Andrea I Muzaka

Andrea I Muzaka
Sebastokrator
Marshal of Albania
Bust of Andrea I Muzaka in Berat.
Sebastokrator and Marshal of Albania
Reign1279-1319
SuccessorTeodor I Muzaka
Bornc. mid to late 13th century
Died1319
IssueTeodor I Muzaka
Gjin Muzaka
DynastyMuzaka
ReligionEastern Orthodoxy

Andrea I Muzaka (died 1319) was an Albanian prince of the Muzaka family and the ruler of the Principality of Muzaka.

Life

Early coat of arms of the Muzaka family

Andrea Muzaka came from the Muzaka noble family, who were wealthy in southern Albania. In 1279, his relative Gjon Muzaka, as an ally of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, fought the expansionist efforts of Charles I, who in 1272 founded the Regnum Albaniae ("Kingdom of Albania") in 1272 around the important port city of Durrës (Dyrrhachion). Andrea Muzaka de facto became vassal of Charles, who awarded him the title "Marshal of Albania" [1]

After the Anjou were largely expelled from Albania (1281) by a coalition of Byzantines and local Albanian forces, Andrea Muzaka established a de facto independent territorial rule, which later included the Myzeqe area west of Berat between the Devoll and the Vjosa.[2] Since he had the high Byzantine court title of Sebastokrator, he was apparently formally recognized by Emperor Andronikos II as governor of Central Albania. In alliance with the Byzantines, Muzaka also withstood the Serbs who, under King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, attacked Albania from the north. From 1335, his grandson Andrea II significantly expanded the rule of the family in Central Albania

Family

Berat Castle served as the capital of the Muzaka family

It is unknown who Andrea I Muzaka married but he did have two sons.[3][4]

  • Teodor I Muzaka was the oldest who became his father's Successor and inherited his lands after he died in 1319.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Constantinian Order of Saint George: And the Angeli, Farnese and Bourbon families which governed it. Boletín Oficial del Estado. December 2018. ISBN 9788434025066.
  2. ^ Tà huajt pÃr shqipÃrinà dhe shqiptarÃT. Edicioni 2. Lulu.com. 13 March 2010. ISBN 9780557332533.
  3. ^ Karl Hopf (1873). Chroniques Gréco-Romaines. Weidmann. p. 532.
  4. ^ Robert Elsie (2003). Early Albania. Harrassowitz. p. 34. ISBN 978-3-447-04783-8.