Prizren is constitutionally designated as the historical capital of the country.[2] Archaeological excavations inPrizren Fortress indicate that its fortress area has seen habitation and use since theBronze Age. Prizren has been traditionally identified with the settlement of Theranda in RomanDardania, although other locations have been suggested in recent research. In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and the fort was reconstructed in the era of eastern Roman EmperorJustinian. Byzantine rule in the region ended definitively in 1219-20 as the SerbianNemanjić dynasty took control of the fort and the town. Prizren served as the capital of theSerbian Empire under the reign ofStefan Dušan, as it bloomed to become an important center of trade and commerce during Dušan's reign. From 1371, a series of regional feudal rulers controlled Prizren, including theMrnjavčević family, theBalšić noble family, theBranković dynasty, as well as the prominentHouse of Kastrioti.Ottoman Turks captured Prizren fromSerbian Despotate in 1455 and almost immediately served as the capital ofSanjak of Prizren in theOttoman Empire. While standing as an important administrative city for the Ottomans, Prizren became an important political center of theAlbanian Renaissance during the late 19th century.
The name of the city has been linked with that of Petrizen, aDardani fort mentioned byProcopius in the 6th century.[3][4][5]
Hamp has suggested that the name of the city roughly meant "ford-horned animal" with the IE root*ḱrn "horn, horned-thing" (cf.Oxford). According to Curtis, the toponym Prizren follows Albanian phonetic sound rules, meaning that the name developed under an Albanian-speaking population.[6][7]
Forts and settlements in late antiquity and medieval Kosovo.
Prizren has been traditionally identified with Theranda, a town dating from theRoman Empire.[8] However, recent research suggests that Theranda may have been located at present-daySuva Reka. Archaeological research has shown that the site of thePrizren Fortress has had several eras of habitation since prehistoric times. In its lower part, material from the upper part of the fort has beendeposited over the centuries. It dates from the MiddleBronze Age (c. 2000 BCE) to the lateIron Age (c. 1st century CE) and is comparable to the material found in the nearby prehistoric site in the village ofVlashnjë (~10 km west of Prizren).[9] In 2005, prehistoric rock paintings in a ritual site related to the cycle of life were found near Vlashnjë. They represent the first find of prehistoric rock art in the region.[10]
In late antiquity, the fortification saw a phase of reconstruction. It is part of a series of forts that were built or reconstructed in the same period byJustinian along theWhite Drin in northern Albania and western Kosovo in the routes that linked the coastal areas with theKosovo valley.[11] At this time, the Prizren fortress likely appears in historical record asPetrizen in the 6th century CE in the work ofProcopius as one of the fortifications whichJustinian commissioned to be reconstructed inDardania.[9]
Konstantin Jireček believed, from the correspondence of bishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Ohrid (1216–36), that Prizren was one of the areas occupied by the Albanians prior to theSlavic expansion.[12]
Present-day Prizren is first mentioned in 1019 at the time ofBasil II (r. 976–1025) in the form ofPrisdriana. In 1072, the leaders of the BulgarianUprising of Georgi Voiteh traveled from their center in Skopje to the area of Prizren and held a meeting in which they invitedMihailo Vojislavljević ofDuklja to send them assistance. Mihailo sent his son,Constantine Bodin, and 300 of his soldiers. Dalassenos Doukas,dux of Bulgaria was sent against the combined forces, but was defeated near Prizren, which was then extensively plundered by the Serbian army.[13] The Bulgarian magnates proclaimed Bodin "Emperor of the Bulgarians" after this initial victory.[14] They were defeated byNikephoros Bryennios in the area of northern Macedonia by the end of 1072. The area was raided by Serbian rulerVukan in the 1090s.[15]Demetrios Chomatenos is the last Byzantine archbishop ofOhrid to include Prizren in his jurisdiction until 1219.[16]Stefan Nemanja had seized the surrounding area along the White Drin between the 1180s and 1190s, but this may refer to the areas Prizren diocese rather than the fort and the settlement itself and he may have lost control of them later.[17][18] The ecclesiastical split of Prizren from thePatriarchate of Constantinople in 1219 was the final act of establishing SerbianNemanjić rule in the town. Prizren and its fort were the administrative and economic center of thežupa of Podrimlje (in Albanian, Podrima or Anadrini).[19] The old town of Prizren developed below the fortress along the left bank of the Bistrica/Lumbardhi.Ragusan traders were stationed in the old town. Prizren over time became a trading hub and gateway for Ragusan trade towards eastern Kosovo and beyond.[20]In this period,Stefan Dušan founded and was buried in theMonastery of the Holy Archangels in Prizren.[21] Prizen briefly served as the capital of theSerbian Empire and was a crossroad of important trade goods between Dubrovnik and Constantinople.[22][23][24]
In 1330, Serbian kingStefan Dečanski explicitly mentioned the presence of Albanians and the Albanian names of villages in Kosovo, in particular in the districts of Prizren and that ofSkopje. Achrysobull of the Serbian TsarStefan Dušan that was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence ofAlbanians in the vicinity of Prizren, theDukagjin Plain and in the villages ofDrenica. Within this chrysobull, nine Albanian stock-breeding villages within the vicinity of Prizren are mentioned explicitly - these villages are known with the names Gjinovci (Gjinajt), Magjerci, Bjellogllavci (Kryebardhët), Flokovci (Flokajt), Crnça, Caparci (Çaparajt), Gjonovci (Gjonajt), Shpinadinci (Shpinajt) and Novaci. Entire Albanian villages were gifted by Serbian kings, particularlyStefan Dušan, as presents to Serb monasteries within Prizren,Deçan andTetova.[25] Additionally, people with Albanian anthroponomy are repeatedly mentioned in a 1348 chrysobull ofStefan Dušan that lists those who pray at the monastery of St. Michael and Gabriel in Prizren as well as some of the inhabitants of the city itself and the surrounding villages. In one of Stefan Dušan's documents in 1355, a soldier with Albanian anthroponomy is exclusively mentioned as one of the people who must continuously pay the Monastery of St. Nicholas in the village of Billushë near Prizren.[26]
People with Albanian anthroponomy are also mentioned in a 1452 register within the vicinity of Prizren in villages such as Mazrek, Kojushe, Milaj, Zhur, Xerxe, Pllaneje, Gorozhup, Zym.[27]In the area of Prizren, Albaniantoponyms were recorded in the 14th and 15th century such as Rudina e Leshit, Truallishta e Gjon Bardhit, Llazi i Tanushit, Truallishta e Komanit, Shpija e Bushatit, Zhur, and Mazrek.[28] In 1330, Albanian toponyms such asKatun Arbanas (The Albanian village) were mentioned in the area between Prizren-Rahovec.[29]
With the death ofStefan Uroš V in 1371, a series of competing regional nobles sieged, counter-sieged and held control of Prizren – increasingly with Ottoman support and intervention. The first who tried to gain control of Prizren and the trade that passed through the town wasPrince Marko, but after his defeat in theBattle of Maritsa in September 1371, theBalšići of thePrincipality of Zeta moved to take Prizren in the fall and winter of 1371.[30] In the spring of 1372,Nikola Altomanović besieged Prizren and tried to expand his rule, but was defeated. The death ofĐurađ I Balšić in 1377 created another power vacuum –Đurađ Branković then took over Prizren.[31] The Battle of Kosovo led to an additional political change, asGjon Kastrioti captured Prizren and granted special privileges regarding commerce toRagusa and its inhabitants.[32]
TheCatholic Church retained some influence in the area; 14th-century documents refer to a Catholic church in Prizren, which was the seat of abishopric between the 1330s and 1380s.
After several years of attack and counterattack, theOttomans made a major invasion of Kosovo in 1454; Attempts of liberating the Prizren area earlier bySkanderbeg and thereafter byJohn Hunyadi failed, asĐurađ Branković was an Ottoman vassal at this time and did not grant passage into Kosovo for the Crusaders to fight the Ottomans. On 21 June 1455, Prizren surrendered to the Ottoman army.[33] Prizren was the capital of theSanjak of Prizren, and under new administrative organization of Ottoman Empire it became capital of theVilayet.[citation needed] Later, it became part of the largerRumelia Eyalet. It was a prosperous trade city, benefiting from its position on the north-south and east-west trade routes across the Empire. Prizren became one of the larger cities of theKosovo vilayet (vilayet).
In the Nahyia of Hoca in the 16th century around 409 heads of families and 104 landowners bore Albanian names. Roughly around 45 villages had majority Albanian names while the lands between Prizren and Gjakova itself had villages with majority Albanian names and there exist also many cases of mixed Albanian-Slavic anthroponymy.[34]
In the OttomanDefter of 1591, the city of Prizren itself was recorded under theSanjak of Prizren - this includes the household heads of the city. By this time, Prizren had been significantly Islamised, as reflected by the anthroponomy of the inhabitants; several cases of Muslim inhabitants with mixtures of Muslim and Albanian anthroponomy exist (i.e.Ali Gjoci, Hasan Gjinaj, Ferhad Reçi, Hasan Bardi...). The Muslim neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted ofXhamia e Vjetër (Old Mosque, 53 homes), Levisha (50 homes), Ajas beu (15 homes), Haxhi Kasem (48 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (71 homes), Çarshia (also called Jakub beu, 18 homes), Kurila (31 homes) andMëhalla e lëkurëpunuesve (neighbourhood of the leatherworkers, 34 homes). The Christian neighbourhoods (Mahalla/Mëhalla) consisted ofPazari i Vjetër (Old Market, 8 homes), Madhiq (37 homes), Vasil (27 homes), Kodha (13 homes), Çarshia/Pjetri Nikolla (14 homes), Bogoi Riber (11 homes), Radmir (51 homes), Jazixhi Sinani (mentioned beforehand, 24 homes), Pandelja (29 homes), Prend Vriça (9 homes) andAjas (13 homes). The neighbourhoods ofPandelja, Jazixhi Sinani andKodha were dominated by inhabitants with characteristically Albanian anthroponomy; the other neighbourhoods saw a blend between predominantly Slavic/Slavic-Albanian (or rather, Orthodox) anthroponomy.[28]
Lazaro Soranzo, writing in the 16th century, noted the town was inhabited "more by Albanians than by Serbs".[35] In 1624 Pjeter Mazrreku reported the town was inhabited by 12,000 Muslims, almost all of them Albanians (‘Turchi, quasi tutti Albanesi’), 200 Catholics and 600 'Serviani'.[36]Gjergj Bardhi, during his visit in Prizren, wrote in 1638 that the area was inhabited by Albanians and that the Albanian language was spoken there.[28] In the 1630's, the Ottoman Turkish travellerHajji Khalifa wrote that the town of Prizren was inhabited by Albanians.[28][37] In 1651, the Albanian Catholic priest of Prizren Gregor Mazrreku reported that many men within Prizen converted to Islam to avoid theJizya tax, and that they would ask Gregor to give them confession andHoly Communion in secrecy, which he had refused to do.[38]
During the Austrian-Ottoman wars, the local Albanian population in the Prizren region rallied to support the Austrians against the Ottomans under the leadership of the Albanian priestPjeter Bogdani.[39][36] Documents and dispatches refer to the Austrians marching to "Prizren, the capital ofAlbania" where they were welcomed by Bogdani and 5,000-6,000 Albanian soldiers.[36][40] The Albanian Catholic priestToma Raspasani wrote that, once the Austrians had been expelled and Prizren was firmly in the hands of the Ottomans yet again, nobody was able to leave Prizren.[41] In 1693, Toma also wrote that many of the Catholics in Kosovo had gone to Hungary where most of them died of hunger or disease.[42]
TheLeague of Prizren was founded on 5 January 1877 in the old town of Prizren.
Prizren was the cultural and intellectual centre of Ottoman Kosovo. It was dominated by its Muslim population, who composed over 70% of its population in 1857. The city became a major Albanian cultural centre and the coordination political and cultural capital of the Kosovar Albanians. In 1871, a long Serbian seminary was opened in Prizren, discussing the possible joining of the old Serbia's territories with thePrincipality of Serbia. It was an important part ofKosovo Vilayet between 1877 and 1912.
During the late 19th century, the city became a focal point for Albanian nationalism and in 1878, it was the site of the creation of theLeague of Prizren, a movement formed to seek the national unification and autonomy of Albanians within the Ottoman Empire. TheYoung Turk Revolution was a step in the dissolving of the Ottoman empire that led to the Balkan Wars. TheThird Army (Ottoman Empire) had a division in Prizren, the 30th Reserve Infantry Division (Otuzuncu Pirzerin Redif Fırkası).
View of the city September 1863 taken by Viennese photographer Josef Székely[43]
The Prizren attachment was part of theİpek Detachment in theFirst Balkan War. During theFirst Balkan War, the city was invaded by theSerbian army and incorporated into theKingdom of Serbia. Although the troops met little resistance, the takeover was bloody, with 400 people dead in the first few days; the local population would call the city "The Kingdom of Death."[44] TheDaily Chronicle reported on 12 November 1912 that 5,000 Albanians were slaughtered in Prizren.[44] Serbian generalBožidar Janković forced the local Albanian leaders to sign a declaration of gratitude to KingPeter I of Serbia for their "liberation by the Serbian army".[44][45] Following the capture of Prizren, most foreigners were barred from entering the city as theMontenegrin forces temporarily closed the city before full control was restored. A few visitors did make it through, includingLeon Trotsky, then working as a journalist for the Ukrainian newspaperKijewskaja mysl, and reports eventually emerged of widespread killings of Albanians.[46] In a 1912 news report on the Serbian Army and the ParamilitaryChetniks in Prizren, Trotsky stated "Among them were intellectuals, men of ideas, nationalist zealots, but these were isolated individuals. The rest were just thugs, robbers who had joined the army for the sake of loot... The Serbs inOld Serbia, in their national endeavour to correct data in the ethnographical statistics that are not quite favourable to them, are engaged quite simply in systematic extermination of the Muslim population".[47]British travellerEdith Durham and aBritish military attaché were supposed to visit Prizren in October 1912, however the trip was prevented by the authorities. Durham stated: "I asked wounded Montenegrins [Soldiers] why I was not allowed to go and they laughed and said, 'We have not left anose on an Albanian up there!' Not a pretty sight for a British officer." Eventually Durham visited a northern Albanian outpost in Kosovo where she met captured Ottoman soldiers whoseupper lips and noses had been cut off.[47]
After theFirst Balkan War of 1912, the Conference of Ambassadors inLondon allowed the creation of the state ofAlbania and handed Kosovo to theKingdom of Serbia, even though the population of Kosovo remained mostly Albanian.[48]
In 1913, an officialAustro-Hungarian report recorded that 30,000 people had fled to Prizren fromBosnia.[49] In January 1914 the Austro-Hungarian consul based in Prizren conducted a detailed report on living conditions in the city. The report stated that Kingdom of Serbia didn't keep its promise for equal treatment of Albanians and Muslims. Thirty of the thirty-twomosques in Prizren had been turned into hay barns, ammunition stores and military barracks. The people of the city were heavily taxed, with Muslims and Catholic Christians having to pay more tax than Orthodox Christians. The local government was predominately made up of former Serb Chetniks. The report also noted that the Serbs were also dissatisfied with the living conditions in Prizren.[49]
InWorld War IINazi Germany andFascist Italy invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and by 9 April the Germans who had invaded Yugoslavia from the East with neighbouring Bulgaria as base were on the outskirts of Prizren and by 14 April Prizren had fallen to the Italians who had invaded Yugoslavia from the West in neighbouring Albania; there was however notable resistance in Prizren before Yugoslavia unconditionally surrendered on 19 April 1941.[53] Prizren along with most of Kosovo was annexed to the Italianpuppet state ofAlbania. Soon after the Italian occupation, theAlbanian Fascist Party established ablackshirt battalion in Prizren, but plans to establish two more battalions were dropped due to the lack of public support.[54]
For many years after the restoration of Serbian rule, Prizren and the region ofDečani to the west remained centres ofAlbanian nationalism.[citation needed] In 1956 theYugoslavsecret police put on trial in Prizren nine Kosovo Albanians accused of having been infiltrated into the country by the (hostile) Communist Albanian regime ofEnver Hoxha. The "Prizren trial" became something of acause célèbre after it emerged that a number of leading Yugoslav Communists had allegedly had contacts with the accused. The nine accused were all convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences but were released and declared innocent in 1968 with Kosovo's assembly declaring that the trial had been "staged and mendacious."[citation needed]
The town of Prizren did not suffer much during theKosovo War but its surrounding municipality was badly affected during 1998–1999. Before the war, theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe estimated that the municipality's population was about 78% Kosovo Albanian, 5% Serb and 17% from other national communities. During the war most of the Albanian population were either forced or intimidated into leaving the town. Tusus Neighborhood suffered the most. Some twenty-seven to thirty-four people were killed and over one hundred houses were burned.[57]
At the end of the war in June 1999, most of the Albanian population returned to Prizren. Serbian and Roma minorities fled, with the OSCE estimating that 97% of Serbs and 60% ofRomani had left Prizren by October. The community is now predominantly ethnically Albanian, but other minorities such as Turkish, Ashkali (a minority declaring itself as Albanian Roma) and Bosniak (includingTorbesh community) live there as well, be that in the city itself, or in villages around. Such locations includeSredska,Mamushë, and the region ofGora.[58]
Much of Potkaljaja, the old Serb neighbourhood along the hillside in the centre of town, was looted and burned to the ground following the Yugoslav Army withdrawal. Since 2010 most of the neighbourhood has been rebuilt.[59]
The war and its aftermath caused only a moderate amount of damage to the city compared to other cities in Kosovo.[60] Serbian forces destroyed an important Albanian cultural monument in Prizren, the League of Prizren building,[61][62] but the complex was rebuilt later on and now constitutes theMonumental Complex of the Albanian League of Prizren.
Also, during that riot, the entire Serb quarter of Prizren, near thePrizren Fortress, was completely destroyed, as a revenge for the crimes committed during the war from the Serbian army and all remaining Serb population was evicted from Prizren.[64][65] Simultaneously Islamic cultural heritage andmosques were destroyed and damaged.
The municipality of Prizren is still the most culturally and ethnically heterogeneous city of Kosovo, retaining communities ofBosniaks,Turks, andRomani in addition to the majority Kosovo Albanian population. Only a small number of Kosovo Serbs remain in Prizren and its surrounds, residing mainly in small villages. Prizren's Turkish community is socially prominent and influential, and theTurkish language is widely spoken even by non-ethnic Turks.[citation needed]
Prizren is amunicipality governed by amayor–council system. The mayor of Prizren with the members of the Prizren Municipal Council are responsible for the administration of Prizren Municipality. The municipality is encompassed inPrizren District and consists of 76 adjacent settlements with Prizren as its seat.[69][70][71]
There are three agricultural co-operatives in three villages. Most livestock breeding and agricultural production are private, informal, and small-scale. There are nine operational banks with branches in Prizren,ProCredit Bank, theRaiffeisen Bank, theNLB Bank,TEB Bank, Banka për Biznes (Bank for Business),İşbank,Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (National Trade Bank), Iutecredit, and the Payment and Banking Authority of Kosovo (BPK).[83]
All the main roads connecting the major villages with the urban centre are asphalted. The water supply is functional in Prizren town and in approximately 30 villages.[citation needed]
There are 48 primary schools with 28,205 pupils and 1,599 teachers; 6 secondary schools with 9,608 students and 503 teachers; kindergartens are privately run. There is also a public university in Prizren, offering lectures in Albanian, Bosnian, and Turkish.[citation needed]
The primary health care system includes 14 municipal family health centres and 26 health houses. The primary health sector has 475 employees, including doctors, nurses and support staff, 264 females and 211 males. Regional hospital in Prizren offers services to approximately 250,000 residents. The hospital employs 778 workers, including 155 doctors, and is equipped with emergency and intensive care units.[citation needed]
As of theKosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) estimate from the 2011 census, there were 177,781 people residing in Prizren Municipality, representing thesecond most populous city andmunicipality of Kosovo.[85] Its urban population was approximately 94,500, while the rural population was around 83,000.[85] With a population density of 283,5 people per square kilometre, Prizren is among the most densely populated municipalities of Kosovo.[86]
Besides the two official languages of Kosovo,Albanian andSerbian,Turkish andBosnian are also the official languages of the Municipality of Prizren.[89][90]
The presence ofVlach villages in the vicinity of Prizren is attested in 1198-1199 by a charter of Stephan Nemanja.[91] Madgearu argues that the series of Ottoman defters from 1455 onward showing the "ethnic mosaic" of Serb and Albanian villages in Kosovo shows that Prizren already had significant Albanian Muslim populations.[92] Since an early period in its rapid development as an Ottoman city, Prizren had much more Muslims than Catholic or Orthodox inhabitants as in the pre-Ottoman period.[36]
Due to urban development in the Ottoman period, with the building of mosques and other Islamic buildings, Prizren received an Islamic urban character in the 16th century. 227 of 246 workshops of Prizren were run by Muslims in 1571.[93] Catholic archbishopMarino Bizzi reported in 1610 that Prizren had 8,600 houses, out of which many were Orthodox (who had two churches), and only 30 were Catholic (who had one church).[94] The Orthodox far outnumbered the Catholics.[95] Catholic archbishopPjetër Mazreku reported in 1624 that the town was inhabited by 12,000 "Turks" (Muslims, i.e. mainly Albanians) of which most spoke Albanian, and that there were 600 Serbs (Orthodox Christians) and maybe 200 Catholic Albanians.[96][36] In 1857, Russian Slavist Alexander Hilferding's publications place the Muslim families at 3,000, the Orthodox ones at 900 and the Catholics at around 100 families.[97] In the Ottoman census of 1876, it had 43,922 inhabitants.[97]
The annually heldHasi Jehon Festival aims to promote and preserve the Albanian spiritual heritage, throughfolk music,dances and popular games from all Albanian-inhabited parts of the Balkans. The festival was first established in the May of 1976 from the cultural and artistic association "Malësori" and it takes place in the village ofGjonaj.[102]
The annualDokufest International Film Festival held in Prizren is considered among the largest publicly attended film festival in the Balkans. Several art and music festivals and conferences are held in the city, including the 40BunarFest andNGOM Fest, with the main objectives to promote artists and to connect the different ethnic groups in the surrounding region.[103][104]
The influence ofIslam in Kosovo is evident; 96% of the population identified as Muslim in the most recent census, taken in 2011. Mosques, such as theSinan Pasha Mosque, are a dominant feature in the city.
^Ducellier, Alain (21 October 1999). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, c.1198-c.1300. Cambridge University Press. p. 780. ISBN 978-0-521-36289-4. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2012
^Đokić, Dejan (2023).A concise history of Serbia. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 162.ISBN978-1-107-02838-8.
^Iseni, Bashkim (25 January 2008).La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine. Bern: P. Lang. p. 77.ISBN978-3039113200.
Stojkovski, Boris (2020). "Byzantine military campaigns against Serbian lands and Hungary in the second half of the eleventh century.". In Theotokis, Georgios; Meško, Marek (eds.).War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. Routledge.ISBN978-0429574771.
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