1444

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 48. Chapters: 1444 births, 1444 deaths, 1444 disestablishments, 1444 establishments, 1444 in Europe, 1444 in law, Conflicts in 1444, Leonardo Bruni, Wladyslaw III of Poland, Battle of Varna, League of Lezhë, Macarius of Unzha, Peace of Szeged, Bernardino of Siena, Battle of Torvioll, Nilakantha Somayaji, Joseph Albo, Principality of Kastrioti, Antonio de Ferraris, Crusade of Varna, Princedom of Albania, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, Gaspar da Gama, Simeon ben Zemah Duran, Donato Bramante, Mark of Ephesus, Robert Campin, Principality of Dukagjini, Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk, State of Arianiti, Diego Deza, Charlotte of Cyprus, Julian Cesarini, Konrad VIII the Younger, Charbhuja, Niccolò Piccinino, Louis de Culant, Jean Capréolus, Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs, John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, Isabella of Brittany, List of state leaders in 1444, Stephen III Báthory, Niccolò Fortebraccio, Francesco I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua, John Woodville, Oddantonio da Montefeltro, Martin Gouge, Henriette, Countess of Montbéliard, Pietro Delfino, Gaston of Foix, Prince of Viana, Felino Maria Sandeo, Long campaign, William Wells, Muhammad Shah of Malacca, Guo Chun, Barbara Manfredi, Fazio Cardano, Margaret of Cleves, Duchess of Bavaria-Munich, Mori Toyomoto, Giovanni Cavalcanti, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Marie of Brittany, Viscountess of Rohan. Excerpt: The League of Lezhë (2 March 1444 - 25 April 1479) was the union of small Albanian Principalities, created in Lezhë in 2 March 1444. The league was led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg and after his death by Lekë Dukagjini. Skanderbeg organized a meeting of Albanian nobles, the Arianiti, Dukagjini, Spani, Thopia, Muzaka, and the leaders of the free Albanian principalities from the high mountains, in the town of Lezhë, where the nobles agreed to fight together for mutual gain against the common Turkish enemy and they voted Skanderbeg as their suzerain chief. The League of Lezhë was a confederation and each principality kept its sovereignty. After the collapse of Stefan Dushan empire of 1355 in Albania, different local Albanian noblemen created their own dominions. Just like in other parts of Europe when Ottoman forces entered in Albania they found only small principalities in vicious fight against each other. The first organised resistance against the Ottoman forces was that of Balsha II in the battle of Savra (18 September 1385) when Albanian forces were defeated and Balsha II himself was killed. Other Albanian noblemes like Gjergj II Balsha, Theodor II Muzaka, Dhimiter Jonima, Zaharia Gropa and others with their forces participated in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. In the 15th century the Ottoman Empire began establishing its dominion in the Balkans. No major resistance was offered by local Christian nobles at that period. Many of them were still fighting each other and didn't see the advance of Ottoman forces as a threat to their power. The Ottoman Empire's advance was also facilitated by their policy. Usually when the Turkish forces conquered a territory they either eliminated or coopted the native nobility, thus depriving the population of its natural leaders. Although a civil war broke out between Bayezid I sons', during 1402-1413, none of the Christian forces of the Balkans in that time seized the opportunity to do so, in the contrary Serbs and Hungarians even he