Niketa Thopia

Niketa Thopia (Albanian: Niketa Topia, Latin: Nicetas Thopia;^[1] fl. 1388 – d. 1415) was the Lord of Krujë between 1392—1394 and 1403–1415. He was a member of the Albanian Thopia family and an illegitimate son of Karl Thopia, the Prince of Albania (r. 1368–1388).

Niketa Thopia Niketa Topia
Lord of Krujë
Lord of Krujë
Reign	1392—1394 1403–1415
Predecessor	Helena Thopia
Born	Principality of Albania
Died	1415
Spouse	Daughter of Maurizio Bua Sgouros
Issue	Mara Thopia
House	Thopia
Father	Karl Thopia
Mother	Unknown mistress
Religion	Roman Catholic

Life

Niketa Thopia was an illegitimate son of Albanian Prince Karl Thopia born to an unknown mother. Together with his sister Maria Thopia, they are Karl's only recognised illegitimate children. Upon his fathers death in 1388, Marco Barbarigo inherited Krujë through his marriage with Helena, Niketa's older sister. Moreover, his older brother Gjergj succeeded their father as Lord of Durrës and styled himself Prince of Albania.^[2] Niketa, on the other hand inherited a territory south of Durazzo.

After the death of Sultan Bayezid in 1402, many Albanian lords, including Niketa Thopia, Gjon Kastrioti and Koja Zaharija recognised Venetian suzerainty.^{[3][contradictory]} The Venetians were interested in having some buffer zone between them and the advancing Ottoman army.^{[citation needed]} In 1403, Niketa Thopia managed to capture the city of Krujë from his sister, Helena Thopia, thus gaining another part of the territory previously held by the Thopia family.^[4]

From his marriage Thopia had one daughter, Mara Thopia. She married Balsha III in 1407 and had a daughter Jelena, named after her grandmother Jelena Lazarević.^[5] Balsha III and Niketa entered an alliance in order to drive out the Venetians.^[6] Niketa then started to be a mediator between Balsha and Venetians during the First Scutari War.^[7] At the end of 1411, he suffered a heavy defeat from the forces of Teodor III Muzaka during one skirmish. He himself was held prisoner and with the intervention of the Ragusan Republic was released, but only after conceding some territories around the Shkumbin river to the Muzaka family. Upon his death in 1415, the castle of Krujë fell into Ottomans' hands.^[4]

According to Shuteriqi, he married the daughter of Komnen Arianiti.^[8] According to Karl Hopf, Niketa married a daughter of Maurizio Bua Sgouros.^[9]

Family tree

Ancestors of Niketa Thopia
8. Tanusio Thopia 4. Andrea Thopia 2. Karl Thopia 20. Charles II of Naples 10. Robert, King of Naples 21. Mary of Hungary 5. Hélène of Anjou 11. Daughter of Komnen Arianiti 1. Niketa 3. Uncertain

See also

• Thopia family
• Principality of Albania (medieval)
• Saint Gjon Vladimir's Church

Notes

1. Nicolae Iorga (1908). Geschichte des Osmanischen reiches. F. A. Perthes aktiengsellschaft. p. 331. comes Nicetas
2. Molina, Grabiela. Decoding Debate in the Venetian Senate Short Stories of Crisis and Response on Albania (1392-1402). Brill. p. 83. ISBN 978-9-0045-2093-6. ...George declared himself princeps Albaniae...
3. Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb (1967). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 654.
4. Anamali, Skënder and Prifti, Kristaq. Historia e popullit shqiptar në katër vëllime. Botimet Toena, 2002, ISBN 99927-1-622-3 p.251-252
5. Spremić 2004, pp. 73–108

   У јеку сукоба, Балша III. се 1407. оженио Маром, кћерком арбанашког господара Никете Топије. Брзо је добио кћер, којој је, по мајци, дао име Јелена.

6. Aleks Buda (1984). Problems of the formation of the Albanian people, their language and culture. 8 Nëntori. p. 317.
7. Fine 1994, p. 512
8. Shuteriqi, Dhimitër (2012). Zana Prela (ed.). Aranitët: Historia- Gjenealogjia-Zotërimet. Toena. p. 97. ISBN 978-99943-1-729-5.
9. Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf (1873). Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues. Berlin, Weidmann. p. 531.

Sources

• 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
• Spremić, Momčilo (2004), Ćulibrk, Jovan (ed.), Crkvene prilike u Zeti u doba Nikona Jerusalimca (in Serbian), Cetinje, Belgrade: Svetigora, Publikum, pp. 73–108, archived from the original on 2013-12-11

Preceded by Marco Barbarigo	Lord of Krujë 1392—1394	Succeeded by Konstantin Balšić
Preceded by Konstantin Balšić	Lord of Krujë 1403—1415	Succeeded by Ottoman Empire