LORD BYRON AND THE ALBANIANS

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Prof. Afrim Karagjozi, National Library of Albania, on 3 December 2001, introduced by Professor Ian Wallace

There is a precious costume on display in Bowood House near Calne. It is that magnificent costume which Byron bought in Albania in 1809 and in which Thomas Phillips, the painter, portrayed him so memorably. Not only Phillips but several other British and European painters too were inspired by Byron's various descriptions of Albania's splendid costumes, fierce fighters, pretty women, strange castles and houses.

It may seems rather strange that, in 1809, Byron should have started his journey to the Ottoman Empire from Albania, that small country within sight of Italy which "is less known than the interior of America", as Gibbon wrote. It happened that at that time a very famous Albanian Pasha, Ali Tepelena, ruled the southern part of the country. He had attracted the attention of the most distinguished personalities of the day, so that Byron and his companion, John Cam Hobhouse, were curious to meet him. The first morning Byron saw the mountains of Albania in the distance, he wrote those moving lines: Land of Albania! Let me bend mine eyes On thee, thou rugged Nurse of savage men

On his way to the fortress of Tepelena, he met Albanian soldiers and peasants and subsequently wrote: "I love the Albanians much". He was accompanied by one of them, Vasil by name. William Martin Leake, the British representative in the court of Ali Pasha Tepelena, reported: "The Albanian Vasili, to whom Mr. Hobhouse was indebted for so much information, was in my service when the travellers arrived at Joannina and was recommended to them by me, for his Albanian virtues of activity and fidelity". Approaching the small town, Byron was deeply impressed: "I shall never forget the singular scene on entering Tepaleen at five in the afternoon as the sun was going down". Many poets and painters, travellers and scholars, were profoundly influenced by his praise of the country. One of those who felt his influence was Edward Lear, the painter and poet, who came to Albania and left behind 219 paintings, lithographs, watercolours and drawings.

Byron has been widely revered in Albania ever since his journey to the country in 1809. Thomas Moore, Byron's friend and biographer, writing about his poetry and notes dedicated to Albania and the Albanians, puts it perfectly: "…we there follow his first youthful footsteps into the land, with whose name he intertwined his own for ever". Albania and the Albanians have remained in his works forever, Byron has remained in their minds and hearts forever.

Afrim Karagjozi