Andrea I Thopia (Albanian: 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 KingRobert 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.[1] In the Albanian port city she met Andreas Thopia, they fell in love and got married.[2] The marriage resulted in two sons, Karl Thopia and Gjergj Thopia.[3] 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.[4][5][6][7][8]
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.[citation needed]
^Elsie, Robert. Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries. Harrassowitz. p. 52. ISBN978-3-4470-4783-8. ...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...
^Elsie, Robert. Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries. Harrassowitz. p. 52. ISBN978-3-4470-4783-8. ...During this time, Lord Andrew fell in love with the said lady and she with him, and they agreed to live together...
^Elsie, Robert. Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th-17th Centuries. Harrassowitz. p. 52. ISBN978-3-4470-4783-8. ...And so they did, and had two sons. The first one was called Lord Charles and the second one Lord George...
^E. Jacques, Edwin (2009). The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present - Volume 1. McFarland & Company. p. 167. ISBN978-0-7864-4238-6. ...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...
^Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf (1960). Geschichte Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis auf unsere Zeit. B. Franklin. … 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
