Skamneli - History

History

The region of the village was inhabited since prehistoric times, as there have been found ancient, so-called pelasgian fortifications, known by the locals also as the Palaiokastro. They were visited by Nicholas Hammond in 1930 and in 1939, prior to his publication of his book Epirus. Prof Daskaris of the University of Ioannina dated these to the 8th century BC.

Moreover, remains of a 4th- to 3rd-century BC circular tower, a rectangular tower, a gate and two smaller doorways have been identified near the entrance of the village in the vicinity of the Monastery of Agia Paraskevi. In the Ottoman period, Skamneli belonged to the Koinon of the Zagorisians (Greek: Κοινόν Ζαγορισίων) formed after a treaty with Sinan-Pasha in 1431. Ιt enjoyed along with the other villages a joint autonomy from Ottoman rule. The autonomy guaranteed non-interference from the Turkish administration. Zagorisians had their affairs entrusted to a Council of Elders called Demogerontia (Δημογεροντία), headed by a president or governor called Vekylis (Βεκύλης). They maintained a small force of Sipahi horsemen (σπαχήδες). The Koinon of the Zagorisians was reformalised by a treaty signed in 1670, under which Zagori enjoyed considerable privileges called Surutia, which were only rescinded by the Sultan in 1868. In the later part of the 17th century, the inhabitants of several hamlets began to resettle in Skamneli. The reason was probably raids from bandits. One major such raid is recorded in the books of the Monastery of Agia Paraskevi, according to Frangoulis dated to 1688, by one named Ali Chogmeno at the head of 166 men. He gathered the women and children in the church of Agioi Apostoloi and began a looting of the village. Armatoloi arrived from Doliani, another village in Zagori, under their captain Douvlis and dispersed the bandits after killing Ali Chogmeno. At the time Skamneli had about 1000 inhabitants and was surrounded by several hamlets with an additional 800 inhabitants. Plagued by raids from mainly Albanian and Turkish bandits, the inhabitants of the countryside and hamlets around Skamneli began to emigrate to other villages of Zagori (Tsepelovo, Vradeto and Negades) and also to Northern Epirus (modern Albania), in Karitsa, Molista, Sopiki and especially to Moschopolis (Voskopolis), where a neighborhood became called Skamnelia (Σκαμνελιά), Skamneliki (Σκαμνελίκι) or Skamnelicili.

In the second half of the 18th century, Skamneli is believed to have had a population of about 950, according to Frangoulis, based on two surviving village records, but other estimates are of up to 800 families for the entire region. Vikos doctors were active in the area at that time. Looms were worked by the women of Skamneli, producing garments, blankets and woolen fabrics. The foundations of the manors of Skamneli date from this period and were built by masons from Konitsa. During a tour of Mt Tymphe, Ali Pasha was caught by a storm and spent a night in Skamneli at the manor of the Saitzis family, reputed to have caused the admiration of the tyrant.

In 1820, after the rebellion of Ali Pasha, a Turkish force of 1500 under Ismael Pasha arrived in Zagori, part of the total army of 20,000 sent against Ali Pasha. Alexis Noutsos from Kapesovo, a member of the Filiki Eteria who had intermarried with the Saitzis family and owned a house in Skamneli, was in command of the force opposing Ismael Pasha. However, the Sultan's armies prevailed. Ismael Pasha removed most privileges other than the right to appoint a local governor (Vekylis), whose powers however became nominal. Ismael Pasha introduced very heavy taxation, amounting to 250 silver coins per person and additional taxation in kind. Albanian and local bandits began looting raids once again. This was the time when prominent Greeks everywhere had become members of the Filiki Eteria and were preparing the uprising against the Turks in 1821. The Skamneliot Georgios Papazoglou proposed to Georgios Gennadios in Constantinople (Istanbul) the idea of the establishment of a Greek university at the Monastery of Rogovou, outside nearby Tsepelovo. The idea had also been proposed by Neophytos Doukas, at the time possibly living in Tsepelovo. The plan never materialised because of the limited success of the Greek revolution, that left Epirus under Ottoman rule. Georgios' brother Kostas Papazoglou, another member of the Filiki Eteria, left for Missolonghi, where he led and financed a cavalry company during the Greek War of Independence.

Several Skamneliots enlisted in the Sacred Band of Alexander Ypsilantis in the opening phase of the Greek War of Independence and fought in Drăgăşani. The success of the War of Independence was limited. Epirus remained under Ottoman control and Zagori was not included in the Kingdom of Greece formed in 1833. In 1837, during a raid by bandits under a man called Vryazis, the bandits found the veteran of the Greek War of Independence Costas Papazoglou in his house in Skamneli and killed him, looting his house among others. In 1868 Zagori lost its last privileges and Skamneli entered a period of further impoverishment and decline. At that time, so-called "gypsies" and pastoral Sarakatsani Vlachs lived here in addition to its traditional inhabitants. The "gypsies", believed by the locals to have been brought to Europe by the Turks from Asia, were involved in the making of tools and utensilis and other metalwork, as well as musical instruments. The pastoral Vlachs of the period managed the livestock of the wealthier families. Both groups became gradually assimilated into the village society. After the battle of Bizani during the first Balkan War (1912), the inhabitants of Skamneli and Tsepelovo rose up. A Turkish unit subsequently entered the village and set fire to all the houses whose occupants were absent. The public records of the village also perished. In 1940 villagers from Skamneli helped in turning back the Italian army that had entered Epirus. Later Napoleon Zervas established his partizans in the area. The village became almost deserted during the Greek Civil War (1946-9) and more of the older stone houses fell to ruin in the subsequent period.