Dhimitër Jonima

Dhimitër Jonima (? – 1409) was an Albanian nobleman from the Jonima family. He initially resisted the Ottomans - namely at the Battle of Kosovo - before becoming their vassal, and he eventually switched to become a vassal of Venice. He was the lord of the lands that encompassed the trade route from Lezhë to Prizren, holding possessions between Lezhë and Rrëshen.[1]

Dhimitër Jonima
Died1409
Wars and battlesBattle of Kosovo
Noble familyJonima family
Issue?—1402: Ottoman vassal
1402—1409: Venetian pronoier as vassal of Koja Zaharia

Resistance and Ottoman vassalage

Together with other Albanian noblemen, Dhimitër Jonima is mentioned as a participant of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, having been one of the main leaders of the sizeable Albanian forces that fought on the side of Lazar's Christian coalition against the Ottomans.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

He suffered another defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Empire shortly after the Ottoman forces captured Shkodër in 1393. He then acted as a mediator between them and Marco Barbadigo, the husband of Helena Thopia who was in possession of the castle in Krujë during this period.[8] In 1402, as an Ottoman vassal and together with other Albanian noblemen, he fought alongside Bayezid I's forces in the Battle of Ankara.[9]

Venetian vassalage

By 1399, Jonima had already been given the right to take shelter in Shkodër and Durrës by the Venetians.[10] After the Ottoman defeat, Jonima became a vassal of Koja Zaharia, whose territory sat to the north of Jonima's possessions. They were initially unwilling vassals of the Ottomans, but Koja and Jonima would eventually accept the suzerainty of the Venetian Republic by feigning the defeat of a large force under their command at the hands of the Venetians. After this, their territories and roads were placed under Venetian protection.[11][12][13][14]

Jonima recognised the influence of the Dukagjini family in the northern Albanian regions, and so he developed good diplomatic relations with them and communicated with foreign chancellors (Venetians in particular) on their behalf. He maintained positive diplomatic relations with most of his neighbouring lords. He is last mentioned by sources in 1409 as the lord of Shufadaj, a coastal trading town near Lezhë, and is supposed to have died in the same year.[15]

Other members of the Jonima family are later mentioned in the Shkodër region, but they never reached the fame or standing of Dhimitër Jonima. Even long after his death, in 1431, upon the defeat of Gjon Kastrioti by Ottoman forces, the lands taken from him that had once belonged to the Jonima family were registered by Ottomans as the vilayet of Dhimitër Jonima.[16]

Annotations

His name has been spelled "Demetrius Jonima", "Dimitri Jonima", "Dmitar Gonoma", and in Albanian: Dhimitër Jonima.

References
  1. Anamali, Skënder (2002). Historia e popullit Shqiptar: gjatë shek. XVI -vitet 20 të shek. XIX. Tiranë: Botimet Toena. p. 376. ISBN 9992716223.
  2. History of the Balkans: from Mohammed the Conqueror to Stalin East European monographs Author Georges Castellan Translated by Nicholas Bradley Publisher East European Monographs, 1992 ISBN 0-88033-222-0, ISBN 978-0-88033-222-4 p. 54
  3. Veremes, Thanos; Kophos, Euangelos (1998). Kosovo: avoiding another Balkan war. Athens: Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign policy. p. 418. ISBN 9789607061409. ... is a historical fact that they were on the Serbian side against the Ottoman Empire in that cataclysmic battle of 1389 ( under Albanian counts Balsha and Jonima)
  4. Elsie, Robert (2004). Historical dictionary of Kosova. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8108-5309-6. ... Vlach contingents of Voyvode Mircea, the troops of Lazar's son-in-law Vuk Brankovic and Albanian forces under George Balsha and Demeter Jonima.
  5. Myftiu, Genc (2000). Albania: a Patrimony of European Values Guide of Albanian History and Culture Heritage. SEDA. p. 14. Two years later Gjergj Balsha II , Teodor Muzaka and Dhimitër Jonima fought in the battle of Kosovo... a quarter of the military force in the anti-Ottoman coalition was Albanian...
  6. Iseni, Bashkim (2008). La question nationale en Europe du sud-est: genèse, émergence et développement de l'identité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine. Bern: Peter Lang. p. 84. ISBN 978-3039113200. L'historiographie albanaise quant à elle met davantage l'accent sur la présence albanaise dans ce qui était une grande coalition de principautés chrétienne contre les Ottomans. Selon elle, sur les sept chefs de guerre de cette coalition, deux étaient albanais, Gjergj Balsha II et Dhimiter Jonima. Auraient aussi participé à cette bataille d'autres féodaux albanais, notamment Gjon Muzaka et Teodor Muzaka II. La participation albanaise aurait atteint un quart de la totalité des troupes de la coalition.
  7. Petritsch, Wolfgang; Kaser, Karl; Pichler, Robert (1999). Kosovo - Kosova: Mythen, Daten, Fakten (2. Aufl ed.). Klagenfurt: Wieser. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9783851293043. ... geantwortet haben und sich mit einer Armee von 6.000 Mann nach Kosova aufgemacht haben soll. An der Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld nahmen auch andere mäch- tige albanische Fürsten teil : Demeter Jonima , dessen Reich sich über die..
  8. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest Author John Van Antwerp Fine Edition reprint, illustrated Publisher University of Michigan Press, 1994 ISBN 0-472-08260-4, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 p. 419
  9. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest Author John Van Antwerp Fine Edition reprint, illustrated Publisher University of Michigan Press, 1994 ISBN 0-472-08260-4, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 p. 422
  10. Konferenca e dytë e Studimeve Albanologjike. Tirana: Konferenca e dytë e Studimeve Albanologjike. 1969. p. 125.
  11. Elsie, Robert (2012), A biographical dictionary of Albanian history, London: I.B. Tauris, p. 493, ISBN 9781780764313, OCLC 801605743
  12. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest Author John Van Antwerp Fine Edition reprint, illustrated Publisher University of Michigan Press, 1994 ISBN 0-472-08260-4, ISBN 978-0-472-08260-5 p. 510
  13. Rojas Molina, Grabiela (2022). Decoding debate in the Venetian Senate: short stories of crisis and response on Albania (1392-1402). Leiden Boston: Brill. p. 193. ISBN 9789004520936.
  14. Anamali, Skënder (2002). Historia e popullit Shqiptar: gjatë shek. XVI -vitet 20 të shek. XIX. Tiranë: Botimet Toena. p. 312. ISBN 9992716223.
  15. Anamali, Skënder (2002). Historia e popullit Shqiptar: gjatë shek. XVI -vitet 20 të shek. XIX. Tiranë: Botimet Toena. p. 312. ISBN 9992716223.
  16. Deuxième Conférence des études albanologiques: à l'occasion du 5e centenaire de la mort de Georges Kastriote-Skanderbeg, Tirana, Volume 1 Deuxième Conférence des études albanologiques: à l'occasion du 5e centenaire de la mort de Georges Kastriote-Skanderbeg, Tirana, Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës. Instituti i Historisë e Gjuhësisë Authors Geōrgios Kastriōtēs (called Scanderbeg, Prince of Epirus), Scanderbeg, Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës. Instituti i Historisë e Gjuhësisë Publisher Université d'état de Tirana, Institut d'histoire et de linguistique, 1969 p.54
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