Maps of Power

Gopeš

Gopeshi, Gopeş, Gopishi, Γκόπεσι, Гопеш

Begin 01.01.1583
End 26.12.1734

Properties

ID 12353
System Class Place
Place Existing Village chorion selo
Case Study Ethnonym of the Vlachs
Historical place Ottoman Empire
Administrative unit Southwestern Region / Југозападен регион

Description

The village of Gopeš is a pre-Ottoman village in the region of Bitola. Theodor Capidan claims that the first Vlachs in Gopeš came from Moglena/Meglen in the second half of the 13th century. Some researchers claim that the village existed as a Vlach settlement as early as the start of the 14th century, though it may have been confused with another settlement of the same name in the Devol valley in Opar (Albania). G. Zuca thinks that the first Vlach settlers came to Gopeš before the mid-17th century, from Fourka near Konitsa. T. Papahagi states that the first Vlach nucleus in Gopeš came into being in the second half of the 17th century, and that these Vlachs from Moglena soon assimilated the indegenious Slavs. In the Ottoman registers of the sanjak Ohrid from 1583 15 Christian families and 19 male inhabitants are registered in Gopeš, though their names do not solve the dilemma, if these inhabitants were Vlachs or Slavs. G. Zuca writes that the original location of the village was 2-3 km south of its current location, at the place called Curia al Simu. In 1800 Gopeš reportedly had 120 houses, while 800 houses and 4,800 inhabitants were counted in 1870. In 1900 the Bulgarian Vassil Kančov registers 2,460 inhabitants in Gopeš, all Vlachs. In 2002 Gopeš had 53 houses with 0 (zero) inhabitants according to the population census conducted in the (FY) Republic of Macedonia.
The village is located in mountainous terrain in the western part of the Municipality of Bitola. Between 23 and 31 December 1633 Nicio from the village of Gopeš accused some inhabitants of the village of Kutretino for robbing him and killing his friends. On 26 December 1734 a plea was sent to Sultan Mahmud I by certain Husein Bacdar to arrest the bandits Cocio Yorgo, Dimo Nano and Papa Kosta, all from Malovište, as well as the bandits Nicio Kiras and Papa Nicio from Gopeš, who robbed and killed his brother Bacdar Mustafa near the town of Prilep.

Relations

Sources (4)
Name Class Description
Court Register of Sanjak 1583 Source Page 58a of the census for Nahie Prespa, Kaza Ohrid in Sanjak Ohrid, is consisted of the names of all male inhabitants in the village Gopeš. According to this document, in 1583 the village Gopeš was inhabited by 19 male inhabitants, 15 of which were married, and 4 were unmarried.
Court Register of Sicil 1633 Source Document No. 5 of Sicil 3 (page 5a), Document No. 6 of Sicil 3 (page 15b) and Document No. 1 of Sicil 3 (page 16a) of the Bitola Court were composed in the third decade of Jumādá al-ākhirah (between 23 and 31 December 1633). In them, it is indicated that Nicio from the village Gopeš in kaza Ohrid, son of Dimko, declared in front of the court in Bitola: „Walking from our village together with my friends Dimo and Velko, we went down to a garden near the village Kutretino, which is in by God protected kaza of Monastir. At midnight, while we were asleep, we were attacked by armed inhabitants of the village Kutretino. They killed my friends, Dimo and Velko and they dangerously wounded me 3 or 4 times, thinking that they killed me too. They left us by the willows near Tsrna Reka. They robbed us, taking 3 mules, 6,000 akçe (silver coins), 3 loads of wheat and other stuff”. The court in Bitola sent investigators in the village Kutretino, where they found the robbed blankets in the house of Goshe. After hearing the accused and the witnesses, the court in Bitola made the following verdict: “It is true that the mentioned Goshe is an old bandit and road raider. His full time job is to kill passengers who pass by his village and rob them. He is making riot in the Empire. It is necessary for him to disappear from the face of the Earth”.
Court Register of Sicil 1734 Source Document No.1, page 29 of Sicil 44 of the Bitola Court was composed on 26 December 1734. It is a plea sent to Sultan Mahmud I by certain Husein Bacdar to arrest the bandits Cocio Yorgo, Dimo Nano and Papa Kosta, all from Malovište, as well as the bandits Nicio Kiras and Papa Nicio from Gopeš, who robbed and killed his brother Bacdar Mustafa near the town of Prilep.
Voyage dans Macedoine Source According to the traveler Esprit, the Vlachs are numerous in Macedonia and are subordinates, as are the Greeks and Bulgarians of the Patriarchal hierarchy in Constantinople. This population is purely Roman. It stems from the collapse of cities, called by various colonial emperors, where they set up legions, using Roman civil laws. Due to political tremors in the XI century, these inhabitants left the country and were eager for independence and gathered on the mountains that share Epirus from Macedonia and Thessaly. They spoke Latin and were easily recognizable. If you ask them which ethnicity they are ?! they proudly will answer to be Romans. Cousiners M.E. concluded that the Vlachs beyond the Danube are different from those in Macedonia, although both people speak in bad Latin.