Shkreli, Kastrati, Gruda and three smaller tribes) in times of war mobilisation. The event which made Hoti a bajrak was the decisive role of the 300 fighters from the tribe in the successful defense of Ülgün (Ulcinj/Ulqin). Luc Gjoni Junçaj, until then voivoide, was offered the position of bajraktar on the condition that he converted to Islam. An assembly of all of Hoti, decided that his son Nikë Luca Gjoni (also called Ujk Luca) would convert on the condition that all men of Hoti, who were detained in Anatolia would be released, special taxes would be removed and all men from Malësia would not be conscripted to fight in wars outside of Albanian territory. Thus, Nikë Luca became Mehmet Luca Gjoni, while his brother Vuj Luca remained Catholic. The new brotherhood that was formed as an offshoot of Junçaj, became the only partly Muslim brotherhood of Hoti, the Lucgjonaj. Çun Mula, bajraktar of Hoti in the 19th century, was a direct descendant of Mehmet Luca. As the conversion was political in nature, the Muslim bajraktars of Hoti kept the traditional religious obligations of the heads of Hoti and took part in the Catholic mass in honour of Saint John the Baptist on August 29 and funded the feast that followed the religious rites. In 1738, Hoti was also given as a hereditary office, the title of the boluk-bashi of Hoti in the sanjak of Scutari. This meant that the Ottoman army representative in the area of Hoti would be from the tribe itself. In the era of the Pashalik of Shkodra, he became the head of these captains of all Malësia and was called bylykbash i pesë maleve (the boluk-bashi of the five mountains). From the Ottoman perspective, the institution of the bajrak had multiple benefits. Although it recognized a semi-autonomous status in communities like Hoti, it could also be used to stabilize the borderlands as these communities in their new capacity would defend the borders of the empire, as they saw in them the borders of their own territory. Furthermore, the Ottomans considered the office of head bajraktar as a means that in times of rebellion could be used to divide and conquer the tribes by handing out privileges to a select few. On the other hand, autonomy of the borderlands was also a source of conflict as the tribes tried to increase their autonomy and minimize involvement of