Vonko
Vonko[a] (fl. 1400-1401) was a "Serb-Albanian-Bulgarian-Vlach" who conquered Arta from the Spata family in 1400, holding it until late 1401, when the Spatas regained the town.
Not much is known of him.[1] In a Greek monastic chronicle, the Chronicle of Proktos and Comnenus[2] (Chronicle of Ioannina[1]) from the Panteleimon monastery at Ioannina,[3][4] the last inclusion mentions: "October 29, on Wednesday (1400), Despot Spatas enters Eternity (dies). Immediately afterwards, his brother Sgouros holds Arta. After some days, the Serb-Albanian-Bulgarian-Vlach[b] Bokoes (Vonko) attacked and expelled Sgouros, and started to round up all the chieftains/elders and imprisoned them in the fort, and he destroyed their possessions."[5] He treated the citizens badly, and they called on the Republic of Venice for help.[1]
By the end of 1401, Vonko had been driven out from Arta. Sgouros did not retain the town, instead his nephew Maurice Spata took over Arta and Sgouros took over Angelokastron.[6] No more is mentioned of him.[1]
G. Schiro, who studied the genealogy of Spata, assumed that the name (Bokoes in the original text) is a variant of Bua, based on linguistic data and the fact that Bua initially had the form of Buchia.[7]
Annotations
- ^ Name: His name appears in the "Chronicle of Ioannina" as Μποκόης (Bokoes) and has been transliterated as Vonko,[5][3][4] or Vango,[6][2]
- ^ The wide designation of his ethnicity (Serv-Alvanito-Voulgaro-Vlahos) gives the notion that there was a known symbiosis in that region in the 14th century, comparable with that of Macedonia.[5]
or Bokoi[8] in other languages.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ellis, p. 151
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vakalopoulos, p. 154
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Banač, p. 328
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Stoianovich, p. 132
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Šufflay 1925, pp. 69-70
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fine 1994, pp. 355-356
- ↑ Schiró Giuseppe, La genealogia degli Spata tra il XIV e XV sec. e due Bua sconosciouti, Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, Universita di Roma, Roma, 1971-1972, pp. 84-85.
- ↑ Schiró G. p. 71
References
- Milan Šufflay, Srbi i Arbanasi (1925)
- Ivo Banač, The national question in Yugoslavia: origins, history, politics
- Traian Stoianovich, Balkan worlds: the first and last Europe
- Apostolos Euangelou Vakalopoulos,Origins of the Greek nation: the Byzantine period, 1204-1461
- Steven G. Ellis, Lud'a Klusáková, Imagining frontiers, contesting identities
- John V.A. Fine. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4
| Preceded by Sgouros Spata |
Ruler of Arta 1400–1401 |
Succeeded by Maurice Spata |