Alessio Spani or Lekë Shpani (1442-1495) was an Albanian nobleman. A member of the Spani family, which ruled

Drivast Drisht ( sq-definite, Drishti) is a village, former bishopric and Latin titular see with an Ancient and notable medieval history (Latin ''Drivastum,'' Italian ''Drivasto'') in Albania, 6 km from Mes Bridge (Albanian: ''Ura e Mesit''). It is ...

, in the mid-15th century he settled in Venice and served as a diplomat of the republic in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

Family

A member of the

Spani family The Spani (alternatively, Span) were a northern Albanian noble family. They emerged in the 14th century as an important family in the fortified town of Drivasto (Drisht) and owned large estates in the wider area of Shkodra. In the late 15th centu ...

he claimed that he was descended from several imperial

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

families.

Gjon Muzaka Gjon Muzaka ( fl. 1510; it, Giovanni Musachi di Berat ) was an Albanian nobleman from the Muzaka family, that has historically ruled in the Myzeqe region, Albania. In 1510 he wrote a ''Breve memoria de li discendenti de nostra casa Musachi'' (Sho ...

in his ''Breve memoria de li discendenti de nostra casa Musachi'' (1510), wrote that Span was descended from the

Theodosian dynasty The Theodosian dynasty was a Roman imperial family that produced five Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, reigning over the Roman Empire from 379 to 457. The dynasty's patriarch was Theodosius the Elder, whose son Theodosius the Great was ma ...

. Instead, Andreas Angelos Komnenos in ''Constitutio Ordinis Constantiniani Equestris'', claimed that

Alexios III Angelos Alexios III Angelos ( gkm, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, Alexios Komnēnos Angelos; 1211), Latinized as Alexius III Angelus, was Byzantine Emperor from March 1195 to 17/18 July 1203. He reigned under the name Alexios Komnen ...

was Span's great-great-great-grandfather. The complete genealogy presented by him is the following: *Alexius III Angelos, Byzantine Emperor from March 1195 to 17/18 July 1203 **Alexios Andreas Posthumus (d. 1260),

Dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms ( doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ...

and Comes of

Drivasto Drisht ( sq-definite, Drishti) is a village, former bishopric and Latin titular see with an Ancient and notable medieval history (Latin ''Drivastum,'' Italian ''Drivasto'') in Albania, 6 km from Mes Bridge (Albanian: ''Ura e Mesit''). It is l ...

***Michael Angelos (d. 1318), Comes of Drivasto ****Andreas Angelos (d. 1366), Dux and Comes of Drivasto *****Michael (d. 1465) ******Andreas Angelos ******Alessio Span (b. 1442–d. 1495) Alessio acquired the surname Span from his mother Helen Span, who was the second wife of Michael. In Muzaka's work, Elisabeta or Miliza Branković, daughter of

Đurađ Branković Đurađ Branković (; sr-cyr, Ђурађ Бранковић; hu, Brankovics György; 1377 – 24 December 1456) was the Serbian Despot from 1427 to 1456. He was one of the last Serbian medieval rulers. He was a participant in the battle of Ank ...

, is mentioned as Span's wife. This was disputed by

Franz Babinger Franz Babinger (15 January 1891 – 23 June 1967) was a well-known German orientalist and historian of the Ottoman Empire, best known for his biography of the great Ottoman emperor Mehmed II, known as "the Conqueror", originally published as ''Meh ...

on the account that Đurađ had only two daughters,

Mara Mara or MARA may refer to: Animals * Mara (mammal), a species of the cavy family *Mara the Lioness, in the movie ''Born Free'' Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mara (''Doctor Who''), an evil being in two ''Doctor Who'' serials *Mara, ...

and Katarina. Muzaka informs us that Span had six children: Marco, Biasio, Lucia, Demetria, Angela and Andriana. Karl Hopf also presented a seventh child named Alessandro.

Relations with Venice

Span's activities were closely related to the Venetian ones in Albania. Gabriel Trivisano, proveditor of Venice in Albania, includes Span in the group of the Albanian nobles that were favourable to Venice and informed him about the political conditions in Albania. Span played an important role as an intermediary during the peace negotiations between Venice and the Ottoman Empire represented by Mahmud Pasha in the late 1460s. For his services he received a

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

of 200 ducats per year and eventually incorporated a castle mentioned as ''Chiro'' into the Venetian area of control (

Venetian Albania Venetian Albania ( vec, Albania vèneta, it, Albania Veneta, Serbian and Montenegrin: Млетачка Албанија / ''Mletačka Albanija'', ) was the official term for several possessions of the Republic of Venice in the southeastern Adri ...

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Span, Alessio 1442 births 1495 deaths 15th-century Albanian people Alessio Albanian Roman Catholics Medieval Albanian nobility Republic of Venice diplomats Ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire Venetian period in the history of Albania People from Shkodër