Gjon Kastrioti II

Gjon Kastrioti II or John Castriot II, was the son of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero, and of Donika Kastrioti, daughter of Gjergj Arianiti. He was for a short time Lord of Kruja after his father death, Duke of San Pietro in Galatina (1485), Count of Soleto, Signore of Monte Sant'Angelo and San Giovanni Rotondo. In 1495 Ferdinand I of Naples gave him the title of the Signore of Gagliano del Capo and Oria. While in his teens he was forced to leave the country after the death of his father in 1468. He is known also for his role in the Albanian uprising of 1481, when, after reaching the Albanian coast from Italy settling in Himara, he tried to struggle against the Ottomans. In June 1481 he supported forces of Ivan Crnojević to successfully recapture Zeta from Ottomans. He was unable to re-establish the Kastrioti Principality and liberate Albania from the Ottomans, and he retired in Italy after three years of war in 1484.