Blasius Mataranga ( al, Vlash Matranga) was an Albanian prince of the Matranga noble family.

Life

Blasius came from the noble family Mataranga family, who were wealthy in the

southern Albania Southern Albania ( sq, Shqipëria jugore) is one of the three NUTS-2 Regions of Albania. This ethnographical territory is sometimes referred to as ''Toskeria'' ( sq, Toskëria). It consists of five counties: Berat, Fier, Gjirokastër, Korçë ...

coastal region between Durazzo and Valona, whose first known members were recorded in a document from the Republic of Ragusa as rulers of the territory. Temporary vassals of the Byzantine Emperors, at the beginning of the 14th century they accepted the supremacy of Philip of Taranto, who recaptured Durazzo in 1304 for the

House of Anjou Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: * County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France ** Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou ** Counts and Dukes of Anjou *House of Ingelger, a Fra ...

of the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

. Between 1336 and 1343, their territory was incorporated into the expanding kingdom of Serbs under Stefan Dušan. After Dušan's death on December 20, 1355, Blasius Matarango established himself as a semi-autonomous prince north of Valona in the region Myzeqe ( Karavasta) between the lower reaches of the rivers Shkumbin and Seman. He recognized the

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...

of the

Simeon Uroš Palaiologos Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon. Meaning The name is derived from Simeon, son ...

, who in 1358 served him the high court dignity of a for his loyal vassal '' Sebastokrator'', with which at the same time the legitimacy of his rule over the Albanian population was further enhanced.John Van Antwerp Fine: ''The Late Medieval Balkans ...'' S. 357 ;
Oliver Jens Schmitt: ''The Venetian Albania (1392–1479)''. S. 188. Blasius Matarango died in 1367; his territories fell to the "princeps Albaniae" Karl Thopia

Literature

* Dimiter Angelov: "Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, . * John Van Antwerp Fine: '' The Late Medieval Balkans: A critical Survey from the late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. '' University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1994, . * Constantin Jireček: “History of the Serbs.” Volume 1: “Until 1371.” Perthes, Gotha 1911 (reprinted by Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1967), p. 415. *

Oliver Jens Schmitt Oliver Jens Schmitt (born 15 February 1973 in Basel) is a professor of South-East European history at Vienna University since 2005. He is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His book ''Skanderbeg. Der neue Alexander auf dem Balkan'', ...

: '' The Venetian Albania (1392–1479) '' (= '' Southeast European Works. '' Volume 110). Oldenbourg, Munich 2001, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blasius Matarango Albanian nobility Year of birth missing 1367 deaths 14th-century Albanian people