Constantine Kastrioti


Constantine Kastrioti or Konstantin Kastrioti Mazarek was an Albanian nobleman and a member of the Kastrioti family. He was Skanderbeg's uncle, while his father was Pal Kastrioti.

Family

Konstanin's father was Pal Kastrioti who had three sons: Konstantin, Aleksa and Gjon Kastrioti who was Skanderbeg's father. Aleksa Kastrioti controlled three villages.

Title

According to du Cange and some other authors, Konstantin was a vassal of Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević appointed to position of Lord of Mat and Kastoria before he died in 1390. Some authors, including Du Cange and Philippe Labbe, emphasized that Konstantin Kastrioti had additional surname - Mazarek. Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer referred to his second surname as Serbian.
According to Venetian document discovered by Karl Hopf his title was Lord of Cerüja castle. Hopf referred to Konstantin Kastrioti as protovestiar of Sina near Durrazo.
During Skanderbeg's Italian expedition at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three he was sent to Italy to command a contingent of troops in order to help Ferdinand I of Naples maintain his rule against the Angevins and their allies.
Since Skanderbeg was busy with internal affairs in Albania, Constantine played a leading role in the Albanian expedition before his uncle's arrival. He served under Ferdinand who had been trying to regain his territory after it had been overrun by the Angevins and their supporters.
Along with Constantine's cavalry, Francesco del Balzo, the Duke of Andria who had remained loyal to Ferdinand, managed to defeat Ercole d'Este, one of the pro-Angevin nobles in Gargano. From Gargano, they were then able to collect customs-duties of 30,000 ducats. Constantine and Ferdinand were able to regain some lost territory before Skanderbeg landed in Italy and took over the command.

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