Arnavutluk Tahtının Endülüslü Talibi: Don Aladro Kastrioti (1845-1914)
The Andalusian Pretender to the Albanian Throne: Don Aladro Kastrioti (1845-1914)

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the biography of Aladro Kastrioti, a nobleman born in the Andalusia region of Spain. Claiming that his great-grandmother married a descendant of Skanderbeg, Aladro asserted that he was an heir of this famous Albanian hero and had a right to the Albanian crown. His life after 1902 was spent in pursuit of this claim and thus almost entirely entangled with the Albanian national movement. By examining Ottoman archival documents, European newspapers, and published memoirs of prominent contemporary Albanians, this study draws attention to how he successfully managed to build a network supporting his claim, especially in northern Albania. His biography offers new perspectives for comprehending the history of the Albanian national movement and contextualising regional developments. This article suggests that the relations he established with key figures of the region provides an opportunity to analyse the social networks of Albanians in the Ottoman Empire. Covering the sixty-nine-year life of Aladro Kastrioti, from his birth as an illegitimate son of a wealthy family in Jerez to his death in Paris as a claimant to the Albanian crown, the study reveals the transformation of a region of the Ottoman Balkans into the Principality of Albania and illustrates the contacts and influences of the Empire in its former territories

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