Balšić noble family

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Balšić
Балшићи
Country  Serbian Empire (1355-1371)
 Republic of Venice
Serbia Serbian Despotate (1405-1421)
Estates

(southern Montenegro, northern Albania)

Zeta and the coastlands
  • Scodra
  • Durazzo
  • Dulcigno
Titles gospodar (lord)
autokrator (self-ruler)
Founded before 1355, by Balša I
Final ruler Balša III (1403–1421)
Dissolution 1421 (possessions passed to Despot Stephen)

The Balšić (Serbian Cyrillic: Балшић, pl. Балшићи, Balšići) was a noble family that ruled "Zeta and the coastlands" (southern Montenegro and northern Albania), from 1362 to 1421, during and after the fall of the Serbian Empire. Balša, the founder, was a petty nobleman who held only one village during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355), and only after the death of the emperor, his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl. 1336-1360) under unclear circumstances, and they then expanded into Upper Zeta by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić (r. 1326-1362†). Nevertheless, they were acknowledged as oblastni gospodari of Zeta in edicts of Emperor Uroš the Weak (r. 1355-1371). The family is known to have seized control through trickery, such as against the Dukagjini family, and many people were deported or murdered. After the death of Uroš (1371), the family feuded with the Mrnjavčevići, who controlled Macedonia. In 1421, Balša III, on his death, passed the rule of Zeta to his uncle, Despot Stephen "the Tall"' Lazarević.

History

Origin

The Balšić family was first mentioned in a charter of Emperor Stephen Uroš V of Serbia, dated 29 September 1360. Due to sources having nothing reliable to say about their ancestors, there has been speculation on their origin, which some deem unknown.[1][2] Apart from Mavro Orbini's tale, there are really no other accounts on their origin.[3] They have been theorized to be of Vlach, Albanian, Serbian, or French origin.[4] In oral tradition, they descended via Vuk Nemanjić.[5] There exist fragmental assertions that they descended from "Emperor Nemanja".[3]

Karl Hopf (1832-1873) considered "unquestionably part of the Serb tribe".[6] Ivan Stepanovich Yastrebov (1839–1894), Russian Consul in Shkodër and Prizren, when speaking of the Balšići, connect their name to the Roman town of Balletium (Baleč) located near modern Shkodër.[7] According to Čedomilj Mijatović (1842–1934), the Balšić family had ultimate origin in the House of Baux from Provence (south eastern France);[1] from that family sprung an Italian family (del Balzo), and from them the Balšići, and from them a Romanian family.[1] Vladimir Ćorović (1885-1941) said that, based on their name, they had Roman (Vlach) origin.[8] Giuseppe Gelcich theorized on the origin in his La Zedda e la dinastia dei Balšidi: studi storici documentati (1899).[4] The theory asserting them as descendants of the Frankish nobleman Bertrand III of Baux, a companion of Charles d'Anjou is regarded as highly improbable.[9] Croatian ethnologist Milan Šufflay believed that they were of "Romanian" and "Vlach" origin.[6] German linguist Gustav Weigand (1860–1930) alleged a mixed Albanian-Aromanian origin after he noted that their family name was included in a list of early Albanian surnames in Romania.[9]

In modern scholarship John Fine,[10] Donald Nicol,[11] Peter Bartl[12] and Robert Elsie[13] view the origin of the Balšić family as Serbian, Edgar Hösch[14] and Plemen Tsvetkov[15] as Albanian, while Noel Malcolm opts for a dual Serbo-Albanian identity.[9]

Early history

According to Mavro Orbini, Balša, the eponymous founder, was a petty nobleman that held only one village in the area of Lake Skadar during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355). Only after the death of the emperor, Balša and his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after aqcuiring the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl. 1336-1360) and by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić (r. 1326-1362†), the holders of Lower and Upper Zeta, respectively.[16] Balša dies the same year, and his sons, the Balšić brothers, continue in ruling the province spanning Podgorica, Budva, Bar and Skadar.[16]

The Balšići managed to elevate themselves from petty nobility to provincial lords.[17]

Heads

rough borders of the Serbian provincial lords during the fall of the Serbian Empire, 1373-1395 (Zeta in grey)

Zeta [Zoomed].

There were 5 rulers:

  • Balša I (1356–1362), Provincial lord (Oblastni gospodar) of Lower Zeta
  • Đurađ I (1362–1378), [Lord of] Skadar (Shkodër)
  • Balša II (1378–1385), [Lord of] Skadar and Drač (Durrës)
  • Đurađ II (1385–1403), [Lord of] Skadar, Budva, Podgorica, Drač, Drivast and Lješ (Lezhë), Autokrat of Zeta and the coastlands
  • Balša III (1403–1421), [Lord of] Bar

Family tree

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rudić 2006, p. 99: "О њиховом пореклу не знамо ништа" ,, "Према Чедомиљу Мијатовићу Балшићи су пореклом били француска, односно провансалска породица. Од њих су настали италијански Балшићи, од којих потичу српски Балшићи, а од њих румунски. Ч. Мијатовић, Балшићи, генеалошка студија, 150"
  2. ↑ Veselinović-Ljušić 2008, p. 91: "Пошто нам извори ништа поуздано не говоре о њиховим прецима, порекло ове породице је загонетно. Оно што је сигурно, то је да је име њиховог родоначелника несловенског порекла, па је то био повод историчарима да претке ..."
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fajfric, 44. Oblasni gospodari: "O njihovom poreklu se zna veoma malo, tako da osim navoda koje je ostavio Mavro Orbin drugih podataka skoro i da nema. Postoje neki fragmentarni navodi koji ukazuju da je rodonačelnik ove porodice, Balša, zapravo rod od "cara Nemanje" te da je držao oblast Bojane (u susedstvu Skadra), no to je sve veoma nesigurno."
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Soulis 1984, p. 254: "Various opinions have been expressed concerning the national origin of the Balšići family"
  5. ↑ Gleichen, p. 108
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Slijepčević 1974, p. 43: "Према Карлу Хопфу и Балшићи и Црнојевићи »припадају без спора српскоме племену».34) Милан Шуфлај вели: »Балшићи су румунскога и влашкога подријетла;"
  7. ↑ Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë 1985, p. 323: "Whereas JS Jastrebov, when speaking of the Balshaj of Shkodra calls then Balesium, Balezza, Balezum, Balezo and adds that the Greeks in Dukel74 called them Barizi."
  8. ↑ Ćorović 2001, ТРЕЋИ ПЕРИОД, IX. Распад Српске Царевине
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Malcolm, Noel (1998). Kosovo: a short history. Macmillan. pp. 62, 368. ISBN 978-0-333-66612-8. Retrieved 5 May 2012. 
  10. ↑ Fine, 2006, pp. 292, 389
  11. ↑ Nicol 2010, p. 173
  12. ↑ Bartl, Peter (2001) [1995], Albanci : od srednjeg veka do danas (in Serbian), translated by Ljubinka Milenković, Belgrade: Clio, p. 31, ISBN 9788671020176, OCLC 51036121, retrieved 1 February 2012, "Род Балшића (Балша) био је српског порекла." 
  13. ↑ Elsie, Robert (2012), A biographical dictionary of Albanian history, London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 27–29, ISBN 9781780764313, OCLC 801605743 
  14. ↑ Hösch, Peter (1972). The Balkans: a short history from Greek times to the present day, Volume 1972, Part 2. Crane, Russak. ISBN 978-0-8448-0072-1. "Under Turkish pressure, the Albanian families of the Balsici and the Thopia" 
  15. ↑ Tsvetkov, Plamen S. (1993). A history of the Balkans: a regional overview from a Bulgarian perspective. EM Text. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7734-1956-8. "One of the Albanian rulers, George II Balsha, took advantage of Alexander Comnenus Asen's death and incorporated the cities of Vlora (Valona) and Kanina" 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Fajfrić, ch. 44, Oblasni gospodari: "Balša o kojem ćemo sada govoriti beše veoma siromašan zetski vlastelin i za života cara Stefana držao je samo jedno selo. Ali kad je umro car, a kako njegov sin Uroš nije bio valjan vladar, počeo je s nekoliko svojih prijatelja i sa svojim sinovima Stracimirom, Đurđem i Balšom da zauzima Donju Zetu." "Posle toga krenuo je sa svojim ljudima na osvajanje Gornje Zete, koju je držao Đuraš Ilijić i njegovi rođaci. Đuraša ubiše Balšini sinovi, neke njegove rođake zarobiše, a ostali napustiše zemlju. I tako su Balšini sinovi zagospodarili i Gornjom Zetom" "Isto tako pali su u njihove ruke Dukađini koji su imali mnogo poseda u Zeti. Neke su poubijali, a druge bacili u tamnicu. Pri osvajanju ovih i drugih pokrajina više su se služili lukavstvom i prevarama nego silom oružja"
  17. ↑ Recueil de travaux de l'Institut des études byzantines: Volume 21 1982, "За разлику од Лазаревића, Бранковића и Драгаша, ближих или даљих рођака Немањића и потомака најугледцијих властеоских породица, први Балшићи су прави скоројевићи који су из редова ситне властеле доспели ..."
  18. ↑ Gopčević, Spiridon (1914). Geschichte von Montenegro und Albanien (in German). Gotha: F.A. Perthes. p. 460. OCLC 9968504. Retrieved 29 March 2012. "Bezüglich der Strez herrscht Verwirrung. Hopf macht Ivo und Gojko BalSid zu Söhnen des Stefan Strez, welcher Vlajka Kastriota geheiratet hätte und Sohn des Gjuragj Balšić gewesen wäre, eines Bastards des Gjuragj I." 
  19. ↑ Musachi, John (1515). "Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty". Retrieved 29 November 2011. "To the fourth sister, Lady Vlaica, who was married to Lord Balsha, was born John and Coico Balsha." 

Sources

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