Theodore II Muzaka

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Coat of arms of the Muzaka family from 1372

Theodor II. Muzaka (also Theodor II. Musachi , Musa Arbana ; * 1337 , † after 1389) was an Albanian prince.

Life

Theodor Muzaka came from the distinguished, in central Albania wealthy noble family Muzaka . His father Andrea II. Muzaka was the founder of the Principality of Muzakaj with the capital Berat , which existed from 1335 to 1444.

St. Athanasius of Muzaka Church in Kastoria

In 1372 Theodor succeeded his deceased father in the Principality of Muzakaj. The capital of the principality, Berat, fell to the Serbs in 1345 together with Valona by the Serbian army commander Kersak . In 1346, Johannes Komnenos Asen , brother-in-law of the Serbian tsar Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan , was appointed governor in Berat . Berat was not to come under the control of the Muzaka family again until 1396.

Between 1383 and 1384, Theodor II, together with his brother Stoya and the monk Dionysius, had a Greek Orthodox church ( St. Athanasius von Muzaka Church ) built in Kastoria , which was dedicated to Athanasius the Great .

The anti-Ottoman coalition

Aware of the Ottoman threat, some Albanian princes joined the Christian anti- Ottoman Balkan coalition founded in 1359 , ignoring differences of opinion between Albanians, Bosniaks , Bulgarians , Wallachians , Serbs , Hungarians and Dalmatians for a common enemy. So Gjergj II. Balšić and Theodor II. Muzaka defeated in alliance with the Serbian King Lazar Hrebeljanović and that of Bosnia, Tvrtko I , the Ottomans in 1387 in the battle of Pločnik .

Two years later Gjergj II. Balšić, Theodor II. Muzaka, Dhimitër Jonima and Pal Kastrioti fought with his son Gjon I. Kastrioti (father of Skanderbeg ) in the battle known as the "Battle of the Nations" on the Blackbird Field (June 15, 1389) not far from Pristina on the river Lab in today's Kosovo . A more detailed account of the battle is based on Ottoman sources, which ascribe to the Albanian military leaders an organized contingent that made up ¼ of the entire Balkan coalition. The Ottoman army consisted largely of Serb militias recruited by Sultan Murad I in Macedonia .

The coalition of the Balkan peoples was subject to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire , Murad I. On the day after the unfortunate battle, the three surviving Albanian princes Gjergj II. Balšić, Theodor II. Muzaka, under the leadership of Gjon I Kastrioti, withdrew to their borders. They were able to resist the Ottomans and set up a Christian Albanian entity that stretched from the southern border of Ragusa to the Gulf of Patras .

progeny

After Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf , Theodor had a son:

  • Nicola, Lord of the Devoll Valley
    • Pietro ∞ Angelina
      • Hassan († 1614), Muslim, Pasha of Romania
      • Andrea (blind ?; † 1389), Lord of Gopeš ∞ Comita Matarango of Gora
        • Anna (Kyranna) ∞ Haidarbeg from Svirini
        • Hassanbeg

Succession

When the princess of Valona , Comita Muzaka († 1396; widow of Balša II. And sister of Theodor II.), Waged war against her nephew Nicola in 1389, he was captured. His followers did not want to hand over the "turris Pirgi" tower with the customs office at the mouth of the Seman until Nicola was released. Both parties provisionally ceded the tower to the Venetian Baila of Corfu , who handed it over to Comita Muzaka after Nicolas was released in 1390 with the obligation to provide three sailors a year for the Corfu fleet.

After the death of Theodor II (date unknown), rule in the Principality of Muzakaj passed to his nephew Theodor III. Muzaka over. This could only happen because his only son Nicola must have been dead at the time or was held captive by his aunt Comita Muzaka.

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Studia Albanica . tape 26 . Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës Instituti i Historisë e Gjuhs̈isë, Tirana 1989, p. 90 (French).
  2. ^ A b Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf : Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues . Weidmann, Berlin 1873, p. 532 (Italian, archive.org ).
  3. ^ Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf, p. 282
  4. ^ Konstantin Jireček : History of the Serbs . tape 1 . FA Perthes, Gotha 1911, p. 385 ( archive.org ).
  5. ^ William Miller: Essays on the Latin Orient . University Press, Cambridge 1921, pp. 434 (English, preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ^ 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 , pp. 391 ( preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ St. Athanasius of Mouzaka. Retrieved March 2, 2018 (Greek).
  8. ^ Franco Demarchi: Minoranze linguistiche tra storia e politica . Gruppo Culturale CIVIS - Biblioteca Cappuccini, Trient 1988, Le minoranze etniche nei Balcani by Adriana Mitescu, p. 175 (Italian, version in Google Book Search).
  9. ^ A b Robert Elsie , Anna Di Lellio: The battle of Kosovo 1389: an Albanian epic . IB Tauris, London 2009, pp. 12 (English).
  10. ↑ Irvin Faniko: L'evoluzione storico della Carta-giuridico Fondamentale Albanese . Photocopy Canon sh.pk, Tirana 2013, Le popolazioni illiriche, p. 29 ff . (Italian, uniroma1.it [PDF]).
  11. ↑ a b Irvin Faniko, p. 30
  12. ↑ 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 ( online version in Google Book Search).
  13. ^ Edwin E. Jacques: The Albanians. An ethnic history from prehistoric times to the present . Ed .: MacFarland. Jefferson, 1995, ISBN 0-89950-932-0 , pp. 167 .
  14. ^ Ludwig von Thallóczy : Illyrisch-Albanische Forschungen . tape 1 . Duncker & Humblot, Munich 1916, p. 170 ( archive.org ).
personal data
SURNAME Theodore II Muzaka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theodore II Musachi; Musa Arbana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Albanian prince
DATE OF BIRTH 1337
DATE OF DEATH between 1389 and 1396
Place of death near Pristina