15th Century Albania: Skanderbeg’s Anti-Ottoman Fight
Introduction
In the Balkans’ history, the Ottoman conquest represents a centuries-long chapter (1352–1913) of the presence on the peninsula of a powerful imperial state. Founded in the late 13th century on the Anatolian Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire gradually expanded into Southeastern Europe. In an attempt to resist the invasion, Christian military and political commander Gjergj Kastrioti, better known by the Turkish name of Skanderbeg, led the major Albanian rebellion that unfolded between 1443 and 1468. Kastrioti’s struggle involved the feudal lords of the Albanian lands and enjoyed the active military support of the Kingdom of Naples. During his 25-year-long revolt, Skanderbeg prevented the Ottomans from fully subjugating the southern Adriatic coast of the Balkans.
The Ottoman Empire was ruled by a Turkish sultan. The religion of its founders, the Ottoman Turks, was Sunni Islam. The backbone of the empire’s military strength hinged on the nomadic cavalry and the Janissary infantry corps. In the 15th century, the army acquired artillery, thereby increasing its power.
By landing in 1352 at Gallipoli in Thrace, the Ottomans set foot on the Balkan Peninsula. At the time, the peninsula was politically divided among rival Christian kingdoms, with the Serbian one as the strongest. The Eastern Roman Empire (known as Byzantium) had been the regional dominant power until 1204, when the Venice-funded Catholic crusaders conquered its capital, Constantinople. The Byzantine reconquest of Constantinople (1261) did not restore the lost strength of the Eastern Empire.
Within a few decades after the Gallipoli landing, Byzantium and the Bulgarian and Serbian kingdoms effectively became tributaries of the Ottoman sultan. In 1383, he ordered General Timurtas to attack Albania, which at the time was divided into rival family fiefdoms. On 18 September 1385, at Savra (southern Albania), the Ottomans defeated the army of the powerful local leader Balsha II, gaining access to the free movement throughout the country. The weakening of the Albanian feudal lords opened the door to Venice’s rapid expansion in Albania’s coastal towns (Durrës, Alessio) and Shkodra (1396). In 1392, the Ottomans conquered Skopje in Macedonia, seizing the main logistical base from which to advance further into Albania, Serbia, and Bosnia. The Ottomans’ penetration into Albanian lands was facilitated by the paths of Via Egnatia, a road built by the Romans and connecting Durrës in the Adriatic with Constantinople. By the early 15th century, the Ottoman Empire encompassed present-day Bulgaria, Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and northern Anatolia. In 1415, the Ottomans conquered the fortress town of Kruja in Albania, followed in 1417 by Vlorë on the Adriatic and Berat and Gjirokastër in the southern Albanian hinterland. The expansion of Ottoman administrative rule in Albania took place through the incorporation of newly conquered lands into the timar system, whereby territories were granted to loyal Ottoman subjects, mainly from the military caste.
Skanderbeg’s Struggle
Skanderbeg was one of nine children (four sons and five daughters) born to the Albanian feudal lord Gjon Kastrioti. The Kastrioti domains stretched across what is now northern Albania along the course of the Black Drin and Mat rivers. The fiefdom’s territory also included an outlet to the Adriatic at Shufada, a commercial port dealing mainly in grain and timber. The revenues from Shufada were used to finance Skanderbeg’s rebellion. Gjon Kastrioti’s vassalage to the Ottomans brought his son into contact with their administration and military structure, within which he was educated. In November 1443, Skanderbeg’s struggle began with the conquest of Kruja.
The strategic importance of Kruja lies primarily in its geographical position: situated on a hill overlooking the access to the Albanian hinterland, the city is connected with the valley, which offers terrain that guerrilla forces can exploit to wear down the besiegers of the town’s fortress. After conquering other fortresses (including Petrela, which dominates the Erzen River valley), Skanderbeg formally assumed military command of the rebellion at an assembly with other Albanian feudal lords taking place in Alessio (March 1444).
The uprising took place mainly in the Dibra region, at the modern political border between Albania and North Macedonia. The revolt can be divided chronologically into three periods: 1443–1450, from the conquest of Kruja until the Ottomans failed to recapture it during a siege; 1450–1461; 1461–1468.
The first phase of the revolt focused on its consolidation and organisation. During this time frame, the Albanian armies won their first battles. The Albanians successfully defended the city of Kruja from the siege of 1450 led by Sultan Murad II by relying on a strategy based on keeping soldiers inside the fortress, while Skanderbeg attacked the Ottoman army from the rear with sudden and exhausting strikes. The resistance of Kruja is similar to the successful defence of Belgrade in 1456 by John Hunyadi. It is different, however, from the strategy of Vlad III of Wallachia, who in 1462 abandoned the city of Târgoviște to the Ottomans without managing to stop their advance despite using guerrilla tactics and even biological warfare.
The second period was marked by increasing strain on the Albanian resistance. In the run-up to the siege of Kruja, the Ottomans had already breached Albanian defences by capturing the fortress of Svetigrad. Skanderbeg’s alliance with the other Albanian landlords weakened. In 1451, with the Treaty of Gaeta, Skanderbeg formally became a vassal of the Kingdom of Naples in return for Neapolitan military support, which included troops and artillery. In 1455, Albanian and Neapolitan forces laid siege to Berat, a strategic gateway for potentially extending the revolt into southern Albania. The siege ultimately failed, partly due to the defection of key commander Moisi Golemi. While in charge of defending the border with Macedonia, Golemi allowed an Ottoman contingent to break through and defeat Berat’s besieging forces. Skanderbeg’s nephew Hamza, dissatisfied with his uncle's growing power, also defected to the Ottomans. Nevertheless, Albanian forces later defeated Ottoman armies led by both Golemi and Hamza. Golemi was eventually pardoned and reinstated in the military ranks by Skanderbeg, whereas Hamza died in disgrace. In 1461, Skanderbeg concluded a temporary truce with Sultan Mehmed II, who had by then conquered Constantinople (1453), subdued the Peloponnese (1460), and was engaged in confronting Wallachian and Hungarian resistance to Ottoman expansion into Central Europe.
In the third phase of the uprising, the difficulties became extreme. On the military front, they intensified with the campaigns in Albania led by Ballaban Pasha Badera, during which several Albanian commanders (including Moisi Golemi) were captured by the Turks in an ambush (1465) and put to death. Kruja endured two further sieges (1466, 1467) led by Mehmed II, who consolidated the Ottoman presence by erecting the fortress of Elbasan in Central Albania. In January 1468, Skanderbeg died of a malignant fever in Alessio while planning to revive the military alliance with the other Albanian feudal lords and having just secured funding from the Papacy and Naples. The uprising effectively continued through the military collaboration between the Albanians and Venice. Nevertheless, this alliance did not prevent the fall of Kruja (1478) and Shkodër (1479). The Turks completed their conquest of Albania’s Adriatic coast by driving the Venetians out of Durrës in 1501.
The Rebellion’s Aftermath
Medieval Albania was a land rich in agricultural and forest products, commercially exploited primarily by the maritime republics of Venice and Ragusa. At the same time, during the anti-Ottoman struggle, part of these revenues, such as those from the port of Shufada, were used to fund the resistance to the Ottoman expansion. This resistance was driven by the awareness that Ottoman rule risked disrupting the existing political and religious balances of Albania. The autonomy of the mountainous areas and the links with Adriatic trade routes, as well as the prevalence of Christianity, represented the assets to be protected. Naples, the Papacy, Ragusa, and, later, Venice became involved in Albanian geopolitics, aiming to defend this stability, which favoured their influence in the Balkans.
Skanderbeg’s struggle brought the Middle Ages in Albania to a close, leaving the country with its national resources depleted. However, this national resistance has provided a main cultural foundation for Albanian identity: immigrants to Italy referred to this period as the “Great Era” (“Moti i Madh”), and the black colour in the traditional xhubleta garment represents mourning for the commander’s death. Overall, in Albanian history, Skanderbeg’s struggle represents a major symbol of national unity.
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