Gjon Kastrioti II.

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Kastrioti coat of arms

Gjon Kastrioti II (Germanized Johannes Kastriota ; Italian Giovanni Castriota ; * 1456 ; † August 2, 1514, probably in Canosa di Puglia ) was an Albanian prince and son of Skanderbeg , the Albanian national hero. As a prince he only ruled in the Kingdom of Naples , where he was lord of Monte Sant'Angelo and San Giovanni Rotondo in Capitanata until 1485 and from 1485 1st Duke of San Pietro in Galatina and 1st Count of Soleto in the province of Lecce . In Albania, his rule as a descendant of the Kastrioti lasted only a short time.

Life

Georg Kastriota Skanderbeg. Historicizing profile from the 18th century in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Gjon Kastrioti II was born in the first half of 1455 as the only son of the Albanian prince Georg Kastrioti , called Skanderbeg, and his wife Donika . On September 25, 1463 he was awarded the Venetian patriciate because his father was allied with the Republic of Venice against the Ottomans . In 1468, at the age of twelve, he inherited the titles of Lord of Monte San Angelo and San Giovanni Rotondo from his father, who had fought successfully against the Ottomans for decades, with a number of symbolic and economic advantages: the extension of power to the entire stretch of coast between the two goods that were usually reserved for the royal domain, direct access to royal jurisdiction in the event of disputes, and finally the possibility of importing and exporting goods of any value from the coast of Monte Sant'Angelo and from the port of Mattinata without obligation to pay the fees to the port of Manfredonia . Monte Sant'Angelo was a very respected fief at the time, which until then had only been granted to members of the ruling house.

The young prince could not lead the anti- Ottoman Albanian coalition, the League of Lezha , so that instead of his Lekë III. Dukagjini , who continued the resistance against the Ottomans for a few years. The Ottomans flooded the country: “ In all of Albania we only saw Ottomans, ” says a simultaneous report. 8,000 Albanians were abducted as slaves in just a few weeks. The total conquest of Albania has not yet succeeded; Kruja and Shkodra , whose garrison was reinforced by Venetian troops, initially remained invincible.

Representation of the region and historical province of Capitanata

Donika, the widow of Skanderbeg, expressed the wish of King Ferdinand I's envoy , Girolamo di Garovigno, who paid her a condolence visit, to settle with her son Gjon on her husband's fiefs in the Kingdom of Naples, in order to avenge the Ottomans and the Islamization to escape what the king accepted his letter of February 24, 1468 with great joy. It was customary for the nobility of the Kingdom of Naples at the time to live in Naples. Donika also settled with her son in Naples and stayed only sporadically on the feudal estates in Capitanata in what is now Apulia . Apparently both were guests of Ferdinand I as a token of gratitude to the deceased Skanderbeg.
One of the many waves of emigration of numerous Christian (Catholics and Orthodox with Byzantine rite ) Albanian nobles and families to Italy followed, whose descendants still make up the Arbëresh ethnic group .

In 1474 Gjon handed over his Albanian principality with the capital Kruja to the Republic of Venice, because he was unable to defend against the Ottomans.

In 1478 the Venetians lost Kruja and in 1479 Shkodra to the Ottomans and felt compelled to conclude peace. The second Venetian Turkish War (1463–1479) ended with the complete loss of Albania (with the exception of Durrës ).

In May 1480 Gjon distinguished himself in the Otranto campaign , a military enterprise of the Ottoman forces in Salento , and in June 1480 he participated in an expeditionary corps to recapture Gallipoli in Apulia, which had been conquered from the Venetians .

Sopot Castle near Borsh in southern Albania

After the death of Sultan Mehmed II on May 3, 1481, unrest broke out in the Ottoman Empire , which prevented the dispatch of new troops for the Ottomans besieged in Otranto . Gjon II. Kastrioti was considered a bearer of hope for the Albanians who did not want to come to terms with the Ottoman rule. As the son of the great Skanderbeg, he was supposed to lead the uprising against the occupiers. Together with Gjon and his troops, his cousin Konstantin (Costantino) Muzaka and the brothers Nikollë II and Lekë III sailed . Dukagjini to Albania on four Neapolitan galleys . Gjon went ashore south of Durrës, while Constantine sailed further south to Himara. The number of fighters increased rapidly by insurgents. Nikollë and Lekë Dukagjini traveled to northern Albania, where they led the uprising in the highlands of Lezha and Shkodra. The forces of Nikollë and Lekë attacked the city of Shkodra, forcing Hadım Süleyman Pasha to send more auxiliary troops to the region. Constantine carried out military actions in the coastal region of Himara, while Albanian infantry of about 7000 men gathered around Gjon Kastrioti to prevent Valona from reaching the Ottoman garrison in Otranto again. Gjon defeated an Ottoman army from 2000 to 3000 man conquered Himara on 31 August 1481 and later the castle Sopot in Borsh and took Hadim Süleyman Pasha prisoner, who as victory trophy was sent to Naples and finally a ransom of 20,000 ducats was released . Their temporary success had an external impact on the liberation of Otranto on September 10, 1481 by Neapolitan troops. For four years Gjon was able to stay in the area between Kruja in the north and Vlora in the south. In 1484 he finally returned to Italy.

In the course of the war of Ferrara (1482-1484) supported by Ferdinand I against the Republic of Venice, Gjon sat in 1484 in the defense of Vieste on the Gargano peninsula .

Ducal Castle of Galatina (detail of a painting from the 16th century)
Ducal castle in Galatina, today

In 1485 Ferdinand I reclaimed the Gargan fiefs of San Giovanni Rotondo and Monte Sant'Angelo and gave him the Duchy of Galatina and the County of Soleto in Salento with the "Casali" Aradeo , Bagnolo and Torrepaduli ( fraction of Ruffano ) without the extraordinary granted to his father Privileges. Thus Gjon became 1st Duke of Galatina and 1st Count of Soleto. Gjon received the criminal jurisdiction of the Casali Aradeo, Bagnolo and Torrepaduli, which were part of the civil jurisdiction of the Santa Caterina Hospital of San Pietro in Galatina, and an annual commission of 1,800 ducats. On August 2, 1485, Gjon left his Gargan fiefdoms.

During the 2nd baron revolt in 1485/1486 Gjon was in the field. According to credible evidence, Gjon died in Canosa di Puglia in 1505 .

progeny

Gjon was married to Irena Branković , the daughter of the Serbian despot Lazar Branković , and had the following descendants with her:

  1. Giorgio († 1540), fought on the side of Venice in Albania from 1499 to 1501
  2. Costantino (1477–1500), Bishop of Isernia 1498
  3. Federico (?)
  4. Maria († 1560)
  5. Ferrante († 1561), 2nd Duke of Galatina and 2nd Count of Soleto

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ "... Item perche ad nui per loro misso proprio haveno notificato che vorriano venire in quisto nostro regno pregandoce li volesscmo provedcie de alcuno navilio per possere passare: pertanto da nostra parte li esponente che loro venuta ad nui sera multo piacere, et da nui haveranno quelle carize et honori che figlio deve fare ad matre et patre ad figliolo et non solamente li lassaremo quello ce havemo donato, ma quando bisognio fosse li donaremo de li altri nostri boni
    Dat. in civitate capue the xxim mensis februarii Anno Domini Mcccclxviii Rex ferdinandus ... "
  2. ↑ Casale (plural casali) is the Italian name for a house or a group of houses in the country.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Enciclopedia genealogica del Mediterraneo: Castriota Scanderbeg. Genmarenostrum.com, accessed April 4, 2017 (Italian).
  2. ↑ a b Biografia Giovanni. Retrieved May 9, 2018 (Italian).
  3. ^ Giovanni Castriota in Enciclopedia Treccani
  4. ↑ Domenico De Filippis, p. 12
  5. ↑ Quoted from Ludwig von Pastor : History of the Popes since the End of the Middle Ages , second volume . Herdersche Verlagshandlung, Freiburg im Breisgau 1904, p. 363 .
  6. ^ Gennaro Maria Monti, p. 151
  7. ↑ Francesco Trinchera: Codice Aragonese , vol. 1, Arnaldo Forni Editore, Naples 1866, p. 44 ff.
  8. ↑ a b c d Domenico De Filippis, p. 14
  9. ↑ Biografia Andronica Arianiti Commeno. Retrieved November 20, 2016 (Italian).
  10. ↑ a b c Gli umanisti e la guerra otrantina, p. 97
  11. ↑ a b Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë 2002, p. 473
  12. ↑ a b c Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë 2002, p. 474
  13. ↑ Historia e Skënderbeut, p. 120
  14. ↑ a b Pierro: Regis Ferdinandi primi Instructionum liber: (10 maggio 1486 - 10 maggio 1488) . Naples 1916, p. 315 (Italian).
personal data
SURNAME Kastrioti, Gjon II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kastriota, Johannes (German); Castriota, Giovanni (Italian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian prince
DATE OF BIRTH 1456
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 1514
Place of death Canosa di Puglia