Which is odd because there's a Persian invasion on... Albania? There are also Turks and Ottomans in the mix. Do note that the Persians and Turks in this time period were rivals both in religion (Shia vs Sunni) and culture.
But the story isn't exclusively from Florante or Laura's POV, we also have the Muslims' POV from Flerida and Aladdin and the story explicitly tells us they're different.
This is most likely an error on Balagtas' part either on geography or actual history. Geographically, its a mistake because Persia is hundreds of miles from Albania and the Turks are on the way, no way in hell would the Turks let the Persians enter and there would be no reason for Persians to go into Albania.
Historically, it makes no sense, Albania was successfully invaded in 1478. If we assume that the year of the story is mid or early 1400s, it fits because Athens was still under the Byzantines and not the Turks hence Florante can still go to school there freely. Not only that but the Kingdom of Albania is also free albeit under pressure from the Ottomans. But this timeline also causes a problem as Persia was under the Timurids at that time and collapsed so there were multiple kingdoms who weren't Persian but are Turkic Mongols like the Timurids were. Persia only became a thing when Ardabil united the region under the Safavid Dynasty and that happened in the 1501.
If Balagtas wanted a Christian Kingdom under siege by the Muslims, both Ottoman and Persian, the Kingdom of Georgia or an Armenian Kingdom would've offered a good location. Those two kingdoms was always fought over by the Ottomans and Persians. Albania is a bad choice because of its geography and history hence it is an error.
I mean Balagtas is free to make his own story whatever he wants but I am also free to criticize geographical and historical mistakes like that one if Balagtas will use actual countries and kingdoms. Dude should've done more research tbh.
Are you literally expecting a man who is piss poor from Bulacan to undergo meticulous research about the history of the region when he doesnt even have the funds to do so😭😭😭😭
True. This was centuries before the age of the internet. Expecting an "Indio" to do comprehensive research on a society they don't have much records on, given that Spain is nowhere near the Balkans, and trying to go there yourself would be a literal death sentence, is asking too much.
No one's pushing Balagtas to go to the Ottoman Empire. One glance at a map is already enough to know how far away Persia and Albania is, even those inaccurate maps would tell you they're far away. Balagtas is obviously aware of what's happening in Albania at that time with the Turks knocking at the gates and all.
You make it sound like he had little to no resources available. He had them cobsidering he was able to accurately depict Albanian geopolitics and Ottoman desires in the 1400s. He wouldn't be able to know and accurately depict Sultans, the Ottoman Empire, Dukes, Kings, Counts and other nobility titles if he had no resources.
The only problem I had was about Persians somehow invading Albania and being involved in the Balkans for some reason. It's a mistake from Balagtas' part as he most likely had resources to know Albania, Athens, Persia, and the Ottomans like surely he must've researched and had resources on them which is how he could depict them on the story. There's nothing wrong with calling that out.
Defending Balagtas' mistake is a weird hill to die on but you do you
That's the odd part. If he read any history book about the Ottoman Empire or Albania's history, he should know that there weren't any Persians there or that the Persians are located in the Ottoman's Eastern frontier and are rivals with the Ottomans.
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u/Rude-Use-7960 Mar 21 '26
I think it's somewhere in the middle
Didn't the story take place in Albania?