Donika Kastrioti Explained

Consort:yes
Donika Arianiti
Lady of Albania
More:no
Reign:1451-1468
Predecessor:Voisava Kastrioti
(as Lady of Mat)
Successor:Theodora Muzaka
Succession:Lady of Albania
Spouse:Skanderbeg
Spouse-Type:Spouse
Issue:John Kastrioti II
Full Name:Andronika Arianiti-Comneniates Muzaka
House: Arianiti (paternally)
Muzaka (maternally)
Kastrioti (by marriage)
Father:Gjergj Arianiti
Mother:Maria Muzaka
Birth Date:1428
Birth Place:Kaninë, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania)
Death Date:1506 (Aged 78)
Death Place:Valencia, Kingdom of Valencia (modern day Spain)
Burial Date:Royal Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Valencia
Religion:Eastern Orthodoxy

Donika Arianiti (also known as Donika Kastrioti and Andronika Arianiti), (born 1428 – died 1506) was an Albanian noblewoman and the spouse of Albanian leader and national hero Skanderbeg. She was the daughter of Gjergj Arianiti, an earlier leader in the ongoing revolt against the Ottomans.

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.

A month after the Treaty of Gaeta, on 21 April 1451, Skanderbeg married Donika, and thus strengthened the ties with the Arianiti family, in the Eastern Orthodox Ardenica Monastery,[1] [2] in Lushnje, present-day southwestern Albania. Later her sister Angelina married Serbian ruler Stefan Branković. She is venerated as a saint in the Serbian Orthodox Church.[3]

After the Ottoman conquest of Albania, the Kastriotis were given peerage in the Kingdom of Naples. They obtained a feudal domain, the Duchy of San Pietro in Galatina and the County of Soleto (Province of Lecce, Italy). Gjon Kastrioti II, Donika's and Skanderbeg's only child, married Jerina Branković, the daughter of Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Elsie, Robert. A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology, and folk culture. 2000. New York University Press. 0-8147-2214-8. 14.
  2. Web site: Manastiri i Ardenices. Gjika. Ilirjan. Albanian. 28 July 2010.
  3. Book: Elsie, Robert. A dictionary of Albanian religion, mythology and folk culture. 26 November 2010. 2001. C. Hurst. 978-1-85065-570-1. 9.