Ndre Mjeda

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Short description|Albanian poet (1866–1937)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Ndre Mjeda | image = Ndre Mjeda (portret).jpg | image_size = | caption = Portrait of Ndre Mjeda photographed by Kel Marubi, 1920s | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1866|11|20}} | birth_place = Shkodër, Ottoman Empire | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1937|8|1|1866|11|20}} | death_place = Shkodër, Albanian Kingdom | occupation = {{hlist|Philologist|poet|priest|rilindas||writer}} | language = {{hlist|Albanian|Italian|Latin|Spanish}} | alma_mater = | genre = {{hlist|Romanticism}} | movement = Albanian Renaissance | spouse = | children = | relations = | signature = Ndre Mjeda (nënshkrim).svg | signature_alt = Signature of Ndre Mjeda }} '''Ndre Mjeda''' (20 November 1866{{snds}}1 August 1937) was an Albanian philologist, poet, priest, rilindas, translator and writer of the Albanian Renaissance. He was a member of the Mjeda family.<ref name="Skendi141">{{harvnb|Skendi|1967|p=141.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Robert Elsie |authorlink1=Robert Elsie |title=MODERN ALBANIAN LITERATURE AND ITS RECEPTION IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD |url=http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A2005AlbWritingEnglTrans.pdf |website=elsie.de |pages=6–7 }}</ref>

He was influenced by the Jesuit writer Anton Xanoni and the Franciscan poet Leonardo De Martino.

== Life ==

From 1880 until 1887, Mjeda studied literature at the Carthusian monastery of Porta Coeli, in Valencia, Spain, rhetoric, Latin and Italian in Croatia at a Jesuit institution, at the Gregorian University in Rome, and at another Gregorian college in Chieri, Italy. During these studies, Mjeda began to write Albanian poetry. Some of his most famous poems include ''Vaji i Bylbylit'' (''The Nightingale's Lament'') (1887) and ''Vorri i Skanderbegut'' (''Skanderbeg's grave'').

Mjeda also taught music in Cremona, Italy, at the College of Marco Girolamo Vida from 1887 to 1891, and translated various religious literature. He published ''Jeta e sceitit sc' Gnon Berchmans'' (''The Life of St John Berchmans'') (1888), and ''T' perghjamit e Zojs Bekume'' (''Imitation of the Holy Virgin'') (1892), a translation from Spanish, ''Katekizmi i Madh'' (''The Great Catechism''), another translation, and ''Historia e Shejtë'' (''Sacred History'').

Mjeda later on studied theology at the Jesuit college in Kraków, Poland, and taught philosophy and philology, as well as served as a librarian at the Gregorian college in Kraljevica, where he was also appointed professor of logic and metaphysics. He was expelled in 1898 after a conflict between Austria-Hungary and the Vatican. In 1899, Mjeda, along with Preng Doçi and Gjergj Fishta founded the ''Shoqnia e bashkimit të gjuhës shqipe'' (Society for the Unity of the Albanian Language) literary society, usually known as the ''Shoqnia Bashkimi'' (The Union Society), or simply ''Bashkimi'' (The Union) of Shkodra for publishing Albanian language books.<ref name="Fevziu35"/><ref name="Gawrych89"/>

In 1901, Mjeda founded the ''Agimi'' (Dawn) Society in Shkodër.<ref name="Skendi141275276"/><ref name="Gawrych89"/> Mjeda devised the Agimi alphabet based on Latin characters following the principle of one letter for a sound and used diacritic marks for other peculiar sounds in the Albanian language.<ref name="Skendi141275276"/><ref name="Fevziu35">{{citation| title=Histori e shtypit shqiptar 1848–1996| author=Blendi Fevziu| year=1996| page=35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lORDAQAAIAAJ&q=Mjeda| publisher=Shtëpia Botuese "Marin Barleti"|oclc=40158801}}</ref> In Hamburg 1902, Mjeda's alphabet was approved by the International Congress of the Orientalists and in May by most of the Catholic clergy in Shkodër.<ref name="Skendi141275276"/><ref name="Gawrych89">{{cite book|last=Gawrych|first=George|title=The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874–1913|year=2006|location=London|publisher=IB Tauris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPOtzk-unJgC&q=Ndre+Mjeda|isbn=9781845112875|pages=89}}</ref> Books subsidized by Austria-Hungary were published in the Agimi Alphabet which rivaled the Bashkimi Alphabet for writing Albanian.<ref name="Skendi141275276">{{harvnb|Skendi|1967|pp=141, 275–276.}}</ref> In 1908, Mjeda was a delegate at the Albanian alphabet Congress of Monastir representing the Agimi Society.<ref name="Skendi370">{{harvnb|Skendi|1967|p=370.}}</ref> Mjeda supported the Latin character Istanbul alphabet as it contained the principle of one letter, one sound and its Latin characters were also similar to the rival Bashkimi alphabet.<ref name="Skendi372">{{harvnb|Skendi|1967|p=372.}}</ref> Toward the late Ottoman period, Mjeda supported Austro-Hungarian intervention in Albanian affairs within the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Skendi264439440">{{cite book|last=Skendi|first=Stavro|title=The Albanian national awakening|year=1967|location=Princeton|publisher=Princeton University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8QPWCgAAQBAJ&q=Ndre+Mjeda&pg=PR15|isbn=9781400847761|pages=264, 439–440}}</ref>

Mjeda served as a member of the Albanian Literary Commission, in Shkodër, under the Austro-Hungarian administration, as well as a deputy in the National Assembly of Albania. He left politics after Fan Noli's defeat, and the rise of King Zog. He then served as a parish priest in Kukël, and taught the Albanian language and literature at the Jesuit college in Shkodër until his death. right|thumb|200px|Mjeda on a 2016 stamp of Albania

== See also == *Albanian literature *Culture of Albania

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== External links == {{Sister project links|s=Author:Ndre Mjeda|wikt=no|voy=no|b=no|n=no|v=no|d=Q1972946}} * [http://www.albanianliterature.com/html/authors/mjeda.html Biography at Albanianliterature.com] * [http://letersi.com/mjeda_ndre/dashunija_ndaj_prindeve.htm Përmbledhje vjershash për fëmijë] * {{OL author}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mjeda, Ndre}} Category:1866 births Category:1937 deaths Category:Activists of the Albanian National Awakening Category:20th-century Albanian Roman Catholic priests Category:Albanian Catholic poets Category:Albanian Jesuits Category:Albanian male poets Category:Albanian translators Category:Albanian philologists Category:Albanian male writers Category:19th-century Albanian Roman Catholic priests Category:19th-century Albanian poets Category:20th-century Albanian poets Category:20th-century Albanian politicians Category:19th-century Albanian writers Category:20th-century Albanian writers Category:Romantic poets Ndre Category:Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Category:Writers from Shkodër Category:People from Scutari vilayet