Founder of the House of Zaharia

Nikollë Zaharia, also known as Nikola Zakarija or Nikola Sakat, was a 14th-century Albanian nobleman of the Zaharia family who served as the castellan of Budva under the Balsha family. He was a prominent figure in the political affairs of the southern Adriatic, holding Ragusan and Venetian citizenship, and at times acting as an ally or adversary in their conflicts with each other as well as Kotor and King Tvrtko I of Bosnia. Following the death of Balsha II in 1385, Zaharia sought independence from Zeta together with his brothers. He is last mentioned in 1388, after which his son Koja Zaharia emerged as the autonomous lord of Dagnum and Shati. Through his daughter’s marriage to Komnen Arianiti, Nikollë became the maternal grandfather of several leading figures of the Arianiti family, including Gjergj Arianiti.

Name

Nikollë Zaharia's name appears in sources under multiple variations. In Albanian, he is usually referred to as Nikollë Zaharia, and in Serbo-Croatian as Nikola Zakarija or Nikola Sakat. Venetian documents render his name as Nicholao Sachat/Sacchat. The American historian John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. has also used Nicholas Zakarija. Nikollë's epithet - Sakat - is derived from the village of Sakat near Dagnum in the greater Pult region, which may be his family's place of origin. There are two theories regarding the location of this village; the first is that the village sat above Dagnum as part of the Zaharia family's possessions, whilst the second is that the village was located in Upper Pult, according to Serbian charters written in the first half of the 14th century.

Castellan of Budva

Following the death of Balsha II at the Battle of Savra in 1385, several noble families sought to break away from Zeta, the first of which was the Zaharia family, which aimed to establish full independence. Nikollë Zaharia and his brother Andrea came into conflict with Balsha II's successor, Gjergj II Balsha, sometime around 1386. Nikollë is mentioned by Ragusan documents in late March 1386 as Gjergj II's equal and as a highly influential figure in Zeta. He was mentioned for a final time in sources on 14 January 1388, when the Ragusans allowed him to purchase large amounts of grain from them.

Death and legacy

It is unknown if Nikollë died of natural causes or whether he was executed, as according to Mavro Orbini’s account, Gjergj II Balsha punished the rebels by taking out their eyes. In support of Orbini's account is the fact that Nikollë is not mentioned in any subsequent documents or contemporary sources. Nikollë's son, Koja Zaharia, would appear in historical sources from 1396 onwards as the autonomous lord of Shati and Dagnum. Komnen Arianiti married Nikollë's daughter, and they had three sons - Gjergj, Muzakë (the father of Moisi Golemi), and Vladan (Skanderbeg's brother-in-law) - and a daughter, who married Pal Dukagjini. The Sagat (Sakati) were a Ragusan noble family of Albanian origin from the region of Pult. A member of this family was documented in Ragusa on 29 July 1379 as a Ragusan subject, and the family is considered to have been connected to the Zaharia and the Balsha families.