Andrea I Thopia

{{short description|Albanian nobleman}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Andrea I Thopia
{{small|{{lang|sq|Andrea I Topia}}}}

| title = Count of Mat

| succession= Count of Mat

| image =

| caption = Coat of arms of the Thopia family

| reign = 1338–1342

| predecessor = Tanush Thopia

| successor1 = Karl Thopia
(as Prince of Albania)

| spouses = Hélène of Anjou

| issue = Karl Thopia
Gjergj Thopia

| house = Thopia

| anthem =

| anthem-type =

| father = Tanusio Thopia

| mother = Unknown

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date = 1342

| death_place = Neapolitan court

| date of burial =

| place of burial =

| occupation =

| signature =

}}

Andrea I Thopia ({{langx|sq|Andrea I Topia}}) died in 1342 in Naples was an Albanian nobleman. In 1338 he inherited the county of Mat from his predecessor Tanusio Thopia.

Andrea had become the son-in-law of the Neapolitan King Robert of Anjou without his consent. It would end up costing him his life. Robert sent his biological daughter Hélène of Anjou, whom he had promised to be a wife to a potentate in Morea, via Durrës to Greece.{{cite book| last = Elsie| first = Robert| title = Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries| publisher = Harrassowitz| isbn = 978-3-4470-4783-8| page = 52| quote = ...You should also know that King Robert, who was the King of Naples, sent one of his bastard daughters to the Prince of Morea for wife, but a great storm rose at sea and drove her ship towards the said town of Durres where she remained for several days...}} In the Albanian port city she met Andreas Thopia, they fell in love and got married.{{cite book| last = Elsie| first = Robert| title = Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries| publisher = Harrassowitz| isbn = 978-3-4470-4783-8| page = 52| quote = ...During this time, Lord Andrew fell in love with the said lady and she with him, and they agreed to live together...}} The marriage resulted in two sons, Karl Thopia and Gjergj Thopia.{{cite book| last = Elsie| first = Robert| title = Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries| publisher = Harrassowitz| isbn = 978-3-4470-4783-8| page = 52| quote = ...And so they did, and had two sons. The first one was called Lord Charles and the second one Lord George...}} However, King Robert did not accept the violation of his will to rule. He invited the couple to Naples on the pretext of wanting to reconcile with them and had them executed there.{{cite book|last=E. Jacques|first= Edwin |title=The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present - Volume 1 |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-4238-6 |page=167 |quote=...Robert of the famous house of Anjou, king of Naples, had an illegitimate daughter whom he wished to marry to a French gentleman of Greece. En route, her ship touched Durrës, where she met and fell in love with Tanush Thopia. They were married and had a son Karl. King Robert, feigning pleasure at the marriage, invited the daughter and her husband to Naples, where he killed them both...}}{{cite book |last1=Sainty |first1=Guy Stair |title=The Constantinian Order of Saint George: and the Angeli, Farnese and Bourbon families which governed it |date=2018 |publisher=Boletín Oficial del Estado |isbn=978-84-340-2506-6 |page=503 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBjRDwAAQBAJ&dq=andrea+thopia&pg=PA503 |language=en}}{{cite book|title=Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse |date=1869 |publisher=Gerold |isbn= |pages=106–107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0t4vgWwFvDkC&q=Thopia |language=de}}{{cite book|author=Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf|title=Geschichte Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis auf unsere Zeit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpHPclZ4gT8C&pg=PA41|year=1960|publisher=B. Franklin|quote=… da deren Besitzungen bald darauf in der Hand jenes Tanussio Thopia (1328–1338) waren, dem König Robert von Neapel 1338 den Besitz der Grafschaft Mat bestätigte. Des letztern Sohn oder Bruder Andreas war es, der sich mit dem Hause Capet verschwägerte. König Robert, so erzählt Musachi, hatte seine natürliche Tochter dem Bailli von Morea – vielleicht dem Bertrand de Baux – zur Gattin bestimmt und sie nach Durazzo gesandt, wo damals Thopia weilte. Er verliebte sich in sie, entführte und heirathete sie. Zwei Söhne, Karl und Georg, entsprossen dieser Ehe. Aber schwer traf die Gatten bald die Rache des erzürnten Vaters; unter dem Scheine der Versöhnung lud er beide zu sich nach Neapel ein und ließ sie dort hinrichten; die Kinder aber, in denen somit wirklich das Blut der Angiovinen floß, wurden gerettet; in der festen Burg Kroja , die er später ausbaute, nicht, wie die Sage meldet , erst gründete "), wuchs Karl auf, entschlossen, den Mord des vaters zu rächen}}{{cite web|url=http://www.albanianhistory.net/1515_Musachi/index.html|title=1515 John Musachi:Brief Chronicle on the Descendants of our Musachi Dynasty |accessdate=2023-12-28}}

The sons who remained in Albania survived, and so Prince Karl Thopia was later able to rightly invoke his family ties to a royal house, even though he pursued a policy directed against Anjou throughout his life, because he was not able forgive the one who killed his parents.{{fact|date=July 2024}}