Ruđina Balšić

Ruđina Balšić was a Zetan noblewoman, from the Balšić family, who ruled over parts of modern-day Montenegro and Albanian. She married Mrkša Žarković and inherited his realm, the Principality of Vlorë, when he died in 1414. After unsuccessful negotiations to sell her duchy to the Venetians, the Ottomans captured it in 1417. She fled to Corfu, then to Zeta where she was governess of Budva from 1418. In 1420, during the Second Scutari War, she surrendered Budva to the Venetians without any resistance and moved to Dubrovnik with the town's treasury.