Year VII, January – June 2022, 1-2

After his arrival at the University of Munich in 1959 to deepen his knowledge on Slavistics and Turkology, Prof. Peter Bartl realised that he was at the centre of a scientific project aiming at reviving the old tradition of Albanian Studies in German speaking countries. His relationship with the Albanian world was not love at first sight but rather a match-making story. In fact, the successful match-maker of such union was Prof. Georg Stadtmüller, founder of Albanien Institut (1962), who would assign Bartl the task of foundation of the Albanien Bibliothek.
Bartl learned Albanian from his lifelong friend and co-operator Martin Camaj, who by now had arrived to Munich from Rome, where he had been a student of Ernest Koliqi. Within few years, thanks to his commitment and meticulous work Peter Bartl became the main supporter and promoter of  Albanian history and culture. Albanien Institut in Munich became the centre for meetings and preparation of albanologists not only from Germany but also from Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, Hungary, the USA etc. Over the years, Prof. Bartl would come to the conclusion that Albania, though a tiny territory apparently for his academic ambition, turned out to be a vast continent.

In his trip down memory lane, Prof. Jochalas recalls the days when he first met Prof. Peter Bartl at the Albanien Institut in Munich in 1970. Professionally headed by Georg Stadtmüller, balkanologist, the true
spirit of the Institut was Peter Bartl in fact. He was the first to arrive at the Institut in the morning and the last to leave it in the evening. Bartl founded a library rich in books about Albanology and he would take care about the catalogisation of the newest books, magazines and journals. The famous collection of Albanische Forschungen, founded and edited by Prof. Stadtmüller joined this library mainly because Bartl showed interest in it to be acquired.

Albanologists Dr. Robert Elsie (1950-2017) and Prof. Bardhyl Demiraj pay tribute to Peter Bartl by forwarding to scholars and readers alike an accurate list of his works previously prepared. The Bibliographie ranges from monographs to collections, from archive research to article and essays, as well as miscellanea which Prof. Bartl published in different languages during his lifetime. Shortly before  passing away, our dearly lamented professor saw the fifth volume of his major work Albania Sacra (2021) coming out of the press.

This paper analyses the reception of the work of Peter Bartl (1938-2022) in Serbia. The German historian first became well known for his studies on the Balkans in Serbian academia when in 1976 historian Jovan Litričanin published a review on Bartl’s study, Der Westbalkan zwischen spanischer Monarchie und osmanischem Reich. Zur Türkenkriegsproblematik an der Wende vom 16. zum 17. Jahrhundert (1974). A decidedly greater attention to Bartl’s work, however, came after the publication of the Serbian translation of Bartl‘s 1995 monograph, Albanien. Vom Mittelalter bis zum Gegenwart. The Serbian translation, entitled Albanci od srednjeg veka do danas was published in Belgrade by CLIO in 2001, while the second edition, by the same publisher, but with a slightly changed title,  Albanci od srednjeg do kraja 20. veka was published in 2019. Here, the approach of historians Dušan T. Bataković and Ljubomir Petrović will be analysed in particular. While noting some shortcomings in Bartl’s approach, especially with regard to the part of history relating to the Serbs, they both agree that
Bartl is a serious and perceptive scholar whose monograph represents a point of reference for learning about the historical events related not only to the Albanians, but also to the Serbs. As such it  represents an opportunity to overcome the misunderstandings that exist between two neighbouring
Balkan peoples.

This paper addresses the question of the Latin models Gjon Buzuku used for his translation. In the case of the Missal, it must have been a pre-Tridentine Missale Romanum, which probably also contained the Mass for Saint Job. The search for the original(s) must therefore concentrate on such editions, especially from Venice, as according to the meticulous research of Lucia Nadin only Venice can be assumed as the place where Buzuku’s book was printed.

French agent of the Spanish Monarchy Charles de Belmont was sent to Northern Albania in 1623 by the 5th duke of Alba, viceroy of Naples. He travelled to gather information about the country after the Albanians had sent an envoy to Naples to negotiate an armed intervention. Belmont’s report offers first a brief description of Albania. He then deals with the campaign proposed by the Albanians, the best time of the year to begin it, the necessary military forces, etc. The Spanish galleys should land at Shëngjin, Ulcinj and Durrës. The main target of the attack should be Shkodra, the stronghold of the Ottoman power in the region. The maintenance of the country would not be difficult due to its natural riches. Belmont warns about two dangers should the enterprise not be carried out: firstly, raids against the kingdom of Naples coming from Albania and secondly, the real possibility of a mass conversion of the Albanians to Islam. Belmont also highlights the damage that the enterprise would cause to Venice.

The object of this study, which we dedicate with gratitude to the memory of our colleague and friend Peter Bartl, has been only recently found. It comes from an unknown Italian manuscript relating to the Order of Reformed Minor Friars in northern Albania (1634-1649). Containing two sentences in Albanian amongst the rest, the manuscript mentions the ethnonym ‘Shqiptar’ – Albanian. Getting  acquainted with the digital publication of the facsimile, where this name appears, propelled the author to investigate more in-depth the circumstances of its use. After introducing this manuscript, we focus in this essay on the linguisticphilological analysis of the text in Albanian. Such undertaking also  implies the clarification of the linguistic ethnicity of the author, respectively of the speaker for whom this name is used. The form, the function and diachronic analysis of the use of this ethnonym  constitute the concluding part of our work, aiming at the accurate reconstruction of one of the earlier phases which it went through in time and space. Seen from this perspective, we do hope, through the  analysis of such new linguistic evidence dating to the first half of the 17th century, to have provided additional evidence to our hypothesis devoted to diachronic and ethnolinguistic research of ‘Shqiptar’ – Albanian (Demiraj 2005; 2010, 2016).

The author introduces the missionary activity of Croatian Franciscans from Dalmatia and Bosnia in  Albania. Initially, all friars from eastern Adriatic belonged to the same province: Provincia Dalmatiae Sancti Hieronymi. Later on the number of Albanian friars increased and in March 1592, they obtained  full autonomy with the creation of the Provincia Albaniae. At the end of the 16th century the Provincia  Albaniae despite the ever growing Ottoman repression had 26 residencies and monasteries. Their  number dwindled rapidly though and so Reformed Franciscans were called in aid from Italy. The last  provincial of the Provincia Albaniae, Gjon Gjonmi passed away in 1719. Considering that the Albanian  Province was left with 13 friars only, the Franciscan Curia in Rome abolished its autonomy and put it  under the direct care of the General Minister. In 1819, Croatian Franciscans and Observant Franciscans from Bosnia were sent to Albania. In 1832 the Provincia Albaniae was transformed into  an Apostolic Mission. The Provincia Albaniae was re-established only in 1906, and it throve until the end of the Second World War. Since 1820, Croatian Franciscans from Bosnia-Herzegovina and  Dalmatia have accompanied the life of Albanian Catholics in some parishes in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, and have shared their community life with their Albanian brothers.

The letter is an account of a visit at the ruins of a church on the outskirts of Shkodër. The letter is mentioned in the Istoriche notizie della prodigiosa apparizione (Rome, 1748) a collection of documents about the Mother of Good Counsel by Angelo Maria de Orgio o.s.a. The essay examines the contribution of Msgr Kazazi to understanding the miraculous event; the role of Pope Benedict XIV; that of Fr Giorgio Guzzetta C.O. as well as the role of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Then the study focuses on the text narrating the miraculous transportation of the fresco of Madonna with the Son from Albania to  Genazzano in Italy. Other testimonies witnessing the presence of the fresco in Genazzano are addressed in this essay as well. Lastly, the study forwards a reinterpretation of the data according to the prospective of the eyewitness.

Transferred from Sofia to Durrës in 1753 to take charge of the archbishop’s see, Msgr Niccolò Angeli Radovani began his pastoral visit the following year. It took him twenty-four months to complete it during which the newly-appointed archbishop got in touch with the reality of numerous parishes. Though in decay, not due to the elements of course, such parishes constituted the fulcrum of Christian life of their communities. Starving for the Good News because not always there were sufficient priests and schools, such parishes were also the recipients of financial donations from the Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Scholar Italo Sarro in this essay examines principally a report by Msgr Radovani already made public but only partially used in the essay that Peter Bartl devoted to the archbishopric of Durrës. In his study Prof. Bartl demonstrated that, though destitute, the Albanians in the Archdiocese of Durrës and not only, bore witness to their Catholic faith. However, many of them with the ever-mounting fiscal pressure of the Ottoman authorities and after episodes of violence secreted their faith and adopted Muslim names. There were no problems apparently as such parishioners were good Catholics although their marital life was somehow special.

In the Veneto of 1845-1846, Sante Giacomelli, a businessman from Friuli, commissioned a large painting on canvas featuring a historical theme: the celebration of Shkodra’s resistance under the command of  Antonio Loredan to the Turkish siege of 1474. It was a piece of joint Venetian-Albanian history,  commemorating some tragic decades when the Ottoman expansion had simultaneously affected both  Albania’s and Friuli’s territories. The re-enactment of the theme in the mid-19th century, with its evocation of the Serenissima’s bygone power and its marine state, fuelled Italian patriotic feelings against Austria’s oppression, a sort of metaphoric call to fight for independence.

Titus Livius and Albania – a combination of names which has never been investigated methodically,  though the country next to Italy, as Cicero defined it, was well-known to the Roman historian. In fact, Titus Livius constitutes one of the crucial and reliable sources about the history and the events occurring on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea in the ancient times. It is sufficient to mention the  passages where Livius narrates the political and military events (3rd century B.C.) in the Balkan  peninsula which Rome cast her look on (Livius XXIV, 40, 1-3; 5-10; 15-17). The research aims at  shedding light on the description of the places and the historical events which Livius focuses on and  the archaeological data which have emerged in almost two centuries of excavations. The main  objectives of this essay are to compare what Livius depicts in the Ad Urbe Condita and what  archaeologists have detected in Albanian territory; to offer more insight on what Livius knew about  this side of the Adriatic Sea; to see more in-depth whether there were other bonds running deep  between the Padua-born historian and the western part of the Balkan peninsula. Striving for a deeper  understanding and a different interpretation of such work in Latin, the essay considers the history of  ancient territories (Illyricum, Macedonia, Epirus) in present-day Albania, erstwhile part of the Roman Empire.