Spata family
| Spata Spatas, Shpata |
|
|---|---|
| Noble house | |
| Estates |
|
| Titles | conte (count), despot |
| Founded | 1358 |
| Founder | John Spata |
The Spata family (Albanian: Shpata, Greek: Σπάτα, Σπάτας), was an Albanian noble family active in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, initially as Venetian vassals and later as Ottoman vassals. The family's progenitors were the brothers John Spata and Sgouros Spata.
It is possible that the name "Spata" is derived from the Latin and Greek spatha meaning "long sword", which is found in Albanian as shpatë meaning "sword".
In the first half of the 14th century, mercenaries, raiders and migrants known in Greek as Άλβανοί (Albanoi or "Albanians", a demonym that included Vlachs) flooded into Greece (specifically raiding Thessaly in 1325 and 1334). In 1358, Albanians and Vlachs overran the regions of Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia and established two principalities under their leaders, John Spata and Peter Losha.Naupactus (Lepanto) was later taken in 1378. The Spata family frequently collaborated with Ottomans and saw them as protectors of the Spata family.
Although German historian Karl Hopf provided a genealogy of the Spata family, it is deemed by modern scholarship as "altogether inaccurate".
The Spata family was not kin (blood relatives) with the later Bua family.
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