Skanderbeg was a prominent figure in the history of Albania. His weapons have been subjects of mythical adoration. According to legends his sword was so heavy that only his arm could wield. Reportedly, it was also so sharp that it could slice a man vertically from head to waist with little effort and cut a huge boulder in half with a single blow.From all of Skanderbeg's belongings we are left with only four objects: two swords, one helmet and a prayer book. Currently the weapons (helmet and sword) are on display in the Collection of Arms and Armour at the Neue Burg (affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum) in Vienna after having passed though the hands of countless noblemen since the 15th century when they were first brought over to Italy from Albania by Skanderbeg’s wife, Donika Kastrioti. The prayer book is archived at the Shelley Publishing House in Chelsea, London.
The Swords
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According to Dhimiter Frengu, an official and friend-in-arms of Skanderbeg, the first sword was curved (In the original Italian: una schimitarra storta), with a sharp edge and elegantly made of Damascened steel. There are also accounts which relate that at one point he kept two swords sheathed in the same scabbard. Frengu then adds, rather colourfully, that Skanderbeg brought a master sword-maker over from Italy, who produced three better swords for him. One of them, "that could cut through steel," he sent it as a present to the Ottoman Sultan It is also known that in Skanderbeg's last visit to the Holy See, Pope Paul II presented the Albanian hero with a sword and a cap (It: una spada ed un capello).
The straight sword, which lay at the Museum of Ambras along with the helmet, is double-edged. The blade is dressed in gold. It is 85.5 centimeters long, 5.7 cm wide, and weighs 1.3 kilograms. Its scabbard is made of leather. According to Faik Konica, who viewed the sword at the beginning of the 20th century, there were still stains of blood on the blade.
On the other hand, the curved sword, including the hilt, measures 121 cm in length and weighs 3.2 kg. This sword is fashioned after Ottoman styles of the time, and just as Dhimiter Frengu reported five centuries earlier, is a damascene steel, highly ornamented. There is an inscription in Turkish, which according to Faik Konica is not correct. The inscription reads: (Libehadur Allah Iskander beg – Champion of God, Skanderbeg). Still, according to Faik Konica, only the blade belongs to the original sword held by Skanderbeg. The hilt, dressed in silver, and the velvet scabbard belong to a subsequent time. Both swords were reproduced in Vienna, for exclusive display in Tirana.
Of these two swords, the one which Skanderbeg used in times of war could have been the curved one. The straight sword was rather short for his tall frame, whereas the other one afforded the flexibility required for cavalry charges and the fighting style of the day. In addition, having been trained in Turkey, and having learned there his skills in martial arts, it is more likely that he would have been more comfortable with that sword.
The Helmet
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Skanderbeg’s helmet is made of white metal, adorned with a strip dressed in gold. On its top lies the head of a horned goat made of bronze, also dressed in gold. The bottom part bears a copper strip adorned with a monogram separated by rosettes;
* IN * PE * RA * TO * RE BT *
which means:
Jhezus Nazarenus * Principi Emathie * Regi Albaniae * Terrori Osmanorum * Regi Epirotarum * Benedictat Te -
-Jesus Nazarene Blesses Thee [Skanderbeg], Prince of Mat, King of Albania, Terror of the Ottomans, King of Epirus.
According to a report by historian Shefqet Pllana, Sami Frasheri in his Kamus-al-Alam maintains that the wording "Dhu lKarnejn" (owner of the two horns) was an appellative attributed to Alexander the Great of Macedon, the very name which Skanderbeg bore in the Islamic form. This second explanation may be the truer, since the theory of the Macedonian-Albanian and Epirot-Albanian continuance is strong not only among Albanians but among all the peoples of Europe. This opinion agrees with the work of Marin Barleti who writes: “When the people saw all those young and brave men around Skanderbeg, then it was not hard to believe that the armies of Murat were so defeated by the Albanians. Indeed, the times when the star of Macedon shone brilliantly had returned, just as they seemed in those long forgotten times of Pyrrhus and Alexander."
At the request of the pre-WWII Albanian government, an identical copy of the helmet of Skanderbeg lies now in the National Museum of Tirana, Albania. The copy was manufactured by a talented Austrian master in 1937.The helmet is depicted on the reverse of the Albanian 5000 lekë banknote, issued since 1996.
Seal of Skanderbeg
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The Seal of Skanderbeg has been kept in Denmark since it was discovered in 1634. It was bought by the National Museum in 1839. The seal is made of brass, is 6 cm in length and weighs 280 g. The inscription (laterally reversed) is in Greek and reads
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ.ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ.ΕΛΕΩ.ΘΥ. ΑΥΤ.ΡΩΜ.ΟΜΕΓ. ΑΥΘ.ΤΟΥΡ.ΑΛΒ. ΣΕΡΒΙ.ΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΙ.
which means;
King Alexander(Skanderbeg), by the grace of God, Emperor of the Romans, the great ruler of the Turks, Albanians, Serbs,Bulgarians.
If this seal is authentic, it indicates that George Kastrioti declared himself king, using the name Skender in its Greek form. (Greek or Latin were the customary languages for royal inscriptions in the Middle Ages.) The titles highly exaggerate his actual power, but this was often the case for Medieval rulers. Skanderbeg is apparently seen as a successor of the Byzantine emperors, as shown by the title and the double-eagled crest, during this period a symbol of Byzantine power. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, such claims were also made by the Russian Czars.
The Long Journey of the Weapons
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The helmet and swords have a dark and confusing history. After the death of Skanderbeg, they were taken to Italy by Skanderbeg’s wife Donika and his son Gjoni. Who inherited them after their death is unknown. The weapons reappeared in the last decade of the 16th century. In 1590, the helmet and the two swords did not belong to the same owner. The helmet and one sword were under the ownership of Count Eolfang of Sturnbeng. The other sword lay in the inventory of the Arms Museum of the Archduke Karl of Styria, son of the German Holy Roman Emperor in Gratz, Austria (they appear in the inventory of 30 October 1590). The person who brought the weapons together was the son of the Emperor and brother of Karl, archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, who, acting under the advice of his Chancellor Jacob Schrenk von Gotzing, bought the weapons and brought them under the same roof. Later, this prince erected the Museum of Ambras, near Tyrol, which he filled with all sorts of war-related material, as well as paintings and portraits of celebrities of that age. In 1806 the weapons were transferred to the Imperial Museum in Vienna, still apart from each other. The helmet and the straight sword were placed in the Maximilian Hall (hall XXV, no. 71 & 92 respectively), whereas the curved sword found its way to the Karl V Hall (hall XXVII, no. 345). The weapons were separated by the curators of the museum, who were uncertain whether or not the swords indeed belonged to Skanderbeg. After the Second World War, the doubts evaporated. On the eve of Skanderbeg’s 500th anniversary, the arms were reunited, not only in the same hall, but in the same display window of the Neue Berg Collection of Arms and Armour in Vienna.
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