Donika Kastrioti
15th century Albanian Queen
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Andronika Arianiti, commonly known as Donika Kastrioti[a], (1428 – 1506) was an Albanian noblewoman and Lady of Albania from her marriage to Skanderbeg. She was the daughter of Gjergj Arianiti, an earlier leader in the ongoing revolt against the Ottomans, and Maria Muzaka, whose family ruled under the title of despots in the southern part of the country.
(as Lady of Mat)
Kaninë, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania)
| Andronika Arianiti | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lady of Albania | |||||
1596 engraving by Johann Theodor de Bry of Donika Kastrioti | |||||
| Lady of Albania | |||||
| Tenure | 1451–1468 | ||||
| Predecessor | Voisava Kastrioti (as Lady of Mat) | ||||
| Successor | Theodora Muzaka | ||||
| Born | 1428 Kaninë, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania) | ||||
| Died | 1506 (Aged 78) Valencia, Kingdom of Valencia | ||||
| Burial | Royal Monastery of the Holy Trinity | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Gjon Kastrioti II | ||||
| |||||
| House |  Arianiti (paternally) Muzaka (maternally) Kastrioti (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Gjergj Arianiti | ||||
| Mother | Maria Muzaka | ||||
| Religion | Eastern Orthodoxy | ||||
Life
Donika was born in Kaninë, in 1428. Her father, Gjergj Arianiti was a member of the Arianiti family whose domain stretched across the Shkumbin valley and the old Via Egnatia road and reached to the east today's Bitola. Her mother, Maria Muzaka was a member of the Muzaka family whose domain was the Myzeqe region.[1]
A month after the Treaty of Gaeta, on 21 April 1451, Skanderbeg married Donika, and thus strengthened the ties with the Arianiti family,[2] in the Albanian Orthodox Ardenica Monastery,[3][4] in Lushnje, present-day southwestern Albania.
After the Ottoman conquest of Albania, the Kastriotis were given peerage in the Kingdom of Naples.[5] They obtained a feudal domain, the Duchy of San Pietro in Galatina and the County of Soleto (Province of Lecce, Italy).[6] Gjon Kastrioti II, Donika's and Skanderbeg's only child, married Jerina Branković, the daughter of Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia.[6]
Notes
- ^ Her name is mentioned as Andronica Comneniates in Gjon Muzaka's work about the Muzaka family.[7] Oliver Jens Schmitt names her Andronika Arianiti in his biographical work on Skanderbeg.[8]
