Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

50 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. by his old enemy the Serb and Orthodox Prince, George Brankovich. He arrived too late; the field of Varna had been already fought and the Catholic army completely routed. But Skenderbeg remained invincible in his own lands. Two Turkish Sultans in turn swore to destroy the Albanian rebel; but though they forced a way into his lands more than once with huge armies and artillery, and besieged Kruja itself for many months, they always had in the end to retreat with very heavy losses. So long as Skenderbeg lived, Albania was unsubdued. He died of fever in 1467, after twenty-four years of victory, and with him died united Albania. He was buried in the cathedral at Alessio, but it has been wrecked by the Turks, and his grave is unknown. They are said to have worn fragments of his body as amulets to make them invincible. ' Such a lion will never again appear on earth' was the verdict of his old enemy, Sultan Mahomed II. His people still wear mourning for him, and his deeds form the topic of popular songs, where the heathen recoil from the light that flashes from his eyes and fall dead in heaps beneath the sword that he alone could swing. The champion of Christendom was dead; there was none to take his place and hold the tribes together, and the Turks now advanced rapidly. They tore the coast-towns one after another from the Venetians, and took Skodra after two severe sieges. Montenegro, 'the castle God built for us,' as its people say, remained impregnable and ruled by its
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Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 50
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/57

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"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.
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