''The Siege of Shkodra'' is a book written by a Shkodran priest,
Marin Barleti
Marin Barleti ( la, Marinus Barletius, it, Marino Barlezio; – ) was a historian and Catholic priest from Shkodër who was a humanist. He is considered the first Albanian historian because of his 1504 eyewitness account of the 1478 siege o ...
(also known as Marinus Barletius), about the Ottoman
siege of Shkodra
The fourth siege of Shkodra of 1478–79 was a confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Venetians together with the League of Lezhe and other Albanians at Shkodra (Scutari in Italian) and its Rozafa Castle during the First Ottoman-V ...
in 1478, led personally by
Mehmed II, and about the joint resistance of the Albanians and the Venetians. The book also discusses the Ottoman siege of
Shkodra in 1474. The book was originally published in 1504, in Latin, as ''De obsidione Scodrensi''. Barleti was an eyewitness of the events.
Outline
Prefatory note
![Giovanni Bellini, portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Giovanni_Bellini%2C_portrait_of_Doge_Leonardo_Loredan.jpg)
The work begins with a prefatory note to the
doge
A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics".
Etymology
The ...
of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
,
Leonardo Loredan
Leonardo Loredan (; vec, Lunardo Loredan ; 16 November 1436 – 22 June 1521) was a Venetian nobleman and statesman who reigned as the 75th Doge of Venice from 1501 until his death in 1521. A wartime ruler, his dogeship was one of the most impo ...
, with Barleti describing his reasons for writing. Then the work is organized into three large chapters called “books.”
Book One
The first and briefest book gives attention to historical background information about the Turks, the Ottoman sultans, and the city of Shkodra.
Book Two
The second and largest book describes Mehmedʼs failed efforts to conquer Shkodra in 1474 and continues with a detailed account of his second effort in 1478 (which was ultimately successful despite significant
Ottoman losses). In this second book, Barleti describes details of the pre-siege incursions of the
akinci, the build-up of Ottoman troops, information about how
janissaries were trained, the arrival of camels and chariots with equipment, the production and positioning of artillery around Shkodra’s
Rozafa Fortress, the arrival of Sultan Mehmed II in Shkodra, the assault of the
cannons
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...
(including daily tallies of shots fired), the life and faith of the Shkodran besieged, and five general Ottoman attacks intended to penetrate the breaches in the walls—all of which conclude in failure to conquer the citadel.
Book Three
The third book describes the sultanʼs decision to halt further attacks upon Shkodra but to attack three smaller citadels aiding Shkodra:
Žabljak Crnojevića
Žabljak Crnojevića ( sr-cyrl, Жабљак Црнојевића, ), commonly referred to as Žabljak, is an abandoned medieval fortified town (fortress) in Montenegro. The fortress is located on the confluence of the Morača river in Lake Skada ...
,
Drisht
Drisht ( sq-definite, Drishti) is a village, former bishopric and Latin titular see with an Ancient and notable medieval history (Latin ''Drivastum,'' Italian ''Drivasto'') in Albania, 6 km from Mes Bridge (Albanian: ''Ura e Mesit''). It is l ...
, and
Lezha. After describing the successful Ottoman conquest of these cities, the third book records the sultan retreating after ordering a siege force in place in an attempt to starve the Shkodran citizens into surrender. The work concludes with the Shkodran besieged learning of a peace treaty between Venice and Mehmed II, in which Shkodra is ceded to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. The citizens are reported to be faced with a choice to either emigrate to Venice or to stay in their city under Ottoman rule. Barleti records all the Shkodrans choosing emigration over subjugation.
Versions
''The Siege of Shkodra'' was first published in Latin (in 1504 and later in 1576) and was translated an
published in Italian(1565 with subsequent reprintings), in Polish (at Brest-Litovsk, 1569), and French (at Paris, 1576).
[Buda, Aleks. "Hyrja" ntroductionto Barleti, Marin. ''Rrethimi i Shkodrës''. Tirana: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, 1967.] In 1962 it was published in Albanian and reprinted in 1967, 1980, 1988, and 2012. In 2012 it was also published for the first time in English.
File:Page from Table of Contents of De obsidione Scondrensi.jpg, Page from Table of Contents of ''De obsidione Scodrensi'', 1504
File:1962 Cover of RRETHIMI I SHKODRES.jpg, Cover of 1962 Albanian version
The Latin Version
The first Latin version emerged in 1504, published by the Venetian Bernardino de Vitalibus. It was republished in 1566 in Basel, Switzerland and in 1578 and 1596 in Frankfurt, Germany.
In 2018 Venetian scholar Lucia Nadin discovered in Paris a manuscript by Marin Barleti, dated ca. 1500, presumed to be the original manuscript of ''De obsidione Scodrensi'' (scholars have begun to study this manuscript).
The Albanian Version
The Albanian version’s date of publishing coincided with the 50th anniversary of
Albania’s declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire. The work was translated by the Albanian Latin scholar,
Henrik Lacaj
Henrik Lacaj (1909–1991) was an Albanian humanitarian, linguist, and translator. He authored textbooks, plays, and various studies on historical figures such as Scanderbeg and Luigj Gurakuqi, but in Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), ...
and included a 20-paged introduction by historian Albanian
Alex Buda, the head of the
Albanian Academy of Sciences. The Albanian version also included Buda’s scholarly notes (endnotes),
George Merula’s essay “The War of Shkodra” (about the siege of 1474), and
Marin Beçikemi’s panegyric delivered to the Venetian Senate.
The English Version
The English version was published in Albania by
Onufri Publishing House
Onufri Publishing House is an independent Albanian publishing house with its centre in Tirana, Albania and a branch office in Pristina. It was founded in 1992 and is regarded as of the leading publishers of classics and scholarly works in Albanian ...
in 2012, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Albania’s declaration of independence. The work was translated and edited by David Hosaflook and includes translations of Buda’s introduction and notes, Merula’s “The War of Shkodra,” and Beçikemi’s panegyric. It also includes accounts of the siege of Shkodra from early Ottoman historians, new scholarly notes, the historical context by Prof.
David Abulafia, new maps based on the information in the book, and appendixes including Barleti's chronology of battle events.
Significance
Albanian historians such as Alex Buda consider the work "the first Albanian historiographical work" by "the first author in
lbania'sliterature."
Lucia Nadin asserts claims that the work was well known throughout the centuries in all of Europe. Subsequent historians to the present day who treat the events of the siege of Shkodra frequently reference this work.
Criticism and Defense
''The Siege of Shkodra'' has been criticized by foreign historians who claim that Barleti exaggerated his reports of the numbers of Ottoman soldiers and camels employed and that he invented speeches by the sultan and the sultan’s commanders.
Franz Babinger
Franz Babinger (15 January 1891 – 23 June 1967) was a well-known German orientalist and historian of the Ottoman Empire, best known for his biography of the great Ottoman emperor Mehmed II, known as "the Conqueror", originally published as ''Me ...
asserts that “this account has long been regarded as untrustworthy because of its bias and the high-flown speeches which, in the classical manner, it puts into the mouths of protagonists who could never have spoken in such a way. It deals at great length with the nature and employment of Ottoman siege machines, providing information that can be appraised only by experts in the history of weapons”.
[Babinger, Franz, Ralph Manheim, and William C. Hickman. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978. p. 364.] Alex Buda’s introduction to the 1962 Albanian version acknowledges as valid some of the criticisms made by foreign scholars; on the other hand, he explains that flowery language was the style of classical literature in Barleti's day, argues that not all criticism is valid, and argues why Barleti must be consulted as a reputable source (with certain caveats), noting the contemporaneous Ottoman and Venetian historians whose accounts are strikingly supportive of Barleti’s.
References
External links
* Barletius, Marinus. ''De obsidione Scodrensi''. Venice: Bernardino de Vitabilus, 1504
Online version here.* Lonicer, Philipp and Barletius, Marinus. ''Chronicorum Turcicorum''. Feyerabendt, 1578
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege of Shkodra, The
History books about Albania
History books about the Ottoman Empire
16th-century history books
Books about military history
Ottoman–Venetian Wars