Arbëresh

The Arbëresh are Albanian alive since the end of the Moyen-âge in the south of the Italy. They were established there with 15th and 16th centuries, fleeing the Othoman occupation , starting from the death of the Albanian hero Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg.

A second group of emigrants of the area of Himarë (southern of Albania) joined them after the massacre of 6000 Albanians who had refused to convert with the Islam, by Ali Pasha Tepelena. This group was established mainly in Hora E Arbëreshëvet (Piana degli Italian Albanesi in ) and Sëndahstina (Santa Cristina Gela).

Arbëresh have preserved for this time a strong Albanian identity. They speak an Albanian dialect, however more influenced by Italian than current Albanian. Contrary in the majority of the Albanians who converted with Islam, Arbëresh are mainly Orthodoxes and catholic. They indicate themselves their group by the term of Arbëria .

Since the 15th century, the migrations of Albania towards Italy and the Sicily continued, and there is now Albanian a significant share of the Kosovo in the communities arbëresh, in particular in Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily.

Villages

The villages arbëresh have often two names, one in Italian and the other in Albanian, used by the inhabitants of the village. The villages arbëresh are divided into small islands in the south of Italie :

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Language

The language of Arbëresh is the arbërisht, an alternative of the Tosque.

No political authority, administrative or cultural structure represents the community arbëresh.

The language is not recognized officially, is not used in the administration (excluded in the villages of Hora E Arbëreshëvet in Sicily and Katundi in Calabria) and in the schools (except some cribs, and in-outside normal course). Some associations try to protect their culture, primarily in the province of Cosenza. The arbërisht is used on some private radios and by some publications. The organic laws of Weakens, Basilicate and of Calabria refer to the language and the culture of Arbëresh, but Arbëresh always estimate that their culture is threatened. However, the increase in the efforts for the use with the writing of the arbërisht gives some hope to make survive this culture.

The arbërisht is not a dialect of the Italian , but of the Albanian ( shqip ).

It presents an private interest, because it preserved the pronunciation, the Grammaire and the Vocabulaire of Albania pre-Othoman. In fact, the arbërisht is the name which was given to the language used in Albania before the Othoman annexation, at the 16th century, the area being called Arbërie. A albanophone reading or hearing the arbërisht is in the same situation as a modern French-speaking person reading or hearing French of Rabelais.

History

Arbëresh in Greece

Before the Othoman invasion of the Albania, the Albanians were called Arbëresh. Close to 300  000 of them left Albania and were established in Italy: these Albanians born in Italy continued to indicate themselves by Arbëresh, whereas those which had remained in Albania took the name of Shqiptarë (the Albanian word shqip is present in the Albanian name of the country and the Albanian language).

Arbëresh lived in Épire and in the mountains of Pinde, in the north of the modern Greece. They went down from the people proto-Albanian divided in the west of the Balkans (see Arvanites). 11th at the 14th centuries, the Arbëresh tribes move by small groups in the center and the south of Greece (Thessalie, Isthme of Corinth, Peloponnese, Attique). Their military efficiencies make of them the Mercenaire S favorites of the Serbes, the Francs, the Catalans and the Byzantine Empire.

First Arbëresh of Italy

The conquest of Greece by the Othoman Turks at the 15th century forces Arbëresh to emigrate in the south of Italy. In 1448, when Alphonse V of Aragon, known as Magnanime , (1396-1458) and king de Naples, wants to subdue a rebellion of its vassal south of the Italy, it calls upon its ally, Gjergj Kastrioti I Krujës, known as " Skanderbeg ", chief of Albanian Alliance. Several clans Arbëresh and Albanian are used to fight the rebellion. In reward, Alphonse V gives them grounds in the province of Catanzaro.

In 1450, other Arbëresh intervene in Sicily, and are established near Palermo. Thus, they contribute to the creation of the Royaume of Deux-Siciles.

At the time of the War of succession of Naples, Ferdinand d' Aragon called again upon Arbëresh against the Franco-Italian armies, and Skanderbeg unloads in 1461 with Brindisi. After having gained a complete victory, Arbëresh accept new grounds in the Pouilles. Skanderbeg turns over to organize resistance to the Turks to him, who make the conquest of Albania of 1468 to 1492. A big part of Arbëresh emigrate in Italy, where the kingdom of Naples grants other villages to them.

Other waves of emigration

Arbëresh of central Greece form other waves of emigration, of 1500 with 1534. Employed as mercenaries by Venice, they must evacuate their colonies of the Peloponnese, under the protection of the armies of the Germanic emperor Charles V, when the Turks invade the area. Charles V installs them in the south of Italy, to reinforce defenses against the Turkish threat. Established in insolated villages (what enables them to maintain their culture until the 20th century), Arbëresh traditionally provide soldiers to kings de Naples and to the republic of Venice, wars of religion to the Guerres of the French Revolution.

A later wave of Arbëresh emigrants took place at the 18th century, when a group of Himariots (of the village of Himarë close to Sarandë in the south of Albania) flee a massacre directed by Ali Pasha Tepelena, who carries out 6000 Albanian Christians refusing to convert with Islam. These Brinjat , or refugees, were established with Hora E Arbëreshëvet (Piana degli Albanesi) and then founded the village of Sëndahstina (Santa Cristina Gela).

The waves of migrations of Italy of the South towards America of years 1900-1910 emptied the Arbëresh villages of half of their population, causing a risk of cultural disappearance, in spite of a beginning of artistic and cultural revival with the 19th century.

Since about fifteen years, the Kosovan ones and of the Albanians settled in the Arbëresh villages. Important differences exist between Arbëresh and the new migrants, but there exists resemblances sufficient so that they are challenged by “Na Jemi Kushërirë, Gjaku jin I shprishur” ( we are cousins, our blood was dispersed ). Their integration is generally easy (mainly in Barile), and at the time of the crisis of Kosovo, Arbëresh were mobilized for the refugees.

Many streets of the Arbëresh villages are baptized Via Giorgio Castriota , in the honor of Skanderbeg.

See too

External bonds

  • http://www.arbitalia.it/
  • http://www.mondoarberesco.it
  • http://www.pianalbanesi.it
  • http://www.jemi.it Jemi is the biggest Arbëresh community one the Web (Italian, English and Spanish)
  • http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/ita/comuni/pa/pianadeglialbanesi/pianadeglialbanesi.html
  • Central Studi Genealogia Arbëreshe site of genealogical specialized in Arbëresh of Cosenza in Calabria.

With reading

  • Alain Ducellier and alii . ways of the exile . Upheaval of the European East and migrations towards the West at the end of the Middle Ages . Paris: Armand Colin, 1992.

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