Antonio Bruti (c. 1518 in

Lezhë Lezhë (, sq-definite, Lezha) is a city in the Republic of Albania and seat of Lezhë County and Lezhë Municipality. One of the main strongholds of the Labeatai, the earliest of the fortification walls of Lezhë are of typical Illyrian const ...

d. 1571 in

Ulcinj Ulcinj ( cyrl, Улцињ, ; ) is a town on the southern coast of Montenegro and the capital of Ulcinj Municipality. It has an urban population of 10,707 (2011), the majority being Albanians. As one of the oldest settlements in the Adriatic coast ...

) was an Albanian trader, agent, merchant and diplomat, part of the

Bruti family Bruti family (Italian: Brutus) was an Albanian medieval family which began with Marco Bruti born in 1285 who was the ''signore'' of Durrës. In 1361 he recognized Venetian rule in the city in return for defense against the Turkish conquest. The fami ...

, who worked for Venice in the cities of Ulcinj and Ragusa working with Venetian-Ottoman relations.

Family background

Bruti moved to

in 1537 fleeing

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. He had three sons; Bartolomeo, Benedetto and Jacomo. Bruti was married to Maria Bruni, of the

Bruni family Bruni family was a Venetian-Albanian medieval family dating back to the 13th century in Shkodër The family fled when the city was occupied by the Ottomans. Part of the family was located in modern day Koper in Slovenia. Giovanni Bruni is mentioned ...

. Brutis brother, Antonio Bruni, was born in the 1550s. His son was

Bartolomeo Bruti Bartolomeo Bruti, Barthélemy Bruto or Bartholomeo Brutti (b. 1557 – d. 1591) was an Albanian postelnic ''(chamberlain)'', diplomat, merchant, spy, agent, translator and a multilingual trader, part of the Bruti family from Lezhë, Venetian Alba ...

(1557-1591) who died in Moldavia from strangulation. Antonio Bruti was educated by the Jesuits.

Career

During his career, Bruti bargained with the Ottomans the grain necessary to feed Catholic Venice. The high costs of wheat caused "''extreme misery''" in the city of Venice forcing the governor of Budva to detain Antonios shipment of wheat. In 1560, Bruti sent a petition to Venice listing the services he had performed. He was Ulcinjs most prominent trader of grain. In 1537 Antonio Bruti commanded a military ship and fought for the defence of Ulcinj and Bar against the Ottomans. During his time in Ulcinj, he tried to shape and form the minds of the local Albanians to join Venice to oppose Ottoman rule In 1570 Antonio Bruti described the walls of Ulcinj as "weak and extremely dangerous" According to Venetian historian Andrea Morosini, Antonio Bruti had refused to surrender Ulcinj to the Ottomans and fearing hostility, he threw himself in the ocean and was later captured by Ali Muezinzade Pasha.

Noel Malcolm Sir Noel Robert Malcolm, (born 26 December 1956) is an English political journalist, historian and academic. A King's Scholar at Eton College, Malcolm read history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and received his doctorate in history from Trinity Col ...

believes that Antonio Bruti was on board on war ships in Corfu in July 1570. He died in 1571 when Ottomans sieged Ulcinj and killed him.http://www.lander.odessa.ua/doc/Noel%20Malcolm_Agents%20of%20Empire.pdf , page 194

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruti, Antonio 1518 births 1571 deaths Republic of Venice people of the Ottoman–Venetian Wars People from Lezhë 16th-century Venetian people Republic of Venice diplomats