Kardhiq

Kardhiq
Village
Kardhiq is located in Albania
Kardhiq
Kardhiq
Coordinates: 40°7′18″N 20°1′39″E / 40.12167°N 20.02750°E / 40.12167; 20.02750
Country Albania
CountyGjirokastër
MunicipalityGjirokastër
Municipal unitCepo
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Kardhiq is a village in the former Cepo commune, Gjirokastër County, Albania.[1] At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Gjirokastër.[2] The village is inhabited by both Muslim and Orthodox Christian Albanians who speak the Tosk dialect of Albanian.[3] Kardhiq Castle is located near the village.

Name

[edit]

The toponym Kardhiq is used for several places in Albania.[4] It is found in several places of the Balkans, in the form of Gardik, Gardiki (in Greece), Gradec. The toponym is of Slavic origin and stems from a word for "castle".[5][6][7]

History

[edit]

A Hellenistic era garrison was built in Kardhiq as part of the fortification system of Chaonia, in the northwestern part of Epirus [8]

In late 14th century and early 15th century, the Kardhiq Castle was built by the noble Albanian Zenebishi. family.[9] Kardhiq had around 30 households in 1431–1432. Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi recorded 150 homes in the 17th century.[10]

In 1811, Kardhiq, whose inhabitants were known for their military prowess, had taken in one of Ali Pasha's political opponents, Ibrahim Pasha. Eventually, Ali managed to have the village hand over Ibrahim via presents and promises. In that same year, French agents had brought money and gunpowder to Gjirokastër in order to incite rebellion against Ali, whom the French had politically opposed. This rebellion was led by the chieftains of Kardhiq, Gjirokastër and Delvinë, and in October 1811, the rebels managed to inflict a heavy defeat on Ali's troops. Although the inhabitants of Gjirokastër eventually surrendered, the inhabitants of Kardhiq continued the resistance, and so Ali Pasha began a long siege of the village.[11]

In December 1811, the men of Kardhiq offered to surrender on the condition that they be allowed to emigrate to Corfu; Ali refused, and the siege continued. On 21 February 1812, the village finally fell, with at least 300 defenders having been killed in the final assault. Ali Pasha ordered the massacre due to a long-standing vendetta he had with the village; it was said that after his father had died whilst Ali was a child and his family's power subsequently diminished, the men of Kardhiq captured his mother, raped her and humiliated her by forcing her to walk through the streets with a man on her back. As such, on 15 March 1812, Ali ordered that nearly 800 captives be taken to a roadside inn with a large courtyard. Some of the captives were taken away for slavery, but the vast majority were massacred in the courtyard. This massacre was carried out by Thanasis Vagias.[12][13][14] During the massacre, Ali Pasha spared the family of an imam from Kolonjë due to his friendship with the man; the family consisted of about 30 men who were allowed to continue sowing the fields until they were eventually permitted to return and repopulate village. From then onwards, the village would recover well, and the Albanian inhabitants of Kardhiq were primarily engaged in mercenary activities during that period.[15]

Notable people

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Location of Kardhiq". Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  2. ^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). p. 6371. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  3. ^ Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995). "Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography]." In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]. University of Athens. p. 51. " ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, AM Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι" p.56. "KARDHIQ ΓΑΡΔΙΚΙ 225 ΑΜ + ΑΧ"
  4. ^ Çabej, E. Studime gjuhësore: Hyrje në historinë e gjuhës shqipe. Fonetika historike. Parashtesat. Rilindja. p. 258.
  5. ^ Koder Johannes. "Albanians and Byzantines. Aproaches to the Study of their common cultural past." In: Iliria, vol. 39, 2015. pp. 7-24; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/iliri.2015.2497p. 13
  6. ^ Koder Johannes, "On the Slavic Immigration in the Byzantine Balkans", p. 86, at https://brill.com
  7. ^ Menges, K.H. (1953). An Outline of the Early History and Migrations of the Slavs. Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University. p. 21.
  8. ^ De Maria, Sandro; Bogdani, Jylian; Giorgi, Enrico (2017). "Ricerca e tutela in un territorio di frontiera. L'Epiro del Nord fra età ellenistica e presenza di Roma". In Gianluca Mastrocinque (ed.). Paesaggi mediterranei di età romana. Archeologia, tutela, comunicazione. Bibliotheca archaeologica. Vol. 47. Edipuglia. p. 55. doi:10.4475/835. ISBN 978-88-7228-835-1. ISSN 1724-8523.
  9. ^ Karaiskaj, Gjerak (1981). Pesë mijë vjet fortifikime në Shqipëri (in Albanian). Shtëpia Botuese "8 Nëntori". p. 148. Zenevisët kryen punime në kalanë e Gjirokastrës dhe ndërtuan Kardhiqin
  10. ^ Riza, Emin; Thomo, Pirro (1984). "The character and features of the Albanian peasant habitat and dwelling of the XIV-XVIIIth century". Kultura Popullore (3): 45–74.
  11. ^ Malcolm, Noel (2020). Rebels, believers, survivors: studies in the history of the Albanians (1st ed.). Oxford (GB): Oxford University Press. pp. 212–213. ISBN 9780198857297.
  12. ^ Santas, Constantine (1976). Aristotelis Valaoritis. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-8057-6246-4. Thanasis Vayias, a man who allegedly led the hordes of Ali Pasha against a village of Epirus, Gardiki, resulting in the massacre of seven hundred men, women, and children.
  13. ^ Potts, Jim (2010). The Ionian Islands and Epirus: A Cultural History. Oxford University Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 9780199754168.
  14. ^ Malcolm, Noel (2020). Rebels, believers, survivors: studies in the history of the Albanians (1st ed.). Oxford (GB): Oxford University Press. p. 218. ISBN 9780198857297.
  15. ^ Elsie, Robert; George von Hahn, Johann (2015). The Discovery of Albania. pp. 21, 28–29. ISBN 9781786739735.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kardhiq&oldid=1213958686"