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'''George Castriot''' ({{lang-sq|Gjergj Kastrioti}}); 1405–17 January 1468), known as '''Skanderbeg''' ({{lang-sq|Skënderbej/Skënderbeu}} from {{lang-tr|İskender Bey}}), was a 15th-century [[Albanians|Albanian]] [[warrior]] and [[Albanian nobility|nobleman]] of Serbian
A member of the noble [[Kastrioti family]], he was sent as a political hostage to the Ottoman court, where he was educated and entered the service of the Ottoman sultan for the next twenty years. He rose through the ranks, culminating in the appointment as ''[[sanjakbey]]'' (governor) of the [[Sanjak of Dibra]] in 1440. In 1443, he deserted the Ottomans during the [[Battle of Niš (1443)|Battle of Niš]] and became the ruler of [[Krujë]], [[Svetigrad]], and [[Modrič, Struga|Modrič]]. In 1444, he was appointed the chief commander of the short-lived [[League of Lezhë]] that consolidated nobility throughout what is today Albania. Despite his military valor he was not able to do more than to hold his own possessions within the very small area in northern Albania where almost all of his victories against the Ottomans took place.<ref name="Pitcher1972">{{cite book|author=Donald Edgar Pitcher|title=An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8gs4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA88|year=1972|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=88|id=GGKEY:4CFA3RCNXRP |quote=Yet in spite of this brilliance in the field, Castriota could do no more than hold his own; reference to the map will show that apart from the Uskiip campaign all these victories took place within the very narrow area of North Albania. ... Nor did the constant victories rob the Ottomans of the territory they held in southern Albania.}}</ref> [[Skanderbeg's rebellion]] was not a general [[uprising]] of Albanians, due to the fact that he did not gain support in the Ottoman-controlled south or [[Albania Veneta|Venetian-controlled north]]. His followers included, apart from [[Albanians]], also [[South Slavs|Slavs]], [[Vlachs]], and [[Greeks]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schmitt|2012|p=55}}{{quote|<!-- Skanderbeg führte keinen allgemeinalbanischen Aufstand an, da der Süden Albaniens, dessen Erhebung die Osmanen 1436 unterdrückt hatten, weitgehend ruhig blieb. Ebenso wenig schlossen sich ihm die osmanischen Städte des Südens und die venezianischen Städte des Nordens an. Skanderbeg erhielt Unterstützung von den Verlierern der osmanischen Eroberung, großen Familien, die ihr Land wiedergewinnen, Bergbewohnern, die dem Sultan keine Steuern zahlen und keine osmanischen Richter hin— nehmen wollten; --> in seiner Gefolgschaft fanden sich neben Albanern auch Slawen, Griechen und Vlachen.}}</ref> For 25 years, from 1443 to 1468, Skanderbeg's 10,000 man army marched through Ottoman territory winning against consistently larger and better supplied Ottoman forces,<ref>{{Cite book|title = The later Crusades, 1274-1580: from Lyons to Alcazar|last = Housley|first = Norman|publisher = Oxford university press|year = |isbn = 978-0-19-822136-4|location = |pages = 90|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JQP2F2q9xDkC&hl=en}}</ref> for which he was admired for.<ref name=Frazee>{{harvnb|Frazee|2006|p=33}}</ref>
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