Stanisha Kastrioti ( la, Stanissa; 1421–45) was an Albanian nobleman, a member of the

Kastrioti family The House of Kastrioti ( sq, Dera e Kastriotëve) was an Albanian noble family, active in the 14th and 15th centuries as the rulers of the Principality of Kastrioti. At the beginning of the 15th century, the family controlled a territory in th ...

, and older brother of

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

. His father

Gjon Kastrioti Gjon Kastrioti (1375/80 – 4 May 1437), was a member of the Albanian nobility, from the House of Kastrioti, and the father of future Albanian leader Gjergj Kastrioti (better known as Skanderbeg). He governed the territory between the Cape of ...

was an Albanian lord who had possessions in the Mat region. His mother was

Voisava Voisava ( at least 1402–05) was the wife of Gjon Kastrioti, a member of the Albanian nobility with whom she had nine children, one of whom is Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg. She is mentioned in passing in t ...

, whose origin is disputed. It is unknown when Stanisha and his brothers were born, while his younger brother Skanderbeg is taken to have been born in 1405. He also had brothers Reposh and Kostandin, and five sisters, Mara, Jelena, Angelina, Vlajka and Mamica. The names of Stanisha and most of his siblings are Slavic. His father became an Ottoman vassal at the end of the 14th century, and as such, paid tribute and provided military services (like in the

Battle of Ankara The Battle of Ankara or Angora was fought on 20 July 1402 at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and the Emir of the Timurid Empire, Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to the ...

in 1402). In 1409, one of the brothers, believed by Anamali and Frashëri to have been Stanisha, was sent to the Ottoman court as a hostage, to ensure loyalty of Gjon Kastrioti as an Ottoman vassal to the sultan., Gjon accepted the suzerainty of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

in 1413, but was again in Ottoman vassalage by 1415. In the 1419–26 period Gjon was an ally of

Serbian Despot The Serbian Despotate ( sr, / ) was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and ...

Stefan Lazarević Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall ( sr, Стефан Високи / ''Stefan Visoki''), was the ruler of Serbia as prince (1389–1402) and despot (1402–1427), ...

, who was also an Ottoman vassal, and had informed the

during the

Second Scutari War The Second Scutari War ( sr-cyr, Други скадарски рат) was an armed conflict in 1419–1426 between Zeta (1419–1421) and then the Serbian Despotate (1421–1423) on the one side and the Venetian Republic on the other, over Scuta ...

(1419–23) between Venice and Serbia that he was compelled to give his son as a hostage to Despot Stefan. According to

Fan Noli Theofan Stilian Noli, known as Fan Noli (6 January 1882 – 13 March 1965), was an Albanian writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, Archbishop, Metropolitan and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Albanian Orthodox ...

it was Stanisha who was sent by his father, together with auxiliary forces, to help the Serbians against the Venetians at Scutari. Gjon issued a charter in Old Serbian to the

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

Hilandar The Hilandar Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Хиландар, Manastir Hilandar, , el, Μονή Χιλανδαρίου) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It wa ...

monastery on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

in 1425–26, in which he donated the two villages of Radostuša (which included a church) and

Trebište Trebište, Trebishte, or Trebišta ( mk, Требиште, sq, Trebisht) (the pronunciation used by the local population is Trebišča) is a village in North Macedonia in Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality, situated in the Dolna Reka district, on t ...

to the Hilandar, and mentioned his four sons by name. In a charter issued by Hilandar between 1426 and 1431, the monastery granted the temporary purchase by Gjon and his sons, except Stanisha, to four

adelphate Adelphate ( sr, адрфат, братствени удео, from the Greek ''adelphos'' = brother), is the right of some person to reside in monastery and receiving subsidies from its resources. This right was either purchased or exchanged for som ...

s (rights to reside on monastic territory and receive subsidies from monastic resources) of the St. George tower (later named the "Albanian tower" in their honour). Scholars have noticed that Stanisha was not mentioned in this second charter, and considered that he was Turkified immediately after 1426, likely around 1428. That claim is however not supported by documents. It was also believed that he "disappeared", however, it was found that he was mentioned as the son of deceased Gjon Kastrioti in a Venetian document dated 12 February 1445. That document does not bring any conclusion as to the possible Turkification of Stanisha. The Venetian government confirmed the earlier duties held by the father of Skanderbeg and Stanisha, and promised them Venetian citizenship and shelter if they were to be expelled from their lands.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{refend 15th-century Albanian people Medieval Albanian nobility House of Kastrioti People of the Serbian Despotate 15th-century soldiers