Principality of Valona and Kanina
| Principality of Valona and Kanina | ||||||||||
| Principality, vassal of the Serbian Empire (1346-1355) | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Valona (Vlorë, Albania) | |||||||||
| Languages | Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian | |||||||||
| Religion | Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism | |||||||||
| Government | Principality | |||||||||
| Despot, later simply Lord | ||||||||||
| • | 1346–1363 | John Komnenos Asen | ||||||||
| • | 1363–1372 | Alexander Komnenos Asen | ||||||||
| • | 1372–1385 | Balša II | ||||||||
| • | 1385–1396 | Komnina Balšić | ||||||||
| • | 1396–1414 | Mrkša Žarković | ||||||||
| • | 1414–1417 | Ruđina Balšić | ||||||||
| Historical era | Medieval | |||||||||
| • | Serbian conquest | 1346 | ||||||||
| • | De facto independence | 1355 | ||||||||
| • | Ottoman conquest | 1417 | ||||||||
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The Principality of Valona (1346–1417) was a medieval principality in Albania, roughly encompassing the territories of the modern counties of Vlorë (Valona), Fier, and Berat. Initially a vassal of the Serbian Empire, it became an independent lordship after 1355, although de facto under Venetian influence, and remained as such until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1417.
The strategically important city of Valona, on the coast of modern Albania, had been fought over repeatedly between the Byzantines and various Italian powers in the 13th century. Finally conquered by Byzantium in ca. 1290, it was one of the chief imperial holdings in the Balkans. Byzantine rule lasted until the 1340s, when the Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan, taking advantage of a Byzantine civil war, took Albania. Valona fell in late 1345 or early 1346, and Dušan placed his brother-in-law, John Asen, brother of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander, in charge of Valona as his capital, and with Kanina and Berat as his main fortresses. According to some scholars, however, Dušan had captured Valona and Kanina already in 1337. The extent of John's authority over this territory is unclear; it is not known whether he was limited to the rule of these fortified cities, or whether his authority was more extensive, with the various local chieftains of central Albania reporting to him as a representative of Dušan.
John was granted the rank of Despot by Dušan, and went on to solidify his control over his new territory by portraying himself as the heir to the Despots of Epirus. To that end, he married Anna Palaiologina, the widow of Despot John II Orsini, adopted the trappings of the Byzantine court, took on the surname "Komnenos" that was traditionally borne by the Epirote rulers, and signed his documents in Greek. After Dušan's death in 1355, John established himself as an independent lord. He maintained close relations with Venice (whose citizen he became) and with Simeon Uroš, ruler of Epirus in the south. Under his rule, Valona prospered through trade with Venice and the Republic of Ragusa (mod. Dubrovnik).
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