Karl Thopia

Karl Thopia (c. 1339–1388) was the son of Andrea I Thopia and Hélène, an illegitimate daughter of King Robert of Naples; Robert had his parents executed, and Karl and his brother George grew up at Krujë. In 1358 he won a great victory at Acheloos over Nikephoros II Orsini, Despot of Epirus, who fell in the battle, after which he styled himself Princeps Albaniae.

He took Angevin Durrës in 1368, lost it in 1376 and recovered it in 1383, and the Pope named him Grand Count of Albania in 1374. A trilingual inscription of 1381 has him claim descent from a French king's blood.

When his rival Balsha II seized Durrës in 1385, Thopia and other nobles called in Ottoman troops, who killed Balsha at Savra. He died in January 1388, leaving the princedom to his son Gjergj.