Antonio Bruni (merchant)

Antonio Bruni (born c. 1550 – died 1598) was an Albanian commander and spy[1][2] from Ulcinj, part of the Albanian Bruni family,[3][4][5] in the 16th century. He was the uncle of Bartolomeo Bruti. Members of the family worked for the Venetians, the Papacy and the Ottomans. Ottoman conquest of the city forced Bruni eventually to flee to Venice where he was educated by the Jesuits[6] in May 1572 in Rome and he was a doctorate in Avignon. He also worked for one of his cousins in Moldavia. Bruni's father was Gasparo Bruni, the first knight of Malta and the commander of the Papacys fleet during the Battle of Lepanto.[7] In august 1591, Bruni returned to Koper and was elected as the overseer of the grain store.

Antonio Bruni
Born1550
Ulcinj
Died1598
Trieste
NationalityAlbanian
CitizenshipVenetian
EducationJesuit
OccupationCommander and spy
Years active1570–1591
EmployerVenice
Known forBeing the first Albanian author of Lazaro Soranzos L’Ottomanno (1598)
Spouse(s)Maria Bruni
Parent(s)
  • Gasparo Bruni, the first knight of Malta (father)
RelativesBartolomeo Bruti, Benedetto Bruti and Jacomo Bruti
FamilyBruni family

Petru Schiopul

Petru Schipoul, Voivod of Moldavia, abandoned his throne and fled to Habsburg territory where he contacted Bruni in Koper in 1592, according to a letter which Bruni presented to the elected pope Clement VIII in Rome.[8] Before Petru Schipouls decision to leave, he received a loan of 11,300 ducats[9] in advance from a Ragusan merchant in Moldavia named Giovanni de Marini Poli who had come to collect sheep and cattle.[10] However Schipoul fled and the new Voivode Aron refused to pay his predecessors debts. Marini Poli pursued Petru for the money and in May 1593, Antonio Bruni traveled to Bolzano where Petru was and made him sign a legal document empowering Antonio to speak and act on Petrus behalf. This proved that Antonio was fluent in Romanian. For seven months Bruni stayed in Tyrol helping Petru with his legal defense in court against Marini Poli.[11][12] In 1594 Petru died and his family members stripped the house of possessions which Bruni opposed. He also felt a special responsibility for the son of Petru, Stefan. In 1596 he submitted a memorandum to the Austrians suggesting an anti-Ottoman geostrategic plan.

Death

It is believed that Antonio Bruni died from the plague during his travels between Koper and Bolzano in Trieste July 1598. Bruni was the first Albanian to write a general description of Albania which was a major source of information in Lazaro Soranzos L’Ottomanno (1598).[13] Antonio Bruni had an insiders view of the empire; his work had taken him to such places as Vlorë, on the southern coast of Albania, and Constanta, on the Black Sea coast, and he also stayed in Moldavia. In his writings, he identified the ancestors of the Albanians with Goths or Macedonians.[14] Bruni was a friend of Innocentius Stoicinus, bishop of Lezhe in August 1596. According to Mekjashi in 1603, Bruni had intervened in Rome to save Stoicinus from punishment for immoral behavior.[15][16]

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References
  1. Rude, Andreas. "Drama I 3 generationer (Drama in three generations)". Kriseligt Dagblad. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. Sattin, Anthony. "From Barbary corsairs to people-traffickers: the violence of the Mediterranean Two new histories of the Mediterranean emphasise its central importance to European history from ancient times to the present". The Spectator. The Spectator.
  3. Heset Ahmeti, Peter Štoka, mag. Peter Štoka, dr. Salvator Žitko, dr. Helena Seražin, dr. Martin Berishaj, David Runco (2015). ALBANESE ALBANSKE PLEMIŠKE DRUŽINE V BENEŠKEM KOPRU v jubilejnem letu palače Bruti (FAMILJET FISNIKE SHQIPTARE NË KOPRIN E VENECISË në vitin jubilar të pallatit Bruti) (PDF). Koper, Slovenia: Qendrore “Srečko Vilhar” Koper.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Malaj, Edmond (July 2015). Familja fisnike Bruti nga Durrësi (The Noble Family Bruti from Durazzo. Albanian). Research Gate. p. 33.
  5. Martin, John Jeffries (2018). BETWEEN ISTANBUL AND VENICE AGENCY, FAITH, AND EMPIRE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTUR Y. UCO Press. p. 221.
  6. Schwartz, Stephen. "Through Albanian Eyes". Weekly Standard. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  7. Gallagher, John. "Agents of Empire by Noel Malcolm review – a dazzling history of the 16th‑century Mediterranean". The Guardian. The Guardian.
  8. Malcolm, Noel (2015). AN UNKNOWN DESCRIPTION OF OTTOMAN ALBANIA: ANTONIO BRUNI'S TREATISE ON THE BEYLERBEYLIK OF RUMELI (1596) (PDF) (REVUE DES ÉTUDES SUD-EST EUROPÉENNES ed.). Bucharest: Oxford. p. 74.
  9. Malcolm, Noel (2015). Agenti dell'Impero: Cavalieri, corsari, gesuiti e spie nel Mediterraneo del Cinquecento. Italy: Ulrico HOEPLI EDITORE. ISBN 9788820376277. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  10. REVUE DES ÉTUDES SUD-EST EUROPÉENNES, p. 74
  11. Apetrei, Cristian-Nicolae (2012). Marele negustor grec din Moldova (cca 1570–1620). Un profil colectiv din perspectivă braudeliană [Greek merchants from Moldavia involved in big trade (c. 1570–1620). A collective portrait from a Braudelian perspective] (Revista Istorică, XXIII, 2012, pp. 65-84, 2012 ed.). University of Dunarea de Jos of Galati. p. 67.
  12. NICOLAE APETREI (GALAŢI - ROMANIA), CRISTIAN. GREEK MERCHANTS IN THE 16TH CENTURY ROMANIAN PRINCIPALITIES. NEW CASE STUDY: THE VORSI FAMILY*. IDEI Research Programme – Exploratory Research Project 298: The Contribution of the Ethnic and Religious Minorities to the Improvement of the Foreign Trade of the Romanian Principalities (second half of the 16th–beginning of the 18th centuries), funded by The National Council for Scientific Research – The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (CNCS – UEFISCDI) of the Romanian Government. p. 426. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  13. Johnson, Daniel. "Dragoman Diplomacy In The Age Of Lepanto". Standpoint. Standpoint. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  14. REVUE DES ÉTUDES SUD-EST EUROPÉENNES, p. 81
  15. REVUE DES ÉTUDES SUD-EST EUROPÉENNES p. 91
  16. Malcolm, Noel (2015). Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World (PDF). Penguin UK. pp. 310, 311. ISBN 9780141978369. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
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