Sgouros 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

Born in the first half of the 14th century in

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

to Pietro Bua Shpata the lord of Angelokastron and Delvina (1354). Sgouros was a descendant of both Bua and Shpata tribes. Shortly before

Gjin Bua Shpata Gjin Bua Shpata (sometimes anglicized as ''John Spata'') ( 1358 – 29 October 1399) was an Albanian ruler in Western Greece with the title of Despot. Together with Pjetër Losha, he led raids into Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia in 1358. He was ...

died on 29 October (1399, according to Nicol; 1400 according to others), he appointed his brother, Skurra, ruler of

Naupactus Nafpaktos () or Naupactus, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Nafpaktia, Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mor ...

, as his successor as the ''despot'' of Arta. A few days after Skurra took over Arta, however, the town was captured by the adventurer Vonko.According to a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

monastic chronicle from the Panteleimon monastery at

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

, ''"October 29, on Wednesday (1400), Despot Spatas enters Eternity (dies). Immediately afterwards, his brother Sgouros holds Arta. After some days, the Serb-Albanian-Bulgarian-Vlach Vonko 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 Skurra fled to Angelokastron, a short time after, possibly as early as December 1399 (or by the end of 1401),

Muriq Shpata {{Infobox noble, type , name = Muriq Shpata , title = Lord of Arta , image = , caption = , alt = , CoA = , more = no , succession = , reig ...

, his grandnephew, managed to evict Vonko from Arta and took over the governance of the city himself, while Skurra thus took over governance of Angelokastron. In 1402/3, Muriq came to Skurra's aid when the latter was besieged at Angelokastron by the forces of

Carlo I Tocco Carlo I Tocco was the hereditary Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos from 1376, and ruled as the Despot of Epirus from 1411 until his death on July 4, 1429. Life Carlo I was the son of Count Leonardo I Tocco of Cephalonia and Leukas by M ...

. The attack, under Carlo's general Galasso Peccatore, was repulsed, but Skurra died soon after, from wounds suffered in the war, leaving his possessions to his son Pal Shpata.

Aftermath

Skurra was succeeded by his son

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

, 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 Pal retired to

Naupaktos Nafpaktos () or Naupactus, is a town and a former municipality in Nafpaktia, Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos. It is named for Naupaktos (, Lati ...

, however he sold it in 1407 to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

. Because of Pal withdrawal, Muriq Shpata and Tocco divided

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

and

Acarnania Acarnania () 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 it forms the western part ...

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 lords in Europe Despots of Arta Sgouros History of Aetolia-Acarnania Albanian monarchs