Spata family


The Spata family was an Albanian noble family which rose to prominence in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, initially as Venetian vassals and later as Ottoman vassals. The family's progenitors were the brothers Gjin Bua Shpata and Skurra Bua Shpata. Shpata means "sword" in Albanian.

History

In the first half of the 14th century, mercenaries, raiders and migrants known in Greek as Άλβανοί flooded into Greece. In 1358, Albanians got regions of Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia under their rule and established two principalities under their leaders, Gjin Bua Shpata and Pjetër Losha. Naupactus was later taken in 1378. The Shpata family frequently collaborated with the Ottomans and saw them as protectors.
Although German historian Karl Hopf provided a genealogy of the Shpata family, it is deemed by modern scholarship as "altogether inaccurate".
According to Schirò, Shpata family was not kin with the later Bua family. However this theory is rejected and their first name was Bua, while the name Spata appears to them as a second name, creating a cadet branch of the Buas.

Family tree

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