526 Henry Skene, Esq., on the Albanians. 



property, but it is rare that they act on the offensive or be- 

 come Klephti. The celebrated Catz Antoni was an exception 

 however to this statement ; and the Greek revolution also 

 roused them to take a part in it. The Blacks of the towns 

 are good artisans, and the best goldsmiths are of this tribe ; 

 they make the silver yataghan hilts and mounting of fire-arms, 

 which the Greeks and Albanians are so fond of investing 

 their money in ; and the rough cloaks, called cappa or ca- 

 potes, are made by them, forming an article of extensive 

 manufacture and exportation. 



The Wallachians of Greece or Blacks are first mentioned 

 in history about the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; they 

 are noticed by the travelling Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, by 

 Anna Comnena*, and by Nicetasf in the thirteenth century ; 

 and the latter author states, that their settlements were on 

 Mont HaemusJ. Towards the end of the twelfth century, 

 when they joined the Bulgarians in their revolt against the 

 weak Emperor Isaac Angelus, they contributed so greatly 

 to the foundation of the second Bulgarian kingdom, that 

 two of their own chiefs, Peter and Asan, were the first of 

 its kings. In the year 1205, under their third king, John, 

 they were instrumental in an eminent degree towards the 

 gaining of the great battle of Adrianople by the total defeat 

 of the Franks, which led to the dethronement of Baldwin, 

 Emperor of Byzantium, and his subsequent death in captivity. 

 When their power was greatest, in the end of the twelfth 

 century, a part of the province of Macedonia, with several 

 forts, was successfully held by Chrysus, one of their chiefs, 

 against the utmost endeavours of the Emperor Alexius 

 Angelus to take them.§ Anna Comnene next represents 

 them as being, in her time, exactly as they are now, a wander- 

 ing hardy race of shepherds. || Nicetas calls them cruel, and 

 relates the havoc which they made in Thrace during the 

 reigns of the Emperors Andronicus Comnenus, Isaac Angelus, 



* 1. 5. p. 138. t Annal. Baldwin, c. 9. p. 410. 



X Annal. Isaac Angel., 1. I.e. 4. p. ^36. 

 § Nicetas. Annal. Alex. Comnen, b. 1. c. 4. p. 299 ; 1. 2. c. 3. p. 314 ; 1. 3. 

 c. 1. p. 325, &c. 

 II Lib. viii. p. 227. 



