page_title: Albanian-Turkish Wars (1432–1479)
section_title: Revolt
hierarchical_section_title: Albanian-Turkish Wars (1432–1479) / History / Albanian revolt of 1432-1436 / Revolt
caption_attribution_description: English: Castle in Gjirokastër Polski: Zamek w Gjirokastrze
context_page_description: The Albanian-Turkish Wars (1432–1479) was an almost 47-year-long anti-Ottoman war led by the renegade Ottoman sanjakbey Skanderbeg and his father Gjon Kastrioti on the territory which belonged to the Ottoman sanjaks of Albania, Dibra and Ohrid and also included the Serbian Despotate and Lordship of Zeta.
context_section_description: The revolt began in 1432 when Andrea Thopia defeated a small Ottoman force in central Albania. His victory encouraged the other leaders and the revolt spread throughout Albania. Later that year the Ottomans lost control of the central seaport of Vlorë. Gjergj Arianiti, who was living at the Ottoman court as a hostage, was called by rebels to lead the revolt in his family's domains. In response, he fled from Edirne and returned to Albania. In the winter of 1432, Sultan Murat II gathered around 10.000 troops under Ali Bey, who marched along the Via Egnatia and reached the central valley of Shkumbin, where he was ambushed and defeated by forces under Gjergj Arianiti. His victory prompted the Albanians in the area of Gjirokastër to call upon Depë Zenebishi, who had settled in his estates in Corfu after the Ottoman conquest of the Principality of Gjirokastër, to lead the rebels in the south. After spreading the revolt in nearby areas including Këlcyrë, Zagorie and Pogon his forces besieged the southern city of Gjirokastër, capital of the sanjak of Albania. At nearby Këlcyrë the rebels captured the castle, but the concurrent siege of Gjirokastër was prolonged and Turahan Bey attacked and defeated the troops that surrounded the city in early 1433. Zenebishi himself was captured and executed.
  In the summer of 1433 an army led by Sinan Pasha, beylerbey of Rumelia, pillaged the areas of Kanina and Yannina and moved northwards, where they subdued the rebels in the domains of Gjon Kastrioti, who was reduced again to vassal status, while his son Skanderbeg, who was also called to join the revolt, remained in Ottoman service in Anatolia. In August 1433, the senate of Venice convened to evaluate the situation and deemed that the revolt posed a threat to the Venetian territories in the region too. However, by the end of October they reevaluated the crisis and rejected the deployment of a war galley to the Venetian colonies. In northern Albania Nicholas Dukagjini captured territories of the pre-Ottoman Principality of Dukagjini and besieged and captured Dagnum. Dukagjini then tried to ally himself with Venice by offering to accept Venetian suzerainty and granting them control of Dagnum. However, Venice refused any kind of involvement in his plan and the revolt in general. Dukagjini was not aware that Hasan Bey, the Ottoman governor of Dagnum, had requested Venetian assistance after his defeat. As Venice did not want to provoke Ottoman hostility, the captain of Shkodër (Scutari) was ordered to assist Hasan Bey in recapturing Dagnum. Arms were subsequently sent to the garrison of Lezhë (Alessio) and by 1435 the fort had been returned to Ottoman control. In central Albania, Andrea Thopia unsuccessfully besieged the castle of Krujë, while in the region of Vlorë the siege of the fort of Kaninë began. Vlorë was lost to the rebels as early as May 1432, but must have been recovered by May 1434 as contemporary Venetian documents mention an Ottoman official (subaşi) stationed there at that time.
  Another Ottoman army was assembled in Manastir in the summer of 1434. Again under the command of Sinan Pasha, this Ottoman expedition was defeated by Gjergj Arianiti in south-central Albania in August 1434. After his defeat, all beys of the territories bordering Albania were ordered to gather their forces and attack the rebels. In December 1434 Ishak Bey, sanjakbey of Üsküb marched into south-central Albania but was defeated by Gjergj Arianiti. Contemporary sources from the senate of Ragusa mention that many Ottoman soldiers were captured, while Ishak Bey escaped with a small group. In April 1435, Arianiti defeated another Ottoman campaign and hostilities virtually ceased until the beginning of 1436, as Murat II's military efforts were focused against Ibrahim of Karaman in Anatolia. At the end of 1435 reports of the Ragusan senate assessed the situation as calm and noted that the belligerents had retreated to their respective territories.
  During the revolt many attempts were made to form an anti-Ottoman coalition including the Holy Roman Empire. Pope Eugen
caption: The castle of Gjirokastër was besieged by Depë Zenebishi, who was defeated by Turahan Bey
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "<SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA>", "Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "SAMSUNG WB1000 / VLUU WB1000 / SAMSUNG TL320", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "907081", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:18 11:03:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2009", "Image ExifOffset": "284", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1036", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4367", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "51/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:18 11:03:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:18 11:03:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2000651/998784", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "31/4", "EXIF ApertureValue": "47/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "107/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2448", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3264", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3264", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2448", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "888", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "299f506ad08c538fbd24cc6fc121e492"}