other names like Oblana which did not exist anymore in 1582; instead in its place Traboin had emerged. The defter of 1485 of Scutari also gives crucial information about the relations with the central Ottoman authorities. The tribal structure of communities like Hoti signified underdeveloped feudal relations of property ownership and also the existence of a close-circuit natural economy. In this framework, the resistance of these communities to pay taxes according to the new timar system forced the Ottomans to accept their settlement as communal entities outside the timar registers. Hoti was exempted from the timar system of land allocation in the early Ottoman Empire and no timar holders (timarli sipahi) are found in nahiya of Hoti as communal property organization remained unaffected. Hoti was also exempted from all extraordinary taxes to the new central authorities. Instead they were in the position of florici and paid one ducat (50 akce) per household as in the pre-Ottoman era. The self-governing rights of northern Albanian tribes like Hoti and Kelmendi increased when their status changed from florici to derbendci, a position which required only nominal recognition of central authority. The derbenci position required mountain communities to maintain and protect land routes, throughout the countryside, which connected regional urban centres. In return they were exempted from extraordinary taxes. The Hoti tribe held derbendci status over the passage from Shkodra to the fortresses of Medun and Depeduken in the northern Zeta plain. From the late 16th century onwards, tribes like Hoti were in a state of semi-autonomy, but also one of occasional conflict with the Ottoman state as it was a Catholic region and tribe in the borderlands, which could be a potential source of tension in the wars of the Ottomans against their Catholic adversaries, Venice and later the Austrian Empire. As Catholics, despite tax exemptions Hoti was also still subject to jizya and this was a further cause of resentment. This was the background for papal missions in the region to boost Catholic ecclesiastical organization against the pressure of islamization. Its military and political counterpart were the meetings of tribes in northern Albania and Montenegro in order to discuss cooperation against the Ottomans under the banner of one of the Catholic powers. One such meeting, the Convention of Kuçi, was held on 15 July 1614 in Kuči, where that tribe, Hoti, Kelmendi and others decided to ask papal aid against the Ottomans