Kosovo in the Great Turkish War 1689

[Wizz]

An Albanian revolt against the Ottomans and pro-Austrian movement that was led by the Kosovo Albanian Catholics Pjeter Bogdani and Toma Raspasani. They gathered both Muslim and Christians in Kosovo against the Ottoman Empire in 1689-90.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pjetër_Bogdani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toma_Raspasani


Rebels, Believers, Survivors: Studies in the History of the Albanians

From page 128 he tells the fabricated Serbian version, and very famous one, which claims this was a Serbian revolt led by Arsenije and supposedly hundreds of thousands of Serbs fled out and ''replaced by Albanians'' who came at the hands of the Ottomans and genocided the Serbs for 500 years then from page 134 he tells the real version, he has used all the sources and documents from 1600's

The Serbian version claims Prizren in Kosovo was a Serbian town and that the Austrians were greeted by Serbs and that Kosovo had a Serb majority. I only took some parts out, not everything is included.

Among non-Balkan and non-Ottoman historians, it is the Serbian version of these events that has had the largest influence. Albanian historiography is little known outside the Albanian lands; and in any case it has produced a much smaller quantity of writing on this topic.

The arguments of Serbian historians, on the other hand, have percolated throughout the West European and North American literature.

Lazaro Soranzo, in the late sixteenth century, writing of 'Albanians, who live as Catholics, and observing that Prizren was inhabited ' more by Albanians than by Serbs')

Piccolomini then moved to Prizren, where he was met by the Catholic Archbishop Pjeter Bogdani

This was not their first meeting: soon after the arrival of the Austrians in Kosovo, Bogdani had
gone to see Piccolomini to request that the soldiers would not molest members of his flock. No doubt their discussion
at that previous meeting had included a suggestion that Bogdani rally the population of Prizren in support of the Austrians.

Piccolomini remained with Bogdani in Prizren (before Piccolomini died of the plague), it was arranged that the Austrians would be supplied with 20,000 local fighters. Count Veterani, the commander of the Austrian campaign in this part of the Balkans in 1690, wrote in his memoirs of 20,000 Arnauts reduced to loyal obedience to the Empereror By Piccolomini

Arnaut was a Turkish word for Albanian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaut

Many Serbian historians have assumed that this Archbishop was Arsenije, the Serbian Patriarch; some have argued that both men were present to greet Piccolomini; but there is in fact conclusive evidence that Arsenije was in Montenegro at this time, and that he did not return to Kosovo until severa weeks later, after Piccolomini's death. (The confusion was caused by an early report to Vienna, which apparently described Bogdani not only as the Archbishop but also as the 'Patriarch of the Kelmendi'- some early writers mistakenly supposed that two different people were being referred to here, and some modern historians, while assuming that only one person was involved, have taken the title 'Patriarch' as proof it was Arsenije.) Those who have believed that Arsenije was the ecclesiastic leading the crowd of 5,000 people at Prizren have naturally also assumed that the crowd consisted of members of his flock-Orthodox Serbs. But once we recognize that the ecclesiastic was Bogdani.....

The doubt can largely be removed by considering the ethnic composition of Prizren. Prizren was a large town, estimated to contain 10,000 households in 1670. In 1681 Bogdani reported that just 30 of these were Catholic. In 1624 Pjeter Mazrreku reported that Prizren had roughly 200 Catholic inhabitants, But the great bulk of the population-12,000 people in 1624 were 'Muslims, almost all of them Albanians.


There is no reason to think that this preponderance fell during the century; indeed, the steady Islamization of surrounding areas makes it likely that the proportion of Muslims grew.

The Shulla or Has region, where, as Pjeter Mazrreku reported in 1634, there had previously been 50 Catholic parishes but were now only five

Mazrreku also noted that the conversion to Islam qas quite superficial; In 1671 another report on this area stated that '28 years ago there were very many Christians[sc. Catholics]: now there remain 300 women and very few men, the rest having abjured their faith in order to escape impositions and taxes.

One early account states that in Prishtina 5,000 Arnauts having thrown off the Turks

And one of Piccolomini's own officers, Colonel von Strasser, reported to Ludwig Von Baden that Piccolomi had gone to Prizren in order to treat with 'the Albanians, Arnauts, and others ('mit den Albanesernen, Arnauten und anderen')

Among the papers of Ludwig von Baden in Karlsruhe, there is a copy of an intercepted letter, in French, written by a secretary of the English Embassy in Istanbul on 19 January 1690; it reports that the 'Germans' in Kosovo have made contact with 20,000 Albanians ["Albanois"] who have turned their weapons against the Turks.

An anonymous text based on original documents, refers to Piccolomini being greeted at Prizren by '5,000 Arnauts who were partly Christian Albanians and partly Muslim Albanians

And the anonymous Italian manuscript history, which was also clearly based on dispatches and other documents kept in Vienna, says that 'There stood outside Prizren 6,000 and more Albanians

Arsenije was well aware that the Austrians regarded his flock as 'schismatic', and that the long term aim of Habsburg policy would be to force the Orthodox to become Uniates, accepting the authority of the Pope. Just one year previously he had sent an archimandrite to Moscow to ask for help from the Tsar; the warning given by Archimandrite Isaias to the Russians was that if the Balkans came under Austrian rule the Orthodox Christians will fall into a worse situation than under the Turks. This does not mean that by 1689 Arsenije was pursuing a pro-Ottoman policy. Rather, he was courting another, potentially less oppressive Catholic power, Venice, and was compelled only by the pressure of events to return from Montenegro, where he was in contact with the Venetian authorities) to Kosovo in December 1689 to make his accommodation with the Austrians.

Austrian rule in Kosovo was, in any case, extremely short-lived. After the disastrous defeat at Kacanik on 2 January 1690 (which is atrributed by some early account to disaffection among the 'Arnauts' on the Austrian side-though the most direct evidence we have makes no mention of this), the Austrians withdrew in confusion, and a joint Tatar-Ottoman force entered the region. Arsenije fled northwards from Peje; also making a rapid retreat to the north where the Austrian troops, plus some 'Rascians' and Arnauts, who had been stationed in Prizren together with the Catholic priest Toma Raspasani. As he later explained, the rest of the population stayed behind: 'Nobody was able to get out of Prizren or Peje they all remained prey to the barbarian'. The popular idea promoted by nineteenth-century writers and still encountered in the modern historical literature, that Arsenije led a great 'exodus' of his people out of Kosovo is thus simply false. He travelled to Belgrade, and spent most of the summer there; this strong-hold, still under Austrian control, was a natural destination for many Serb refugees, and those who gathered there during 1690 presumably included people from those parts of Kosovo (mainly the eastern half) from which it had been possible to escape from the Ottoman-Tatar incursion; but the majority of the refugees were probably from other areas.


(In the record of a meeting of Serb dignitaries helf in Belgrade in June, the names of people from many parts
of the Serb lands are specified, but, as it happens, no one from Kosovo apart from the Patriarch himself.)

And here is a German text from 1689 that mentions they were greeted by Albanians 1689 Kosovo in the Great Turkish War of 1683-1699

For his part, he continued his march and arrived on the 6th, as reported earlier, in Prisiran [Prizren], the Capital of Albania, where he was welcomed by the Archbishop (5) [36r] of that country and by the Patriarch of Clementa with their various religious ceremonies. Outside of Priserin [Prizren] there were at least 6,000 Albanese [Albanian] troops as well as others who had formerly been in the pay of the Turks and who are known as Arnauts. When German troops marched by, they gave off three volleys of fire as a sign of their pleasure and then swore an oath of allegiance to the Emperor according to their custom. Piccolomini thus had over 20,000 Rascians and Albanese under his orders

Refers to Kosovo in Prizren as the 'Capital of Albania' , the Archbishop they met was the Albanian Catholics Pjeter Bogdani and Toma Raspasani, and not Arsenije like the Serbs claim.

'Kelmendi' or 'Clemente' is an Albanian name and is referring to Pjeter Bogdani and not Arsenije Crnojevic like the Serbs claim.

There were also various warlike tribes from Northern Albania that took part in this revolt such as the Fandi tribe. And there were people from other areas of Kosovo that revolted. And there were some Serbs among these Albanians.

His Imperial Majesty discovered that of the 20,000 Arnauts who under Piccolomini’s influence had sworn allegiance to the Emperor, only 300 remained to be relied on, because they had been so badly treated by His Grace and the other officers

The reputation of this commander grew more and more because of his orderliness such that 5,000 Arnauts [Muslim Albanians] in Pristina [Prishtina] who had risen against the Turks and [the inhabitants of] many of the major towns in the vicinity had given to understand that they would submit to the rule of the Emperor.

Toma Raspasani (Italian: Tomasso Raspassani, c. 1648-17??) was an Albanian Franciscan friar and vicar, subordinate Pjetër Bogdani, Archbishop of Skopje, with whom he organized an Albanian pro-Austrian movement that would fight in the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire.

He and his vicar Toma Raspasani played a leading role in the pro-Austrian movement in Kosovo during the Great Turkish War.[9] He contributed a force of 6,000 Albanian soldiers to the Austrian army which had arrived in Pristina and accompanied it to capture Prizren. There, however, he and much of his army were met by another equally formidable adversary, the plague. Bogdani returned to Pristina but succumbed to the disease there in 6 December 1689.[10

[Wizz]

Nothing but a bunch of fabricated history that has become famous


Not a single document from 1689 that says the Austrians were greeted by Serbs in Prizren or that the Serbs led the revolt.
Or that 30k-40k Serb refugees left that place. Western Kosova and Prizren had an Albanian majority, could of never led out that many refugees from Prizren an Albanian town or Western Kosova inhabited by Albanians. They claim he led the revolt and gathered refugees from Prizren and the rest of Kosovo and out. Not a single shred of evidence. Would be a bunch of Albanians in Hungary. Most were a bunch of 30k-40k refugees from Belgrade and other areas , and only some from East of Kosovo that had a Slavic population.

There were some Serbs among these 5k-6k and 20k Albanians and there were Serbs that took both sides like Albanians but far from an organized pure Serb revolt like they claim.


How on earth is a guy supposed to of gathered 30k-40k refugees during a revolt , in some versions they claim hundreds of thousands of Serbs left, gathered during a revolt ... The guy himself wrote that 'Nobody was able to get out' when he came back from Montenegro and fled through Peja, Kosovo and to Belgrade

[Wizz]

Nice fabrication, Mali Chetniks

[Wizz]

In the Serbian version they claim these were 20,000 Serbs and that the Austrians were greeted by Serbs in Prizren and Arsenije Crnojevic. And that after the revolt they were replaced by a mass immigration from Northern Albania. There is not a single evidence despite it's a theory that has become famous and repeated by many of these so called ''historians'' . This is also known as the ''Great Migration of Serbs from Kosovo 1690'' . It is basically a myth invented by Serb nationalists in the 19th-20th century.

[Wizz]

In the Serbian version they claim these were 20,000 Serbs and that the Austrians were greeted by Serbs in Prizren and Arsenije Crnojevic. And that after the revolt they were replaced by a mass immigration from Northern Albania. There is not a single evidence despite it's a theory that has become famous and repeated by many of these so called ''historians'' . This is also known as the ''Great Migration of Serbs from Kosovo 1690'' . It is basically a myth invented by Serb nationalists in the 19th-20th century.

[Wizz]

Gonna add some more when I get my hands on documents and papers from these times

[catgeorge]

Thats nice might explain your Islamification after these events.

[Wizz]

As for the fighting men who subsequently brought the total (at least in theory) to 20,000, some of these may also have been inhabitants of Prizren (which in 1670 had a population of roughly 50,000, but the evidence suggests that others were drawn from further afield. Contarini's account refers to Piccolomini, on his sickbed in Prizren, receiving 'the chiefs of the neighbouring peoples, who came to pay tribute to the Emperor with oaths of fealty' If, as seems likely, some of these chiefs had been summoned by Bogdani, we might expect them to have included the leaders of Catholic clans in the nearby part of the Malesi; and, indeed, an Ottoman document written in February 1690 (just three months later) does refer to a large group of mostly Catholic clans from that area (including the warlike Fandi) who had allied themselves with the Austrians. But the pledge total of 20,000 may well have included other Albanians from areas close to Prizren who were no longer Catholic, having been converted to Islam within the previous two or three generations-for example, the shulla or Has region, where, as Pjeter Mazrreku reported in 1634, there had previously been 50 Catholic parishes but were now only five. Mazrreku also noted that the conversion to Islam was quite superficial; in 1671 another report on this area stated that '28 years ago there were very many Christians [sc. Catholics]: now there remain 300 women and very few men, the rest having abjured their faith in order to escape impositions and taxes.

[Wizz]

Raspasani wrote in 1693 that many of the Catholics of Kosovo had left for Budapest, "where most of them died, some of hunger, others of disease"

[Wizz]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pjetër_Bogdani

Look here in this German text from 1600's Kosovo in the Great Turkish war they mention the Albanian Pjeter Bogdani again as 'Archbishop of Albania' and that he died as it is known he died of the plague as did Piccolomini during the revolt

To confound our actions, heaven decided that the Archbishop of Albania would perish, who had kept all of his peoples and most of the Arnauts under control and subject to His Imperial Majesty. Thus, when on December 8th he abandoned this valley of darkness for the joys of paradise, our luck on earth left us with him for a time.

They even advanced to the borders of Macedonia and Caczianeck [Kaçanik], a large city that had been abandoned by Imperial forces even before the death of the Archbishop of Albania.

Yet the Serbs basically claim this was Arsenije Crnojevic who led a resistance against Ottomans and then led 30k-40k Serbs out and a bunch of Albanians came at the hands of the Ottomans. They basically just took the title 'Patriarch' as proof that it was him

Basically this text they took as proof:

For his part, he continued his march and arrived on the 6th, as reported earlier, in Prisiran [Prizren], the Capital of Albania, where he was welcomed by the Archbishop (5) [36r] of that country and by the Patriarch of Clementa with their various religious ceremonies.

Outside of Priserin [Prizren] there were at least 6,000 Albanese [Albanian] troops as well as others who had formerly been in the pay of the Turks and who are known as Arnauts

Some even argued both men were present when it is actually referring to only one person, Pjeter Bogdani and Kelmendi an Albanian name.


But in the Serbian version of history they claim this was Arsenije Crnojevic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenije_III_Crnojević , but there is no mention of him in any of these texts. They claim he led a great exodus of Serbs. According to the author in the OP however, he never did. He was in Montenegro and then fled to Belgrade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_...s_of_the_Serbs