Translated by: Luket Hasaj
This is the letter that Skanderbeg sent in response to the Prince of Taranto, Giovanni Antonio Orsini, which we are bringing here with a new translation from the Latin text found in “Illyricum Sacrum” VII, p. 424, Episcopi Crojenses – Antonius Episc. Crojensis V. (Bishops of Kruja – Antonius the Fifth Bishop of Kruja), which the author has taken from lib. 6 of Pius II’s “Commentarii”:
“Gjergji, lord of Arbëria, sends greetings to Giovanni Antonio
the prince of Taranto.
Having reached a truce with the enemy of religion [Christianity], I did not want my friend to be deceived about my help. Alfonso often, when I was in danger, sent me help against the Turks. I would be ungrateful if I did not reward my son. I remind you that he was your king. And why does not the son take the place of the father for you? You have worshipped his father and now you seek to overthrow the son? Whence comes this authority from you? Who has the right to appoint the kings of Sicily, you or the Pope of Rome? I have come to help the king’s son, Ferdinand, proclaimed king by the Apostolic See, against your infidelity and the countless betrayals of the nobility of this kingdom. You will pay the broken oath and will not always break his oath with impunity.
This is the cause of my war with you. In this case I am no less worthy than when I attack the Turks, because you are no better than the Turks; and there are those who rightly think that you belong to no sect. You set before me the Franks and the names of the Gauls who waged great wars for religion; I do not want to argue with you about ancient events, which were perhaps much smaller than their voice that took the goat.
One thing is certain: in our time the Aragonese fleet has often sailed across the Aegean Sea, devastated the Turkish coasts, and taken much booty from the enemy. The Turks once feared the Aragonese; and Troy, in the mouths of its enemies, is defended to this day by the arms of the Aragonese. Why do you remind me of old things and leave aside the new? The customs of families change, and farmers become kings and kings farmers; and you cannot find nobility that lasts longer than virtue. I know that you were once the most furious enemy of the Gauls (French), because Alfonso expelled them mainly with your help. I do not know what new manhood has come to light. Perhaps you have admired some new star that has risen among the Gauls? Then you despise our tribe and call the Arbri sheep. As is your custom, you speak with contempt and seem to not know the origins of our tribe.
Our ancestors were the Epirotes, from whom came that Pyrrhus, whose attack the Romans could hardly withstand and who conquered Taranto and many other places in Italy with arms. You cannot put against the Epirotes, brave men, the Tarantines, this rotten breed of people, born only to catch small fish. If you say that Arbëria is part of Macedonia, you admit that our ancestors were much nobler, who under Alexander [the Great] reached India, defeating all the peoples who came before them with unprecedented success.
From them originate these people whom you call sheep. If we are sheep and the nature of things has not changed, why do you people flee before cattle? In recent days it has been tried many times whether the Arbërorët or the Puljezë cattle were; and I have not yet met any [your soldier] who can endure my face. I have seen for beauty how armed are the backs of your soldiers, but I have not yet been able to see any armor, nor do I recognize the face of any, except those whom I have bound with fetters. I am not seeking your homeland, for mine is enough for me. But, seeing that you have often driven the generous neighbors from their estates, I am trying so that you cannot expel the king and, as your mind is filled with injustice, seize the kingdom.
If I die and am buried in this work, as you foretold, yet my soul will receive the reward from God, the Ruler of all things, for the noble deed I have conceived and undertaken, even if it is not fully accomplished. Be well.”
Source
George Castrioti Scanderbeg (1405-1468) Written in January 2018 by Agron Elezi. p.7
https://www.academia.edu/68396490/George_Castrioti_Scanderbeg_essay
