Chandra Prakash Bhongir, Civil Engr, May04 - Repositories

iography of Scanderbeg under three different names. 9 Since Lavardin was a protestant, it
would have been difficult for him to publish the same work in a Catholic country, hence
Petrovich suggested, he changed names in order to facilitate publication. The problem
with the publication in 1604 is the lack of a sponsorship. There exist no documents which
show Lavardin’s permission to publish the book, nor is there any permission given by the
state administration. This has led many scholars to conclude that perhaps the book was
not an original but a copy of the original text. Unlike the other two publications which
contain Scanderbeg’s portrait, the publication of 1604 does not contain any portraits. In
this publication however, Lavardin made extensive use of Marin Barleti’s work. In fact
he used most of Barleti’s description when he wrote about the Ottoman siege to the
fortress of Shkodra. Based on Lavardin’s extensive use of Barleti’s work, many historians
concluded that his biography of Scanderbeg was a loose translation of Barleti’s work. 10
A century passed before another historian critically examined Scanderbeg’s life
and legacy. Apart from the works of Barleti, Antivarino and Lavardin. Giammaria
Biemmi, an Italian priest, published in 1742 his history of Scanderbeg. 11 In his book
Biemmi claimed that his history of Scanderbeg surpassed those written by Barleti and
9 Pétrovitch, Georges T., Scanderbeg (Georges Castriota). Essai de bibliographie raisonnée.
Ouvrages sur Scanderbeg écrits en langues française, anglaise, allemande, latine, italienne, espagnole,
portugaise, suédoise, et grecque, et publiées depuis l'invention de l'imprimerie jusqu'à nos jours,
( Amsterdam, B. R. Grüner, 1972): 34,38.
10 Ibid., 153. Albanian historians of Scanderbeg such as Fan Noli, Jup Kastrati and Kasem Bicoku
agree with Georges Petrovitch’s view that most Lavardin’s biography of Scanderbeg is a translation of
Marin Barleti’s text. Noli, Fan S., George Castrioti Scanderbegh, (New York: International Universities
Press, 1947.) and Bicoku, Kasem and Jup Kastrati eds, Gjergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu: Bibliografi1454-1835,
(Tirane: Biblioteka Kombetare, 1997.)
11 Biemmi Giammaria, Istoria di Giorgio Castrioto detto Scanderbegh, (Brescia: Dalle Stampe di
Giam-Batista Bossino, 1742).
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