Skanderbeg Quotes (1405-1468)

“Land of Albania! where Iskander rose, Theme of the young, and beacon of the wise, And he his namesake, whose oft-baffled foes Shrunk from his deeds of chivalrous emprize”

“[Skanderbeg is] an unshakable dam [who] stopped the fury of the Turkish tide and prevented it from overrunning Christian Europe.”

“His manners were popular; but his discipline was severe; and every superfluous vice was banished from his camp: his example strengthened his command; and under his conduct, the Albanians were invincible in their own opinion and that of their enemies. The bravest adventurers of France and Germany were allured by his fame and retained in his service: his standing militia consisted of eight thousand horse and seven thousand foot; the horses were small, the men were active: but he viewed with a discerning eye the difficulties and resources of the mountains; and, at the blaze of the beacons, the whole nation was distributed in the strongest posts. With such unequal arms, Scanderbeg resisted twenty-three years the powers of the Ottoman empire; and two conquerors, Amurath the second, and his greater son, were repeatedly baffled by a rebel, whom they pursued with seeming contempt and implacable resentment.”

“If Skanderbeg had not been born, I would have long since put a turban on the head of the pope and the crescent moon on the top of St Peter's. Finally Europe and Asia are mine. Woe to Christianity. It has lost its sword and shield.”