Talk:Principality of Kastrioti

Serious problem with this article
There is serious problem with this article. It describes something that did not exist in period that it stipulated in the article (1389-1444) because Ottoman empire gained suzerainty over lands controlled by Kastrioti family in 1409. In Ottoman empire there were no hereditary princedoms. Sultan was appointing lords for certain period of time, according his wish., like he did when:
 * 1) Skanderbeg Kastrioti was appointed by sultan to control timar "of nine villages in 1430s"
 * 2) Zaganos Bey was appointed by sultan as lord of Krujë zeamet up to 1432
 * 3) Skanderbeg was appointed as lord of Krujë zeamet 1437–1438
 * 4) Zaganos Bey was appointed again as lord of Krujë zeamet 1438, instead of Skanderbeg
 * 5) Skanderbeg's father Gjon Kastrioti, was allowed by sultan to remain lord of Middle Albania, which included Mat, Mirditë and Dibër till he died in 1437.
 * 6) After his father died, Skanderbeg was appointed by sultan to govern some land in Bulgaria in 1439. Sultan appointed somebody else to govern Middle Albania and Kastrioti did not rule any principality in Albania
 * 7) After League of Lezhe was agreed between several principalities, they kept their independence, fighting each other, signing piece treaties with each other and submitting themselves to suzerainty of different empires. That means that those principalities existed after League of Lezhe untill each of them vanished one by one, during next few decades.

Taking this in consideration it is wrong to state that there was continuity of Principality of Kastrioti in period 1389-1444 which ceded to exist after League of Lezhe. In fact Prinicpality of Kastrioti did not exist after becoming part of Ottoman empire 1409. That principality was recreated in two periods: In rest of the period stipulated in the article (1409-1432) and (1436-1443) there was no Principality of Kastrioti.
 * 1) during Albanian rebellion in 1432-1436 (when Skanderbeg remained loyal to sultan although his relatives summoned him) and
 * 2) when Skanderbeg deserted army of Ottoman Empire in 1443 and recreated principality of Kastrioti which existed untill his death in 1468, being under suzerainty as vassal of Kingdom of Naples after 1451.

I propose fundamental restructuring of the article taking in consideration more reliable sources. Untill then, appropriate tags should be placed in the article that are describing multiple problems of the article. --Antidiskriminator (talk) 14:36, 10 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree. There was nothing like "Kastrioti principality". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Euzen (talk • contribs) 17:50, 27 June 2011
 * What is the most used terms for this polity? The image is unsourced, do we have any data on the possible borders of Skanderbeg's state?--Z oupan 09:23, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Krujë as capital
Krujë came under the control of some member of Kastrioti family only in November 1443. Until then it was controlled by Karl Topia, Helena Thopia, Niketa Thopia, Konstantin Balšić, Helena Thopia, Niketa Thopia and Ottoman Empire. I will clarify this in the infobox.--Antidiskriminator (talk) 22:41, 20 December 2015 (UTC)