in southern Albania.
As such, the Hatt-i Sherif of Gülhane and the laws passed on the basis thereof were not implemented in the period from 1839 to 1844.
In a subsequent attempt to introduce the new conscription and taxation laws in northern Albania, there was a general uprising against the centralist policies of the Turkish Government in the provinces in question. Despite the distance that now separated the feudal families from the government in the districts concerned and despite the takeover of the government administration by the central authorities, the population refused to submit to centralism. Indeed opposition to centralism and support for Albanian autonomy and its institutions, which had previously been backed only by a few ruling families serving their own interests, was now being embraced by the broad masses of the urban population. The movement was expressed in a number of local uprisings against the central administration.
In September 1839, the population of Prizren drove out the governor, Ismet Pasha. The Rumili Vasili proposed to the Kapedan of Mirdita that he occupy the town of Prizren with his Mirdita tribesmen for the Constantinople government. The Kapedan refused and, since the authorities had insufficient military forces to deal with the problem, the government gave in, did not punish the province of Prizren and fulfilled some of the demands of the population.
In 1844, an uprising broke out in Skopje, Tetovo and Prishtina against the central government, against recruitments for the standing army and against the taxes. An Albanian army of about 10,000 men was formed between Skopje and Veles (Köprülü) under the command of Dervish Aga Zara. The Rumili Serasker (Corp commander of Monastir), Reshid Pasha, gave orders for the rebellion to be put down. General Omer Pasha Renk (the one-time Austrian border sergeant Michael Lattas, subsequently known as Serdar Ekrem) defeated the Albanians near the village of Kaplan and took Skopje. General Haireddin Pasha then occupied Tetovo. In early July 1844, Prishtina surrendered to the Rumili Serasker and the rebellion was thus regarded as over. In his fight against the rebels, the Kapedan of Mirdita, Bib Doda, fulfilled his obligations to the Sultan by providing a contingent of men who played an important role in putting down the uprising. He was decorated on several occasions by the Serasker and awarded an honorary sabre and pistols.
The troops left Prishtina for Gjakova and Prizren. These areas had not joined the rebellion. The troop commanders arrested a number of people known to be in the opposition and initiated recruitments campaigns wherever they went. Their headquarters were then transferred to Tetovo. It was from here that General Haireddin Pasha undertook an expedition to Dibra and Mat, and was involved in much bloody fighting. The hard-pressed leaders of Dibra fled to Shkodra in order to escape abroad, but were arrested in Shkodra.
The hereditary feudal governor of Dibra, Hakki Pasha, scion of the family of the Pashas of Dibra, was removed from Dibra. Although he was on the side of the imperial troops when they advanced, he was accused of having conspired with the Albanians against the government in Constantinople. He was arrested on 28 October 1844 and taken off to Constantinople.
Troops were conscripted in Dibra and, with the exception of Shkodra, all districts were ordered to give up their arms. Winter then put an end of all further operations.
The district of Gjakova rose in arms in 1845. The Rumili Serasker had forbidden the population from bearing arms the year before, but the district refused to comply. The Malissors (mountain tribes) gathered under their leaders Binak Ali and Sokol Aram. The uprising spread to the region of Reka and involved the tribes of Bityçi, Gashi, Tropoja and Krasniqi.
The Rumili Serasker fought the uprising primarily with irregular troops that the other districts of Albania had to provide. These were about 3,000 men from Shkodra, primarily Catholic Malissors of the Hoti, Shkreli, Kastrati, Reçi, Lohja and Postripa tribes, as well as men from Mirdita and Mat. The rebels comprised about 8,000 men. They drove the garrison out of Gjakova. In early June, imperial troops retook Gjakova and the irregular forces advanced on Reka and the mountains through Junik. The revolt was initially successful, but when the irregular troops were reinforced by imperial forces with artillery, they were able to take the Morina Pass in Bityç, and when the rebels were put to flight on 1 July, the troops marched into Gashi and Krasniqi.
In order to defeat the rebels completely, the Serasker ordered further irregulars from Shkodra on the other side of the mountains to advance in order to block their escape route. This operation was carried out successfully by the Malissors of Shala and Shoshi, and by Ali Bey of Gucia [Gusinje] with a contingent of men from Gucia, Plava, Vasojević and Kući. As such, the rebels all surrendered on 6 July.
The Serasker arrested a number of suspicious individuals in Gjakova and fortified his position there. He sent the Kapidan of Mirdita with irregular forces from Mirdita, Mat and Tetovo into the mountain valleys to conscript soldiers among the Malissors.