Naum Veqilharxhi

Naum Veqilharxhi was an Albanian lawyer and scholar who created a unique alphabet for the Albanian language, the Vithkuqi script, in 1844. He is considered one of the most prominent figures of the early Albanian National Awakening, and its first ideologue. He was born in Vithkuq, near Korçë, in 1797, and inherited the surname Veqilharxhi from his father, who was a supplier to the court of Ali Pasha of Tepelena. He studied in the Ionian Islands and took part in the Wallachian uprising of 1821. He later worked as a lawyer in Brăila, where he joined an intellectual organization of Albanians who advocated for the development of Albanian language and culture. He avoided the use of Latin, Greek or Arabic alphabets for his Vithkuqi script, because of their religious associations and the risk of causing divisions among Albanians of different faiths. His alphabet was printed as part of a primer titled "The most Useful and Concise Albanian Alphabet" and was distributed in Korçë, Berat and Përmet, where it enjoyed great success. He also wrote a polemic letter in Greek to his nephew, who had called his patriotic ideas chimerical, outlining the main ideas of the Albanian National Awakening movement. He died in 1846, possibly from poisoning by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.