Sanjakbey in the context of "Ziamet"

Gjergj Kastrioti (c. 1405 – 17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian nobleman and military leader who led the League of Lezhë in the Ottoman-Albanian Wars until his death. Skanderbeg is considered to be a major figure of medieval Albanian history and today is the national hero of Albania.

A member of the noble Kastrioti family, Skanderbeg was sent as a hostage to the Ottoman court. He graduated from the Enderun School and entered the service of the Ottoman sultan Murad II (r. 1421–1451) for the next twenty years. His rise through the ranks culminated in his appointment as sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Dibra in 1440. During the Battle of Nish in 1443, he deserted the Ottomans and became the ruler of Krujë and nearby areas extending from Petrelë to Modrič. In March 1444, he established the League of Lezhë, with support from local noblemen, and unified the Albanian principalities.

Mutasarrif, mutesarrif, mutasarriff, or mutesarriff (Ottoman Turkish: متصرّف, romanized: mutasarrıf, lit. 'plenipotentiary') was the title used in the Ottoman Empire and places like post-Ottoman Iraq for the governor of an administrative district in place of the usual sanjakbey. The Ottoman rank of mutasarrif was established as part of a 1864 reform, and its holder was appointed directly by the Sultan.

The administrative district under his authority, the mutasarrifate (mutasarriflık), was officially called a sanjak (سنجاق) in Turkish or liwa (لواء) in Arabic and Persian. A mutasarrif was subordinate to a wali or governor-general of a province, while being of superior rank to a kaymakam.

The Battle of Vajkal or Battle of Valkal (Albanian: Beteja e Vajkalit) was fought in April of 1465 between the Albanian forces of Skanderbeg and an Ottoman army under Ballaban Pasha, an Ottoman commander of Albanian origin. Ballaban, the new Ottoman sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Ohrid, was sent by Sultan Mehmed II to attack the Albanian forces. The Albanians were ultimately victorious, but both sides suffered heavy losses. Some of Skanderbeg's officers were captured by the fleeing Ottomans and were then summarily executed.

Kethüda (Ottoman Turkish: صدارت كتخداسی; Turkish: Sadaret Kethüdası; Persian: کدخدا), often corrupted to k[y]ahya or kehya in daily speech, was an Ottoman Turkish title meaning "steward, deputy, lieutenant". It derives from the Persian word katak-khvatai ("master of a household", later "chieftain, headman").

The term originated in medieval Persia. Under the Ilkhanids, the term kadkhuda (Persian: کدخدا) referred to a village elder who acted as its representative towards the government, and later, under the Safavids, their duties included the collection of taxes and administration of their village or town. From Persian practice it spread to the Seljuk Turks of the Sultanate of Rum, and is first attested in Ottoman usage in the 15th century in the sense of an "authorised deputy official". Accordingly, the term is found across a wide variety of official institutions and offices, both in the central and in the provincial administration, where the kethüda served as a deputy to the agha or re'is in charge of a department or unit or a provincial governor (beylerbey or sanjakbey). By far the most important among them was the deputy of the grand vizier, the sadaret kethüdası; the kethüda yeri supervised the timariots in the provinces, and was also found as a title in the Janissary corps; and the kapı kethüdası was the permanent representative maintained in the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, by provincial governors, senior viziers, or tributary and vassal rulers like the hospodars of the Danubian principalities.