Theodor Musachi or Teodor III Muzaka, was an Albanian nobleman who led the 1437–38 revolt against the Ottomans and was one of the founders of the League of Lezhë in 1444.
Family
Theodor Musachi was а member of the Muzaka family whose domains extended till Kastoria at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. According to Gjon Muzaka parents of Theodor Corona Musachi had three sons and two daughters. Muzaka explained that Theodor inherited control over Berat from his father Andrea Muzaka III. It is unknown when Muzaka family began to control Berat. Byzantine Eastern Roman sources state that the Muzaka family was in control of Berat regions since 1270 sometimes under Byzantine umbrella and sometimes as de jure independent lords. Many Albanian Princes unlike other ethnicities of the Eastern Roman Empire had the right of total autonomy and self governance in their lands, with the promise to join the Roman emperor in foreign wars. This is also stated in the diary of Teodor Muzaka, in which is mentioned that Muzaka family was the ruler of Epirus for centuries. It does not state clearly if it was historical Epirus or just some parts of Southern Albania. The Muzaka family was in conflict with Prince Marko. Muzaka family managed to defeat Marko and take large shares of south and southwestern Macedonia from him. Before 1396 Musachi was probably a young man who participated in this conflict, which explains why he is commemorated in Serbian and south Slavic epic poetry as Korun, Marko's enemy. At the end of 1411, Niketa Thopia suffered a heavy defeat from the forces of Theodor Corona Musachi during one skirmish. This event was recorded in a Venetian source composed on 29 February 1412. He himself was held prisoner and with the intervention of the Ragusan Republic was released in 1413, but only after conceding some territories around the Shkumbin river to the Muzaka family. In 1417 Berat was captured by the Ottoman Empire.
Revolt
In 1437—38, while sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Albania was Theodor's son Yakup Bey, Theodor Korona Muzaka revolted in the region of Berat. This revolt was, like previous Albanian Revolt of 1431–36, suppressed by the Ottomans. Even though in the Albanian Revolt of 1432–36Gjergj Arianiti was victorious over Ottomans and secured the independence and enlargement of his principality by including today's Bitola. There are claims that Muzaka's 1437—38 revolt is not supported by contemporary sources. Jakub Bey was recorded to be on the position of the sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Albania in 1442.
