Hello. Dobro Dosli. Kia Ora. Welcome to the THE CIBILICH FAMILY PRE DUBA page. The modern day Cibilich family originates from the fishing village of DUBA NEAR TRPANJ on the PELJESAC PENINSULA in CROATIA . It is believed that the forebears of the Cibilich family migrated to the Peljesac Peninsula from GRUDA IN HERCEGOVINA some time in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century to escape the ravages of war and religious persecution . Two branches of the family became established in OSKORUSNO and in DUBA some time before 1500.
Here are some thoughts on the historical context of this pre Duba migration as narrated to me by Dr TONY YELAVICH .
" The oral tradition of the Cibilic family of Peljesac is that their forebears came fom Gruda in Hercegovina some time in the fifteenth century. The late VLAHO (WALLY) D. CIBILIC just before he died indicated to me on a map that it was from GRUDA IN KONAVLE where the Cibilic family originated .
Konavle had as part of the Republic of Dubrovnik ( Ragusa) eventually become the southern tip of Croatia but prior to the early fifteenth century was part of Hercegovina.
Looking at the map of modern day Konavle one can find villages named Duba ( Konavoska ) and Kuna as well as Ilijin Vrh ( Ilija's Peak) all bearing some resemblance to names in Peljesac where our forebears finally settled. Merica Cibilic tells me that there is a Gruda in the vicinity of Vrucica. There is also a Donja Banda in that vicinity and in Konavle.
These similar place names could all possibly be coincidence ( I can find two other Dubas in Dalmatia alone ) but is it merely coincidence ? To me it suggests that there was a mass migration of people from these parts who transplanted familiar place names to their new home.
Why did these people migrate and at what time ? I believe the family migrated to Peljesac sometime in those turbulent years in the second half of the fourteenth century . This was not merely because of the Turkish invasion but also as a result of infighting between the local populations in the grab for power and territory. Peljesac as part of the Republic of Dubrovnik was for them a safe haven .
Another mass migration occurred after the fall of Bosnia in 1463. Dubrovnik at that time was enlarging its territories by purchasing land from its neighbours rather than by warfare, as was the practice of its near neighbours. Peljesac had already been bought from the Bosnian king Stjepan Kotromanic in 1333. It was his to sell by virtue of the fact that he had annexed most of Hum ( an earlier name for Hercegovina ) in 1326. Prior to that the whole of the region south of the Neretva river had been under Serbian rule for more than a century.
After the death of Tsar Dusan the Serbian Empire broke up into two main parts Rascia ( Raska ) inland : the precursor of modern Serbia ; and Zeta on the coast, ruled by the Balsics, descendents of local Albanian Lords who had intermarried with local Serbian and Hercegovinian nobility . The Balsic ( Balsha, in Albanian ) family are claimed by both the Albanians and the Montenegrins as belonging to their ethnic group.
Zeta, itself was the successor of the previous Kingdom of Dioclea ( Duklja ) which formerly encompassed also the territories of Hum ( sometimes referred to as Zahumlje ) and Trebinje, from which Hercegovina arose. These three teritories appear to have been at least vassal states of Croatian King Tomislav in the tenth century . Duklja was conquered by the Serbs in the late twelfth century .
It was at this time that Peljesac and Konavle as part of Hum and Trebinje came under Serbian Rule . Gruda in Konavle would have been in the Hercegovina ruled by Nikola Altomanovic in the late fourteenth century. It appears the rulers of Hercegovina did not want to be part of King Tvrtko's Bosnia , Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic's Serbia or Balsic Zeta, although all three had designs on this territory.
In 1372 it was taken over by Gjergj I Balsic of Zeta, and in 1378 by King Tvrtko of Bosnia. It appears that Tvrtko and Balsic were constantly at war over Hercegovina. Norman Malcolm in "Kosovo, a short history" , mentions that "it was probably with Balsha's cooperation that the Turks attacked the southern tip of Bosnia in 1388 " ( the year before Kosovo. ) Balsha was at the time a vassal of the Turks. Vekaric mentions refugees from Neretva but does not mention Konavle specifically at this time, when the Turks , with Gjergj Balsha's help surely crossed Konavle, which may well have been "the southern tip of Bosnia ".
Hercegovina itself managed to remain independent to well past the dates in the early fifteenth century when Konavle was sold to Dubrovnik, and eventually fell to the Turks in about 1477, some years after the fall of Bosnia. Konavle was acquired , by Dubrovnik, in two parts from the Hercegovinian Lords in 1419 and 1426. ( In the 1450's Hercegovina waged a brief unsuccesful military campaign against Dubrovnik in an attempt to reclaim Konavle.) It was the early part of the Turkish invasion of the Balkans, strategic battles being Marica in 1371 and Kosovo in 1389. .
The upheavals in the area, thus, cannot be blamed entirely on the Turks, but on the neighbouring factions who were fighting amongst themselves to gain and regain territory they felt was theirs by right of some previous conquest. ( This all sounds very much like what has been happening in the last decade. )
I would place the time of the migration as late fourteenth century to early fifteenth century, most probably before 1419.
The migration may have been to escape religious persecution under Tsar Dusan. According to Dusan law code ( Dusanov Zakonik, about 1349 ) the members of the "Latin heresy" or Roman Catholicism were subject to punishment if "they failed to return to Christianity ". Malcolm quotes the code "If any heretic be found among the Christians, let him be branded on the face and driven forth". Both Duklja and Zeta were Catholic states and therefore it is reasonable to believe that our forebears were Catholic and may have been subjected to forced conversion to orthodoxy at the time of the Serbian regime.
The Republic of Dubrovnik favoured Catholicism, and gave preference to Catholic immigrants. If they migrated to escape religious persecution they could have arrived in Peljesac before the death of Dusan in 1355. Otherwise the migration to Peljesac would have occurred sometime between 1370 and 1419 to escape the ravages of war. This would have allowed plenty of time for two branches of the family to become established in Oskorusno and in Duba sometime before 1500."
Tony Yelavich
26 December 2000
| ABOUT US AN INTRODUCTION | THE CIBILICH FAMILY TREE | ANCESTORS OF JOHN CIBILICH |
| DESCENDANTS OF MATO CIBILIC | JOHN CIBILICH HOMEPAGE | PHOTO ALBUM FAVOURITE SITES |
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME at cibo.kc@xtra.co.nz with updates, queries or corrections. I am always keen to hear from others.
JOHN VINCENT CIBILICH
24 PUKEHANA AVENUE
AUCKLAND 1003
NEW ZEALAND.
PLEASE SIGN my GUESTBOOK or you can VIEW my GUESTBOOK here .
The John Cibilich Homepage and the Cibilich Family web site was first started in September 1999. This page was last updated 07 October 2001. It is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and the text size set to smaller .
