Jonima family

Name

In some sources members of this family are referred to as Gonoma, Guonimi, Gjonëmi or Ghionoma.

History

The first member of the family was mentioned in sources dating to the early 13th century as a vassal of Dhimitër Progoni in the Principality of Arbër.

Another member of the family, Vladislav Jonima, is mentioned in sources in 1306, with the title of župan, while in service of Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia. A catholic, he was acknowledged by the Pope as a ruler of a territory around Lezhë in 1319. Vladislav Jonima had the title of Count of Dioclea and of the seaside Albania.

After Ottoman victory in the Battle of Savra in 1385, the territory of Albania went out of the control of Balšić family. At the end of 14th century Jonima family reappears in sources when Dhimitër Jonima was lord of a territory between Mat and Lezhë. Dukagjini family and Jonima family struggled against each other for the territory on the both sides of river Drin while Kastrioti family soon challenged the rule of Dukagjini family over the territory between Mati and Drin. In 1402, as one of the Albanian nobility that served as an Ottoman vassal, Dhimitër Jonima fought alongside Bayezid I forces at the Battle of Ankara.

The Jonima family was linked to the Zaharia family and the Dushmani family. At the beginning of the 15th century Šufadaj (an important former marketplace on the Adriatic sea, near Lezhë) was a possession of the Jonima family before in 1428 it came under the control of Gjon Kastrioti.

After Stefan Jonima, a former outlaw, asked the Venetian Senate to grant him his former possessions, he was awarded with control of the Kurtes village in 1445.

Names of other notable members of this family include: Vito, Vikt, John, Bitri, Marin, Florio, Fior and Guido.