Balà ¡a III (; ) or Balsha III (1387 â 28 April 1421, in Belgrade) was the fifth and last ruler of Zeta from the Balà ¡iànoble family, from April 1403 to April 1421. He was the son of ÃÂuraàII and Jelena LazareviÃÂ.
In April 1403, the seventeen-year-old Balà ¡a became the ruler of Zeta when his father ÃÂuraàII died as a result of the injuries he had suffered at the Battle of Tripolje. As he was young and inexperienced, his main advisor was his mother, Jelena, a sister of the ruler of Serbia at the time, Stefan LazareviÃÂ. Under the influence of his mother, Balà ¡a reverted the order of the state religion, passing a law declaring Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the official confession of the state, while Roman Catholicism became a tolerated confession.
Balà ¡a waged the First Scutari War, a 10-year war, against Venice. In 1405, Ulcinj, Bar and Budva were seized by the Venetians. Balà ¡a then became a vassal to the Ottoman Turks. In 1409, however, Venice had purchased the rights to Dalmatia from King Ladislaus of Naples and began fighting for control of Dalmatian cities. After a huge effort, Balà ¡a seized Bar from the Venetians in 1412. Venice, pressed with difficulties, had no choice but to agree to return territories it had previously seized. In 1413 he built a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas at the Praskvica Monastery. According to a chapter Balà ¡a issued in 1417, he was probably a ktitor of the MoraÃÂnik Monastery.
Balà ¡a had waged a new war against Venice, which was connected to the war with the Hungarians and the Turks. In 1418, he conquered Shkodër from the Venetians, but lost Budva and Luà ¡tica with its salt works. In 1419, he made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Budva. He went to Belgrade to ask for aid from Stefan LazareviÃÂ, but never returned to Zeta. In 1421, before his death and under the influence of his mother, he passed the rule of Zeta to his uncle, Despot Stefan LazareviÃÂ.
In 1407, Balà ¡a III married Mara Thopia, a daughter of Niketa Thopia. They had a daughter, Jelena Balà ¡ià(1411-1453), named after Balà ¡a's mother. In his second marriage, Balà ¡a III married Boglia Zaharia, a daughter of Koja Zaharia, in 1412 or at the beginning of 1413. They had a son (died in 1415) and a daughter, Teodora (died after 1456)
In 1424 Jelena Balà ¡iàmarried Stjepan VukÃÂiàKosaÃÂa and was mother of Queen Catherine of Bosnia and Vladislav HercegoviÃÂ. In 1415, Balà ¡a's only son and the only male descendant of the still Christian branch of the Balà ¡iàfamily died. Teodora married Petar VojsaliÃÂ, voivode of Bosnia.