De Administrando Imperio: Serbs settled Dalmatia in 7th century (ORIGINAL SCANNED PAGES)

This article features scanned pages from the only available English translation of De Administrando Imperio by Byzantine scholar Gyula Moravcsik. The Serbs had been resettled from Macedonia to Bosnia, Hercegovina, Dalmatia, Zeta & Raska by the same Emperor Heraclius who had invited both Serbs & Croats to settle in the Balkans.


According to Porphyrogenitus, Serbs formed the original population of those regions from the early 7th century up to 955 AD considering that D.A.I was written a full 2 decades after Bosnia & Dalmatia had been first occupied by Croatia.

De Administrando Imperio is rejected by Catholic and Muslim academics in Bosnia & Croatia, although it is internationally recognized. They reject this work because it so clearly and specifically identifies Bosnia, Hercegovina & Dalmatia as exclusively Serb populated territory that it leaves no room for legitimate debate or questioning.

- Chapter 30
The River Cetina is the border between Serb land & Croatia

"From the city of Decatera begins the domain of Terbounia and stretches along as far as Ragusa, and on the side of its mountain country it is neighbour to Serbia".
[...]
"From Ragusa begins the domain of the Zachlumi (Ζαχλοῦμοι) and stretches along as far as the river Orontius; and on the side of the coast it is neighbour to the Pagani, but on the side of the mountain country it is neighbour to the Croats on the north and to Serbia at the front. From the Orontius begins Pagania and stretches as far as the River Tzentina (Cetina)" [...]

"From the River Tzentina begins the country of Croatia..." (page 145)


- Chapter 32 & 36
The Paganians/Narentans were Serbs

This is a very important point to clarify, as Paganians are constantly being misidentified as undifferentiated Slavs by Croatians pseudo-scholarship. Leo Rabaduchas, mentioned contemporaneously with Caslav Klonimirovic shows that as late as the 10th century, Pagania was populated by Serbs, not Croats...


"Leo Rabaduchas…arrived in Pagania which was at that time under the control of Serbia..." (page 157)




"These same Pagani are descended from the unbaptised Serbs of the time of that prince who claimed the protection of the Emperor Heraclius. […] The Pagani are thus called because they did not accept baptism at the time when all the other Serbs were baptized. In pagania are the inhabited cities of Mokron, Ostrok, Slavnitza...Kourkira, Melet…another large Island Phara, another large island Bratzis". (chapter 36)

*

Chapter 32

"After some time these Serbs decided to depart to their homes and the Emperor sent them off but when they crossed the river Danube, they changed their minds and sent a request to the Emperor Heraclius" [...]

"And since what is now Serbia, Pagania, and the so-called country of Zachoulmia and Trebounia and the country of the Kanalites were under dominion of the emperor of the Romans, and since these countries had been made desolate by the Avars (for they had expelled those parts the Romani who now live in Dalmatia and...." (page 154)

Dyrachium) "...therefore the Emperor settled these same Serbs in these countries and they were subject to the emperor of the Romans". (page 155)

Chapter 33: Zahumlje

"The Zahumljani (Захумљани) that now live there are Serbs, from the time of the prince (archont) who fled to emperor Heraclius" (page 162)

"In the territory of the Zachoumlians are the following inhabited cities: Ston (το Σταγνον / to Stagnon), Mokriskik (το Μοκρισκικ), Josli (το Ιοσλε / to Iosle), Galumainik (το Γαλυμαενικ / to Galumaenik), Dobriskik (το Δοβρισκικ / to Dovriskik)"
[...]


Chapter 34: Travunia

"Travunia (Terbounia) and Konavli is one. Its inhabitants originate from unchristened Serbs, who lived there since the archont that fled from unchristened Serbia to Emperor Heraclius and Serb archont Vlastimir [...] "The archonts of Travunia have always been subject to the archont of Serbia" [...] "Populated cities in Travunia and Konavli are: Travunia (ηε Τερβουνια), Vrm (το Ορμος), Risan (τα Ρισενα), Lukavete (το Λουκαβεται), Zetlivi (του Ζετλεβε)." (page 163)

Origin of the Albanians 2: Caucasus --> Sicily --> Balkans

This excerpt from Robert Elsie shows that Albanians presence in Italy predates the Arberesh migration of the 15th century.

What is odd is that Albanians are not mentioned living being in the Balkans on the territory Albania until a century later.

http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts15/AH1038.html

1038, 1042, 1078
Michael Attaleiates:
The First Byzantine References


Michael Attaleiates was a Byzantine lawyer and historian who rose to high office under the emperors Romanus IV (r. 1067-1071) and Michael VII (r. 1071-1078). His 'History', covering the years 1034-1079, is a largely eyewitnessed account of political and military events in the Byzantine Empire. It was during this period that the Byzantine Greeks first took note of the Albanians as a people.

When the Emperor Michael (1), who passed away in piety and whose home is known to have been the province of Paphlagonia, took up the sceptre of the Byzantine Empire, the Agarene (2) people in Sicily in the West were defeated by Byzantine naval and land forces.

And had not the well-known George Maniakes, who had been entrusted with the general command, been eliminated on the slanderous accusation that he was hungry for power, and had not the military command of the war been transferred to others, that large and renowned island, blessed with large cities knowing no lack of precious goods, would still be under Byzantine control. Now, however, jealousy has destroyed not only the man and his endeavours, but also that enormous undertaking (3). For when subsequent commanders made base and shameful plans and decisions, not only was the island lost to Byzantium, but also the greater part of the army. Unfortunately, the people who had once been our allies and who possessed the same rights as citizens and the same religion, i.e. the Albanians and the Latins, who live in the Italian regions of our Empire beyond Western Rome, quite suddenly became enemies when Michael Dokenianos insanely directed his command against their leaders...

Constantine IX Monomachos (4) proved to be more benevolent on the imperial throne than his predecessor. He conveyed imperial honours and gifts to almost everyone with ambition, and delighted his subjects. Suddenly storm clouds gathered in the West and threatened him with nothing less than destruction and expulsion from the throne. The aforementioned George with the surname Maniakes, thirsting for blood, began an uprising in the Italian part of the Empire with Byzantine and Albanian soldiers there

(1) Michael IV (r. 1034-1041).
(2) i.e. the Arabs.
(3) i.e. the recapture of Sicily in 1038-1040.
(4) Constantine IX (r. 1042-1055).


[Extracts from: Michaelis Attaliotae: Historia, Bonn 1853, p. 8, 18, 297.
Translated by Robert Elsie.
First published in R. Elsie: Early Albania, a Reader of Historical Texts, 11th - 17th Centuries,
Wiesbaden 2003, p. 4-5.]

In later posts, we will cite numerous credibly sourced examples identical Albanian-Caucasic toponyms, surnames and even vocabulary.

Origins of the Albanians 1: Illyians & Albanians - Skeletally & Linguistically Different

I have scans of every page cited below. You are welcome to email me and I will send them to you.


Work done in Yugoslavia and Albania in the late 1980s and early 1990s and compiled by John Wilkes helped to bring an end to Illyrian-Albanian myth…

In the matter of physical character, skeletal evidence from prehistoric cemeteries suggests no more than average height (male 1.65 m; female 1.53). Not much reliance should perhaps be placed on attempts to define an Illyrian anthropological type as short and dark-skinned similar to modern Albanians.
John Wilkes
The Peoples of Europe: The Illyrians
Page: 219
1992
Blackwell Publishers

In other words, Illyrians & Albanians are morphologically different people - so they cannot represent an evolutionary continuity from one to the other. The basis on which continuity is claimed for these two different ethnic groups is purely linguistic:

The evidence for (llyrian origin) is primarily linguistic; its significance has become clear only with the development of the (modern) science of historical linguistics.
Noel Malcolm
Myth of Albanian National Identity: Some Key Elements
Quoted from:
Albanian Identities: Myth and History
Edited by: Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers & Bernd J. Fischer
Page: 74

The linguistic associations between Illyrian & Albanian rest on the few associations between Illyrian toponyms & Albanian vocabulary.

But Albanian & Illyrian languages belong to two different linguistic branches of Indo-European: Illyrian - centum; Albanian - satem, making them mutually exclusive of one another. Wilkes elaborates:

In the case of Illyrian, the problems appear to be multiplying: if Illyrian belongs not to the satem group but to the centum, the common etymology of Gentius and gens must be discarded. There is no evidence in fact that Illyrian belongs to the satem group but the argument that it does is crucial to the case that modern Albanian is descended from Illyrian.
John Wilkes
The Peoples of Europe: The Illyrians
Page: 73
1992
Blackwell Publishers

Below, Colin Renfrew shows that Albanian and Illyrian belong to two linguistic branches of the Indo-European family:

Table XIII The centum/satem subdivision
Centum Satem
Germanic Baltic
Venetic Slavic
Illyrian Albanian
Celtic Thracian
Italic Phrygian
Greek Armenian
Tochar Iranian/Indian

Taken from Renfrew, Archaeology & Language, pg: 107

A centum language cannot evolve into a satem language anymore than Swedish can evolve into Sanskrit. Illyrian could not possibly evolve into Albanian on the exact same grounds. Albanian is a satem language, transplanted to the Balkans at approximately 1300 BC, when the culture bearers of Albanian ethno-tribal identity & language settled along the Thracian-Illyrian border.

John Wilkes concludes his book with a caustic condemnation of the state of Albanian Archaeology, accusing Albanian scholars of deliberately distorting the facts:

On the other hand, it is hoped that the unfortunate distortions which have marred outstanding progress in Albanian Archaeology will soon be corrected. As new guidebooks are demonstrating, the Albanian culture, as fascinating and varied as any in that quarter of Europe, is an inheritance from several languages, religions and ethnic groups known to have inhabited the region since prehistoric times, among whom were the Illyrians.
John Wilkes
The Illyrians
Chapter: Prehistoric Illyrians
Page: 280
Blackwell Publishers
1992