Balšić noble family
The House of Balšić (Serbian Cyrillic: Балшићи), or Balsha (Albanian: Balsha, Balshaj), were a noble family that ruled "Zeta and the coastlands" (current-day southern Montenegro and northern Albania), from 1362 to 1421, during and after the fall of the Serbian Empire. Balša, the founder, was a petty nobleman who held only one village during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331–1355), and only after the death of the emperor, his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl. 1336–1360) under unclear circumstances, and they then expanded into Upper Zeta by murdering voivode and čelnik Đuraš Ilijić (r. 1326–1362†). Nevertheless, they were acknowledged as oblastni gospodari of Zeta in edicts of Emperor Uroš the Weak (r. 1355–1371). After the death of Uroš (1371), the family feuded with the Mrnjavčevići, who controlled Macedonia.
| Balšić Балшић Balsha Balshaj | |
|---|---|
Coat of arms of the Balsa based on an illustration found in the Fojnica Armorial, a mostly Slavic catalog of coats of arms which includes several prominent Albanian families, whereby the family name is inscribed using latin characters in a slavicized form. | |
| Country | Lordship of Zeta (1355–1421) Serbian Empire (1355–71) Republic of Venice (1380s) Serbian Despotate (1405–21) League of Lezhë (1444–1479) |
| Founded | before 1355, by Balša I |
| Final ruler | Balša III (1403–1421) |
| Titles | gospodar (lord) autokrator (self-ruler) |
| Estate(s) | the Zeta and the coastlands (southern Montenegro, northern Albania) |
When the last lord of the main branch of the family, Balša III died in 1421 without an heir, his possessions were passed on to his uncle, Despot Stefan the Tall. Later that year, the Republic of Venice took advantage of Balša's death and seized the towns of Bar and Ulcinj, and some of his other territories were seized by the Ottomans and Bosnians.