Voisava ( at least 1402–05) was the wife of Gjon Kastrioti, an Albanian nobleman from the House of Kastrioti. They had nine children together, one of whom was the Albanian national hero Gjergj Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg.
Early life
The wife of Gjon Kastrioti is mentioned for the first time by Albanian authors Marin Barleti and Gjon Muzaka about 70–80 years after her death as Voisava. Both authors lived in the immediate generation after Skanderbeg's death. In his PhD thesis, Jeton Omari claims that it is uncertain that her actual name was Voisava, relying on a notary act from the archives of the Republic of Ragusa dated July 10, 1439, which names Gjon Kastrioti's widow Jella.
Both mention her origin as being in the Polog area. Barletius explicitly states that "Polog" stretched from the mountains of Mokra in Southern Albania, to Skopje. It has also been argued that another Polog, closer to the town of Bitola in the plain of Pelagonia, may be the location of the Polog mentioned by Barleti.
Origin
The issue of the origin of Voisava has been a matter of debate among scholars. Based on a statement by Marin Barleti who described her father nobilissimus Tribalorum princeps (most noble prince of the Triballians) which was adopted in another form by Muzaka several theories have been proposed. As such, most scholars believe that Voisava was of South Slavic descent, while others propose that she came from the Albanian Muzaka family. A modern theory interprets this as referring a Serbian origins and some modern scholars consider her as coming from the Branković dynasty. Other scholars interpret the statement nobilissimus Tribalorum princeps as referring to a Bulgarian background. The name Voisava is a feminine rendition of the Slavic name Vojislav from voj (war, struggle) and slava (fame, glory).
Family
Voisava married Gjon Kastrioti, the "Lord of a part of Albania" (dominus partium Albanie). She bore 9 children with Gjon, 4 sons and 5 daughters:
Reposh ( 1426–d. 1431), retired at the Serbian Orthodox monastery Hilandar as a layman, and later died and was buried there. Stanisha (fl. 1426–d. 1445), commander. Konstandin (fl. 1426), Mara, married Stefan Crnojević, Lord of Zeta (r. 1451–65) Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti, 1405–1468), Albanian magnate and general; Ottoman subaşi of Krujë, sanjakbey of Dibra, later organizer of the League of Lezhë, and Neapolitan vassal as of 1451 Jelena (or Jela), married Pavle Balšić with whom she had, according to Noli, three sons. Mamica, married Muzak Thopia in 1445 Angelina, married Vladan Arianiti, brother of Gjergj Arianiti. Vlajka, married Gjin Muzaki, secondly Stefan Strez Balšić with whom she possibly had sons Ivan and Gojko.
Early sources
The earliest works mentioning Voisava are: Marin Barleti, the Albanian-Venetian historian, wrote in his biography of Skanderbeg (published between 1508 and 1510), that her "father was a Triballian nobleman" (pater nobilissimus Triballorum princeps). In another chapter, when talking about the inhabitants of Upper Debar that defended Svetigrad, he calls them "Bulgarians or Triballi" (Bulgari sive Tribali habitant...). The term "Triballians" (Triballoi) was used in Byzantine works as an exonym for Serbs. Gjon Muzaka, a member of the Albanian Muzaka family in Italy, mentioned her in his chronicle (published in 1515) as Voisava Tripalda, "who was of a noble family". Furthermore, in another chapter, Muzaka explains that "Tribali" is another name for Serbs. According to William Miller, and Johann Georg von Hahn, the surname (Tripalda) added by Muzaka is a corruption, a derivative from Barleti's quote on the Triballi. In another passage, it is alleged that the "Marquis of Tripalda" was maternally related to the Muzaka, which has led to Fan Noli and Harry Hodgkinson theorizing that Voisava was a Muzaka (see next section).