In the 14th/15th centuries, names weren’t just labels; they signaled cultural alignment; Gjergj (Гюргь): This was the vernacular name. When a document uses Гюргь, it is acknowledging the person’s specific ethnic or local identity as a member of the Albanian nobility (the Balshas).

The phrase “Balsha Arbanashskyi gospodin” has been cited extensively in the debate over the Balsha family’s ethnic origins:

Sima Ćirković (leading 20th-century Serbian medievalist) stated explicitly: “I cannot challenge Albanian historians to deal with the Balšićs, who are obviously of non-Slavic origin, and whom Serbian medieval sources called ‘Albanian lords’” citing this passage as his basis

Ilarion Ruvarac (19th-century Serbian historian): “The Balšić were in no way Serbs but Albanians”

Edgard Hösch: describes the Balšići as “native Albanian families that gained political power after 1355”

Refeences

Kostenečki, Konstantin (Constantine the Philosopher). Žitije despota Stefana Lazarevića [Life of Despot Stefan Lazarević]. ca. 1431–1439.

Ćirković, Sima. Živeti sa istorijom [Living with History]. Belgrade: Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji, 2020. (The quote appears in this collection of his writings; it is also widely referenced in his earlier works on medieval Balkan history.)

Ruvarac, Ilarion. [Relevant work on Serbian medieval history and noble families; specific title often cited indirectly in secondary literature]. 19th century. (Ruvarac’s statement is frequently quoted in modern historiography; exact source is his critical historical writings challenging romantic national narratives.)

Hösch, Edgar. Geschichte der Balkanländer: Von der Frühzeit bis zur Gegenwart [History of the Balkan Lands: From Early Times to the Present]. Munich: C.H. Beck, [edition year; commonly cited in various editions of his Balkan history surveys].