As a knowledge that deals with the course of humanity or the life of a people or the activity of a historical personality, Albanian historiography is one of the oldest historiographies of Southeast Europe. It begins in the 15th century. It can be said that its Herodotus is the Anonymous Tivaras, the author of a work (which has been questioned) dedicated to the history of Skanderbeg, published in Venice in 1480. He was followed by two erudite pens, Martin Segoni and Marin Beçikemi. However, the place of honor in early Albanian historiography is occupied by their contemporary, the Shkodra’s humanist Marin Barleti, with his two monumental works, one of which (published in 1504) deals with the siege of Shkodra by the Ottoman armies in 1478, while the other (published between 1508–1510 in Rome) deals with the life and works of Skanderbeg. Like all his medieval colleagues, Barleti belongs to narrative and panegyric historiography, and from this point of view, he even surpasses his predecessor, the Anonymous Tivaras, who tried to be critical to some extent. The circle of medieval Albanian historians is also expanded with two other compatriots of Barleti: Gjon Muzaka, a contemporary of Skanderbeg, the author of the “Memorial on the Door of the Muzaks”, the forerunner of memorial historiography on a European scale, and Dhimitër Frangu, also a contemporary of Skanderbeg, whose work, dedicated to the Hero, published after the author’s death in 1539, comes second, in terms of reprints, after that of Marin Barleti.
With Dhimitër Frangu, it can be said that the Albanian medieval historiography with a narrative and panegyric character ends. After him, comes a long silence, caused by the intellectual asphyxiation that Albania suffered under the Ottoman feudal-military rule. The silence was broken, almost a hundred years later, by the Albanian prelate from Zadrima, F. Bardhi, who published in Venice, in 1636, a Latin treatise on Gjergj Kastrioti – Skanderbeg. Like his predecessors, Frang Bardhi received his intellectual formation in Italy, but unlike them, he lived in Albania. Frang Bardhi has the merit of giving us the first scholarly attempt to prove with documentary sources the Albanianness of Skanderbeg, which a Serbian prelate had denied. With his treatise, Frang Bardhi heralded the beginning of a new period in this important field of Albanian culture – the beginning of scholarly historiography in Albania.
Albanian historiography (until then treated in Latin and Italian), began to be reborn in the last quarter of the 19th century, during the National Renaissance, now for the most part in the Albanian language. The pen of historiography was now taken up by the Enlightenment Renaissance, who used the Albanian history of the past to nourish the National Movement for the liberation of the homeland from foreign captivity and for the formation of an independent Albanian state. The first attempt was made by Pashko Vasa with his historical-political treatise “The Truth about Albania and the Albanians”, published in 1879 in French. After him, Sami Frashëri published a brief synthesis of the history of the Albanian people in Turkish, in the first volume of his major work “Kamus’ul alam”, in 1892. But his most important production was the historical-political treatise “Albania: what it was, what it is and what it will become?” in the Albanian language, which was used by the entire public opinion of the country as a manifesto of the Albanian national movement.
The publication of the first authentic historical Albanian texts on the history of Albania began at the end of the 19th century. Like other works of the Renaissance period, they were modest texts, designed for the needs of the Albanian school and patriotic education, which deserve to be mentioned as the first historiographical texts, regardless of their scientific value. The series of Albanian texts was started by Stefë Curani, with the book “The Events of Albania”, published under the pseudonym “Nji Gegë qi don vendin e vet” (1898), which is mainly an adaptation based on the lectures of L. Taloçi. A year later, Naim Frashëri published the brochure for Albanian schools entitled “History of Albania” (1899). Further, at the beginning of the 20th century, Dom Ndoc Nikaj published “History of Albania” in Brussels, which he reprinted revised in Shkodër in 1 917.
After these modest first steps, genuine scholarly attempts at Albanian history were undertaken and published after the Declaration of National Independence, especially after World War I. Most of the texts published during World War I and for several years after it dealt with topics closely related to the Albanian national issue, which was on the table of major European diplomacy for consideration. The most prolific of them was Mithat Frashëri, who focused on arguing for the integrity of the Albanian ethnic lands, mainly on the Albanianness of Kosovo and the so-called Epirus, while Mehmet Konica emphasized the importance of the national issue in the framework of international diplomacy of Southeast Europe. Two treatises are also related to the Albanian national issue: “Albania. Past and Present” by K. Çekrezi and “Albania, the Main Key to the Near East” by K. Dako, published in USA precisely during the development of the Paris Peace Conference (1919).
Only after the Albanian diplomatic issue ended, alongside the regular life of the Albanian state, did Albanian historiography begin its regular life, in the scientific sense. However, due to the lack of state support and scientific institutions, Albanian historiography developed at very slow pace. No topic from the Antiquity period was addressed; likewise, no one dealt with the Middle Age, with the exception of the period of Skanderbeg. Three Albanian scholars have the merit of having treated the Albanian epic of the 15th century in a new light. One of them, Fan Noli, pointed out, in 1921, with a rich scientific argument, the patriotic character of the Skanderbegian war. After him, Xhevat Korça, argued in 1923, the independent personality as a statesman of Skanderbeg. Athanas Gegaj gave Skanderbeg, in 1937, the rightful place as an ally and not (as he was called by some foreign author), a vassal of the King of Naples.
Another topic that attracted the attention of scholars during the period between the two world wars was the Albanian League of Prizren (1878–1881), which Kristo Dako, Mithat Frashëri, Mehdi Frashëri and Xhafer Belegu unanimously considered as the first manifestation of the Albanian National Renaissance. Each of them declared his conviction that the League of Prizren was born from the patriotic impulse of the Albanians to protect the territorial integrity of Albania and not, as some foreign historians claimed, for the imperial interests of the Sublime Porte. Pre-war Albanian historians evaluated (although only in the field of journalism) the declaration of National Independence by the Assembly of Vlora on 28 November 1912 as a victory of the Albanian National Movement and not as a product of European diplomacy, as some tendentious foreign publicists have claimed. The movement of 1914–1915 or, as it is otherwise called, the Haxhi Qamili Uprising, was considered by all as an assassination attempt on the new Albanian state by Young Turk proselytes, who did not want to secede from the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, interest in publishing documentary sources that shed light on the history of Albania began. The first step was taken by Lef Nosi with the monthly organ entitled “Historical Documents for the Service of Our National History” (Elbasan, March 1924 – February 1925), in which mainly Albanian documents of events that took place in Albania during the second decade of the 20th century were published. Documents of importance for the medieval and modern history of Albania were also included in the two cultural organs “Hylli i Dritës” and “Leka”, which were published in Shkodra until 1944.
The end of World War II found Albania with a historiography, although centuries old, extremely poor in terms of production. This poverty, which extended to all areas of science, culture, art, and technology, did not agree with the demands that the time itself placed before the country, to enter the path of progress and to overcome the inherited backwardness as soon as possible. There is no doubt that at the end of the War, the demand for the rapid development of culture and science was in inverse proportion to the scarce intellectual forces, the lack of scientific experience, the poverty of library funds, and the lack of archival institutions. The pre-war experience showed that these difficulties could not be overcome without the interest of the Albanian state. The communist state and its leadership in post-war Albania, regardless of the motives that drove them, paid attention to the promotion of research activity, including the development of Albanian historiography. Hand in hand with the enrichment of libraries and archives, the establishment of Albanian historiographical research institutions was initiated, in which, together with the old cadres who had come from pre-war schools, the new cadres who were formed after the War in the universities of socialist countries and in the country’s higher schools were also included. In 1947, the Institute of Sciences was established, with a special section for history; in 1955, the Institute of History and Linguistics was established; two years later, the State University of Tirana was founded with the Faculty of History and Philology; in 1972, the Academy of Sciences was established, which also included a number of institutes in the field of Albanology, among them the Institute of History and the Institute of Archaeology. In addition, with the development of Albanian history, several institutions created outside the system of the Academy of Sciences were also taken over, such as the history departments of the Universities (Tirana, Shkodër). For the study of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War and the so-called “era of building socialism” in Albania, special institutions were also established, such as the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies, the Military Academy of the Republic of Albania, the Higher School of the Albanian Labour Party, etc.
Regardless of party goals and ideological motives and the pressure to apply (not infrequently in a schematic and vulgar way) the method of historical materialism in the treatment of history, starting from the mid-1950s of the 20th century until the 1990s, the communist state helped materially and organizationally for the development of Albanian historiography. One of the new forms of public manifestation of Albanian historiography was the organization of national and international scientific meetings. In November 1952, the Institute of Sciences organized a national conference on the topic “The Formation of the Albanian Nation and the Beginnings of the Albanian National Movement”. In the years 1954–1958, several scientific activities were held, such as: the scientific session dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the publication of Gjon Buzuku’s “Meshari” (1955) and scientific sessions where more concrete problems were addressed, such as issues regarding the periodization of Albanian History (1954), the features of the feudal order in Albania (1956), and the beginnings of capitalism in Albanian regions (1958). A special scientific event was the First Conference of Albanological Studies (international), which was held on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of Albania (November 1962), in which a wide range of Albanological topics were addressed comprehensively and in depth. The Second Conference of Albanological Studies, held in Tirana in January 1968 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, was characterized by the attempt for an in-depth treatment of a wide range of problems. Among other scientific meetings of an international nature, which were later held in Tirana, are: the Assemblies of Illyrian Studies (1972, 1985 – see), the Conference of Ethnographic Studies (1974), the Conference on the Albanian League of Prizren on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its foundation (1978), the Conference dedicated to Pjetër Bogdani (1989), the Conference dedicated to the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbëria (1990), etc.
Among the works that were carried out during the past decades, a special place is occupied by the “History of Albania” in two volumes. This is the first scientific work that treats the history of Albania in a complete chronological way, from prehistoric times to the present day, and in a comprehensive way, from a thematic point of view such as political, economic, social, diplomatic, cultural and artistic history. But scientific research in the field of history and the treatment of historical events was significantly damaged by ideological schemes and by the censorship imposed by the ALP with its apparatus.
But despite all the ideological pressure exerted by the superstructure, it cannot be denied that during the decades of the communist system, significant successes were achieved in the field of historiography, incomparable, both in quantity and quality with previous results. These successes extend to all periods of Albanian history. Very important successes were achieved in the fields of archaeological research, in the study of prehistory and in the illumination of the Illyrian civilization, whose history before World War II was covered in fog. The few information that was known was extracted from several treatises by foreign historians and from the sources of ancient authors. Thanks to the archaeological research, which extended throughout the country and the orientation to give priority to the discovery of Illyrian settlements, it was possible to illuminate, without denying the data of ancient written sources, the history of the Illyrians from their ethnogenesis to the threshold of the Early Middle Ages.
The aforementioned treatises of the 1920s–1930s dedicated to the period of Skanderbeg with their dignified content gave a further impetus to the deepening of Skanderbegian studies in the post-war period. The Second Conference of Albanological Studies dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the death of Skanderbeg (Tirana, January 1968), showed that Albanian historiography was now able to say (in front of European historiography), its dignified word on the processes and events that shook Albania and the Balkans during the 15th century.
The first centuries of Ottoman rule in Albania were, from a historical point of view, very dark, so much so that in ancient texts they were dated from the death of Skanderbeg, that is, the third quarter of the 15th century, to Kara Mahmud Bushatlliu and Ali Pasha Tepelelena, that is, the third quarter of the 18th century.
As for the National Renaissance, the Albanian authors of the pre-war period had a vague knowledge of its beginnings, character, dynamics and dimensions. They considered the League of Prizren as the first and at the same time the greatest manifestation of the Renaissance. Post-war historians gave a different treatment, both factually and methodologically, to this period of Albanian history. According to them, the Albanian National Renaissance was not only a literary movement, but a national liberation, democratic and enlightenment movement, just like the liberation movements of the Balkan peoples, that is, a movement that aimed, just like them, to free the country from the centuries-old Ottoman yoke and to form an independent national state. In new studies, it was claimed that the Albanian National Renaissance did not begin with the League of Prizren, but several decades earlier, in the second quarter of the 19th century, when the anti-Ottoman uprisings merged with cultural demands and enlightenment ideas, which we find clearly expressed in Naum Veqilharxhi. Albanian historians of these decades, unlike their pre-war colleagues, saw in the League of Prizren not only the fight for the protection of the territorial integrity of the Homeland, but also its fight for the autonomous rights of Albania.
In addition to genuine scientific treatises, during the decades of the communist system, Albanian historiography was also enriched with publications of historical documents regarding the past of Albania.
Studies on the history of Albania after the Declaration of National Independence, which were undertaken by Albanian historians during the communist system, are not few. Although in many of these works the pressure of party ideology is felt, nevertheless, there are a number of treatises with genuine scientific values. Such are, for example, those that deal with the Declaration of National Independence (1912), the Albanian issue at the London Conference (1913), the Autonomous Republic of Korça (1916–1917), the Albanian issue at the Peace Conference (1919–1920), the National Congress of Lushnja (1920), the Liberation War of Vlora (1920), the democratic movement of the 1920s, the Democratic Revolution of June (1924), aspects of the country’s socio-economic life and various topics from the period of the monarchy of A. Zog.
In the 1970s, special attention began to be paid in Albania to the modern history of Kosovo, the period after its secession and that of other Albanian territories from Albania according to the decisions of the London Conference of 1913, up to the present day. A special section of the modern history of Kosovo was established at the Institute of History. Monographic studies and a series of articles dealt with events and figures of the national movement in the territories of Kosovo and in the Albanian areas of present-day Macedonia, the armed resistance of the Albanian population in these territories against the Serbo-Montenegrin occupation during the Balkan Wars, World War I and its aftermath, the colonizing and denationalizing policy of the Belgrade government towards Kosovo and other Albanian territories, aspects of the history of the Albanian Civil War in Kosovo and Macedonia, the situation of the Albanian population in these territories in the post-war period, the struggle for self-determination and independence of Kosovo, etc.
During the second half of the 20th century, the study of history gained momentum, especially after the preparation of new cadres, in particular after the opening of the Institute of Albanology and the University of Pristina, the Institute of History, the Archives of Kosovo and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. Among the topics they addressed, those pertaining to the history of Kosovo during the period of the Albanian National Renaissance, in the centuries of antiquity, during the period between the two world wars, during World War II and after it stand out. Historiography also began to be addressed by Albanian scholars in Macedonia, especially with the establishment of higher education in the Albanian language. Albanian historians of Kosovo and Macedonia have specifically addressed the resistance of Albanians against the discriminatory and oppressive policies of the Yugoslav chauvinist circles, their struggle for national rights, the autochthonous nature of Albanians in Kosovo and Macedonia, the social, cultural and economic developments in these territories, the international aspects of the Albanian question, etc.
In the 1990s in Albania, with the establishment of political pluralism, historians, freed from the ideological and political pressure of the Albanian People’s Party, began to freely present their own views and scientific theses on the problems of Albanian history. In Albanian historiography, a turn towards an objective treatment of the history of the Albanian people began, outside the imposed Marxist dogmas and freed from the party ideology of the communist regime. A series of scientific monographs and study articles have been produced, where important steps have been made towards an objective scientific treatment of the history of the Albanian people. With this aim in mind and also relying on previously unused studies and documents, the Institute of History of the Albanian Academy of Sciences undertook the publication of the general work “History of the Albanian People” in 4 volumes. The authors have preceded this publication with monographs and studies on specific periods and problems.
During this period of transition, a series of national and international scientific conferences were also organized by the Academy of Sciences of Albania and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, as well as by the Institute of History in Tirana and the Institute of History in Prishtina, in which positive efforts were made for a new objective and well-argued treatment of historical events and personalities of the past, of problems and entire periods of the history of the Albanian people.
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