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{{Campaignbox Ottoman-Albanian Wars}} {{Campaignbox Ottoman-Albanian Wars}}


The '''League of Lezhë''' (2 March 1444 – ca. 1450) was an alliance of ] forged in ] on 2 March 1444 and is regarded as the first unified Albanian state.<ref name="Rogers2010">{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&pg=RA2-PA363|accessdate=1 February 2012|date=2010-06-21|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533403-6|page=363}}</ref><ref name="PickardÇeliku2008">{{cite book|last1=Pickard|first1=Rob|last2=Çeliku|first2=Florent|title=Analysis and reform of cultural heritage policies in South-East Europe|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Bi8fjENzJacC&pg=PA16|accessdate=2 February 2012|year=2008|publisher=Council of Europe|isbn=978-92-871-6265-6|page=16}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Schmitt|first=Oliver Jens|authorlink=Oliver Jens Schmitt| year=2009|title=Skënderbeu|publisher=K&B Tiranë|isbn=978-9995666750{{Please check ISBN|reason=does not match hyphenation rules and is probably invalid}}|language=Albanian}}</ref> It was initiated and organised by Skanderbeg with the aim of uniting the Albanian principalities that had been founded in the 12th - 14th centuries, to fight the ]. The league whose main members were the ], ], ], ], ] as well as the Albanian highlander clans was led by ]. After Skanderbeg's death the League was led by ]. The League of Lezhë had the trappings of a confederation where each principality over all maintained its sovereignty. Skanderbeg was the supreme commander of the military alliance.<ref>Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354-1804 By Peter F. Sugar page 67 ISBN 0-295-96033-7</ref> All earlier and many modern historians accepted ] news about this meeting in Lezhë (without giving it equal weight), although no contemporary Venetian document mentions it.<ref>{{harvnb|Božić|1979|p=363}}{{quote|Мада ниједан савремени млетачки документ не помиње овај скуп, сви старији и многи новији историчари прихватили су Барлецијеве вести не придајући им, разуме се, исти значај.}}</ref> Barleti referred to the meeting as the ''generalis concilium'' or ''universum concilium'' ; the term "League of Lezhë" was coined by subsequent historians.<ref>Biçoku, Kasem. ''Kastriotët në Dardani''. Prishtinë: Albanica, 2009. pp. 111-116.</ref> The '''League of Lezhë''' (2 March 1444 – ca. 1468<ref name="Sedlar1994">{{cite book|last=Sedlar|first=Jean W|title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3o5lrvuwOVwC&pg=PA249|accessdate=9 December 2012|year=1994|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=9780295972916|page=249}}</ref>) was an alliance of ] forged in ] on 2 March 1444 and is regarded as the first unified Albanian state.<ref name="Rogers2010">{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&pg=RA2-PA363|accessdate=1 February 2012|date=2010-06-21|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533403-6|page=363}}</ref><ref name="PickardÇeliku2008">{{cite book|last1=Pickard|first1=Rob|last2=Çeliku|first2=Florent|title=Analysis and reform of cultural heritage policies in South-East Europe|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Bi8fjENzJacC&pg=PA16|accessdate=2 February 2012|year=2008|publisher=Council of Europe|isbn=978-92-871-6265-6|page=16}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Schmitt|first=Oliver Jens|authorlink=Oliver Jens Schmitt| year=2009|title=Skënderbeu|publisher=K&B Tiranë|isbn=978-9995666750{{Please check ISBN|reason=does not match hyphenation rules and is probably invalid}}|language=Albanian}}</ref> It was initiated and organised by Skanderbeg with the aim of uniting the Albanian principalities that had been founded in the 12th - 14th centuries, to fight the ]. The league whose main members were the ], ], ], ], ] as well as the Albanian highlander clans was led by ]. After Skanderbeg's death the League was led by ]. The League of Lezhë had the trappings of a confederation where each principality over all maintained its sovereignty. Skanderbeg was the supreme commander of the military alliance.<ref>Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354-1804 By Peter F. Sugar page 67 ISBN 0-295-96033-7</ref> All earlier and many modern historians accepted ] news about this meeting in Lezhë (without giving it equal weight), although no contemporary Venetian document mentions it.<ref>{{harvnb|Božić|1979|p=363}}{{quote|Мада ниједан савремени млетачки документ не помиње овај скуп, сви старији и многи новији историчари прихватили су Барлецијеве вести не придајући им, разуме се, исти значај.}}</ref> Barleti referred to the meeting as the ''generalis concilium'' or ''universum concilium'' ; the term "League of Lezhë" was coined by subsequent historians.<ref>Biçoku, Kasem. ''Kastriotët në Dardani''. Prishtinë: Albanica, 2009. pp. 111-116.</ref>


==Background== ==Background==

Revision as of 14:28, 9 December 2012

League of LezhëLidhja e Lezhës
1444–ca. 1450
Coat of arms of League of Lezhë Coat of arms
StatusConfederation
CapitalLezhë
Common languagesAlbanian
Religion Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox
GovernmentConfederation
Monarch 
• 1444–1468 Skanderbeg
LegislatureAssembly of Noblemen
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established 2 March 1444
• Disestablished 25 April ca. 1450
Preceded by Succeeded by
Muzakaj Principality of Berat
Principality of Kastrioti
Principality of Dukagjini
Princedom of Albania
State of Arianiti
Ottoman Albania
Republic of Venice
Today part of Albania
 Kosovo
 Macedonia
 Serbia
 Montenegro
Medieval Albanian–Ottoman Wars
Early Ottoman invasions and rule (1385–1443)

Skanderbeg's Rebellion (1443–1468)

Contemporaneous Campaigns (1447–1462)

Resistance until the Fall of Shkodra (1468–1479)

Wars involving Albania

The League of Lezhë (2 March 1444 – ca. 1468) was an alliance of Albanian principalities forged in Lezhë on 2 March 1444 and is regarded as the first unified Albanian state. It was initiated and organised by Skanderbeg with the aim of uniting the Albanian principalities that had been founded in the 12th - 14th centuries, to fight the Ottoman Armies. The league whose main members were the Arianiti, Dukagjini family, Spani, Thopia, Muzaka as well as the Albanian highlander clans was led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. After Skanderbeg's death the League was led by Lekë Dukagjini. The League of Lezhë had the trappings of a confederation where each principality over all maintained its sovereignty. Skanderbeg was the supreme commander of the military alliance. All earlier and many modern historians accepted Marin Barleti's news about this meeting in Lezhë (without giving it equal weight), although no contemporary Venetian document mentions it. Barleti referred to the meeting as the generalis concilium or universum concilium ; the term "League of Lezhë" was coined by subsequent historians.

Background

After the death of Serbian tsar Stephen Dušan in 1355, Albanian noblemen established their own dominions. When Ottoman forces entered Albanian-populated territory, they were faced with small principalities that were engaged in vicious fights among themselves. The first battle against the Ottoman forces in Albania was that of Balsha II, the Lord of Zeta, whose forces were defeated in the battle of Savra (18 September 1385) and Balsha II himself was killed.

In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire established itself in the Balkans with no significant resistance was offered by local Christian nobles during this period. Many of them were still fighting amongst themselves and didn't see the advance of the Ottoman Empire as a threat to their power. Although a civil war broke out between Bayezid I sons', during 1402–1413, none of the Christian noblemen in the Balkans at the time seized the opportunity to repel the Ottomans; in the contrary, Serbs and Hungarians even helped the future Sultan Mohammed I seize power, by participating as his allies in the final battle against his brother. After the Ottoman civil war was over in favor of Mehmed I, his forces captured Kruja from the Thopia family in 1415, Berat in 1417 from Muzaka, Vlora and Kanina in 1417 from the widow of Balsha and Gjirokastër in 1418 from the Zenebishti family.

During the same time, the Republic of Venice captured the Albanian populated coastal cities on the Adriatic. Under pressure from the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the Albanian principalities began to vacillate.

Together with occupation, new rulers were appointed and the registration process of the population and properties was done by Ottoman tax officers. Local populations and old nobility were not happy with that and various local rebellions took place. The most famous ones being those of Gjon Kastrioti in 1429–1430 and Gjergj Araniti in 1432–1435.

In November 1443, Skanderbeg captured Kruja, which was the capital of principality of the Kastrioti, with his troops and declared its independence from the Sultan. However a more organised resistance than that of a single principality was needed.

Formation

Skanderbeg's example gave impetus to the liberation movements in Central and Northern Albania. Nearly all princes rejected Ottoman rule, and the large Albanian clans reestablished their principalities. George Kastrioti made efforts to unite all moral and material resources of the individual families in a successful struggle against the Ottomans. To this effect, on 2 March 1444 he called in Lezhë an assembly of the Albanian princes, where almost all of them gathered: the Arianits, Dukagjin, Thopias, Muzakas, as well as the leaders of the free Albanian tribes from the high mountains. In spite of the discord among the princes, they founded a union, which went down in history by the name of the Albanian League of Lezhë.

The League of Lezhë was founded by:

  1. Lekë Zaharia (lord of Sati and Dagnum), and his vassals Pal and Nicholas Dukagjini
  2. Peter Spani (lord of the mountains behind Drivasto)
  3. Lekë Dushmani (lord of Pult)
  4. George Strez, John and Gojko Balšić (lords of Misia)
  5. Andrea Thopia (lord of Scuria) with nis nephew Tanush
  6. Gjergj Arianiti
  7. Theodor Corona Musachi
  8. Stefan Crnojević (lord of Upper Zeta) with his three sons Ivan, Andrija and Božidar (the latter was killed by Lekë Dukagjini and members of Zaharia family when he led soldiers to help Skanderbeg in his fight against the Ottomans).

George Kastrioti - Skanderbeg was elected its leader, and commander in chief of its armed forces numbering 8,000 warriors.

In the light of modern geopolitical science, the League of Lezhë represented an attempt to form a state union. In fact, this was a federation of independent rulers who undertook the duty to follow a common foreign policy, jointly defend their independence, and contribute their armed forces to the alliance. Naturally, it all required a collective budget for covering the military expenditures, and each family contributed their mite to the common funds of the League.

At the same time, each clan kept its possessions, its autonomy in solving the internal problems of its own estate. The formation and functioning of the League, of which George Kastrioti was the supreme feudal lord or suzerain, was the most significant attempt to build up an all-Albanian resistance against the Ottoman occupation and, simultaneously, an effort to create, for the span of its short-lived functioning, some sort of a unified Albanian state. It is no accident at all that to this day Skanderbeg is a national hero of the Albanians, and the period of the Albanian League has been perceived by the Albanians as a peak in their history, especially if compared with the subsequent failed attempts, until the beginning of the 20th century, to constitute an independent statehood.

After Peter Spani and George Dushmani left the League of Lezha, and after the Arianiti and Dukagjini left it in 1450, members of Dukagjini family concluded a peace with Ottoman Empire and started their actions against Skanderbeg.

Success

Under Skanderbeg's command the Albanian forces marched east capturing the cities of Dibra and Ohrid. For 25 years, from 1443–1468, Skanderbeg's 10,000 man army marched through Ottoman territory winning against the consistently larger and better supplied Ottoman forces. Threatened by Ottoman advances in their homeland, Hungary, and later Naples and Venice – their former enemies – provided the financial backbone and support for Skanderbeg's army. On May 14, 1450, an Ottoman army, larger than any previous force encountered by Skanderbeg or his men, stormed and overwhelmed the castle of the city of Kruja. This city was particularly symbolic to Skanderbeg because he had been appointed suba of Kruja in 1438 by the Ottomans. According to the Chronicles of Ragusa (also known as the Chronicles of Dubrovnik), the fighting lasted four months and thousands of Albanian soldiers lost their lives. Even so, the Ottoman forces were unable to capture the city and had no choice but to retreat before winter set in. In June 1466, Mehmed II, known as "the Conqueror", led an army of 150,000 soldiers back to Kruja but he still couldn't capture the city.

Demise

Though an official date of dissolution is unknown, the League of Lezhë fragmented soon after its founding, with many of its members breaking away. By 1450 it had certainly ceased to function as originally intended, and only the core of the alliance under Scanderbeg and Araniti Comino continued to fight on. After Skanderbeg's death in 1468, the sultan easily subdued Albania, but Skanderbeg's death did not end the struggle for independence, and fighting continued until the siege of Shkodra in 1478-79 when the Albanian lands were forced to succumb to the superior Ottoman armies.

Battles of the League of Lezha and beyond

The League of Lezha, Skanderbeg, and subsequent leaders in Albania fought the following 26 battles against the Ottoman Empire in 35 years (1443–1478):

  1. Siege of Petrela (1443/1444)
  2. Siege of Stelluzi (1443/1444)
  3. First Siege of Sfetigrad (1443/1444)
  4. Battle of Torvioll (1444)
  5. Battle of Mokra (1445)
  6. Battle of Otonetë (1446)
  7. Albanian–Venetian War (1447–1448)
  8. Battle of the Drin (1448)
  9. Battle of Oranik (1448)
  10. Second Siege of Sfetigrad (1449)
  11. First Siege of Krujë (1450)
  12. Siege of Modrica (1452)
  13. Battle of Mokra (1453)
  14. Siege of Berat (1455)
  15. Battle of Oranik (1456)
  16. Battle of Albulena (1457)
  17. Skanderbeg's Italian expedition (1461–1462)
  18. Macedonian campaign (1462)
  19. Macedonian campaign (1463)
  20. Battle of Ochrida (1464)
  21. Battle of Vajkal (1464)
  22. Battle of Vajkal (1465)
  23. Battle of Kashari (1465)
  24. Second Siege of Krujë (1466)
  25. Third Siege of Krujë (1467)
  26. Fourth Siege of Krujë (1478)
  27. Siege of Shkodra (1478)

References

  1. Christo Matanov, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2010, page 383.
  2. Sedlar, Jean W (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. University of Washington Press. p. 249. ISBN 9780295972916. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  3. Rogers, Clifford (2010-06-21). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Oxford University Press. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-19-533403-6. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  4. Pickard, Rob; Çeliku, Florent (2008). Analysis and reform of cultural heritage policies in South-East Europe. Council of Europe. p. 16. ISBN 978-92-871-6265-6. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  5. Schmitt, Oliver Jens (2009), Skënderbeu (in Albanian), K&B Tiranë, ISBN ] {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  6. Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354-1804 By Peter F. Sugar page 67 ISBN 0-295-96033-7
  7. Božić 1979, p. 363

    Мада ниједан савремени млетачки документ не помиње овај скуп, сви старији и многи новији историчари прихватили су Барлецијеве вести не придајући им, разуме се, исти значај.

  8. Biçoku, Kasem. Kastriotët në Dardani. Prishtinë: Albanica, 2009. pp. 111-116.
  9. East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 Volume 3 of History of East Central Europe Author Jean W. Sedlar Edition illustrated Publisher University of Washington Press, 1994 ISBN 0-295-97290-4, ISBN 978-0-295-97290-9 Length 556 pages page 264
  10. The history of Albania: a brief survey Author Kristo Frashëri Publisher s.n., 1964 p.57
  11. Noli, Fan Stylian, George Castroiti Scanderbeg (1405–1468), International Universities Press, 1947
  12. Noli 1947, p. 36
  13. Božić 1979, p. 364

    Никола Дукађин убио је Леку Закарију. Према млетачком хроничару Стефану Мању убио га је "у битки" као његов вазал. Мада Барлеције погрешно наводи да је убиство извршио Лека Дукађин

  14. Schmitt 2001, p. 297

    Nikola und Paul Dukagjin, Leka Zaharia von Dagno, Peter Span, Herr der Berge hinter Drivasto, Georg Strez Balsha sowie Johann und Gojko Balsha, die sich zwischen Kruja und Alessio festgesetzt hatten, die Dushman von Klein-Polatum sowie Stefan (Stefanica) Crnojevic, der Herr der Oberzeta

  15. Noli 1947, p. 36

    Andrea Thopia of Scuria between Tirana and Durazzo with his nephew, Tanush Thopia

  16. Petrović-Njegoš 1835

    У овога Стефана бише три сина: Иван, Божидар и Андрија... Стефан бјеше у вријеме великога и славнога у великијем дјелам Георгија Кастриота, реченога Скендер-бега коме пошиљаше помоћ противу Тураках под начелством сина својега Божидара, којега вјероломни Лека Дукађин, уједно са Захаријем Амнисфером, књазом од неке части Арбаније и сојузником Скендер-беговијем, дочека бусијом на некојему мјесту и обојицу уби, и велику жалост Кастриоту и свој његовој војсци, како и Стефану, учини.

  17. Fox, Robert (1993), The inner sea: the Mediterranean and its people, Alfred A. Knopf, p. 195
  18. Vlora, Ekrem Bey (1956), The Ruling Families of Albania in the pre-Ottoman Period in: Contributions to the History of Turkish Rule in Albania: an Historical Sketch
  19. Bozbora, Nuray (2002), Shqipëria dhe nacionalizmi shqiptar në Perandorinë Osmane, Shqipëria: Tirana, p. 79, retrieved 25 September 2012, Por të pafuqishëm për t'i bërë ballë fuqisë së Skënderbeut, si rrugëdalje ata gjetën shkëputjen nga Lidhja. Të parët që ndërmorën një veprim të tillë ishin Pjetër Spani dhe Gjergj Dushmani.
  20. Frashëri, Kristo (1964), The history of Albania: a brief survey, Shqipëria: Tirana, p. 78, OCLC 230172517, retrieved 23 January 2012, In 1450 two powerful aristocratic families, Arianits and Dukagjins, left the league.... Skanderbeg tried to keep them near him. But his efforts failed. The Dukagjins not only did not accede, but on the contrary, concluded peace with Sultan and began to plot against Skanderbeg. {{citation}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  21. Housley 1992, p. 90 ff
  22. Fine 1994, p. 558
  23. Housley 1992, p. 109
  24. http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts21/AH2008_2.html
  25. Lane–Poole 1888, p. 135
  26. Lane–Poole 1888, p. 136

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