Jonima family

The Jonima (Albanian: Gjonima) were a noble Albanian family and fis active between the 13th and 15th centuries CE in northern and central Albania. First attested to in the early 13th century as vassals of the Principality of Arbanon, members of the family later appear as signatories to Angevin and Ragusan agreements and as officials in the service of the Kingdom of Serbia. By the late 14th century, the Jonima had established themselves around the Mat valley, controlling parts of the trade route between Lezhë and Prizren as well as the important coastal port of Shufada.

Under Dhimitër Jonima, the family is believed to have participated in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 as part of Prince Lazar's Christian coalition against the Ottomans. In the 1390s they accepted Ottoman vassalage but also negotiated intermittently with Venice. After the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, Dhimitër and other Albanian lords switched allegiance to Venice, and he remained a Venetian vassal and ally until his death in 1409.

The family's territories were later absorbed by the Kastrioti family but survived as a regional designation under Ottoman rule. The vilayet of Dhimitër Jonima, recorded in the defters of 1467 and 1583 (later renamed Pjetër Jonima), stretched along the Mat river from Lezhë to Rubik. Other members of the family are attested to in Venetian and Ottoman records well into the 16th century, though never again achieving the prominence of their predecessors.