Oh Albania my poor Albania

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Oh Albania my poor Albania

Pjese nga Libri me te njejtin titull te James wm. Pandeli


"Oh Albania, My Poor Albania, Who Has Put Your Head In The Ashes? You Were Once A Woman Of Great Importance. The People Of The Earth Used To Call Thee, Mother!"


Hymn Of Liberation, by Vaso Pasha, 1881, lines 1-4. (A native of Albania,he became the Governor of Lebanon and Syria, provinces within the Ottoman Empire.)

 

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The Son: Alexander The Great (356-323 B.C.)

"(H)e certainly had from his father and probably from his mother, some Illyrian, i.e. Albanian blood." (Tarn, p.l)
"(H)e was one of the supreme fertilising forces of history. He lifted the civilized world out of one groove and set it in another; he started a new epoch; nothing could again be as it had been. He greatly enlarged the bounds of knowledge and human endeavor, and gave to Greek science and Greek civilization a scope and an opportunity such as they had never yet possessed. Particularism was replaced by the idea of the 'inhabited world'; the common possession of civilized men;..."

"His clemency is often mentioned, and he is perhaps the only character in Greek public life who is ever recorded to have felt pity. What his force of character was like can best be seen not in his driving power, great as it was, but in his relations with his generals. Here was an assembly of kings, with passions, ambitions, abilities, beyond those of most men;..." (Tarn, pp. 145, 124)

"He was also by nature a lover of learning and a lover of reading..." -Plutarch
"He was incredibly brave and yet profoundly cautious. Both as realist and idealist, a doer and a foreseer, he stood out above all his fellows, whether as a man of action or man of thought. He was both mystical and practical, and to all who came into contact with him infinitely magnetic...
"Of his generalship much has been written; but of all the summaries Arrian's is probably the most true, because the main source of 'The Anabasis' was the lost history of Alexander's general, Ptolemy, written after he had become king of Egypt. It runs as follows:
He was "of much shrewdness, most courageous, most zealous for honour and danger, and most careful of religion; (a lover of hardship, quick and untiring, indifferent to sensual pleasures, insatiable for the noble enjoyments); most brilliant to seize on the right course of action, even where all was obscure; and where all was clear, most happy in his conjectures of likelihood; most masterly in marshalling an army and in arming and equipping it; and in uplifting his soldiers' spirits and filling them with good hopes, and brushing away anything fearful in dangers by his own want of fear - in all this most noble. And all that had to be done in uncertainty he did with the utmost daring; he was most skilled in swift anticipation and gripping of his enemy before anyone had time to fear the event...'." (Fuller, pp. 89,91)

"The Greek historian Polybius in the 2nd century B.C. stated that Alexander was a man 'by universal consent of a superhuman elevation of spirit,' .He describes how Philip and his son raised Macedonia from insignificance to the first rank of nations; how Alexander and his friends endured numerous labours, dangers and sufferings; and how, though put in possession of ample wealth and means to gratify all desires, they never lost their bodily vigour nor contracted tastes for debauchery. 'Those acquainted with him became truly royal in greatness of soul, temperance of life and courage1." (-Enc. Britannica, 1963, 'Alexander1, Vol.1, p.575)

"But I do know that to Alexander alone of the kings of old, did repentance for his faults come by reason of his noble nature." -Arrian (Fuller,p.91)

 

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The Pharoah: Ptolemy I (c.364-283 B.C.)

Ptolemy Soter, the founder of a dynasty of Macedonian kings who ruled Egypt, came from a noble family (Lagides) of the region called Eordaea. There were two regions by that name - one located south of the Illyrian tribe Lyncesti, on the northwestern border of Macedonia; the other south of the Shkumbi River, on the western border of Macedonia. (Shepherd, p.10)

After the death of Alexander The Great, his successors, the Diadochi, a group of Macedonian generals, fought each other for a share of the Empire. Ptolemy claimed Egypt.
"Two years after his abdication Ptolemy died...Shrewd and cautious, he had a compact and well-ordered realm to bequeath to his heir. He was a ready patron of letters, and the great library at Alexandria owed its inception to him. He himself wrote a history of Alexander's campaigns, distinguished by its straight-forward honesty and sobriety, which, now lost, can be largely reconstructed through the extensive use made by the historian Arrian." (-Enc. Britannica, 1972, Vol.18,p.810)

 

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The Cousin: Pyrrhus (c.319-272 B.C.)

King of Epirus, son of Aecides of the royal house of the Molossians, and cousin to Alexander The Great. (The probable relation is: his grandfather, Alexander The Molossian was a brother of Olympia - the mother of Alexander The Great.)
"When Aecides was deposed by a faction of his people and driven from his kingdom, Pyrrhus, who was then but an infant two years of age, was rescued by some faithful attendants of the King and carried to Glaucias, King of a tribe of the II-lyrians. By him he was restored to his kingdom when twelve years old,..." (-The New International Enc., 1902, p.698)
His military successes against the Romans gave rise to the phrase 'Pyrrhic Victory1, denoting a success won at a ruinous cost: "Another such victory and I must return to Epirus alone." -Pyrrhus (Smith, p.62)
He "wrote a history of the art of war, which is praised by Dionysius of Halicarnasses and Plutarch, the chief authority for his life." (-Enc. Brit., 1963, Vol.18, p. 801)
"Towards his familiars he was mild and not easily incensed, zealous and even vehement in returning kindness." -Plutarch
The Macedonians "thought his countenance, his swiftness and his motions expressed those of the great Alexander,..."
-Plutarch
"After this battle (against the Macedonians) Pyrrhus, returning gloriously home, enjoyed his fame and reputation and being called 'Eagle1 by the Epirots. 'By you', said he, 'I am an eagle, for how should I not be such, while I have your arms as wings to sustain me?'." -Plutarch (Dryden trans.,pp.317-318)

 

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The Restorer I: Diocletian (c.245-313 A.D.)

"Under the deplorable reigns of Valerian and Gallienus the empire was oppressed and almost destroyed by the soldiers, the tyrants, and the barbarians. It was saved by a series of great princes, who derived their obscure origin from the marital provinces of Illyricum. Within a period of about thirty years, Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian and his colleagues, triumphed over the foreign and domestic enemies of the state, re-established, with military discipline, the strength of the frontiers, and deserved the glorious title of Restorers of the Roman World." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire', Chapter 11)
"The man who gave a new birth and a new life alike to the power and to the art of Rome stands branded in history, as history is commonly read, as the most cruel of all the enemies of the faith of Christ...Both Christianity and religious freedom must grapple as they can with the fact that, as a rule, the bitterest persecutors of the Church were found, not among the worst Emperors but among the best...The thing which is really remarkable is that under Diocletian the Christians enjoyed twenty years of peace, and even imperial favor. This makes us specially ask what caused the change in his policy in the very last stage of his reign. But the true wonder is that Diocletian, so vigorous as a reformer, did not, like other reforming Emperors, begin to persecute much sooner. Such a course would have been thoroughly in character with his general position in history and with the special personal position which he took up." (-Freeman, pp.47-50)
"The gods have determined what is just and true; the wisest of mankind, by counsel and by deed, have proved and firmly established their principles. It is not, therefore, lawful to oppose their divine and human wisdom, or to pretend that a new religion can correct the old one. To wish to change the institutions of our ancestors is the greatest of crimes." -Diocletian (Firth, p. 22)

"Diocletian retired to...Dalmatia where he found happiness in the cultivation of his garden..." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 241)
"I wish you would come to Salona (in Dalmatia) and see the cabbages I have planted: you would never again mention to me the name empire." -Diocletian (Smith, p. 329)
"As the reign of Diocletian was more illustrious than that of any of his predecessors, so was his birth more abject and obscure. ..(H)e derived from a small town in Dalmatia from whence his mother deduced her origin." Fn.#l: "The town seems to have been properly called Dbclia, from a small tribe of Illyrians..." (-Gibbon, Chapter 13)

Constantius, a colleague of Diocletian, was also an Illyrian, of the tribe Dardani. "Although (his) youth had been spent in arms, he was endowed with a mild and amiable disposition,..." (-Gibbon, Chapter 13) His son was Constantine The Great; his grandson, Julian The Apostate.

 

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The Savior: Constantine The Great (c.274-337 A.D.)
Granting freedom of religion:
"We have long since been convinced that liberty of worship should not be prohibited, but that it should be within the power of each individual to discharge all sacred offices according to his own choice and form... Wherefore I, Constantine the Emperor,...do now grant to the Christians, and to all, the liberty of following the worship which they may prefer, in order that whatsoever divinity exists may be propitious to us and to all who live under our authority." -Constantine The Great Edict of Milan - Tolerance, 313 A.D.)
"The person, as well as the mind, of Constantine had been enriched by nature with her choicest endowments. His stature was lofty, his countenance majestic,... The disadvantage of an illiterate education had not prevented him from forming a just estimate of the value of learning; and the arts and sciences derived some encouragement from the munificent protection of Constantine. In the despatch of business his diligence was indefatigable. Even those who censured the propriety of his measures were compelled to acknowledge that he possessed magnanimity to conceive,... In the field he infused his own intrepid spirit into the troops." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire1, Chapter 18)
"He had been accused of inordinate ambition, excessive liberality, and an Oriental fondness for parade. But he was brave at the head of his army, mild and indulgent in the intercourse with his subjects, the favorite of his people, the terror of his foes." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 458)
"Few of the essential elements of Christian belief interested Constantine very much - neither God's mercy nor man's sinfulness, neither damnation nor salvation, neither brotherly love nor, needless to say, humility. Ardent in his convictions, he remained nevertheless oblivious to their moral implications. Modern historians have been bothered by this; ancient pagans turned it to good account. According to their stories, the emperor experienced no change of faith until after he had put to death his son and wife, whereupon he sought for purification from the old gods. Denied it by their lofty justice, he resorted to Christianity, through which he obtained a spurious substitute. Retribution at last caught up with him. His brothers poisoned him in revenge for the killing of (his son) Crispus."
(-MacMullen, p. 239)

 

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The Nephew: Julian (331-363 A.D.)

Roman Emperor and nephew of Coristantine The Great...
"...I did inherit the Flavian thick chest and neck, legacy of our Illyrian ancestors, who were men of the mountains."
-Julian (Vidal, p. 15)
"The name of Julian, the successor of Constantius (II), is closely connected with the last attempt to restore paganism in the Empire. Julian was an extremely interesting personality, who for a long time has attracted the attention of scholars and writers. The literature about him is very extensive. The writings of Julian himself, which have been preserved, give abundant material for judging his philosophy and actions. The chief aim of investigators in this field has been to understand and interpret this enthusiastic 'Hellen' so firmly convinced of the righteousness and success of his undertaking, the man who in the second half of the fourth century set out to restore and revive paganism and make it the basis of the religious life of the Empire." (-Vasiliew, pp. 68-69)
"And in order to add to the effectiveness of (his) ordinances, he summoned to the palace the bishops of the Christians ...and the people...and politely advised them to lay aside their differences, and each, fearlessly and without opposition, to observe his own beliefs." -Ammianus Marcellinus, c.330-391 A.D. (trans. by Rolf, p. 203)
"Now I must ask you to keep the peace in the cities. If you do not, as chief magistrate I shall discipline you. But you have nothing to fear from me as Pontifex Maximus, if you behave with propriety and obey the civil laws and conduct your disputes without resorting, as you have in the past, to fire and the knife. Preach only the Nazarene's words and we shall be able to live with one another. But of course you are not content with those few words. You add new things daily. You nibble at Hellenism, you appropriate our holy days, our ceremonies,... You rob us, and reject us, while quoting the arrogant Cyprian who said that outside your faith there can be no salvation! Is one to believe that a thousand generations of men, among them Plato and Homer, are lost... But I am not here to criticize you, only to ask you to keep the peace and never forget that the greatness of our world was the gift of other gods and a different, more subtle philosophy, reflecting the variety in nature."
-Julian (Vidal, p. 338)
"The character of Apostate has injured the reputation of Julian; and the enthusiasm which clouded his virtues has exaggerated the real and apparent magnitude of his faults... He extended to all the inhabitants of the Roman world the benefits of a free and equal toleration; and the only hardship which he inflicted on the Christians was to deprive them of the power of tormenting their fellow-subjects, whom they stigmatised with the odious titles of idolaters and heretics..." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire", Chapter 23)

 

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The Saint: St. Jerome (c.342-420 A.D.)

"He became master of the Latin and Greek tongues, his native language was the Illyrian..." (-Thurston & Attwater, p. 686)
"(H)e became the most learned biblical scholar of his day. He himself was the first to appreciate this fact and was apt to resent any opposition to his way of thinking. However, he acknowledged his own shortcomings, particularly his shortness of temper, with a rather tempestuous but virile humility. His place as an exponent of Catholic dogma is still the highest ever allotted a biblical scholar. He died at Bethlehem and is officially venerated as a Doctor of the Church." ('Book of Saints', compiled by Benedict Monks)

 

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The Lawgiver: Justinian The Great (483-565 A.D.)

"Justin and (his nephew) Justinian were probably Illyrians or perhaps Albanians. Justinian was born in one of the villages of upper Macedonia, not far from present-day Uskub, on the Albanian border." (A document, which based the origin of their names as Slavic, was proved to be composed in the "17th century and purely legendary, without historical value. The theory of Justinian's Slavic origin must therefore be discarded...")
(-Vasiliev, p.1294)

('Justin1, in Albanian - 'lu-shtin' (stin) = 'Divine-season'. See Mayani with regard to 'iu1; p.114)

"The vain titles of the victories of Justinian are crumbled into dust, but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care,.the civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal works of the 'Code1, the 'Pandects', and the 'Institutes';..." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire1, Chapter 44)

"Justinian's code preserved the Roman law, which gave the basic principles for the laws regulating most of modern society. 'The will of Justinian performed one of the most fruitful deeds for the progress of mankind.' -Diehl, 'Justinian',248."
(-Vasiliev, p.146)

"Justice is the earnest and constant will to render to every man his due. The precepts of the law are these; to live honorably, to injure no other man, to render to every man his due."
-The Institutes of Justinian, 533 A.D.

 

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The Heir: George Castrioti, Scanderbeg (1405-1468)

"The Albanian prince may justly be praised as a firm and able champion of his national independence. The enthusiasm of chivalry and religion has ranked him with the names of Alexander the Great and Pyrrhus; nor would they blush to acknowledge their intrepid countryman. But his narrow dominion and slender powers must leave him at a humble distance below the heroes of antiquity, who triumphed over the East and the Roman legions." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire1, Vol. Ill, p.2323; Also Drizari, 'Scanderbeg1, p.xiv)
"For nearly twenty-five years Scanderbeg contended against all the power of the Ottomans, though directed by the skill of Murad arid his successor, Mohammed, the conqueror of Constantinople. The difficult nature of the wild and mountainous country which he occupied aided materially in the long resistance which he thus opposed to the elsewhere triumphant Turks. But his military genius must have been high, and without crediting all the legends of his personal prowess, we may well believe that the favorite chief of the Albanian mountaineers in the guerrillc warfare by which he chiefly baffled the Turks must have displaye no ordinary skill and daring, and may have possessed strength ar activity such as rarely fall to the lot of man." (-Creasy, p.69)

After the death of Scanderbeg, the Ottomans (Turks) conquers Albania. For the next 450 years Albania was a part of the Ottoman Empire.

"Anon from the castle walls The cresent banner falls, And the crowd beholds instead, Like a portent in the sky, Iskander's banner fly, The Black Eagle with double head;..."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

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The Pirate: Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa (c.1466-1546)

Grand Admiral of the Turkish fleet and 'King1 of Algiers...
"The founder of the family was Yakub, a Roumeliot, probably of Albanian blood..." (-Enc. Britannica, llth ed.)

Of his brother, Arouj Barbarossa:
"Having, by his success in piracy on the coast of Barbary, made himself master of 12 galleys...he rendered himself so formidible, that...the ruler of the country about Algiers, called in_ his assistance against the Spaniards. Being admitted into Algiers he caused (the ruler) to be strangled...and himself proclaimed king." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 561)
Of his grandson, Arnaut Mami:
Cervantes, the author of 'Don Quixote1 (Part 1, Chapters 39 & 41), was captured (1571) by Arnaut Mami, "a grandson of the famous pirate (Khair) Barbarossa... Arnaut Mami who led the attack on the galley 'Sol'...was an Albanian by birth."
(-Predmore, pp. 74 & 83)
"Ekrem Rechid wrote of him (Khair), "he saw the earth, the entire earth with its continents, its seas, its coasts and its vast expanses of desert, and he dreamed of a wonderful empire which could stretch all the way from the East to the West - to the West, beyond the ocean, and the New World. He dreamed of populating the New World with virile men and of planting there his Standard and his Religion. He dreamed of conquering the Indies and of reaching China...1 This poetic conception of the great Kheir-ed-Din is, perhaps, not so far removed from the truth. Yet it is also true that he pursued his objectives (whatever they may ultimately have been) in a pragmatic fashion.'
(-Bradford, p. 124)
1543. "From this time he seems to have declined active service, and to have given himself up to a voluptuous life among his female captives, until the age of 80, when he died, ...With the ferocity of a Turk and a corsair, he possessed some generous sentiments, and obtained a character for honor and fidelity in his engagements." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 561)

"In Turkey he is the subject of many children's books, and he often appears in cartoon magazines where he features as a cross between a Turkish Francis Drake and Robin Hood... His life violent, his death peaceful, and his achievements extraordinary, the Turkish annals for the year 1546 records simply 'The king of the Sea is dead1." (-Bradford, p. 207)

 

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The Printers-Scholars: Estienne (Stefani) Family (16th Century)

"(T)he Estiennes, the great family of- French philologists of the Renaissance were of Albanian origin..." (-Konitza, p. 2)
Henri Estienne, the founder, set up his press in Paris, in 1505; he died in 1520. His sons, Robert and Charles - and a grandson, Henri, called 'The Great1 - were responsible for many great accomplishments as printers and scholars.
"About 1526, Robert Estienne erected a press in his own name, from which proceeded a series of the most valuable works. Most of his editions of the Greek and Roman Classics were enriched with notes and valuable preliminary treatises... In 1531 he published'the first edition of his excellent 'Thesaurus Linguae Latinae',...about 1532 he had a handsome type cast, with which he printed the elegant Latin Bible ...(Of Henri 'The Great'); in 1572 (he) produced his still unrivalled 'Thesaurus of the Greek Language1, which is a treasure of learning and criticism...
On the death of Henri, 1598 > "Such was the end of the most learned and indefatigable scholars, who is preeminent for the services which he rendered to the cause of ancient literature." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, pp. 586-588)
(The symbol illustrated was created for the Latin Bible, and later became the family emblem.)

 

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The Restorer II: Mohammed Kuprili (1586-1661)

Grand Vizer of the Ottoman Empire... "An Albanian of humble origin..." (-Kinross, 'The Ottoman Centuries', p. 331)

"Albanian converts were destined to play a crucial role in the revival of the Ottoman empire. Avenues of advancement still lay open in the Ottoman army and administration to thrusting and capable careerists of humble peasant origin. Albanians swarmed down from their mountains in the middle years of the seventeenth century to undertake functions which had been fulfilled during the sixteenth century by Bosnian and Serbian slaves. The martial skills and attitudes which they brought with them from their homelands alone sufficed, when introduced at a thousand points into the army and administration, to impart a renewed aggressive character to Ottoman policy. The legacy of tribal custom made them selfless and dedicated royal servants of a kind which had now grown rare in the Turkish empire. To the Albanian mountaineers the most binding agreement was the 'besa1 or oath of friendship, originally a device for the compounding of the blood feuds which bedevilled their society. The 'besa' acquired a new significance for those Albanians who entered the service of the sultan. They considered the forms of agreement which were incidental to taking service in the royal household as equivalent to their traditional oath of solidarity and friendship. Albanian migrants to the cities of the Ottoman empire thus transferred to their employers the fierce devotion reserved in their homeland for sworn friends and comrades-in-arms, and they could be relied upon to identify their oath of obedience under pressures which would have alienated any other ethnic group in the Ottoman empire." (-Coles,pp.175-176)
"Mohammed Kuprili, who deserves to be honoured as the founder of a dynasty of ministers that raised Turkey, in spite of the deficiency of her princes, once more to comparative powers, and prosperity, and glory, and who long retarded, if they could not avert, the ultimate decline of the Ottoman Empire... The ruler of the councils of the Ottoman Empire had been, in early youth, a kitchen-boy, from which situation he rose to that of cook."
(-Creasy, p. 232)

Kuprili "was a man of experience, with a shrewd knowledge of the government machine and its defects. Vigorous in action, he was a man of deeds rather than words, a dictator of inflexible will-power..." (-Kinross, p. 332)

 

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The Prince: George Ghica (c.1600-1664)

"Ghica, a family which played a great part in the modern
development of Rumania, many of its members being princes of
Moldavia and Walachia. According to Rumanian historians the
Ghicas were of very humble origin, and came from...Albania."
(-Enc. Britannica, 1963, Vol. 10, p.334)
Originally, he (George) was "appointed by Vasile Lupu (prince...from 1634-1653 and also an Albanian) as his repre~ sentative at the Ottoman Porte." Another story has it that Ghica was a friend of the famous Ottoman Vizer, Kuprili "who recognized George while he was selling melons in the streets of Constantinople, and helped him on to high positions." (-Enc. Britannica, 1963 & 1970 eds.)
Elena Ghica (1827-1888) was a well known novelist who wrote under the name Dora d'lstria. In Florence (Italy) "she published works characterized by lightness of touch and brilliance of description,... One of her last works was devoted to the history of her own family, ('The Albanians in Roumenia: The Story of The Ghica Princes'), (Florence, 1873)." (-Enc. Britannica, 1963, Vol. 10, p. 334) She also wrote about the Albanians in the Greek War of Independence.
(Illustrations: Grigore II, great-grandson of George Ghica. Elena Ghica, a descendant.)

 

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The Pope: Clement XI, John Francis Albani (1649-1721)

A descendant of Albanian refugees that fled to Italy after the death of Scanderbeg (1468).
"A colony of Albanian fugitives obtained a settlement in Calabria, and they preserve at this day (c.1776) the language and manners of their ancestors." (-Gibbon, 'Decline and Pall of The Roman Empire1, Vol.III, p.2323)
"Since ancient times, various peoples have settled in southern Italy...only the Albanians have survived as an ethnic group." (-Nasse, 'Italo-Albanian Villages of Southern Italy1, 1964, p. 65)

 

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The King: Mohammed Ali Pasha (1769-1849)

"Egypt's...greatest nineteenth century ruler, Mohammed Ali, was an Albanian, springing from origins as humble as those of the Corsican (Napoleon),...he was orphaned in childhood and was brought up, nurturing fierce ambitions,..." (-Kinross, p.98)
"Bonapart had succeeded only in overthrowing the oligarchy of the last Mameluks and the Ottoman. Shortly afterward an Albanian soldier of fortune, Mohammed Ali, arrived having been dispatched to Egypt by Constantinople to wage war against the French. The French were driven out, with the aid of the British, the Mameluks were annihilated, and Mohammed Ali...presented himself to the people as a liberator and unifier and had himself elected pasha of Cairo.
"He rebuilt the Egyptian state...and founded a dynasty that was to endure until Farouk, the last King." (-Gougand & Gouvion, p.122)
"This pasha is, at present, Mohammed Ali, a man of great ability. ..We behold a prince, who has divested himself of many prejudices of his nation, and has taken European models for imitation, in order to establish anew the kingdom of the Ptolemies." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, 'Egypt1, pp.417, 422)
"In fact the pasha Was an illiterate barbarian...courageous, cruel, astute, full of wiles, avaricious and boundlessly ambitious. He never learned to read or write,...yet those Europeans who were brought into contact with him praised alike the dignity and charm of his address, his ready wit, and the astonishing perspicacity which enabled him to read the motives of men and of governments and to deal effectively with each situation as it arose." (-Enc. Britannica, llth ed.)
(Scene: Mohammed Ali, recently establishing himself as King of Egypt, informs his wife of the harem...)
" 'Yes, you will ever remain my first wife, the honored Mother of my sons. You will ever remain my friend.1
"Yes, that was the word. She closes her eyes and shudders.
" 'Tis well. Your friend, Mohammed! I will not, however, honor you as my friend, but as my lord, and as the man I have loved alone and best on earth!'
"He gently circles her neck with his arm, and impresses a kiss on her forehead. Such a kiss makes the heart of the woman who loves writhe in anguish." (-Mulbach, 'Mohammed Ali and His House1.)
(Illustrations: Upper left, his grandson, Ismail; lower right, Ismail's grandson, Farouk.)

 

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The Restorers III (c,1820-1830)

"Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worthl Immortal, though no more; though fallen, great! Who now shall lead thy scatter'd children forth, And long accustom'd bondage uncreate?"
-Lord Byron, 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage1, (Canto II, 73).
"The Albanian is a European; two thousand years and more he has lived where he now lives - in the fastnesses of Epirus and Illyria,...Early in the nineteenth century the Albanians mingled with their southern neighbors, the Greeks, and were the backbone of the struggle for Greek independence." (-Damon, T., National Geographic, Nov. 1912, p. 1090)
"It must be remembered that the inhabitants of the islands, particularly those just mentioned (Hydra, Spezzia, Ipsara), and the heroic population of Suli, are very different...if we wish to form a correct understanding of the Greek struggle...(They) have gained a name in history, which will be honoured as long as an invincible love of liberty and bold and inflexible courage in an unequal struggle are prized." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, 'Revolution of Modern Greece1, p. 18)
"The Suliots, the countrymen of Marco Botzaris, and the bravest of Eastern mountaineers, were a tribe of Albanian Christians, numbering about 2500 warriors,..." (-Clark, 1898, p. 179)
"The first inhabitants of Hydra and Spezzia were of Albanian descent. They differ in their Arnaout (Albanian) dialect, as well as in their character, dress and manners, from the Romaics or modern Greeks." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, 'Hydra', p.504)
"The Hydriots of every rank displayed the peculiar character of the Albanian race. They were proud, insolent, turbulent, and greedy of gain. The primates (upper class) were jealous and exacting, the people rude and violent. But both possessed some sterling virtues; and they were distinguished from the Greeks by their love of truth, and by the honesty with which they fulfilled their engagements." (-Finlay, G., 'A History of Greece', Tozer ed., Oxford, 1877, Vol. VI, p. 31. See Konitza, p. 54)

"... it is a remarkable fact that the three greatest men produced in Turkey during the present age have all derived their origin from Albania." (-Hughes/ T.S., 'Travels in Greece and Albania, 2nd Ed. London, 1830, Vol. II, p.108. See Konitza, p. 53.)
"The Sublime Porte appeared so little in a condition to conquer the Greeks, that he called from Africa the boldest and most powerful of its satraps (Mohammed Ali), that he might exterminate the men of Greece,..." (-Enc. Americana, 1829-54, 'Revolution of Modern Greece1, p.15)
"Mohammed Ali had been rewarded by the Porte for the services rendered by his forces, under the command of his son Ibrahim, against the Greeks..." (-Enc. Americana,1829-54, 'Egypt', p.248)
The facts are these: the Albanians from within the Turkish Empire, including Egypt and Albania, were sent against Albanians who identified with the cause of freedom from Turkey and were in fact the 'backbone' of the Greek Revolution. The accounts of the Greek War of Independence, from its inception, read like an 'Albanian Civil War'.
Lord Byron participated in this struggle on the side of the Suliots, and died in this war. It is very likely that he realized the answer to his own poetic question -
"Who now shall lead thy scatter'd children forth, And long accustom'd bondage uncreate?"
He was probably aware of the irony as well...
('Mother Albania1 in the company of her children - who fought each other... Some include: George Kondourioti of Hydra, later the President of Greece; Lascarina Bobolina of Spezzia; Mohammed Ali of Egypt; Ibrahim Pasha, Captain of the Turkish Fleet; Marco and Noto Botzari, Suliot leaders; and Ali Pasha, the ruler of southern Albania...)

 

[kastriot]

Re: Oh Albania my poor Albania

The Statesman: Francesco Crispi (1819-1901)

"Crispi, the Italian statesman, was a thorough-going Albanian. He was a member of the large colony of Albanians in Sicily and southern Italy." (-Damon, T., National Geographic, Nov., 1912, p. 1093)

"When the Albanians of Sicily rose behind Garibaldi and fought for a free and united Italy, they were thought to be Italians. When the Albanians of Epirus fought for the freedom of Greece, they were thought to be Greek. When they fight for the freedom of Turkey, they are thought to be Turks. And - this is of greater importance -when the Albanians rose to fight for the freedom of Albania, they fought behind a curtain of impenetrable silence.
"They were surrounded by a battle line. The Slavs were north and east; the Greeks were south; the Italians were west. Albania was cut off from the outside world in 1910; for thirteen years she has been cut off from the world. No telegraph or telephone lines ran from Albania to Europe; no mail got through without censorship, no traveler without passport visa from enemies.
"Behind this veil of silence, the truth about Albania lies hidden." (-Lane, R., 'Peaks of Shala1, 1923, pp. 290-291)

 

[kastriot]

Re: Oh Albania my poor Albania

The President: Admiral Kondourioti (1855-1935)

"(T)he President of the Greek Republic at the time (1924), Admiral Kondouriotis, spoke Albanian in the intimacy of his home." (Ladas, 'The Exchange of Minorities', pp.386-387; quoting a Greek diplomat; Fn.: League of Nations, 'Official Journal', Oct. 1924, pp.1354-55)
"At Spetsai...Albanian words cover the local map, and one sees shipowners, whose ancestors' names were taken from the classical nomenclature of the vessels, with which they fought so valiantly for the independence of Greece, present a strikingly Albanian physiognomy. The two first Presidents of the Hellenic Republic both had Albanian blood, and the late Albanian Minister in Athens (who spoke Greek fluently) told me that he used to talk with both of them in Albanian. His successor entertained the considerable Albanian population of Salamis. Boulgares, the autocratic Prime Minister of the Second Monarchy, who came like Admiral Kondouriotis, from Hydra, 'mother of lobsters and Premiers', when asked to justify the - in more than one sense - partial elections of 1874, replied in Albanian of his native island, 'aste doua ou' (So I will)." (-Miller, W., 'Greece, Land and People', p.19. The reference in this paragraph to 'Admiral Kondouriotis' is probably to George Kondouriotis, one of the first Presidents of the Greek Republic. The President in 1924 was Paul Kondourioti -illustrated here.)

 

[kastriot]

Re: Oh Albania my poor Albania

The Father: Mustapha Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)

The Father of Modern Turkey - born in Salonika, Macedonia...
Of the parents of Ataturk:
"Ali Riza...a mild-tempered, perhaps insignificant man, a native of Albania...
"His wife was Zubeyde. She was an Albanian too,..."
(-Orga, p.10)

"The most remarkable Turk since Mohammed Ali..."
(-Wortham, p.43)
"Ataturk was no ordinary Turk. Fairer than most, with high cheekbones and broad-set steel-blue eyes, he was slight in build and deliberate in movement. His body radiated energy, even in repose; his cold eyes gleamed with it, all-seeing and alive with the light of his contradictory moods. Alternately outspoken and taciturn, the tension within him would now erupt into a harsh explosion of temper, now relax into an expression of urbane polished charm." (-Kinross, 'Ataturk1)
"Mustapha Kemal...was an outstanding soldier-statesman of the first half of the twentieth century. He differed from the dictators of his age in two significant respects: his foreign policy was based not on expansion but on retraction of frontiers; his home policy on the foundation of a political system which could survive his own time. It was in this realistic spirit that he regenerated his country, transforming the old sprawling Ottoman Empire into a compact new Turkish Republic." (-Kinross,'Ataturk1)
"Ataturk took this nation by the neck at the end of World War I and shook it, demanding that it become modern. After a bitter struggle, equality of women and separation of church and state were realized. Industrialization got under way. A universal franchise was granted and a multi-party system gradually developed. Democratic institutions in the form of honest local government, and independent judiciary, and the parliamentary system were established. A secular state became the way of life, the 'mullahs' losing their political authority." (-Wm. O. Douglas, Justice of The Supreme Court of the U.S. See Kilic, 'Turkey and the Modern World'.)
"After three years of struggle we shall continue with our endeavors, but these will now be in the fields of science, education, and national economy. I am certain that we shall succeed here too: we shall become industrialists, we shall become artists. From now on let us devote our thoughts to this alone."
-Ataturk (Adelsen, p.67)
"Mustapha Kemal...was a perfect example of a leader finding a nation and a nation finding a leader. His success stemmed from his realistic appraisal of the situation..." (-Kilic, p.35)