The development of education in medieval Albania

• Author: Nikollë Loka
• Position: Executive Director of the Institute of Albanistic Studies 'John Gazulli'
• Pages: 93-105

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Vol. 1 No. 1

January 2017

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

93

The development of education in medieval Albania

Nikollë Loka

Executive Director of the Institute of Albanistic Studies “John Gazulli”

Abstract

In the Middle Ages education in Albanian territories had sort of the same development

with other regions of the eastern Adriatic coast. In that period the education had religious

character and as elsewhere in Europe, it was the monopoly of the church, especially of some

religious orders that were dedicated to education, initially to the Benedictine and then to the

Dominicans, the Franciscans and the Jesuits. A part of northern Albania during the middle

Ages was included in the European cultural space, where the Latin language was taught. The

northern Albania had many Benedictine monasteries that were the main centers of learning

in that period. Some of them are the monastery of St. Serdio and Bacho in Shirq and Saint

Mihal of Rotec. Of great importance were the monasteries of Fan (Mirdita today) that were

recognized as the center of the life of the province.

In the Albanian lands occurred the same developments as in other countries of Western

Europe. Schools were established at cathedrals in towns and parishes in the villages. With

the development of cities, along with the religious education, the secular education gradually

developed for the needs of the city and its economy. The secular education created conditions

for the country’s use of the language spoken by the population, which was introduced

gradually as a language of instruction.

New religious orders: the Dominicans and the Franciscans increased the quality of

education. The Dominicans, who lived in cities, developed the secondary education and

higher education a lot. They founded a university in Durrës and Franciscans, which acted

mainly in rural areas, were engaged with the elementary education.

Because of the O omans, the Dominicans le , while the Franciscans stayed in the country,

su ering the consequences of O oman conquest. They are the founders of the fi rst Albanian

school.

The process of the development of the Albanian education followed the same path as in

the West, with the change that it developed with a delay of one to two centuries, due to the

conditions that were set a er the O oman conquest of the country. Just like the Western

countries, even in Albania, the church played a role in the beginnings of the education in the

national language.

Keywords: development, education, medi eval. Albania.

Introduction

The history of the development of education shows the development trend of

the society, expressing its ideals and objectives in each certain period. School and

education projects represent the dominant intellectual and social objectives of that

time. Although politically under the Byzantine, Illyrian territories were dependent

on Rome (Shufl aj, 2013:31). Just around the year 732, Leo Izaurasi passed Illyrian

territories to Patriarchate of Constantinople, but the infl uence of the West went even

further, because the Albanian territories remained a gate linking East and West.