Voisava Tripalda

Voisava, also known as Voisava Tripalda^[A] (fl. 1402 – 1405) was a noble woman, possibly a daughter of a lord from Polog (in modern Republic of Macedonia). Through her marriage with Gjon Kastrioti, she had nine children, one of whom was the most powerful Albanian nobleman in history, proclaimed national hero George Kastrioti "Skanderbeg".

Early sources

The first works providing information on Voisava's origins are:

• Marin Barleti (1450–1513), the Albanian-Venetian historian, wrote in his biography of Skanderbeg (published between 1508-1510), that she was the "daughter of a lord of the Triballians".^[1][2] In another chapter, when talking about the inhabitants of Upper Debar that defended Svetigrad, he calls them "Bulgarians or Triballi".^[3] However, the term "Triballians" (Triballoi) appears frequently in Byzantine and other European works of the Middle Ages, referring exclusively to Serbs.^[4][5][6]

• Gjon Muzaka (fl. 1510), an Albanian nobleman of the Muzaka family, alleged in his Muzaka Chronicle (published in 1510) that the "Marquis of Tripalda" was maternally related to the Muzaka.^[7] Furthermore, in another chapter, he assigns the "Triballi" to the Serbs.^[8]

Modern sources

• Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869), an Austrian expert in Albanian studies, had several theses on the geneaology of Voisava in Albanesische Studien (1854), including a possible relation with the Branai family or Vrana Konti.^[9]

• Karl Hopf (1832–1873), a German historian and expert in Byzantine studies, in Chroniques Greco-romanes (1873) concluded that Voisava was daughter of a Serbian lord from Polog.^[10]

• Fan S. Noli (1882–1965), an Albanian-American writer, in his biography of Skanderbeg (1947), adopted the view that Vojsava came from the Muzaka family.^[11][12] British Harry Hodgkinson, too, considered her a member of the Muzaka family,^[13] although he had done no archival research.^[14] Hodgkinson supported the Albanian cause, and was strongly anti-Serb.^[15]

• Strashimir Dimitrov (1892–1960), a Bulgarian historian, said that Vojsava was a daughter of a local Bulgarian lord (boyar) from Macedonia.^[16]

• Boban Petrovski (b. 1972), a modern Macedonian historian and author of Voisava Tribalda (2006), the only work about Voisava and her possible geneaologies, concluded that Voisava was of undoubtedly Slavic origin, most likely Serb, as she was the daughter of a lord of the "Triballians" (Serbs) in Polog, that had ruled before the Ottoman conquest.^[17] He had several theses on the ultimate identity of Voisava's father: "If the Branković family indeed governed Polog in the last decade of the 14th century, it arises the chance that Voisava was a daughter of Grgur Branković or even Vuk Branković."^[18]

• Oliver Schmitt (b. 1973), a professor of South-East European history at Vienna University, in his biography Skanderbeg: Der neue Alexander auf dem Balkan (2009) supported that she was a Serbian noblewoman of the Branković family and a close relative to Mara Branković.^[19]

Family

Voisava married Gjon Kastrioti, the "Lord of a part of Albania" (dominus partium Albanie). She bore 9 children with Gjon, 4 sons and 5 daughters:

• Stanisha (†1445),
• Reposh, later took monastic vows
• Konstandin,
• Mara, married to Stefan I Crnojević
• George - Skanderbeg (1405–1468), Albanian national hero; Ottoman subaşi of Krujë, sanjakbey of Dibra, later organizer of the League of Lezhe, and Napolitan vassal as of 1451
• Jelena, married Pavle Balšić^[20]
• Mamica Kastrioti, married Musachio Thopia in 1445^[20]
• Angelina, married Vladin Arianites, brother of Gjergj Arianiti
• Vlajka, married Ghin Musachi,^[20] secondly Stefan Strez Balšić^[21] with whom she possibly had sons Ivan Strez Balšić and Gojko Balšić^[22]

Annotations

References

Sources