League of Lezhë

The League of Lezhë (Albanian: Lidhja e Lezhës), also commonly referred to as the Albanian League (Albanian: Lidhja Arbërore), was a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created in the city of Lezhë on 2 March 1444. The League of Lezhë is considered the first unified independent Albanian country in the Middle ages, with Skanderbeg as leader of the regional Albanian chieftains and nobles united against the Ottoman Empire until his death in 1468, and then Lekë III Dukagjini led the army and resisted the Ottomans until 1479 when the Ottomans captured Shkodra. Skanderbeg was proclaimed "Chief of the League of the Albanian People," while Skanderbeg always signed himself as "Dominus Albaniae" (Albanian: Zot i Arbërisë, English: Lord of Albania).

At the assembly of Lezhë in 2 March 1444, members from the families Kastrioti, Arianiti, Zaharia, Muzaka, Spani, Thopia, Balsha and Crnojević, which were linked matrilineally or via marriage to the Kastrioti, were present. The members contributed to the league with men and money while maintaining control of the internal affairs of their domains. Soon after its creation, the pro-Venetian Balsha and Crnojevići left the league in the events that led to the Albanian–Venetian War (1447–48). The peace treaty of the Albanian-Venetian war signed on October 4, 1448, is the first diplomatic document on which the league appears as an independent entity. Barleti referred to the meeting as the generalis concilium or universum concilium ("general council" or "whole council"); the term "League of Lezhë" was coined by subsequent historians.