Gjon Muzaka ( fl. 1510; it, Giovanni Musachi di Berat ) was an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

from the

Muzaka family The Muzaka were an Albanian noble family that ruled over the region of Myzeqe (southern Albania) in the Late Middle Ages. The Muzaka are also referred to by some authors as a tribe or a clan. The earliest historical document that mention Muzaka ...

, that has historically ruled in the

Myzeqe The Myzeqe (; sq-definite, Myzeqeja; rup, Muzachia) is a plain in the Western Lowlands of Albania. The Myzeqe is the largest and widest plain, measured by area, in the Lowlands. Location The Myzeqe plain is a large alluvial plain traversed by t ...

region,

. In 1510 he wrote a ''Breve memoria de li discendenti de nostra casa Musachi'' (Short memoir on the descendants of our Myzeqe lineage). The work was published in

Karl Hopf Karl Hopf may refer to: * Karl Hopf (historian) Karl Hopf (Hamm, Westphalia, February 19, 1832 – Wiesbaden, August 23, 1873) or Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf was a historian and an expert in Medieval Greece, both Byzantine and Frankish. ...

's ''Chroniques gréco-romaines'', Paris 1873, pp. 270–340. According to his memoirs, Gjon's father died before Ottomans captured

Berat Berat (; sq-definite, Berati) is the ninth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Berat County and Berat Municipality. By air, it is north of Gjirokastër, west of Korçë, south of Tirana, and east of Fier. Berat is located in th ...

in 1417.

The memoir of Gjon Muzaka (1515)

His memoir is considered to be the oldest substantial text written by an

n. It was originally written in Latin and his name was listed as Giovanni Musachi. In it he mentions several interesting things that were confirmed to have been accurate by

Noel Malcolm Sir Noel Robert Malcolm, (born 26 December 1956) is an English political journalist, historian and academic. A King's Scholar at Eton College, Malcolm read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received his doctorate in history from Trinity Col ...

. Among other things he claims that, according to family history, the name "Musachi" is derived from a corrupted form of the name "Molossachi", ancient tribesmen of

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

known as the

Molossians The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...

Name

His name is mentioned in sources in several different versions, like John, Giovanni Ivan, and Jovan.

References

16th-century Albanian people Year of death unknown

Gjon Gjon (definite form: ''Gjoni'') is an Albanian male given name, clan, surname and onomastic element. As given name Etymology and history ''Gjon'' as a given name is a form of the English name John. It is the name of the apostle Saint John in Alb ...

Year of birth unknown Albanian Christians Eastern Orthodox Christians from Albania {{Albania-bio-stub