The Plain of Torvioll, now named the Plain of Shumbat, is located in the Lower Dibra region in eastern Albania, north of Peshkopi.[1] It is most famous for being the battlefield for Skanderbeg's first battle against the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Torvioll which took place on 29 June 1444. According to a defter gathered by the Ottomans in 1467, the region of Lower Dibra included the northern half of Dibran territory.[1]
The plain, according to Giammaria Biemmi's work, one of the primary sources on Skanderbeg and his campaigns, was 7 miles (11km) long and 3 miles (4.8km) wide, stretching from Mount Maran in Lower Dibra to the Mokra Mountains.[2] He also says that it is closed by a series of hills at whose feet runs the Shkumbin River and two heavily-wooded mountains where Skanderbeg hid his ambushing force. However, the Shkumbin River does not run through Lower Dibra.[2] Instead, the Black Drin does. Kristo Frashëri, an eminent historian on the study of Skanderbeg, states that Biemmi lapsed, confusing the Black Drin with the Shkumbin. Furthermore, the Black Drin matches all of the geographical features described by Biemmi, as does the modern-day Plain of Shumbat.[3]
Biemmi furthermore states that the plain derived its name from a nearby village.[3] It is not certain whether this village actually existed, but it is assumed that Torvioll lends its etymology to the word tevioll in the Dibër dialect meaning land without a lord, noting that it did not have any owners and any shepherd could feed his livestock there.[3] It is therefore possible that the battle was originally named after Tevioll and was corrupted to Torvioll.[3]
Notes
1 2 Frashëri, Kristo (2002) (in Albanian), Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu: jeta dhe vepra, p. 139.
1 2 Frashëri, Kristo (2002) (in Albanian), Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu: jeta dhe vepra, p. 140.
1 2 3 4 Frashëri, Kristo (2002) (in Albanian), Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu: jeta dhe vepra, p. 141.
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Gjon Gazulli Gjadër, Republic of Venice, 1400 – Dubrovnik, 19 February 1465) was an Albanian Dominican friar, humanist scholar, and diplomat.
The Battle of Torvioll, also known as the Battle of Lower Dibra, was fought on 29 June 1444 on the Plain of Torvioll, in what is modern-day Albania. Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg was an Ottoman Albanian general who decided to go back to his native land and take the reins of a new Albanian League against the Ottoman Empire. He, along with 300 other Albanians fighting at the Battle of Niš, deserted the Ottoman army to head towards Krujë, which fell quickly through a subversion. He then formed the League of Lezhë, a confederation of Albanian princes united in war against the Ottoman Empire. Murad II, realizing the threat, sent one of his most experienced captains, Ali Pasha, to crush the new state with a force of 40,000 men.
Principality of Kastrioti was one of the Albanian principalities during the Late Middle Ages. It was formed by Pal Kastrioti who ruled it until 1407, after which his son, Gjon Kastrioti ruled until his death in 1437 and then ruled by the national hero of Albania, Skanderbeg.
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In 1452, the newly acceded Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II ordered his first campaign against Skanderbeg, the chief of the League of Lezhë. Shortly after the First Siege of Krujë, Murad II died in Edirne, only to be succeeded by his son Mehmed II. Mehmed always supported more aggressive strategies of conquest which his father had continually rejected. Once in power, Mehmed ordered nearly annual invasions of Albania which often resulted in multiple battles in one year. The first of these expeditions was sent in 1452 under the dual-command of Hamza Pasha and Tahip Pasha, with an army of approximately 25,000 men. This campaign was the first major test for the new Sultan against western Europe and a high point of a diplomatic struggle between the major Mediterranean powers.
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The Treaty of Gaeta was a political treaty signed in Gaeta on March 26, 1451, between Alfonso V for the Kingdom of Naples and Stefan, Bishop of Krujë, and Nikollë de Berguçi, ambassadors of Skanderbeg. In the treaty Skanderbeg recognized himself a vassal of the Kingdom of Naples, and in return he would have the Kingdom's protection from the Ottoman Empire. Alfonso V believed that he would be able to resurrect the politics of his Angevine predecessors and to use Albania as a foothold to further expand his realm into the Balkans.
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Giammaria Biemmi was an Italian priest who published a work on Skanderbeg titled Istoria di Giorgio Castrioto Scanderbeg-Begh. His work was published in Brescia, Italy in 1742.
Skanderbeg's rebellion was an almost 25-year long anti-Ottoman rebellion led by the Albanian military commander Skanderbeg in what is today Albania and it's neighboring countries. It was a rare successful instance of resistance by Christians during the 15th century and through his leadership led Albanians in guerrilla warfare against the Ottomans.
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