Spata
Shpata

Spatas
Noble family
CountryMedieval Albania
FounderGjin Bua Shpata
Titlescount, despot
Estate(s)

The Spata (Albanian: Shpata, Greek: Σπάτα) were a noble Albanian family active in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, initially as Venetian vassals and later as Ottoman vassals. The family's progenitors were the brothers Gjin Bua Shpata and Skurra Bua Shpata. Shpata means "sword" in Albanian.[1]

In the first half of the 14th century, mercenaries, raiders and migrants known in Greek as Άλβανοί (Albanoi or "Albanians") flooded into Greece (specifically raiding Thessaly in 1325 and 1334).[2] In 1358, Albanians overran the regions of Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia and established two principalities under their leaders, Gjin Bua Shpata and Pjetër Losha.[1] Naupactus (Lepanto) was later taken in 1378.[1] The Shpata family frequently collaborated with the Ottomans and saw them as protectors.[3]

Although German historian Karl Hopf provided a genealogy of the Shpata family, it is deemed by modern scholarship as "altogether inaccurate".[4]

The Shpata family was not kin (blood relatives) with the later Bua family.[6]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Hammond 1976, p. 59.
  2. Hammond 1976, pp. 39, 57.
  3. Imber, Colin (1990). The Ottoman empire: 1300-1481. Isis. p. 113. ISBN 978-975-428-015-9. The Spata clan, however, continued to see the Ottomans as their protectors.
  4. 1 2 Luttrell 1982, p. 122.
  5. Madgearu & Gordon 2008, p. 83: "The despots Gjin Buia Spata and Peter Liosha were recognized by Symeon Uroš in 1359–1360 as rulers in Epirus and Aetolia. Albanian historians consider Gjin (or Ghinu) Buia and Peter Liosha Albanian, but it is sure that at least the Buia family was of Aromanian origin..."
  6. Schirò 1971–1972, p. 81.

Sources

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