Another idea of a task for you; Find me one source which states Skanderbeg spoke of the Illyrian connection.
ok i told you I would get back to you .....so here I am
also ....I am older than you so stop sending me on these missions ....son
Castrioti had much correspondence with the Italians .....letter that exist today ....this is one of Castriotis replies
ÒGiovanni Antonio, Prince of Taranto, to Georgio albanese,
greeting.
(Conveniva
a te?), that the luck you had shown in the war with the enemies of the
Christian religion, which sometimes had forced combat, then leaving that
field, you came to Italy to drive your armies against Christians? What
cause do you hold against me? What have I done against you? What
controversies do they make between us? You have spoiled my territories
and are crudely giving vent against my subjects, and first you have
(mosso?) the war that (proposta?). You boast that you are a great
warrior for the Christian religion and (pur?) yet you persecute this
(geate?) which for every reason is called Christianity. You have turned
your iron against the French of the Kingdom of Sicily. Perhaps you have
thought to take the army against the effeminate Turks that you are
accustomed to wounding in the back.
You will find other men who all
support your proud appearance (?) and no one will avoid your face. Our
Italian soldiers will challenge you very well and have no fear of the
Albanese. We already know your generation and respect the Albanese like
sheep, and it is an embarrassment to have such cowardly people for
enemies; (neÕ?) would you have embarked on such a business if you had
stayed to dwell in your house. You have avoided the onslaught of the
Turks, and not having the power to defend your own house, have thought
to invade other peopleÕs. You are deceitful. Instead of a new house you
are looking for your grave.
Goodbye.....
Letter from Skanderbeg to the Prince of Taranto:
ÒGiorgio, gentleman of Albania, to Giovanni Antonio, Prince of Taranto, greeting.
Having
made a truce with the enemy of my religion I have not wanted that my
friend remain (fraudato) of my aid. (Spesse?) times, Alfonso, his
father, invited my help while I waged war against the Turks. Therefore I
would be very ungrateful if I had not resisted (lÕistesso?) service to
his son. I remember what your king did because now (non deve vedere
succedergli? ) this who is his son? You adored his father, and why now
do you try to throw out his son? Where did this power come from? Who has
the power to set up the King of Sicily, you or the Roman Pontiff?
I
came to aid Ferrante, son of the king and seat of the Apostolica. I
came opposing your unfaithfulness and innumerable great betrayals in
this kingdom. (NeÕ?) will you ever be unpunished for your perjury. This
is the reason for my war against you. I merit this no less than I
merited making war against the Turks, nor are you less Turk than them.
(ImperoccheÕ vi sono alcuni?) that guide you in a straight line not to
be of some sect. You my opponents the French and the names of those
people, and those for the religion wage grand war.
I do not want to
dispute ancient matters with you, matters that perhaps were much less
than what was told about them. Certainly in our times the Aragonese
armadas have often coursed the Aegean Sea, have plundered the Turkish
coasts, have (riportata?) the prey of the enemies; and even today the
Aragonese armies defend Troja from the jaws of the enemy. Why do I
remember the old things and leave the new parts? If they change the
family costumes and the plowmen of the kingdom, and the kings of the
plowmen return? (NeÕ troverai nobilitaÕ piuÕ antica della virtuÕ.)
Nor
can I deny that you are not with the obnoxious French nation,
(imperoccheÕ) you being mainly in aid of King Alfonso, you hunted the
French of this kingdom. I do not know now what new virtue shines in
this. Perhaps it is some new star that you have now seen among the
French?
Moreover, you scorned our people, and compared the Albanese
to sheep, and according to your custom think of us with insults. Nor
have you shown yourself to have any knowledge of my race. My elders were
from Epirus, where this Pirro came from, whose force could scarcely
support the Romans. This Pirro, who Taranto and many other places of
Italy held back with armies.
I do not have to speak for the Epiroti.
They are very much stronger men than your Tarantini, a species of wet
men who are born only to fish. If you want to say that Albania is part
of Macedonia I would concede that a lot more of our ancestors were
nobles who went as far as India under Alexander the Great and defeated
all those peoples with incredible difficulty. From those men come these
who you called sheep. But the nature of things is not changed. Why do
your men run away in the faces of sheep? In the past the Albanese have
(fatto?) experience if the Pugilese were armed; (neÕ) I would again find
some who would have been able to aspired to my nature. I have well
noted from the back how many of your soldiers are well armed but have
never been able to see their helmets or (tanpoco?) the face except those
that have become prisoners. (NeÕ?) I seek your house (Bastandomi? ) my
own. Besides, it is well known that you often would have shot your
neighbors for their possessions, as now you would force out the king of
your house and your kingdom. (Che se?) If I fall in the difficult
task I have embarked on I will be buried as (mi vai?) wishing in your
letter, will bring back my soul as a reward from the Chancellor of the
universe, of God. Not only will I have perfected my intention, but also I
will have planned and attempted some distinguished deed.