Pal Kastrioti

Pal Kastrioti (fl. 1383–1407) was an Albanian nobleman attested in c. 1383 as the lord of two villages, Sina and Lower Gardi. According to Gjon Muzaka Pal had three sons: Konstantin, Alexius and Gjon Kastrioti, the latter who was Skanderbeg's father.

Pal Kastrioti
Lord of Sina and Lower Gardi Segnior de Signa et de Gardi-ipostesi
Noble family	Kastrioti
Religion	Eastern Orthodox
Occupation	Feudal lord

Family

The origin of the family has been located in Kastriot in Mat.[1][2][3] The first person to be mentioned as a Kastriot in historical documents,[4] was a ruler (kephale or castellan in contemporary sources) of the Kanina in 1368.[5][6][7] which belonged to the Principality of Valona.[8] It is assumed by Ivan Božić that Pal's father received his estates in Albania from Serbian Emperor Dušan after he captured Berat, Valona and Kanina in 1345.[6] Heinrich Kretschmayr asserts that Pal Kastrioti, the father of Gjon Kastrioti and grandfather of Skanderbeg, was in fact Kephale of Kanina in 1368.[9] According to French historian Alain Ducellier and Albanian scholar Fan S. Noli, there is no proof that Kephale Kastriot was the ancestor of Skanderbeg.[10][11] Noli further notes that, according to Andrea Engjell Flav Komneni, prince of Drisht and Bar, Skanderbeg's great-grandfather and Pal Kastrioti's father was Konstandin Kastrioti.[12] Karl Hopf made a mistake in translating medieval documents and spread the idea that this ancestor was named Branilo. Since then, this theory has been discredited and the translation corrected.[13]

Pal Kastrioti had three sons: Konstantin^[A], Alexius and Gjon Kastrioti[7][14] who was Skanderbeg's father.[6][15] Alexius Kastrioti controlled three villages.[16] Konstantin Kastrioti was protovestiarios of Sina (Serina) near Durrazo.[17] According to Venetian document discovered by Karl Hopf his title was Lord of Cerüja castle (Latin: dominus Serinae).[18]

Gjon Kastrioti was most famous of three brothers. Like many other noblemen from Albania, he became an Ottoman vassal since 1385.[19] He supported Bayezid I in the Battle of Ankara in 1402[20] and revolted against the Ottomans during the Albanian Revolt of 1432-1436 led by Gjergj Arianiti.[21]

Territory

At the end of 14th century Pal had the title "segnior de Signa et de Gardi-ipostesi", as the holder of the two villages of Sina (Albanian: Sinë) and Lower Gardi (Albanian: Gardhi i Poshtëm).[4][22] According to some sources the villages he governed were located on the mountain of Qidhna northwest of Debar.[23] Those two villages were granted to Pal by Balša II, the lord of Zeta around 1383 as a fief.[24] The decline of the Balšić family marked the ascendancy of the Kastrioti family.[4] Gjon Kastrioti managed to expand the territory of Kastrioti's domain consisting of a couple of villages in the region of Debar by capturing the region of Mat.[25] After Gjon's subjugation to the Ottomans his former estates would be surveyed in Ottoman registers as Yuvan-ili.[26] One part of Gjon Kastrioti's domain comprising nine villages became a timar which was governed by Skanderbeg before it was granted to André Karlo in 1438, much to Skanderbeg's dismay.[27]

Notes

Footnotes

1. ^
   According to Kastrioti genealogy written by Flavius Comnenus and quoted by du Cange Kostantin was Skanderbeg's great-grandfather and the name of Skanderbeg's grandfather was Georgius.[28] Later research proved that Kostantin was in fact Skanderbeg's uncle while the correct name of Skanderbeg's grandfather is Pal.[29]

Citations

1. Rizaj, Skënder 1982, p. 23. "Kosova gjatë shekujve XV, XVI dhe XVII: administrimi, ekonomia, shoqëria dhe lëvizja popullore"
2. Islami, Selim 1962, p. 200. "Burime të zgjedhura për historinë e Shqipërisë. 2. Shek. VIII - XV"
3. Noli 1947, p. 19 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNoli1947 (help)
4. Buda, Aleks (2002), Shkrime historike, 3, Tiranë: Shtëpia Botuese 8 Nëntori, p. 239, ISBN 9789992716519, OCLC 163395350, Dokumentet përmendin për herë të parë një Kastriot në vitin 1368 si kështjellar ose kefali në Kaninë të Vlorës. [...] Në fund të shek. XIV Pal Kastrioti kishte këtu dy fshatra. Sinjën dhe Gardhin e Poshtëm. [...] Me rënien e Balshajve fillon fuqizimi i Kastriotëve.
5. Hopf 1873, p. 533

   Paolo, segneur de Signa et de Gardi-ipostesi ... Branilo, d'origine Serbe, gouverneur de Canina 1368

6. Dialogue, Volume 5, Issues 17-20. Dijalog. 1996. p. 77. Retrieved 27 March 2012. Njegov pradeda Branilo spominje se 1368. kao upravitelj Kanine [...] Pretpostavlja se da je svoje posede u Albaniji dobio od cara Dušana pošto je ovaj 1345. godine osvojio gradove Berat, Valonu i Kaninu [...] Njegov sin Pavle, gospodar od Sinje, imao je tri sina: Konstantina, Aleksu i Ivana... Ivan Kastriota, otac Skenderbegov, ozenio se Voislavom koja je
7. Šufflay 2000, p. 148

   Njegov potomak, Ivan, "gospodin Ivan" u srpskim poveljama, "Ivan Castrioth" u mletačkim spomenicima...

8. Schmitt, Oliver Jens (2001), "Die Albanische Adelsgeschlechter in Byzantinisch - serbische tradition", Das venezianische Albanien (1392-1479), München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH München, p. 185, ISBN 3-486-56569--9, und die Kastriota, die erstmals am Hof der serbischen Fürsten von Valona hervortraten
9. Heinrich Kretschmayr (September 2012) [1920]. Geschichte von Venedig. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 375. ISBN 978-3-8460-0658-0. Retrieved 7 June 2013. Als erster in der Reihe erscheint 1368 ein Paul als Schloßhauptmann von Kanina bei Valona, sein Sohn Johannes galt für "leidlich mächtig in Albanien", wurde Bürger von Venedig und Ragusa ...
10. Ducellier, Alain (1981). La façade maritime de l'Albanie au Moyen âge: Durazzo et Valona du XIe au XVe siècle. Ed. de l'Ècole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. p. 620.
11. Fan Noli. Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu, 1405-1468. p. 60.
12. Fan Noli. Vepra të plota: Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu (1405-1468). p. 67.
13. Harry Hodgkinson, Scanderbeg: From Ottoman Captive to Albanian Hero, with editors Bejtullah D. Destani and Westrow Cooper, contributor David Abulafia, I. B. Tauris, 2005, ISBN 1850439419, p. 224: The claim that Skanderbeg was Slav was first made by a German who misread a document of 1368 in Serbian. Among the signatories were a Branilo (a Slav Christian name) of Vlora and a Castrioti of Kanina. By overlooking the single letter "i" (meaning and), he produced Branilo Castrioti as Scanderbeg's Serbian great grandfather.
14. Muzaka, Gjon (1873) [1515], Karl Hopf (ed.), Breve memoria de li discendenti de nostra casa Musachi. Per Giovanni Musachi, despoto d'Epiro, Berlin, archived from the original on 2010-09-10, You should know that the grandfather of Lord Scanderbeg was called Lord Paul Castriota. He ruled over no more than two villages, called Signa (Sina) and Gardi Ipostesi. To this Lord Paul was born Lord John Castriota who became Lord of Mat. And to him was born Lord Scanderbeg. The mother of the said Lord Scanderbeg, i.e. the wife of the said Lord John, was called Lady Voisava Tribalda who was of a noble family.
15. Hopf 1873, p. 533

    Constantino, Alessio, Giovanni

16. Hopf 1960, p. 97

    ... Alexios Kastriota, der über drei Ortschaften gebot,

17. Hopf 1960, p. 94

    ... Auch KonstantinoS Kastriota, der den Titel Protovestiar führte und Serina unweit Durazzo ...

18. von Hahn, Johann Georg (1867), Reise durch die Gebiete des Drin und Wardar : im Auftrage der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften unternommen im Jahre 1863 (in German), Wien: Kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, p. 23, OCLC 220497422, Professor Hopf fand nämlich eine venetianische Urkunde, in welcher Constantin Kastriota, Skanderbegs Grossvater, "dominus Serinae" genannt wird.
19. Povijesno društvo Hrvatske (1989). Historijski zbornik (in Croatian). 41–42. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Hrvatske. p. 24. OCLC 1752136. Retrieved 20 April 2012. dok je tesalski car Anđeli postao vazal još 1386. godine.2* Osmanski vazali bili su tada i... kao i albanska vlastela Dimitrije Jonima, Koja Zakarija, Ivan Kastriot i Tanuš Veliki Dukađin.
20. Fine 1994, p. 422.
21. Pipa, Arshi (1984). Studies on Kosova. East European Monographs. p. 14. ISBN 9780880330473. Retrieved 4 May 2012. Gjon Kas- trioti could not avoid participating in the great Albanian revolt of 1432- 1436
22. Hopf 1873, p. 533

    Paolo, segneur de Signa et de Gardi-ipostesi

23. Recherches albanologiques: Série historique, Volume 12 (in French). Priština: Albanološki institut u Prištini. 1982. p. 67. Retrieved 27 March 2012. Le grand-pére de Scanderbeg s'appelait Pal Kastrioti, qui au cours de la Ile moitié du XlVe siècle était un petit féodal-maître de Sina et de Gardhi i Poshtëm. Ces deux villages se trouvent à la montagne de Qidhna dans le nord-ouest de Dibra.
24. Šufflay 2000, p. 148

    Od Balše II (oko 1383.g.) dobio je on u leno dva sela u srednjoj Albaniji na Matu.

25. Bartl, Peter (2001) [1995], Albanci : od srednjeg veka do danas (in Serbian), translated by Ljubinka Milenković, Belgrade: Clio, p. 40, ISBN 9788671020176, OCLC 51036121, retrieved 1 February 2012, Његов деда поседовао је неколико села у области Дебра. Отац је проширио породично имање на област Мати
26. İnalcık 1995, p. 77

    Ces neuf villages, toujours selon le registre en question, étaient situés dans les terres de Jean (Yuvan-ili), c'est-à-dire qu'ils appartenaient aux domaines de Jean Kastriote, le père de Skanderbeg. ( These nine villages, according to the register in question, were located in the land of John (Yuvan-ili), that is to say they were part of John Kastrioti's property.)

27. İnalcık 1995, p. 77
28. du Fresne, sieur du Cange, Charles (1680), Historia Byzantina duplici commentario illustrata : Prior familias ... Imperatorum Constantinopol. ... complectitur alter descriptionem urbis Constantinopolis (in Latin), Lutetia Parisorum, p. 270, OCLC 166008975, retrieved 13 September 2012
29. Otadžbina, volume 21 (in Serbian). 1889. p. 193. Retrieved 10 September 2012. Да се види нетачност Флавијева родослова доста је навести ово. Према новијим истраживањима Костантин је био Кастриоту стриц, а не прадед, а по сведоџби његова сродника, дед му се звао Павле Кастриот и није имао више од два села.

References

• Fine, John Van Antwerp, Jr. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hopf, Karl (1873), Chroniques Gréco-Romanes Inédites ou peu Connues, Berlin, Germany: Librairie de WeidmannCS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hopf, Karl (1960) [1873], Geschichte Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis auf unsere Zeit (in German), II, B. Franklin, pp. 94–97, OCLC 418936CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Babinger, Franz (1976), Aufsätze und Abhandlungen zur Geschichte Südosteuropas und der Levante (in German), 3, München: Südosteuropa-Verl.-Ges., ISBN 9783878280941, OCLC 165465721CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• İnalcık, Halil (1995), From empire to republic : essays on Ottoman and Turkish social history (in French), Istanbul: Isis Press, ISBN 978-975-428-080-7, OCLC 34985150CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Šufflay, Milan (2000), Dubravko Jelčić (ed.), Izabrani politički spisi (in Croatian), Matica hrvatska, ISBN 9789531502573, OCLC 48538256CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Georg von Hahn, Johann (1869), "Die Kastrioten", Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen akademie der wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische classe (in German), Wien: aus der Kaiserlich-königlichen hof- und staatsdruckerei [etc.], OCLC 174080134

Pal Kastrioti Kastrioti family
Regnal titles
Preceded by unknown	Lord of Sina and Lower Gardi 1383 – 1407	Succeeded by Gjon Kastrioti