Albanian origin •
Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869), a German expert in
Albanian studies, had several theses on the genealogy of Albanian noble families in
Albanesische Studien (1854). In
Reise durch die Gebiete von Drin und Wardar (1867/69), he theorized that if one of
Vrana Konti's descendants held the title "Marchese di Tripalda," then Vrana and Voisava Tripalda might have been related by blood. •
Fan Noli (1882–1965), an Albanian-American writer, in his 1947 biography of Skanderbeg, adopted the view that she came from the Muzaka family. •
Harry Hodgkinson (1913–1994), a British writer and
Balkans expert, considered her a member of the Muzaka family as well. Oliver Schmitt stated that Hodgkinson had done no
archival research. • Boško Bojović, a Serbian medievalist with a research focus on the relations of the Kastrioti family to Mount Athos (
Hilandar), considers her a member of the
Muzaka family.
Bulgarian origin •
Strashimir Dimitrov (1892–1960), a Bulgarian historian, stated that she was a daughter of a local Bulgarian lord (
boyar) from
Macedonia. • Kasëm Biçoku states that in Barleti's work, the term "Triballian" is used as a synonym for "Bulgarians". He notes that there is no archival evidence that Voisava was part of the Brankovic family.
Serbian origin •
Karl Hopf (1832–1873), a German historian and expert in
Byzantine studies, in
Chroniques Greco-romanes (1873), concluded that she was the daughter of a Serbian lord from
Polog. •
William Miller (1864–1945), an English medievalist, criticized in his review the claim that Skanderbeg was purely Albanian. He pointed out that Skanderbeg's mother had a Slavic name and that the epithet 'Tripalda' is derived from 'Triballi', a term used by Byzantine historians for Serbs. Miller also questioned why Skanderbeg would donate villages to the Serbian monastery
Hilandar on Mount Athos if "he had no connection to Serbia". •
Tatomir Vukanović (1907–1997), a Serbian ethnologist, stated that she was the daughter of a Serbian nobleman from the
Polog region. He further argued that this connection influenced the Slavic names given to her sons and their later substantial donation to the Hilandar Monastery. •
Robert Elsie (1950–2017), a Canadian-born German
Albanologist, mentioned her as a Slavic woman, related to the noble Serbian Brankovići family. •
Oliver Schmitt, a professor of South-East European history at
Vienna University, writes in his biography
Skanderbeg: Der neue Alexander auf dem Balkan (2009) that she was likely a Serbian noblewoman, belonging to the Branković family and the daughter of
Grgur Branković.
Ambiguous origin • Boban Petrovski, a Macedonian historian and author of
Voisava Tribalda (2006), hesitantly concludes that there is a possibility that Voisava was of Slavic origin, most likely Serbian, as she may have been the daughter of a lord of the
Triballians (Serbs) in Polog who ruled before the
Ottoman conquest. He had several theses on the ultimate identity of Voisava's father: "If the
Branković family indeed governed Polog in the last decade of the 14th century, it arises the chance that Voisava was a daughter of
Grgur Branković or even
Vuk Branković." However, he says, "the word "Tribalda" associated with Scanderbeg's mother's name does not necessarily mean ethnic determination, but could represent a state qualification, or could refer to his father's service to
Stefan Lazarević, despot of medieval Serbia". == References ==