Francesco Antonio Bertucci
| Francesco Antonio Bertucci | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Franjo Antun Brtučević Hvar |
| Died | Autumn 1626 |
| Nationality | Habsburg, Venetian |
| Other names | Bertuzzi, Bartuccius |
| Occupation | Dalmatian friar, Knight Hospitaller, adventurer and an agent of the Holy Roman Empire |
| Known for | gaining support of the Holy Roman Empire and Pope for his plans to organize Holy League against the Ottomans |
Francesco Antonio Bertucci (Croatian: Franjo Antun Brtučević, fl. 1595), was a Knight Hospitaller who served as the prior of the commandry of the Order located in Vrana, a town in present-day Croatia. He was Dalmatian Capuchin and Knight Hospitaller. Bertucci was titular prior of monastery in Vrana. He is known for his remarcably consistent efforts to turn Habsburg-Ottoman Long War into crusade of Christian alliance against the Ottomans.
Originally from the town of Hvar, Brtučević was a relative of the Croatian poets Jerolim and Hortenzije Brtučević.
Brtučević was a member of the Holy League of Pope Clement VIII.
In 1592 Bertucci was in Rome where he received Pope's order to catch and kill Marco Sciarra, the leader of rebels, which he did in April 1593.
Bertucci was at the heart of 1596 plans for the uprising in the eastern Adriatic region. According to some suggestions, the main reason for his anti-Ottoman activities were his plans to recapture the Priory of Vrana from Ottomans.
The contemporary Venetian sources and later sources that rely on them considered Brtučević as papal agent, while some other sources simply considered him as an adventurer who managed to achieve access to pope trough emperor Ferdinand II. Elisabeth Springer, an Austrian scholar who studied the career of Bertucci, emphasize that Bertucci's earlier attempts to access the pope (before he gained support of Ferdinand II) aimed to convince him to inspire general anti-Ottoman uprising on the Balkans and organize an anti-Ottoman crusade (Holy League), were not successful. Springer further concluded that Bertucci was actually an agent of Holy Roman Empire who initially gained support of Archduke Ferdinand of Graz and later emperor Ferdinand II and members of his court, for his anti-Ottoman plans. According to Bertuccis plan, the rebels (including Uskoks) would first capture Klis, Herceg Novi and Scutari from the Ottomans. That would trigger large Ottoman naval expedition into north Adriatic and draw Venetians, who otherwise refused to join the crusade, to join the alliance against the Ottomans.
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