Skanderbeg - Early Life

Early Life

George Kastrioti was born in 1405 in one of the two villages owned by his grandfather Pal Kastrioti. Skanderbeg's father was Gjon Kastrioti, lord of Middle Albania, which included Mat, Mirditë and Dibër. His mother was Voisava, originally from the Polog valley, north-western part of present-day Republic of Macedonia. There was a total of nine children, of whom George was the youngest son, his older brothers were Stanisha, Reposh and Kostandin, and his sisters were Mara, Jelena, Angjelina, Vlajka and Mamica.

Gjon Kastrioti had been a vassal of the Sultan since the end of 14th century, and, as a consequence, paid tribute and provided military services to the Ottomans (like in the Battle of Ankara 1402). In 1409 he sent his eldest son, Stanisha, to be the Sultan's hostage. George seems to have gone to Sultan Murad II's court in 1423, when he was 18. It is assumed that Skanderbeg remained Murad II's hostage for a maximum of three years.

The earliest existing record of George's name is the First Act of Hilandar from 1426, when Gjon Kastrioti and his four sons donated the right to the proceeds from taxes collected from the two villages to the Monastery of Hilandar. Afterwards, in the period between 1426 and 1431, Gjon Kastrioti and his sons, with the exception of Stanisha, purchased four adelphates (rights to reside on monastic territory and receive subsidies from monastic resources) to the Saint George tower and to some property within the monastery as stated in the Second Act of Hilandar.

Skanderbeg participated in Ottoman campaigns and because of his military actions against the Christians his father Gjon had to seek forgiveness from the Venetian Senate in 1428. In 1430, Gjon Kastrioti was defeated in a battle by the Ottoman governor of Skopje, Isa bey Evrenos and as a result, his territorial possessions were extremely reduced. Later that year, Skanderbeg started fighting for Murad II in his expeditions, and gained the title of sipahi. Although Skanderbeg was summoned home by his relatives when George Arianiti and Andrew Thopia along with other chiefs from the region between Vlorë and Shkodër organized a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the period of 1432—1436, he did nothing, remaining loyal to the sultan. In 1437–1438, he became a governor (Turkish: subaşi) of the Krujë subaşilik before Hizir Bey was again appointed to that position in November 1438. Until May 1438, Skanderbeg controlled a relatively large timar (of the vilayet of Dhimitër Jonima) composed of nine villages which previously belonged to his father Gjon (this timar was listed in Ottoman registers as Gjon's land, Turkish: Yuvan-ili).

It was because of Skanderbeg's display of military merit in several Ottoman campaigns, that Murad II (r. 1421–1451) had given him the title of vali. At that time, Skanderbeg was leading a cavalry unit of 5,000 men.

After his brother Reposh's death on 25 July 1431 and the later deaths of Kostandin and Skanderbeg's father (who died in 1437), Skanderbeg and his surviving brother Stanisha maintained the relations that their father had with the Republic of Ragusa and the Republic of Venice. In 1438 and 1439, they managed to have the same privileges that their father had with those states. During the 1438–1443 period, he is thought to have been fighting alongside the Ottomans in their European campaigns, mostly against the Christian forces led by Janos Hunyadi. In 1440 Skanderbeg was appointed as sanjakbey of Sanjak of Dibra. During his stay in Albania as Ottoman governor, he maintained close relations with the population in his father's former properties and also with other Albanian noble families.