Land of Four Religions

The Middle Ages in Albania

In the 5th century AD, the Balkans were invaded by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Alans—tribes of Germanic and Central Asian (often referred to as Mongolic) origin—who brought about the collapse of the existing Romanized culture. In the aftermath of this devastation, beginning in the 6th century, new waves of Slavic peoples—agrarian societies with advanced farming practices—began migrating southward from the regions of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine. Organized into tribal structures, they gradually settled in the Balkans, assimilating with or displacing the remaining local populations

The original Roman and Illyrian inhabitants found refuge in the mountains and later became the Wallachian and Albanian populations. The Slavs became the dominant factor in large parts of the Balkans, but it was not until the 9th century, with the invasions of the Franks and after the establishment of the kingdom of Charlemagne in Aachen, and with the arrival of the Orthodox apostles Cyril and Methodius, that most of the population converted to Christianity.

We tend to look at history through the lenses of countries and peoples as they exist today, but that was not how things were in the Balkans at that time. The land was a mixture of populations with a weak central organization, who generally lived peacefully with each other, in ways that had not changed since ancient times.

The Western Balkans are the region where paganism was preserved, but this was mainly in the mountains. The coastal areas of the Adriatic Sea were influenced by Italy and the developing European Catholic world. They were part of the Mediterranean culture, and less so of that of the nearby mountains. Christianity entered as early as the Roman-Byzantine period with the help of local saints, such as St. Hilarion, who killed a dragon-snake that threatened the people and brought prosperity and Christianity to the land. Christian princes founded small kingdoms. The best known of these is John Vladimir from the 10th century, who is venerated by both Albanians and Montenegrin Serbs.

The Western Balkans were ruled by the Byzantine Empire until the first Bulgarian state was created, which replaced them in the 8th century. At the end of the 10th century, the center of the Bulgarian kingdom moved to Ohrid, on the Albanian border, only to be eventually conquered by the resurgent Byzantine Empire, led by Basil II, the first of the vigorous Macedonian dynasty that ruled the entire Balkans until the 12th century AD.

The Albanian people appear late in history, first mentioned in 1040–1080, as soldiers in the Byzantine-Kumani royal army called the Arbanites. With the final split between Catholics and Orthodox in the 11th century, Albania became a land of conflict, retaining its Catholic character, unlike its Slavic neighbors who had become Orthodox, and this helped to form a separate Albanian province—both as part of the Byzantine world and later as a Catholic kingdom founded by Charles of Anjou of France in 1271.

The Bosnian people also crystallized in the late 12th century in a Christian context. The heretical Bogomil sect found a home in the Bosnian mountains and established an independent Bosnian Church. The nobles supported them and established a separate political entity from the rising empire of the time, the neighboring Serbian kingdom.

Kosovo, on the other hand, became the heart of the Serbian Empire, where the independent Serbian Patriarchate was established in the early 13th century. The ancient Illyrian element in it was not expressed at this time, and the great kings established churches and capital cities there, hence the Serbs’ claim that Kosovo is part of Serbia.

The arrival of Christianity in Albania

The province of Illyricum was central to the Roman Empire, so Christianity reached Albania (and Kosovo) early on. Saint Paul arrived here and, according to legend, taught in Durrës. The first Albanian saint from the early 2nd century AD was Saint Astius, the bishop of Durrës and considered its protector. When Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, the Albanians also became Christians, and when Theodosius started the Byzantine Empire in the late 4th century AD, the Albanians became part of it.

After the collapse of the central government following the barbarian invasions, Albania was under the sphere of influence of Orthodox Byzantine Christianity alongside Slavic Christianity, which developed in Ohrid as a religious center and then in Kosovo. Catholics, on the other hand, dominated the coastal cities. Albania is the springboard to Italy—today and in earlier times—and has therefore served as a meeting place between East and West, Orthodox and Catholics, and as a transit route for invaders and conquerors.

The Ostrogoths invaded Italy from the port of Durrës, and from the other side, the Normans tried to conquer the Adriatic coast as early as the 11th century, immediately after the conquest of Britain and southern Italy. For this reason, and also because of its extremely broken landscape, Albania in the Middle Ages became a no man’s land—a series of small kingdoms ruled by tribes and noble families—and an event of epic proportions was needed to consolidate them as a nation. This event was the Ottoman conquest and the rebellion that broke out against it in the 15th century under the leadership of the national hero Skanderbeg.

National Hero – Skanderbeg

Albania’s national hero, also known as the Dragon of Albania, is named after Alexander the Great. He was a commander in the Ottoman army, taken as a child from his family to be educated in a military boarding school of Janissaries (according to the devshirme system), and achieved meteoric success as a military leader, but in his heart he remained loyal to his homeland.

He won many battles for the Ottomans, but in 1443 he rebelled together with other Albanians while they were on a campaign against the Hungarians (thereby leading to the defeat of the Ottoman army), reached Kruja, and conquered it with the help of a forged letter. He then left Islam, declared himself an avenger for his family and country, and adopted the double-headed eagle flag—which was also the Byzantine war flag—as his symbol.

Skanderbeg brought all the Albanian princes to the city of Lezhe and founded the League of Lezhe, a model for future Albanian leagues. He united them all under his banner using the example of a collection of twigs that cannot be broken together, but individually they break one by one, to teach them the power of unity. With this strength, he built fortresses and established a mobile defensive force, which forced the Turks to disperse their forces and become vulnerable to guerrilla attacks. The center of his fortress array was in Kruja, which was considered an impregnable place.

He won 13 battles with a force of less than 20,000 against more than 100,000 soldiers. However, Skanderbeg did not attend the decisive Battle of Kosovo (the Second Battle of Kosovo between the Hungarian Empire and Murad II) in 1448, a battle that determined the fate of the Balkans and consequently the fate of Albania. This was probably due to interference by foreign armies. After the Battle of Kosovo, the Ottomans took control of Istanbul in 1453, and then came the Battle of Berat in 1455, where Skanderbeg was defeated. The reason for this was the betrayal of his nephew, who defected to the Ottoman side, but Skanderbeg recovered from this defeat and continued the struggle for the liberation of Albania.

In the 15th century, while all of Europe trembled with fear of the Ottomans, Skanderbeg and his 20,000 soldiers held their ground against a much larger Ottoman army. They proved that the Ottomans were merely mortal. Skanderbeg defeated the Ottomans time and time again, each time sending another large and formidable army to besiege the fortress of Kruja and failing. In 1466, Sultan Mehmed II himself arrived and built another fortress for his defense, which later became the city of Elbasan. In 1467, in the midst of another campaign, Skanderbeg died of malaria.

After Skanderbeg’s death, Albania continued to fight for another 10 years, and then the fortress of Kruja fell, followed by Shkodra, which was under Venetian control, while Durrës was voluntarily evacuated in 1500.

Following the wars, there was a large Albanian migration to southern Italy, mainly to the districts of Naples, where Skanderbeg’s family also moved. Many refugees also fled to Greece, Egypt, and other countries, and those who remained mostly converted to Islam over the years. Some say that the 45 years during which Albania held out against the Ottomans delayed their expansion into Western Europe, halted their plans to invade Italy, allowed Vienna time to organize, and, in effect, saved Europe from Turkish occupation.

During Skanderbeg’s time, Albanian nationalism was formed. Although it was a struggle of Christians against Muslims, and although Albania today is predominantly Muslim, Skanderbeg is the national hero of Albania. In the 16th and 17th centuries, books about Skanderbeg appeared in Europe, depicting him as the ultimate Christian hero in the face of the Muslim Turkish threat. During his wars, Skanderbeg was supported by Venice, Naples, and the Pope, who even called him “Gideon of Albania.”

The Land of Four Religions

Albania was once a Christian country that fought an epic battle against the Muslim Ottomans in the 15th century, led by Skanderbeg. But since then, much water has flowed down the Osumi River, and today Albania is only 30 percent Christian, of whom about a third are Catholic Christians living in the north, especially in the remote mountains, and two-thirds are Orthodox Christians, living mainly in southern Albania. The rest of the Albanians are Muslims, divided between Sunni Muslims, who make up just over half of the population and live in the north, and Bektashi Muslims (a moderate and mystical branch of Shia Islam), who comprise about 10% of the population and live mainly in the south.

However, among Albanians—unlike other peoples of the Balkans—religion does not occupy the most important place in life. A code of honor called “besa” precedes religion, and therefore, mixed families are a common sight in Albania. The motto of Albania is: “The religion of Albanians is Albania.”

Throughout history, Albania has not suffered from internal religious conflicts. It is perhaps the only country in Europe where people of four different religions (Bektashi, Sunni, Catholic, and Orthodox) live in peace. In addition, heavy communist indoctrination for fifty years has resulted in the Albanian population being largely secular.

The history of conquests, wars and various influences has resulted in two opposite phenomena that characterize the Albanian people to this day: on the one hand, Albania is a country of four religions – there are Catholics, Orthodox Albanians, Sunni Muslims and Bektashi Shiite Muslims. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Albania have maintained their solidarity and unity and they all speak the same language, are members of the same culture, and see nationality as prior to religion, and their true religion as Albanian.

A little more about Albania

Albania borders Montenegro and Kosovo to the north, Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south. In the west, Albania has a long coastline bordering the Adriatic Sea to the north and the Ionian Sea to the south. Albania is only 72 kilometers from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto.

Albania surprises visitors with its variety of landscapes, which vary dramatically from place to place. It is a Mediterranean country on one side and European on the other. Its location as a transit country contributes to the diversity of its landscapes. Along the coast, there is a typical Mediterranean landscape; in the interior parts of the country, a mountainous landscape that becomes Alpine in the northeast. In the north and east, there are large freshwater lakes; on the western coast, there are lagoons and bays, sandy beaches, and places where 2,000-meter-high mountains slide directly into the water. Albanians call their land the “Land of Eagles.”

The country can be divided into three or four parts. In the north, there is a region of towering mountains and isolated valleys called the “Albanian Alps.” This is the wildest and highest part of the Dinaric Alps, inhabited by isolated Catholic tribes and serving as a destination for trekking and jeep tours. Southern Albania is the continuation of the Epirus region in northern Greece, with high mountains and fertile valleys between them. There are several longitudinal valleys where settlements are concentrated, some of which are World Heritage Sites and cultural treasures, such as Berat, the White City, and Gjirokastra. The majority of the population in this region is Orthodox Albanian or Bektashi. In addition, there is a beautiful one-hundred-kilometer coastline in the south, where the mountains reach the Aegean Sea and descend from an altitude of two thousand meters to the turquoise waters of Mediterranean bays, decorated with oranges, cypresses, and bougainvillea. This is the Albanian Riviera, also called the “Balcony of Europe.”

In the middle of the country is a fertile plain 10–20 km wide between the mountains and the sea, where the large cities of Tirana, Shkodër, and Durrës are located, and where most of the population is concentrated. This plain is the source of the country’s agricultural wealth. To the east are broken mountains. In the southeast, Albania shares the large lakes of Prespa and Ohrid with Macedonia and has a fertile plain where the city of Korçë is located.

Thus, despite its small size, Albania is a diverse country that requires more than a week to travel in depth. The traditions of the Albanians are diverse as well, and vary from north to south. Albania offers the traveller a rich ethnic diversity and changing landscapes over a small area of land.

Moreover, Albania is a country that has maintained itself as a border region between two great cultures and civilizations: between East and West, between Byzantium and Rome, between Islam and Christianity. Its people have always zealously guarded their independence and their unique culture and language, which have been preserved to this day. The Albanians, known for their strong character, are also known for their hospitality and generosity. Lord Byron, the 19th-century British poet, left unforgettable descriptions of the Albanians, their traditions, and their character, which speak more than anything else about the people of the country.

Albanian National Church

Albania is a border country between Orthodox and Catholic Christianity and is therefore divided between south and north: in the north there are Catholics, and in the south there are Greek Orthodox. This division originated in the 11th century, between the spheres of influence of Rome and Constantinople. The Albanian Orthodox Church, to which twenty percent of the population belongs, is today an independent church numbering nearly 700,000 people, but it is still under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The founder of the independent Albanian Orthodox Church is Father Noli, who in the 1920s was the first democratic prime minister of Albania. After being removed from office, he moved to the United States and wrote on religious and cultural issues.

The historical centers of Albanian Orthodox Christianity are Berat, Voskopia, and Korçë, all located in the region that was once part of the Ottoman province of Epirus, with its capital at Ioannina. Two hundred years ago, an independent ruler named Ali Pasha governed there and was very supportive of Christians.

Christianity, like other religions, suffered greatly during the communist rule of Enver Hoxha, who made Albania the most isolated country in the world and even declared it the world’s first atheist state. Today, after liberation from communism, efforts are being made to revive religion among the population and to cultivate a younger generation of clergy and monks.Bottom of Form