The House of Balà ¡ià(; ), or Balsha, 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. Balà ¡a, the founder, was a petty nobleman who held only one village during the rule of Emperor Duà ¡an the Mighty (r. 1331âÂÂ1355), and only after the death of the emperor, his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin à ½arko (fl. 1336âÂÂ1360) under unclear circumstances, and they then expanded into Upper Zeta by murdering voivode and ÃÂelnik ÃÂuraà ¡ Ilijià(r. 1326âÂÂ1362â ). Nevertheless, they were acknowledged as oblastni gospodari of Zeta in edicts of Emperor Uroà ¡ the Weak (r. 1355âÂÂ1371). After the death of Uroà ¡ (1371), the family feuded with the MrnjavÃÂeviÃÂi, who controlled Macedonia.
When the last lord of the main branch of the family, Balà ¡a 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 Balà ¡a's death and seized the towns of Bar and Ulcinj, and some of his other territories were seized by the Ottomans and Bosnians.
The origin of the eponymous founder of the Balà ¡iàfamily â Balà ¡a I â is obscure and several hypotheses about it have been put forward by modern scholars. The region the family ruled over was defined by highly porous borders and experienced high rates of intermarriage among the local peoples' aristocracies.
Both Serbian and Albanian authors claim them. Contemporary medieval sources provide evidence for the Albanian ethnic origin of the Balà ¡iàfamily members and the description of the noble family as Albanian lords is present in current scholarship, A number of scholars consider them of Serbian or of otherwise Slavic origin.
In medieval Serbian documents the Balà ¡as are referred to as "Arbanas lords". The well-known Bulgarian biographer of the 15th century, Constantine the Philosopher, who lived in the court of the Serbian ruler Stefan LazareviÃÂ, refers to ÃÂuraàII Balà ¡iàand Balà ¡a III as Albanian lords. Historical sources from Ragusa document the Albanian ethnic affiliation of the Balà ¡a family, mentioning "the Albanian customs of the Balà ¡a". In the funds of the Ragusan archives the Balà ¡iÃÂs are one of the extremely present Arbanon families. Furthermore, the Ottomans referred to ÃÂuraàII Balà ¡iàas "ruler of Albanian Shkodra". Also the Hungarian king Sigismund, when he met him personally in 1396, called him "ruler of Albania". One contemporary archival source in Vienna Archives mentions Balà ¡a II as "ruler of Albanians" during the Battle of Kosovo 1389.
The fragmental assertions that their progenitor descended from "Emperor Nemanja", and that he held the area of Bojana river in the neighborhood of Shkodër are very uncertain. In a 14th-century letter, ÃÂuraàII Balà ¡iàclaimed descent from the Nemanjiàfamily.
In current scholarship many historians consider the Balà ¡a as being part of the local Albanian nobility. According to Malcolm, the Balà ¡iÃÂi were probably of Albanian stock who had been but culturally Serbianized to a large degree. ÃÂirkoviàconcluded that they are of non-Slavic origin, being referred to in medieval Serbian documents as "Albanian (arbanas) lords". Murzaku says that the family had an Albanian origin. Madgearu mentions the Balà ¡iàas a noble Albanian family, however he states that their Albanian origin is unclear, due to the debate over the family's origin. Bartl mentions the Balà ¡iàas a noble family of probably Serbian origin. Elsie mentions them as of "probably Slavic origin". Gelichi considers them Serbian-Montenegrin. Winnifrith states that they were Slavs who fought other Albanians. Brendan Osswald has described them as Serbian, as does Iordachi. Bojka Djukanovic describes them as a "Montenegrin family" about whose origin there are no reliable sources. Other Montenegrin authors consider them to be a Montenegrin dynasty as well. According to Elizabeth Roberts, whether their origins were Serbian, Albanian, or both, has never been conclusively established, but they were "culturally Serbianized". According to Svetlana Tomin the Balà ¡iÃÂi probably originated from Slavicized Vlachs. Montenegrin historian Dragoje à ½ivkoviàbelieves that the Balà ¡iÃÂs came from the Slavicized Vlachs and that they rose to the noble class through military merits.
In older scholarship, Karl Hopf (1832âÂÂ1873) considered "unquestionably part of the Serb tribe". Ivan Stepanovich Yastrebov (1839âÂÂ1894), Russian Consul in Shkodër and Prizren, when speaking of the Balà ¡iÃÂi, connected their name to the Roman town of Balletium (Balec) located near modern Shkodër which delivers from Illyrian, related to the Albanian term . According to Serbian historian Ilarion Ruvarac, "The Balà ¡iàwere in no way Serbs but Albanians, regardless of whether they were Albanians or Vlachs in their distant origins". Serbian historian Vladimir ÃÂorovià(1885âÂÂ1941) concluded, based on their name, that they had Roman (Vlach) origin. Croatian ethnologist Milan à  ufflay (1879âÂÂ1931) mentioned them as of "Romanian and Vlach origin". Croatian linguist Petar Skok considered them to have been of Vlach origin, and Serbian historian Milena Geciàsupported his theory. Giuseppe Gelcich theorized on the origin in his . The theory, which was later adopted by ÃÂedomilj MijatoviÃÂ, argued that they were descendants of the Frankish nobleman Bertrand III of Baux, a companion of Charles d'Anjou. It is regarded as highly improbable. German linguist Gustav Weigand (1860âÂÂ1930) supported a mixed AlbanianâÂÂAromanian origin after he noted that the family name was included in a list of early Albanian surnames in Romania.
The oldest mention of any member of the family can be traced to a 1304 letter which Helen of Anjou sent to Ragusa through her trustee Matija Balà ¡iÃÂ. The earliest mention of the family itself can be traced to a charter of Serbian emperor Stefan Uroà ¡ V dated 29 September 1360, which is also the earliest known mention of its founder Balà ¡a. According to scholar Thomas Fleming, Balà ¡a was a "fairly obscure" magnate from the area surrounding Bar and Budva. Writing in 1601, Mavro Orbini describes him as a petty nobleman that held only one village in the area of Lake Skadar during the rule of Emperor Duà ¡an the Mighty (r. 1331âÂÂ1355). Only after the death of the emperor, Balà ¡a and his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin à ½arko (fl. 1336âÂÂ1360) and by murdering voivode and ÃÂelnik ÃÂuraà ¡ Ilijià(r. 1326-1362â ), the holders of Lower and Upper Zeta, respectively. Balà ¡a dies the same year, and his sons, the Balà ¡iàbrothers, continue in ruling the province spanning Podgorica, Budva, Bar and Shkodër.
The Balà ¡iÃÂi managed to elevate themselves from petty nobility to provincial lords. They created their own state or state-like entity, comprising Zeta, and the cities of Shkodër, Drisht, Bar, Ulcinj, and Budva. Subsequently, they managed to expand their rule over a large portion of Albanian territory, from Bar to Prizren, and from Vlorë to Berat. Hence they became the chiefs of the largest feudal polity in northern Albania during the 14th century to the 15th century. The administrative and political center of Balà ¡a's feudal entity between 1355 and 1396 was the city of Shkodër, which also became the main center of a wide interregional economic network.
Balà ¡iàfamily members founded and renovated several Eastern Orthodox monasteries and churches. Between 1368 and 1389 the Balà ¡iÃÂs owned their own ships and operated as Albanian pirates. Because of their anti-Ottoman attitude, the pirate activity of these Albanian lords was tolerated by the Republic of Venice. However, they limited Venice's operations.
In the Prince-Bishopric and Principality of Montenegro, supporters of the PetroviÃÂ-Njegoà ¡ dynasty claimed them to be descended from the Balà ¡iÃÂi, as well as the Nemanjiàand Crnojeviàdynasties. Before World War II, the family was the namesake of the association football club GSK Balà ¡iàPodgorica.
Simplified family tree: