Of the various states into which the Servian Empire split up the first to be formed was the Zedda, ruled by the Balša family. These were, according to some authorities, of French origin, and according to others were descended from the Nemanjas.[281] A Balša had served in Dušan’s armies, and was afterwards made governor of the Zedda. In a privilege of 1360, in which Stephen Uroš IV. grants trading rights in his states to the Ragusans, the “Zedda of Balša” is mentioned, showing that the province was still under Servian suzerainty. It consisted of the region round the lake of Scutari, _i.e._ of part of Montenegro and Northern Albania; it is, in fact, another name for the ancient Doclea.[282] It was always regarded with especial affection by the Nemanjas as their original home, and in 1195 they made it into a Grand County. The first Balša died in 1361, leaving three sons, Stračimir, George, and Balša II., and a daughter. The sons reigned jointly, the eldest being merely “primus inter pares.”[283] They at once began to aspire to become independent of Servian authority and to expand their own territories. Their first move was an alliance with Ragusa, who made them honorary citizens of the Republic. Between 1362 and 1370 they conquered Scutari and threw off all allegiance to Dušan’s successor. South of the Zedda lies Albania proper. Formerly a province of the Eastern Empire, it had first been conquered by Charles of Anjou (1266), then by Stephen Uroš II. Milutin, and then again by Philip of Taranto for the Angevins. Finally, after many vicissitudes, it came under the rule of the native prince Charles Topia, who, after he had captured Durazzo from the Neapolitans in 1364, made himself master of the whole of Middle Albania and independent of Servia. In Southern Albania and Macedonia other vassal nobles, such as the Gropa of Ochrida, Radoslav Hlapa in the Verria district, and Alexander at Avlona, rose to power. In the immediate hinterland of Ragusa was the land of Hlum, ruled by Knez Vojslav Voinović, who owed allegiance both to the Servian Tsar and to the Banus of Bosnia. He too after Dušan’s death made himself independent of his successor, and with Hungarian help also of the Banus. His territory extended from the Servian Morava by Senice and Gacko to Cattaro and Ragusa, and included the coast between those two towns. He was the bitterest enemy of the Ragusans, and never ceased from molesting them. He is described in their chronicles and documents as a “homo perfidus,” who “tamquam infidelis male servat fidem.”[284] On his death in 1363 he was succeeded by his nephew Nicholas Altomanović, who fixed his headquarters at the important commercial town of Rudnik.