(this inside this parentheses was added after editing the post:
The first undisputed mention of Albanians in the historical record is attested in Byzantine source for the first time in 1079–1080, in a work titled History by Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates. He says that the Arbanitai are subjects of the duke of Dyrrachium.
you can find the full book here free: scribd(dot)com/document/359431134/Michael-Attaleiates-The-History-1034-to-1079 )
Albanians have without doubt existed and were part of the byzantines. While it is true that albanian coutries have not been formed during this time frame, CK3 ends at the year 1453 and at no point in the game will the albanian culture appear, which is increadibly insulting. The culture and the people have always been there and further down I have actual evidence that they were there prior to the game ending date. and also there were definitely counties and duchies (in regards to the game mechanics) with albanian lords during the timespan of the game.
BEAR WITH ME i linked historical documents made in western europe to claim my statements. i chose only stuff written outside of the balkans because the greeks are hellbent on claiming parts of our shared history as only theirs and us albanians do the same to a lesser degree.
first and foremost albanian (which was called arbereshë until the more recent history) culture existed in the balkan wihout doubt. the albanians were located in the middle of the split of the roman empire and thus albanians were split in catholics and orthodox albanians. Most albanians of the time had thus catholic and orthodox names. Also! a lot of albanian names have been greekified during the last 200 years, and many historical figures have thus been claimed by the greeks. when it comes to the christian names then the albanians would probably be named the same as the greeks.
we still to this day use names that the rest of the world sees as greek because they claimed them first and wont share them with us.
examples are: omer (homerus), tanos (thanos), Dhimiter, vasil, anastas etc etc. we use these because a lot of albanians are still orthodox and/or have orthodox ancestry.
one name used in the game as a greek name is (by origin) actually not even greek. It is the name Bardas. Many historical figures in the byzantine empire were named Bardas, wheter they were hellens or not cannot be proven however this name has no meaning in greek and is most likely derived from the illyrian name barhylis --> bard --> bardas. (the short version 'bard' is used by albanians still today) (it sure as hell is greek today though) I believe this also stands to prove that they lived together as byzantine citizens and shared names with each other/had similar names.
second our national hero Skenderbeg was born in 1405 and the game continues until 1453. he was not the first albanian to exist... at the time of his life there were many (well documented) albanian lords. The albanians were even the primary ethnicity in epirus and further south at that time, which is why skenderbeg, a born catholic, had one of his titles as King of Epirus. Epirus at this time was mostly orthodox but many of the lords and soldiers gathered under his banner. (the lords also converted to catholicism in support of Skenderbeg)
furthermore Skenderbeg has a quote that you can read in latin at the national museum in krujë where he adresses prince giovanni of taranto where he says "our ancestors were the epirotes from whence pyrrhus himself came forth". His father and his father before him were all lords who had lived in those lands for many hundreds of years. This quote is more easily accessible in the book named:
The 'Commentaries' of Pope Pius II (1458-1464) and the Crisis of the Fifteenth-Century Papacy (Toronto Italian Studies)
there is a section named: scanderbeg's letter to prince giovanni of taronto and the quote is quite famous so you dont need to buy the book to find it.
this also proves that the people, culture and language had existed in the very same place for a long time before the birth of skenderbeg. This meaning that the albanian culture was present very well hundreds of years before the 15th century.
lastly the word greek was for many hundred years synonymous with being orthodox. this means that every albanian that was orthodox were counted as greeks. if you look at consensuses from the ottoman empire you will see that in many places they have counted greek as a religion and then hellenic sepparately as a culture and in many towns there will be for example 100 000 hellens but 300 000 greeks. There are a lot of theese.
here is one: search Janina_Vilayet on wikipedia and scroll to the bottom. look at the statistics and the sources they came from.
(obs since last i checked someone has actually overwritten the work greek with orthodox but the sources are still applicable)
Nußberger Angelika; Wolfgang Stoppel (2001), Minderheitenschutz im östlichen Europa (Albanien) (see attached link)
scientific paper from köhln were they write that all orthodox cristians were considered greeks and all muslims were considered turks. It is in german but you can find it in page 8 at the end of the first paragraph of page 8.
conclusion: I highly recommend that, for historical accuracy, the albanian culture is added in dyrachion and epirus at least for the 1077 start option. A suggestion would even be to but them under the same sub culture. maybe under pelgasians or something i dont know what to call it. Our culture are however almost identical, or they were at least by that time. today there is a difference of religion and that albanians have kept their ancient traditions while greeks have not.
if you need a follow up message from me i can even prove with cultural traditions that some albanians still to this day follow old traditions mentioned in some ancient greek texts and even in the illiyad. there are also festive traditions in some albanian parts that are done in the same ways as mycenaeans did in and prior to the 13th century.
the one im talking about specifically survived in kosovo only due to the albanina communism destorying a lot of stuff in albania.
you can get a close understanding if you just google image search "wedding in kosovo village" and "head of sphinx mycene" which is a painted mycenaean female head. it was also used historically in greece as a wedding tradition. the myceaneans would paint their faces white and draw stars on the cheeks and chin. in a certain village in kosovo this is still done
both the greeks and us albanians believe we came from the stars which is why i said we could be in the same sub culture.
The first undisputed mention of Albanians in the historical record is attested in Byzantine source for the first time in 1079–1080, in a work titled History by Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates. He says that the Arbanitai are subjects of the duke of Dyrrachium.
you can find the full book here free: scribd(dot)com/document/359431134/Michael-Attaleiates-The-History-1034-to-1079 )
Albanians have without doubt existed and were part of the byzantines. While it is true that albanian coutries have not been formed during this time frame, CK3 ends at the year 1453 and at no point in the game will the albanian culture appear, which is increadibly insulting. The culture and the people have always been there and further down I have actual evidence that they were there prior to the game ending date. and also there were definitely counties and duchies (in regards to the game mechanics) with albanian lords during the timespan of the game.
BEAR WITH ME i linked historical documents made in western europe to claim my statements. i chose only stuff written outside of the balkans because the greeks are hellbent on claiming parts of our shared history as only theirs and us albanians do the same to a lesser degree.
first and foremost albanian (which was called arbereshë until the more recent history) culture existed in the balkan wihout doubt. the albanians were located in the middle of the split of the roman empire and thus albanians were split in catholics and orthodox albanians. Most albanians of the time had thus catholic and orthodox names. Also! a lot of albanian names have been greekified during the last 200 years, and many historical figures have thus been claimed by the greeks. when it comes to the christian names then the albanians would probably be named the same as the greeks.
we still to this day use names that the rest of the world sees as greek because they claimed them first and wont share them with us.
examples are: omer (homerus), tanos (thanos), Dhimiter, vasil, anastas etc etc. we use these because a lot of albanians are still orthodox and/or have orthodox ancestry.
one name used in the game as a greek name is (by origin) actually not even greek. It is the name Bardas. Many historical figures in the byzantine empire were named Bardas, wheter they were hellens or not cannot be proven however this name has no meaning in greek and is most likely derived from the illyrian name barhylis --> bard --> bardas. (the short version 'bard' is used by albanians still today) (it sure as hell is greek today though) I believe this also stands to prove that they lived together as byzantine citizens and shared names with each other/had similar names.
second our national hero Skenderbeg was born in 1405 and the game continues until 1453. he was not the first albanian to exist... at the time of his life there were many (well documented) albanian lords. The albanians were even the primary ethnicity in epirus and further south at that time, which is why skenderbeg, a born catholic, had one of his titles as King of Epirus. Epirus at this time was mostly orthodox but many of the lords and soldiers gathered under his banner. (the lords also converted to catholicism in support of Skenderbeg)
furthermore Skenderbeg has a quote that you can read in latin at the national museum in krujë where he adresses prince giovanni of taranto where he says "our ancestors were the epirotes from whence pyrrhus himself came forth". His father and his father before him were all lords who had lived in those lands for many hundreds of years. This quote is more easily accessible in the book named:
The 'Commentaries' of Pope Pius II (1458-1464) and the Crisis of the Fifteenth-Century Papacy (Toronto Italian Studies)
there is a section named: scanderbeg's letter to prince giovanni of taronto and the quote is quite famous so you dont need to buy the book to find it.
this also proves that the people, culture and language had existed in the very same place for a long time before the birth of skenderbeg. This meaning that the albanian culture was present very well hundreds of years before the 15th century.
lastly the word greek was for many hundred years synonymous with being orthodox. this means that every albanian that was orthodox were counted as greeks. if you look at consensuses from the ottoman empire you will see that in many places they have counted greek as a religion and then hellenic sepparately as a culture and in many towns there will be for example 100 000 hellens but 300 000 greeks. There are a lot of theese.
here is one: search Janina_Vilayet on wikipedia and scroll to the bottom. look at the statistics and the sources they came from.
(obs since last i checked someone has actually overwritten the work greek with orthodox but the sources are still applicable)
Nußberger Angelika; Wolfgang Stoppel (2001), Minderheitenschutz im östlichen Europa (Albanien) (see attached link)
scientific paper from köhln were they write that all orthodox cristians were considered greeks and all muslims were considered turks. It is in german but you can find it in page 8 at the end of the first paragraph of page 8.
conclusion: I highly recommend that, for historical accuracy, the albanian culture is added in dyrachion and epirus at least for the 1077 start option. A suggestion would even be to but them under the same sub culture. maybe under pelgasians or something i dont know what to call it. Our culture are however almost identical, or they were at least by that time. today there is a difference of religion and that albanians have kept their ancient traditions while greeks have not.
if you need a follow up message from me i can even prove with cultural traditions that some albanians still to this day follow old traditions mentioned in some ancient greek texts and even in the illiyad. there are also festive traditions in some albanian parts that are done in the same ways as mycenaeans did in and prior to the 13th century.
the one im talking about specifically survived in kosovo only due to the albanina communism destorying a lot of stuff in albania.
you can get a close understanding if you just google image search "wedding in kosovo village" and "head of sphinx mycene" which is a painted mycenaean female head. it was also used historically in greece as a wedding tradition. the myceaneans would paint their faces white and draw stars on the cheeks and chin. in a certain village in kosovo this is still done
both the greeks and us albanians believe we came from the stars which is why i said we could be in the same sub culture.
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