Maria Balsha, Countess of Muro
Maria Balsha | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Acerenza and Muro | |
 Alleged portrait of Maria as the Virgin Mary in the Cathedral of Acerenza by Giovanni Todisco | |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Predecessor | Maria Anna Rossi |
| Born | c. 1461[1] Albania |
| Died | after 22 March 1514[2] Kingdom of Naples |
| Buried | Santa Maria La Nova, Naples |
| Noble family | Balsha |
| Spouse(s) | Giacomo Alfonso Ferrillo |
| Issue | Beatrice Ferrillo, Countess of Acerenza and Muro Isabella Ferrillo, Lady of Montefredane |
| Father | Gojko Balsha, Lord of Misia |
| Mother | Komita Arianiti |
Maria Balsha (Italian: Maria Balsa; Maria del Balzo; Albanian: Maria Balsha; Serbian: Марија Балшић), (c. 1461–after 22 March 1514), was a noblewoman from the house of Balsha. She was Countess of Acerenza and Muro from her marriage to Giacomo Alfonso Ferrillo.[3]
Early life
[edit]Maria Balsha was the daughter of Gojko Balsha, Lord of Misia and Princess Komita Arianiti.[4] Her father was a nephew of the Lord of Albania, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, youngest son of his sister Vlaika Kastrioti. Maria's mother, on the other hand, was the daughter of military leader and ruler of the Principality of Arianiti, George Arianiti and his first wife Maria Muzaka, whose family ruled the Principality of Muzaka. Moreover, Komita's older sister and Maria's aunt, Andronika Arianiti was Skanderbeg's wife, further tying their connection to the Lord of Albania.[5] Maria had two brothers who, according to their cousin John Muzaka, died in Hungary.[6]
During the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans, Maria's father became a key figure of the Albanian resistance. Gojko was one of the founders of the League of Lezhë, a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created on 2 March 1444. He continued to fight against Ottoman invasion even after his uncle's death in 1468. Together with his sons, Gojko joined forces with the Venetians to prevent the Ottomas from further advance.[7] Meanwhile, the seven year old Maria and her mother Komita, fled together with Andronika and other family members to the Kingdom of Naples.
They were welcomed into the court of Queen Joanna of Aragon and in 1483, when she was 22 years old, Maria was married to Giacomo Alfonso Ferrillo, Count of Muro.[8]The couple had two daughters, Beatrice and Isabella.
Daughter of Vlad the Impaler theory
[edit]In 2012, Italian historian Raffaele Glinni published two articles in which he claims Maria as the illegitimate daughter of Vlad III of Walachia. [9] According to the historian, Vlad could be buried in the tomb of Maria's father-in-law, Matteo Ferrillo. The primary reason for this theory, comes from the symbol of a dragon found in the connected blazon of the Ferrillo and the Balsha. Moreover, he identified Misia with a region in Minor Asia, in modern Turkey. In 2014, the same author re-identifies it with the historical region of Dobruja, today shared by Romania and Bulgaria.[10] In reality, the Misia ruled by Gojko Balsha was a coastal region between the cities of Kruja and Lezha in modern Albania.[6] Furthermore, the historian does not take into account how the symbol of the dragon is linked to Maria's maternal grandfather George Arianiti and uncle Skanderbeg, both members of the Order of the Dragon. No historical source ever mentions any meeting having taken place between Komita Arianiti and Vlad the Impaler, nor any illegitimacy rumors concerning Maria Balsha's paternity, prior to Glinni's publication.
Ancestry
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Terminio, 1581 (p. 26)
- ^ Il 22 marzo 1514, il sangiacco di Valona nella sua lettera al conte di Muro (Giacomo Alfonso Ferrillo) saluta la "[...] [con]sorte como e patre qnto ad n[ost]ra figliola p[ro]pria et non meno ad madamma Comita [Arianiti] sua matre n[ost]ra qnto e sore." (Alberto Rescio, 2018, p. 357)
- ^ hn Musachi (1515), Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty Archived 2010-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Комнина за Гојка Балш ића." (Djoko M. Slijepčević, 1974, p. 40.)
- ^ Spiridon Gopčević, 1914, p.460
- ^ a b Giovanni Musachi, 1510, p.285
- ^ Schmitt 2001, p.297
- ^ Della Marra, Ferrante (1641). Discorsi Delle Famiglie Estinte, Forastiere O Non comprese ne' Seggi di Napoli. p. 78.
- ^ "Acerenza: Il mistero della principessa ed il Conte Dracula". 23 June 2012.
- ^ "Dracula è sepolto a Napoli?". November 2014.
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