Albanian Revolt of 1432–1436

Albanian revolt of 1432–36

A map of the military activities during the Albanian Revolt of 1432–6

Date	1432–1436
Location	Ottoman Albania
Result	Ottoman victory, restoration of Ottoman rule

Belligerents

Albanian rebels

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Gjergj Arianiti
Andrea Thopia
Depë Zenebishi
Nicholas Dukagjini

Sinan Pasha
Turahan Bey
Ali Bey
Ishak Bey

The Albanian revolt of 1432–36 was a series of conflicts between Albanian rebels and the Ottoman Empire during the early period of Ottoman rule in the region. Prompted by the replacement of large parts of the local nobility with Ottoman landowners, centralized governance and the Ottoman taxation system, the population and the nobles, led principally by Gjergj Arianiti, revolted against the Ottomans.

During the early phases of the revolt, many land (timar) holders were killed or expelled. As it spread, the nobles, whose holdings had been annexed by the Ottomans returned to join the revolt and attempts to form alliances with the Holy Roman Empire were initiated. While the leaders of the revolt were successful in defeating successive Ottoman campaigns, they failed to capture many important towns of the sanjak of Albania. Protracted sieges like that of Gjirokastër, capital of the sanjak, gave the Ottoman army time to assemble large forces from other parts of the empire and to subdue the main revolt by the end of 1436. Ottoman forces conducted a number of massacres in the aftermath of the revolt.

After the revolt had largely been suppressed, those who accepted Ottoman suzerainty were initially allowed to retain their holdings and partial autonomy. Many timars were also granted to local Albanians holding high posts of the administration, especially during the rule of Jakub Muzaka and Skanderbeg. Throughout the pacification process, various primarily rural areas were still in revolt and new rebellions erupted, like that of Teodor Korona Muzaka in 1437. As the empire further extended its area of rule in the Balkans, centralization attempts and the replacement of local timar holders with Ottoman landowners resumed. These policies would lead in part to the formation of the League of Lezhë under Skanderbeg in 1444, and a new era in the Ottoman–Albanian wars.

Gradually in the late 14th and early 15th century the Ottoman Empire defeated local Albanian principalities, forming the sanjak of Albania as an administrative division of the empire. As part of the Timar system the local feudal lords were largely replaced with Ottomans from Anatolia. The cadastral survey (defter) of 1431–1432 indicates that about 75% to 80% of the timars were granted to Ottoman Muslim spahis (feudal cavalry), while the remainder and especially remote areas, which were not under full Ottoman control, were granted to Albanian spahis, both Christian and Muslim. The replacement of the existing nobility with the timar system led to conflicts, as a result of which many rural areas were not under complete Ottoman rule.

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