Then the work is organized into three large chapters called “books.” The first and briefest book gives attention to historical background information about the Turks, the Ottoman sultans, and the city of Shkodra.

In this second book, Barleti describes details of the pre-siege incursions of the akinci, the build-up of Ottoman troops, information about how janissaries were trained, the arrival of camels and chariots with equipment, the production and positioning of artillery around Shkodra’s Rozafa Fortress, the arrival of Sultan Mehmed II in Shkodra, the assault of the cannons (including daily tallies of shots fired), the life and faith of the Shkodran besieged, and five general Ottoman attacks intended to penetrate the breaches in the walls—all of which conclude in failure to conquer the citadel.

After describing the successful Ottoman conquest of these cities, the third book records the sultan retreating after ordering a siege force in place in an attempt to starve the Shkodran citizens into surrender.

The work concludes with the Shkodran besieged learning of a peace treaty between Venice and Mehmed II, in which Shkodra is ceded to the Ottoman Empire.

The Albanian version also included Buda’s scholarly notes (endnotes), George Merula’s essay “The War of Shkodra” (about the siege of 1474), and Marin Beçikemi’s panegyric delivered to the Venetian Senate.

Franz Babinger asserts that “this account has long been regarded as untrustworthy because of its bias and the high-flown speeches which, in the classical manner, it puts into the mouths of protagonists who could never have spoken in such a way.