The Maleševci are mentioned alongside numerous Montenegrin and Herzegovinian tribes in the 14th and 15th archives from Dubrovnik and Kotor, where they are described as Vlachs organized into a katun.[1] The name Maleševci is the plural of Maleševac, itself derived from the personal name Maleš, the likely founder of the tribe. Apart from the tribe, Maleš is attested in two Vlach katuns from the Prizren estate, in the 14th century.[2] It also gave the patronymic names Malešev and Malešević, and might be related to the toponymMaleševo, found in several locations in present-day Serbia and Bulgaria.[2]
The earliest known written record referring to the tribe is a Ragusan document, written on January 14, 1374, addressing de Malleseva tribe-clan.[citation needed] They were part of a large group of Herzegovinian Vlachs, led by the katunar Stanko Perutinić (first mentioned in 1397) and his brothers and descendants in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.[1] The Maleševci katun developed on the territory of Rudine, Kuta and Korita,[1] and the name Perutinić sometime replaced the name Maleševci, but the latter prevailed.[3]
In 1422 as katunars were recorded Klapac Stanković and Radosav Milićević, later Dubravac Milićević (1428), Stanoje Stanković (1434), Vukac Dubravčić (1461-1468). Stanko Perutinić had three brothers, Milić, Miloš and Hrebeljan, and with their heirs were vassals of Pavlović, while Stanko's heirs of Kosača (Sandalj Hranić, Stjepan Vukčić Kosača) noble family.[4] From 1466 are recorded under Ottoman rule.[5] They like Vlachs from other tribes sometime collaborated with Ottomans as slave agents.[6]
Bačko Aleksandar, Maleševci – rod koji slavi sv. Ignjatija, Zbornik za srpsku etnografiju i istoriju, knj. 1, Udruženje građana „Srpski despot“, Beograd 2007.
Dedijer Jevto, Bilećke Rudine, S. K. A, Srpski etnografski zbornik 5, Naselja srpskih zemalja 2, Beograd 1903, 802 - 806.
Dedijer Jevto, Hercegovina, antropogeografske studije, Biblioteka „Kulturno nasljeđe“, Sarajevo 1991.
Grković, Milica (1986). Rečnik imena Banjskog, Dečanskog i Prizrenskog vlastelinstva u XIV veku [Dictionary of names of the Banjska, Dečani and Prizren estates in the 14th century] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Narodna knjiga. ISBN9788633100243.
Mandić Novak – Studo, Srpske porodice Vojvodstva svetog Save, Gacko 2000.
Koljanin, D. 2005, "The conflict between Partisans and Četniks in Eastern Bosnia in 1942", Spomenica Istorijskog arhiva Srem, no. 4, pp. 92–130.
Danilović, U. (1985) O vojnim i političkim preduslovima i okolnostima bitke protiv četnika u selu Maleševci 1942. godine. in: Bitka na Meleševcima, 28. XI godine 1942, Tuzla, str. 70-71
Subotić, V. Velika pobjeda partizana nad četnicima na Maleševcima. in: Istočna Bosna u NOB-u 1941-1945, knj. I, str. 758-758
"Bratstvo Aleksić i istoplemenici `Maleševci` iz stare Rudine u Hercegovini ( 1285 - 2000. ) - Prilog za etnografsku monografiju o Maleševcima", Konstantin - Kosto R. Aleksić, samoizdat u tri kucana primerka, Vrbas, 2000.
"Istorija Maleša i Maleševaca, sa slikama i pjesmama", Filip Aleksić i Božo Skender, autorsko izdanje, Vrbas, 1966.
"Hercegovina i Hercegovci", Jevto Dedijer, Letopis Matice srpske, knjiga 289, 1912.
"Stare seoske porodice u Hercegovini", Dr Jevto Dedijer, Glasnik zemaljskog muzeja u Bosni i Hercegovini XIX, Sarajevo, 1907.
