Lekë Dukagjini (1410-1481) is an Albanian historical figure, contemporary of Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg, who fought against the Turks and is known for the code of law instituted in northern Albania and still applied today in some remote areas known as Kanuni.
Leke is though to have been born in Ulpiana near modern Prizren, Kosova in 1410. The County of Dukagjini had its center in Lezhë, and included Zadrima, the areas North and East-north Shkodra, and expanded far north up to the territories of what today constitutes Serbia, having as the second center the town of Ulpiana. Until he took over the ruling of his county from his father Pal in 1446, Lekë Dukagjini had gained an overall knowledge, inspired by the European Renaissance humanism, in towns such as Venice, Raguza and Shkodër; meanwhile Skenderbeg had done a very rapid and excellent military career in the court of Sultan Murad II.
Lekë was an Albanian prince that inherited his father's, Pal Dukagjini, princedom when he died in 1446. His lands stretched in the north and northeast of Shkodër, with Lezhë as its capital. They included lands in present-day Kosova, such as Zadrima and Ulpiana.
Lekë was educated in Venice and Shkodër. He led the League of Lezha in 1444. He fought side-by-side Skanderbeg against the Turks, but they also fought against each other at times. However Lekë continued to fight against the Ottoman Empire until his death in 1481, sometimes besides the Venetians with the blessing of the papacy.
Overshadowed by Skanderbeg, Lekë Dukagjini is most well known for the set of laws ruling the highlands of northern Albania, known as the Kanuni. While identifying Skenderbg as the dragon prince who dared to fight and always win against any foe; cronicles portrayed Lekë Dukagjini as the angel prince who, with dignity and wisdom, ensured the continuity of the Albanian identity. The set of laws was active in practice for a long time, but it was not gathered and codified until the late 19th century by Shtjefën Gjeçov. The most infamous laws of Kanuni are those regulating blood feuds. Blood feuds have started once again in lawless northern Albania after the fall of communism in the early 1990s, having been outlawed for many years during the regime.
BESA AND THE CODE OF LEK DUKAGJIN
Besa
While there may be a division in religious orthodoxy or in maintaining belief, there is no division among Albanians about the significance of "honor" and one's word.
Albania is known throughout the world as the pre-eminent country of revenge, with the blood feud a factor in the social life of the many remote mountain communities. The Albanian character is seen as a product of this world, with immense emphasis being put on personal loyalty and bravery, but with a common disregard for the requirements of the state legal system. (Pettifer 77)
The key to the Kanun is a man's "besa" or the significance of honor where a man's promise or word of honor "goes beyond the grave." This can be extended to say that the key to understanding Albania is the concept of "besa."
The folktale that is used to define "besa" relies on a young woman (Doruntine) who is to be married to a man who lives a great distance from her family. Her mother is not happy with this. She has a brother (Kostandin) who promises that should the mother ever want to see his sister he will escort her home. Shortly after the marriage he is killed in battle. In her grief, the mother bemoans the loss of the daughter as well. The young man leaves his grave to take his sister to visit her mother, thus fulfilling his "besa" promise.
If an Albanian gives you a besa pledge, you know that it can be counted upon! While the Kanun is mostly a northern code, and the blood revenge seems to not apply in the south today (except for those instances where participants have moved into the cities) the concept of "besa" has been universally maintained.
Customary Law
The Code of Lek Dukagjin is the body of "customary law" under which Albanians, particularly the northern clans, have conducted their lives. It is often misunderstood as the rules of the blood feuds; it is that, but also a great deal more. Not only did the Common Law provide enforceable legal mechanisms which ensured a relatively normal evolution of society and the normality of the economy, social and family relations, it also provided mechanisms for organizing local government and for the settlement of disputes.
The Dukagjini family were feudal rulers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with a domain from Zadrimi to the confluence of the Black and White Drin Rivers (now largely in Kosova). Lek Dukagjin was the Second "Lord of Dagno and Zadrima" (1410-1481); a Skanderbeg lieutenant who fled to Italy after the Turks finally took the area. Margaret Hasluk lived in Albania from 1926-1939, traveling extensively in the high mountain country. She identifies him as "an ancient law-giver of such eminence that what he said is still as sacred as Holy writ to the mountaineers of Mirditë and all the tribes to the north, including those unjustly incorporated in Yugoslavia in 1912-13". She goes on to describe Lek’s power as so strong that "overcoming every difficulty of geography and human obstructiveness, he used to convoke the mountain chiefs to parliament there [Lek set up his capital in Lesh] and after discussion promulgated his laws. No less a personage than Skanderbeg was among his deputies". She also reports that he fought on against the Turks after Skanderbeg’s death, surrendering "only when the Turks promised to respect the unwritten laws of the mountains" (Chapter 14-15; notes)
The British traveler and writer, Edith Durham, adds in her 1909 book,
of Lek himself little is known. His fame among the tribes that still bear his name far exceeds that of Skenderbeg, and the fog of mythology is thick round him. He has left no mark on European history-- is purely local influenced the people that "Lek said so" obtains far more obedience than the Ten Commandments. The teachings of Islam and of Christianity, the Sheriat and Church law, all have to yield to the Canon of Lek.
In fact this code (or kanun as the Turks called such a body of laws) is probably the result of rules that evolved over many years, perhaps centuries, before, during and even after his lifetime. There is also a very real possibility that he had nothing to do with it but it was named for the area in which it was developed and later "attached" to him. The fourteenth century, with the struggles against the Turkish expansion, was an era of fundamental changes in Albanian society, including the development of the clan system so well defined in the code. It was transmitted orally and arbitrated by a council of elders.
Syrja Pupovci wrote an introduction to the 1972 reprint of the Kanun in which he postulated, "the preservation of customary law was one of the most important elements in helping the Albanian people to maintain their individuality under Ottoman domination" (quoted in Vickers, Serb 21). Former Albanian Ambassador to London Pavli Qesku states, "the Albanians respect the law when the law is part of their own raison d’etre, when the law emerges as an intrinsic part of the Albanian community, as an inner requirement for an orderly life". He strongly suggests that it is the loss of the Kanun as the core of Albanian society that directly led to the chaos after the collapse of pyramid schemes.
Though summaries began to appear in the middle of the ninth century, the Kanun was largely unknown outside of Albania until Shtjefen Gjeçovi, a Franciscan priest, began collecting details in 1913. They were published, as Kanuni i Lek Dukagjinit, in 1931. As Gjeçovi wrote it down, the Kanun was divided into "books": Church; Family; Marriage; House, Livestock and Property; Work; Transfer of Property; Spoken Word; Honor; Damages; Law Regarding Crimes; Judicial Law; and Exemptions and Exceptions. Noel Malcolm sums up the basic principles this way:
The foundation of it all is the principle of personal honour. Next comes t he equality of persons. From these flows a third principle, the freedom of each to act in accordance with his own honour, within the limits of the law, without being subject to another’s command. And the fourth principle is the word of honour, the besë (def.: besa), which creates a situation of inviolable trust.
Within the published code of twelve books or twenty-four chapters are 1263 paragraphs or articles with some very specific language defining how people should conduct themselves. Edith Durham found that "Lek is fabled to have legislated minutely on all subjects. For example, a man told me that Lek had ordered that men should walk the length of one gun-barrel apart, lest in turning the barrel should accidentally strike the next man, for a blow even by chance must be avenged".
Everyone "knows" the contents of the code from oral tradition—probably few have actually read it. Many parts of the printed version have little validity as we begin the twenty-first century, because of the detail in the requirements (such as a wedding gift shall be one grosh per person). But the spirit and the folk culture are far more significant than the words used.
"In general, it would be correct to say that observance of the Code by all with due regard to its implications and consequences would assure safe living and passage, although with a very limited choice of alternatives. The smallest violation, however, could and probably would have disastrous or even possibly fatal consequences".
The Kanun sets up very high standards for hospitality. "A man is answerable, too, for his guest, and must avenge a stranger that has passed but one night beneath his roof, if on his journey next day he be attacked. The sacredness of the guest is far-reaching" (Durham, c.32). The actual wording of the Kanun is somewhat dire, "if your hospitality is violated, the Kanun gives a choice of two paths: [potential] ruin or dishonor" (p.136). Also, "an offense against a father, a brother, and even a cousin without heirs may be forgiven, but an offense against a guest is not forgiven" (p. 136).
In her 1908 journeys Edith Durham also saw the other, more positive, side of the coin.
The old man asked if we had a roof for the night. "We are poor. Bread, salt, and our hearts is all we can offer, but you are welcome to stay as long as you wish."
"It gave me joy to know that even in the bitterest corners of the earth there is so much human kindness"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lek Dukagjini Family Tree
