Documentary data and the history of the knowledge of ancient Albanian texts

Abstract

This treatise aims to highlight the importance of having concrete data on the biographies of authors who represent the earliest periods of the development of Albanian writing culture and the history of Albanian written literature. Such data in some publications are noted in an approximate manner (as in the case of Marin Barleti), or by referring to the year of publication of the work with which they are known (as in the case of Gjon Buzuku's book in the volume entitled "History of Albanian Literature", Tirana, 1983). Even in themost recent elaborations, in which it is intended to know more deeply the activity of the authors of the old Albanian literature, it is pointed out the fact that there is still room and space to exhaust the knowledge about the latter and the very context in which they produced their writing. In recent times, specialized publications on examples of works by humanist authors (as in the case of Marin Barleti's work on the Siege of Shkodra) once again raise attention to the necessity of researching their other variants, always relying on concrete data, sometimes provided by the compilers themselves in the process of drafting the prefaces or afterwords of their volumes.