Skanderbeg
George Castriot, commonly known as Skanderbeg (from Turkish: İskender Bey; Albanian: Skënderbej or Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu; 1405 – 17 January 1468), was a 15th-century Albanian warrior and nobleman.
Skanderbeg was born in 1405 to the noble Kastrioti (or Castriota) family. Sultan Murad II took him hostage at a young age and he served the Ottoman Empire during the next twenty years. He was appointed as sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Dibra by the Ottomans in 1440. In 1443, he deserted the Ottomans during the Battle of Niš and became the ruler of Krujë, Svetigrad, and Modrič. In 1444, he was appointed as a commander of the short-lived League of Lezhë, which proclaimed him "Chief of the League of the Albanian people". He was admired for defending the region of Albania against the Ottoman Empire for 25 years. 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.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 of Albania or Venetian-controlled north of Albania. His followers, along with Albanians, included Slavs, Vlachs, and Greeks. 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.