Balša I

Balša I. ( Engl. Balscha, † 1362 ) was a Serbian nobleman, the mid-14th century an independent dominion over the landscape Zeta -founded. He is the ancestor of the noble family of the Balsici.

Balša I served in the army of Emperor Stefan Dušan as an officer. The confusion that followed Stefan Dusan's death, he knew sent exploit by bringing large parts of the Zeta and also the significant Albanian city of Shkodra in his possession and thus a quasi- independent principality established, although he nominally acknowledged the supremacy of the Serbian King Uroš V..

Balša I had three sons, Stracimir, Đurađ and Balša II, and a daughter, Voislava, who was married to Prince Charles Thopia.