Triepshi (tribe)

The settlements of Trieshi are: Nikmarash, Rudinë, Muzheçk, Budëz, Poprat, Stjepoh, Delaj, Bëkaj, Llopar, Cem i Trieshit.

In terms of historical territory, Trieshi borders Hoti to the south-west, Kelmendi to the east, Gruda to the west and Koja e Kuçit to the north.

Oral traditions and fragmentary stories were collected and interpreted by writers who travelled in the region in the 19th century about the early history of Trieshi.

Johann Georg von Hahn recorded one of the first oral traditions about Trieshi from a Catholic priest named Gabriel in Shkodra in 1850.

[6] In the Dečani chrysobulls of 1330, the micro-toponym Bьnьkekjeve glade ("Bankeqi's hut") is attested in the region of eastern Montenegro bordering modern Vermosh in Kelmend, north-western Albania.

[6] The appearance of this settlement suggests that the Bankeqi had started to become territorialized and settled in this region of eastern Montenegro following the Ottoman occupation, gradually abandoning their previous semi-nomadic pastoralist way of life.

Bankeq is recorded again in the following Ottoman defter of 1582 where mixed Albanian-Slavic anthroponyms now dominated over typical Albanian personal names, an indication of increasing Slavic influence in the greater region.

As stated by Robert Elsie, a well known Albanoligist, the Trieshjan would constantly perturb the towns of Podgorica and Guci, and due to their "warlike nature" would lie in wait to ambush and kill Muslim caravans.

Robert Elsie recounts a story about Trieshi men going to Cetinje in order to bring the vladika the heads of Ottomans that they had cut off in battles in return for rewards and gifts.

[9] The area of Trieshi and Koja e Kuçit were formally ceded by the Ottomans to Montenegro in 1878 at a time of the Congress of Berlin, but the border remained vague until the end of WW.

The funerary customs of Trieshi as those of Malësia in general include the lamentation (gjamë) of the deceased in a collective manner by a group of men (gjamatarë).