Berisha (tribe)

Berisha
Gheg Albanian tribe
Coat of arms of the Berisha Family, as depicted in the "La Universita delle Insegne Ligustiche Delineate da Gio Andrea Musso (p.30)", published in 1680.
Location	Pukë, Tropoja, Kosovo, Montenegro
Descended from	Murr Dedi
Branches	Berisha Berisha e Bardhë Mërturi Arrëni

42°09′N 19°54′E / 42.150°N 19.900°E / 42.150; 19.900

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Berisha is a historical Albanian tribe (fis) and region in Pukë, northern Albania. Berisha is one of the oldest documented Albanian tribes, first recorded in 1242 in Dulcigno. In the Middle Ages, it was widely spread across northern Albania, southern Montenegro and Kosovo. People who traced their origin to Berisha are also found in the coastal trading hubs of Dalmatia in the Middle Ages. Berisha formed its own territorial community in Pukë in the course of the 14th century.

In the apex of feudal development in Albania at the end of the 13th and during the long 14th century, Berisha was in a process of de-tribalization and reorganization of some branches as feudal families. This process stopped in the wake of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the 15th century and was followed by a strengthening of tribal and kinship ties in the region. Berisha of Pukë is a Catholic fis. In the Ottoman period, brotherhoods (vllazni) from Puka settled in parts of Tropojë, some areas of Kosovo and Skopska Crna Gora in Macedonia. These branches converted to Islam starting from the 18th century onwards. The surname Berisha is common in Puka, Tropoja and Kosovo.