Literary Patronage of the Albanian Vlora Dynastic Family, 1670-1764

Abstract

The powerful Albanian Vlora dynastic family, during the 17th and 18th century built a cultural and literary patronage system, which was inherited from one generation to the next. This hereditary patronage reflected both, the features of the time and the personality of the powerful members of this family. Hysen Pasha Vlora (d. 1672) demonstrated a new perspective of urban life; he oriented the urban elite towards a new cultural model, which offered strong links with the public, but outside the umbrella of religious institutions. His son Mahmut Pasha (d. 1738), reflected his benevolent nature in his relations with poets. He contributed to the installation of the professional poet’s status and the development of a court literature in Albanian language. After him, Ismail Pasha Vlora (Velabishti, d. 1764), being a poet himself, manifested a higher sensitivity to the literary environment and to the Albanian language in particular. He took on the role of the moderator in the public and cultural life in the city of Berat. This attention and support from the Vlora dynastic family towards writers and poets in particular, caused Berat to be differentiated from other Albanian cities of the time. Just like that Berat was transformed into the most important literary center of the Albanians during the 18th century. When Vlora family ruled in Berat, the Albanian literature knew great poets like Nezim Berati, followed by Sulejman Naibi. Apart from them, there were other numerous poets, such as Fejzi, Irzi, or Ismail Pasha and Ahmet Kurt Pasha themselves.