USKOK by Cesare Bornazzini (FAR film)
On May 29th 1453
Constantinople was conquered by the Turks
It was founded by Constantine in 395
The fall of the Eastern Roman Empire
is accompanied
by the weeping of the Greeks
who lost their homeland,
by the lament of European merchants
who saw their commerce threatened,
by the exultation of the Turks
who went to their last siege
following the triumphant sound
of drums and horns,
preparing themselves to conquer the West,
animated by the will to replace
the Latin and Christian Cross
with the Crescent moon
and star of the prophet
and make the Ottoman Empire
the continuation, by extension and splendor,
of the empire of Byzantium.
The very first news about Klis date back to the 10th century when the Roman fortress Kleisa was taken by the Avars and the Slavs.
Klis is a stronghold in a valley that joins the plain of Split with the inland territory.
At the beginning of the 16th century, with the Turks raiding the Croatian territories, the fortress had a decisive role in defense tactics. Petar Kruzic, captain and duke, with his Uskok soldiers, resisted sieges and attacks for more than twenty years.
A fistful of brave men fought against the Ottoman empire's the methodical conquest of European territories. Here is a story in which, alongside episodes of cruel violence, religious faith, and the love of several hundred men for their homeland, shine forth.
Notwithstanding heroic resistance, in 1537 Kruzic dies. Klis is conquered, and many of its surviving inhabitants flee or are driven away.
They are Christians and belong to the peoples of the Balkans: Bosnians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Morlachs, Serbs, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Albanians, Romanians, and Hungarians who flee against the advance of the Turks. The term Uskoks , meaning fugitives in ancient Croatian, took on additional significance over the years: assailants, predators...
This is a story that is in part a legend. It is told with an unmistakable partisan spirit, by Minucio Minuci, Archbishop of Zadar, and Paolo Sarpi, a scholar, as well as a strenuous defender of Venice.
The Uskoks seek refuge in Senj, a city on the Croatian Adriatic coast, under the Hapsburg monarchy. Senj is also a stronghold, created from what nature and the defensive barriers of man had contributed.
From land, Senj is protected by treacherous and impenetrable mountains and forests, with mighty walls and watchtowers.
This tower bears the name of Pope Leo X: as a homage to the Church, that believed the Uskoks to be the last valorous defenders of Christianity, so much that they called them the "reborn Maccabees".
From the sea, Senj is protected by the Bora, a terrible wind that rises suddenly, even in summer, devastating the narrow channel, and making navigation impossible.
It is said that the Uskoks were able to dominate the Bora, and to raise it whenever they liked by lighting a large fire in a certain mountain cave.
To reinforce the defenses, in 1558, Captain Ivan Lenković completes the construction of the mighty fortress of Nehaj. Evidence collected inside shows that, it represented the battle symbol of the city because of its defense of liberty.
Alongside the keepsakes of the richest and most powerful families, the Vojvode, the beauty and elegance of the costumes can be admired, in particular, those worn by women, who were used to living in abundance and urged their husbands to set out to sea and hunt their prey.
Weapons were aplenty. They can be seen everywhere, even on noble insignias, as a reminder that war, for the Uskoks, was the main occupation. The violence can almost even be read on their faces, etched in marble or rock.
These are light weapons: daggers, hatchets, knives, and small muskets. They could certainly not wear armor on their rapid and manageable fuste or on the brazzeras, where one had to pass from oar to arms, according to need.
These were people who showed valor and were not passive, spurred by undying hate in the war against the Turks, but also against Venice, guilty of alternating enmity and friendship with the Turks, according to their own advantage.
Alongside Venice, on the galleys of the Hapsburg monarchy, the Uskoks gave great proof of their audacity in the Battle of Lepanto on October 7th, 1571. A prodigious victory for the West, reunited in the Holy League, against the Ottoman empire, represented in the paintings of Paolo Veronese, and achieved through the protection of the Virgin Mary, to whom the Chief Admiral and future Doge, Sebastiano Venier, gave thanks.
The fleet was the sinew of Christian triumph: 209 galleys, 30 cargo ships, 6 galleasses, 13,000 seamen, 40.000 oarsmen, and 28,000 soldiers. The force of impact was in the galleasses, commandeered by Francesco Duodo. These were tried and true armored ships: the bow was equipped with a powerful iron rostrum with high sides and reinforced with armor from which a devastating force of fire could be deployed.
All the ships, which allowed Venice the dominion of the sea, were fabricated in the Arsenal it created and where a myriad of people worked, including designers, shipwrights, and qualified hands: all with experience beyond compare, handed down over generations and closely guarded.
A dominion that Venice safeguarded with the greatest care and flaunted through the magnificent bucentaur, the ship of the Doge adorned by friezes, gold, and paintings.
From the dockyards also came the barks or fuste, which could carry up to 36 oarsmen.
Very different were the modest barks of the Uskoks: with 6, 12 or 18 oarsmen per side, they were narrow, agile, and fast. They seemed of no account, as compared to the ships...
Giovanni Bembo, future Doge of Venice, at the command of a fleet of galleys reconnoitering in the Adriatic, intercepts a large number of Uskok ships heading towards Rogoznica.
The town of Rogoznica, near Šibenik, in the bay of Solin, and protected by all winds, was inhabited by Morlach middlemen to whom the booty and slaves obtained from assaults at sea were sold.
Not being able to enter because of the low tide, the galleys set up a siege, while, on land, the Turks, informed by the Venetians, were ready for battle in their turn if the Uskoks tried fleeing that way.
It seemed as if there was no way of escape for the Uskoks...
... a fresh Sirocco wind blew up in the night, with a great storm from the sea, which the galleys could hardly resist, not daring to move for fear of crashing against one another, the Uskoks at full sail, like desperate men, set out with a great army, among the noise of the waves and the shouts of the seamen in the darkness of a tenebrous night...
Only at dawn could Bembo follow them, but in vain: the Sirocco had blown them as far as their homes in a dashing run along the Morlacchian channel.
An insidious sea, the Morlacchian channel, without any landing places or shelter, parallel to the Velebit mountain range that dominates the archipelago of the Kvarner.
Avoided by ships, it was the channel of the Uskosks, who safely travelled through it under any weather or wind, even the Bora, of which they considered themselves the offspring.
Sighted and followed, forced to seek refuge on land, they would sink their ships near the shore and, clever and brave, would leap among the jagged rocks, seeking shelter in the woods.
They had a network of collaborators who would signal enemy ships, as well as those laden with wares. Their audacity reached the point of taking possession of the castle of Saint Michael on the island of Ugljan situated before Zadar.
After Lepanto, when Venice signed for peace with the Turks, the Uskoks did not distinguish between the Ottoman ships and the ships of the Most Serene Republic of Venice during their raids.
In Venice, there were many who did not consider them defenders of Christianity. They were cruel plunderers who, forced to live in an inhospitable land, found in warfare a ready-made wealth, while also being an instrument of Vienna that hired them to challenge the dominion of Venice over the Adriatic.
Under pressure from Venetian diplomacy, Commissioner Joseph von Rabatta is sent to Senj to bring order and justice back to that lawless lair.
According to Historia, he was an honest and just man...
... the Venetian lords, complying with their ordinary custom of courtesy, presented him with a long chain of five or six thousand ducats that he, however, did not want to accept without first reporting to his masters...aside from this, a leisure ship for trips was being fabricated in Venice to donate to the same Rabatta...
Rabatta, condemned to prison and to death the commanders, arrested the subordinates, and adorned the great towers of the castle with gruesome trophies of executed Uskoks.
By doing so, he offended the reputation of the community, the religious fervor, the courage, and the families whose honor was founded on their numerous fallen and on the wealth they had accumulated.
The arrest of one commander, Jurissa Sucich,was fatal for him.
The Uskoks attacked the castle, freeing Sucich and killing Rabatta.
They cut off his head and exhibited it in the public square.
To the diplomatic action attempted with Vienna, Venice unites a military action, in order to ensure the safety of the Adriatic and the protection of the population of its territories overseas.
Forts, batteries, and guard posts were built in the most strategic points.
Voz, on the island of Krk, is one of those forts.
North of Zadar, the coast extends into a peninsula where a narrow channel separates it from the island of Pag. The Uskok ships would usually pass through here to exit the Morlacchian channel and here, at Ljubac, a solid fort was erected.
Even today, the location seems ominous and solitary. One can try to imagine what military service would have been like for the Venetian garrison almost 500 years ago.
Another location where it was decided a fort should be built was the bay of Saint Peter of the Cloud, where ships from or to Venice used to stop, often due to bad weather.
Here, especially during tempestuous nights, the Uskoks would arrive from nearby Senj, only 30 miles distant. Pasqualigo, Superintendent e in Dalmatia, in order to ensure that the ships could dock, first used an old church to install a garrison, then constructed this fort, which presided over the bay.
The Uskoks did not only attack ships, but they also vented their fury on the cities of the coast protected by Venice.
Rovinj and Pula were attacked, but the inhabitants were able to defend themselves and only suffered modest losses.
At Cres, a well fortified city, they were fought off before the port, but the strenuous defense cost the lives of two city judges and many islanders.
A worse fate befell Osor, very important for its channel, which greatly shortened navigation times for Venice. Notwithstanding the presence of imposing walls, the city was attacked and plundered more than once.
When defensive tactics were successful, the Saints and the Virgin were thanked. At Labin, 600 assailants were forced back down the hills. The Uskoks, frustrated and disappointed, fiercely attacked the smaller and less protected Plomin. They killed, burned, plundered, lowered the Lion of Saint Mark, and raised the Eagle of the Hapsburgs.
The Historia recounts a mysterious conflict at Saint George, on the island of Hvar, between 12 Uskok ships and 12 Albanian militia companies, commissioned by Venice. The account of the losses: on the part of the Albanians, 8 dead and 19 wounded, while on the other, 60 dead, and among these was the Uskok leader, Nicholas Graglianovich.
Three days after, Nicholas Graglianovich's brother sought revenge.
Totally unaware of what had occurred at Saint George, Cristoforo Veniero, with his galley, anchored in the port of Mandre on the island of Pag.
The Uskoks attacked the galley and took possession of it. All the seamen and soldiers were immediately killed. They then set sail towards Senj...
They only kept VENIERO alive, and then drove towards the Morlacca, not far from Senj. There they landed, and to seal the barbarity, they had him, again, disembarked and cut off his head with an ax and, after stripping his body, they threw it into the sea and, after setting the table to dine, they placed the head of the unfortunate man on the table, where it remained until the banquet was over.
All this was seen by the women and by the prisoners still on the vessel, several of whom still affirm that he begged piteously to be allowed to confess which, however, was denied to him. Others said they ate his heart, and still others said that they only dipped their bread in his blood...
It was not this cruel fact alone that led to the war between Venice and Austria, but it is certain that this account conditioned Venetian opinion when it came to decide upon war.
The Uskok War was also known as the War of Gradisca, from the name of the city around which conflict was the most furious. This war lasted 3 years.
Veneto and Friuli were the setting of many battles between the Austrian troops, supported by the Uskoks and the Venetians.
However, it was Istria that paid the highest price. Aside from several cities on the coast, which could rely on fortifications built under Venetian dominion, the towns and the countryside were constantly under attack, destruction and pillage from one side, and rendered desolate and deserted on the other.
The peace agreement of Madrid in 1617 put an end to the war, and Austria abandoned the Uskoks to their destiny: they had become a burden, and for Reason of State, it was decided that the final solution should be adopted against them.
Several were embarked on Spanish ships,
A few remained in Istria,
And many fever were allowed to remain in Senj.
The fuste and brazzere were burned on the seashore
Most of them were deported to the mountains of Žumberak, since then known as the Mountains of the Uskoks.
So, who were the Uskoks?
Pirates or defenders of Christianity?
Barbarians or Christians?
Outlaw pirates or legitimate citizens?
Authors of their own destiny or unsuspecting pawns in a chess game played out by others?
Not from the sea, nor from the cliffs, does an answer arrive. Only a lament for so much bloodshed. We can hear it in the voice of the wind.