Mara Kastrioti | |
---|---|
Princess of Mat Lady of Zeta | |
Lady of Zeta | |
Reign | 1451–1465 |
Successor | Goisava Arianiti |
Born | 15th Century Principality of Kastrioti |
Burial | |
Spouse | Stefan Crnojević |
Issue | Ivan Andrija Božidar |
Dynasty | Kastrioti |
Father | Gjon Kastrioti |
Mother | Voisava Kastrioti |
Mara Kastrioti was a 15th century Albanian princess from the House of Kastrioti. She is best known as the older sister of the Albanian hero Skanderbeg.
Mara was the daughter of the Albanian Feudal Lord Gjon Kastrioti and his wife Voisava Kastrioti. [1] [2] Not much is known about her early life.
Mara Kastrioti, whose exact year of marriage remains unknown, became the wife of Stefan Crnojević, who was the Lord of Zeta. [3] Mara and Stefan had three sons, Ivan, Andrija, nicknamed as the brave Albanian [4] and Božidar. Mara and her husband’s graves are located at the Kom Monastery, Montenegro.
Mara married Stefan Crnojević. The pair had three sons: [5]
The House of Crnojević was a medieval Serbian noble family that held Zeta, or parts of it; a region north of Lake Skadar corresponding to southern Montenegro and northern Albania, from 1326 to 1362 CE, then 1403 until 1515.
Ivan Crnojević was the lord of Zeta and Serbian leader from 1465 to 1490. Having formed an alliance with the Republic of Venice, he led the Serb resistance against the expanding Ottoman Empire He was successful at first but lost his realm in 1479. He resumed power in 1481 in Žabljak and soon founded Cetinje as the new capital of his state.
Đurađ Crnojević was the last Serbian medieval Lord of Zeta between 1490 and 1496, from the Crnojevic dynasty. The son of Ivan Crnojević and the Albanian noblewoman Goisava Arianiti, he was the founder of the first Serbian printing house. Crnojević styled himself "Duke of Zeta". He was well known by his great education, knowledge of astronomy, geometry and other sciences.
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.
Stefan Crnojević, known as Stefanica was the Lord of Zeta between 1451 and 1465. Until 1441, as a knyaz he was one of many governors in Upper Zeta, which at that time was a province of the Serbian Despotate. He then aligned himself with the Bosnian duke, Stefan Vukčić Kosača, and remained his vassal until 1444 when he accepted Venetian suzerainty. In Venetian–held Lezhë, on 2 March 1444, Stefan and his sons forged an alliance with several noblemen from Albania, led by Skanderbeg, known as the League of Lezhë. In 1448 he returned under suzerainty of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković. In 1451, Stefan took over the leadership of the Crnojević family and became the ruler of a large part of Zeta, hence the title Gospodar Zetski.
The Kastrioti were an Albanian noble family, active in the 14th and 15th centuries as the rulers of the Principality of Kastrioti. At the beginning of the 15th century, the family controlled a territory in the Mat and Dibra regions. The most notable member was Gjergj Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg, regarded today as an Albanian hero for leading the resistance against Mehmed the Conqueror's efforts to expand the Ottoman Empire into Albania. After Skanderbeg's death and the fall of the Principality in 1468, the Kastrioti family gave their allegiance to the Kingdom of Naples and were given control over the Duchy of San Pietro in Galatina and the County of Soleto, now in the Province of Lecce, Italy. Ferrante, son of Gjon Kastrioti II, Duke of Galatina and Count of Soleto, is the direct ancestor of all male members of the Kastrioti family today. Today, the family consists of two Italian branches, one in Lecce and the other in Naples. The descendants of the House of Kastrioti in Italy use the family name "Castriota Scanderbeg".
The Kom Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Montenegro. It is located on the small island of Odrinska gora, close to Žabljak Crnojevića, where the Crnojević River flows into the western section of Lake Skadar. The Kom Monastery was built between 1415 and 1427, as an endowment of Đurađ and Aleksa Đurašević, members of the Crnojević noble family. The graves of four members of the Crnojević family, including Stefan Crnojević and his wife, Mara Kastrioti—an Albanian princess from the House of Kastrioti are located there. The monastery continued with the practicises of orthodox church, which had been greatly expanded during the earlier rule of the Balšići. The monastery also continued the tradition of building mausoleums. The oldest frescoes in the monastery are from the second half of the 15th century. For a short period of time, the monastery was the seat of the Zetan Metropolitanate. In the Kom Monastery in 1831, Petar II Petrović-Njegoš was appointed as the archimandrite of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro.
Voisava was a noblewoman and wife of Gjon Kastrioti, an Albanian feudal lord from the House of Kastrioti. They had nine children together, one of whom was the Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg.
Staniša "Stanko" Crnojević was a member of the Crnojević noble family that held the Lordship of Zeta; Stanko was the heir to Ivan I Crnojević, who ruled from 1465 to 1490. In 1482 his father Ivan sent him and several of his close friends to the court of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid in order to guarantee his loyalty. Stanko converted to Islam and received the name Skender, hence he is also known as Skender-bey Crnojević, and became the Ottoman sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Montenegro in 1514–1528. He is enumerated in Serbian and Montenegrin epic poetry, in which he is sometimes known as Maksim.
Lekë Dushmani was an Albanian nobleman and one of the founding members of League of Lezhë, formed on 2 March 1444.
Pal Dukagjini was an Albanian nobleman, a member of the Dukagjini family. He and his kinsman Nicholas Dukagjini were initially subjects of Lekë Zaharia, a Venetian vassal who had possessions around Shkoder. Nicholas murdered Lekë, and the Dukagjini continued to rule over their villages under Venetian vassalage. Pal and Nicholas were part of the League of Lezhë, a military alliance that sought liberation of Albania from the Ottoman Empire, founded by the powerful Skanderbeg. In 1454, the Dukagjini accepted vassalage of Alfonso V of Aragon, as other chieftains had done three years earlier. Pal later abandoned Skanderbeg's army and deserted to the Ottomans.
Nicholas Dukagjini was a 15th-century member of the Dukagjini family.
Peter Spani was an Albanian nobleman and Venetian pronoetes in the first half of the 15th century. His family's domains included territories around Shkodër (Scutari), Drisht (Drivasto) and western Kosovo. He ruled over Shala, Shosh, Nikaj-Mërtur (Lekbibaj) and Pult; the whole region under the Ottomans took his name, Petrişpan-ili. Between 1444 and 1455, Peter was a member of the League of Lezhë and after his death, the League took his territories.
Gojko Balšić or Gojko Balsha and his brothers George Strez and John were the lords of Misia, a coastal area from the White Drin towards the Adriatic. The brothers were members of the house of Balšić, which earlier held the Lordship of Zeta. They participated in founding the League of Lezhë, an alliance led by their maternal uncle Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Gojko supported Skanderbeg until the latter's death in 1468, and then continued to fight against the Ottomans within Venetian forces.
George Strez Balšić or Gjergj Strez Balsha and his brothers Gojko and Ivan were the lords of Misia, a coastal area from the White Drin towards the Adriatic. The brothers were members of the Balšić noble family, which had earlier held Zeta. They participated in founding of the League of Lezhë, an alliance led by their maternal uncle Skanderbeg. George later betrayed Skanderbeg, by selling a domain to the Ottomans, while his two brothers continued to support Skanderbeg until his death and then continued to fight for the Venetian forces.
Ivan Strez Balšić or John Balsha fl. 1444–1469) and his brothers George Strez and Gojko Balšić were the lords of Misia, a coastal area from the White Drin towards the Adriatic. The brothers were members of the Balšić family, which earlier held Zeta, but had now placed itself among the nobility in Albania. They participated in founding of the League of Lezhë, an alliance led by their maternal uncle Skanderbeg. Ivan and Gojko supported Skanderbeg until he died in 1468 and then continued to fight against Ottomans together with Venetian forces. After Skanderbeg's death Venice installed Ivan Strez Balšić as Skanderbeg's successor.
Andrea II Thopia was a 15th century Albanian nobleman whose domains included the territory of Scuria. He was a member of the Thopia family and one of the founders of the League of Lezhë.
Stefan Balšić ; fl. 1419-40), known as Stefan Maramonte, was a Zetan nobleman. He was the son of Konstantin Balšić and Helena Thopia. Following Konstantin's death in 1402, Helena sought refuge in the Republic of Venice and later lived with her sister Maria Thopia who was married to Philip Maramonte. As a result, the Venetians and Ragusans often referred to Stefan as Maramonte. He was initially a close associate and vassal to Zetan lord Balša III. Balša III and Stefan fought against the Republic of Venice, and Stefan helped in the administration of the land as co-ruler with Balša III, he did however not succeed Balša III. Balša III, who died on 28 April 1421, had decided to pass the rule of Zeta to his uncle, the Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević. When the Second Scutari War between Venice and Despot Stefan began, he [...]. Stefan left Apulia in the summer of 1426, seeking to take Zeta. During the 1427–28 conflict, Maramonte went to the Ottoman court where he sought the support of Sultan Murad II for his appointment as the Lord of Zeta. There, he met Skanderbeg, who was a hostage at the Ottoman court. Maramonte married Vlajka Kastrioti, the sister of Skanderbeg. Supported by the Ottomans, Maramonte, accompanied by Gojčin Crnojević and Little Tanush, plundered the region around Scutari and Ulcinj, and attacked Drivast in 1429, but failed to capture it. Since his attempts failed, Maramonte surrendered to the Venetians and served as their military officer in the campaigns in Flanders and Lombardia.
Jerolim Zagurović was a Serbian-Venetian printer of Serbian Cyrillic books (srbulje). Zagurović and Vićenco Vuković were the last printers of srbulje books.
Stanisha Kastrioti was an Albanian nobleman, a member of the Kastrioti family, and older brother of Skanderbeg.
...He was the penultimate child of Gjon and Vojsava. The children were four sons (Stanisha, Reposh, Konstantin, and Gjergj) and four girls (Mara, Jella, Angelina, Vlajka and Mamica)...
...Stefan was married to Maria Kastrioti, the daughter of a prominent Albanian nobleman, Gjon Kastrioti...
Ђурађ је имао четири сина