Albania - Lot 515

Albania LAVARDIN (Jacques de) Histoire de Georges Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, roi d'Albanie : contenant ses illustres faicts d'armes, & mémorable victoires à l'encontre des Turcs, le tout en douze livres. Paris, Chaudière, 1576. In-4: 10f., 485f., 11f. (errata and table); illustrated with an out-of-text portrait by Scandenberg. Holes and worm marks throughout. Contemporary brown calf, spine ribbed, small gilt iron between boxes, central medallion on boards, gilt fillet framing, slight rubbing, corners dulled, brown edges. First French translation by French writer Jacques de Lavardin of the famous story of Albania's king, Scanderbeg. This chronicle recounts the life and deeds of this famous Albanian lord of the 15th century, who distinguished himself by his opposition to the Ottoman Empire, a model of Christian resistance against the Muslims, and who is still considered a national hero in Albania. In 1413, Georges Castriote and his three brothers were taken hostage by the Turkish sultan Mehmed I, with the aim of bringing them to the Ottoman court and securing the loyalty of Scanderbeg's father. The young Scanderbeg won several military victories in Asia on behalf of the Turks. After the death of his father, Prince Gjon, instead of conferring the paternal title on him, the sultan occupied Albania and installed a governor in the ancestral fief. Skanderbeg raised the Epirotes against the Turks, rallied the Albanian nobility and, with a few thousand men he had trained himself, managed to hold out against the Turks, whose army was considered one of the largest in the world, until his death in 1468. He declared his independence on November 28, 1443, raising his red flag with a black eagle. Having rejected Islam and the Ottoman Empire, he became the defender of his country and of Christianity in the Balkans and Europe. Provenance: Handwritten Collignon bookplate on title page and flyleaf and Jannis Ludovici, hussar (1700).