1) I don’t want to retread the arguments for the Illyrian origin of Albanians (so I will not address some of your comments at this moment). There are strong arguments against this theory as well, but I will not post them either.
In short, I am very doubtful of the linguistic explanations and arguments provided but of course it is a valid, working hypothesis.
All of the proposed Messapian cognates you outline are only proposed and likely etymologies. For each of them there are other cognates from a variety of languages; but we are dealing with a handful of words at best. To the best of my knowledge, both Illyrian and Messapian are classified as extinct languages and linguists can't say much about them in general. Albanian being a continuation of one of the Illyrian dialects simply does not follow here, and is again an assumption. It does not constitute a convincing proof or connection. In many cases linguists play 'etymological games' with one another and come up with words and etymologies that rest on faulty assumptions.
There are tons of theories out there. Here is one -
SLAVIC, A BALTICIZED ALBANIAN?
2) You are correct about Albanians' appearance in history. Even if the Albanians were mentioned for the first time in the 11th century it does not follow that Albanians arrived in the Balkans only in the 11th century. They were there earlier, but how ‘earlier’ is a question for investigation. Another question would be: if they did appear earlier, did they appear under a different designation or name? Do we have any literary or other sources?
Tribes and population groups usually appeared under various and different names or terms, depending on the time period and inclination and writing style of the chroniclers. The Byzantine writers were notorious as being unreliable in this respect; they usually “classicized” names of peoples indiscriminantly and used antiquarian terms at will. They referred to Slavs as Scythians, Sarmatians, Moesians, and other names; after a few centuries Scythians “turned into” Pechenegs and Cumans. Turks were Persians, and even Slavs of Thessaly were referred to as being Achilles’ Myrmidons. Serbs were Dalmatians and Triballians; Vlachs, Goths, Turkic tribes and others were all styled as Dacians depending on the time, context, and agenda of the writer.
I do not doubt that a tradition developed at some point which prompted the writers to refer to Albanians as Illyrians (but traditions are quite unreliable and can be invented and developed; they may have been conjured up by the writers themselves who in many cases emulated the literary styles of Herodotus and Thucydides).
I would say that some Byzantine writers were quite deluded, and exhibited similar tendencies. Gemisthus Pletho thought that the populations of Morea were direct descendants of the ancient Hellenes – even though I’m sure he was well aware of the fact that Slavs, ‘Illyrians’ (Albanians), Jews, ‘Egyptians’ (Roma), ‘Italians’ (Venetians and other Roman Catholics from the Italian peninsula), and other ethnic groups lived in Morea at that time period. Chalkokondyles wrote that the Serbs are the autochthonous population of the Balkans and identified them with Triballians, an ancient Thracian tribe with Celtic and Illyrian influences. Niketas Choniates also wrote: “… Shortly after this, he campaigned against the nation of Triballians (whom someone may call Serbians as well)..”
If we are forced to discount such claims and traditions about the modern Serbs or Bulgarians (who were Moesians according to some authors), why should we accept similar claims and language used to describe the Albanians? Such expressions were merely literary devices and quite popular in the Middle Ages.
Question for you: When did Ephraemius write his piece? It seems it was after the 11th century.
3)
The link between Albanians and Illyrians is more than a mere assumption. It's a well-rooted tradition which can be traced back to the Byzantine authors. Recent investigation has just bolstered it by proving that Albanians were descendants of Illyrians.
Have you read about the Avar archaeological finds or Avar-Slav culture in Albania? Many areas of Albania, Epirus, and even Thessaly were populated by Slavs in significant numbers (and even further south).
Some modern Greek authors, but also others, deliberately seek to minimize or whitewash the impact of Slavic colonization south of and including Epirus. Such arguments are mostly quasi-scientific in nature and are motivated by ideological biases.
4) On the Mardaites again.
After the Mardaites were settled in Epirus, Aetolia, Acarnania, Kephallenia, and Peloponnese they may have expanded into adjacent territories and areas. I have also provided a citation that states that Mardaites may have settled even in the Theme of Dyrrachion, which is significant as it represents the coastal and inland regions of modern day Albania.
Note that the territories Mardaites were reported to have settled in directly correspond to historical ethnic Albanian lands (as late as the 19th century). According to a document of the Latin sovereigns of Corfu dated 1365, which ratifies an earlier (1246) decree of Michael II, the ruler of Epirus, refers to a “decarhia Mardatorum”. (Does this refer to Albanians?) I leave it to the reader to conclude whether it seems probable that Mardaites could have expanded into new territories. I will provide some comparable and detailed examples in a different post to illustrate the plausibility of rapid ethnic change in a given territory and/or new population groups replacing and pushing out the previous inhabitants. I maintain that Mardaites expanding into adjacent territories is not an incorrect assumption, as we have many similar examples throughout human history.
As you pointed out, the Byzantine Empire was in a repeated state of upheaval and continually devastated by wars, invasions, and other calamities. In general, I agree with statements by those historians that the greater part of the population was unfortunately wiped out, and replaced by colonists from different regions within the empire, and even outside of empire’s borders. Even in the days of Strabo, Epirus was desolate, and contained only ruined villages*. The following centuries only brought further devastation and repeated settlements of various ethnic groups all over the Balkan peninsula. Albania and Epirus were not immune from this process. To conclude, by the time Mardaites were settled in Epirus and other regions, they may have settled (and expanded) into lands that were in great part depopulated and desolate.
* - Page 223, A Handbook for Travellers in the Ionian Islands, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor ...:
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