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Ceklin (Montenegrin/Serbian Cyrillic: Цеклин;Albanian:Ceklinë) is a historicaltribe (pleme) and region inMontenegro. It is divided into two clans: Gornjaci (the Upper) and Donjaci (the Lower). The Gornjaci are descendants of Leka, who came from the Kelmendi, while the Donjaci are descended from Leka's son.[1]
Ceklin is a tribal community whose folk tradition maintains that was formed through matrilineal descent as its matriarch was married and had offspring with a man from the area of laterPiperi and then her second husband came from the area ofKelmendi. The brotherhoods which claim descent from them, the Gornjaci (via the second marriage) and Donjaci (via the first) are the core of Old Ceklin. Many brotherhoods of different origins were eventually incorporated in the community and came to consider themselves to be part of the same lineages. In the 17th and 18th centuries the tribe expanded its region and numerous other villages and families fell within its territory. Ceklin is one of the very few tribes in the Western Balkans that was created through matrilineality, instead of patriarchal bonds.
It has been linguistically connected to Albanian ceklinë or cektinë which means shallow ground.[2]
The tribe seat is at the village of Ceklin, which comprises thirteen clans. Other villages in the tribal region are: Strugari, Ulići, Bokovo, Jankovići, Đalci, Drušići, Rvaši, Zagora, Bobija, Vranjina, Dujeva (with smaller hamlets: Mihaljevići, Trnovi Do and Riječani), town ofŽabljak Crnojevića and at the end of the territory known as Riječka Okolina and Varošica Rijeka in which there are other tribes present.
The brotherhoods of Ceklin proper (pravi Ceklin) are divided in the Gornjaci and Donjaci brotherhoods. The Gornjaci are most numerous brotherhood of Ceklin today.[3] They share the same matrilineal origin fromPiperi, but have different patrilineal descent fromKelmendi (Gornjaci) andPiperi (Donjaci). Thus, Ceklin became a tribe (pleme) on the basis of matrilineal descent, although it follows patrilineal inheritance customs. It follows taboos of endogamy in the same way as a community based on patrilineal descent and no intermarriage takes place between the Donjaci and the Gornjaci.
TheGornjaci brotherhoods, according to their folklore, trace their origin to a Leka, who migrated fromKelmendi (in northern Albania) first in Piperi and then in Ceklin at the end of 15th century.[4] Leka had married the widow of chieftain Radivoj Liješević in Piperi, with whom he had a son, Krstić, whose two sons Lješ and Vulić are the direct ancestors of Gornjaci today. The widow's son from her first marriage, Vukosav, was adopted by Leka and given part of Ceklin. A possibly related oral tradition exists in Kelmendi itself. There, a Leka is considered the fifth son of the progenitor of Kelmendi who first settled in their home territory. According to the story he left from Kelmendi towards an unknown destination - likely Piperi - possibly because of ablood feud. He was already married and had a son when he left. His descendants in Kelmendi are the brotherhoods of Vrataj and Gjonaj.[5] Like the Kelmendi ofSelcë, the Gornjaci have St. Nicholas as their patron saint.[5]
According to Donjaci folklore, Liješ, ancestor of Radivoj Liješević was fromDrobnjaci. He settled in Piperi in ca. 1385 because of a murder he had committed in his home region. The Donjaci clans originate from two of Vukosav's sons, Bajo and Grujica and they haveSt. George (Đurđevdan) as their patron saint (slava).[3]
The "old" Ceklinjani (Gornjaci and Donjaci) did not allow the immigrant families in Ceklin to take part in the settlement of new territory.[6] As the Gornjaci were the bigger brotherhood they took most of the new territory as their property. In the brotherhoods of the expanded territory of Ceklin in the 18th as new families came, more than 50 families and brotherhoods traced their origin outside ofpravi Ceklin or the brotherhoods of Bokovo and Ulji.[3]
In the area of modern Ceklin the settlement ofArbanas is mentioned in 1296 in a letter by KingMilutin.[7] During the reign of theCrnojević family in Zeta, old Ceklin was namedDonje Dobro, while neighbouring Gornje Dobro later received the nameDobrsko Selo.[3] These names are attested in Ottomandefters from the beginning of the 16th century and inMariano Bolizza's 1614 report.[3] At the time ofIvan Crnojević, Ceklin was only the name of one single settlement.[3] In the charters of Ivan Crnojević from 1485 and 1489, the village of Ceklin is named Cvetlin (Цвѣтлин) and Cetlin (Цѣтлин), which are the first mentions of the village with this name.[3] The 1489 charters mentions the "nobility of Cetlin", Radič Rašković, Radelja Mirujević, Sćepan Nikolić and Vuk Piperović.[3]
Ceklin belonged toRiječka nahija (River district), one of the four areas that comprisedOld Montenegro. Thepravi (proper) Ceklinjani[6] inhabited old (stari) Ceklin, a small area beneath the Ceklinštak mountain, divided into Gornji kraj (Upper area) and Donji kraj (Lower area), after which the main communities of Ceklin take their names: Gornjaci and Donjaci. All older clans of the tribe were formed in this area.[3] The tribe expanded its borders in the 17th century, pushing theBjelice tribe out from what is now Ceklin.[8][9] Some communities like Bokovo and Ulji became part of Ceklin on the basis of a defense pact between them. The region expanded in the 18th and early 19th centuries.[10] Ceklin was involved in one of the most long-standing blood feuds in Montenegro against the tribe ofNjeguši to which the later ruling dynasty of Montenegro thePetrović-Njegoš belonged. The feud lasted for 32 years and ended in 1797 in a joint meeting of all tribes of Old Montenegro under vladikaPetar I Petrović-Njegoš. The pacification of the feud between two of strongest tribes of the region is considered as an important step in Petar Petrović's strategy of uniting Old Montenegro.[11]
The vojvodas and serdars of the tribe were up to mid-19th century members of the Đurašković clan. During the reign ofPrince Danilo, the title ofvojvoda was passed to the Strugari clan, and the title ofserdar to the Jovićević clan.
There are also many families in other tribes that emigrated from Ceklin.
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Ceklin tribe consisted of two clans, Gornjaci and Donjaci [ the Upper and Lower ], All Upper clansmen are descended from Leka who originated in the Kelmendi, while the Lower kinsmen are descended from Leka's son
All Upper clansmen are descended from Leka who originated in the Klimenti tribe (Albanian), while the Lower kinsmen are descended from Leka's son-in-law Vukosav whose mother, after the death of her husband, married Leka.
Цеклињани су тек у XVII стољећу успјели да истисну Бјелице са своје данашње територије.
На исти начин су истерани... из Цеклина Бјелице