Katun a katunská organizace středověkých Vlachů v centrálních a západních oblastech Balkánu

This work focuses on one of the aspects of problems relating to study of the medieval Vlachs in the Central and Western regions of the Balkans – the “katun” and katun organization. The medieval Vlachs’ katun had long remained an illdefined concept for scholars, much like the organization of medieval Vlachs as a typical pastoral population. Eventually they arrived at the judgment that this is indeed one of the central problems in Balkan studies, in whose solution lies the key to shedding light upon myriad other scholarly problems. This work provides an outline of the development of findings about katuns and the katun organization of the medieval Vlachs in the Central and Western regions of the Balkans before and after the Second World War. On the basis of the works of the eminent authors cited here, then the appropriate conclusions are drawn.