The pagan death of Lekë Dukagjini

Lekë III Dukagjin (1410-1481) was an Albanian nobleman which can
be regarded as Skanderbeg’s successor in the struggle against the
Ottoman Empire. Nowadays, he is mostly remembered as the author
or the gatherer (real or supposed) of the code of laws named after him
(the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjin), the sacred laws of our highlanders until
recently. Even though he is overshadowed by Skanderbeg, many legends
revolve around him and within them a pagan motif can be spotted.
Father Marin Sirdani (1885-1962) gathered in a series of articles titled
“A rival of Skanderbeg” and published in 1932 within the Hylli i Dritës
periodical the story of Lekë Dukagjin. Among the historical accounts,
Marin Sirdani recorded some legends revolving around Lekë Dukagjin.
One is very interesting since it describes the last moments of Leke
Dukagjini's life:
Lekë Dukagjin gathered his followers, nobles and commoners, in Kosovo
and in the middle of them he took a seat and said: "Do you swear that
you will never surrender to the Turks before they capture me?". All of
them at once gave their word of honour [their besa] that as long as
they may live they will not surrender to the Turks. Then, Lekë Dukagjin
stood up and took a rock which was passed among his followers from
hand to hand until it returned in Lekë's hands. At this moment he said:
"Thus, those who shall break this oath God shall break their necks", and
ekë III Dukagjin (1410-1481) was an Albanian nobleman which can
be regarded as Skanderbeg’s successor in the struggle against the
Ottoman Empire. Nowadays, he is mostly remembered as the author
or the gatherer (real or supposed) of the code of laws named after him
(the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjin), the sacred laws of our highlanders until
recently. Even though he is overshadowed by Skanderbeg, many legends
revolve around him and within them a pagan motif can be spotted.
Father Marin Sirdani (1885-1962) gathered in a series of articles titled
“A rival of Skanderbeg” and published in 1932 within the Hylli i Dritës
periodical the story of Lekë Dukagjin. Among the historical accounts,
Marin Sirdani recorded some legends revolving around Lekë Dukagjin.
One is very interesting since it describes the last moments of Leke
Dukagjini's life:
Lekë Dukagjin gathered his followers, nobles and commoners, in Kosovo
and in the middle of them he took a seat and said: "Do you swear that
you will never surrender to the Turks before they capture me?". All of
them at once gave their word of honour [their besa] that as long as
they may live they will not surrender to the Turks. Then, Lekë Dukagjin
stood up and took a rock which was passed among his followers from
hand to hand until it returned in Lekë's hands. At this moment he said:
"Thus, those who shall break this oath God shall break their necks", and
ekë III Dukagjin (1410-1481) was an Albanian nobleman which can
be regarded as Skanderbeg’s successor in the struggle against the
Ottoman Empire. Nowadays, he is mostly remembered as the author
or the gatherer (real or supposed) of the code of laws named after him
(the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjin), the sacred laws of our highlanders until
recently. Even though he is overshadowed by Skanderbeg, many legends
revolve around him and within them a pagan motif can be spotted.
Father Marin Sirdani (1885-1962) gathered in a series of articles titled
“A rival of Skanderbeg” and published in 1932 within the Hylli i Dritës
periodical the story of Lekë Dukagjin. Among the historical accounts,
Marin Sirdani recorded some legends revolving around Lekë Dukagjin.
One is very interesting since it describes the last moments of Leke
Dukagjini's life:
Lekë Dukagjin gathered his followers, nobles and commoners, in Kosovo
and in the middle of them he took a seat and said: "Do you swear that
you will never surrender to the Turks before they capture me?". All of
them at once gave their word of honour [their besa] that as long as
they may live they will not surrender to the Turks. Then, Lekë Dukagjin
stood up and took a rock which was passed among his followers from
hand to hand until it returned in Lekë's hands. At this moment he said:
"Thus, those who shall break this oath God shall break their necks", and
ekë III Dukagjin (1410-1481) was an Albanian nobleman which can
be regarded as Skanderbeg’s successor in the struggle against the
Ottoman Empire. Nowadays, he is mostly remembered as the author
or the gatherer (real or supposed) of the code of laws named after him
(the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjin), the sacred laws of our highlanders until
recently. Even though he is overshadowed by Skanderbeg, many legends
revolve around him and within them a pagan motif can be spotted.
Father Marin Sirdani (1885-1962) gathered in a series of articles titled
“A rival of Skanderbeg” and published in 1932 within the Hylli i Dritës
periodical the story of Lekë Dukagjin. Among the historical accounts,
Marin Sirdani recorded some legends revolving around Lekë Dukagjin.
One is very interesting since it describes the last moments of Leke
Dukagjini's life:
Lekë Dukagjin gathered his followers, nobles and commoners, in Kosovo
and in the middle of them he took a seat and said: "Do you swear that
you will never surrender to the Turks before they capture me?". All of
them at once gave their word of honour [their besa] that as long as
they may live they will not surrender to the Turks. Then, Lekë Dukagjin
stood up and took a rock which was passed among his followers from
hand to hand until it returned in Lekë's hands. At this moment he said:
"Thus, those who shall break this oath God shall break their necks", and
he bitterly throwed the rock as far as he could. Then, he drew his sword
and while looking at the sky he planted it in the soil while saying "O
God, take my soul but do not let the Turks put their hands on me!". And
at the place where he stood the soil opened and he disappeared. (From
Marin Sirdani, Nji rival i Skanderbegut, in Hylli I Dritës, number 12,
year VIII, p617, 1932).
This legend was told to the author by Prenk Sokol Bash from Pecaj, in
the highlands of Shala (Northern Albania). Several details need an
explication. For example, the presence of Lekë in Kosovo may be in fact
a modern rendition of his presence in the region which bears the name
of his family (Dukagjin) and which extends to modern day Kosovo. But
the interesting part has to do with the oath’s ritual. In a note, Marin
Sirdani explains that this way of swearing oaths is still practised in
Albanian highlands and has more weight than oaths on the Bible. Even
though Lekë Dukagjin seems to be mentioning the Christian God here, it
may just be a trick to add a Christian element to the legend and
transmitting it without drawing the Church’s attention. Of course, this
kind of oath ceremony is of pagan origin and gives a pagan atmosphere
to this legend.
Furthermore, the detail of the soil opening beneath Lekë is very
reminiscent of a detail from the classical myth of the Seven against
Thebes. The myth describes the unfortunate war of seven champions
against the city of Thebes. Among them was Amphiaraus, a warrior and
a seer, which tried to avoid being enrolled in the war because he
foresaw that it would be a disastrous adventure. He is forced to join
the expedition and proved a good commander, but after all his
companions were slaughtered he was pursued by an enemy. At the
moment when his enemy was getting close enough to throw a spear and
kill him, the soil opens and Amphiaraus is swallowed, escaping thus
death from his enemy’s hand. It is said sometimes that Zeus made the
soil to open (a thunder bolt is mentioned in some versions) because he
always favoured Amphiaraus and could not let him die at the hand of
his enemy. Thus, in both cases we have a war hero being swallowed
up by the soil to avoid being killed by their enemies. But Lekë Dukagjin’s
fate, even though similar to Amphiaraus’ one, is also very connected to
the oath ritual of the rock done previously. As such it recalls the Roman
rite called devotio.
When battles turned disastrous, Roman generals could perform a sacred
rite in which they would deliberately sacrifice themselves in battle along
with their enemies to chthonic gods able to turn the tide of the battle
and ensure victory. The devotio underlines the mystic of heroism and
sacrifice that was a part of the Roman pagan worldview. This ritual
would involve the general performing it while wearing a toga, standing
on a spear laid under his feet and repeating the words of the priest.
Lekë Dukagjin’s oath ritual of the rock appears as a kind of devotio.
Indeed, it involves swearing on the rock, passing it from hand to hand,
throwing it away, planting the sword in the soil, etc. All these steps
can be regarded as the ritual conditions ensuring its efficiency and akin
to the disposition of the general performing the devotio. Moreover, in
both cases it is the leader that performs the ritual and that is sacrificed.
Not to mention the aim of the ritual…
To conclude, we can say that the legend recording the death of Lekë
Dukagjin has a very specific pagan atmosphere. A pagan ritual akin to
the Roman devotio is performed by Lekë. Like the deovtio, the Albanian
ritual’s aim is to exchange the life of the leader to unleash metaphysical
forces able to help in the struggle against the Turks and in the
preservation of the community of Lekë Dukagjin’s followers. But the main
difference between the Albanian ritual and the Roman devotion is the
leader’s death: the Albanian ritual does not allow the enemy to put him
to death. Instead, he must perish in another way. As for Amphiaraus,
the opening of the soil is not a damnation but the intervention of
superior forces to prevent dishonourable deaths. Indeed, after his death
Amphiaraus became a hero worthy of a cult and is avenged by his sons.
Likewise, Lekë Dukagjin’s sacrifice may be regarded as the act which
dragged enough spiritual and metaphysical influences to help his
followers in their struggle against the Turks. Not only they used his
name for their highlands, never stopped struggling against the Turks,
but also cherished and regarded the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjin as more
holly than the Bible or the Quran. Thus, the pagan death of Lekë Dukagjin
can be regarded as one of the main metaphysical sources of our
highlanders’ combativeness.

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