Editing Albania (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|Albania in the Middle Ages}}

[[File:Krujë-KrujaAlbania 2016.jpg|thumb|right|The town of [[Krujë]] was the capital of the [[Principality of Arbanon]] in the Middle Ages.]]

The [[Roman Empire]] was split in 395 upon the death of [[Theodosius I]] into an [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern]] and [[Western Roman Empire]] in part because of the increasing pressure from threats during the [[Barbarian Invasions]]. From the 6th century into the 7th century, the [[South Slavs|Slavs]] crossed the [[Danube]] and largely absorbed the indigenous Greeks, Illyrians and Thracians in the [[Balkans]]; thus, the Illyrians were mentioned for the last time in historical records in the 7th century.<ref name="BideleuxJeffries2007">{{cite book|last1=Bideleux|first1=Robert|last2=Jeffries|first2=Ian|title=Balkans: A Post-Communist History|url=https://archive.org/details/balkanspostcommu0000bide|url-access=registration |date=24 January 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-58328-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/balkanspostcommu0000bide/page/25 25]|quote=From AD 548 onward, the lands now known as Albania began to be overrun from the north by ever-increasing&nbsp;...}}</ref><ref name="Schaefer2008">{{citation|last=Schaefer|first=Richard T.|title=Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society|year=2008|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-2694-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jscZAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>

In the 11th century, the [[Great Schism of 1054|Great Schism]] formalised the break of communion between the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]] and [[Western Catholic Church]] that is reflected in Albania through the emergence of a Catholic north and Orthodox south. The Albanian people inhabited the west of [[Lake Ochrida]] and the upper valley of [[Shkumbin|River Shkumbin]] and established the [[Principality of Arbanon]] in 1190 under the leadership of [[Progon of Kruja]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Nicol|first=Donald MacGillivray|title=Studies in late Byzantine history and prosopography|year=1986|publisher=Variorum Reprints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XnKgAAAAMAAJ&q=Alain+Ducellier|isbn=9780860781905}}</ref> The realm was succeeded by his sons [[Gjin Progoni|Gjin]] and Dhimitri.

Upon the death of Dhimiter, the territory came under the rule of the Albanian-Greek [[Gregory Kamonas]] and subsequently under the [[Golem of Kruja]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/illyrischalbanis00thaluoft |title=Illyrisch-albanische Forschungen |publisher=Duncker & Humblot |last1=Jireček |first1=Konstantin |last2=Thopia |year=1916 |page=[https://archive.org/details/illyrischalbanis00thaluoft/page/239 239] |quote=Griechen Gregorios Kamonas}}</ref><ref name=Abulafia>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bclfdU_2lesC&pg=PA786 |title=The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, C.1198-c.1300 |isbn=978-0-521-36289-4 |last1=Abulafia |first1=David |last2=McKitterick |date=21 October 1999 |page=786 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=Greco-Albanian lord Gregorios Kamonas}}</ref><ref name=Genealogist>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7pnAAAAMAAJ&q=gregorios+kamonas |title=The Genealogist |year=1980 |page=40}}</ref> In the 13th century, the principality was dissolved.<ref name=Clements31>Clements, John (1992), ''Clements encyclopedia of world governments'', Vol. 10. Political Research, Inc. p. 31: "By 1190, Byzantium's power had so receded that the archon Progon succeeded in establishing the first Albanian state of the Middle Ages, a principality"</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 |year=2008 |location=Strasbourg |publisher=Council of Europe Publishing |isbn=978-92-871-6265-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bi8fjENzJacC |page=16}}</ref><ref name="Norris1993">{{cite book |last=Norris |first=H. T. |title=Islam in the Balkans: religion and society between Europe and the Arab world |url=https://archive.org/details/islaminbalkansre00norr |url-access=registration |year=1993 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-87249-977-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islaminbalkansre00norr/page/35 35]}}</ref> Arbanon is considered to be the first sketch of an Albanian state, that retained a [[semi-autonomous]] status as the western extremity of the [[Byzantine Empire]], under the Byzantine [[Doukas|Doukai]] of [[Despotate of Epirus|Epirus]] or [[Laskaris|Laskarids]] of [[Empire of Nicaea|Nicaea]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pipa |first1=Arshi |last2=Repishti |first2=Sami |year=1984 |title=Studies on Kosova |series=East European Monographs #155 |isbn=978-0-88033-047-3 |pages=7–8}}</ref>

[[File:Venezia_-_Ex_Scola_degli_albanesi_(sec._XV)_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_12-Aug-2007_-_11_-_Maometto_II_assedia_Scutari.jpg|thumb|left|A relief of the [[Scuola degli Albanesi]] commemorating the [[siege of Shkodra]]. It illustrates [[Ottoman Sultan|Sultan]] [[Mehmet II]] laying siege to the Albanian town of Scutari, then part of [[Venetian Empire]].]]

Towards the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Serb]]s and [[Venetian Empire|Venetians]] started to take possession over the territory.<ref name="Barbarian Invasions">{{cite web |editor1-last=Zickel |editor1-first=Raymond |editor2-last=Iwaskiw |editor2-first=Walter R. |year=1994 |title="The Barbarian Invasions and the Middle Ages," Albania: A Country Study |url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/15.htm |access-date=9 April 2008}}</ref> The [[ethnogenesis]] of the Albanians is uncertain; however, the first undisputed mention of Albanians dates back in historical records from 1079 or 1080 in a work by [[Michael Attaliates]], who referred to the [[Albanoi]] as having taken part in a revolt against [[Constantinople]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Madgearu|first1=Alexandru|last2=Gordon|first2=Martin|title=The wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their medieval origins|year=2008|location=Lanham|publisher=Scarecrow Press|url=https://archive.org/details/warsofbalkanpeni0000madg|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/warsofbalkanpeni0000madg/page/43 43]|quote=Albanoi.|isbn=9780810858466}}</ref> At this point the Albanians were fully Christianised.

After the dissolution of Arbanon, [[Charles I of Naples|Charles of Anjou]] concluded an agreement with the Albanian rulers, promising to protect them and their ancient liberties. In 1272, he established the [[Kingdom of Albania (medieval)|Kingdom of Albania]] and conquered regions back from the [[Despotate of Epirus]]. The kingdom claimed all of central Albania territory from [[Dyrrhachium]] along the Adriatic Sea coast down to [[Butrint]]. A Catholic political structure was a basis for the papal plans of spreading [[Catholicism]] in the Balkan Peninsula. This plan found also the support of [[Helen of Anjou, Queen of Serbia|Helen of Anjou]]. Around 30 Catholic churches and monasteries were built during her rule mainly in northern Albania.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Regnum Albaniae, the Papal Curia, and the Western Visions of a Borderline Nobility |last=Etleva |first=Lala |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |url=http://www.etd.ceu.hu/2009/mphlae01.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.etd.ceu.hu/2009/mphlae01.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Internal power struggles within the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century enabled Serbs' most powerful medieval ruler, [[Stefan Dusan]], to establish a [[Serbian Empire|short-lived empire]] that included all of Albania except Durrës.<ref name="Barbarian Invasions"/>
[[File:Albanian Principalities, ca. 1390 (modern Albania).png|thumb|Albanian principalities, {{Circa|1390}}, excluding the [[Despotate of Arta]]]]
In 1367, Albanian rulers established the [[Despotate of Arta]]. During that time, several [[Albanian principalities]] were created, notably the [[Principality of Albania (medieval)|Principality of Albania]], [[Principality of Kastrioti]], [[Lordship of Berat]] and [[Principality of Dukagjini]]. In the first half of the 15th century, the [[Ottoman Empire]] invaded most of Albania, and the [[League of Lezhë]] was held under [[Skanderbeg]] as a ruler, who became the national hero of the Albanian medieval history.

==== Ottoman Empire ====
{{Main|Albania under the Ottoman Empire}}
{{See also|Skanderbeg#Rebellion against the Ottomans|l1=Albanian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire}}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 230
| image_style       = border:none;
| image1            = Skanderbeg by Antonio Maria Crespi.jpg
| alt1              = Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg
| caption1          = After serving the [[Ottoman Empire]] for nearly 20 years, [[Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg]] deserted and began a successful [[Skanderbeg's rebellion|rebellion against the empire]] that halted Ottoman advance into Europe for 25 years.
| image2            = Monvoisin, Raymond - Ali Pacha y Vasiliki -1832 ost 345x272 PalCous frg1.jpg
| alt2              = Ali Pasha Tepelena
| caption2          = [[Ali Pasha Tepelena]] was a powerful autonomous Ottoman-Albanian ruler, governing over the [[Pashalik of Yanina]].
}}

With the [[fall of Constantinople]], the Ottoman Empire continued an extended period of conquest and expansion with its borders going deep into [[Ottoman conquest of the Balkans|Southeast Europe]]. They reached the [[Albanian Ionian Sea Coast]] in 1385 and erected their garrisons across [[Southern Albania]] in 1415 and then occupied most of Albania in 1431.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Licursi |first=Emiddio Pietro|title=Empire of Nations: The Consolidation of Albanian and Turkish National Identities in the Late Ottoman Empire, 1878–1913 |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/72122169/7/Pashko-Vasa|year=2011 |publisher=Columbia University |location=New York |page=19 |quote=By 1415, after a chaotic interregnum, Sultan Mehmet I sent the military to erect the first Ottoman garrisons throughout southern Albania, establishing direct military authority in the region&nbsp;... l jurisdiction over most of Albania&nbsp;...|hdl=10022/AC:P:10297}}</ref><ref name="Hupchich110">[https://books.google.com/books?id=sQGIDAAAQBAJ&q=albania+vassal+serbia&pg=PA120 The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism] by D. Hupchick, page 110</ref> Thousands of Albanians consequently fled to Western Europe, particularly to [[Calabria]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], [[Republic of Ragusa|Ragusa]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], whereby others sought protection at the often inaccessible [[Geography of Albania|Mountains of Albania]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Gjonça, Arjan |title=Communism, Health and Lifestyle: The Paradox of Mortality Transition in Albania, 1950–1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OKEal7FHClUC&pg=PA7|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31586-2|page=7}}</ref><ref name="Norris1993" /> The Albanians, as Christians, were considered an [[Rayah|inferior class]] of people, and as such they were subjected to heavy [[Jizya|tax]]es among others by the [[Devshirme]] system that allowed the [[Sultan]] to collect a requisite percentage of Christian adolescents from their families to compose the [[Janissary]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Zickel |first1=Raymond |last2=Iwaskiw |first2=Walter R. |year=1994 |title=Albania: A Country Study ("Albanians under Ottoman Rule") |url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/18.htm |access-date=9 April 2008}}</ref> The Ottoman conquest was also accompanied with the gradual process of [[Islamisation]] and the rapid construction of mosques.

A prosperous and longstanding revolution erupted after the formation of the [[League of Lezhë]] until the [[Siege of Shkodra|fall of Shkodër]] under the leadership of [[Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg]], who consistently defeated major Ottoman armies led by [[Sultan]]s [[Murad II]] and [[Mehmed II]]. Skanderbeg managed to unite several of the Albanian principalities, amongst them the [[Arianiti family|Arianiti]]s, [[Dukagjini family|Dukagjini]]s, [[Zaharia family|Zaharia]]s and [[Thopia family|Thopia]]s, and establish a centralised authority over most of the non-conquered territories, becoming the [[Skanderbeg|Lord of Albania]].<ref name="League of Lezhë">{{cite book |author1=Rob Pickard |title=Analysis and Reform of Cultural Heritage Policies in South-East Europe |date=2008 |isbn=978-92-871-6265-6 |page=16 |publisher=Council of Europe |edition=Europarat}}</ref> The Ottoman Empire's expansion ground to a halt during the time that Skanderbeg's forces resisted, and he has been credited with being one of the main reasons for the delay of Ottoman expansion into [[Western Europe]], giving the Italian principalities more time to better prepare for the [[Siege of Otranto|Ottoman arrival]].{{sfn|Hodgkinson|2005|p=240}} However, the failure of most European nations, with the exception of Naples, in giving him support, along with the failure of Pope Pius II's plans to organise a promised crusade against the Ottomans meant that none of Skanderbeg's victories permanently hindered the Ottomans from invading the Western Balkans.{{sfn|Hodgkinson|2005|p=xii}}<ref name="Pitcher1968">{{cite book |last=Donald Edgar Pitcher |title=An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Brill |year=1968 |page=88}}</ref>

Despite his brilliance as a military leader, Skanderbeg's victories were only delaying the final conquests. The constant Ottoman invasions caused enormous destruction to Albania, greatly reducing the population and destroying flocks of livestock and crops. Besides surrender, there was no possible way Skanderbeg would be able to halt the Ottoman invasions despite his successes against them. His manpower and resources were insufficient, preventing him from expanding the war efforts and driving the Turks from the Albanian borders. Albania was therefore doomed to face an unending series of Ottoman attacks until it eventually fell years after his death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fine |first=John V.A. |title=The late medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the late twelfth century to the Ottoman conquest |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor, MI |isbn=9780472082605 |page=598 |edition=2. print |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC}}</ref>

When the Ottomans were gaining a firm foothold in the region, Albanian towns were organised into four principal [[sanjaks]]. The government fostered trade by settling a sizeable Jewish colony of refugees fleeing persecution in Spain. The city of [[Vlorë]] saw passing through its ports imported merchandise from Europe such as velvets, cotton goods, mohairs, carpets, spices and leather from [[Bursa]] and [[Constantinople]]. Some citizens of Vlorë even had business associates throughout Europe.<ref name=Arnawutlu/>

The phenomenon of Islamisation among the Albanians became primarily widespread from the 17th century and continued into the 18th century.<ref name="referenceworks.brillonline"/> Islam offered them equal opportunities and advancement within the Ottoman Empire. However, motives for conversion were, according to some scholars, diverse depending on the context though the lack of source material does not help when investigating such issues.<ref name="referenceworks.brillonline"/> Because of increasing suppression of Catholicism, most Catholic Albanians converted in the 17th century, while Orthodox Albanians followed suit mainly in the following century.

Since the Albanians were seen as strategically important, they made up a significant proportion of the [[Ottoman military]] and bureaucracy. Many Muslim Albanians attained important political and military positions and culturally contributed to the broader [[Muslim world]].<ref name="referenceworks.brillonline">Clayer, Nathalie (2012). [http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/albania-COM_23054 "Albania"] in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, Rokovet, John Nawas, Everett Rowson (eds.). Brill Online.</ref> Enjoying this privileged position, they held various high administrative positions with over two dozen Albanian [[Grand Viziers]]. Others included members of the prominent [[Köprülü family]], [[Zagan Pasha]], [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]] and [[Ali Pasha of Tepelena]]. Furthermore, two sultans, [[Bayezid II]] and [[Mehmed III]], both had mothers of Albanian origin.<ref name=Arnawutlu>[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/arnawutluk-COM_0065 "Arnawutluḳ."] in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Second Edition. Brill Online, 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Babinger|first=Franz|title=Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&q=Albanian&pg=PA175|year=1992|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|isbn=0-691-01078-1|page=51}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire |last=Peirce |first=Leslie P. |publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc. |year=1993 |isbn=0-19-507673-7 |location=New York |page=94}}</ref>