A figure attested as Kastriot of Kanina in southern Albania who appears in a letter sent on September 2, 1368 by Alexander Komnenos Asen to the Ragusan senate has been hypothesized by a number of authors, mostly in the early 20th century, as an ancestor of the Kastrioti family.

Angelo constructed ancient mythological lineages which linked renaissance figures to the age of Constantine the Great and Muzaka downplayed the importance of other Albanian feudal families, including the Kastrioti.

Angelo calls Gjon Kastrioti's father "Georgius Castriotus" (Gjergj), lord (princeps) of "Aemathiae, Umenestria" (Mat and probably Ujëmisht) and "Castoriae".

This is considered a very unlikely trajectory in the context of Albanian medieval society because noble families had acquired their area of influence over multiple generations in a complex system of affiliation with local village communities and intermarriage to each other.

[12] Historian Kristo Frashëri considers it likely that he ruled over his region "in the third quartier of the 14th century" between 1350-75 based on the fact that when his grandson Gjergj Kastrioti was born, his son Gjon had already fathered seven children.