42°11′56.39″N 19°28′46.24″E

Balec was a medieval fortified town near Shkodër in Albania. The settlement originated in Roman times. During Byzantine rule over the area, it was part of the Dyrrhachium theme. Later it was a seat of a župa of the Kingdom of Duklja, and later still of the Lordship of Zeta. Balec suffered much damage during the Second Scutari War between the Serbian Despotate and the Republic of Venice. After the Republic of Venice gained control over it at the beginning of the 15th century, its size was reduced to a small pronoia with only 25 houses, and the fortress was abandoned and fell to ruin. Skanderbeg's forces rebuilt the fortress during his war with Venice in 1448 and established a strong garrison in it, but the Venetian forces soon drove them away and demolished the fortress. Ottoman plans to rebuild Balec and populate it with Turkish settlers were never implemented and Balec remained in ruins, which can still be seen today.

The toponym Balec is part of a class of toponyms related to Illyrian-derived ballë (front).^[1] The hill under which the town is located is known as kodra e Balecit. Similar toponyms exist in the territories of Illyria and Iapygia (e.g. Balletium). The town is first attested by name in the 6th century. In 1062 the town's name is mentioned indirectly in papal correspondence as the seat of the bishopric of Balleacensis or Palachiensis. The Slavic Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja written mostly in the early 14th century mentions it as the seat of the župa of Barezi, a misspelling.^[1]

Renderings of modern languages include: Albanian Balec, Italian Balezo, Serbian Балеч (Baleč) or the rare rendering Балеш (Balesh). In medieval Venetian, several misspellings have been introduced in official documents including: Ballegium and Ballegio.

The Venetian Cadastre of 1416-1417 recorded the household heads of Venetian-controlled settlements. The inhabitants of Balec are overwhelmingly Albanian as can be seen by their anthroponomy, as is the case with the villages in Balec's surroundings, and many of the surnames found in the settlement were also found in the rest of the regions surrounding Shkodra as well as Drisht itself. In total, 25 households were recorded in Balec during this time under the leadership of Andrea Humoj from the Albanian Humoj family. Kojaçin Humoj was mentioned as the landlord. The villages that depended on Balec as an administrative and religious centre include Zakoli (3 households), Braza (5 households), Dari (11 households), Lepuroshi (7 households), Shën Aleksandër (uninhabited at this time), Zamaraki (3 households), and Brokulk (uninhabited).^[21]

Multiple branches of Albanian tribes lived in Balec during the Venetian period as indicated by the cadastre of 1416-1417, such as a branch of the Lepuroshi, headed by an Andrea Lepuroshi, and a branch of the Albanian Kakarriqi tribe, headed by Dimitër Kakarriqi.^[21] Likewise, a branch of the Albanian Prekali tribe was also present in Balec during this time, headed by Petro Prekali, as was a branch of the Tuzi tribe headed by Zuan Tuzi.^[22] Balec also housed 8 Catholic priests.

Balec (attested as Balozi or Balvezi) is recorded in the Ottoman defter of 1485 for the Sanjak of Scutari where it appears to have been reduced in size with only 11 households inhabiting the town. The anthroponymy recorded was overwhelmingly Albanian in character and a branch of the Reçi tribe (fis) appears to have settled the town with a certain Gjergj, son of Reçi, appearing among the household heads.^[23]

The Diocese of Balec was mentioned for the first time in 1062 by a request from Pope Alexander II directed to Pjetër, the Archbishop of Tivar, which oversaw the Diocese of Balec. Beginning form 1347, 13 total bishops are mentioned (11 by name, 2 anonymous) as serving the diocese of Balec during the Middle Ages. Aside from the bishops, multiple Albanian Catholic clerics are also mentioned in a variety of documents of the 14th-15th centuries, serving the Catholic populations of Balec and its surroundings. Balec had at least three churches; the cathedral dedicated to Saint Mary (Albanian: Katedralja e Shën Marisë së Balecit) where the bishop of the Diocese of Balec was centred, the Catholic church dedicated to Saint Alexander ^[who?] (Albanian: Kisha e Shën Lleshit) in the nearby village of Shën Aleksandër on the banks of the Rrjoll river, and the Catholic church dedicated to Saint Nicholas (Albanian: Kisha e Shën Kollit). Additionally, a monastery dedicated to Saint John (Albanian: Manastiri i Shën Gjonit të Shtojit) that initially belonged to the Benedictines was located nearby in Shtoj; this monastery was under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Drisht before being passed over to the Diocese of Balec. The Cult of Saint Premte, which spread mainly amongst the highlander Albanian tribes around the valley of Rrjoll, was also present in the area up until the beginning of the 20th century.^[24]

In 1356, Bishop Andreas Citer complained that his bishopric was full of schismatics.^[25] The diocese had been laid waste and impoverished by "the schismatics of the kingdom of Rascia", who had completely destroyed the monastery situated 5000 paces from the cathedral. In response, Pope Innocent VI granted him in commendam, on 26 September of the same year, the aforementioned Benedictine monastery of Saint John in Shtoj (Albanian: Manastiri i Shën Gjonit të Shtojit) that was until then under the Diocese of Drisht.^[26][27] The monastery must've been quickly rebuilt, as it was again mentioned 20 years later when Pope Gregory XI ordered Archbishop Peter of Ragusa to select a Benedictine monk and appoint him as abbot of the monastery, since the previous abbot had passed away. It is during this time that the monastery would have been passed back over to the Diocese of Drisht.^[28]

Eventually, Balec must have ceased to exist as a town, so that, although bishops continued to be appointed to the see,^[29][30] by 1448, when even the fortress rebuilt by Skanderberg was destroyed, the town was no more than a memory.^[17] The bishopric of Balecium, no longer a residential see, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.^[31]

The Orthodox presence in the area may be traced to the nearby village of Cupelnich, which was populated with inhabitants that had a large degree of Slavic Orthodox anthroponomy according to the Venetian cadastre. There were multiple Orthodox priests, and there are records about an Orthodox monastery in the village of Cupelnich itself (Latin: Copenico) which owned a mill on the river Rioli near Balec.^[32][33]