Nov 28, 2020
Gjergji Kastrioti (1405-68) is also known to Albanians as Skanderberg, a name derived from Ottoman Turkish. His life and times were dramatic by any standards, Skanderberg was sent as a hostage to The Ottoman Court as a hostage twice, in 1415 and 1423 and accepted the military training that The Ottoman Court offered him. Where this led him, as Venice became part of the front line of The Ottoman empire’s forward advance and he had Christian family is too complicated a story to tell here. But he is remembered by the Albanians for leading their revolt against The Ottoman Empire and their revolt became part of a rolling back of the advance of The Ottomans by Christian armies too.
