Gjin III. Muzaka

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Gjin III. Muzaka (also Gjon; German  Johannes ; † after 1515) was an Albanian prince and the last despot of Epirus .

Life

Gjin III. came from the noble Muzaka family, well-to-do in central Albania , and was the second son of Gjin II. Muzaka and Chiranna, granddaughter (or niece) of Matarango von Gora.

After the death of Skanderbeg (1468) Gjin III. regained the land of his father, which was captured by Skanderbeg after the battle of Berat , the Tomornizza near Mount Tomorr , and supported the Republic of Venice against the Neapolitans when they threatened Durrës . Nevertheless, the city was assigned to the Ottomans in the Peace Treaty of Constantinople in 1479 , which ended the Second Ottoman-Venetian War (1463-1479) .

The brilliant offers made by Sultan Mehmed II to Gjin III if he converts to Islam have been consistently rejected. When Gjin was warned by Durrës that the Venetians wanted to hand him over to the Ottomans "in gratitude", he fled to Naples that night in 1479/80 , where King Ferdinand I had given him hope of enfeoffment with Apice . Since Gjin's wife Maria from the Albanian aristocratic family of the Dukagjini was pregnant, she and her two children Theodor (* 1478) and Helena remained hidden in Durrës until Adriano (also Andriano) was born. When Adriano was 1 ½ months, Maria and her children followed her husband to Naples. Theodor is said to have been 1½ years old when he escaped.

In Naples, Ghin III, disappointed in his hopes, had a less than brilliant existence. According to his own statement, he wrote his family chronicle “ Breve memoria degli discendenti della casa Musachi di Don ” for his three sons in 1510 at a time when the rumor of an impending crusade against the Ottomans aroused the hope of a return to the fatherland for his three sons Giovanni Musachi, despoto d'Epiro, ai suoi figlioli Don Theodoro, Don Adriano e Don Constantino ”. So Gjin distributed his lands among his three sons with the intention that if the lands could be regained, the descendants could lay claim to the former property. Theodor was to inherit Berat , Musakaja and Kanina , Adriano Tormonizza, Operi and Groß- Devoll and Constantin Klein-Devoll and Kastoria .

40 years later, Gjiin's youngest son Constantin added some additions to the family chronicle under the title: “Breve memoria di li discendenti di nostra casa Musachi”.

family

Gjin III. Muzaka married Maria from the Albanian noble family of the Dukagjini with whom he had five children:

  • Theodor (* 1478) was 1½ years old when he fled; died childless
  • Elena
  • Andriano (* 1479/80 in Durrës; † May 10, 1526 in France, poisoned) was 1½ months old when he escaped; was in command of 100 cavalrymen in the service of King Francis I of France; died childless
  • Constantin (* after 1480 in the Kingdom of Naples, † after 1550) lived in Naples ∞ Lucrezia Egidio
  • Porfida, lady-in-waiting to Queen Joan of Aragon ∞ Pietro Rocco

literature

  • Rosario Jurlao: I Musachi, despoti d'Epiro . Edizioni del Centro Librario, Bari November 1970 (Italian, vatrarberesh.it [PDF; accessed March 22, 2018]).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Johann Georg von Hahn: Journey through the areas of the Drin un Wardar . Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 284 ( online version in Google Book Search).
  2. ↑ a b c Rosario Jurlao, p. 62
  3. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . First Section AG. Hermann Brockhaus, Leipzig 1868, p. 134 ( full text in Google Book Search).
  4. ↑ a b General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 162
  5. ^ Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf : Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues . Weidmann, Berlin 1873, p. 270 (Italian, archive.org ).
  6. ↑ General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts, p. 163
personal data
SURNAME Gjin III. Muzaka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ghin Musachi III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian prince and last despot of Epirus
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH after 1515