Toptani family

Toptani
Toptani
	Coat of arms
Current region	Central Albania
Place of origin	Krujë
Members	Essad Pasha Toptani; Abdi Toptani; Sadijé Toptani; Murat Toptani; Fuat Toptani;
Estate(s)	50,000 hectares between Durres and Tirana

The Toptani were a leading noble family in central Albania at the beginning of the 20th century.^[1] They belonged to a small number of noble families appointed by the Ottomans who used local chieftains to control Ottoman Albania more easily.^[2] Essad Pasha Toptani, a family patriarch, claimed that the family descended from the Thopia family.^[3] According to some sources, the name is derived from the word top, which means cannon, as the family owned a cannon at a time when artillery was rare.^[4]

^ Elsie, Robert (24 December 2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. I.B.Tauris. p. 444. ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3. ... the leading Toptani family of central Albania,...
^ Gawrych, George (26 December 2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913. I.B.Tauris. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5.
^ Durham, M. Edith (22 July 2005). Albania and the Albanians: Selected Articles and Letters, 1903-1944. I.B.Tauris. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-85043-939-4. Essad Bey Toptani, of Tirana, was the head of the Toptani family, who claim descent, though with little proof, from the Chieftain Topias, and are believed to have been exterminated by the Turks when they overthrew Albania.
^ Price, George Ward (1918). The Story of the Salonica Army. E. J. Clode. p. 310. He comes of an old Albanian family called the Toptani. (Top means cannon; his family once had a gun at a time when artillery was rare.)

[Elsie2012-1] Elsie, Robert (24 December 2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. I.B.Tauris. p. 444. ISBN 978-1-78076-431-3. ... the leading Toptani family of central Albania,...

[Gawrych2006-2] Gawrych, George (26 December 2006). The Crescent and the Eagle: Ottoman Rule, Islam and the Albanians, 1874-1913. I.B.Tauris. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-84511-287-5.

[Durham2005-3] Durham, M. Edith (22 July 2005). Albania and the Albanians: Selected Articles and Letters, 1903-1944. I.B.Tauris. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-85043-939-4. Essad Bey Toptani, of Tirana, was the head of the Toptani family, who claim descent, though with little proof, from the Chieftain Topias, and are believed to have been exterminated by the Turks when they overthrew Albania.

[Price1918-4] Price, George Ward (1918). The Story of the Salonica Army. E. J. Clode. p. 310. He comes of an old Albanian family called the Toptani. (Top means cannon; his family once had a gun at a time when artillery was rare.)

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