Modrič ( mk, Модрич) is a village in

Struga Municipality Municipality of Struga ( mk, Струга, translit=Struga, sq, Strugë) is a municipality in western North Macedonia. ''Struga'' is also the name of the town where the municipal seat is found. Struga Municipality is part of the Southwestern St ...

, in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. There was a fortress on the hill Gradište, east of the current position of the village.

Ottoman period

Modrič fortress which was located in this village had a great importance during Ottoman rule because of its strategic position on the left bank of the river Black Drim, next to the road between

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inh ...

and

Debar Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has ...

. On the other side of the road was Kodžadžik (then Svetigrad). At the beginning of the Ottoman rule Modrič was probably a little more important than Kožadžik. In November 1443 Skanderbeg revolted against the sultan and this fortress became one of Skanderbeg's strongholds. It was also mentioned in the works of Marin Barleti. In 1448, Sultan

Murad II Murad II ( ota, مراد ثانى, Murād-ı sānī, tr, II. Murad, 16 June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1444 and again from 1446 to 1451. Murad II's reign was a period of important economic deve ...

besieged the fortress of Svetigrad. The first battle between Skanderbeg's and Ottoman forces during the Siege of Svetigrad (Kodžadžik) in 1448 was held at Modrič fortress. In 1452, Ottoman forces from Ohrid attacked Skanderbeg's rebels but were defeated at Modrič where

Hamza Kastrioti Hamza Kastrioti ( la, Ameses Castriota) or Bernardo Kastrioti (after his conversion to Christianity), was a 15th-century Albanian nobleman and the nephew of George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Probably born in Ottoman territory, after the death of his ...

led Skanderbeg's rebels and Ottoman commander Hamza Pasha, his namesake. According to Pollo and Puto, in 1456 Skanderbeg's nephew George Strez Balšić, who governed the fortress of Modrič, sold it to Ottomans. In 1467 this village was recorded in the Ottoman register as a

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. ...

of one Sinan who was a ''dizdar'' (castellan) of Modrič fortress. The fortress was probably destroyed to such extent that it was without garrison while its reconstruction was either impossible or unnecessary. In 1914, the village became part of the

Principality of Albania The Principality of Albania ( al, Principata e Shqipërisë or ) refers to the short-lived monarchy in Albania, headed by Wilhelm, Prince of Albania, that lasted from the Treaty of London (1913), Treaty of London of 1913 which ended the Fir ...

Demography

At around 1467, Modrič fortress was registered as part of the Ottoman

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

Dolgo Brdo (Golo Brdo) and had only 7 households. According to the 2002 census all 25 inhabitants of Modrič declared as Macedonians. Berziti from Kičevo referred to people from Modrič and other surrounding villages ( Lukovo, Jablanica...) as Keckars ( mk, Кецкари).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modric, Struga Villages in Struga Municipality