League of Lezhë

The League of Lezhë or Kuvendi i Arbërit(2 March 1444-25 April 1479) was a confederation of Albanian Principalities, created in the Assembly of Lezha in 2 March 1444. The league was led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg and after his death by Lekë Dukagjini. Skanderbeg organized a meeting of Albanian nobles, the Arianits, Dukagjins, Spani, Thopias, Muzakas, and the leaders of the free Albanian principalities from the high mountains, in the town of Lezhë, where the nobles agreed to fight together for mutual gain against the common Turkish enemy and they voted Skanderbeg as their suzerain chief. The League of Lezhë was a confederation and each principality kept its sovereignty.

Background
After the proclamation of the uprising against the Ottomans, Skanderbeg with his troops destroyed the garrison of Kruja and restored the independent principality of the Kastrioti. At that time, the Ottoman administration was already functioning in the family's estates - Ottoman garrisons had been stationed in the fortresses, any traces of the former rule of the Kastrioti had been erased. In this situation, Skanderbeg's struggle for overthrowing Ottoman power coincided with his desire to restore and keep the feudal heritage and authority of the Kastrioti clan.

Formation
Skanderbeg's example gave impetus to the liberation movements in Central and Northern Albania. Nearly all princes rejected Ottoman rule, and the large Albanian clans reestablished their principalities. George Kastrioti made efforts to unite all moral and material resources of the individual families in a successful struggle against the Ottomans. To this effect, on 2 March 1444 he called in Lezhë an assembly of the Albanian princes, where almost all of them gathered: the Arianits, Dukagjin, Thopias, Muzakas, as well as the leaders of the free Albanian tribes from the high mountains. In spite of the discord among the princes, they founded a union, which went down in history by the name of the Albanian League of Lezhë. George Kastrioti - Skanderbeg was elected its leader, and commander in chief of its armed forces numbering 8,000 warriors.

In the light of the modern geopolitical science, the League of Lezhë represented an attempt to form a state union. In fact, this was a federation of independent rulers who undertook the duty to follow a common foreign policy, to jointly defend their independence and contribute their armed forces to the alliance. Naturally, it all required a collective budget for covering the military expenditures and each family contributed their mite to the common funds of the League. At the same time, each clan kept its possessions, its autonomy in solving the internal problems of its own estate. The formation and functioning of the League, of which George Kastrioti was the supreme feudal lord or suzerain, was the most significant attempt to build up an all-Albanian resistance against the Ottoman occupation and, simultaneously, an effort to create, for the span of its short-lived functioning, some sort of a unified Albanian state. It is no accident at all that to this day Skanderbeg is a national hero of the Albanians, and the period of the Albanian League has been perceived by the Albanians as a peak in their history, especially if compared with the subsequent failed attempts, until the beginning of the 20th century, to constitute an independent statehood.

Success
Under Skanderbeg's command the Albanian forces marched east capturing the cities of Dibra and Ohrid. For 25 years, from 1443 – 1468, Skanderbeg's 10,000 man army marched through Ottoman territory winning against the consistently larger and better supplied Ottoman forces. Threatened by Ottoman advances in their homeland, Hungary, and later Naples and Venice - their former enemies - provided the financial backbone and support for Skanderbeg's army.

Defeat
On May 14, 1450, an Ottoman army, larger than any previous force encountered by Skanderbeg or his men, stormed and overwhelmed the castle of the city of Kruja.
This city was particularly symbolic to Skanderbeg because he had been appointed suba of Kruja in 1438 by the Ottomans. According to the Chronicles of Ragusa (also known as the Chronicles of Dubrovnik), the fighting lasted four months and thousands of Albanian soldiers lost their lives. Even so, the Ottoman forces were unable to capture the city and had no choice but to retreat before winter set in. In June of 1466, Mehmed II, known as "the Conqueror", led an army of 150,000 soldiers back to Kruja and massacred the Albanian forces. Skanderbeg's death in 1468 did not end the struggle for independence, and fighting continued until 1479 when the Albanian lands were forced to succumb to the superior Ottoman armies.

Battles of the League of Lezha
League of Lezha and the Ottoman Empire fought 25 battles and 24 of them ended with the victory of Skanderbeg's forces. The one loss was a battle in Berat.

* Siege of Petrela (1443/1444)
* Siege of Stelluzi (1443/1444)
* First Siege of Sfetigrad (1443/1444)
* Battle of Torvioll (1444)
* Battle of Mokra (1445)
* Battle of Otonetë (1446)
* Battle of the Drin (1448)
* Battle of Oronik (1448)
* Siege of Sfetigrad (1449)
* Siege of Krujë (1450)
* Siege of Modrica (1452)
* Battle of Mokra (1453)
* Siege of Berat (1455)
* Battle of Oronichea (1456)
* Battle of Abulena (1457)
* Skanderbeg's Italian expedition (1461-1462)
* Macedonian campaign (1462)
* Macedonian campaign (1463)
* Battle of Ochrida (1464)
* Battle of Vajkal (1464)
* Battle of Vajkal (1465)
* Battle of Kashari (1465)
* Siege of Krujë (1466)
* Siege of Krujë (1467)
* Siege of Krujë (1478)


Members of the league of Lezhë
* Pal and Nikollë Dukagjini
* Gjergj Arianiti
* Pjetër Shpata
* Gjergj Balsha
* Andrea II. Thopia
* Theodor Muzaka
* Stefan Crnojević
* Skanderbeg
* Lekë Zaharia
* Pjetër Spani
* Lekë Dushmani
* Stefan Gojçini-Gjurashi (Cernojeviçi)