Pal Dukagjini

Silver cross donated by Pal Dukagjini to St. Alexander’s Church of Orosh (Shën Llezhdri i Oroshit) in 1447

Pal Dukagjini has been described as one of the most capable and loved lords of medieval Albania. All known Dukagjini today are his descendants.

Pal Dukagjini was a son of Tanush i Madh, son of Lekë who is mentioned in the 1393 agreement between the Dukagjini and the Venetians about control over Lezhë. Some sources confuse him with the brother of his grandfather, but he couldn’t have been a signatory in 1393 as when he died around 1450-1455 he was ca. 61 years old. Giammaria Biemmi (1742) writes that he died in 1446 at the age of 61, but he couldn’t have died as early as 1446 as he was recorded as a participant in later events. Pal’s sons were Lekë III, Gjergj, Nikollë and Progon.

According to Marin Barleti (1504), Pal was lord of the area “which the Epirotes [Albanians] call Upper Zadrima up to Lower Moesia, a bountiful region”. About his son, Nikollë, Barleti writes that “a bust of this unbreakable brave man (..) is still found in Peneropolis (..) which the locals today call Prizren”. These details about his territory show that the later activity of the Dukaginzade branch (direct descendants of Pal) which focused on the area around Prizren is a continuation of the pre-medieval, traditional connection of the family with the area from Zadrima and Mirdita to Prizren. In 1447, Pal donated a silver cross to the church of St. Alexander (Shën Llesh) in Orosh, Mirdita. On the silver cross the following sentence was marked: “1447 a di 7 agusto, questa crosi fecie fare Sinor Polo Duchagin in tempo di predetto signor e di Piro Ducha, e mi Niksa Adamovic” (7 August, 1447, by the order of Lord Pal Dukagjini, during the era of the already mentioned lord Piero Duka, made by Niksa Adamovic). Piero Duka must be Pjetër Perlati, Catholic priest and commander of the League of Lezhë. It has been suggested that the used “Duka” as a diminutive of “Dukagjini” for a surnamed to show his kinship ties with the Dukagjini. Niksa Adamovic was a craftsman in the city of Ragusa. The silver cross was photographed in 1890 by French consul A. Degrand. It was destroyed when the church was burnt down in 1898.

Pal took part in the assembly of Lezha in 1444 and was a strong supporter of the League of Lezhë. He fought in the battle of Torvioll and was a skilled diplomat who tried hard to overcome the factional disputes in the league. All of Skanderbeg’s biographers describe Pal as one of the most benevolent lords to have lived in Albania. Giammaria Biemmi describes Pal as follows:

In the last days of that year [1446], Pal Dukagjini died of apoplexy [internal bleeding, stroke] at the age of 61. He spent 40 of his years as the lord of his territory. He was a prince who was gifted with all that which a man of his character would need. [He was] of noble feelings; a man of his word; grateful towards all which was good; flexible in agreements and discussions; lenient in punishments; intelligent in agreements and capable of dealing with every kind of intrigue in negotiations, with gentle manners and charming in order to win the fondness and respect of people. In this way, everybody considered him worthy and capable to govern a large kingdom.

Skanderbeg said that if Albania had more princes so capable and so good as Pal Dukagjini, Albania would soon become one of the most flourishing places in the world. Vulpiano (the place where his residence was located), when he inherited it from his father was nothing more than a small and poor castle which had no more than 1500 people, and when he died it was one of the wealthiest and most populous cities in Albania with 15,000 inhabitants. The city with all these inhabitants was led by the fame of his wise and prudent governance. His death was for Skanderbeg a great loss and a great moment of sadness, not only because of the personal friendship he had with him [Pal], but also because he lost support in keeping his allies [together], because with his attitude he preserved unity and harmony among the other allies.

Lekë Dukagjini

Portrait of Lekë Dukagjini by Simon Rrota (1887-1961)

Lekë Dukagjini, son of Pal, was one of the central figures of medieval Albanian history before the Ottoman era. In Albanian folklore and local traditions, he is remembered as the author of the "Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini", the customary law of many northern Albanian regions. This connection to the customary laws of Albania, has given him the sobriquet "the Lawgiver" (ligjvënësi).

In the context of the Dukagjini genealogy, Lekë is usually referred to as Lekë III to distinguish him from other members of the family who held the same name including his great-grandfather Lekë, grandson of Duka Gjin Tanushi. His mother possibly was a sister of Gjergj Arianiti. Before 1445-1450, he was too young to be a participant in the wars of the Albanian League. He becomes frequently attested since 1456 because of events related to the castle of Dejë.

About 20 years before these events, Nikollë Dukagjini who controlled Dejë had been betrayed by the Venetians and the castle passed to the Ottomans which in turn gave it again to the Venetians per another agreement they signed. The castle was held afterwards by local noblemen who recognized Venetian rule but was semi-autonomous. Lekë Zaharia who ruled Dejë joined the League of Lezhë in 1444 effectively breaking with Venetian overlordship. After the death of Lekë Zaharia (1446) Skanderbeg supported the acquisition of the castle-town Dejë by Pal Dukagjini who was considered the rightful ruler of the area. Venice intervened against the Albanian League and captured Dejë and so began the Albanian-Venetian war of 1447-48. The Albanians were victorious but because of a new Ottoman campaign, a truce was signed. Dejë remained in Venetian control but all the lands south of the Drin passed to the control of the Dukagjini and subsequently the Albanian League. Venice exploited the truce to postpone the question of its final control indefinitely. A permanent Venetian garrison was installed in the fortress under a Venetian commander who was named castellan of Dejë and local leaders were bribed to support Venetian subjecthood.

To maintain control of Dejë, the Venetians tried to bribe Lekë to turn him against Skanderbeg and simultaneously spread rumors that members of his branch were not the "legitimate Dukagjini" and even circulated rumors that he was involved in the murder of Lekë Zaharia. Nonë of these actions was forgotten by the Dukagjini who still remembered the broken agreement between them and Venice. Secretly, Lekë had been gathering supporters inside Dejë and even bribed one of the Venetian commanders so that he would assist him in case he attacked Dejë. Around October 29 1456, Lekë gathered his supporters and in a surprising night attack took Dejë. Most soldiers were killed in the battle including the Venetian castellan’s son. As was the custom of the time, Lekë beheaded the Venetian castellan de Forluxijs after the battle and cut the right arm of his Albanian vassal, Basil Ungrej (as was the customary punishment for traitors). Then he sent the family of de Forluxijs during the night to Shkodra to notify the Venetian command that he had defeated them and had retaken Dejë. Immediately, the Venetians placed a bounty for Lekë in all Venetian territories: 1500 ducats if he was captured alive, 1000 ducats for his body. Lekë tried to push forwards and also take Drisht but his attack was repulsed by Venetian forces assisted by its pro-Venetian citizens. The turmoil which existed in the country gave the opportunity to Ottomans to launch a new campaign. Venice exploited this series of events propagated that Lekë had collaborated with the Ottomans and led them deep in Albania. Venetian propaganda led to his excommunication by the Pope. By the autumn of 1457, Venice retook Drisht. During this period, Skanderbeg considered that battles in the Albanian-Venetian frontier in the previous years had weakened defense against the Ottomans, although he considered the Venetians untrustworthy and hostile towards Albanians. It seems that relations between Lekë and Skanderbeg were tense until 1463, when they reunited their forces. From this moment and for all years which followed, Skanderbeg and Lekë were strong allies. When Skanderbeg died in 1468, Marin Barleti writes that Lekë Dukagjini sang a gjamë, which is a mourning ritual performed publicly by men of northern Albania to honor their close ones. The motiffs of the lyrics of the gjamë as written by Barleti in a literary form closely correspond in content to the gjamë of Lekë Dukagjini in honor of Skanderbeg as recorded in the Arbëreshë folk songs of southern Italy by Jeronim de Rada in the 19th century.

After Skanderbeg's death he was the leader of Albanian resistance as Ottomans were increasing their military presence in Albania. In 1477-1479, Lekë defended Drisht and other castles against the new Ottoman campaign which ended with the siege of Shkodra and effectively concluded the main part of Ottoman conquest of Albania. Durrës would fall in 1501. In the campaign, Venice often betrayed local resistance and even actively collaborated with the Ottomans to deliver Lezha to the Ottomans. In Drisht, which was defended by Lekë, Venetians stopped delivering supplies and assistance during the siege. In local folk legends, it is remembered that Lekë stood strong against Ottoman besiegers until they found a weak spot in Drisht's west wall andentered the town. Lekë escaped and wasn't captured by the Ottomans. The route which he used in his retreat through Shosh is known as Guri i Lekës. He died in 1481 at an advanced age during another anti-Ottoman rebellion.

He had two sons, Kolë (Niccolo) and Stefano. Stefano's descendants are last mentioned in central Italy in the 16th century. From Niccolo's branch via Progon Dukagjini began the Dukaginzade branch of the family.

Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha

Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha, born Progon Dukagjini, was a general in the Ottoman Empire. He was beloved by the people of Albania and by the army wherever he went. His confrontation with the Sultan led to his execution, which was replied with massive riots across Albania. He is the progenitor of the Dukaginzade family.

Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha is the grandson of Lekë III Dukagjini. His father Nikollë was married Yela Arianiti. They had two sons, Progon, as his original name was, and Lekë. In their childhood they lived in exile in Italy, but returned to Albania to support a rebellion against the Ottomans. The rebels and the Ottomans reached an agreement and the two brothers converted to Islam, taking the names Ahmed (Progon) and Mahmud (Lekë). Mahmud died soon after they went to Istanbul, but he may have had offspring in Italy.

Ahmed Pasha was beloved and massively respected in the Ottoman army, especially among the Janissaries many of whom were of Albanian origin themselves. As someone who had ties to the West, as in fact several Dukagjini branches still lived in Venetian territory, he was instrumental in many deals between western powers and the Ottomans. As part of these agreements, he often defended the interests of the Albanians within the Empire. In a treaty with Ancona, he gained significant concessions and trade rights for the merchants from Vlora, Janina and Arta. For the homelands of the Dukagjini family, which later became the Sanjak of Dukagjini, he gained tax exemptions and the right to bear arms for the locals. In Prizren, he built a mosque, in the then district of the Juma Mosque. Today, it is known as Xhamia e Ahmet Beut (Ahmed Bey’s Mosque) or Tabakhane Mosque.

Albanians who rose in the Ottoman court formed strong ethnic networks, supported each other and their people. Ahmed Pasha was part of this Albanian network and he closely collaborated with Guveyi Sinan Pasha known as Arnavut (the Albanian). Sinan Pasha was a high-ranking general in the Ottoman army and admiral of the Ottoman fleet in 1492-1493. He was damad (groom) of the Ottoman house and was married to Ayse Sultan, daughter of Sultan Bayezid II. Sinan Pasha's and Ayse's daughter was Gevhershah Ayse. On November 27, 1503 Dukaginzade Ahmed and Gevhershah were married. Their marriage made him a damad of the Ottoman dynasty. Their two children were Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha, governor of Egypt and Fatma Sultan.

In 1503, he was sanjakbey of Ankara and by 1511 he was beylerbey (general governor) of Anatolia, the Ottoman heartland. In the Ottoman succession crisis between Prince Selim and Prince Ahmed, his support to Prince Selim was a key factor in his victory as he had great influence over the Janissary troops. When Prince Ahmed tried to enter the Ottoman capital on September 1511, the Janissaries revolted and removed all his supporters from positions of power. In the civil war which followed, Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha was a frontline commander in all major battles and played a key role in the victory at Yenisehir. His troops forced Prince Ahmed into a trap and defeated him. Ahmed Pasha may have personally captured him after the battle. Contemporary reports which possibly refer to him mention that Prince Ahmed was found by a general whom he tried to bribe unsuccessfully. After Ahmed’s defeat, Selim secured his position as the new Sultan.

By the summer of 1513, Ahmed Pasha rose to the rank of vizier (minister in the Sultan's council) and was a head negotiator for a new peace treaty with Venice. Soon the Sultan launched a new grand campaign against the Safavids of Iran. Reports from contemporaries of Ahmed Pasha who had personal communication with him show that he was among the generals who were against the campaign as they considered that it would cost many lives. When the campaign started in 1514, Dukaginzade Ahmed had the command of 20,000 feudal knights. At the Battle of Chaldiran which decided the campaign, he was on the front line next to Selim I with the other viziers. The Ottomans won the battle and most of the Safavid army was destroyed. Ahmed Pasha after the battle was tasked with entering the Safavid capital and obtain its surrender.

No general wanted to continue the campaign after Chaldiran and Selim I was forced to stop for the winter in Amasya. The army was on the brink of revolt but with the intervention of Ahmed Pasha who rewarded them generously and had their respect, riots were averted. As Selim was furious with him and other generals for stopping the campaign, Ahmed Pasha was dismissed as a vizier. The traditional Ottoman way of doing so was by cutting down the crest of the general banner from his tent. When the Janissaries saw this action (28 October 1514), they immediately revolted and the situation became worse because there were rumors that Selim wanted to assassinate him. Under threat of generalized revolt, Selim I was forced to reinstate Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha and promote him to the highest office in the empire, that of the Grand Vizier at the end of 1514. In February 1515, another Janissary revolt erupted and it seems that Selim I had targetted Ahmed Pasha because the troops sacked the residences of Selim's high-ranking supporters. Ahmed Pasha was blamed for organizing a conspiracy against him and Selim I finally executed him on March 1515. When his execution became known in Albania, riots erupted across major cities: Kruja, Shkodra and Lezha, the old centre of the Dukagjini family.

Ahmed Pasha’s building works in Prizren were continued by his descendants and culminated in the massive construction project of his great-grandson Dukaginzade Gazi Mehmed Pasha, who built what is now known as the League of Prizren Complex.

Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha

Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha was governor of many provinces in the Ottoman Empire and undertook the massive construction project the Al-Adiliyah Mosque complex in his home base in Aleppo, Syria. Ottoman historian Mehmed Süreyya who studied meticulously primary sources of his era, describes him as a man "who was very charitable and generous and very close to religion".

He was the son of Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha and Gevherşah Sultan, grand-daughter of Sultan Bayezid II. His maternal grandfather was Guveyi Arnavut ("the Albanian") Sinan Pasha, beylerbey of Anatolia. His career spanned the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent. He was governor (beylerbey) of Karaman where he built a mosque in Erigli, Konya. It's been listed as one of the works of the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan.

Dukaginzade Mehmed Pasha became governor of Aleppo on October 14, 1550. His waqf in Aleppo in his era was known as "Mehmed Paşa bin Ahmed Paşa bin Dukakin Vakfı" (waqf of Mehmed Pasha, son of Ahmed Pasha, son of Dukakin" in Ottoman Turkish. Dukakin and derivatives Dukakinzade and Dukakinoglu are alternative spellings which became more frequently used since Mehmed Pasha's era. His most prestigious construction project in the city is the Al-Adiliyah Mosque complex, designed by Mimar Sinan. The complex had five inns, five markets (bazaar) and two public baths among other buildings to serve the people of one of the largest districts of the city. Mehmed Pasha gave large amounts to charity and designated that if his family eventually had no heirs to manage his foundation, its management would pass to freed slaves and their descendants.

Mehmed Pasha's mother is buried in the Al-Adiliyah complex. She died in Aleppo in 1552 as she was returning from her pilgrimage in Mecca. The complex was completed 1565-66, many years after his death. His descendants placed an inscription on the front entrance of the mosque in 1567 as an honour to the memory of Mehmed Pasha. Evliya Çelebi, the great Ottoman chronicler of the 17th century, writes that the family graveyard of the Dukaginzade was located on the site of the complex.

From early 1554 to February 1556, he was governor of Egypt. He died on January 21, 1557. According to an anecdotal story, repeated in some modern sources, he was executed in 1546 in Egypt. This story is false. His grave has been recorded as a design by Mimar Sinan in Eyüp District, Istanbul. A Dukaginzade mausoleum complex exists in Eyüp, but his tomb is not part of the complex. Two of his children are buried on its grounds: Ahmed Bey and Nislishah Sultan.

Dukaginzade Mehmed was married to Ottoman Princess Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Selim I. They had four children: Ahmed, Osman, Hasan and Nislishah Sultan. Dukaginzade Ahmed Bey, who was also known as Sultanzade because his mother stemmed from the Ottoman Imperial House, was governor of Razgrad in northern Bulgaria and supported the migration of Albanian Christian farmers and merchants in the area. He continued to be involved with the waqf of the Dukagjini family in Prizren. In ottoman literature, Dukaginzade Ahmed Bey is known as one of the main representatives of Sufi poetry which flourished in the empire in the 16th century. His son Dukaginzade Gazi Mehmed Pasha was sanjakbey of Shkodra (1570-1571). He endowed the building of the Bajrakli Mosque and its complex, where the League of Prizren Museum stands today. His türbe (mausoleum) was built on the grounds of the mosque, but he wasn't buried in Prizren as he died on campaign in Hungary.