Gruda

From Gruda, on the Capljina-Imotski road away to the north-west of here.

Partisans MacLean, Alistair 1982

We left Bridzha for Gruda at 5.30 A.M., with the old man as guide.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

All Hoti and Gruda followed, and the town was taken.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

About eighty houses of Gruda spring from Berisha, reputed one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, Albanian tribe – a tribe that does not tell of immigration but claims to have been always in its present home.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

In the Maltsia e madhe group (Hoti, Gruda, Kastrati, Skreli, Kilmeni) a full council, i.e. one that can deal with matters affecting the whole tribe, must consist of the Bariaktar, four Voyvodas, twelve Elders (specially chosen for their intelligence and knowledge of law), and seventy-two heads of houses.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

The town was impregnable till Hoti and Gruda charged.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

It was soon after the building of the church of Gruda, and that is now 380 years ago.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

THE land north of Scutari, called Maltsia e madhe, the Great Mountain Land, is the home of five large tribes – Hoti, Gruda, Kastrati, Skreli, and Kilmeni.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

The nearest approach to a date that I obtained was that the Church of Gruda was the oldest in Maltsia e madhe, and was 380 years old, and that the Church of Bratoshi Kastrati – third oldest – was built soon after the Delti settled.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909

Kilmeni used to lead, but that day Hoti was made first and Gruda second of all the tribes of these mountains when they go to war in the north.

High Albania Mary Edith 1909