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Toma Raspasani

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Toma Raspasani
Born 1648
Black Mountain of Skopje
Died 1718 (aged 69–70)
Budapest
Alma mater Jesuit Illyrian College
Occupations parish priest (fl. 1679)
vicar of the Archbishop of Skopje, Pjetër Bogdani (fl. 1689)
translator
Known for Organizing pro-Austrian rebels in Otoman empire during Great Turkish War
Movement pro-Austrian
Family Raspasani

Toma Raspasani (Italian: Tomasso Raspassani, c. 1648-1718) was an Franciscan friar and vicar, subordinate Pjetër Bogdani, Archbishop of Skopje, with whom he organized an pro-Austrian movement that would fight in the Great Turkish War against the Ottoman Empire.

Life

He was born in 1648.[1][2] His definite birthplace has not been established, and it is thought to have been in either Skopska Crna Gora, or the surroundings of Prizren or Peja.[1][2] According to British author Noel Malcolm it was Skopska Crna Gora.[3] At the time these were part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Üsküb and Sanjak of Prizren. He most likely enrolled in the primary school and theological school of Janjevo.[1][2] Toma was educated by Jesuits at Illyrian college in Loreto.[4] After studying in Italy he was appointed parish priest in Prizren in 1679.[3] According to different sources, he spoke Albanian, Serbian, Latin and Italian. A rare letter written in Albanian sent to Propaganda Fide in Rome from Pult in Albania has been argued lately to have been written by Raspasani.[5][6]

With the outbreak of the Great Turkish War, the Austrian Empire sought allies in Southeastern Europe. On November 1,[7] or November 6, General Enea Silvio Piccolomini reached Prizren, where he according to sources was received by "an archbishop and a patriarch".[8] This has been interpreted by some Yugoslav historians as being Albanian Catholic Pjetër Bogdani, Archbishop of Skopje, and Arsenije III Čarnojević, the Serbian Patriarch.[9] Those sources claim that Piccolomini consulted with Patriarch Arsenije and Archbishop Bogdani about the organization of newly recruited rebels and providing food for them, and Raspasani helped Piccolomini a lot, as the negotiations went through him as he knew Latin and Italian.[10] However the patriarch could not have been the Serbian Patriarch, since "he was absent from the region at that time".[8] Pjetër Bogdani seemed to have played the leading role in organizing the Albanian pro-Austrian movement in the region, while Raspasani was also prominent.[3] According to some sources, Raspasani was the one who gathered the Albanians by himself.[11]

Piccolomini died in Prizren of plague on November 9, 1689, during negotiations.[12] General Federico Veterani succeeded Piccolomini.[12] Raspasani substituted the deceased Bogdani (1689†) as the leader of the Albanian pro-Austrian movement.[13]

The Austrians began fortifying Niš, and Lieutenant colonel Antonije Znorić returned from Belgrade to Niš with 2,500 infantry of the Serbian Militia after the order of Veterani; Raspasani was also with them, as a translator.[14][15]

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".[16]

Later life and death

After the retreat of the Habsburgs from Kosovo in 1690, Raspasani moved together with the army towards Buda, where he stayed until the end of his life. His life is recorded there in archival documents of the city. Raspasani served holding a high position at one of the churches of the city, where he was close to the Jesuit order. His testament written just before his death in 1718 is still kept at the archival funds in Budapest.[17]

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Andrić 1991, p. 295: "Тома Распасановић, рођен око 1648. године (можда у Скопској Црној гори или у околини Призрена или Пећи, што још није сасвим сигурно утврђено) завршио је основну, мисионарску, школу вероватно у Јањеву, на 72 МЈсћае1"
  2. Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (1960). Mitteilungen des österreichischen Staatsarchivs, Volume 13. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei. pp. 220, 221, 228, p. 221. “Toma Raspasanovic, geboren um 1648 (im Bergland um Üsküb oder in der Umgebung von Prizren oder Ipek, was noch nicht eindeutig geklärt wurde), besuchte die Volks- und Missionärsschule vermutlich in Janjevo auf dem Amselfeld.”
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Malcolm 1998, p. 148
  4. Back to citation Зборник Матице српске: Серија друштвених наука. Научно одељење Матице српске. 1955. p. 44.
  5. Back to citation Yll Rugova (2024). Tri letra të Pikolominit gjatë fushatës ushtarake habsburgase në Kosovë (1689), Studime Historike 1 (61), p. 41.
  6. Back to citation Prishtina in History (2025), 1689, https://www.prishtinanehistori.org/en/article/168/1689-heads-gashi https://www.prishtinanehistori.org/en/article/168/1689-heads-gashi%5D Heads of Gashi], in Y. Rugova (red.) Prishtina in History (I).
  7. Back to citation Marko Jačov (2001). L'Europa tra conquiste ottomane e Leghe Sante. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. p. 131. ISBN 9788821007309. “Non soltanto il patriarca serbo, Arsenije Carnojevic, ma anche l'arcivescovo cattolico di Scopie, Pietro Bogdani, ei "capi delle vicine nazioni" accolsero il generale Piccolomini il 1 novembre 1689 a Prizren, una volta sede del re e poi”
  8. Back to citation occurrence 8.0 Back to citation occurrence 8.1 Forcade & Nivet 2008, p. 75: "Puis le 6 novembre, Piccolomini est entre a Prizren ou il a ete recu, disent les sources, par « un archeveque et patriarche ». Est-ce l'archevê que catholique albanais Bogdani? Il est, en revanche, certain (comme l'a montré l'historien britannique Noël Malcolm) que ce ne peut être le patriarche serbe orthodoxe Arsène III Cernojevic, absent de la region a cette date... Toujours est-il que le clergé catholique, Bogdani et un de ses collaborateurs Toma Raspasani, favorise le ralliement des Albanais à l'empereur."
  9. Back to citation Marko Jačov (2001). L'Europa tra conquiste ottomane e Leghe Sante. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. p. 131. ISBN 9788821007309. “Non soltanto il patriarca serbo, Arsenije Carnojevic, ma anche l'arcivescovo cattolico di Scopie, Pietro Bogdani, ei "capi delle vicine nazioni" accolsero il generale Piccolomini il 1 novembre 1689 a Prizren, una volta sede del re e poi”; Šufflay 1925, p. 67: "kad je austrijska vojska (1689) pro* drla duboko u Balkan. Tada je pri zadobivanju Arbanasa za ustanak proti Turcima stekao najviše zasluge Franjevac Toma Rospasari, dok je vodja srpskih ustaša bio pećki patrijarh Arse* nije III."; Društvo istoričara SR Srbije 1959, p. 134: "да су прегово- рима у Призрену, истина, присуствовали и патријарх Арсеније и Петар Богдани са својим викаром дон Томом, али да је дон Тома био тај који је „целу ову тако успешну (1) акцију око придобијања Арбанаса, водио."
  10. Back to citation Društvo istoričara SR Srbije 1959, p. 147: "Пиколомини се саветовао из болесничке постеље са патријархом Арсенијем III и скоп- ским надбискупом Богданијем о уређењу новопридошлих устаника, о њи- ховој исхрани итд. Том приликом викар скопског надбискупа дон Тома Распасановић много помогао генералу Пиколинију, јер су преко њега вођени преговори пошто је он знао латински и талијански"
  11. Back to citation Društvo istoričara SR Srbije 1959, p. 134: "да су прегово- рима у Призрену, истина, присуствовали и патријарх Арсеније и Петар Богдани са својим викаром дон Томом, али да је дон Тома био тај који је „целу ову тако успешну (1) акцију око придобијања Арбанаса, водио."
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Društvo istoričara SR Srbije 1959, p. 135
  13. Back to citation Bexheti, Nuri. Der "Große Türkenkrieg" und die Albaner: Die militärische Präsenz der Balkanvölker am "Großen Türkenkrieg" (1683-1699) Suedwestdeutscher Verlag 2009.
  14. Back to citation Radovan Samardžić (1981). Istorija srpskog naroda, Volume 3, Part 1. Srpska knjiiževna zadruga. p. 523. “Аустријанци су почели да утврђују Ниш, а потпу- ковник Антоније Знорић се по Ветеранијевом наређењу вратио из Београда у Ниш са 2.500 пешака Српске милиције; с њима је био и Распасановић као тумач јер је говорио”
  15. Back to citation Stefan Čakić (1982). Velika seoba Srba 1689/90 i patrijarh Arsenije III Crnojević. pp. 101–102. “Из Београда је заједно са српском милицијом отишао у Ниш по наређењу генерала Ветеранија, коме је, по дон Томином казивању, био потребан због знања српског и арбанашког језика”
  16. Back to citation Malcolm 1998, p. 162
  17. Back to citation Géra, Eleonóra (2019-01-01). "The Secret Life of the Albanian Priest Toma Raspassani in Buda". "These Were Hard Times for Skanderbeg, but He Had an Ally, the Hungarian Hunyadi" Episodes in Albanian–Hungarian Historical Contacts.

Bibliography

Sources

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