Krujë

These sad tidings, as was natural, filled his mind with exceeding sorrow, but he permitted no outward sign of mourning to betray the grief that lay concealed within his heart, for he was wont so to carry himself towards the Sultan as though he were his own father.

Upon the death of Jon, Amarath, as though he were the lawful heir of the realm of Epyre, immediately dispatched thither Cebele, one of his great captains, with a strong force, who seized upon Croia, the chief city, and other places of importance.

And thus, without a fusion of blood, Amarath obtained possession of all the fortresses and strongholds of the kingdom.

voisana the widow of john castriot after the death of her husband remained at home with her daughter mamisa and she had a small portion of land in macedonia assigned to her by amuraths for her support

the messenger

performed his task with great ability he set before the garrison of petrella the example of croia exhorting them to bear in mind what that city had suffered and to think how the dead bodies of their fellow soldiers were exposed to the dogs and wolves in every corner of epirus the truth of which they had learned from divers turks who had fled for refuge into the town nor did he fail to remind them that amurath having lately lost a great battle against the hungarians and being engaged in other wars had no leisure to turn his attention towards epeyer he concluded by offering the conditions above mentioned after a short delay the governor accepted the proffered terms all but the tender to him of a large sum of money lest he should be suspected by the sultan of having been bribed the turkish governor accordingly with his garrison evacuated the city and were supplied by scanderbeg agreeably to his promise with provisions and money for their journey and sent under a sufficient convoy safely out of the easy recovery of this town has been thought to afford an evidence of the favour of providence towards scandabeg for although petrella be small in circuit its position on top of a high mountain renders it impregnable it was also well provided with men arms and other munition yet in the winter season at which time an attack would have been most desperate it yielded to him without resistance When Petrella was thus gained, Scandbeg made no delay, but having put therein a sufficient garrison, he neither entered the town himself, nor permitted any so to do, except the soldiers appointed to defend the place, although his men at the time were suffering much from the severity of the cold.

He immediately directed his course to Petra Alba, distant from Petrella thirty miles, and as much from Croia.

In such haste, says Knowles, as if the city had been running away from him, Lavardin calls it a castle in Emythia, on the summit of a mountain near the river of Emythus.

Little wonder he is known as the Albanian Braveheart.

Arguably his greatest victory came in 1450, when Sultan Murad II himself led a gargantuan army of 160,000 men into Albania, straight for Skanderbeg's stronghold, the White Castle of Croia, which the Sultan put to siege on May 14th.

Day after day, Ottoman cannons rocked the White Castle with projectiles weighing as much as 400 pounds.

Although Skanderbeg only had 18,000 Christian defenders, he performed remarkable deeds to quote a contemporary.

Others, envious of Skanderbeg, actively welcomed the Turks in the hopes of breaking his influence.

And Venice, once again, supplied the Islamic invader.

Despite such odds, and by all accounts, Skanderbeg and his men, inside and outside of Croia, fought tooth and nail and managed to inflict heavy casualties on their enemies who outnumbered them by nearly ten to one.

In the words of a 19th century historian, quote, With matchless strategy he contrived to keep the myriads of his opponents from the walls.

As soon as they were written, the secretary was also put to death, together with as many more Turks as came in Scanderbeg's way, that these transactions might be kept as long as possible from the knowledge of Amaranth, who, from hearing no news of Scanderbeg, would naturally conclude that he had perished in the general slaughter of the Turks.

End of section 1 Section 2 of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania, Books 1-3 by Marin Boletti and Jacques de la Vardin Translated by Zachary Jones and Clement Clark Moore This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Alistair Book 1, Part 2 Scanderbeg arrived with wonderful celerity in the upper country of Dibra, or Dibria, in the borders of Epirus, about seventy miles from Kroia, accompanied by three hundred Epirote soldiers gathered to him out of the battle.

The Dibrians were noted for their activity and valour, and much esteemed by Scanderbeg on account of their fidelity, and for the many services which they had rendered in the protection and defence of the state under John, his father, when molested by the Turks.

Footnote Dibra was the only town or fortress in the parts of Epirus towards Macedonia, with the exception of Svetigrad.

Having made known his purpose, he was greeted with the most unbounded demonstrations of joy and affection, and every aid and service which could be rendered was proffered with utmost alacrity.

He remained but one day at Dibra.

Of the three hundred men who accompanied him out of the battle, he selected a few whom he purposed to take with him to Kroia, as though they belonged to his private service.

The remainder, together with other three hundred select soldiers from Dibra, he guided to go by secret ways under the direction of skilful guides through the woods and mountains and approach as near as was possible to Kroia without being discovered, and there to wait until he should get into the town and be able to admit them also in order to oppress the Turkish garrison.

These sad tidings, as was natural, filled his mind with exceeding sorrow; but he permitted no outward sign of mourning to betray the grief that lay concealed within his heart; for he was wont so to carry himself towards the sultan as though he were his own father.

Upon the death of John, Amurath, as though he were the lawful heir of the realm of Epyre, immediately despatched thither Sebili, one of his great captains, with a strong force, who seized upon Kroia, the chief city, and other places of importance.

And thus, without effusion of blood, Amurath obtained possession of all the fortresses and strongholds of the kingdom.

Voissana, the widow of John Kastriot, after the death of her husband, remained at home with her daughter Mamisa; and she had a small portion of land in Macedonia assigned to her by Amurath for her support.

As soon as they were written, the secretary was also put to death, together with as many more Turks as came in Scanderbeg's way, that these transactions might be kept as long as possible from the knowledge of Amaranth, who, from hearing no news of Scanderbeg, would naturally conclude that he had perished in the general slaughter of the Turks.

End of section 1 Section 2 of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania, Books 1-3 By Marin Belletti and Jacques de Lavardin Translated by Zachary Jones and Clement Clark Moore This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Read by Alistair Book 1, Part 2 Scanderbeg arrived with wonderful celerity in the upper country of Dibra, or Dibria, in the borders of Epirus, about seventy miles from Kroia, accompanied by three hundred Epirote soldiers gathered to him out of the battle.

The Dibrians were noted for their activity and valour, and much esteemed by Scanderbeg, on account of their fidelity, and for the many services which they had rendered in the protection and defence of the state under John, his father, when molested by the Turks.

These sad tidings, as was natural, filled his mind with exceeding sorrow, but he permitted no outward sign of mourning to betray the grief that lay concealed within his heart, for he was wont so to carry himself towards the Sultan as though he were his own father.

Upon the death of Jon, Amarath, as though he were the lawful heir of the realm of Epyre, immediately dispatched thither Cebele, one of his great captains, with a strong force, who seized upon Croia, the chief city, and other places of importance.

And thus, without a fusion of blood, Amarath obtained possession of all the fortresses and strongholds of the kingdom.

Voisana, the widow of John Castriot, after the death of her husband, remained at home with her daughter Mamisa, and she had a small portion of land in Macedonia assigned to her by Amarath for her support.

after this he turned his thoughts upon scandabeg considering in what manner he might secure himself against the danger which his suspicions represented to him without depriving his realm of one to whom he looked as to another hercules in all perilous and difficult adventures there appears after this to have been a mutual distrust between amurath and scanderbeg the former endeavouring to conceal his evil purposes under specious offers and fair promises and the latter lulling the suspicions of the sultan by a show of affection and loyalty the anxiety and grief felt by scanderbeg continued to increase more and more and he considered it necessary to be very cautious with regard to his personal safety the more suspicious he was of the designs of the tyrant the greater was his care to gain the affection of the common people and of the soldiers but being continually engaged in the tumults of war his renown increased so much that envy grew up with it and some of the courtiers not being able to endure in a stranger the appearance of so great excellence which every day became greater took advantage of every opportunity to speak ill of him to and to inspire the belief that his liberality towards those about him and his endeavours to obtain popularity were only prompted by a desire to rise to power and authority such discourses did not fail of making an impression upon the sultan especially as the munificence and liberality with which scanderbeg was charged were manifest and notorious and the advanced age of amurath inclining him to be fearful jealous and suspicious he saw everything in the worst light and the apprehension arose by degrees in his mind not only with respect to the realm of epire but for the sovereignty of his own empire his guilty conscience also stirring within him he began at length to entertain a secret hatred towards scanderbeg and to watch for some opportunity to cut him off secretly for as he had no pretence for open violence he dreaded by such means to effect his destruction lest he should thus alienate from himself the hearts of the multitude and by such undisguised tyranny deprive his kingdom of the services of foreigners of talent to whom the ottoman empire owed so much of its greatness but these domestic intrigues were for a while interrupted by the weight and importance of foreign affairs for war was declared against george lord of mysia commonly called the despot of servia it is said that amurath was induced by two reasons which at first sight appear contradictory to commit the charge of the expedition to scandabeg the one that he could find no other commander so fortunate in war the other that he hoped that in consequence of his readiness to expose himself to all dangers he might at length meet with some mishap castriot was consequently sent against the at this time castriot did not venture to deal with the christians as moderately as he was wont to do when sent against them lest he should excite the suspicions of amurath who was already but too much inclined to regard his actions with a jealous eye he frequently defeated the despot returning after all his conflicts victorious to adrianople and when the despot had renewed his forces and began again to make head skanderbeg being anew despatched against him vanquished him in battle and put his army to flight and having raised many of his strongholds and fortresses led back his own forces laden with the spoils of their enemies notwithstanding the important services rendered by scanderbeg to the turkish state amurath continued his evil designs against him in pursuance of which he caused a solemn joust and tournament both on horseback and on foot to be proclaimed offering great rewards to those who should be victorious this he did in order to expose scandabeg to the great perils which would be attendant upon these exercises but all his schemes proved abortive for though numbers of both subjects and strangers hardy active and able men daily presented themselves scandabeg who continually showed himself among them carried off the prize in every rencounter to the great admiration of all men as though he were fatally predestined to be victorious the distrust of Amurath increased in proportion to the fame of Scanderbeg, until, inflamed with anger and hatred, he became anxious to have him dispatched in some secret manner.

Scanderbeg was well aware of the disposition of the Sultan towards him, and being convinced that, if he remained about the court, he could not long avoid the snares which were laid for him, he set himself to devise some means of escape from the service of the Sultan, and of returning to his own country, where his presence was vehemently desired.

of this secret purpose he never by word or act gave the slightest intimation to any man living although many of his countrymen lived on terms of intimate friendship with him and many came to him in behalf of the chief and principal persons in albania offering him their aid to wrest his kingdom from the hands of the tyrant but well knowing the inconstancy of mankind and being aware of the great peril of the undertaking he wisely continued to dissemble the purpose which he still kept in view The chief difficulty which presented itself to him was how to recover possession of Croia, the principal city of Epia.

It was defended by so large a garrison of the Turks, and its situation was so strong, being placed on the crest of a high and rugged mountain, almost inaccessible on every side, and also fortified by art, that to attempt to take it by assault would have appeared the effect of madness or folly.

When the opportunity presented itself, he set upon the Turks who accompanied the secretary, and slew every one of them.

Having fast bound the secretary, he carried him to a place suitable for his purpose, and there compelled him, much against his will, to write counterfeit letters as from the Pasha his master to the governor of Kroia, ordering him, in the name of Amaranth, to deliver forthwith the command of the city and of the garrison therein to Scanderbeg, the newly appointed governor.

Many things were artfully interwoven with the substance of those letters, in order to give them the greater appearance of truth and probability.

As soon as they were written, the secretary was also put to death, together with as many more Turks as came in Scanderbeg's way, that these transactions might be kept as long as possible from the knowledge of Amaranth, who, from hearing no news of Scanderbeg, would naturally conclude that he had perished in the general slaughter of the Turks.

End of Section 1 Section 2 of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania, Books 1-3 By Marin Boletti and Jacques de la Vardin Translated by Zachary Jones and Clement Clark Moore This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

Read by Alistair Book 1, Part 2 Scanderbeg arrived with wonderful celerity in the upper country of Dibra, or Dibria, in the borders of Epirus, about 70 miles from Kroia, accompanied by 300 Epirote soldiers gathered to him out of the battle.

The Dibrians were noted for their activity and valour, and much esteemed by Scanderbeg on account of their fidelity, and for the many services which they had rendered in the protection and defence of the state under John, his father, when molested by the Turks.

Footnote Dibra was the only town or fortress in the parts of Epirus towards Macedonia, with the exception of Svetigrad.