Gjin Bua Shpata
despot of Arta (1310-1399)
Gjin Bua Shpata (sometimes anglicized as John Spata) (fl. 1358 – 29 October 1399) was an Albanian ruler of the despotate of Arta in Western Greece with the title of Despot. Together with Pjetër Losha, he led raids into Epirus, Acarnania and Aetolia in 1358. As a victor in the battle of Achelous, he was recognized in early 1360s as a Despot of Aetolia and Acarnania by Simeon Uroš Nemanjić, who ruled from Thessaly as a self-proclaimed "Emperor of Greeks, Serbs, and Albanians". He also ruled over Naupactus (1378–1399) and inherited Arta (1370s–1399) from Peter Losha. He was born sometime in the first half of the 14th century in Epirus, as his father was a ruler in the region.
Name
His name Gjin, a common Albanian given name. The word spata, in Albanian shpatë, pl. shpata, 'sword'. Hammond thus believes that he was called "John the Sword".
The public source identifies “Gjin Bua Shpata” as despot of Arta (1310-1399). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Gjin, Shpata and despot.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1776340. VIAF identifies the subject as 9151776748418011549. The Library of Congress control number is n2018004733. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1358, 1399 and 1378.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gjin Bua Shpata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.