Sgouros Spata ( sq, Skurra Bua Shpata; 1399–1403) was the Lord of Arta briefly in 1400, and the Lord of Angelokastron from 1401 until his death in 1403, during warfare in a civil war.

Life

Shortly before John Spata died on 29 October (1399, according to Nicol; 1400 according to others), he appointed his brother, Sgouros, ruler of Naupactus, as his successor as the ''despot'' of Arta. A few days after Sgouros took over

Arta Arta, ARTA, or Artà may refer to: Places Djibouti * Arta, Djibouti, a regional capital city in southeastern Djibouti * Arta Mountains, a mountain range in Djibouti * Arta Region, Djibouti Greece * Arta, Greece, a regional capital city in northwes ...

, however, the town was captured by the adventurer

Vonko Vonko (fl. 1400-1401) was a " Serb-Albanian- Bulgarian- Vlach" who conquered Arta from the Spata family in 1400, holding it until late 1401, when the Spatas regained the town. Not much is known of him.Ellis, p. 151 In a Greek monastic chronicle, ...

.According to a Greek monastic chronicle from the Panteleimon monastery at

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

, ''"October 29, on Wednesday (1400), Despot Spatas enters Eternity (dies). Immediately afterwards, his brother Sgouros holds

. After some days, the Serb-Albanian-Bulgarian-Vlach

attacked and expelled Sgouros, and started to round up all the chieftains/elders and imprisoned them in the fort, and he destroyed their possessions."'' see Banac 1988, p. 328; Stoianovich 1994, p. 132; Šufflay 1925, pp. 69-70 While Sgouros fled to Angelokastron, a short time after, possibly as early as December 1399 (or by the end of 1401), Maurice Spata, his grandnephew, managed to evict Vonko from Arta and took over the governance of the city himself, while Sgouros thus took over governance of Angelokastron. In 1402/3, Maurice came to Sgouros' aid when the latter was besieged at Angelokastron by the forces of Carlo I Tocco. The attack, under Carlo's general Galasso Peccatore, was repulsed, but Sgouros died soon after, from wounds suffered in the war, leaving his possessions to his son Paul Spata.

Aftermath

Sgouros was succeeded by his son Paul, who became an Ottoman vassal and was aided with a contingent that was defeated by Tocco in 1406, after the latter had turned on the offensive, Angelokastron was ceded to the Turks and Paul retired to Naupaktos, however he sold it in 1407 to the Republic of Venice. Because of Paul's withdrawal, Maurice Spata and Tocco divided Aetolia and

Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...

between themselves. In 1408, Tocco holds Angelokastron.Fine (1994), pp. 355-356

Annotations

References

Sources

* * * *
Milan Šufflay, Srbi i Arbanasi (1925)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spata, Sgouros Bua 14th-century births 1403 deaths Medieval Albanian nobility 15th-century Albanian people 15th-century monarchs in Europe Despots of Arta Sgouros History of Aetolia-Acarnania