Blinishti | |
---|---|
Noble family | |
Founded | Before 13th century |
Titles | Comes (Count) Protosebastos (High court title) Miles (Knight) Marascallum Regni Albaniae (Marshal of Albania) Comes Regni Albaniae (Count of the Kingdom of Albania) |
Members | |
Estate(s) | Northern Albania |
Dissolution | After 1330 |
The Blinishti (incorrectly, Bleusi, Bleuisti, Bletisti, Blevisci [1] ) were a medieval Albanian feudal family that held lands in modern northern Albania between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The family governed a territory spanning from Gjadër in the west to Mali i Shejtit in the east, and from Fushë-Arrëz in the north to Ndërfanda in the south of their domain. [2] Their core settlement was modern Blinisht north of Lezhë. [3]
According to Milan Šufflay, the Blinishti were from the Matasei tribe of Mati. [3] The earliest attestation of the Blinishti comes from an Angevin document of 1274 outlining an agreement between Charles I of Anjou and a number of Albanian nobles. In the document, Vlado Blinishti (Blado Bletista) is mentioned. Prior to his engagement with the Angevins, Vlado was likely a stratioti with political ties to both the Byzantines and Serbs (indicated by his identification with Caznecio Blinishti). [4] [5] In 1279, Vlado was captured by the captain of Durazzo and imprisoned in Brindisi on grounds of disrespecting the conditions of the aforementioned agreement. However, in 1304 Vlado accepted Angevin suzerainty and was freed, receiving the title of comes from Philip I of Taranto. His son, Gulielm, was given the position of Albania's marshal (marascallum regni albanie duximus ordinandum) by the Angevins on top of his older title of protosevastos given previously by the Byzantines. Another member of this family, Kalojan Blinishti, is mentioned between 1304 and 1319 and also bore the title of comes. [4] A letter of 1304 claims Kalojan to have been the brother of a certain Blasius who may have been Vlado. [6] Following the Albanian rebellion against the Serbs in 1319-36, instigated by Pope John XXII, the Blinishti no longer appear in the historical record, their territory likely being split by the Dukagjini and Thopia families. [7]
The Kingdom of Albania was established by Charles of Anjou in the Albanian territories he conquered from the Byzantine Empire in 1271, with the help of the local Albanian nobility. The Kingdom of Albania was declared in late February 1272. The kingdom extended from the region of Durazzo south along the coast to Butrint. A major attempt to advance further in direction of Constantinople failed at the Siege of Berat (1280–1281). A Byzantine counteroffensive soon ensued, which drove the Angevins out of the interior by 1281. The Sicilian Vespers further weakened the position of Charles, and the Kingdom was soon reduced by the Byzantines to a small area around Durazzo. The Angevins held out here, however, until 1368, when the city was captured by Karl Thopia. In 1392, Karl Thopia's son surrendered the city to the Republic of Venice.
The House of Balšić, or Balsha, were a noble family that ruled "Zeta and the coastlands", from 1362 to 1421, during and after the fall of the Serbian Empire. Balša, the founder, was a petty nobleman who held only one village during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty, and only after the death of the emperor, his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko under unclear circumstances, and they then expanded into Upper Zeta by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić. Nevertheless, they were acknowledged as oblastni gospodari of Zeta in edicts of Emperor Uroš the Weak. After the death of Uroš (1371), the family feuded with the Mrnjavčevići, who controlled Macedonia.
Gjon Kastrioti was an Albanian feudal lord from the House of Kastrioti and the father of Albanian leader Gjergj Kastrioti. He governed the territory between the Cape of Rodon and Dibër and had at his disposal an army of 2,000 horsemen.
The Arianiti were a noble Albanian family that ruled large parts of Albania and neighboring territories from the 11th to the 16th century. Their domain stretched across the Shkumbin valley and the old Via Egnatia road and reached east to today's Bitola.
Arbanon was a medieval principality in present-day Albania, ruled by the native Progoni family, and the first Albanian state to emerge in recorded history. The principality was established in 1190 by the Albanian archon Progon in the region surrounding Kruja, to the east and northeast of Venetian territories. Progon was succeeded by his sons Gjin and then Demetrius (Dhimitër), who managed to retain a considerable degree of autonomy from the Byzantine Empire. In 1204, Arbanon attained full, though temporary, political independence, taking advantage of the weakening of Constantinople following its pillage during the Fourth Crusade. However, Arbanon lost its large autonomy ca. 1216, when the ruler of Epirus, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, started an invasion northward into Albania and Macedonia, taking Kruja and ending the independence of the principality. From this year, after the death of Demetrius, the last ruler of the Progoni family, Arbanon was successively controlled by the Despotate of Epirus, then by the Bulgarian Empire and, from 1235, by the Empire of Nicaea.
After the weakening of the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire in the middle and late 13th century, the northern territory of modern-day Albania became part of Serbia. Firstly, as part of Serbian Grand Principality and later as part of Serbian Empire. Serb control in southern Albania is unclear. Some suggest they acquired towns, but others believe they only obtained submission, possibly nominal, from Albanian tribes. Central and southern Albanian towns were not conquered until 1343–45. Between 1272 and 1368, some areas of the modern-day state were also ruled by the Angevins as the Kingdom of Albania. In the late 14th century, Albanian Principalities were created throughout Albania.
The Muzaka family was an noble Albanian family that ruled over the region of Myzeqe in the Late Middle Ages. The Muzaka are also referred to by some authors as a tribe or a clan. The earliest historical document that mentions the Muzaka family is written by the Byzantine historian Anna Komnene. At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century members of the Muzaka family controlled a region between the rivers of Devoll and Vjosë. Some of them were loyal to the Byzantine Empire while some of them allied with Charles of Anjou who gave them impressive Byzantine-like titles in order to subdue them more easily. In the 1340s, Stefan Dušan pressed further south into Albania, and by 1343-45 had taken central towns and territories in southern Albania, including domains of the Muzaka family. However, they would fall back under local control after his death in 1355. After the Battle of Savra in 1385 the territory of Albania came under the Ottoman Empire; they served the Ottomans until 1444 when Theodor Corona Musachi joined Skanderbeg's rebellion. When the Ottomans suppressed Skanderbeg's rebellion and captured the territory of Venetian Albania in the 15th century many members of the Muzaka family retreated to Italy. Those who stayed in Ottoman Albania lost their feudal rights, some converted to Islam and achieved high ranks in the Ottoman military and administrative hierarchy.
Gulielm Blinishti was an Albanian nobleman of the Blinishti family which held lands across northern Albania during the 13th and 14th centuries. Gulielm is recorded for the first time in 1279 as having been captured by the Angevin authorities and sent to Brindisi as a prisoner on the accusation of treachery alongside other Albanian nobles such as Gjon Muzaka, Dhimitër Zogu, and his father Vlado Blinishti. It is known that in 1279 Vlado was imprisoned by the captain of Durazzo, Johannes Scoctus, possibly on the grounds of violating the agreement reached between Charles I of Anjou and the Albanian nobles in 1274, as well as his increasing political ties to the Kingdom of Serbia, where he obtained the title of kaznac. However, in 1304 Vlado would accept Angevin vassalage and consequently earn the title of comes while Gulielm would be appointed the marshal of Albania's forces by Philip I of Taranto and his father Charles II of Naples. A papal bull of 1319 mentions Gulielm with the Byzantine title of prothosevastus, indicating his previous position and rank.
Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes or Michael Tarchaneiotes Glabas was a notable Byzantine aristocrat and general. He served under emperors Michael VIII Palaiologos and Andronikos II Palaiologos in the Balkans, fighting against the Second Bulgarian Empire, Serbia, the Angevins of Naples and the Despotate of Epirus. He is also notable as the patron of several churches, most notably the Pammakaristos Church in Constantinople, where he was buried.
Teodor I Muzaka was an Albanian nobleman that ruled the Lordship of Berat between 1319 and 1331. According to John Musachi, he had the nickname "këshetesi", meaning the one with braided hair. He had a brother Count Mentula Muzaka of Clissura or today called Kelcyra.
Zadrima is an ethnographic region situated in north-western Albania between the cities of Shkodra and Lezha, located left of the Lower Drin which eventually drains into the Adriatic Sea from near Lezha.
The House of Dukagjini is an Albanian noble family which ruled over an area of Northern Albania and Western Kosovo known as the Principality of Dukagjini in the 14th and 15th centuries. They may have been descendants of the earlier Progoni family, who founded the first Albanian state in recorded history, the Principality of Arbanon. The city of Lezhë was their most important holding.
The Thopia were one of the most powerful Albanian feudal families in the Late Middle Ages, part of the nobility of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania.
The Mataranga, Matranga, Matarango or Matrangolo were an Albanian noble family during the 13th and 15th centuries. Members of this family included local rulers, Byzantine officials and writers. After the occupation of Albania by the Ottoman Empire, part of the family emigrated to Italy and settled in the Arbëresh villages of Piana degli Albanesi and Santa Cristina Gela in Southern Italy, where they have continued to maintain the Arbëresh language.
Vlado Blinishti was an Albanian nobleman and the first recorded member of the Blinishti family which held territories across northern Albania during the 13th and 14th centuries.
The Skura were a medieval Albanian feudal family centred around the historical and ethnographic region of Benda in the highlands north-east of modern Tirana, central Albania. They were among the Albanian families that rose to prominence in the Theme of Dyrrhachium and reached high military-administrative ranks within the Byzantine state apparatus. On top of their relations with the Byzantine Empire and other members of the local Albanian nobility, the Skura were also closely involved with other prominent powers in the region, such as the Angevin Kingdom of Albania and the Ottoman Empire.
Andrea II Muzaka was an Albanian nobleman of the Muzaka family and the ruler of the Principality of Muzaka in the 14th century. He inherited the principality from his father, Teodor I Muzaka, who died around 1331. Andrea II is known for having expanded the Principality of Muzaka to its greatest extent, from the southern Adriatic coastline of Albania in the west to Kastoria in the east by the time of his death in 1372.
Gjin Tanushi was a 13th-century Albanian nobleman who held lands in Ndërfandë, corresponding to the region of Mirdita in north-central Albania. He was also the progenitor of the Dukagjini family which ruled over an area of northern Albania and western Kosovo during the medieval period, their most important holding being that of Lezhë.
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