Shirgj

Shirgj (Latin: St. Sergius, Serbian Cyrillic: Свети Срђ/Sveti Srdj) was an important market town on the left bank of the river Bojana,[1] 6 miles (9.7 km) away from Shkodër,[2] in what is today northern Albania. It was a medieval trading center,[3] until it lost its population and ceased to exist in the early Ottoman period.[4]

Location

Shirgj emerged near the Benedictine Shirgj Monastery, an abbey dedicated to Sergius and Bacchus built in the 11th century. Due to its favorable geographical position near the mouth of the river Bojana, it grew to surpass other towns of the region.[5]

History

Since the reign of Stefan Nemanja in the Serbian Grand Principality,[6] Shirgj was one of four markets allowed to trade salt (the other three being Kotor and Drijeva while Dubrovnik joined them after it was established as a republic in the mid 14th century[7]) in the Serbian maritime.[8][9] Although a lot of wood was transported by Bojana, Shirgj was not a trading place for wood, but instead for salt and leather.[10] It was one of two customs areas of the region (the other one was Dagnum on the river Drin).[11]

In 1330 near Shirgj, the King of Serbia Stefan Dečanski met with envoys of Dubrovnik who congratulated him on his victory in the Battle of Velbazhd. On that occasion, Dečanski asked them to support his military campaigns with six galleys.[12] After the collapse of the Serbian Empire in 1371, Shirgj belonged to Zeta until 1392 when Ottomans captured Zeta's lord Đurađ II Balšić. They soon released him after they first captured Dagnum, Shkodër and Shirgj.[13] In autumn 1395 Balšić recaptured his towns including Shirgj.[14][15] Knowing he would not be able to keep those towns if Ottomans decided to capture them he ceded them to the Venetians. Soon, in 1397, Danj was granted the right to trade salt. Thus, the Venetian takeover ended the monopoly on salt trading that Shirgj had held in the Bojana region for centuries while it was in Serbia.[16]

A peace treaty signed in Shirgj in 1423 ended the Second Scutari War waged between the Serbian Despotate (initially Zeta) and the Venetian Republic over Shkodër and other former possessions of Zeta controlled by Venice. This treaty is known as the Peace of Shirgj.[17] While it was in Venetian hands the salt traded in Shirgj had to be transported from, also Venetian controlled, Corfu.[18]

After the Ottoman-Albanian wars ended and the last independent parts of Albania became part of Ottoman Empire, Shirgj, as some other important settlements in Albania, became unpopulated and ceased to exist.[4]

References
  1. John V. A. Fine; John Van Antwerp Fine (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 419. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5. Retrieved 10 August 2013. ...Sveti Srdj, important market on Bojana...
  2. Никола Чупић (1900). Годишњица Николе Чупића. Штампа Државне штампарије Краљевине Југославије. p. 33. Retrieved 10 August 2013. ...пловећи уз њу, а 6 миља од Скадра налази стовариште св. Срђа
  3. Miladin Stevanović (2004). Kraljica Jelena Anžujska. Knjiga-komerc. p. 91. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. Ermenji, A. (1996). Vendi që zë Skënderbeu në historinë e Shqipërisë. Verba Mundi. Çabej. p. 108.
  5. Zarij M. Bešić (1970). Istorija Črne Gore: Od kraja XII do kraqja XV vijeka. 2 pts. Red. za istoriju Črne Gore. p. 31. Retrieved 10 August 2013. Свети Срђ је чак, кад се мјери улога у привредном животу, оставио далеко за собом неке од мањих старих градова.
  6. Ivo Smoljan (1988). Neretva. Klek. p. 216. Retrieved 11 August 2013. To ograničenje postoji od Nemanjina vremena, kad su bila samo četiri trgovišta i to: Drijeva (Gabela), Dubrovnik, Kotor i Sveti Srđ na Bojani.
  7. Gertrud Krallert; Institut zur Erforschung des Deutschen Volkstums im Süden und Südosten in München; Südost-Institut München; Universität Passau; Institut für Ostbairische Heimatforschung; Südostgemeinschaft Wiener Hochschulen; Deutsches Auslandswissenschaftliches Institut (1980). Südosteuropäische Arbeiten. Oldenbourg. p. 1410. Retrieved 11 August 2013. Ragusa bildete im Mittelalter vor Drijeva, Kotor und Sveti Srdj den wichtigsten Salzumschlagplatz an der Adria.
  8. Zbornik Istorijskog muzeja Srbije. Muzej. 1982. p. 101. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  9. Diego Dotto (2008). Scriptae venezianeggianti a Ragusa nel XIV secolo: edizione e commento di testi volgari dell'Archivio di Stato di Dubrovnik. Viella. p. 23. ISBN 978-88-8334-337-7. Retrieved 11 August 2013. Un altro settore particolarmente redditizio era il commercio del sale, che si concentrava in quattro mercati legali: Narento, Ragusa, Cattaro e Sveti Srdj alla foce della Bojana.
  10. Historijski zbornik. Nakladni zavod Hrvatske. 1984. p. 63. Retrieved 11 August 2013. Drvo koje je dolazilo Bojanom ukrcavano je na obali sve do Ulcinja, a ono iz reke Drima obično na lokalitetu »super ripa Merteç« ili »Mirtiç-c. Sveti Srđ nije bio krcalište i tržište za drvo nego za kože i druge proizvode!
  11. Zbornik Istorijskog muzeja Srbije. Muzej. 1982. p. 108. Retrieved 11 August 2013. У овом су подручју постојале и две царинарнице: Свети Срђ на Бојани и Дањ на Дриму
  12. Maletić, Mihailo (1976). Crna Gora. Književne novine. p. 139. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  13. Istorijski zapisi: organ Istoriskog instituta i Društva istoričara SR Crne Gore. Istorijski institut u Titogradu. 2007. p. 231. Retrieved 10 August 2013. Због непослуха Османлије су га у јесен 1392. године заробиле, али су га убрзо ослободиле узевши му при том градове Скадар, Дриваст и Свети Срђ, које су кратако вријема држале
  14. John V. A. Fine; John Van Antwerp Fine (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. p. 420. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5. Retrieved 10 August 2013. In short order he recovered Skadar, Drivast, and Sveti Srđ from the small Turkish garrisons in residence.
  15. Ćirković 2004, p. 92.
  16. Balcanica. Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Balkanolos̆ki Institut. 1970. p. 250. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  17. Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, p. 519, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5
  18. Balcanica. Srpska Akademija Nauka i Umetnosti, Balkanolos̆ki Institut. 1970. p. 259. Retrieved 11 August 2013. Kao i deceniju ranije, za Sveti Srđ i Kotor, morala se s0 dovoziti sa Krfa.

Further reading
  • Momčilo Spremić, 'Sveti Srđ pod mletačkom vlašću' [Sveti Srdj under Venetian rule], Zbornik Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu 7 (1963), H. 1, 295-312
  • Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9781405142915.

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