Voisava Kastrioti 

Voisava (fl. 1402–05) was a noble woman, the wife of Gjon Kastrioti, with whom she had nine children, one of whom was the most powerful Albanian nobleman in history, proclaimed national hero George Kastrioti"Skanderbeg".

Early sources 

The earliest works mentioning Voisava are:
  • Marin Barleti (1450–1513), the Albanian-Venetian historian, wrote in his biography of Skanderbeg (published between 1508–10), that her "father was a Triballian nobleman" (pater nobilissimus Triballorum princeps).[1][2] In another chapter, when talking about the inhabitants of Upper Debar that defended Svetigrad, he calls them "Bulgarians or Triballi" (Bulgari sive Tribali habitant).[3] The term "Triballians" (Triballoi) was used in Byzantine works as an exonym for Serbs.[4][5][6]
  • Gjon Muzaka (fl. 1515), a member of the Albanian Muzaka family in Italy, mentioned her in his chronicle (published in 1515) as Voisava Tripalda, "who was of a noble family", and alleged that the "Marquis of Tripalda" was maternally related to the Muzaka,[7] and that the marquises were related to Voisava. Furthermore, in another chapter, Muzaka explains that "Tribali" is another name for Serbs.[8] According to W. Miller,[9] and von Hahn, the surname (Tripalda) added by Muzaka is a corruption, a derivative from Barleti's quote on the Triballi.[10][11]

Modern sources 

  • Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869), an Austrian expert in Albanian studies, had several theses on the geneaology of Albanian noble families in Albanesische Studien (1854). concluded that, considering that according to Muzaka, Skanderbeg's mother was aTripalda, and that a descendant of Skanderbeg's general Vrana Konti held the title "Marchese di Tripalda", that Vrana and Voisava Tripalda were related by blood.[12]
  • 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.[13]
  • William Miller (1864–1945), the English medievalist, said the following, in his review of Athanase Gegaj's work which claimed that Skanderbeg was purely Albanian: "...Skanderbeg's mother had a Slav name, and the epithet 'Tripalda' given to her is a corruption of the tribal name 'Triballi', which the pedantic Byzantine historians applied to the Serbs. Moreover, if he had no connexion with Serbia, why should he have given two villages to Chilindar ... the famous Serbian monastery on Mount Athos, immemorially connected with Serbian kings, medieval and modern?".[9]
  • In Bulgarian historiography, Vasil Zlatarski (1866–1935), the prominent scholar, mentioned her as the daughter of a Serbian nobleman.[14] Historian Strashimir Dimitrov (1892–1960) said that she was a daughter of a local Bulgarian lord (boyar) from Macedonia.[15] The same opinion is viwed by the modern anthropologist prof. Antonina Zhelyazkova.[16]
  • 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.[17][18] British Harry Hodgkinson, too, considered her a member of the Muzaka family.[19] Schmitt claimed he had done no archival research.[20] According to Pettifer, Hodgkinson supported the Albanian cause, and was strongly anti-Serb and anti-Bulgarian.[21]
  • 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.[22] 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."[23]
  • 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.[24]

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:

Annotation 

  1. ^ Barleti gives her name as simply "Voisava",[1] without any surname, while Muzaka wrote her name as "Voisava Tripalda".[28] According to W. Miller,[9] and von Hahn, the surname added by Muzaka is a corruption, or derivative, from Barleti's quote on the Triballi.[29][30] The name "Voisava" is Slavic,[9][31] derived from Vojislava.[32] Her name is also rendered Vojsava.

References 


  1. Barletius, l. I, fo 2: «uxori Voisavae nomen erat non indignam eo viro tum pater nobilissimus Triballorum princeps, tum forma...»
  2. Gegaj 1937, p. 40
  3. Barletius, l. V, fo. 62: "Superior Dibra montuosa est et aspera, ferax tarnen et Macedoniam tum ipsa loci vicinitate, tum similitudine morum contingens. Bulgari sive Tribali habitant"
  4. The Journal of Hellenic Studies. Council of the Society. 1922. p. 48. Byzantine historians [...] calling [...] Serbs Triballians
  5. Fanula Papazoglu (1978). The Central Balkan Tribe in Pre-Roman Times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians. Hakkert. ISBN 978-90-256-0793-7. The Triballi lived deep in the interior of the Balkan Peninsula, between the lower course of the Southern Morava and the ... many centuries later, learned Byzantine writers, seeking the ancient name for the Serbs, chose the term Triballi as the ...
  6. Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta 44. Naučno delo. 2007. The Serbs were often called Triballi by Byzantine authors.
  7. Musachi, p. 301: "Accio sappiate, in che modo c'era parente il Signor marchese della Tripalda, ve dico, che l'e per parte de donna... (Know that the Marquis of Tripalda is related to us by a female line);
  8. Hopf 1873, p. 313: "...Tribali overo Misii ch' hoggi se nominato Serviani.".
  9. JSTOR: The English Historical Review, Vol. 53, No. 209 (Jan., 1938), p. 129
  10. J.G. von Hahn, Reise durch die Gebiet des Drin und Wardar, p. 305: "Skanderbeg's Mutter wird von dem Despoten einmal Visava Tribalda (*), ein andersmal Voisava Tripalda genannt, ...". (*)(Footnote 3) "Dieser Name mag vielleicth Anlass zu der sonderbaren Angabe des Barletius S. 4 gegeben haben, dass ihr Vater nobilissimus Tribalorum princeps gewesen sei."
  11. Denkschriften Vol. 16, 1869, p. 117
  12. Akademie der Wissenschaften 1869, p. 121, 5. Die Branai oder Brana Conte
  13. Hopf 1873, p. 533: "fille du seigneur (Serbe) de Polog".
  14. Васил Николов Златарски (2005). България през XIV и XV век: Лекционен курс. Изток-Запад. Иван Кастриот, храбър противник на турците, женен за Воислава, дъщерята на сръбския властител [daughter of a Serbian nobleman]
  15. Димитров, Страшимир: Георги Кастриоти-Скендербег и неговата освободителна борба, В: Г. Кастриоти Скендербег 1468-1968 г. София, сп. “Балкани”, БАН, No2, 1970, стр. 11. It is known that his mother, Voisava, was of Slavic-Bulgarian origin, "daughter of the lord of Polog, which is part of Macedonia and Bulgaria", says one anonymous Venetian chronicle...
  16. International Centre for Minority Studies and Intercultural Relations (IMIR) Albanian Identities, Sofia, Antonina Zhelyazkova, 2000, p. 9.
  17. Noli 1947, p. 189, note 33.
  18. Babinger 1992, p. 53.
  19. Hodgkinson, p. 240
  20. Schmitt 2009, p. 8: "Gelandekundige, wie etwa ein britischer Geheimdienstoffizier des Zweiten Weltkriegs (H.Hodgkinson), wiederum, hatten keine Archivarbeit betrieben"
  21. James Pettifer (2008). "Obituary: Harry Hodgkinson". London, United Kingdom: The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2010.throughout his life he fought for the Albanian cause and took up strong anti-Serb and anti-Bulgarian positions
  22. Petrovski 2006, pp. 2, 3, 10.
  23. Petrovski 2006, "Доколку ја прифатиме оваа варијанта, според која Бранковиките биле господари на/во Полог до почетког на последната деценија од XIV век, во тој случај произлегува дека Воисава била керка на Гргур или пак, можеби на Вук Бранковик.".
  24. Schmitt (2009), pp. 44, 45.; "Skanderbegs Mutter Vojsava war eine Serbin aus der einflussreichen Familie Brankovic."
  25. Nicol 1997, [1] p. 96
  26. Noli 1947, p. 64: "Vlajka me Stefan Stres Balshën"
  27. Gopčević 1914, p. 460: "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.".
  28. Hopf 1873, p. 301, quoting Muzaka: "Muzachi "E la madre de detto Signor Scanderbeg, moglie del detto Signor Giovanni, hebbe nome Signora Voisava Tripalda e venne da bonna parte"
  29. J.G. von Hahn, Reise durch die Gebiet des Drin und Wardar, p. 305: "Skanderbeg's Mutter wird von dem Despoten einmal Visava Tribalda (*), ein andersmal Voisava Tripalda genannt, ...". (*)(Footnote 3) "Dieser Name mag vielleicth Anlass zu der sonderbaren Angabe des Barletius S. 4 gegeben haben, dass ihr Vater nobilissimus Tribalorum princeps gewesen sei." ("Tribalda" or "Tripalda" is a corruption or derivative from Barleti's quotation on Triballi)
  30. Denkschriften Vol. 16, 1869, p. 117
  31. Jireček, Geschichle der Bulgaren, t. II, p. 368: "affirme aussi l'origine slave des Castriota"
  32. Šimundić 1988, p. 370