Tanusio Thopia

Tanusio Thopia or Tanush Thopia (Albanian: Tanush Topia; fl. 1329–38) was an Angevin Albanian count that served Princes of Taranto Philip I and Robert, and Dukes of Durazzo John and Charles. He had domains in Matia.

Not to be confused with Tanush Thopia.

Tanusio Thopia
Count
Detail Titles and styles Count of Matia (conte di Matia)
Died	after 1338
Noble family	Thopia
Spouse	Unknown
Issue (possibly) Andrea
Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy Catholicism[1]
Occupation	Nobility of the Angevin Kingdom of Albania

Background

Under Philip I, the Kingdom of Albania was restricted to roughly the modern Durrës District.[2] Upon the death of Philip I in 1332, there were various claims on his domains within the Angevin family. The rights of the Duchy of Durazzo (Durrës) and the Kingdom of Albania together were given to John of Gravina with a sum of 5,000 pounds of gold.[3] After his death in 1336, his dominions in Albania passed to his son Charles, Duke of Durazzo. During this period there were different Albanian noble families who began consolidating their power and domains. One of them was the Thopia family whose domains were in central Albania. The Serbs were pressing hard in their direction and the Albanian nobles found a natural ally in the Angevins.[4] Alliance with Albanian leaders was also crucial to the safety of the Kingdom of Albania, especially during the 1320s and 1330s. Most prominent among these leaders were the Thopias, ruling in an area between the rivers Mat and Shkumbin,[5] and the Muzaka family in the territory between the rivers Shkumbin and Vlorë.[6] They saw the Angevins as protectors of their domains and made alliances. During 1336–1337 Charles had various successes against Serb forces in central Albania.[7]

History

He was mentioned in 1329 as one of the counts of Albania.[8] This is the first mention of the Thopia.[9] In an act of Robert, King of Naples,[10] dated 15 April 1338,[11] Tanusio was mentioned as Count of Matia (conte di Matia).[12] This reconfirmed Thopia's relations to the Angevins from the time of Philip I.[11] By 1343, Serbian King Stefan Dušan had conquered almost all of Albania, except for Durazzo which had been defended under the command of Tanusio.[13]

Issue

According to Karl Hopf, Tanusio's son or brother Andrea, as told by Gjon Muzaka (fl. 1510), had fallen in love with the daughter of Robert of Naples when her ship, en route to the Principality of the Morea to be wed with the bailli, had stopped at Durazzo where they met. Andrea abducted and married her, and they had two sons, Karl and George. King Robert, enraged, under the pretext of reconciliation had the couple invited to Naples where he had them executed.[14] Karl Thopia later became the Prince of Albania.

References

1. Kristaq Prifti (1993). The Truth on Kosova. Encyclopaedia Publishing House. p. 52. Retrieved 5 January 2014. ... Tanush Topia from a family which passed easily from Orthodoxy to Catholicism ...
2. Abulafia, David (1996), "Intercultural contacts in the medieval Mediterranean", in Arbel, Benjamin (ed.), Intercultural contacts in the medieval Mediterranean, Psychology Press, pp. 1–13, ISBN 978-0-7146-4714-2
3. Nicol 2010, p. 99.
4. Nicol 2010, p. 128.
5. Norris, H. T. (1993), Islam in the Balkans: religion and society between Europe and the Arab world, University of South Carolina Press, p. 36, ISBN 978-0-87249-977-5
6. Fine 1994, p. 290.
7. Abulafia, David (1996), "The Italian South", in Jones, Michael (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume VI: c. 1300-c. 1415, Cambridge University Press, p. 495, ISBN 978-0-521-36290-0
8. Émile G. Léonard (1932). Histoire de Jeanne 1re, reine de Naples, comtesse de Provence (1343-1382): La jeunesse de la reine Jeanne. Imprimerie de Monaco. p. 107.
9. Johann Georg von Hahn (1867). Reise durch die Gebiete des Drin und Wardar: im Auftrage der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften unternommen im Jahre 1863. Aus der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. p. 282. Erste Erwähnung der Thopia
10. Gustav Friedrich Hertzberg (1877). Geschichte Griechenlands: Th. Vom lateinischen Kreuzzuge bis zur Vollendung der osmanischen Eroberung (1204-1740). F.A. Perthes. Der albanesische Häuptling Tanussio Thopia war im Jahre 1338 von König Robert von Neapel in dem Besitze der Grafschaft Mat bestätigt worden.
11. Alain Ducellier (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. 339.
12. Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata. Scuola Tipografica Italo-Orientale "S.Nilo". 1978.
13. Rivista di etnografia. 25. 1971. p. 6.
14. Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf (1960). Geschichte Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis auf unsere Zeit. B. Franklin. darauf in der Hand jenes Tanussio Thopia (1328 — 1338) waren, dem König Robert von Neapel 1338 den Besitz der Grafschaft Mal bestätigte. Des letztem Sohn oder Bruder Andreas war es, der sich mit dem Haufe Eapet verschwägerte. König Robert, so erzählt Musachi, hatte seine natürliche Tochter dem Bailli von Morea — vielleicht dem Bertrand de Baux — zur' Gattin bestimmt und sie nach Durazzo gesandt, wo damals Thopia weilte. Er verliebte sich in sie, entführte und heirathete sie. Zwei Söhne, Karl und Georg, ent« sprossen dieser Ehe. Aber schwer traf die Gatten bald die Rache des erzürnten Vaters; unter dem Scheine der Versöhnung lud er beide zu sich nach Neapel ein und ließ sie dort hinrichten; die Kinder aber, in denen somit wirtlich das Blut der Angiovlnen stoß, wurden gerettet; in der festen Burg Kroja , die er später ausbaute, nicht, wie die Sage meldet , erst gründete "), wuchs Karl auf, entschlossen, den Mord des vaters zu rächen

Sources

• Anamali, Skënder; Prifti, Kristaq (2002). Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime (in Albanian). Botimet Toena. ISBN 978-99927-1-622-9.
• Fine, John Van Antwerp (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)
• Nicol, Donald MacGillivray (2010). The Despotate of Epiros 1267–1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-13089-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)