Francesco Antonio Bertucci

Did You Know?

• In 1595, Bertucci tried to convince Metropolitan Rufim Njeguš of Cetinje to accept union with the Catholic Church.
• Bertucci was captured by Ottoman forces during the Battle of Klis in 1596 and later ransomed.

Plans for Anti-Ottoman crusade

Bertucci was central to 1596 plans for an uprising in the eastern Adriatic. Some suggestions indicate his anti-Ottoman activities were motivated by a desire to recapture the Priory of Vrana from the Ottomans. Contemporary Venetian sources and later sources relying on them regarded Bertucci as a papal agent, while other sources considered him an adventurer who gained access to the Pope through Emperor Ferdinand II. Austrian scholar Elisabeth Springer emphasized that Bertucci's earlier attempts to reach the pope, before gaining Ferdinand II's support, aimed to inspire a general anti-Ottoman uprising in the Balkans and organize a crusade, but were unsuccessful.

Springer concluded Bertucci was an agent of the Holy Roman Empire who initially secured the backing of Archduke Ferdinand of Graz and later Emperor Ferdinand II and his court. According to Bertucci's plan, rebels including Uskoks would first capture Klis, Herceg Novi, and Scutari, triggering a large Ottoman naval expedition into the north Adriatic and drawing the Venetians, who had refused to join the crusade, into the alliance. In the early 1590s the seat of his anti-Ottoman conspiracy was in Ragusa; some rumours held that the Republic of Ragusa was ready to expel them because the Ottomans offered benefits. The conspiracy's seat then moved to Split.

Battle of Klis

In 1596, Uskoks and about thirty Venetians, backed by some Ottoman garrison members, seized the fortress of Klis. Antonio Bertucci personally led a joint Habsburg-Papal force sent from Senj to bolster the weak Christian defenders. Ottoman troops crushed these reinforcements and retook Klis. The Habsburg general originally tasked with leading the relief effort blamed Bertucci for the failure. Bertucci was captured, held briefly by the Ottomans, and later ransomed. This loss hampered his subsequent efforts to rally Balkan Christian leaders against Ottoman rule.