Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg

Gjergj ( Georges in French) Kastrioti (May 6th 1405 - January 17th 1468) was born with Dibër, Albania of Gjon Kastrioti, lord of the Albania average, which was obliged by the Othoman to pay a tribute with the Empire. To make sure of the honesty of its regional leaders, the Sultan was accustomed to taking their children as an hostage and raising them at the Othoman court. In 1423, Gjergj Kastrioti and its three brothers were taken along by the Turks. It followed the military academy of the Ottoman Empire and gained several military victories in Europe on behalf of the Empire. It accepted then the title of Iskander Bey , which means in Turkish prince Alexandre (in the honor of Alexandre Large the) but by transliteration in Albanian, the term became Skënderbeu .

Successes in the Othoman army

It was distinguished like one from the best officers during several programs from the Othoman army, in Europe and Asia Mineure, which was worth to him to be named general by the sultan. It fought against the Byzantines, the Serb ones and the Hungarians, and certain sources claim that it maintained the secret bonds with the Dalmatian city of Raguse, Venice, with Ladislas I {{er}} of Hungary and Alphonse I {{er}} of Naples. The sultan Murad II gives then him the title of Vali what does it General governor certain provinces of central Albania. He was very respected but had the evil of the country. After the death of his/her father and the poisoning of his brothers, Skanderbeg sought a means of turning over to Albania to help its compatriots to raise itself against the Othoman armies.

The combat for the release of Albania

In 1443, Skanderbeg found this opportunity during the battle which opposed it to the Hungarians carried out by Jean Hunyadi to Nis, current town of Serbia. It changed camp with other Albanian combatants being useful in the Othoman army, and ends up taking Krujë, the paternal stronghold in central Albania. It drew up above the castle the flag of the Byzantine Empire (red with an eagle with double head), and pronounced these words: “I did not bring freedom, I found it here among you”. It then succeeds in linking the Albanian princes at the town of Lezhë (1444), against the Othomans. It began then a Guérilla against the occupant by using the mountainous ground with its advantage.

During the 25 years which followed, it held head with the more large army of the time, whereas the number of its combatants did not exceed 20 000 men. In 1450, the Othoman army was led by the Sultan Murad II in person, which found death on the way of the return after having known the defeat. On two other occasions, 1466 and 1467, Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, was also pushed back by Skanderbeg. After having tried with 24 recoveries to take Kruje, Mehmed II granted finally a truce to him in 1461 and lord of Albania recognized it.

On the weapons of the Albanian kingdom that founded Zog Ier in 1928, we can discover the famous bicephalous eagle as well as a head of Chèvre. Why a goat? Symbol of this pasture and cattle-rearing area high, the goat remains for the legend, the animal which saved at the time of a battle Albania at the 15th century. Indeed, Skanderbeg had the intelligent idea to put candles on the horns of the goats, when the Othoman army of Murad II entered to Albania. In middle of the night, the sultan seeing an incredible number of " torches" believer to deal with the Albanians, made half-turn. This trick saved the country temporarily. For the little story, Tite Live told that Hannibal used at the time of one of many battles that it delivered to the Roman army in Italy an identical stratagem with oxen.

Relations with the Christian States

Military successes of Skenderbeg inevitably drew the attention and the admiration of the Papal States, Venice and Naples, themselves anxious of the extension of the Othoman power in the Adriatic Sea. Skenderbeg could benefit skilfully, and obtain from it by a diplomatic and political play of the money, supply and same of the troops coming from the three Italian States. Its most faithful and powerful partisan was Alphonse Magnanime (of the family of Aragon), king de Naples, which took it under its protection as vassal in 1451, shortly after the second victory against Murad II. Without counting his financial aid, the king of Naples committed himself to provide to the Albanian leader troops, military equipment and sheltering it, him and his family, where necessary.

As an active defender of Christendom in the Balkans, Skenderbeg was also implied in the foreign policy of four popes, of which Pie II, the humanistic one, writer and diplomat of the Rebirth. Deeply tested by the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Pie II tried to organize a new crusade against the Turks. Consequently, it made of sound to better come to assistance of Skanderbeg, like its predecessors Nicolas V and Calixte III. This policy continued with its successor, Paul II. They decreed to him the title of Athleta Christi .

The heritage of Gjergj Kastrioti

After its natural death in 1468 with Lezhë, its army succeeds in containing Turkish for 12 years more. Finally, in 1480, Albania was reconquered by the Ottoman Empire. When the Turks discovered fall it from Skanderbeg in the church Saint Nicolas's Day de Lezhë, they opened it and seized its bones like talismans amulet. The same year, they invaded the Italy and conquered the town of Otranto. The posthumous fame of Skanderbeg exceeded the borders of its country. Voltaire thought that the Byzantine Empire would have survived if it had had at his head a leader of this quality. Poets and type-setters were also inspired by its military career. Pierre de Ronsard dedicated a poem to him, just like the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Antonio Vivaldi composed an opera called Scanderbeg .

Skanderbeg is the national hero of Albania today. Many museums and monuments were built in its honor.

Sources

The biography of George Castrioti Scanderbe by Fan S. Noli and the Britannica Encyclopedia of 1911.

Delavardin, Jacques. History of Georges Castriot, called Scanderberg, roy of Albania . Paris: G. Boiler, 1576.

Paganel, Camille-Pierre-Alexis. History of Scanderbeg, or Turks and Christians at the 15th century . Paris: Didier, 1855.

Catalog of films

1953 : Untameable Skanderbeu ( Skënderbeu ) - Serge Youtkevitch (coproduction Soviet Union - Albania)

See too

the History of Albania.
Drums of the rain, by Ismail Kadare

Random links: