League of Lezhë

League of Lezhë
Lidhja Shqiptare e Lezhës
Union of all Albanian Principalities
↓ 1444–1479 →
 
→

Coat of arms
Capital Lezhë
Language(s) Albanian
Religion Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox
Government Confederation
Monarch
 - 1444–1468 Skanderbeg
 - 1468–1479 Lekë Dukagjini
Legislature Assembly of Noblemen
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Established 2 March 1444
 - Disestablished 25 April 1479
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
Ottoman–Albanian wars

Pre-1443
Arianiti's campaigns
1443–1468
Torvioll – 1st Mokra – Otonetë – 1st Oranik – Svetigrad – 1st Krujë – Modrica – 1st Meçad – Pollog – Berat – 2nd Oranik – Albulena – 2nd Mokra – Macedonia – Macedonian raid – Ohrid – 1st Vaikal – 2nd Meçad – 2nd Vaikal – Kashari – 2nd Krujë – 3rd Krujë
Post-1468
4th Krujë
Contemporaneous campaigns

Venetian war – Italian expedition

The League of Lezhë (2 March 1444 – 25 April 1479) was an alliance of Albanian Principalities forged in Lezhë on the 2nd of March 1444.[1] 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 remembers were the Arianiti, Dukagjini, 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.

Contents

Background

After the collapse of Stefan Dushan empire of 1355 which had incorporated Albanian lands, Albanian noblemen established their own dominions. When Ottoman forces entered Albanian lands they were faced with small principalities, engaged in vicious fights among themselves. The first organised resistance against the Ottoman forces was that of Balsha II in the battle of Savra (18 September 1385) where Albanian forces were defeated and Balsha II himself was killed. Albanian noblemen like Đurađ II, Theodor II Muzaka, Dhimiter Jonima, Zaharia Gropa with their armies participated in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

In the 15th century the Ottoman Empire established itself in the Balkans. No significant resistance was offered by local Christian nobles during this period. Many of them were still fighting each other and didn't see the advance of 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.[2] After the Ottoman civil war was over in favor of Mehmed I. His forces captured Kruja from Thopia family in 1415, Berat in 1417 from Muzaka, Vlora and Kanina in 1417 from the widow of Balsha and Gjirokastër in 1418 from Zenebishti family.

At the same time the Republic of Venice captured the Albanian populated coastal cities in the Adriatic. Under the pressure from Ottoman Empire and Venetic Republic, the Albanian principalities began to vacillate.[3]

Together with occupation new rulers were appointed and the registration process of the population and properties was done from the Ottoman tax officers. Local population and old nobility was 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.[4]

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. George Kastrioti - Skanderbeg was elected its leader, and commander in chief of its armed forces numbering 8,000 warriors.[5][6]

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.

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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

Defeat

After Skanderbeg's death in 1468, the Sultan easily subdued Albania, but Skanderbeg's death did not end the struggle for independence,[10] and fighting continued until 1479 when the Albanian lands were forced to succumb to the superior Ottoman armies.[11]

Battles of the League of Lezha

The League of Lezha 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 Shkodër (1478)

References

  1. ^ Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354-1804 By Peter F. Sugar page 67 ISBN 0295960337
  2. ^ 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 0295972904, 9780295972909 Length 556 pages page 264
  3. ^ The history of Albania: a brief survey Author Kristo Frashëri Publisher s.n., 1964 p.57
  4. ^ Noli, Fan Stylian, George Castroiti Scanderbeg (1405–1468), International Universities Press, 1947
  5. ^ Fox, Robert (1993), The inner sea: the Mediterranean and its people, Alfred A. Knopf, p. 195, http://books.google.com/books?cd=10&hl=pl&id=GGwTAQAAIAAJ&dq=league+of+lezhe&q=%22league+of+lezhe%22#search_anchor 
  6. ^ 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, http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts20_2/AH1956_1.html 
  7. ^ Housley, Norman (1992), The later Crusades, 1274-1580: from Lyons to Alcazar, Oxford University Press, p. 90 ff, ISBN 9780198221364, http://books.google.com/books?id=JQP2F2q9xDkC 
  8. ^ Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, p. 558, ISBN 9780472082605, http://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC&pg=PA558 
  9. ^ Housley, Norman (1992), The later Crusades, 1274-1580: from Lyons to Alcazar, Oxford University Press, p. 109, ISBN 9780198221364, http://books.google.com/books?id=JQP2F2q9xDkC 
  10. ^ Lane–Poole, Stanley (1888), The story of Turkey, G.P. Putnam's sons, p. 135, OCLC 398296, http://www.archive.org/stream/storyofturkey00lanerich#page/134/mode/2up 
  11. ^ Lane–Poole, Stanley (1888), The story of Turkey, G.P. Putnam's sons, p. 136, OCLC 398296, http://www.archive.org/stream/storyofturkey00lanerich#page/136/mode/2up 

Sources

History of Albania
Prehistory
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Ottoman Albania
Post-Independence
Contemporary Albania

External links