as was reported by the patrician of Kotor, Francesco Bolizza. A few months earlier, his brother Mariano Bolizza traveled through the Sanjak of Scutari and compiled a report according to which, Hoti (Hotti) had 212 households and 600 men-in-arms, commanded by Marash Papa (Maras Pappa) and Rrapsha, 80 households and 212 men-in-arms commanded by Prenk Kastrati (Prenc Castrat). In 1613, the Ottomans launched a campaign against the rebel tribes of Montenegro. In response, the tribes of the Vasojevići, Kuči, Bjelopavlići, Piperi, Kastrati, Kelmendi, Shkreli andi Hoti formed a political and military union known as “The Union of the Mountains” or “The Albanian Mountains” . The leaders swore an oath of besa to resist with all their might any upcoming Ottoman expeditions, thereby protecting their self-government and disallowing the establishment of the authority of the Ottoman Spahis in the northern highlands. Their uprising had a liberating character. With the aim of getting rid of the Ottomans from the Albanian territories Other assemblies like this one were held from the 1620s to the 1650s, in the culmination of the Cretan War. Such an assembly is reported also in 1658, when the seven tribes of Kuči, Vasojevići, Bratonožići, Piperi, Kelmendi, Hoti and Gruda declared their support for the Republic of Venice, establishing the so-called "Seven-fold barjak" or "alaj-barjak", against the Ottomans. Similar rebellious events continued until the end of hostilities between Venice and the Ottoman. After the war, in 1671, Shtjefën Gaspari as apostolic visitor of the Catholic Church passed through the village of Hot and reported that it had 130 homes and 700 souls. Despite the increase in jizya tax and wars that ravaged the borderlands, Hoti remained Catholic and was organized by the end of the 17th century into two parishes, one in Rrapsha and the other in Traboin, a division that reflected the territorial division of Hoti settlements. In 1696, Hoti became a bajrak like other tribes in Malësia, northern Albania and Montenegro. Until then the captain of Hoti was recognized by the Ottomans as a voivode, which became nominally the second-in-rank title of Hoti. The status of the bajrak meant that a tribal leader was designated as bajraktar (flag-bearer) by the Ottoman state and was responsible for rallying and leading men-in-arms from the tribe in campaigns of the Ottoman army. The bajraktar of Hoti, who was recognised as the first bajraktar of Malësia, led the forces of tribes (Kelmendi,