The Myth of Skanderbeg is one of the main constitutive myths of Albanian nationalism. In the late nineteenth century during the Albanian struggle and the Albanian National Awakening, Skanderbeg became a symbol for the Albanians and he was turned into a national Albanian hero and myth.
After the death of Skanderbeg, the Arbëresh (Italo-Albanians) migrated from the Balkans to southern Italy. There his memory and exploits survived and were maintained among them in their musical repertoire. Skanderbeg was transformed into a nation building myth by Albanian nationalist writers and thus his deeds were transformed into a mixture of facts, half truths and folklore. The Myth of Skanderbeg is the only myth of Albanian nationalism that is based on a person; the others are based on ideas, abstract concepts, and collectivism. The myth of Skanderbeg was not created by Albanian intellectuals but was already part of the Arbereshe folklore and collective memory. According to Oliver Jens Schmitt, "there are two different Skanderbegs today: the historic Skanderbeg, and a mythic national hero as presented in Albanian schools and nationalist intellectuals in Tirana and Pristina."
History
Antemurale Christianitatis
Skanderbeg is built in part of the antemurale myth complex which portrays Albanians united by Skanderbeg as protectors of the nation and Christendom against "invading Turks". In the 16th century, the "Defence against the Turks" had become a central topic in East Central and South East Europe. It was put in functional use and served as a propaganda tool and to mobilize religious feelings of the population. People who participated in campaigns against the Ottoman Empire were referred to as “antemurale Christianitatis” (the protective wall of Christianity). The Pope Calixtus III gave Skanderbeg the title Athleta Christi, or Champion of Christ. Furthermore, according to Louise Marshall, during the 18th century the Myth of Skanderbeg was moulded and transformed to suit the taste and the anxieties of the British readers.
Under the influence of the Myth of Skanderbeg and antemurale myth, the Albanian Catholic clergy seems to understand the figure of Mother Teresa as Skanderbeg's ideological heir who completes his task of guarding the boundaries of Catholicism and Albanianism, introducing a new era after the end of glorious era that culminated with Skanderbeg. In contrast to the Skanderbeg myths of Albanian Christians, the Myth of Skanderbeg of Albania's Muslim community had a positive outcome because the glory of the Illyrian era did not end with Skanderbeg, but continued into the Ottoman era.
Skanderbeg and Serbo-Montenegrin expansionism
While Greek references to Skanderbeg were used up, Serbian historians, often contradictorily, used Skanderbeg as a symbol of joint Serbian-Albanian progress (1866). On the other hand, forty years later, in a different political environment, the faded memory of Skanderbeg among a large portion of Albanians was used as evidence of a lack of an ethnic identity and even the said Serbian character of the medieval hero. Spiridon Gopčević, a proponent of Serbian expansionism in the Ottoman Balkans, claimed that northern Albanians are actually Serbs and Skanderbeg's main motivation was his feelings of Serb national injury.
In Montenegro, a country which had tribal structures similar to the ones in northern Albania and also had a similar mentality, Skanderbeg was celebrated as a slavic hero, a concept which was incorporated into the movement to justify an expansion of Montenegro into northern Albania. By the end of the 19th century, one could find a wide dissemination of brochures with Skanderbeg being presented as a hero along the Montenegro-Albania border. The myth is particularly popular in Kuči tribe where the Drekalović brotherhood, also known as Novokuči (New Kuči) claims descent from him.
In Serbian historiography it has been supported that Skanderbeg's great-grandfather, named Branilo was a nobleman from Zeta who was granted possession of Kaninë after taking part in Emperor Stefan Dušan's conquests. This reading is based on a mistaken translation by Karl Hopf in the 19th century and has been discredited ever since. It became popular in Serbian propaganda circles again in the 1980s, right before the crisis in Kosovo, where Serb historians again celebrated Skanderbeg as "the son of Ivan, Đorđ Kastrioti, the Serbian horseman of Albania." During the 2000s Skanderbeg's origins was a topic on internet chat rooms and that the figure was over time increasingly included into Serbian national narratives.