Balsha II
| Balša II | |
|---|---|
| Lord of Lower Zeta | |
| Reign | 1378 — 18 September 1385 |
| Died | 18 September 1385 Saurian field, near Lushnjë |
| Spouse | Komnina, daughter of John Komnenos Asen |
| Issue | Ruđina |
| Family | Balšić |
| Father | Balša |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Serbian Church) |
Balša Balšić (Serbian Cyrillic: Балша Балшић; died September 18, 1385), known in historiography as Balša II, was the Lord of Lower Zeta from 1378 to 1385. He managed to expand his borders towards the south; defeating the Albanian duke Karl Thopia.
He was a member of the Balšić noble family, which ruled Zeta (with Scutari) from ca. 1362 to 1421.
Balša II was the youngest of three sons of Balša. According to Mavro Orbini, Balša, the progenitor of the Balšić family, was a petty nobleman who held only one village in the area of Lake Skadar during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355). Only after the death of the emperor, during the subsequent weak rule of Emperor Uroš V, Balša together with his friends and his three sons (Stracimir, Đurađ and Balša II) gained power in Lower Zeta, which had previously been the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl. 1336-1360). Balša's people then turned for Upper Zeta, which was held by Đuraš Ilijić and his relatives; the Balšić brothers murdered Đuraš, and had some of his relatives imprisoned. Balša died the same year. Orbini further described the personalities of the brothers, claiming that Balša II was "good-natured and an accomplished horseman, but not of great mind". The Balšići managed to elevate themselves from petty nobility to provincial lords, becoming powerful after 1362, and it seems that they had an active part in the conflict between Emperor Uroš V and Simeon Uroš in Skadar, helping Uroš V.
In January 1368, a Ragusan document reported that the three Balšić brothers: Stracimir, Đurađ and Balša II, were preparing for a campaign against Karlo Thopia. They were camped on the Mati River, of which Karlo's lands lay south of. The fighting was apparently small-scale as two months later, Karlo had no difficulty capturing Dyrrhachium from the Angevins. In 1372, Balša II married Komnina, the daughter of John Komnenos Asen, the Despot of Valona. As a dowry, Balša gained the cities of Valona, Berat and Kanina (in modern-day southern Albania), located in Asen's province.
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