Edited by an
Editorial Committee Consisting of
H.A.R. Gibb, J.H.
Kramers, E. Lévi-Provençal, J. Schacht
Assisted by S.M. Stern as Secretary General
(pp. 1-320)
Assisted by C. Dumont and R.M. Savory as Editorial Secretaries
(pp. 321-1359)
Under the Patronage of
The International Union of Academies
Volume
I
A-B
Leiden
|
|
London |
E.J. Brill |
|
Luzac & Co. |
1960
Transliteration-system by Giovanni Armillotta, for web/html conversion:
all visible characters on monitor
The a, e, i,
o, u with an over short line (-) (long
vowels), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): â, ê,
î, ô, û;
the c with an over
small v, I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): c;
the c with an over
acute accent (/), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack):
c’;
the capital I with an
over dot (.), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): Ì;
the i with an over
circle (instead of dot), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): i;
the k with an under
dot (.), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): k;
the s with an under
comma (¸), I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): š;
the h, t, z
with an under dot, I transliterate (for web/html characters lack): h,
t, z;
the rest of letters with
over/under symbols are the same ones.
[p. 650]
ARNAWUTLUK, the Ottoman Turkish name for Albania.
1.– Language.
Allegedly descended from Pelasgian, Albanian
is an Indo-European language of “satem” type like Armenian,
Indo-Iranian and Slavonic.
No literary records
occur before 1496 A.D., but
ancient Illyrian and
ancient Epirote, on the basis of personal and place names, are held to be the prototypes
of Geg (northern) and Tosk (southern) Albanian
respectively. Illyrian mantua, mantia, “bramble”, and grôssa,
“file”, are Albanian mand, manzë and grresë respectively. Macedonian, Thracian and Dacian were languages of Albanian type.
Known as shqip in Albania, arbëresh in
the Albanian colonies,
the Albanian language is spoken by some 1,500,000 in Albania, 700,000 in the adjoining Kosovo-Metohija area of Yugoslavia, and some 40.000 in Epirus. An archaic form of the language survives on the Greek islands of Hydra and Spetsa, and in
Sicily and Calabria, brought there by Tosk exiled
from the Turkish invasions. Impoverished by centuries of neglect, Albanian has a small native, but
a large borrowed
vocabulary. Thus the wheel, the cart and the plough are represented by
borrowings and the usual Indo-European terms of
kinship are absent. City life, road-building, horticulture, law, religion and family relationship are expressed by Latin loanwords, much
disguised by phonological breakdown. Terms used in the Orthodox, ritual are
Greek; names of prepared dishes, garments, parts of the house, and Islamic terms have come in via Turkish.
The
composite alphabet is: a,
b, c (like ts), ç (like ch), d, dh (like th in this), e, ë (like French e in le), f, g, gj, (like
Turkish g
before e, i,
ö), h, i, j (like y in yoke), k, l (as in French), ll (as
in .English all), m, n, nj (as in
cañon), o, p, q (like Turkish k before e,
i, ö), r (weak), rr (strong trill), s, sh (as in
shop), t,
th (as in thin), u, v, x
(as in adze), xh
(as in judge), y (German ü), z, zh
(as in pleasure). The vowels â, ê, î are Geg nasals.
Geg is
the dialect of Tiranë, the
capital, and the North,
including Kosovo-Metohija. Tosk has a considerable literature. Its main deviations are: replacement of the infinitive by subjunctive
constructions, absence of nasal vowels, occasional
conversion of n to r, and representation of ue, uem as
ua, uar. There are
small differences of vocabulary.
The
noun has three genders
and five cases. A noun is linked to a following genitive or adjective by an
inflected particle,
thus mali i veriut,
“the mountain of the north”, mali i búkur
“the beautiful mountain”, in which -i of mal-i is
the detachable masc.
definite article. Similarly molla, f. “the
apple”, but mollë
“apple”. The verb possesses an imperfect, aorist,
subjunctive, optative, imperative, a mediopassive, and a
compound mood called the admirative.
From the
third century A.D. the Roman Church has
maintained a bishopric at Scutari in. N. Albania. This became the first cultural centre; evidence of this is Bishop John
Buzuk’s Liturgy of 1555, and the 17th century religious works of Budi, Bardhi and Bogdani. Literary activity, tolerated by the Turks in the Catholic
North, was suppressed in the Muslim centre and the Orthodox South, but took root among the exile colonies of Sicily and
Calabria. .Matranga, descendant
of the exiles, began a tradition of hymn-writing using
folk-rhythms (1592), which was continued by Brancato (1675-1741) and the Calabrian Variboba (born 1725). The
movement became secular with the folksongs and rhapsodies of De
Rada (1813-1903) an ardent spokesman of
Albanian liberation, and was continued well into
the present century by Zef Schirò (1865-1927),
Sicilian-born author of two allegorical epics and a collector
of folksongs.
The work of De Rada was helpful in inspiring three Tosk
patriots, the brothers Abdyl, Sami and Naim Frashëri, to
form a league at Prizrend in 1878. Under the stimulus
of the San Stefano settlement
they sought Albanian
autonomy and literary
freedom. After several years of activity in
Istanbul, where they were
joined by the lexicographer and Bible translator Kristoforidhi (1827-1895),
they were forced into
exile. At Bucharest Abdyl the politician, Sami the educationist, and Naim, the Bektashi lyricist
of Albanian nostalgia, formed
a literary society and printed
Albanian books from 1885 onward. Thimi Mitko and Spiro Dine, exiles in Egypt, collected folksongs
from the local colony.
In Sofia Midhat Frashëri,
son of Abdyl, published an almanach, an anthology and a journal, and wrote
didactic essays and short stories with a moral. .Books printed in exile were smuggled into Albania by
caravan.
The absence of a literary centre, and the want of a standard alphabet, hampered the
movement, and Sami’s difficult phonetic spelling was
replaced by a digraphic one resembling that of A. Santori of
Calabria and the linguist Dh. Camarda (1821-1882) of Sicily.
After independence in November
1912 the various literary currents combined. A. Drenova (born 1872), the Tosk lyricist, Bubani, and L. Poradeci (born 1899) continued the Bucharest tradition, the last
in an unorthodox style of his own; the Catholic North was represented
by the nostalgic F. Shiroka
(1847-1917), the linguist and historian A. Xanoni (1863-1915), N. Mjeda (1866-1937), tbe satirist Gj. Fishta (1871-1940), the folk-poet and elegist V. Prennushi (1885-1946), and
the short-story writer F. Koliqi
(born 1903). Foqion Postoli, and M. Grameno
(1872-1931), the Tosk novelists, Kristo Floqi (born 1873), the dramatist, and F. Konitza (1875-1943) transferred their activity to Boston, U.S.A.,
where a literary society Vatra,
and a journal Dielli
(“The Sun”) were founded in 1912.
The brief fascist regime (1939-1943) attracted a few writers with
pro-Italian leanings; the
present communist regime encourages writing on the partisan movement, the class struggle, work themes and peace. Textbooks are based on Russian models. There are three active theatres and a writers’ union.
This activity is paralleled in Kosovo-Metohija,
where the communist themes are Titoist.
Albania (Shqipní, Shqipërí) lies on a N-S axis 20° E of Greenwich. With a total area of 11,097 square miles (28.748 sq. km.) it is bounded by Yugoslavia, Greece
and the Adriatic. Lying between
N Latitudes 39° 38’ and 40°
41’, its total length
is 207 miles. It
narrows to 50 miles at Peshkopí, and widens to 90
miles at the lake of Little Presba. Its ten prefectures formerly had 39 subprefectures, now redrawn
and renamed as 34 districts.
Continuing the limestone formation of the Dinaric Alps, the terrain is highest
in the E, reaching some 7,000 feet in places. Of the western lowlands, some below
sea-
[p. 651]
level,
the largest is the .fertile Myzeqeja plain. The longest river, the Drin, rises
in Lake Ohri (Ochrida), and flows N-W and S-W to the Adriatic below Shëngjin.
The Mat, Ishém, Arzén, Semén-Devoll-Berat and the Vijosë flow in general N-W,
but the Shkumbi, a torrent in winter, flows broadly E to W dividing the country
into two roughly equal areas, Gegnija and Toskërija.
The
mountain massif consists of three north-to-south barriers in Gegnija, and four
N-W to S-E parallel ranges in Toskërija. The highest mountain is Tomorr near
Berat (7,861 feet: 2396 metres). Denudation and deforestation have given the country
a bare, rugged character. The lakes of Shkodër (Scutari), Ohri and Presba are
only partly iu Albania; Tërbuf in the central plain is a marsh, and Malik,
below Korçë, has been drained.
Durrës
(Durazzo) is the main port, with wharves and a shipyard; Valona has a fine
natural harbour, and handles refined oil and bitumen; Saranda is a fishing
port, and Shëngjin handles ore. Chief towns are Tiranë, the capital (100,000),
Shkodër (35,000), Korçë (25,000), Durrës (16,000), Vlorë or Valona (15,000) and
Gjinokastër or Gjirokastër (12,000). Railways (80 miles) link Tiranë with
Durrës, Peqin and Elbasan, but most towns are reached by road.
Climate
ranges from European in the high country to sub-tropical in the S-W, and the
vegetation is Mediterranean. Forests, mainly deciduous, include hornbeam,
turkey oak, sumach, avellan oak, holm oak, jujube and celtis. The foothill
scrub includes arbutus, bush heather, pomegranate and juniper. Densest forests
are at Mamuras near Kruja.
Bibliography: M. Lambertz, Albanisches Lesebuch,
Parts I and II (Albanian Grammar, Texts and Translation into German), Leipzig
1948; S.E. Mann, Albanian Literature, An Outline of Prose, Poetry and Drama, London 1955; idem, A Short Albanian Grammar, London 1932;
idem, An English-Albanian Dictionary,
Cambridge 1957; S. Skendi, Albania
(Statistical, Historical, Political,
etc.), New York and London 1957.
(S.E. Mann)
4. –
Population.
According
to the census of 1955 the population of Albania was 1,394,310 (in 1930 it was 1,003,097).
Outside Albania there are Albanians in Yugoslavia (750.000 according to the
Yugoslav census in 1948), in Greece (estimated between 30-60,000) and m Italy
(estimated a: 150-250,000). The number of Albanians by birth all over the world
is estimated at 3 millions, (see Albania,
ed. S. Skendi, New York, 1956, 50). According to the 1930 census there were
45,000 Vlachs, 35,000 Slavs, 20,000 Turks and 15,000 Greeks m Albania.
Approximately 20 percent of Albania’s total population lived in towns in 1949-50.
In the same year the larger towns were Tiranë, the capital, with an estimated
population of 80,000 (in 1930, 30,806), Shkodër 34,000, Korçë 24,000, Durrës
16,000, Elbasan 15,000, Vlorë 15,000, Berat (12,000), Gjinokastër 12,000.
The
Albanians are divided into two principal ethnic groups: The Gegs to the North
of the Shkumbi River and the Tosks to the South. The Turks called these
two regions Gegalik and Toskalik. Not only in their dialects
bul also in the outlook and social behaviour the Gegs differ from the Tosks.
The Gegs are considered as keeping national characteristics purer than the Tosks.
Generally speaking the barren mountains of Albania
provided too little for an increasing: population to subsist. Especially when
an epidemic decimated livestock, the helpless people had no choise but to
emigrate or to fall upon neighbouring plains. They usually went out as
mercenaries, shepherds or agriculturists.
Toward
the middle of the 14th century the Albanians, under the pressure of the Serbs
or as mercenaries of feudal seigneurs in Greece, migrated and settled in
Epirus, Thessaly, Morea and even in the Aegean Islands. There most of the
Albanians were gradually graecised, or migrated to Southern Italy under the
pressure of the Ottomans later on. But about 1466 in Thessaly there were still
Albanian districts in the towns as well as 24 Albanian katunes in Livadia
(Lebadea) and 34 in Istifa (see my Fâtih
Devri, Ankara 1954, 146). Under the Ottomans these katunes had a special status and, later, are known as armatols.
When
Iskender-beg died in 1468 a number of the Albanians involved in his struggle
against the Ottomans either retired to the mountains or migrated to the kingdom
of Naples. In 1478, 1481 and 1492 more Albanians migrated to Southern Italy and
Sicily where they preserved their language and customs down to the present day.
In
the 15th century the Ottoman government transferred some Albanian tîmâr-holders (see tÎmÂr) of the feudal families (Mazeraki and
Heykal) to Trebizond.
No
large Turkish settlement is recorded m Albania except a small number of exiles
from Konya, locally called Konici. There are also the Yürüks of Kodjadjik
on the mountains to the East of Dibra where they were stationed apparently to
safeguard the Rumeli-Albania highway. The sürgüns
(the deported), sent c. 1410 from
such parts of Anatolia as Sarukhan, Kodja-ili, Djanik were
also few in number (see Sûret-i Defter-i
Sandjâk-i Arvanid, index).
The
second significant expansion of Albanians in Rumeli occurred in the 17th and
18th centuries. They came to settle in the plains of Djakovë (Yakova),
Prizren, Ipek (Pec), Kalkandelen (Tetovo) and Kossovo,
especially after the mass migration of the Serbs from these areas in 1690. It
seems that Albanian settlement was mostly the result of the land mukâta‘a system (see my Tanzimat nedir?, in Tarih Araštirmalari, Ankara 1942) prevailing there in
this period. Albanians came to lease small tracts of lands from big mukâta‘a owners in these
rich plains and settled there as tenants permanently.
As
for the Vlachs in Albania, they had lived a pastoral life on the mountains of
North Albania side by side with the Albanians since the Slavic invasion in the
7th century and they took part in the Albanian expansion from the 11th century
onwards. In the Ottoman Register of 835/1431 we find the Vlachs and their katunes (Eflak-katune)
in Southern Albania especially in the region east to Kanina.
The Albanian
tribes to the North of the Drin River are called by the general term of Malj-i-sor (highlanders). Toward 1881
there were 19 tribes belonging to this group with a population of 35,000 Roman
Catholics, 15,000 Muslims and 220 Greek Orthodox. The most famous tribes among
them were Hotti, Klementi, Shkreli, Kastrati, Koçaj, Pulati,
living on the mountains east of Scutari.
It
seems that during the Ottoman conquest of Albania from 1385 to the end of the
15th century the rebellious clans had to retire once more to the most rugged
parts of the highlands. Their reappearence in the lowlands coincided later with
the weakening of Ottoman control in the provinces in the 17th century, and,
later on, they became “the terror of Rumeli”.
[p. 652]
From
the beginning the Ottoman government had to respect the tribal organisation and
autonomy of these tribes. As they had actual control of the important mountain
passes from Rumeli into Albania the government charged them with the
guardianship of these passes and in return for these services made them exempt
from taxation. A regulation dated 1496 (Bašbakanlik
Archives, Istanbul, Tapu Def. no. 26) reads as follows:
“The nâhiye of Klemente
(Klementi) consists of five villages. Their inhabitants of Christian faith
pay one thousand akca of kharâdj and one thousand akca of ispendje to the Sandjakbegi and they are
exempted from ‘ushr and ‘awârid-i dîwânî and other taxes,
but they are made derbendji
(guardians of the passes) on the route Scutari-Petrishban’s
territory-Altun-ili as well as the route Medun-Kuca-Plava”. Later in the
17th century the Klementi caused troubles through their depredations in Rumeli
and their co-operation with the rebellious tribes of Montenegro (Karadagh).
To
the south of Drin lived the Mirditë tribe, 32,000 in number (in 1881) and all
Roman Catholics. They were divided into five clans called bayraks, namely
Oroshi, Fândi, Spashi, Kushneni, Dibri. Distinguished by
their service to the Ottomans against the Venetians in 1696, the Hotti were
promoted to the first place among the clans. Their bayrak headed all the others. But today the Shalë
tribe is the chief.
In
tribal tradition the origin of the bayraks
goes back to the Ottomans. In fact it was an Ottoman institution to give a bayrak or a sandjak to military chiefs as a symbol of authority.
Each clan was under a bayrakdâr
i.e. standard-bearer, who was a hereditary chief. The public affairs of the
clan were decided in the council of the hereditary elders. In order to discuss
general affairs the five clans had their annual meeting at Orosh. A bölük-bashi, appointed by the
Ottoman governor, arranged all kinds of affairs between the administration and
the clans. The “captains” of the five clans of Mirditë claimed to descend from
Lekë Dukagjin who played an oustanding role in Iskender-beg’s struggle against
the Ottomans. Lekë Dukagjin is believed to have codified the customary law
practiced among the tribes, which is called Kanuni
i Lekë Dukagjinit (A.Sh.K. Gjecov, Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, Shkodër
1933).
These
tribes used to send to the Ottoman army an auxiliary force composed of one man
per household, an Ottoman practice which was also applied to the Yürüks and the
Kurds. When from the end of the 16th century onwards the empire came to need
more troops for its lengthy wars the Albanian auxiliaries seemed to gain an
increasing importance. They were used especially in the local wars against the
Montenegrins. The Mirditë were regarded as the bravest soldiers in Rumeli. But
at the same time H. Hequard (1855) calls them “the greatest plunderers m the
world” In 1855 when the Tanzîmât
administration attempted to disarm them and enrol them in the regular army they
rose up and infested the Zadrima (Zadrimë) area with the result that the next
year the government gave up these attempts. Later the Mirditan chief Prenk Bib
Doda played an important part in the Albanian independence movement (1908). The
“Republic of Mirdite”, proclaimed under Yugoslav auspices in 1921, collapsed
the next year.
5. – Religion.
According
to the Italian statistics of 1942 (see, Albania,
ed. S. Skendi, 58) out of a total population of 1,128,143, 779,417 were
Muslims, 232,320 Orthodox and 116,259 Catholics. The only significant Catholic
group is located in the Shkodër (Scutari) district while large Orthodox groups
live in the districts of Gjinokastër (Argyrokastro), Korcë (Körice),
Berat and Vlorë (Avlona). Muslims are spread all over the country, but mostly
in the Central Albania.
Albania
which became attached to the Patriarchate of Constinople in 732 A.D., was split
between Rome and Constantinople in 1054, the northern part coming under the
jurisdiction of Rome. The Normans and the Angevins strengthened Catholicism in
the country; Antivari was the seat of the Archbishop of Albania and Durazzo that
of Macedonia.
Orthodox
Albania was dependent directly on the Archbishopric of Ohrida. As the
protectors of the Orthodox Church the Ottomans, even before their restoration
of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1454, favoured Orthodoxy against
Catholicism. However, for political reasons the Porte tolerated the Catholic
church in Albania. The Albanian lords wavered between East and West according
to the political conditions. The Orthodox Albanian immigrants to southern Italy
had their own Uniate church recognising the Pope’s supremacy. According to the
Ottoman year-book of 1895 there were, in the province of Yanya (Epirus and
Albania south of the Devoll River), 223,885 Muslims, 118,033 Greeks, 129,517
Orthodox Albanians, 3,517 Jews and only 93 Roman Catholics. It must be added
that a part of these Greeks were in origin Orthodox Albanians graecised through
the Greek religious and educational institutions which were zealously founded
beginning with the second half of the 18th century. After the independence of
Albania an autocephalous Orthodox church of Albania was finally recognised by
the Patriarchate (1937). The first converts to Islam were the Albanian feudal
lords holding tîmârs from the Ottomans. Contrary to what
is generally held conversion was not required as a condition for keeping their
lands as tîmârs; allegiance to the
Ottoman state was sufficient in order to receive tîmârs. Throughout the 15th century Christians
were granted tîmârs.
By the end of the 15th century, however, only a few Christian tîmâr-holders were left because of
voluntary conversions. Elbasan, built by Mehemmed II in 870/1466, became
a Muslim centre from the outset, as did Yenishehir in Thessaly. It
appears, however, that Islam had then only a few converts among the common
people ra‘âyâ. At the beginning of
the 16th century in four sandjaks
of Albania (Elbasan, Ohri, Awlonya and Iskenderiye) there were about three
thousand Muslim ra‘âyâ families. In
Catholic sources written around 1622 it was estimated that only one thirtieth
of the Albanian population was Muslim. During the 17th century the Venetians
and Austrians attempted to foment an insurrection of the Catholic Albanians as
well as the Orthodox Serbs who were feeling hostile to the government because
of an increase in the djiizyc.
In 1614 at a meeting of church dignitaries at Kuci it was decided to ask
for aid from the Pope. Toward 1622 the first Franciscan missionaries appeared
in Albania and Southern Serbia. Albanian Catholics and the Serbs co-operated
with the Venetians in 1649 and with the Austrians, in 1689-1690 which made the
Porte decide to have recourse to retaliatory measures. To escape these, the
Christian populations in the plains of Pec, Prizren, Djakovë and
Kossovo, who were partly Albanian, migrated in mass or adopted Islam; but many
of them became
[p. 653]
crypto
Christians, locally called laramanë
(motley). The albanisation and islamisation of these plains went hand in hand
in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Conversion
to Islam received a new impetus under the Bushatlis and ‘Alî Pasha
[q.v.] of Tepedelen. According to contemporary witnesses, the latter
forced a number of villages to adopt Islam. He is believed to have been a Bektâshî
himself and in his time Bektâshism (see BEKTÂSHIYYA) made its
greatest progress in Albania. Under King Zog its adherents were estimated at
about 200,000. With its prosperous tekkes
in Tiran, Akcahisar (the old centre of the Bektâshîs),
Berat, and on the Tomor mountain, as well as its central organisation in the
capital, Bektâshism assumed importance in Albania. During the Congress
of Korcë in 1919 the Bektâshîs sought to establish a community of
their own, separate from the Sunnîs. This was to be accomplished only under the
Communist regime in 1945.
Islam
played an essential part in ottomanising the Albanians and the Christian
Albanians often referred to their Muslim compatriots as Turks. On the other
hand Islam prevented the Albanians from being assimilated by her Greek or
Slavic neighbours. It is asserted that under the veneer of Christianity as well
as Islam the primitive religious beliefs survived with the Albanians,
especially in the highlands.
6. –
History.
The
Illyrian origin of the Albanian people is generally admitted, but their ethnic relationships
to the Thracians, Epirots and the Pelasgians are still subject to argument. The
Illyrian tribes first came into contact with Greek culture, through the Greek
colonies founded on the Albanian coastland, in the 7th century B.C. The
principal one was Epidamnos near Durazzo (Durrës). The lllyrians formed their
first independent political organization in the third century B.C. Conquered by
the Romans in 167 B.C., they were subject to strong Roman influence for
centuries. The Roman highway to the Orient, Via Egnatia, started at Dyrrachium
(Durrës) and followed the Shkumbi valley. Ptolemy mentions, for the first time,
the Albanoi among Illyrian tribes and their capital Albanópolis
(near Croya). In the 7th century the invasion of Albania by the Slavs put an
end to the romanisation of the Albanians who retired to the mountains in north
Albania to live a pastoral life for half a millennium. In the 9th and 10th
centuries the Bulgarian empire extended its rule over southern Albania,
including Dyrrachium (Greek Dyrrachion), and toward the end of the 12th century
the Serbs under Nemanja occupied northern Albania. The long coexistence with
the agriculturist Slavs left a deep cultural imprint on the Albanian people.
Finally, .emperor Basil II restored Byzantine rule in southern Albania, and
conquered Dyrrachion (1005) which had been the capital of the Byzantine thema of Dyrrachion since the 9th
century. When toward the middle of the 11th century the control of Byzantium was weakened in the
provinces the Albanians came out from their mountain retreats. From this time
on, the Albanians, who were then, located between the lines of Skodra (Shkodër)-Dyrrachion
and Ohrida-Prizren, are seen to be mentioned more by the contemporary sources, ’Albanoi
or ’Arbanítai in Greek, Arbanenses
or Albanenses in Latin and Arbanaci in Slavic sources. The Ottomans
first used the Greek form Arvanid and
then its turcisised version Arnavud and Arnawut.
Again from the 11th century
on, Albania became bridge-head for feudal Europe to attack the Byzantine
empire. Dyrrachion was temporarily taken by the Normans in 1081 and 1185, and
by the Venetians in 1204. Then, it came into the possession of the Despot of
Epirus, Theodore Angelus (1215-1230). In 1272 Charles of Anjou occupied
Dyrrachion as well as the rest of the Albanian coastland, and called himself
the “King of Albania”. Tins started a long struggle between the Byzantines and
the Angevins in Albania.
Anatolian
Turks, as a result of their alliance with the Byzantine emperor, first came to
know Albania m 737/1337. During the Byzantine civil war the Albanian
Highlanders had increased their depredations in Albania, taken Timoron (Timorindje),
and threatened the other Byzantine strongholds, Kanina, Belgrade (Berat)
Klism’a and Skarapar. In order to establish his control in Albania as well as m
Epirus, Andronicus III entered that province with an army which included a
Turkish auxiliary force. It was sent by his ally Umur Beg, ruler of Aydin. The
army overran the country as far as Durazzo (Dyrrachion). The rebels who retired
into the mountains suffered great losses at the hands of the Turks. The Turks
returned home through Thessaly and Boeotia (Cantacuzenus).
Before
long Stephan Dushan occupied Albania (Croya in 1343, Central Albania
1343-1346). This seems to have accelerated the migration of Albanians into
Greece. Native Albanian feudals and soldiers joined Dushan in his conquests
further south (L. von Thallóczy-C. Jirecek, Zwei Urkunden aus Nordalbanien, Archiv für
slavische Phil., xxi, 1899, 85). The voyniks whom we later find in Albania
under the Ottomans settled there apparently with Dushan at this time. When in
1355 Dushan’s empire collapsed, local feudal lords, Slav, Albanian or Byzantine
in origin, appeared in all parts of Albania. Soon the Balshas (Balshic’i),
in the north and the Thopias in the centre emerged as the most powerful of
these lords. The Balshas possessed the coastland between Durazzo and
Cattaro, and tried to secure control of a large area as far Prizren. They came into
conflict with Twrtko, king of Bosnia, as well as with the Serbs who sought to
bring this region, Zeta, again under their control. Soon the Balshas,
who had already settled themselves in Avlona, Belgrade and Kanina, threatened
Carlo Thopia in Durazzo. He asked for help from the Ottoman Turks in 787/1385,
as their udj (frontier) units
had appeared near Yannina already in 783/1381. Balsha II was defeated
and killed by an Ottoman army at Savra (on the Vijosë River in Myzeqe) on 12 Sha‘ban
787/18 September 1385. This is recorded in Ottoman chronicles as the expedition
to “Karli-ili”, that is “the land of Karli” (Carlo Thopia), and it is dated
correctly as 787/1385. The Albanian lords, including Balsha’s heirs,
recognised the Sultan’s overlordship. The Dukagjini of Alessio notified the
Ragusans of their peace with the Ottomans in 789/1387. Alarmed by the Ottoman
advance, Venice sent Daniel Cornaro to Murad I to protect Thopia (Ramadân
789/October 1387), but on the other hand started negotiations with Thopia to
take over the city. Thus the long Venetian-Ottoman rivalry over Albania had
begun. As a vassal of the Sultan, Gjergj Stratsimirovic’, Balsha’s heir
in Scutari (Shkodër) and Dulcigno, now wished to profit from the
Ottomans in his conflict with the Bosnians. Kefalia Shâhîn (in Turkish
chronicles Kavala Shahin, later Shihâb al-Dîn Shâhîn Pasha)
an udj-begi and probably subashi of Liaskovik, embarked on
a series of successful raids into Bosnia; but he was finally defeated by
Bosnians near Trebinje 23 Sha‘bân 790/27 August 1388). According
[p. 654]
to
Neshrî, this expedition was made at the request of the “Lord of Skutari”
(G. Stratsimirovic’) who after Shâhîn’s defeat was accused of a secret
understanding with the enemy. After their victory at the Kossovo plain
(791/1389) the Ottomans made Skoplje (Üsküb) a strong frontier centre by
settling there the Turks from Sarukhan under Pasha-Yigit (toward
793/1391). Then Shâhîn came back and drove out G. Stratsimirovic’ from
Scutari, and St. Sergius (1393-1395) who had returned to the Venetians for
protection. Venice for its part took Alessio, Durazzo (1393), Drivasto (1396),
all given up by the native lords for a yearly pension. The Ottomans too tried
to keep the local lords on their side by guaranteeing them their lands as tîmârs. Thus Dimitri Yonima
(Gionima), Konstantin Balsha, Gjergj Dukagjin as Turkish vassals all
co-operated with Shâhîn against the Venetians.
The
establishment of the Ottoman rule in Albania with its tahrîr (see Tapu) and tîmâr [q.v.] system started first in the region of Premedi (Premetë) and
Korcë (Körice). The regular Ottoman administration with its subashis, and kâdîs in towns and sipâhîs in villages is found there in the records going back to the
time of Bayazid I (Bašvekalet Archives, Istanbul, Maliye no. 231). This must have followed the Ottoman expeditions
in Albania in 796/1394 and 799/1397. The Ottoman records also show that Akcahisar
(Croya, Krujë) was granted tax exemption in the same period. Albanian forces
under Coïa Zaccaria, Dimitri Yonima, Gjergj Dukagjin and Dushmani were
present at the battle of Ankara in 804/1402. Upon the collapse of Bayazid’s
empire in 1402, many of these Albanian lords (Ivan Kastriot, Coïa Zaccaria,
Niketa Thopia) recognised Venetian suzerainty. When in 1403 Georg
Stratsimirovic’ died, Venice, which had already taken Scutari, seized a part of
his heritage – Dulcigno, Antivari and Budua. But his son Balsha,
supported by Stephan Lazarevic’ and Vuk Brankovic’ of Serbia embarked upon a
long struggle against Venice. The latter finally reached an agreement on
Albanian affairs with their suzerain, Emîr Süleyimân (19 Djumâdâ I,
812/29 September 1409). Then Pasha-Yigit of Üsküb forced Ivan Kastriot
to submit to the Sultan’s suzerainty (813/1410). In the South the Ottomans supported
Albanian Spatas against the Toccos. Finally war was declared against Venice
during which the Ottomans made the real conquest of Albania from Northern
Epirus to Croya (Akcahisar) and formed the province of
Arvanid-ili or Arnavud-ili (818-20/1415-1417).
The
conditions which the Ottoman conquest brought into the country can be fully
ascertained with the help of the details contained in the tîmâr register of 835/1432 (Sûret-i defter-i Sancâk-i Arvanid, ed. H.
Ìnalcik, Ankara 1954). The names of various regions
in the register frequently contains references to the chief feudal families who
were vassals of the Ottoman, about 819/1416; Yuvan-ili (land of Kastrioti), Balsha-ili
(east of Kavajë and south of Shkumbi), Gionomaymo-ili (North of Pekin),
Pavlo-Kurtik-ili (the Jilema Valley), Kondo-Miho-ili (area west of Elbasan),
Zenebish-ili (Zenebissi, Gjinokastër and its surroundings),
Bogdan-Ripe-ili (north of Elbasan), Ashtin-ili (Premetë). Besides these
great families, many smaller Christian feudals kept some of their lands as tîmârs. Among them we may
mention Dobrile (in Cartolos), Simos Kondo (in Kokinolisari), Bobza
Family (Gion and his sons Ghin and Andre in the Village of Bobza or Bubës),
Karli family (Matja). This kind of tîmârs constituted 16 per cent of all the tîmâr-holders in Arvanid-ili. Conversion
to Islam was not considered necessary for possession of tîmâr. One Metropolid in Belgrade (Berat) and three Peskopos
in Kanina, Akcahisar and Cartolos were given their former
villages as tîmârs. The Turkish population in the
province consisted only of the military and religious personnel. The Turkish tîmâr-holders with their men did not
exceed 800 in number. The whole sandjak was distributed
among about 300 tîmâr-holders who
lived in the villages or castles, namely, Argirikasri
(Argyrocastro, Gjinokastër), Kanina, Belgrade, Iskarapar, Bratushesh
or Yenidje-kale and Akcahisar. Argirikasri
(later on Argiri or Ergiri) became the seat of the sandjak-begi
and in each county (wilâyet) centre there was a subashi
and kâdî, The revolutionary step taken by the Ottoman
state was that it considered almost all the agricultural lands as owned by the
state, because only a system would enable it to apply its tîmâr system. The
peasants, therefore, must have had the feeling that they were under an
impersonal central government as compared to their close dependence upon
the feudal lords under the old régime.
In
the north, the Ottomans supported first, Balsha III, and upon his death
(824/1421), Stephan
Lazerevic’ of Serbia, against Venice, which finally had to return to Stephan,
Drivasto, Antivari and Budua (826/1423). In the south the Despot Carlo Tocco
died in 832/1420 and Murad II, taking advantage of the conflict between his
heirs, took Yannina (Muharram 834/October 1430). After that a new land
and population survey of Albania was effected (Sha‘bân 835/spring 1432)
which meant the tightening of the
Ottoman admnistrative control there. This survey may be regarded as the real
starting-point ot the long Albanian resistence during the subsequent decades.
Moreover it demonstrates the real character of the rebellion. Firstly some ot
the villages in the mountainous Kurvelesh and Bzorshek areas
refused to be registered. In a few places they even killed their Ottoman tîmâr-holders. Great feudal lords such
as Ivan (Yuvan) Kastriot in the north, Arianites (Aranit’i, Arnit) Comnenus in
the Argirikasri region, had to give up considerable parts of
their lands for distribution to the Ottoman sipâhîs
as tîmâr. First Araniti took up arms,
killed many sipâhîs in the autumn of
836/1432, and Thopia Zenebissi besieged Argirikasri. Alfonso V,
of Naples, Venice and Hungary encouraged the rebels. who defeated ‘Alî
son of Evrenuz, governor of Albania, at the Bzorshek pass. Encouraged by
tliesc developments Christian lords in central and northern Albania joined the
rebellion. Finally in 837/1434 all the forces of Rumeli under Sinân Beg,
governor-general of Rumeli, combined to put an end to this dangerous rebellion
which was giving hope to Hungary of a new Crusade. But Araniti managed to
escape to the mountains. The additional records made after 836/1432 m the defter of Arvanid-ili indicate that the
rebellion did not affect the Ottoman control of the country to any considerable
extent. A great majority of the Ottoman and Christian tîmâr-holders remained in possession of their tîmârs. It appears that mostly the Highlanders co-operated with the
feudal families who had matrimonial connexions with their chieftains.
From
847/1443 onwards Iskender-beg [q.v.] the son-in-law of Araniti, assumed
the leadership of the rebellion; his unusual energy and boldness, and thff
international situation which obtained at the time, gave the movement a
character of international
[p. 655]
significance.
Setting aside the legend that has grown up around his person, it must be
emphasised that the origin and the motives of his rebellion were not different
from those of the other Albanian lords. Appointed subashi of Akcahisar (Croya) about 842/1438,
he was dismissed in 1440. He wished to recover Croya and his father’s lands in
their entirety and to possess them as a feudal lord, not as a tîmâr-holder. It is true that he mad’e
an alliance wth other feudal families, Thopias, Balshas,. Dukagjin, Dushmani,
Lecca Zaccarïa and Araniti (The Alessio Meeting, 1st March 1444), but the idea
of an Albania unified by a national leader is far from reality. He controlled
only northern Albania while central and southern Albania always remained under
Ottoman control. Subashis, and sandjak-begs,
based on Argirikasri (Gjinokastër), Ohrida or Belgrade (Berat)
tried to suppress him with local forces. He waged guerilla warfare all the
time. Many of the battles described by Marino Barlezio with such fantastic
figures were nothing but local clashes. Iskender-beg’s own forces seem never to
exceed 3,000. By the treaty of 26th March 1451 he became vassal of Alforso V of
Naples and surrendered Croya to the king’s men. Araniti, who had claims on
southern Albania (Vagenetia, Valona, Kanina) followed his example. Araniti was
authorised by the king to accept in his name oaths of allegiance by other
Albanian lords. So Zenebissi and others also became Alfonso’s vassals. In
return, the King agreed to grant a yearly pension varying between 300 and 1400
ducats to each of these vassals and to provide them a place to take refuge in
case of danger. This simple change of masters was obviously determined by the
fact that the Aragonese system appeared much more favourable than the Ottoman
regime to the Albanian feudals. But as witnessed by a contemporary Aragonese
document, “the common people had hardly any complaints against the Ottoman
administration’’. (see C. Marinesco, Alphonse VIII., Mél. de
l’école Roum. en France, Paris 1923, 104). A tîmâr register made in 871/1466-67
included Dibra, Digobrdo, Rjeka, Mat and Cermenika (Bašbakalik
Archives, Istanbul, Maliye no. 508). It is therefore seen
that after Mehemmed II’s [q.v.] expedition in 870/1466, the tîmâr system was extended into these areas. Whatever his real motives
may have been, Iskender-beg, who defied, in his mountains, Murad II (in
852/1448 and 854/1450) and Mehemmed II (in 870/1466 and 871/1467), was
also glorified in his time as “Champion of Christ”, by the Pope, and as the
Albanian National hero, by the nationalists in the 19th centurv.
During
the Ottoman-Venetian war of 1463-1479 Albania became one of the main scenes of
operation. Finally the Ottomans were able to take Croya, Drivasto, Alessio and
Jabljak (Jabyak) in 1478, Scutari in 1479, and Durazzo in 1501. Alessio (Lesh),
which the Ottomans lost during the war of 1499-1503, was retaken in 1509. After
having failed in their attempts in 1538, the Ottomans finally took Antivari
(Bar) and Dulcigno (Ulc’inj, Ölgün) in 1571, and thus completed their conquest
of Albania.
It
appears that up to the end of the 16th century Ottoman rule in Albania created
a peaceful and prosperous era. Most of the old feudal families then adjusted
themselves to the Ottoman régime, and even one of the Aranitis named ‘Alî beg
had a large tîmâr around Kanina,
Argirikasri and Belgrade toward 1506.
Until
about 870/1466 Ottoman Albania was organised as a sandjak under the name of Arvanid (or Arnavud)-ili.
Its subdivisions were the wilâyets. of
Argirikasri, Klisura, Kanina, Belgrade, Timor-indje,
Iskarapar, Pavlo-Kurtik, Cartalos and Akcahisar.
When in 1466 Mehemmed II erected the fort of Elbasan, this region was
set up as a new sandjak.
[p. 656]
Moreover
in the south the sandjak
of Awlonya (Avlona) and in the east that of Ohri were created and in 1479 the sandjak of Iskenderiye
(Scutari) was formed in the north. The following is a list established on the
basis of the surveys of 912/1506 and 926/1520. (Bašv. Archives, Tapu no.
34 and 94), showing the administrative and military situation in the 16th
century.
[Originally
this list is at p. 655]
S A N D J A K S |
|
C O M M U N I T I E S |
|
|
P O P U L A T I O N S |
|
|
|
O F F I C I A L S |
and |
S O L D I E R S ** |
|
TAX R E V E N U E S |
|
T O W N S |
F O R T S |
V I L L A G E S |
C H R I S T I A N H O U S E H O L D S |
M U S L I M H O U S E H O L D S |
J E W I S H H O U S E H O L D S |
S A N D J A K
- B E G I |
K
Â
D Î |
Z
A
‘
Î
M
|
T Î M Â R S
I P Â H
Î S |
D J E B E L U S |
M U S T A
H F I Z in fortress |
in akca (one Venetian ducat was
worth 52-60
akca in this period) |
Iskenderiye; its kadâ’ divisions: Iskenderiye, Podgoridja,
Bihor, Ipek, Prizrin, Karadagh |
5 |
6 |
895 |
23,355 |
371 |
- |
1 |
4 |
8 |
137 |
? |
297 |
4,392,910 |
Awlonya; its kadâ’ divisions: Belgrade, Iskarapar, Premedi,
Bogonya, Depedelen, Argirikasri, Awlonya |
7 |
7 |
? |
33,570* |
1,344* |
528*
in Awlonya 25
in Belgrade |
1 |
7 |
68 |
479 |
654 |
346 and
107 ‘azab |
6,991,830 in
three kadâs of Argirikasri,
Awlonya and Belgrade |
Elbasan; its kadâ’ divisions: Elbasan, Cermenika,
Ishbat, Dirac |
3 |
4 |
250 |
8,916 |
526 |
? |
1 |
3 |
2 |
109 |
1,031 |
400 250
‘azab |
1,260,087 |
Ohri; its kadâ’
divisions: Ohri, Dibra, Akcahisar, Mat |
4 |
6 |
849 |
32,648 |
623 |
- |
1 |
4 |
8 |
388 |
655 |
193 |
2,947,949 |
*These figures are for kadâs of Belgrade, Argirikasri and
Awlonya only.
** We
have not included in this list dizdârs,
ketkhudâs, khatîbs, imâms, or shaykhs, who were present almost in every town
A comparison
of the survey of 835/1431 with those of the 16th century reveal the fact that
everywhere, in towns and villages, the population more than doubled during the
intervening period, and in consequence the tax revenues increased similarly.
The following illustrates this for the principal towns.
Towns |
14 |
31 |
The beginning of |
the
16th century |
|
Christian households |
Muslim households |
Christian households |
Muslim households |
Argirikasri |
121 |
- |
143 |
- |
Belgrade |
175 |
- |
561 |
11 |
Kanina |
216 |
- |
514 |
- |
Premedi |
42 |
- |
260 |
- |
Klisura |
100 |
- |
514 |
- |
Akcahisar |
125 |
- |
89 |
65 |
(These
figures do not include the military or the civil officials)
The Albanian
towns, which numbered 19 in the four Albanian sandjaks, were small local market-towns with
populations varying between 7,000
and 4,000. Only Awlonya (Avlona) became a commercial centre of some importance
(population 4 to 5 thousand). In order to further commerce, the government
settled there a sizeable Jewish colony of the refugees from Spain (end of the
15th century). According to the Kânûn-nâme
of Awlonya (see Arvanid Defteri, 123)
the port handled goods imported from Europe, and velvets, brocades, mohairs,
cotton goods, carpets, spices and leather goods came from Bursa and Istanbul.
Some of the citizens of Awlonya even had business associates in Europe. Quite a
large amount of tar and salt, produced near the city, was bought by state
agencies at fixed prices. The tax income from Awlonya for the sultan’s treasury
alone amounted to about 32 thousand gold ducats a year. A garrison and a small
fleet were stationed there permanently (for vols. 7 and 8). It must be noted
that the Ottomans Albanian towns circa
1081/1670 see Ewliyâ Celebi,
continued the tax privileges of Akcahisar and Iskarapar which
went back to Byzantine times (L. von Thallóczy-C. Jirecek,
Zwei Urkunden aus Nordalbanien, Archiv
für slavische Phil., xxi, 1899, 83). The defter of 835/1431 reads as follows:
“Let the inhabitants of Akcahisar guard the castle and be exempt
from all kinds of taxation with the exception of kharâdj”. These tax exemptions were abolished
toward the end of the 16th century.
The
Ottomans did not radically change the taxation system which had existed in
Albania under the Byzantines and the Serbs. Ispendje,
most probably a Serbian tax, was paid by every adult Christian male at the rate
or 25 akca. Tlie basic
Ottoman taxes were the ‘ushr
which was actually one eighth of agricultural products, and the djizya. The Byzantine tax of two
bushels of wheat and two of rye a year survived in some parts of Albania under
the Ottomans. So did fines called bâd-i
hawâ [q.v.], apparently
an adaptation of Byzantine aerikon. Tavuk
ve boghaca (Byzantine kaviskia)
also survived m Albania as an ‘âdet.
All tliese taxes except the djizya,
which was collected for the sultan’s treasury were assigned to tîmâr-holders.
Under the Ottomans the rate of taxation seems not to have been lighter than
before. But they abolished forced labour and determined, in advance, for each
peasant, the amount of taxes due. Unlawful practices did exist, and the Kânûn-nâme of 1583 would seem to give a
good idea concerning such abuse. It states that no tîmâr-holder should
subject his peasants to forced labour make them carry hay for themselves, take
their lands away without lawful reason, or force them to pay in cash the ‘ushr, which was to be paid in
goods. The commonest complaint of a semi-nomadic people was that they were liable to the sheep-tax
more than once a year during their move from one pasture to another.
At
the beginning of the 16th century the public revenue in the sandjak of Iskenderiye
(Scutari) amounted to 4,392,910 akca,
half of which was assigned to the sultan and the other half to the sandjak-begi (449,913) and
the tîmâr-holders (1,776,118).
The
Albanians occupied an outstanding place in the ruling class of the empire. At
least thirty Grand-Viziers can be identified as of Albanian origin – among them
Gedik Ahmed, Kodja Dâwud, Dukagin-zâde Ahmed,
Lutfî, Kara Ahmed, Kodja Sinân Pasha, Nasûh,
Kara Murâd, and Tarhoncu Ahmed. In the Kapi-kulu
army, too, the Albanians were always present in great numbers. One obvious
reason for it was that the dewshirme
[q.v.] system was
practised extensively in Albania, as in Bosnia.
Two fundamental changes in the
structure or the empire, namely the disruption of the tîmâr system on the one hand, and the deterioration of the fiscal
system on the other, had their impact on the situation in Albania as elsewhere.
The first change, which coincided with the weakening of the central authority at the end of the 16th century made
possible the formation of large estates in the provinces, while the second made
it necessary for the state to assess new taxes and to reform the djizya; which due to its
increased rate, affected particularly the Christian population. The discontent
is manifested especially in the rebellious attitude of the Catholic highlanders
in Albania in the 17th and 18th centuries and in their co-operation with
hostile powers. For example. the original tax of 1000 akca a year paid by the Klementi clan had become a trivial
amount by the end of the 16th century due to the depreciation of the akca, and the government therefore
wanted instead to assess the djizya
at 1,000 gold coins. This caused the rebellion of the tribes of northern
Albania. They started to attack and plunder the plains of Rumeli as far as Filibe.
In order to stop these depredations the Porte sent several armies against them
and built a new castle near Gusinje. Their new uprising in 1638 was quelled by
Duce Mehmed Pasha (see Na‘îma, iii, 399-409). The
Klementi, Kuci (Kocaj), Piperi in the North, and the Himariots on
the coastal range of Himara, co-operated also with the Austrian and Venetian
armies during the wars of 1683-99, 1714-8, 1736-9.
On
the other hand, as the central control weakened the highlanders began to
penetrate into Rumeli and even in Anatolia from the beginning of 17th century. In the 18th century, pashas,
begs and
[p. 657]
a‘yân everywhere took into
their service these highlanders who were reputed to be the best mercenaries.
They were organised in bölüks of about 100 men under a bölük-bashi, who, as a perfect
condottiere, arranged everything for his men with the hirer. The part played by
such bölüks is well illustrated by the example of Mehmed ‘Alî in
Egypt. .Many Albanians also joined the mountain bands in Rumeli, called Daghli eshkiydsi or
Kircaali.
In
the same period the lease system of the state-owned lands (mîrî arâdî mukâta‘asi) on the lowlands,
coastal plains or inland basins, in Albania gave birth to the big land-owning
class of a‘yân [q.v.]. These absentee
land-lords used every means to obtain more and more mukâta‘ât. Among them, the Bushatli family in
the North, in the land of Gegs, and Tepedelenli ‘Alî Pasha (see ‘ALÎ PASHA
TEPEDELNLI) (1744-1822) in the
south, in the area of Tosks, emerged as semi-independent despots. The
first Bushatli (in Turkish chroniclers Budjatli or
Bucatli), Mehmed Pasha, built up his power by
acquiring large mukâta‘ât and
by making an alliance, with the Malisors, the highlanders, and thus forced the
Porte to confer him the governorship of Scutari (Ishkodra, Shkodër)
(1779). After his death (1790), the Porte’s attempt to get back these mukâta‘ât caused his son Kara
Mahmûd Pasha [q.v.] to rebel. ‘Alî Pasha, too,
possessed about 200 estates (ciftliks). The Porte at first did
not challenge the increasing power and authority of the Bushatlis
and ‘Alî Pasha, as they were rightly considered to check the domination
of the local a‘yân, and the rivalry
between these two pashas seemed to counterbalance each
other. ‘Alî Pasha once tried to extend his control into the zone of the
Bushatlis and fought them. Through his sons whom he managed to
have appointed governors of Thessaly, Morea, Karli-ili he actually formed a
semi-independent state in Albania and Greece. In 1820, when the central
government finally took action against him, he rebelled, and instigated the
Greeks to revolt. The power of the last Bushatli, named Mustafâ
Pasha, was destroyed only in 1832 by the reformed army of Mahmûd
II. The centralist policy of the Tanzîmât
caused troubles with the autonomous tribes in North Albania.
The
“Albanian League for the Defence of the Kights of the Albanian Nation” had been
set up at Prizren on June 13, 1878, only to influence the decisions of the Congress
of Berlin; but it proved to have great significance for the birth of an
Albanian state later on. Encouraged by the Ottoman government at the beginning,
the League set up resistance to the Montenegrins and Greeks in order to keep
the Albanian provinces united (the four Ottoman wilâyets of Yanya,
Ishkodra, Manastir and Kosova). But when the league tended to
further the idea of an autonomous Albania, the Porte sent an army and aspersed
the League (1881). The great powers, especially Austria-Hungary and Italy,
encouraged this autonomy movement with the purpose of extending their influence
over Albania while Russia was supporting Montenegro’s territorial claims over
Albania. On the other hand, by enlisting Albanians in his bodyguard and
conferring special favours on them, ‘Abd al-Hamîd II was trying to win
Albanian support. But the Albanian intellectuals, in co-operation with the
Young Turks in Paris and elsewhere, were anticipating an autonomous Albania. In
1908 the stand taken by the Albanians against ‘Abd al-Hamîd II at the
Frizovik Meeting did actually help the Revolution to succeed. In the Ottoman
Parliament the influential Albanian deputies, such as Ismâ‘îl Kemal, Es‘ad
Toptanî, Hasan Prishtina, joined in tlie Hürriyyet we I‘tilâf Party which sought decentralisation as
against the centralist ottomanisation policy of the Ittihâd we Terakkî Party. While the heated
discussions on an Albanian educational system was going on (the Congress of
Manastir, November 1908) an uprising broke out among the Albanian
highlanders who resisted the Ottoman government attempt to collect their arms.
Finally, on 4th September 1912, the new Ottoman government accepted the
Albanian demands for an autonomous administration. But the Balkan War
completely changed the situation in the Balkans. A short time after the
declaration of war, in November 1912, Ismâ‘îl Kemal declared the independence
of Albania at Awlonya (Vlorë). The London Conference proclaimed Albania an
autonomous principality under the guaranty of the six powers (29th July 1923);
but the newly elected prince, Wilhelm von Wied, had soon to leave the country
(3rd September 1914). After the first world war Serbia laid claims to Shkodër
and Durrës. Seeing their country dismembered, the Albanian leaders hastily
convoked a congress at Lushnjë (21st January 1920) and demanded the
independence of Albania. A national government was formed in Tirana, and an
Albanian partisan army drove out the Italians from Vlorë. Italy finally
recognised the independence of Albania with the treaty of Tirana (3rd August
1920). The small Albanian state experienced a tumultuous parliamentary life
during the first years of its existence (1921-4). The Muslim land-owning beys
of the western and central plains came into conflict with the Popular Party (under
its leader Fan S. Noli). A revolution forced Ahmed Zog, the Prime
Minister, to flee to Yugoslavia. With Yugoslav support he came back into power
(24th December 1924). A constituent Assembly proclaimed Albania a Republic and
named Ahmed Zog (Zogu) President. He then signed a series of treaties
with Italy (12th May 1925; 27th November 1926; 22nd November 1927 and March
1936) putting the country practically under Italian protection. In September
1928 Zog was proclaimed the King of Albanians. He fled from Albania one day
before the Italians invaded the country on April 6, 1939.
Bibliography: Emile Legrand, Bibliographie
albanaise, completed and published by Henri Guys, Paris 1912; Jean G.
Kersopoulos, Albanie, ouvrages et articles de revue parus de 1555
à 1934, ed. Flamma, Athens 1934;
Herbert Louis, Albanian, Eine Landeskunde vornehmlich auf Grunde
eigener Reisen, Stuttgart 1927; Antonio Baldacci, Studi speciali albanesi, 3 vols., Rome 1932-33, 1938; Johann G. von
Hahn, Albanesische Studien, Jena
1854; F. Nopcsa, Albanien. Bauten, Trachten und Geräte Nordalbaniens,
Berlin and Leipzig 1925; Hyacinthe Hequard, Histoire
et Description de la Haute-Albanie ou Ghegarie, Paris 1855; M.E. Durham, High Albania, London 1909; S. Gopcevic,
Oberalbanien und Seine Liga, Leipzig
1881; Margaret Hasluck, The Unwritten Law
in Albania, Cambridge 1954; Carleton S. Coon, The Mountains of Giants: A Racial and cultural Study of the North
Albanian Mountain Ghegs, Cambridge, Mass. 1950; Ludwig von Thallóczy, Illyrisch-albanische Forschungen,
Munich-Leipzig, 1916; Georg Stadtmüller, Forschungen
zur albanischen Frühgeschichte,
Archivum Europae Centro-Orientalis, vii/1941, 1-196; M.M. v. Šufflay, Srbi i Arbanasi, Belgrade 1925; N.
Jorga, Brève Histoire de l’Albanie et du peuple
albanais, Bucharest 1919;
[p. 658]
Fr. Pall, Marino Barlezio. Uno storico umanista, Mélanges d’histoire générale, ii (Cluj
1938), 135-318; H. Ìnalcik, Sûret-i
Defter-i Sancak-i Arvanid, Ankara
1954; idem, Timariotes chrétiens en
Albanie au XV.siècle, Mitteil., des oesterreichischen Staatsarchivs,
Vienna iv/1952, 118-38; idem, Iskender
bey, IA cüz 52; Stavro Skendi, Religion in Albania during the Ottoman Rule,
in Südostforschungen xv/1956, 311-27;
Albania, S. Skendi (editor), New York
1956; the Ottoman chroniclers, Neshrî, Urudj, Khodja
Sa‘d al-Dîn, Kâtib Celebi, Na‘îmâ, Findiklili
Mehmed Agha, Râshid, Enwerî, Djewdet Pasha,
contain considerable information on Albania (for these see F. Babinger, GOW); for Ewliyâ Celebi, see F.
Babinger, Evlijâ Tschelebi’s Reisewege in
Albanien, Berlin 1930; for the last period under the Ottoman rule, see Y.H.
Bayur, Türk Inkilabi Tarihi,
pub. Turkish Historical Society, Ankara 1943-1956; T.W.
Arnold, The Preaching of Islam,
London 1935; J.K. Birge, The Bektashi
Order of Dervishes, Hartford 1937, K. Süssheim, Arnavutluk, in IA.
(HalÌL Ìnalcik)