Skanderbeg
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Image:Skanderbeg sculpture.jpg
Gjergj Kastrioti (George Kastrioti) (1405 - January 17 1468), better known as Skanderbeg, is the most prominent figure in the history of Albania. He is also known as the Dragon of Albania<ref name="EB1911">This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.</ref> and is the national hero of Albanians. He is remembered for his struggle against the Ottoman Empire, through the work of his first biographer, Marin Barleti<ref name="barleti">Marin Barleti, 1508, Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi Epirotarum principis, theeuropeanlibrary.org</ref>.
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Biography
In English, his names have variously been spelled: George, Gjergj, Giorgio; Castriota, Kastrioti, Castrioti, Castriottis<ref name="Tennent1845">James Emerson Tennent, 1845, The History of Modern Greece, from Its Conquest by the Romans B.C.146, to the Present Time</ref>, Kastriotes, Castriot<ref name="cwe1876">Catholic World Enyclopedia VOL. XXIII, Number 134, 1876, Scanderbeg entry</ref>, Kastriot; Skanderbeg, Scanderbeg, Skenderbeg, Skenderbeu, or Scander-Begh.
His father was an Albanian lord of the Kastrioti family and his mother, Voisava, from the Tribalda family<ref name="paganel">Camille Paganel, 1855, "Histoire de Scanderbeg, ou Turcs et Chrétiens du XVe siècle"</ref>, a Slav princess from Polog valley located today in the north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia<ref name=Barleti>M. Barleti, ibid.</ref>. Although he fought in the service of the Ottoman Empire, Skanderbeg soon switched sides and fought against the Ottoman Empire until the time of his death.
Service in the Ottoman Army
Born in Krujë, Skanderbeg was a descendant of the Kastriotis, who were one of the principal families in what was called then, Arberia (today Albania).
According to Gibbon<ref name="gibbon">Edward Gibbon, 1788, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6, Scanderbeg section</ref>, Skanderbeg's father, John Kastrioti was a hereditary prince of a small district of Epirus or Albania. John Kastrioti was among those who opposed<ref name="Tennent1845" /> the early incursion of Bajazet II, however his resistance was ineffectual; and the Sultan, having accepted his submissions, obliged him to pay tribute and to ensure the fidelity of local rulers, George Kastrioti and his three brothers were taken by the Sultan to his court as hostages. He attended military school and led many battles for the Ottoman Empire to victory. For his military victories, he received the title Arnavut İskender Bey, (Albanian: Skënderbeu Shqiptari, English: Skenderbeg, the Albanian). In Turkish and Albanian this title means Lord Alexander, comparing Kastrioti's military brilliance to that of Alexander the Great).
He earned distinction as an officer in several Ottoman campaigns both in Asia Minor and in Europe, and the Sultan appointed him to the rank of General by giving him a cavalry force of 5,000 men. Some sources claim that he maintained secret links with Ragusa, Venice, Ladislaus V of Hungary, and Alfonso I of Naples.
Fighting for freedom
Image:Castle Krija Albania 2004-07-08.jpg
In November 28th, 1443, Skanderbeg saw his opportunity to rebel during a battle against the Hungarians led by John Hunyadi in Niš. He switched sides along with 300 other Albanians serving in the Ottoman army. After a long trek to Albania he eventually captured Krujë by forging a letter<ref name="Tennent1845" /> from the Sultan to the Governor of Krujë, which granted him control of the territory. After capturing the castle, Skanderbeg<ref name="gibbon" /> abjured the prophet and the sultan, and proclaimed himself the avenger of his family and country. He raised his standard (that later became the Albanian flag) above the castle and reportedly pronounced: "I have not brought you freedom, I found it here, among you." Skanderbeg allied with George Arianite<ref name="Fine1994">John V Fine, 1994, The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, ISBN 0472082604</ref> and married his daugher Andronike.
Following the capture of Krujë, Skanderbeg managed to bring together all the Albanian princes in the town of Lezhë<ref name="jensen">Minna Skafte Jensen, 2006, A Heroic Tale: Marin Barleti's Scanderbeg between orality and literacy</ref> (see League of Lezhë, 1444). Gibbon<ref name="gibbon" /> reports that "Albanians, a martial race, were unanimous to live and die with their hereditary prince" and that "in the assembly of the states of Epirus, Scanderbeg was elected general of the Turkish war and each of the allies engaged to furnish his respective proportion of men and money". With this support, Skanderbeg built fortresses and organized a mobile defense force that forced the Ottomans to disperse their troops, leaving them vulnerable to the hit-and-run tactics of the Albanians<ref name="Stavrianos">L.S. Stavrianos, 2000, The Balkans Since 1453, ISBN 1850655510</ref>. Skanderbeg fought a guerrilla war against the opposing armies by using the mountainous terrain to his advantage. Skanderbeg continued his resistance against the Ottoman forces, with a force rarely exceeding 20,000.
Although it is commonly believed that Skanderbeg took part in the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448, he actually never arrived. He and his army were en route to reinforce the mainly Hungarian army of John Hunyadi, but the Albanians were intercepted and defeated by Đurađ Branković of Serbia. Although Hunyadi was defeated in the campaign, Hungary successfully resisted and defeated the Ottoman campaigns during his lifetime.
Image:Skenderbeg battle.jpg In June 1450, an Ottoman army numbering approximately 150,000 men led by Sultan Murad II himself laid siege to Krujë. Leaving a protective garrison of 1,500 men under one of his most trusted lieutenants, Vrana Konti (also know as Kont Urani), Skanderbeg harassed the Ottoman camps around Krujë and attacked the supply caravans of the sultan's army. By September the Ottoman camp was in disarray as morale sank and disease ran rampant. Grudgingly, Murad acknowledged the castle of Krujë would not fall by strength of arms, and he lifted the siege and made his way to Edirne. Soon thereafter in the winter of 1450-51, Murad died in Edirne and was succeeded by his son Mehmed II.
For the next five years Albania was allowed some respite as the new sultan set out to conquer the last vestiges of the Byzantine Empire. The first test between the armies of the new sultan and Skanderbeg came in 1455 during the Siege of Berat, and would end in the most disastrous defeat Skanderbeg would suffer. Skanderbeg had sieged the town's castle for months, causing the demoralized Turkish officer in charge of the castle to promise his surrender. At that point Skanderbeg relaxed the grip and left the siege location. He left behind one of his generals and half of his cavalry at the bank of the river Osam to finalize the surrender.
The Ottomans saw this moment as an opportunity for attack. They sent a large cavalry force from Fushe in Kosovo to Berat as reinforcements. The Albanian forces had become overconfident and had been lulled into a false sense of security. The Ottomans caught the Albanian cavalry by surprise while they were resting in the shores of the Osam. Almost all the 5,000 Albanian cavalry laying siege to Berat were massacred. When Skanderbeg made it to the battlefield, everything was over; the Ottoman cavalry had already left for Anatolia. This was the worst military defeat that Skanderbeg suffered.
Image:Gjergji statue kruja albania 2004-08-07.jpg
In 1457, an Ottoman army numbering approximately 80,000 men invaded Albania with the hope of destroying Albanian resistance once and for all; this army was led by Isa beg Evrenoz, the only commander to have defeated Skanderbeg in battle, and Hamza Kastrioti, Skanderbeg’s nephew. After wreaking much damage to the countrysideTemplate:Fact, the Ottoman army set up camp at the Ujebardha field (literally translated as "Whitewater"), halfway between Lezhë and Krujë. After having evaded the enemy for months, Skanderbeg attacked there and defeated the Ottomans in September.
In 1461 the Sultan proposed<ref name="Tennent1845" /> terms of accommodation with Skanderbeg and a peace was concluded between them on June 22. In the same year, Skanderbeg launched a successful campaign<ref name="jensen" /> against the Angevin noblemen and their allies who sought to destabilize King Ferdinand I of Naples. For his services<ref name="cwe1876" /> he gained the title Duke of San Pietro in the kingdom of Naples. After securing the Neapolitan kingdom, a crucial ally in his struggle, he returned home. In 1464 Skanderbeg fought and defeated Ballaban Badera, an Albanian renegade who had captured a large number of Albanian army commanders <ref name="musachi">John Musachi, 1515, Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty</ref>, including Moisi Arianit Golemi, a cavalry commander; Vladan Giurica, the chief army economist; Muzaka of Angelina, a nephew of Skanderbeg, and 18 other noblemen and army captains. These men, after they were captured, were sent immediately to Istanbul and tortured for fifteen days<ref name="musachi" />. Skanderbeg’s pleas to have these men back, by either ransom or prisoner exchange, failed.
In 1466 Sultan Mehmed II personally led an army into Albania and laid siege to Krujë as his father had attempted sixteen years earlier. The town was defended by a garrison of 4,400 men, led by Prince Tanush Topia. After several months, Mehmed, like Murad II, saw that seizing Krujë by force of arms was impossible for him to accomplish. Shamed, he left the siege to return to Istanbul. However, he left a force of 40,000 men under Ballaban Pasha to maintain the siege, even building a castle in central Albania, which he named El-basan (the modern Elbasan), to support the siege. Durrës would be the next target of the sultan, in order to be used as a strong base opposite the Italian coast<ref name="Babinger">Franz Babinger, 1992, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, ISBN 0691010781</ref>. The second siege of Kruja was eventually broken by Skanderbeg, resulting in the death of Ballaban Pasha from firearms.
A few months later in 1467, Mehmed, frustrated by his inability to subdue Albania, again led the largest army of its time into Albania. Krujë was besieged for a third time, but on a much grander scale. While a contingent kept the city and its forces pinned down, Ottoman armies came pouring in from Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Greece with the aim of keeping the whole country surrounded, thereby strangling Skanderbeg’s supply routes and limiting his mobility. During this conflict, Skanderbeg fell ill with malaria in the Venetian-controlled city of Lezhë, and died on January 17 1468, just as the army under the leadership of Leke Dukagjini defeated the Ottoman force in Shkodër.
Papal relations
Skanderbeg's military successes evoked a good deal of interest and admiration from the Papal States, Venice, and Naples, themselves threatened by the growing Ottoman power across the Adriatic Sea. Skanderbeg managed to arrange for support in the form of money, supplies, and occasionally troops from all three states through his diplomatic skill. One of his most powerful and consistent supporters was Alfonso the Magnanimous, the king of Aragon and Naples, who decided to take Skanderbeg under his protection as a vassal in 1451, shortly after the latter had scored his second victory against Murad II. In addition to financial assistance, the King of Naples supplied the Albanian leader with troops, military equipment, and sanctuary for himself and his family if such a need should arise. As an active defender of the Christian cause in the Balkans, Skanderbeg was also closely involved with the politics of four Popes, including Pope Pius II, who hailed him as the Christian Gideon<ref name="cwe1876" />.
Profoundly shaken by the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Pius II tried to organize a new crusade against the Ottoman Turks, and to that end he did his best to come to Skanderbeg's aid, as his predecessors Pope Nicholas V and Pope Calixtus III had done before him. This policy was continued by his successor, Pope Paul II. They gave him the title Athleta Christi, or Champion of Christ.
After death
The Albanian resistance went on after the death of Skanderbeg for an additional ten years under the leadership of Dukagjini, though with only moderate success and no great victories. In 1478, the fourth siege of Krujë finally proved successful for the Ottomans; demoralized and severely weakened by hunger and lack of supplies from the year-long siege, the defenders surrendered to Mehmed, who had promised them to leave unharmed in exchange. As the Albanians were walking away with their families, however, the Ottomans reneged on this promise, killing the men and enslaving the women and children<ref name="Babinger" />.
In 1479, the Ottoman forces captured the Venetian-controlled Shkodër after a fifteen-month siege<ref name="loc">This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies which, as a United States government publication, is in the public domain.</ref>. Shkodër was the last Albanian castle to fall to the Ottomans and Venetians evacuated Durrës in 1501. Albanian resistance continued sporadically until around 1500.
The union<ref name="EB1911" /> which Skanderbeg had maintained in Albania did not survive him. Without Skanderbeg at their lead, their allegiances faltered and splintered until they were forced into submission. The defeats triggered a great Albanian exodus<ref name="loc" /> to southern Italy, especially to the kingdom of Naples, as well as to Sicily, Greece, Romania, and Egypt. Following this, most of its population converted to Islam. Albania remained a part of the Ottoman Empire until the early 1900s, never again posing a serious threat to the Ottomans.
Effects on the Ottoman expansion
The Ottoman Empire's expansion was ground to a halt during the timeframe in which Skanderbeg and his Albanian forces resisted. He has been credited with being the main reason for delaying Ottoman expansion into western Europe, giving Vienna time to better prepare for the Ottoman arrival. This is not entirely true. While the Albanian resistance certainly played a vital role in this, it was one piece of numerous events that played out in the mid-15th century. Much credit must also go to the successful resistance mounted by Vlad III Dracula in Wallachia, as well as the defeats inflicted upon the Ottomans by Hunyadi and his Hungarian forces.
Descendants
Skanderbeg's family, the Castriots <ref name="gibbon" /> were invested with a Neapolitan dukedom, as the Turkish pressure became too strong. They obtained a feudal fiefdom, the Duchy of San Pietro di Galatina. John, Skanderbeg's son, married<ref name="runciman">Steven Runciman, 1990, The Fall of Constantinople 1453, ISBN 0521398320</ref> Irene Palaeologus, grand-daughter of Thomas Palaeologus.
An illegitimate branch of that family lives onwards in south Italy, having used the name Castriota Scanderbeg for centuries. They have been part of Italian lower nobility. The legitimate line of George Castriota went extinct as to males within a few generations, but apparently the family continues through a Sanseverino branch. There is also a Spanish nobleman by the name of Juan Alandro Castriota who contributed a great deal towards Albania's struggle for independence Template:Fact.
Seal of Skanderbeg
A seal, that is assumed to be a seal of Skanderbeg, has been kept in Denmark since it was discovered in 1634. It was bought by the National Museum in 1839. According to the interpretation of the symbols and inscriptions on the seal as they have been studied and analysed by Danish scholars, the seal is made of brass, is 6 cm in length and weighs 280 g. The inscription is in Greek and reads Alexander (Skender) is an Emperor and a King. Emperor of the Romaic nation (Greeks) and King of the Turks, the Albanians, the Serbs and the Bulgarians. It naturally follows the inscription is laterally reversed. It is possible that the seal was made after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, since Skanderbeg is referred to as an Emperor of the Byzantines. The double eagle in the center of the seal is derived from the eagle of the Byzantine emperor, and this fact is also the most agreed upon among educated Albanians. Some claim it is a famous ancient Illyrian symbol. This seal is the origin of the flag of modern Albania. Furthermore, Skanderbeg never was a King of the Serbs or the Bulgars. It is possible the seal was 'designed' while Skanderbeg was organizing a crusade against the Ottomans or that it was manufactured when Skanderbeg served as a vassal to the King of Naples. It is also possible the seal was commissioned by the family of Skanderbeg some time in the 16th century, or even that it is a fake from the 15th or 16th century.
Legacy
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During his reign Skanderbeg issued many laws (census of the population, tax collecting etc) based on Roman and Byzantine law.Template:Fact
When the Ottomans found the grave of Skanderbeg in Saint Nicholas church of Lezhë, they opened it and made amulets of his bones<ref name="gibbon" />, believing that these would confer bravery on the wearer.
Skanderbeg today is the national hero of Albania. Many museums and monuments, such as the Skanderbeg Museum next to the castle in Krujë, are raised in his honor around Albania and in the predominantly Albanian-populated Kosovo. Skanderbeg's struggle against the Ottoman Empire became highly significant to the Albanian people, as it strengthened their solidarity, made them more conscious of their national identity, and served later as a great source of inspiration in their struggle for national unity, freedom, and independence.
In Arbëresh poems he is not only the defender of their home country, but also the defender of Christianity. For the Albanians in Albania, a large majority of whom are Muslims, Skanderbeg is a national argument proving Albania's cultural affinity to Europe. Many have argued he was Muslim himself, although he was not. He had converted while held captive in Anatolia, but later reverted back to Christianity upon his escape.
Skanderbeg in literature
Skanderbeg gathered quite a posthumous reputation in Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. With virtually all of the Balkans under Ottoman rule and with the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683, nothing could have captivated readers in the West more than an action-packed tale of heroic Christian resistance to the "Moslem hordes".
Books on the Albanian prince began to appear in Western Europe in the early 16th century. One of the earliest of these histories to have circulated in Western Europe about the heroic deeds of Skanderbeg was the Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi, Epirotarum Princeps (Rome ca. 1508-1510), published a mere four decades after Skanderbeg's death. This: History of the life and deeds of Scanderbeg, Prince of the Epirotes was written by the Albanian historian Marinus Barletius Scodrensis (ca. 1450 - ca. 1512), known in Albanian as Marin Barleti<ref name="barleti" />, who after experiencing the Turkish occupation of his native Shkodër at first hand, settled in Padua where he became rector of the parish church of St. Stephan. Barleti dedicates<ref name="jensen" /> his work to Donferrante Kastrioti, Scanderbeg's grandchild and to the next generations. The first time this book was published in Italy in Latin language and since then it was translated in many languages.
The work was widely read in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and was translated and/or adapted into a number of foreign language versions: German by Johann Pincianus (Augsburg, 1533), Italian by Pietro Rocca (Venice, 1554, 1560), Portuguese by Francisco D'Andrade (Lisbon, 1567), Polish by Ciprian Bazylik (Brest-Litovsk, 1569), French by Jaques De Lavardin, also known as Jacques de Lavardin, Seigneur du Plessis-Bourrot ("Histoire de Georges Castriot Surnomé Scanderbeg, Roy d'Albanie", Paris, 1576), and Spanish by Juan Ochoa de la Salde (Seville, 1582). The English version, translated from the French of Jaques De Lavardin by one Zachary Jones Gentleman, was published at the end of the 16th century under the title, Historie of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albinie; containing his Famous Actes, his Noble Deedes of Armes and Memorable Victories against the Turkes for the Faith of Christ.
Skanderbeg's posthumous fame was not confined to his own country. Voltaire, starts his chapter The Taking of Constantinople<ref>Voltaire, 1762, Works, Vol 3, translated from the French by T. Smollet, T. Francklin and others</ref> with the phrase "Had the Greek Emperors acted like Scanderbeg, the empire of the East might still have been preserved". A number of poets and composers have also drawn inspiration from his military career. The French 16th century poet Ronsard wrote a poem about him, as did<ref name="longfellow">Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863, Scanderbeg</ref> the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Antonio Vivaldi composed an opera entitled Scanderbeg.
In 1855, Camille Paganel, wrote "Histoire de Scanderbeg"<ref name="paganel" /> inspired from the Crimean War.
List of Skanderbeg's battles
Skanderbeg fought many battles and many of them ended with victory.
- The Battle of Ujebardha
- The Battle of Torviolli
- The Battle of Drin
- The Siege of Berat
- The First Siege of Krujë
- The Second Siege of Krujë
- The Third Siege of Krujë
- The Fourth Siege of Krujë
- The Fall of Krujë
- The Siege of Shkodra
See also
References
Bibliography
<references/>
Additional sources
- Adapted from Fan S. Noli's biography George Castrioti Scanderbeg
External links
- Scanderbeg's expedition to Italy
- Heraldic Source on Scanderbeg
- The Arbreshe and Contessa Entellina
- A Brief History of Albania
- Benjamin Disraeli, 1833, The Rise of Iskander, (Note this is historical fiction)
- Analysis of literature on Scanderbegals:Skanderbeg
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