Born in Fishtë , ( Zadrima region ) , Lezhë , Albania ( then Ottoman Empire ) , Fishta studied philosophy and Catholic theology in Bosnia ( seminaries in Kraljeva Sutjeska , Franciscan monastery in Livno , Franciscan monastery in Kreševo ) , among Bosnian Croats . In 1902 , he became the head of the Franciscan gymnasium in Shkodër ( Collegium Illyricum ) . Fishta was under influence of Croatian Franciscan friars as a student in monasteries in Austria-Hungary , when he wrote his main work '' Lahuta e Malcís '' , influenced by the national epics of the Croatian and Serbian literature according to Robert Elsie . Dedicated to the commander Ali Pasha of Gusinje the work was an epic poem that consisted of 30 cantos focusing on the events of the League of Prizren , which had become a symbol of the Albanian national awakening . Elsie hypothesized that in '' Lahuta e Malcís '' , Fishta substituted the struggle against the Ottomans with a struggle against the Slavs , after the recent massacres and expulsions of Albanians by their Slavic neighbours . After the World War II the authorities in Yugoslavia and Albanian historiography controlled by communist regime in Tirana ( influenced by Yugoslav communists ) proscribed Fishta 's works as anti-Slavic propaganda . In Soviet historiography he was referred to as " former agent of Austro-Hungarian imperialism " who took position against Slavic people and Pan-Slavism because they opposed " rapacious plans of Austro-Hungarian imperialism in Albania " and had a role in Catholic Clergy 's preparation " for Italian aggression against Albania "
massacres
Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars
Gjergj Fishta