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The Spata family (Template:Lang-sq, Template:Lang-gr), was an Albanian noble 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 John Spata and Sgouros Spata.

Etymology

It is possible that the name "Spata" is derived from the Latin and Greek spatha meaning "long sword", which is found in Albanian as shpatë meaning "sword".

History

Origins

The Spata family was of Aromanian (or Vlach) origin. Milan Šufflay, a Croatian historian (1879–1931), spoke of an Albano-Aromanian symbiosis in the Pindus, and discussed the nationality of the Losha, Bua and Shpata families.

Activities

In the first half of the 14th century, mercenaries, raiders and migrants known in Greek as Άλβανοί (Albanoi or "Albanians", a demonym that included Vlachs) flooded into Greece (specifically raiding Thessaly in 1325 and 1334). In 1358, Albanians and Vlachs overran the regions of Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia and established two principalities under their leaders, John Spata and Peter Losha. Naupactus (Lepanto) was later taken in 1378.

Members

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

• John Spata
  • Eirene Spata who married Esau de' Buondelmonti, the Despot of Ioannina, in 1396.
  • An unnamed daughter who married John Zenevisi.
  • Unclear
    • Maurice Spata (fl. 1399–1414)
    • Yaqub Spata (fl. 1414–1416)
• Sgouros Spata (fl. 1399–d. 1403)
  • Paul Spata, Ottoman vassal

Legacy

The Spata family was not kin (blood relatives) with the later Bua family.

References

Citations

1. Aleksić 2007, pp. 9ff.
2. ^ Hammond 1976, p. 59.
3. Madgearu & Gordon 2008, p. 83.
4. Pipa 1978, p. 53: "Sufflay speaks of an Albano-Aromunian symbiosis in the Pindus, and the nationality of the rulers of Thessaly and Epirus in the second half of the 14th century (Peter Ljosha, Nicola Bua, Gjin Shpata) has been a moot point."
5. Hammond 1976, pp. 39, 57.
6. ^ Luttrell 1982, p. 122.
7. Schirò 1971–1972, p. 81.

Sources

• Aleksić, Marko (2007). Mediaeval Swords from Southeastern Europe: Material from 12th to 15th Century. Belgrade: Marko Aleksić. GGKEY:UJ4HA53C8R7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1976). Migrations and Invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Press. ISBN 0-8155-5047-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Luttrell, Anthony (1982). Latin and Greece: The Hospitallers and the Crusades, 1291–1440. London: Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-86078-106-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Madgearu, Alexandru; Gordon, Martin (2008). The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5846-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Pipa, Arshi (1978). Albanian Folk Verse: Structure and Genre. Munich: Trofenik. ISBN 978-3-87-828119-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Schirò, Giuseppe (1971–1972). "La genealogia degli Spata tra il XIV e XV sec. E due Bua sconosciuti". Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici. 28–29: 67–85. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Spata family