Andrea II. Muzaka

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Coat of arms of the Muzaka family from 1372

Andrea II. Muzaka (also Andreas Musachi ; * 1319 ; † 1372 ) was the founder of the Albanian principality of Muzakaj , which existed from 1335 with a few interruptions until 1444.

Life

Andrea II. Muzaka came from the distinguished, in central Albania wealthy noble family Muzaka . Around 1280, his grandfather Andrea I. Muzaka established a de facto independent territorial rule in the Myzeqe area west of Berat, which was later named after the family .

prehistory

After the murder of the despot of Epirus , Thomas Komnenos Dukas Angelos (1296-1318), by his nephew Nikola Orsini , the Count Palatine of Kefalonia , this new despot of Epirus became. This usurpation of the throne called the Byzantines , Anjou and Serbs on the scene. Everyone tried to secure their share of the shattered despotate. The Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin prepared for the submission of Albania . As early as June 1319 he assumed the title of ruler of Raszien , Dioclea , Albania and the sea ​​coast . His next destination was Dyrrachion in what is now Albania, which had belonged to the Kingdom of Naples since 1271. There Stefan Uroš II tried to win a party for himself. In 1319 there was still an uprising against the Anjou and the residents of the city paid homage to the Serbian king.

In order to counter the further advance of the enemy, who stormed the Angevin lands from all sides, Philip of Taranto from the older house of Anjou (Prince of the Kingdom of Albania from 1294 to 1332) tried his brother, King Charles Martel of Hungary and the Ban Vladin of Bosnia to win the league against the Serbs. At the same time, Pope John XXII admonished . the 1318 of the " Catholic Church of the Great Albania, the Protosebastos Wilhelm Blevisti and Theodor I. Muzaka , the Mentulo or Matarango, Count of Clissania (son of Theodor I), the Andrea II. Muzaka (son of Theodor I), the Count Wladislaw Conovic of Dioclea and the Sea Airs, Count Wilhelm of Albania, Paulus (or Paolo) Materanga (son-in-law of Theodor I) and the other barons of the country to remain loyal to the House of Taranto and where possible their own to recapture the lost places to do. "

The Principality of Muzakaj

After the death of his father Theodor I. Muzaka (around 1335), Andrea II took over the rule and made the heavily fortified Berat the capital of his principality. With a clever swing policy between the regional great powers Byzantium , Serbia and Naples , he succeeded in maintaining and expanding his position as an autonomous prince in central Albania between the Shkumbin and Valona . So he took at the beginning of his rule, probably with the approval of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III. , the high title of despot ; In 1337 the Pope also recognized him as regni Albaniae despotus .

After the death of the Serbian king Stefan Uroš III. Dečanski (1331) subjugated his son and successor, Stefan IV. Dušan, in several campaigns, the Albanian principalities, including the territory of Andrea II Muzaka, and incorporated them into his new empire ; the Angevin duchy of Durazzo was also threatened by the Serbian expansion. While most of the Albanian tribes submitted to Dušan, some were loyal to the Anjou. Authorized by them, Giovanni Sardo, from Naples, appeared at King Robert's and reported that the Albanians were ready to renew their oath of allegiance. Thereupon the king had the Albanian chiefs informed on August 19, 1336 that he would send an army to Durazzo the following spring . In the spring of 1337, King Robert's stepson, 17-year-old Ludwig von Taranto , to whom part of the Albanians paid homage , appeared in Epirus as vicar general . Among them was "Andreas Musacius". Ludwig promised him to help him recapture his country, full amnesty for earlier apostasy and "offenses committed against the king's people". In addition to free access to Durazzo, Andrea II, his heirs and members of his tribe were allowed to keep their fiefs and possessions except for the fortresses and what belonged to the domains. The Muzaka and other loyal followers were also documented the dignities and privileges conferred by the previous rulers. This privilege was confirmed by King Robert on July 18, 1337. In return, one of Andrea's two older sons (filii majores) (Gjin II. Or Theodor II. ) Should always stay as a hostage with the governor Guglielmo de Sanseverino in Durazzo. Around 1340 Muzaka's warriors were able to defeat a Serbian contingent on the Peristeri .

In autumn 1345, Berat and Valona fell to the Serbs by the Serbian military leader Kersak , with Berat being renamed Beligrad ( White City ). In 1346 the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan installed his brother-in-law Johannes Komnenos Asen as governor of Valona, Kanina and Berat. After Dušan's death in 1355, he established the de facto autonomous principality of Valona , which also existed under his successors Alexander Komnenos Asen (1363–1372) and Zeta Balša II (1372–1385) until it was conquered by the Ottomans after the Battle of Savra in 1385 .

After the fall of the Serbian Empire, Andrea II. Muzaka expanded his sphere of influence to the east as far as the Korça plain from 1355 . In the late phase of his rule, however, he came under increasing pressure from rival Albanian princes. In 1370 his domains were attacked by Princeps Albaniae Karl Thopia , who seized the area of ​​Andreas's son-in-law Blasius Matarango († 1367) between Shkumbin and Seman , while the Balšići established themselves in Valona. When moving to the east, Andrea II succeeded in taking the town of Kastoria on the Pindus from the Serbian pretender Marko Kraljević after the Battle of the Mariza in 1371 . For this victory he received the investiture of Kastoria from the Byzantine emperor John V in 1372 , the formal confirmation of his despot title, a coat of arms with a double-headed eagle with a star in the middle. the "privilege of the golden seal and a throne chair on which the coat of arms was embroidered in pearls".

Saint Anthony's Church in Durrës

On his deathbed (1372) Andrea II divided his possessions among his three sons and gave the firstborn, Gjin I, Tomornizza am Tomorr and the two Devoll valleys, the second, Theodor, the Musakja (Myzeqeja) and the youngest, Stoya, the landscape of Kastoria with all cities and domains. When he died childless, his brother Gjin followed him .

Andrea II. Muzaka was buried with his wife in St. Anthony's Church in Durrës .

family

Andrea II. Muzaka married Efthimijen (also: Eythvmia, Etinia, Onorata), daughter of Paolo Matarango, Lord of Gora, with whom he had five children:

See also

literature

  • Ferit Duka: Muzakajt - Lidhëz e fuqishme midis kohëve paraosmane dhe osmane. In: Historical Studies. Vol. 1-2, 2004, ISSN  0563-5799 , pp. 7-17.
  • Божидар Ферјанчић: Деспоти у Византији и Јужнословенским земљама (= Посебна издања. Volume 336; Вистишитолк6). Српска академија наука и уметности, Београд 1960, pp. 78–79.
  • Божидар Ферјанчић: Севастократори у Византији. In: Зборник радова Византолошког института. Volume 11, 1968, ISSN  0584-9888 , pp. 141-192 ( 4shared.com PDF; 4.0 MB), here: pp. 189-190.
  • John Van Antwerp Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest . University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, 1994, ISBN 0-472-08260-4 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Charles Hopf : Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues . Weidmann, Berlin 1873, p. 278–280 (Italian, archive.org ).
  • Edwin E. Jacques: The Albanians. An ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present. McFarland & Co., Jefferson NC 1995, ISBN 0-89950-932-0 ( books.google.it ).
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Despotate of Epiros 1267–1479: A contribution to the history of Greece in the middle ages . University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-26190-2 , pp. 197 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Oliver Jens Schmitt : The Venetian Albania (1392–1479) (= Southeast European works. Volume 110). Oldenbourg, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-486-56569-9 , p. 186.
  • Erich Trapp , Hans-Veit Beyer, Ewald Kislinger: Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit . 8. Fascicle: Μιχαὴλ - Ξυστούρης (= publications of the Commission for Byzantine Studies . Volume 1/8). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-7001-0775-7 , p. 92.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Van Antwerp Fine: Late Medieval Balkans. P. 415.
  2. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . First Section AG. Hermann Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867, p. 419 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  3. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 419 f.
  4. ^ John Van Antwerp Fine, p. 290.
  5. ↑ See Jacques, Albanians. P. 167.
  6. ↑ Johann Georg von Hahn: Journey through the areas of the Drin un Wardar . Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 276 ( online version in Google Book Search).
  7. ↑ a b General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 442.
  8. ↑ Johann Georg von Hahn: Journey through the areas of the Drin un Wardar . Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 282 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  9. ^ John Van Antwerp Fine: Late Medieval Balkans. P. 290 f.
  10. ^ Konstantin Jireček : History of the Serbs . tape 1 . FA Perthes, Gotha 1911, p. 385 ( archive.org ).
  11. ↑ Marika McAdam: Balcani Occidentali . Lonely Planet, S. 100 (Italian, full text in Google Book Search).
  12. ^ William Miller: Essays on the Latin Orient . University Press, Cambridge 1921, pp. 434 (English, preview in Google Book Search).
  13. ↑ Jireček, History of the Serbs. P. 395.
  14. ↑ Jacques, Albanians. P. 167.
  15. ↑ Nicol, Epiros. P. 197.
  16. ↑ Hopf, Chroniques. P. 281.
  17. ↑ Johann Georg von Hahn : Journey through the areas of the Drin un Wardar . In: Memoranda of the Imperial Academy of Sciences . Second division. tape 16 . Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing House, Vienna 1869, p. 99 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  18. ↑ Hopf, Chroniques. P. 282.
  19. ↑ a b General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . First Section AG. Hermann Brockhaus, Leipzig 1865, p. 42 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  20. ↑ a b Rosario Jurlaro: I Musachi, despoti d'Epiro . Edizioni del Centro Librario, Bari, p. 60 (Italian, vatrarberesh.it [PDF; accessed March 6, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Andrea II. Muzaka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andreas Musachi II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian despot
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1372