When was the town of Krushevo founded?

[Carlin]

KADE I DA SI NA 4 AVGUST VO KRUSHEVO DA SI - 2018

Video is in both Macedonian and Arman languages (some segments are in Macedonian, others in Arman):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvQV4TZ9QQ

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Zisca Totsili, of Krushevo -- subtitles in Macedonian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfU3rTPekA0

[Carlin]

Towards the end of the 18th century Vlach settlers came to Krushevo in two waves (1769, 1788) having fled Moskopole and villages in its neighbourhood after their destruction. During 1812-1821 these migration waves were joined by additional settlers from the Grammos mountain range. Krushevo (an unimportant settlement until then) turned into a prosperous centre of crafts and trade and acquired the characteristics of an urban area, rather than that of a rural one.



URL:

https://macedoniancities.com/history/krushevo.asp

"The latest avalable documents state that Krushevo was mentioned for the first time in 1767 as a mezra (place with no population which has sometimes been inhabited and later on migrated or has never been inhabited and should have been given under possession of a landowner in order to inhabit it) of the landowner Husein-Bey together with Prilep and other villages. There is other Turkish and non-Turkish data which states that Krushevo existed as a settlement long before the 18th century. It seems that the first inhabitants of Krushevo were Macedonians who gave the name of the settlement."


The following Greek source, which I'm not endorsing, talks about the history of Krushevo:

https://hellenicnews.com/the-web-and-the-harpoon-the-peoples-republic-of-krushevo-by-marcus-alexander-templar/

"Settlements to the area that later became known as the town of Krushevo started in 1769 and lasted a little longer than 1779. The settlers came to Krushevo from such areas as the present day Greek region of Macedonia and Epirus, and even the present day Albania. They came to Krushevo for some very good reasons. The first settlement came about as a result of great raid the Yörük or Yürük Turks that took place toward the end of 18th century. The second wave during the administration of the infamous Ali Pasha of Ioannina. The rest of the waves took place because of other reasons. The main populations came from Naoussa, Monastiri, Tyrnavon, Megarovon, Vaskopolis, etc. (Ballas 1962, 18).

The first families came to Krushevo from Nikolitsa near Korytsa (Korce). These families found in Krushevo the only "Bulgarophone" family (sic) and one church made from reeds (Ballas 1962, 18). After these families from Nikolitsa came families from Lantopion, Grammosta, which is located on the Voion Mountain. The ones from Grammosta were Vlach speaking Greeks and came to Krushevo in two waves. The latter were flock herders nomads moving to warm areas during the winter and cooler areas during the summer (Ballas 1962, 19).

Another group that reached Krushevo were the Arvanites, Tosk speaking Greeks from Βυθικούκιον (present day Vithkuq, near Korce) led by their priest Fr. Eustathios and Opara led by their priest Fr. Yannakis. Their migration took place shortly after the migration of those from Nikolitsa. Because of their complete assimilation with local Greek population, a few families of the Arvanites used their language even at home by 1906 (Ballas 1962 19; Ditsias 1905, 10; Kirov-Majski 1935, 18-19)."

[Liberator of Makedonija]

I too read that many Vlachs migrated to the town following the fall of Moscopole

[Soldier of Macedon]

Even they aren't certain about some things it seems. When the place was given to the Ottoman sipahi Hussein-Beg during the 15th century, it may have either had an existing population or it may have been populated soon afterwards. It cannot be ruled out that a population existed prior in the area, so I tend to lean towards the former suggestion as it was given to Hussein-Beg's control and would be more valuable as a town or even village rather than an unpopulated mountain region, at least in most cases.

In the 18th century there were runaway Vlachs from Moskopole, Grammos and Thessaly due to Ali Pasha's tyrrany. This took place during the same period where the Greek-speaking leaders of the Roman millet in the Ottoman empire worked with their Turkish friends to supress the non-Greek speaking churches in the Balkans.

[sydney]

According to the book "Istorija na Krushevo i Krushevsko", 1978, (A. Matkovski, K Bitoski, K. Tomovski, K. Balabanov), the oldest mention of Krushevo is in 1467/1468 ... "koga toa, kako mezra, mu bilo dadeno na spahijata Husein-beg, zaedno co Prilep i so drugi 31 selo. Mezra bilo prazno mesto koe nekogash bilo naseleno pa se raselilo, ili nekogash ne bilo naseleno pa bilo davano vo posed na nekoj spahija, so cel da go naseli."

It goes on to say that Krushevo was first settled on the left side of the river. This was the only settlement until the 18th century when the Vlachs came. At this time the right side of the river started to be settled for the first time.

The author has taken the above Turkish source from the Archives of Macedonia, as found in the "Opshirniot popisen defter No.4 od 1467/68". There is also a 16th century entry in a text from a monastery in Slepche, Macedonia and other Turskish sources.

Interesting to note the following from the author:

"Vo 'Bitolskiot sidzil' br. 36 ima podatok deka vo mart 1714 godina Krushevo imalo 40 kukji. Brojot na zhitelite na Krushevo brgu se zgolemil po dvata naleti na Vlasite, koishto vo 1769 i vo 1788 godina, begajkji od zulumite na Ali-pasha Janinski, od Moskopole, Gramos i Tesalija doshle vo Krushevo..."

[Pelister]

Pelister, have you got a source for the Ali Pasha story? What you say may well be true, at the moment I am not really convinced though.

I am not convinced either.

It was something I picked up somewhere, but it was one of those details I didn't think was worth keeping. Of course my memory being what it is I could have colored the facts. I'm learning to keep better records of things these days.

There has to be some info on Krushevo out there somewhere. I'll have a dig around.

Here is a small piece.

http://www.exploringmacedonia.com/?ItemID=68226A1D8EC6DF46967DA16F1B40B924

[Soldier of Macedon]

Pelister, have you got a source for the Ali Pasha story? What you say may well be true, at the moment I am not really convinced though.

[Pelister]

I don't know.

It could have already been a small Macedonian village, but I was under the impression that it was founded by Vlachs after Ali Pasha flattened Moschopoli. It is possible that they added to the population already there.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Thanks GeorgeS, it says that Krusevo was founded by emigrants from nearby Debra and that there are many Vlach toponyms, including Mechkin Kamen having a Vlach name originally, which I find a little far-fetched.

[George S.]

found this on the net( but it's inserbian) founded in 1467

Kruševo/Crushuva
U najstarijem izvoru Kruševo se po prvi put spominje 1467, dakle mnogo ranije od događanja u Moskopolju i pominjanja Cincara. Kruševo su osnovali stanovnici Debra koji su se doselili u ovu oblast. Međutim, grad postaje moderan i razvijen tek u XVIII veku, nakon masovne migracije Cincara iz razrušenog i opljačkanog Moskopolja. Poznati putopisac i austrijski konzul J.G. Hahn 1858. godine obilazi Kruševo i izveštava da se broj kuća popeo na 1400, i da je u gradu bilo 13 crkava, a da je najveća bila “Sveti Nikola”. Oblast je obilovala cincarskim toponimima, među kojima je i jedan koji će biti upamćen za sva vremena: Mečkin kamen – Chaiatra Ursului, gde je vojvoda Pitu Guli izginuo 1903. sa svojom četom u borbi sa turskim jedinicama. 1200 branitelja Kruševa se suočilo sa 15 000 Turaka u borbi za očuvanje Kruševske Republike. U toj neravnopravnoj borbi su Turci spalili 360 kuća i dućana, među kojima i porodice Ničotine sa 46 soba, opljačkali 1500 kuća i pobili 111 žitelja.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Not sure if it was actually founded by Vlachs given the name but it is possible, their presence in the town is deep-rooted though.

[TrueMacedonian]

I've read somewhere that it was in 1770 and that it was by Vlachs. Can anyone verify this info or clarify it?