The Albanian Great Doors

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Dyert e Medha Shqiptare or Oxhaqet e Medhenj Shqiptare (The Albanian Great Doors) is a category for the traditional elitist Albanians who during the Ottoman Empire worked concretely with other feudal Albanian families for Albanian political interests, both local and national for the goal of Albanian autonomy. The titles of the Albanian elitists were usually Pasha or Bey, corresponding to the administration of the Ottoman Empire where privileges and local autonomy was granted. There were also other higher titles, like Sandzakbey, Vali or Vizier, where the families were usually known for such titles. There were also many Albanian feudal lords in Greece, like the family of Ali Pasha of Tepelena. and also in the north, like the Gjonmarkaj. Although most families sought to maintain their territories, this eventually lead to an Albanian national consciousness.

History

Most of the feudal families along the Adriatic were Catholic, and the ones inland were primarily Greek influenced. The smaller newly created feudal families were called signoretti in Venetian documents. The first feudal Albanian families of the Ottoman period started out in the 1330s and the 14th century, with the Kastrioti and Topia families, along others, who sought autonomy.

During the Ottoman incursions against Skanderbeg, many feudal families fought civil wars against each other for their own interests, specially the Kastriotis who fought the Dukagjini. When the Turkish invaders came to southern Albania, the feudal families accepted Islam to retain their lands. Such was the case with many Albanian feudal families who often changed religion, depending on the invader. An example was Gjon Kastrioti, who placed his castle in Kruje under the protection of Sultan Murat II. The division of north and south was fueled by the Ottomans by playing the pashas or beys against each other, and also the chieftains of the highlands. There were two big dynasties created amongst the feudal lords; the Bushatis in the north and the Tepelena in the south.

After World War I, many Serb colonists received territories once owned by Albanian feudal families in Kosovo. Many families in the highlands had enjoyed autonomy with low taxes, but when the Ottoman reforms came, they strongly opposed them, leading to many revolts throughout the Albanian territories. During Prince William zu Wieds time, the Albanian feudal lords supported him so they could keep their territories.

During Communist Albania, the government strongly opposed the feudal Markagjonaj family for their traditional rule over the region.

After the Tanzimat reforms, where the Ottomans decided to change the circumstances of the Albanian lords, they suffered inflation because of the registrars and bureaucrats. This created confusion between their traditional aristocrat carriers and young officials without necessarily noble descent. Following this confusion, the social status followed the Albanian families through out the centuries, and such examples can be found today, where certain Albanian names are regarded socially of higher value. To help the modern day Albanian researchers and amateurs, a list was compiled of the Great Traditional Albanian Feudal Families and although only some are verifiable from scientific sources, many others remain missing, especially those of the earliest times, which were not preserved. However, further research promises to show more clearly the identity and role of these families in the history of Albanian territories. Unfortunately, this list can not be entirely complete because the traces of some of these families, especially those of the earliest times, are not well preserved by the troubled Albanian history of the twentieth century.

Misconceptions and historical misunderstandings

Ottoman Albanian history is generally weakly recognized and badly interpreted by the general public. A large part of the large traditional feudal families, especially those who survived the history by imposing on the Albanian political scene until the mid-twentieth century, were abused by the Marxist historiography school of the Albanian dictatorial system of 50 years. Consequently, their historical role is described in the extremely negative legends, which still survive in certain segments of the collective imagination. After the fall of the dictatorial regime, the terrain of the negative legend about the role of these families, both in Ottoman Albanian and Albanian modern history, has been severely hampered by unqualified interventions and treatments that certain individuals, even intentionally, have tried to make the role of these families to be rehabilitated in the eyes of public opinion in the name of distorted truth.

List of known feudal families

• The family of Semseddin Sami (Sami Frahseri)
• The Zog family of Elbasan
• The family of Asllan Pashallinjtë
• The family of Begollis of Shkodrës and Pejës
• The family of Vlore. See Ismail Qemali, Bey of Vlora
• The family of Hoxhollës of Dibrës
• The family of Bargjinasi of Tiranës
• The family of Vrionasit of Beratit and Fierit
• The family of Toptani of Krujës and Tiranë.
• The family of Biçakçiu of Elbasanit
• The family of Zogolli of Matit
• The family of Bonotë of Peqinit
• The family of Gropajve of Ohrit
• The family of Vërlace of Elbasanit
• The family of Bushatliu of Shkoder
• The family of Dinot of Prevezës
• The family of Kryeziu of Gjakovës
• The family of Këlcyraj of Këlcyrës
• The family of Dragajt of Mitrovicës. Example of pashas was Nexhip Bej Draga.
• The family Alltunë of Kavajës
• The family of Gjonmarkaj of Mirdita

References

This article "The Albanian Great Doors" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:The Albanian Great Doors. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

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• Ayşe Hanım Sultan
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