Pilot (župa)

Skadar

Prizren

Dyrrhachion

Bar

Maja e Ndërmajnave

Pilot (Albanian: Pulati/Pulti, Greek: Πολάθων, Church Slavonic: Пилоть, Latin: Polatum) was a province in medieval Albania (Albanian: Arbëria/Arbënia, Greek Arbanon, Old Serbian Rabьn), approximately between the cities Shkodra in the west and Prizren in the east, and between the rivers Valbona in the north and the northern arm of the Drin in the south. According to his 1198 charter, Serbian king Stefan Nemanja conquered "Pulat of Albania" (de Albania Pulatum) along with the cities of Shkodra and Bar.^[1] Later conquests by King Milutin and Emperor Stefan Dušan pushed the border further east and south, and Pilot remained within the Serbian empire until its fall in 1355. During the 15th century, Pulat was ruled by the Spani, an Albanian noble family which possessed dominions in Shkodër (Scutari), Drisht (Drivasto) and western Kosovo.^[2], and which from 1444, joined the League of Lezhë. After the Ottoman conquest of Albania, Pulat was referred to as Petrişpan-ili (literally, "dominions of Pjetër Shpani"). Saint Sava and later sources distinguish an Upper and a Lower Pilot, separated by the mountain.^[3]

The name stems from Greek: Πολάθων, romanized: Polathon ("land of palaces"), a Greek Orthodox suffragan diocese of Dyrrhachion in the 9th century. In the 11th century, the Roman Catholic diocese of Polatum appears as a suffragan of Bar.^[4] When the Serbian Orthodox Church became autocephalous in 1219, Pilot was divided into the Serbian dioceses Budimlje, Zeta, Hvosno and Prizren.^[5] In the 14th century, the Roman Catholic diocese Polatum was divided into Polatum maior, having its seat in the Benedictine monastery of St Paul de Polato, and Polatum minor around Sarda. From the 15th century onwards, members of the Dushmani appear as Catholic bishops.

Illyricum sacrum (VII, 261-262) lists the following pagi as belonging to the Roman Catholic diocese of Polatum:^[6]

• Polatum superior (northern part):
  • Vlachia (Blachia)
  • Salza
  • Toplana
  • Dushmani (Ducsman)

• Polatum inferior (southern part):
  • Shalla (Scialla)
  • Shoshi (Sciosci)
  • Kjiri [Kiri] (Kivi, Chivi)
  • Planti
  • Djuánni [Xhani] (Gioagni)

The Serbian monasteries Hilandar, Dečani, and Prizren owned extensive estates (metochions) in Pilot. In the 14th century, the area was ripe with orthodox priests.^[7]

Russian ambassador and historian Ivan Jastrebov (1839–1894) identified Pilot as the Dukagjin highlands.

See also[]

• Pult, village in northern Albania
• Diocese of Pulati, former Roman Catholic diocese

References[]