Agents of empire: knights, corsairs, Jesuits and spies in the sixteenth-century Mediterranean world

Description

"In the late sixteenth century, a prominent Albanian named Antonio Bruni composed a revealing document about his home country. Historian Sir Noel Malcolm takes this document as a point of departure to explore the lives of the entire Bruni family, whose members included an archbishop of the Balkans, the captain of the papal flagship at the Battle of Lepanto--at which the Ottomans were turned back in the Eastern Mediterranean--in 1571, and a highly placed interpreter in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire that fell to the Turks in 1453. The taking of Constantinople had profoundly altered the map of the Mediterranean. By the time of Bruni's document, Albania, largely a Venetian province from 1405 onward, had been absorbed into the Ottoman Empire. Even under the Ottomans, however, this was a world marked by the ferment of the Italian Renaissance. In Agents of Empire, Malcolm uses the collective biography of the Brunis to paint a fascinating and intimate picture of Albania at a moment when it represented the frontier between empires, cultures, and religions. The lives of the polylingual, cosmopolitan Brunis shed new light on the interrelations between the Ottoman and Christian worlds, characterized by both conflict and complex interdependence. The result of years of archival detective work, Agents of Empire brings to life a vibrant moment in European and Ottoman history, challenging our assumptions about their supposed differences. Malcolm's book guides us through the exchanges between East and West, Venetians and the Ottomans, and tells a story of worlds colliding with and transforming one another"--;A note on names, conventions and pronunciations -- Ulcinj, Albania and two empires -- Three families -- Antonio Bruti in the service of Venice -- Giovanni Bruni in the service of God -- Gasparo Bruni and the Knights of Malta -- Galleys and geopolitics -- Rebellion and Ottoman conquest -- The Lepanto Campaign -- War, peace and Ottoman resurgence -- The Brutis and Brunis in Istria -- Bartolomeo Bruti and the prisoner exchange -- Espionage and sabotage in Istanbul -- Secret diplomacy and the Grand Vizier -- Sinan Pasha and the Moldavian venture -- Gasparo Bruni and the Huguenot War -- Antonio Bruni and the Jesuits -- Moldavia, Tatars, and Cossacks -- Bartolomeo Bruti in power -- Cristoforo Bruti and the Dragoman Dynasty -- The exiled Voivod and his counsellor -- Habsburg--Ottoman War and Balkan Rebellion -- Pasquale 'Bruti' and his peace mission -- Epilogue: The legacy : Antonio Bruni's Treatise -- Glossary -- List of manuscripts. A note on names, conventions and pronunciations -- Ulcinj, Albania and two empires -- Three families -- Antonio Bruti in the service of Venice -- Giovanni Bruni in the service of God -- Gasparo Bruni and the Knights of Malta -- Galleys and geopolitics -- Rebellion and Ottoman conquest -- The Lepanto Campaign -- War, peace and Ottoman resurgence -- The Brutis and Brunis in Istria -- Bartolomeo Bruti and the prisoner exchange -- Espionage and sabotage in Istanbul -- Secret diplomacy and the Grand Vizier -- Sinan Pasha and the Moldavian venture -- Gasparo Bruni and the Huguenot War -- Antonio Bruni and the Jesuits -- Moldavia, Tatars, and Cossacks -- Bartolomeo Bruti in power -- Cristoforo Bruti and the Dragoman Dynasty -- The exiled Voivod and his counsellor -- Habsburg--Ottoman War and Balkan Rebellion -- Pasquale 'Bruti' and his peace mission -- Epilogue: The legacy : Antonio Bruni's Treatise -- Glossary -- List of manuscripts.