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Lord George Gordon Byron and Albanians
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Home | Photo Gallery of Byron | Ali Pasha
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ILIRIAPRESS
Lord George Gordon Noel
Byron, 6th Baron Byron was the most important and leading figure in Romantic Movement, and he is considered the
greatest European poet and satirist. Byron’s books are world widely red, and his books remain
to be someones favourite books.
Photo Gallery of Lord Byron
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Lord Byron in Albanian Clothing |
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Born to a Scottish Heiress, he was
the son of Captain John Byron known as “Mad Jack” and Catherine Gordon of Gight, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. John Byron
squandered away the family’s wealth, and the huge debt followed by the severe censure of society caused him and Catherine
to move in France. From the unsolved issues and the pressure from their creditors led them to live in hiding for few
months. Because they wanted their son to be born in the English soil, they returned to London. George Gordon Noel Byron was born on January 22, 1788
in London, United Kingdom. From his birth,
Byron suffered from talipes or a malformation of the right foot causing a slight lameness. This was an agony of lifelong misery to him. Knowingly that with proper care it might
have been cured, it conspired to hurt the pride and sensitiveness of the poet. It is a story of a childhood cruelly maltreated
and neglected followed by fierce temptations and domestic tragedies. His father died when he was quite young. After the death
of his father, his mother, Catherine,
was tied up in the lawsuits. Byron's mother Catherine had to sell her land
and property to pay her husbands debts. This caused Catherin to return to Aberden as the impoverished widow, and live on here small salvage fortune. Byron’s
childhood was brought up in meager conditions subjected alternately to the excessive
tenderness and malicious desire of his mother. Catherine was a spoiled aristocrat woman of violent temper, and a burning passion
for social progress. After years of poverty, Catherine with the spirit of revolt had no proper guiding of her volcanic and
intelligent little boy. He was in Calvinistic way raised. The circumstances of this Calvinistic early life explain the spirit
of revolt that was his lifelong characteristic.
The poet had two last names, and he
used only one at any given time. Gordon was the baptismal name and not surname. He was baptized at St Marylebone Parish Church, to honor his maternal grandfather George Gordon of Gight, who committed suicide in 1779. This grandfather was a descendant of King James I. The father of Byron, John Byron, took the surname Gordon in order to claim his wife's estate in Scotland. It is believed that John Byron married Catherine Gordon just for her wealth, which wealth he deserted. Byron was registered at school
in Aberdeen as George Byron Gordon. In
1794, the death of a cousin made the poet to become heir-presumptive to the title of the estate. On May 21, 1798, his great-uncle,
the fifth "wicked Lord" died. At the age of ten, he inherited
the English family title, becoming George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale. Becoming the 6th Baron Byron, he inherited Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, England, and took up residence at the family seat, Newstead Abbey. Nevertheless, Byron did
not live long in this estate because it was rented to Lord Grey de Ruthyn. The
second last name of the poet was Noel. In order to inherit half of his mother in law estate after her death, the poet had
to fulfill her will requirement to change to her last name Noel. Therafter, he was George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron.
The royalty title in the Byron’s family starts few centuries beck. When the rich
Priory of Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire was given to Baron Family from Henry VIII in 1500, the Baron Family received
full recognition among the royals in British monarchy. In addition, the ancestors were descent soldiers sacrificing and giving
genuine and honorable service to the military, the country, and the king. In
1600, they were honored with extraordinary military service in the civil war. In the 18th century, Barons’
found themselves to be distinguished seamen, spendthrifts, and debauchees. The paternal grandfather of George Gordon Byron
was Vice-Admiral John "Foulweather Jack" Byron, known as the officer who navigated the entire globe. Vice-Admiral John Byron was the youngest brother of the 5th Baron Byron, known as "the Wicked Lord", the descendants of King Edward III . Byron was a low ranking royal title and it comes from the English words,”My
man in London.” Byron was a servant, who represented his boss in London. Byron was titled the person responsible for the
management of the royal palace, work the land of the royalties, and contribute in law and policy enforcement of the monarchies
in that region. Sometimes, Byron socialized the king. This title has been found in different kingdoms such as Spanish, Germans,
and other kingdoms. In the German language, it means “A free warrior.”
At early age, Byron attended the English School at Aberdeen Grammar School. In 1801, he attended Harrow. For four years, he will attend Dulwich
school and Harrow at the same time. His academic achievements were neither the highest nor the lowest. The teenage atmosphere
in the school with sensitiveness about his lameness did not stop him of being a great friend. He made several close friends
while at school. Energetic and talented Byron was chosen to represent Harrow during the very
first Eton versus Harrow cricket match at Lords. After 4 years at Harrow, he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge. While attending Trinity College, Byron had enough time to spend on reading the history and fiction. Mostly, he liked the ancient
history of Balkans. At this time, Byron was living extravagantly. It is a story of a boyhood of splendid genius and a truly
noble nature followed by desultory, passionate daydreams, and intense study. Suffice to say that the story of a youth spent
in folly, stained though not ruined by desire of egoism. This caused the need for self-determination, which he sought in three
main directions, love, action, and poetry. He grew up and became a handsome man. His friends and neighbors encouraged him
to publish his poetry. In 1806 at the age of 18, he published his first poetry, "Fugitive Pieces" printed by Ridge of Newark. The book contained poems written when Byron was fourteen
years old. Nevertheless, the book was recalled and burned because of amorous
verses. Reversed and expended, the book reapeared after one year as “Poems
on Various Occasions.” The culminating book,”"Hours of Idleness,"
a collection of previous poems and recent compositions, provoked severe criticism from the Edinburgh Review. This pushed Byron to publish his first satire"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" as a reply to Edinbourg Review. The book is about heroic couplets reminiscent of Pope, which book created him considerable fame and shortly went through five editions.
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Byron left England in 1809 for a grand tour through Spain, Portugal, Italy, to Albania where he spent time there in
Athens, todays Greece. This was customary for a young
royal man. Byron did not have sympathy for French and
Napoleon, therefore he avoided the war-torn countries by French soldiers. Lord Bryon
became a member of the House of Lords in 1809. Ali Pasha Tepelena, Albanian Pasha, ruled the southern part of Albania. Ali Pasha known as
the Lion of Janina had attracted the attention of the most distinguished personalities of the time, so that Byron and John
Hobhouse, were curious to meet him. The first time Byron saw the mountains of Albania in the distance, reminded him in the ancient history and mythological stories and he wrote those moving lines:
Land of Albania! Let me bend mine eyes On thee, thou rugged Nurse of savage men
Lord
George Gordon was the only British and European monarch to have courage to travel to Albania. He new very well the ancient history of Albanians and wanted to meet them. Albanian territories
under rules of Ottoman Empire
and segregated were forbidden places for Europeans. Albania of Ali Pasha of Tepelena and Albania of Kara Mahmoud Pasha were
unknown and dangerous, restricted, and taboo places for Europe and Europeans. In that time, Albanians and Ali Pasha were known as great and ruthless warriors. Byron
met several times with Ali Pasha of Tepelena, and he was a privileged guest and enjoyed a great respect from Ali Pasha. According
to Hobhouse, Ali Pasha was civil and urbane in the entertainment of his guests, and requested them to consider themselves
as his children. It was on this occasion he told Lord Byron, that he discovered his noble blood by the smallness of
his hands and ears. Byron wrote a poem about Ali Pasha Tepelena, the Vizier of Janina:
I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear,
He neither must know who would serve the Vizier:
Since the days of our prophet the Crescent ne’er
saw
A chief ever glorious like Ali Pashaw.
Byron
Albania and Albanians left a great impression on Lord Byron. Ali Pasha refused to give a portrait, and Ali put up a formidable resistance that Lord
Byron immortalized in poems and letters. In the other side, Byron feared Ali. In his letter to his mother, Byron described
Ali Pasha as, “His Highness is a remorseless tyrant,
guilty of the most horrible cruelties, very brave, so good a general that they call him the Mahometan Buonaparte ... but as
barbarous as he is successful, roasting rebels…”
In marble-paved pavilion, where a spring Of living water from the centre rose,
Whose bubbling did a genial freshness fling, And soft voluptuous couches breathed
repose, ALI reclined; a man of war and woes. Yet in his lineaments ye cannot
trace, While Gentleness her milder radiance throws Along that aged, venerable
face, The deeds that lurk beneath and stain him with disgrace. Byron
In his notes, Byron wrote, the Albanians "struck me forcibly
by their resemblance of the Highlanders of Scotland, in dress, figure and manner of living. Their very mountains seemed Caledonian,
with a kinder climate. The kilt, though white; the spare, active form; their dialect, Celtic in its sound..." When in 1810,
after my friend, Mr. Hobhouse, left me for England, I was seized with a severe fever in the Morea, these men saved my life by frightening away my physician, whose throat
they threatened to cut if I was not cured within a given time. To this consolatory assurance of posthumous retribution,
and a resolute refusal of Dr Romanelli's prescriptions, I attributed my recovery. I had left my last remaining English
servant at Athens; my dragoman was as ill as myself; and my poor Arnaouts (Turkish name for Albanians) nursed me with an attention which
would have done honor to civilization.
The Albanian territory that was ruled by Ali Pasha counted 1.5
million populations, and a union with Kara Mahmoud Pasha would create a strong Albania, perhaps, a world superpower
of that time. A strong Albania was viewed as a threat for Europe and world especially for French and English. Therefore, the British kingdom ordered Byron to help
Greek people. Even though Byron liked Albanians a lot, he respected the orders of his kingdom as a true patriot. Byron wrote
a lot about Albanians; he was inspired by Albanian hospitality and genuine honesty; Byron admired Albanian bravery and courage.
Byron made a portrait wearing Albanian clothes. The fabulous painter of London, Thomas Phillips, painted two copies of the portrait
of Byron in Albanian clothes in 1835 and 1840. This portrait now is in the British Embassy in Athens. Byron wore the Albanian clothes
with dignity and high respect. He praised the Albanian clothing and with a respect talked of clothing being the most magnificent
in the world. Byron wrote only the true reality that he was seeing. Under the directives of his kingdom, Byron helped the
Greek independency. The number of Greek population was very low when Byron visited Balkans.
In the entire Balkan peninsula, only 300 000 Greeks could be found that time. The real and true name of these people
was Gypsy from the ancient time. The people of Balkan Peninsula were calling the people or immigrants who arrived from Egypt in the short form as “Gypsy.”
They were dark and some were black. The immigrants spoke the broken Latin. In ancient time the Latin language was the language
of Romans and universal language that all countries were using for bilateral relation. The wealthy in order to be different
from the poor and the others started to use the Latin language. Their servants started also to learn this language, but they
spoke the broken Latin. This broken Latin language later was known as a Greek language, and with the modification of this
language, today is known as a Modern Greek language. In the entire Balkan
Peninsula, people were speaking a language that is known today as Albanian
language. Especially, the militaries were strictly bound to this language. This can be confirmed even today by using the names
or toponomy of the places. For example, “Nish” means one in Albanian language; “Bukuresht” comes from
two words bukur- means beautiful, and resht - means row; “Thessalonica” Te - means to, salon means saloon, and
ika - means run; “Qystendil” from the Albanian words qysh-that means how , te- means where, and dil – means
exit, how and where to exit; and other toponomy.
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After his return from the grand
tour, Byron eventually took his seat at the House of Lords in 1811. The first speech in front of the Lords was on February 27, 1812. In his speech, Byron strongly
supported Luddits and social reforms. In addition, he advocated the rights of the Roman Catholics living in the Kingdom. Involved deeply in politics at this time, the
famous poet, started an affair
with Lady Caroline Lamb. She fall deeply in love with him. Byron enough famous with his extravagana and flamboyant life had chances for other love affairs, and he ended this love relationship with her. Lady Caroline Lamb was emotionally wounded from this end, and she never recovered. She persued him until her death. Byron dedicated poem to her,”Remember me.” Lady Caroline Lamb always described Byron by as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” In 1813, Byron spoke against the death penalty to Ludditees,
and he did not support the Frame Breaking Bill in the House of Lords. His political experience and views were expressed on his poems such as, “ Song for the Luddites ,“published in 1816, and “The Landlords' Interest” published in 1823. Byron since early childood wanted to visit Balkans. The good stories and mythology were the prime cause Byron to visit
the Albanian lands. With his friend John Cam Hobhouse, spent two years in Balkans. On this tour, the first two cantos of his epic poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage were prepared. The first two cantos of “Childe Harold's Pilgrimage”
were published in 1812, and were received with warm welcoming. The two countos are nothing more than Albanian people stories and songs. In the first two Cantos of Child
Harold, Byron expressed his vision of Man's power in the Future learned from the Albanian lyrics or peoples’ songs that
appeals to strengthen the heart and the respect for Manhood. With the poem’s publication, Lord Byron found himself famous.
Byron said, “I awoke one morning and found
myself famous.” The first two Cantos of Child Harold,” became
an overnight sensation. From artistic values and admiration, this book brought the attention of many young ladies. Byron became
one of the most admired person that lead to too many love affairs. Those love affairs directed Byron to a marriage with
Anne Isabella Mibanke in 1815. On January 2, 1815, they married at
Seaham Hall, County Durham. Anne Isabella Mibanke had refused Byron’s proposal
for marriage in the previous year. Anne and Byron were two different individual with opposite thinking. The union of the two
resulted to the total incompatibility and no tolerance between two parties. The infidelity and serious provocation by Lord
Byron caused strain in the marriage. He treated her poorly, and he showed no
respect for her. After a year, the daughter was born, Augusta Ada. Lord Byron showed remorse and disappointment at the birth of a daughter rather than a son. On January 16, 1816, Anne Isabella Mibanke took her daughter Ada and left Lord Byron. Rumors of marital violence, adultery with
actresses, incest with Augusta, and sodomy were made up and circulated by a jealous Lady Caroline.
Byron’s stepsister Augusta Leigh always denied the rumors about the love affair; she also denied that the father of her daughter is Byron. This pushed Lord Byron to sign the Deed of Separation on April 21, 1816. After this scandal and break-up of his domestic life followed by pressure on the part of his creditors,
Byron sold his library and left England forever. From all the conservative and cynic behaviors of royalties in England, Byron
had enough. Having enough from all
shocking and malicious gossip, Byron visited Saint Lazarus Island in Venice where Byron found interest in Armenian culture by the Mekhitarist Order. His interest grew in this subject, and he decided to learn the Armenian language. He learned the Armenian language from Avgerian and attended many seminars about language and history in 1816.
Through Belgium up to the Rhine, Lord Byron with his personal
physician, John William Polidori, settled in Switzerland. They were located at the Villa Diodati near the lake Geneva. Lord Byron met his friend the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary Godwin. Shortly Mary Goldwin step sister, Jane Clair Clairmont, joined them. Lord Byron had had a love affair with her back in London. This
love affair reapered with an initative of Percy Shellwy and his wife succeding to persuade Byron. As a fruit of this love
affair was the daughter, Allegra, born in January 1817. While in Switzerland, he managed to write the third canto of Childe Harold, and the story fragment
was published as a postscript to Mazeppa.
Byron retuned to Venice in 1817. At the same year, Byron visited Rome. After returning
to Venice, he wrote the fourth canto of Childe Harold. At the same year , Byron sold his property in Newstead, England, and he published “Manfred, ““Cain,”
and “The Deformed Transformed.” Immediately after retuning to Venice, Byron wrote "English
grammar and the Armenian”including both classic and modern Armenian. Byron wrote about the struggle for liberation of
Armenian people. Their war against Ottoman Pashas and the Persian Satraps. In 1819, Byron managed to compell "English Armenian
dictionary"While socializing with Armenians, Byron with the help of Armenian patriarch Haik., discovers discrepancies between the Armenian Christian Orthodox Bible and English protestan Bible. Fascinated so great by
this discovery, Byron translated some passages that were deficient in the English version.
Lord George Gordon was sent from British kingdom to travel around the Europe to provide true and exact
information about the local people, the place, the wealth for that place, and the future perspectives of that place of Europe.
After releasing a poem called “Beppo”, Byron started the first five
cantos of unfinished “Don Juan.” The first five cantos of unfinished “Don Juan”were prepared and writen
between 1918 and 1920. After several more
relationships in Italy, Byron met Countess Teresa Guiccioli, who shortly separated from her husband. While residing in Italy, Byron supported the radicals and helped the revolutionary organization the Carbonari where he served as a regional leader of Italy's in its struggle against Austria. Genoa was his last residency in Italy where he lived until 1823 accompanied by Countess Teresa Guiccioli. In his adventures, Byron helped the freedom fighters
in Italy and lead Greece into independence. When the joined Albanian and Greeks or Gypsies movement
for liberation from the Ottoman Empire ask for his support, Byron accepted this invitation. On July 16, Byron left Genoa arriving at Kefalonia in the Ionian Islands on August 4, 1823. Byron spent more than £4000 of his own money to refit his own fleet
against Ottoman Empire . Byron settled down in Messolonghi ,Albania or Epirus. On December 29, 1823, Byron meets the Arvanitis or Albanian
General Alexandros Mavrokordatos. Byron lack of military experience joinned Mavrokordatos plan to attack the Turkish-held fortress in Lepanto, at the Gulf of Corinth. Byron perpared his own artilery unit, and he wanted to cammand the attack.
He felt ill on February 15, 1824, and the command was given to others. His unusual bleeding was stopped, and he was partially
recovered. Byron helped Greece in a quest for independence from Ottoman
Turkey without any reserves. After
traveling on horseback during a rainy storm day on April
1824, Byron received a chill and cought a cold followed by caughing. This caughing caused the bleeding to reapear and increase, and insantly he got violent
fever. On April 19, 1824, at the age of 36, Lord George Gordon died in Misolongi, Epirus.
His autobiography by Thomas Moore was left to Byron, and
Greeks or Gypsies burned it in 1824. Even though Lord George Gordon helped the Greek
people for their independence, Byron is being offended, is being sworn, and his identity is being insulted by the Greeks.
Unfortunately, the offending and resentment toward this poet by the gypsies is never stopping. The Greek nation is showing
unfair, unjustified, and disregard toward the identity of this monarch by calling him with many derogatory names. Byron never
insulted or offended any nation in his books, but he wrote the truth and reality of the time and the place that he lived.
In all the books that were written on and about Greece, and where the Greek government had influence, Ali Pasha is represented as a Turkish person, and
not as an Albanian. Byron showed the world better then any other who was Ali Pasha and who were the Greeks. Byron died leaving
behind his realistic and truthfulness writings. Byron was individual who helped the Greek nation, but he got no respect as
he deserves.
Byron was an individual hated
by the conservatives. Especially by the English Lords, he was called with many derogatory names. The flamboyish lifestyle
was not acceptable for centuries old conservatives of Engalnd. Because of his hard works, active extravagantly life, physical beauty, and poetry he came
to be considered the personification of the romance and heartbreaking for many young ladies of England. His new fashion and style created a jealousy and hatred. This lead, Byron to be called homosexual, heterosexual,
and allegations of incest and sodomy. Maybe none of this is true. Byron fame rests on his writings, and his lifestyle. After his death, the barony passed to a
cousin, George Anson Byron. George Anson Byron. was a military officer, and he was opposite
in temperament and lifestyle than Lord Byron. A perfect fit for the English conservatives.
His ldaughter Ada Lovelace was among the first invetors of the computers. After 145 years of Byron’s death, a memorial
to him was finally placed in Westminster Abbey in 1969. Byron is considered European
poet. His imagination of Europe being less troubled and united, finally took place after so many years. To Germans, Byron
is more valued and studied than in England; To French, Byron is more a French poet than an English one; For Italians, Byron
is a true patriot. For Chinese, Byron represents European revolutionary in romance and poetry. Around the world, Byron is
considered the poet of revolutionary movement of the Renaissance. A royalty man in his mission to conquer the world, and make
it fit for his home. Byron wrote about his respect and genuine love toward Albanians with honesty that remains to be red around
the world forever, and Byron remains in the hearts of Albanians forever.
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