When the war between Austria and the Ottoman Empire broke out in 1592 and the Balkans became a war zone, the Pope tried to start his plans against the Turks on the Balkan Peninsula. In some countries of the Balkans, there were many Catholic monasteries and parishes. Rome never came to terms with the political and religious dominance of the Turks on Baikan. Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania were chosen to start the action against the Turks.

Resistance against the Ottomans

In these easily accessible areas, where the people created their freedom and tradition of former independence in a tribal organization, there were favorable conditions for the work of various agents. In Italy itself lived a large number of Albanian refugees ready to put themselves in the Pope’s service. Since the Turks conquered Bar and Ulcinj, many Albanians took refuge in the Venetian territory in Budva and Kotor.

Taking advantage of the favorable political conjuncture and the West’s ignorance of the Ottoman Empire, many Albanians became intermediaries between the heads and various rulers in the West. Some are working to start an uprising in northern Albania, others are conspiring to capture Shkodra, Ulcinj, Bar or some other city in Dalmatia.

They use all means, they do not shy away from forging fake letters and seals. They speak on behalf of leaders and countries they have never seen. Thus, there will be a political action that will have great importance for Serbs and Albanians. it is easy in this conspiracy to determine how many different actors and mediators were really representatives of the people or leaders, and Ato is a fraud in their petitions to Rimú or Madrid, but the consequences of their actions can still be traced.

The crisis of the Turkish feudal order was reflected in increased exploitation and violence against the conquered peoples of the Balkans. New levies are imposed and old ones are increased, dues are collected by force and brutal punishment is carried out on the people. This caused resistance among the people or, in order to avoid violence, a mass conversion to Islam.

Conversion to Islam in the 1640s

In Albania, people began to convert to Islam from the 1640s, but it was not a mass phenomenon until the beginning of the 17th century. Albanians were religiously divided into Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox. Here we will list some information from apostolic visitors about religious affiliation in Albania at the beginning of the 17th century.

150,000 Catholics in Albania in the 17th century

These data are extremely subjective and must be used with great caution. In one report from the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, it is said that there are 150,000 Catholics in Albania, followed by Orthodox, who live “Greek” or “Serbian”. There were only 130 Catholic priests. Due to such a small number of priests, Albanians converted to Orthodoxy.

Orthodox Albanians became “Greeks and Serbs”.

More accurate information about the relationship between Catholics and Orthodox was given by the Bishop of Stefan in 1603. The bishop says that Albania has the largest population “who live according to the Greek or Serbian rite”. Catholic Albanians convert to Islam or Orthodoxy and “become Greeks and Serbs”. The conversion of Catholic Albanians to Islam worried the apostolic visitors the most.

Religion did not divide Albanian.

Religious division did not break the national unity of the Albanians. In many villages, Catholic Albanians and Muslims lived under the same roof. When the Vizator Djeci Bianki visited Dukadin on July 22, 1629, he was surprised to note that in the villages “renegade infidels, who live together with Christians, that is, their sons and brothers, live together in the same houses with Christians”.

There were also Albanians on the current state borders of Albania. Here, I would like to mention a few data of a demographic nature in AP Kosovo. A cold visitor will leave interesting details about Prizren. He says that Prizren is a wonderful city, that 12,000 Turks live in it, “almost all Albanians are cunning by nature”. There were 200 Catholics and 600 Orthodox in Prizren, while Albanians lived in 200 villages around the city. Due to excessive taxes, approx. 3000 Albanians recently converted to Islam”. The same was the case with Skopje, which is “inhabited by Turks of Albanian origin and other Asians.”

There are Jews, Serbs and quite a few Greeks, and 17 families of Catholics, who have one chaplain.” It is quite natural that so many peoples spoke different languages. It seems that bilingualism was not rare. One visitor noted that “Catholics in In Prizren, they speak Albanian and Slavonic (Slavo), and those in the villages speak only Albanian”.

According to the same visitor, there were many very brave Turks in Pristina. “Then there are many Serbs, and there are 100 souls in 20 Catholic houses; they are poor and cannot afford a priest. Recently, ten Catholic families came to Pristina from Albania and settled there.”

Trepca mine

Trepca, once rich in gold and silver, attracted many people from Albania, Bosnia and other countries. Ever since the mine stopped producing rich ore, the people have become poorer. The above data show that the ethnic picture of Kosovo at the beginning of the 17th century was similar to today’s. There lived: Turks, Serbs and Albanians.

To his predecessors, he began to work on concluding a great Christian war against the Ottoman Empire, many people from the Balkans turned to him and encouraged him to persevere in this and intentions. There were a lot of Albanians among them. In Albania itself, the boiling was felt. The Clements had already risen in 1593. In the middle of that year, the elders of Alba did not turn to Kliment VIII with petitions in which they express their readiness to unite the people in the fight against the Turks “to return it to its old freedom and to attack the Sultan, as he was attacked during the time of our vhadair Dord Skanderbeg”.

Aleksander Komulovic

November 9 in the same year, the Pope sent Fr Aleksander Komulovic from Splican to Albania, but he did not arrive there, instead he stayed in Dalmatia, where he wrote false letters in the name of the Albanian people and sealed them with false seals, which he used in Rome on the occasion when like it”.

Some claimed that the Albanian bishop Antun Matkovié also participated in the making of these seals.10 From the very beginning of the establishment of ties between the pope and the Albanian champions, and later also with others, various adventurers appeared, who would keep those relations in their by the hands of a conspiracy and deception and weave a network into which many people from the Balkans and Italy will fall.

Tomë Plezhe

The alleged uprising in Albania. One of those conspirators was Tom Peles, who managed to present himself to the Pope as the main organizer of the uprising in Albania. With a false power of attorney on behalf of the Albanian leaders, he came to Venice at the beginning of January 1595 to the papal nuncio Taverna and “with great secrecy” presented to him his plan about starting an uprising in Albania.” From Venice, Pele went to Rome to win over the responsible persons for his plan. Peles was also helped by the Correulan group, which went to Rome together with him.

In Rome, Peles (Plezhe) and the bishop managed to convince the Pope that Ulcinj and Skadar should be occupied, which would be a signal for an uprising in Albania. Upon his return to Budva, Pele spoke with some Albanian champions, expanded the circle of his collaborators and created a plan to capture Ulcinj and Shkodra with the help of people from those strongholds.

Peles (Plezhe) and his friends assured the people that they would, once they rise, conquer the pope. galleys ¿reate with the army and weapons. Such assurances strongly influenced the imagination of the oppressed people and encouraged them to resist. “The Albanians are really determined to get rid of the Turkish tyranny – says the Kotor providur – which has grown due to the intolerable command of the new sandzak-bey. . . and that is why they are ready to surrender to the first person who takes them under protection”.

Albanian flag raised and visible over Ulqin in the 17th century

Showing confidence in Peles and his associates led a part of the Albanians to rise up. An Albanian reported to the district providor “that the Albanians were up and that the Albanian flag was visible over Ulcinj.” There was a plan to occupy and Shkodra. That’s why the Koroula bishop sent Marco Gini to Rome to hasten the arrival of the army from Brindisi “which is expected these days to take Shkodra”.17 Help did not arrive and all hopes for an uprising were quickly extinguished. This is how this conspiracy, hatched by several people, quickly experienced failure.

They will be joined by Albanians of the Orthodox faith and Serbs, so that an army of 100,000 people will gather. The document was written on February 15, 1602. in the church of Saint Alexander. The document has signatures from: Dukagjin, Dibra, Shkoder, Zadrima, Lezhë, Maée, Kurbin, Kruja, Petrela, Elbasan, Durrës, Musakije and Spadenija. Near the end of the document are the testimonials of the Bishop of Stefan and Apostolic Visitor Nikola Mekaint and Nikola Blanki, Bishop of Sapete and Skradan, who declare that the text is authentic. The bishops confirmed the letter to their peeates. The document was allegedly written by Bernardo Laci, abbot of the Church of Saint Alexander.

In addition to the documents directly related to the activity of the Albanian delegates in Venice, there are several letters from various personalities involved in the conspiracy to start an uprising in Albania. We publish the documents in the same order as they were entered in the archive book. This ensures the original authenticity of the building.

The content of the documents is somewhat more impressively told, so that even those who do not know Italian would be better acquainted with its content. No interventions were made in the documents, except for punctuation. The Albanian delegates, the bishop of Sapete21 and chaplain Paulo Dukadini arrived in Zadar on May 6, 1602. Two days later, the bishop visited Zadar Archbishop Minué Mmuci and told him “that the Albanians are determined to make every effort to free themselves from the current yoke that has become intolerable”. Minuéi was aware that the delegates headed to Venice to seek the Protectorate of the Republic.

Dukagjini and the Venetian counsul

The delegates arrived in Venice on May 15. Dukadini met with the secretary of the Council and arranged a reception with the du/da for May 23, 1602. When the delegates came to the Council that morning, the bishop was the first to speak and spoke about the efforts of the Albanians to free themselves from Turkish mania. Because of this, last year they sent envoys to Rome and Spain with a proposal to start an uprising.

When they were convinced that they would not get help from the Pope and the King of Spain, according to the bishop, he, Bishop Stephen and Paulo Dukadini, decided in February 1602 to turn to Venice. Thanks to them, 2,600 prominent people and leaders from Albania gathered in the church of St. Alexander. The assembly accepted their suggestions to send them as envoys to Venice.

It was decided to occupy Kroja with the help of the Venetian fleet and that Venice should send Albania under its protection. The bishop also told the UN that it has been 60 to 70 years since the Albanians crossed over to Islam. Then the letter of the Albanian champions was read. At the meeting in Rijeka, they decided to establish freedom as in the time of Skanderbeg and that the bishop of Sapeti and Paulo Dukadini should go to Venice as delegates to negotiate the capture of Kroja.

The Albanian champions describe their country as rich in gold and silver and claim that they can mobilize 40,000 fighters. Albanians of the Orthodox faith and Serbs will join them, so that an army of 100,000 people will gather. The document was written on February 15, 1602.
in the church of Saint Alexander. The document has signatures from: Dukadin, supposedly Serbia, Debra, Skadar, Zadrima, LjeSa, Maée, Kurbin, Kroje, Petrela, Elbasan, Dra Musakije and Spadenija. Near the end of the document are the testimonials of the Bishop of Stefan and Apostolic Visitor Nikola Mekaint and Nikola Blanki, Bishop of Sapete and Skradan, who declare that the text is authentic. The bishops confirmed the letter to their peeates. The document was allegedly written by Bernardo Laci, abbot of the Church of Saint Alexander.

Reference

SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS, INSTITUTE OF BALKANIC STUDIES BALKAN, DIRECTORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF BALKANIC STUDIES, BELGRADE in 1972.