| Tanush Thopia Tanush Topia | |
|---|---|
| Count of Mat | |
 | |
| Count of Mat | |
| Reign | 1328-1338 |
| Predecessor | Sevasto Thopia |
| Successor | Andrea I Thopia |
| Died | 1359 |
| Issue | Domenico Thopia Andrea I Thopia |
| House | Thopia |
| Father | Sevasto Thopia |
| Mother | Unknown |
Tanusio Thopia or Tanush Thopia (Albanian : Tanush Topiafl. 1329–38) was an Albanian count that served Princes of Taranto Philip I and Robert, and Dukes of Durazzo John and Charles. He had domains in Mat.
Under Philip I, the Kingdom of Albania was restricted to roughly the modern Durrës District. [1] Upon the death of Philip I in 1332, there were various claims on his domains within the Angevin family. The rights of the Duchy of Durazzo (Durrës) and the Kingdom of Albania together were given to John of Gravina with a sum of 5,000 pounds of gold. [2] After his death in 1336, his dominions in Albania passed to his son Charles, Duke of Durazzo. During this period there were different Albanian noble families who began consolidating their power and domains. One of them was the Thopia family whose domains were in central Albania. The Serbs were pressing hard in their direction and the Albanian nobles found a natural ally in the Angevins. [3] Alliance with Albanian leaders was also crucial to the safety of the Kingdom of Albania, especially during the 1320s and 1330s. Most prominent among these leaders were the Thopias, ruling in an area between the rivers Mat and Shkumbin, [4] and the Muzaka family in the territory between the rivers Shkumbin and Vlorë. [5] They saw the Angevins as protectors of their domains and made alliances. During 1336–1337 Charles had various successes against Serb forces in central Albania. [6]
He was mentioned in 1329 as one of the counts of Albania. [7] In an act of Robert, King of Naples, [8] dated 15 April 1338, [9] Tanusio was mentioned as Count of Matia (conte di Matia). [10] This reconfirmed Thopia's relations to the Angevins from the time of Philip I. [9] By 1343, Serbian King Stefan Dušan had conquered almost all of Albania, except for Durazzo which had been defended[ when? ] under the command of Tanusio. [11]
According to Karl Hopf, Tanusio's son or brother Andrea, as told by Gjon Muzaka (fl. 1510), had fallen in love with the daughter of Robert of Naples when her ship, en route to the Principality of the Morea to be wed with the bailli , had stopped at Durazzo where they met. Andrea abducted and married her, and they had two sons, Karl and George. King Robert, enraged, under the pretext of reconciliation had the couple invited to Naples where he had them executed. [12] Karl Thopia later became the Prince of Albania.
Robert of Anjou, known as Robert the Wise, was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third son of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, and during his father's lifetime he was styled Duke of Calabria (1296–1309).
When the Roman Empire divided into east and west in 395, the territories of modern Albania became a part of the Byzantine Empire. At the end of the 12th century, the Principality of Arbanon was formed which lasted until mid 13th century, after its dissolution it was followed with the creation of the Albanian Kingdom after an alliance between the Albanian noblemen and Angevin dynasty. After a war against the Byzantine empire led the kingdom occasionally decrease in size until the Angevins eventually lost their rule in Albania and led the territory ruled by several different Albanian chieftains until the mid 14th century which for a short period of time were conquered by the short-lived empire of Serbia. After its fall in 1355 several chieftains regained their rule and significantly expanded until the arrival of the Ottomans after the Battle of Savra.
The League of Lezhë, also commonly referred to as the Albanian League, was a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created in the city of Lezhë on 2 March 1444. The League of Lezhë is considered the first unified independent Albanian country in the Medieval age, with Skanderbeg as leader of the regional Albanian chieftains and nobles united against the Ottoman Empire. Skanderbeg was proclaimed "Chief of the League of the Albanian People," while Skanderbeg always signed himself as "DominusAlbaniae".
The Regnum Albaniæ 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.
Balša Balšić died September 18, 1385) or Balša II was the Lord of Lower Zeta from 1378 to 1385. He was a member of the Balšić noble family, which ruled Zeta from ca. 1362 to 1421.
Karl Thopia was an Albanian feudal prince and warlord who ruled Albanian domains from 1358 until the first Ottoman conquest of Albania in 1388. Thopia usually maintained good relations with the Roman Curia.
The Arianiti were an Albanian noble family that ruled large areas in Albania and neighbouring areas 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.
Hélène of Anjou, was a member of the House of Anjou. She was an illegitimate daughter of Robert, King of Naples.
The Principality of Albania was an Albanian principality ruled by the Albanian dynasty of Thopia. The first notable ruler was Tanusio Thopia, who became Count of Mat in 1328. The principality would reach its zenith during the rule of Karl Thopia, who emerged in 1359 after the Battle of Achelous, conquering the cities of Durrës and Krujë and consolidating his rule of central Albania between the rivers of Mat and Shkumbin. The principality would last up until 1415, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
The Muzaka were a 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.
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.
Tanush Thopia or Tanusio Thopia was an Albanian nobleman and one of the closest collaborators of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg.
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.
Niketa Thopia was the Lord of Krujë between 1392—1394 and 1403–1415. He was a member of the Albanian Thopia family and an illegitimate son of Karl Thopia, the Prince of Albania.
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.
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.
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.
The Zenevisi, were an Albanian noble family. They governed territories in Epirus and were centred in Gjirokastër.
Andrea I Thopia died in 1342 in Naples was an Albanian nobleman. In 1338 he inherited the county of Mat from his predecessor Tanusio Thopia.
Der albanesische Häuptling Tanussio Thopia war im Jahre 1338 von König Robert von Neapel in dem Besitze der Grafschaft Mat bestätigt worden.
darauf in der Hand jenes Tanussio Thopia (1328 — 1338) waren, dem König Robert von Neapel 1338 den Besitz der Grafschaft Mal bestätigte. Des letztem Sohn oder Bruder Andreas war es, der sich mit dem Haufe Eapet verschwägerte. König Robert, so erzählt Musachi, hatte seine natürliche Tochter dem Bailli von Morea — vielleicht dem Bertrand de Baux — zur' Gattin bestimmt und sie nach Durazzo gesandt, wo damals Thopia weilte. Er verliebte sich in sie, entführte und heirathete sie. Zwei Söhne, Karl und Georg, ent« sprossen dieser Ehe. Aber schwer traf die Gatten bald die Rache des erzürnten Vaters; unter dem Scheine der Versöhnung lud er beide zu sich nach Neapel ein und ließ sie dort hinrichten; die Kinder aber, in denen somit wirtlich das Blut der Angiovlnen stoß, wurden gerettet; in der festen Burg Kroja, die er später ausbaute, nicht, wie die Sage meldet, erst gründete "), wuchs Karl auf, entschlossen, den Mord des vaters zu rächen