Krujë

Set between Mount Krujë and the Ishëm River, Krujë grew from a fortress into a town and an important Albanian political centre. In 1190 it became the capital of the Principality of Arbanon, founded by Progon. Later it passed through the hands of Albanian rulers and the Ottomans, who knew its castle as Akçahisar, the White Fortress.

The Ottomans regained Krujë in 1415, but in 1443 Skanderbeg seized it with a forged letter and made it a stronghold of his resistance. Albanian forces repelled successive Ottoman sieges, including attacks led by Sultan Murad II in 1450 and Mehmed II in 1466 and 1467. After Skanderbeg's death in 1468, Venetian troops reinforced the garrison. Another siege was lifted in 1476, but the Ottomans finally took the town in 1478 after a prolonged blockade.