When the last lord of the main branch of the family, Balša III died in 1421 without an heir, his possessions were passed on to his uncle, Despot Stefan the Tall.

[19] The well-known Bulgarian biographer of the 15th century, Constantine the Philosopher, who lived in the court of the Serbian ruler Stefan Lazarević, refers to Đurađ II Balšić and Balša III as Albanian lords.

[22] The fragmental assertions that their progenitor descended from "Emperor Nemanja", and that he held the area of Bojana river in the neighborhood of Shkodër are very uncertain.

[38] Montenegrin historian Dragoje Živković believes that the Balšićs came from the Slavicized Vlachs and that they rose to the noble class through military merits.

[40] Croatian linguist Petar Skok considered them to have been of Vlach origin, and Serbian historian Milena Gecić supported his theory.

The theory, which was later adopted by Čedomilj Mijatović, argued that they were descendants of the Frankish nobleman Bertrand III of Baux, a companion of Charles d'Anjou.

[46] German linguist Gustav Weigand (1860–1930) supported a mixed Albanian–Aromanian origin after he noted that the family name was included in a list of early Albanian surnames in Romania.

[47] The oldest mention of any member of the family can be traced to a 1304 letter which Helen of Anjou sent to Ragusa through her trustee Matija Balšić.

[48] Writing in 1601, Mavro Orbini describes him as a petty nobleman that held only one village in the area of Lake Skadar during the rule of Emperor Dušan the Mighty (r. 1331-1355).

Only after the death of the emperor, Balša and his three sons gained power in Lower Zeta after acquiring the lands of gospodin Žarko (fl.

Balša dies the same year, and his sons, the Balšić brothers, continue in ruling the province spanning Podgorica, Budva, Bar and Shkodër.

[50] They created their own state or state-like entity, comprising Zeta, and the cities of Shkodër, Drisht, Tivar, Ulqin, and Budva.