Interviewed By Ben Andoni
“Arberia venedike”(Albania Veneta) is a book which has entered Albanian libraries very soon. Your qualitative work followed by an excellent translation has made teh Albanaina udince appreciate you very much. Did you expect such a reaction?
I was in fact surprised by the interest the Albanian public took into a book of purely scientific character, but I am of course very glad that it found a wide readership. I completely agree that this is mainly the translator’s merit.
You have covered the time frame that includes the era of Sk쯤erbeu. What are some of the unknown surprises of the relationships at the time? Would you like to pinpoint them in the light of some unpublished documentation up to now?
Arberia venedike was written in 1999/2000, and since then, I spent a lot of time in several archives. Infact, documents especially from the archives of Milano and Mantova permit to draw a more detailed picture of the very complicated relations between Venice and Scanderbeg. They were characterized by mutual distrust and very often open hostility. One should not forget that Scanderbeg claimed in 1444 to be Balshaճ III heir; this was an openly anti-Venetian programm since Venice controlled most of the old Balsha territories. Although Scanderbeg wished Venetian investments in his seigneurie and although he demanded Venetian financial aid, he eventually sided with Veniceճ main concurrent in the Adriatic sea, the kingdom of Naples. As vassall of the Neapolitan crown, however, he was involved in the Veneto-Neapolitan conflict; one the one hand, he received substantial military aid from Naples, on the other side, he became increasingly depended on Italian politics on which he had non influence. There will be a detailed analysis of the triangle relations in my forthcoming book on Scanderbeg.
Do you think that a re-dimensionalization of the figure of Albanians National Hero is necessary? How do you see the shadow cast over other Albanian noble families such as Aranitasi, Muzakaj, Topiaj and Dukagjini?
I would not speak of a “re-dimensionalization”, but of reinterpretation. In fact, this question is very complex, and it is not possible to address it fully in a few sentences. May I refer to my book on Scanderbeg which will hopefully be published in 2008 in an Albanian translation by Ardian Klosi? The second question has much to do with late Medieval public relations work. First, Scanderbeg personally visited Dubrovnik, Napels and Rome as main centers of information and Renaissance culture. He became thus visible to members of the Italian elite who usually only had a rather vague idea of political developments in the Balkans. Then, as a vasal of the King of Naples, Scanderbeg profited very much from the Neapolitan diplomatic network in Europe: his relations with Burgundy, for instance, would have been almost impossible without Neapolitan support. Scanderbeg began very early to internationalize his uprising against the Ottomans by sending delegations to almost all major courts and states of Southern and Western Europe. The other seigneurs lacked such a sophisticated PR machine, although they all had their own diplomatic representatives in Europe. It should be stressed however that their political strategy was far less clear than Scanderbegճ stance towards the Ottomans: the Dukagjin almost annually changed sides; the Araniti were an Orthodox family and never went over to Catholicism as Scanderbeg eventually did; the Thopia were almost annihilated in the battle of Berat in 1455, while the Muzaki simply did not play a major role. The only family which attracted much interest in Italy, because of their military power, were the Dukagjin.
Have you based your work on multi-disciplinary approaches? Are there any elements of ethnography, architecture, law, economics? Do you think your work is complete?
It was not the intention to write a “total history” in the sense of the Annales-School in Paris. The book of course uses results from previous research in economic history and archaeology.
Have you used mediaval primary sources in the original languages? What are you language skills in the field?
I only used sources in the original language (mostly Latin, Venetian Italian and Byzantine Greek), partly in scientific editions, partly in manuscripts. Apart from the major Western European languages, I read Albanian, Modern Greeek, Macedonian, Serbian, Rumanian and Russian.
What do you consider the apogee of the Albanian relationships with Venetians and what is their lowest point as well?
The apogee was the alliance of 1463, the plan of a common attack on the Ottomans within the framework of PiusՉI crusade. The nadir was in 1447/48 during the open war between Scanderbeg and Venice, a time, when the Signoria considered the assassination of its dangerous enemy.
Are the specific relationships between Venice and the Arberia cities more of a military character or an economic one?
It depends on the period; on the whole, Venetian Albania had a very unstable existence, and one can observe a gradual militarization of its society. On the other hand, export trade continued sometimes also in war times. Warfare was often confined to small areas: Durres could be under attack, while trade prospered in Lezha. So there is no general answer to this question.
Will you have further works on the Albanian history? Do you follow the recent public debate about rewriting history? In your work for example the references to Albanian authors are quite scarce. How do you explain that?
I tried to use the relevant research whenever it seemed appropriate, for instance I relied on Albanian research on village communities and demographic developments or archaeology. But, many parts of the book are written directly from the sources, either because there was only few or no previous research, or because the existing research was ideologically biased. In many respects, Communist historiography still has a heavy impact on the interpretation of Medieval Arberia, and until now, there has been unfortunately almost no attempt to discuss old lines of interpretation of medieval history in that area.
