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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Defense of Korcula from Turkish Attack in 1571 (part two)}}

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Defense of Korcula from Turkish Attack in 1571 (part two)}}

[[File:250px-Croatia-Dalmatia-1.jpg|thumb|right|525px|Dalmatia (the dark purple) within todays modern [[Croatia]]. The island of Korčula is marked red.]]

[[File:250px-Croatia-Dalmatia-1.jpg|thumb|right|525px|Dalmatia (the dark purple) within todays modern [[Croatia]]. The island of Korčula is marked red.]]

Written by '''Antonio (Antun) Rosanovic''' (or Antonio Rosaneo, Latin: Antonii Rosenei, modern Croatian: Antun Rozanović) of the historical event of the 1571 battle in which the people of the island of Korcula defended themselves against the Ottoman Empire. Originally written in Latin, 'Antonii Rosanei Corcyrae Melenae Opus'. Please note: In modern Croatian the c in Korcula is pronounced ch and is written "č". Translated from Latin by Reverend Ivo Matijaca. The writing below is based on the English translation by Nikola S. Batistich.

Written by '''Antun (Antonio) Rosanovic''' (or Antonio Rosaneo, Latin: Antonii Rosenei, modern Croatian: Antun Rozanović) of the historical event of the 1571 battle in which the people of the island of Korcula defended themselves against the Ottoman Empire. He led the defense in 1571 and was the city's Archdeacon. Originally written in Latin, 'Antonii Rosanei Corcyrae Melenae Opus'. Please note: In modern Croatian the c in Korcula is pronounced ch and is written "č". Translated from Latin by Reverend Ivo Matijaca (1971). The writing below is based on the English translation by Nikola S. Batistich.

LINK: Image of the Zadar sample [http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/klafil/croala/slike/antonrosaneo/korc/zkzd37/rosan-zd37-009.jpg]

LINK: Image of the Zadar sample [http://www.ffzg.unizg.hr/klafil/croala/slike/antonrosaneo/korc/zkzd37/rosan-zd37-009.jpg]

Some later day authors called the island and the city; Korčula. I was not able to find out the reason for this name. The length of the island from East to West is some 300 stadijs, (which is about fifty miles) the width is not uniform, at the widest it is about 90 stadiji. And at the narrowest is only 40 stadiji. The height is up to 70. The mountainous part is unproductive and dry. The island is adaptable to planting of vineyards, and also for pastures, but it excels with it’s forests. Through the middle of the island we find a number of mountainous hills, which on the ends descend to small hills. The coast is curvy with many bays and coves, with many unsafe harbors, but it has a number of large bays where boats can take refuge in bad weather, on all sides. Eastern point of the island is called Raznjic, because looking like a tongue is extended from width of 8 to a thousand steps. The West end is separated into two forks. The largest one of Saint Ivan of Gradina which takes 50 stadiji.

Some later day authors called the island and the city; Korčula. I was not able to find out the reason for this name. The length of the island from East to West is some 300 stadijs, (which is about fifty miles) the width is not uniform, at the widest it is about 90 stadiji. And at the narrowest is only 40 stadiji. The height is up to 70. The mountainous part is unproductive and dry. The island is adaptable to planting of vineyards, and also for pastures, but it excels with it’s forests. Through the middle of the island we find a number of mountainous hills, which on the ends descend to small hills. The coast is curvy with many bays and coves, with many unsafe harbors, but it has a number of large bays where boats can take refuge in bad weather, on all sides. Eastern point of the island is called Raznjic, because looking like a tongue is extended from width of 8 to a thousand steps. The West end is separated into two forks. The largest one of Saint Ivan of Gradina which takes 50 stadiji.

Rain takes care of the water needs. But still not far from Vela Luka [Vallagrande, Latin: vallem maximam] the most 300 stadiji away in the Great Field of village of Blato [Blatta], in which there is a large amount of fresh water, where at certain times, it turns into a mud field, therefore the name Blato ['''Etymology''' from a Slavic word for “mud; swamp”; compare Old Church Slavonic, Latin: Blattens] in translation means mud, and this is where the name comes from. Quite often sometimes two or three and as much as seven years that this water does not dry out, but when the water does go away, this field about 1500 feet long becomes very fertile. When it is cultivated, anything planted produces one hundred percent.

Rain takes care of the water needs. But still not far from Vela Luka [Vallagrande, Latin: vallem maximam] the most 300 stadiji away in the Great Field of village of Blato [Blatta], in which there is a large amount of fresh water, where at certain times, it turns into a mud field, therefore the name Blato ['''Etymology''' from a Croatian Slavic word for “mud; swamp”; compare Old Church Slavonic, Latin: Blattens] in translation means mud, and this is where the name comes from. Quite often sometimes two or three and as much as seven years that this water does not dry out, but when the water does go away, this field about 1500 feet long becomes very fertile. When it is cultivated, anything planted produces one hundred percent.

This field belongs to a certain number of families, and every seven years it is divided according to a Hungarian custom, and is given to each head of the family. Women also receive ownership as long as they remain unmarried, but as soon as the marry they loose that right, also when entering into a family that has no right to this ownership. This right she can not obtain by receiving a dowry or through inheritance, or in any other way. She even has no right to leave these families. Those who receive this land have right to only two parcels, which are called in Croatian ['''original''' written in Latin: ''Blatto, enim ilirica lingua'' ]  “Stupi”  ; one piece in a less productive section, and other on the more productive location. All of the parcels are of the same size, except some are a little larger, which are given to surveyors. There is six surveyors; three form the city and other three from the village. And this job is assigned to certain families, and can not be passed to others. Size of the parcel is given according to the number of members in the family.

This field belongs to a certain number of families, and every seven years it is divided according to a Hungarian custom, and is given to each head of the family. Women also receive ownership as long as they remain unmarried, but as soon as the marry they loose that right, also when entering into a family that has no right to this ownership. This right she can not obtain by receiving a dowry or through inheritance, or in any other way. She even has no right to leave these families. Those who receive this land have right to only two parcels, which are called in Croatian ['''original''' written in Latin: ''Blatto, enim ilirica lingua'' ]  “Stupi”  ; one piece in a less productive section, and other on the more productive location. All of the parcels are of the same size, except some are a little larger, which are given to surveyors. There is six surveyors; three form the city and other three from the village. And this job is assigned to certain families, and can not be passed to others. Size of the parcel is given according to the number of members in the family.

[[File:Curzola ship8.jpg|thumb|right|475px| Town of Korčula  (Curzola)]]

[[File:Curzola ship8.jpg|thumb|right|475px| Town of Korčula  (Curzola)]]

There was around one hundred refugees, and no one felled in the enemy hands except Catarina the daughter of Marko Radosich, the shepherd from Varos. At dawn some appeared asking for forgiveness. Most people refused to talk to them , while throwing rocks at them. Archdeacon asked them to stop that and suggested that they should be brought back into the city by pulling them with the ropes, up the walls. It is not nice to be mean, actually one of them was wounded in his forehead. When everything is fine, how fast we forget love toward others. Not long ago we were asking for God’s mercy with tears and screams, and not with willing hearts, but from fear from greater dangers, and by being located in the city that had to defend itself. Then we criticised our friends and compatriots, because of the mistakes they naively made. And so there was no reason for these people to soften their feelings, but only that there will be in this city next time more fighters in the case that we are attacked again. Even though some people could never agree with these refugees, the archdeacon with his words succeeded in silencing them. In the night of August 17, Uluz-Ali with his ships sailed away towards Hvar [Lesina]. But Karakozije with his 55 boats sailed through or channel, a little after our third nightly guard. Not paying attention to us he proceeded to Hvar [Lesina], while we were expecting that he may come towards us. This same day came a sentry from one of the hills saying how there on the sea horizon there is a large boat, that is heading from Lastovo [Lagosta]. A while later this sailing ship arrives and brings Nikola from Otranto, who brings us the news, how soon there will arrive our [Venetian] fleet intent to fight with the Turkish fleet. This was a great news for us, even though the archdeacon knew that our allied navies did not exactly unite, but anyway he felt it was a encouraging news. This one actually came to find out about the numbers and strength of the enemy fleet.  

There was around one hundred refugees, and no one felled in the enemy hands except Catarina the daughter of Marko Radosich, the shepherd from Varos. At dawn some appeared asking for forgiveness. Most people refused to talk to them , while throwing rocks at them. Archdeacon asked them to stop that and suggested that they should be brought back into the city by pulling them with the ropes, up the walls. It is not nice to be mean, actually one of them was wounded in his forehead. When everything is fine, how fast we forget love toward others. Not long ago we were asking for God’s mercy with tears and screams, and not with willing hearts, but from fear from greater dangers, and by being located in the city that had to defend itself. Then we criticised our friends and compatriots, because of the mistakes they naively made. And so there was no reason for these people to soften their feelings, but only that there will be in this city next time more fighters in the case that we are attacked again. Even though some people could never agree with these refugees, the archdeacon with his words succeeded in silencing them. In the night of August 17, Uluz-Ali with his ships sailed away towards Hvar [Lesina]. But Karakozije with his 55 boats sailed through or channel, a little after our third nightly guard. Not paying attention to us he proceeded to Hvar [Lesina], while we were expecting that he may come towards us. This same day came a sentry from one of the hills saying how there on the sea horizon there is a large boat, that is heading from Lastovo [Lagosta]. A while later this sailing ship arrives and brings Nikola from Otranto <ref>Otranto (Ancient Greek: Ὑδροῦς, romanized: Hudroûs; Latin: Hydruntum) is a town and comune in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy). It is located on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. The Strait of Otranto, to which the city gives its name, connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania.</ref> , who brings us the news, how soon there will arrive our [Venetian] fleet intent to fight with the Turkish fleet. This was a great news for us, even though the archdeacon knew that our allied navies did not exactly unite, but anyway he felt it was a encouraging news. This one actually came to find out about the numbers and strength of the enemy fleet.  

We being glad to hear the friendly support, and then we let him to jointly with archdeacon write a letter to his excellency the Dodge in Venice, and send this letter across the sea to Apulia and then by land route to Venice. We also wrote a letter to the chief commander of '''Venetian fleet''' , telling him also of the Spaniard from Granada whom he took and handed over to the duke Venier. We are not sure if he completed all of his given tasks, but I guess that he missed some duties, because it was heard that the letter was handed to Augustin '''Barbarigo''', than, this letter never reached the dodge. Uluz-Ali and Karakozije spent six days plundering Hvar [Lesina], leaving the town and settling in the hill fortress. They set most of the town on fire along with two monasteries, The Franciscan one and also the Dominican. Inside the wall many churches and public buildings. Causing so much damage all over the island of Hvar [Lesina], sailing freely all around the island , they continued their burning, killing and plundering. Only the town of Jelsa [Civitas Vetus Ielsae] defended their fortress, and people of Sutomore bravely defended themselves, as they say they killed 200 Turks. It is also said that the women from there used rocks instead of arrows to cause damage to the enemy. There also appeared the '''pirates from Neretva''' [modern: Neretvani <ref> The Narentines, who are referred to today mainly as Neretljani, were a nation of Slav pirates. Also known as Arentanoi. By the time of this battle they where just privateers in the services of the Ottomans. In 1571 the Narentines no longer had a state and where a small group of pirates from the neighboring river Neretva.</ref>] , and they as well caused a lot of damage. In six days from one village they took about 70 souls. Uluz-Ali with his fighters just before 23rd of August, in the middle of the night staying close to the shore of Pelisac, quietly sailed past Korčula, sailing in straight line. Karakozije this same day from western end of peninsula of Pelješac [Pelisac], crossed our channel and reached the port of Raicsce [Raičšće,Porto Barbier] around three o’clock with 56 galleys, then by changing course reached again shore of Pelješac [Pelisac]. We didn’t know what this crossing back and forth meant. We feared that they possible unloaded soldiers in Račišće [Porto Barbier], who could attack us again from the land. So that whole night we spent worrying that we may be attacked again, but most of us felt that we will be glad to fight and for some it would be a chance to correct the conduct they showed earlier. Others feared that the end was coming this time, and feeling sorry that they returned to the city. Regardless, everyone was praying God for help. I can truly sum up our feeling of the fighting, that because possibly of situation I found myself in blindly believing that this was truly an end, and that death was certain.  

We being glad to hear the friendly support, and then we let him to jointly with archdeacon write a letter to his excellency the Dodge in Venice, and send this letter across the sea to Apulia and then by land route to Venice. We also wrote a letter to the chief commander of '''Venetian fleet''' , telling him also of the Spaniard from Granada whom he took and handed over to the duke Venier. We are not sure if he completed all of his given tasks, but I guess that he missed some duties, because it was heard that the letter was handed to Augustin '''Barbarigo''', than, this letter never reached the dodge. Uluz-Ali and Karakozije spent six days plundering Hvar [Lesina], leaving the town and settling in the hill fortress. They set most of the town on fire along with two monasteries, The Franciscan one and also the Dominican. Inside the wall many churches and public buildings. Causing so much damage all over the island of Hvar [Lesina], sailing freely all around the island , they continued their burning, killing and plundering. Only the town of Jelsa [Civitas Vetus Ielsae] defended their fortress, and people of Sutomore bravely defended themselves, as they say they killed 200 Turks. It is also said that the women from there used rocks instead of arrows to cause damage to the enemy. There also appeared the '''pirates from Neretva''' [modern: Neretvani <ref> The Narentines, who are referred to today mainly as Neretljani, were a nation of Slav pirates. Also known as Arentanoi. By the time of this battle they where just privateers in the services of the Ottomans. In 1571 the Narentines no longer had a state and where a small group of pirates from the neighboring river Neretva.</ref>] , and they as well caused a lot of damage. In six days from one village they took about 70 souls. Uluz-Ali with his fighters just before 23rd of August, in the middle of the night staying close to the shore of Pelisac, quietly sailed past Korčula, sailing in straight line. Karakozije this same day from western end of peninsula of Pelješac [Pelisac], crossed our channel and reached the port of Raicsce [Raičšće,Porto Barbier] around three o’clock with 56 galleys, then by changing course reached again shore of Pelješac [Pelisac]. We didn’t know what this crossing back and forth meant. We feared that they possible unloaded soldiers in Račišće [Porto Barbier], who could attack us again from the land. So that whole night we spent worrying that we may be attacked again, but most of us felt that we will be glad to fight and for some it would be a chance to correct the conduct they showed earlier. Others feared that the end was coming this time, and feeling sorry that they returned to the city. Regardless, everyone was praying God for help. I can truly sum up our feeling of the fighting, that because possibly of situation I found myself in blindly believing that this was truly an end, and that death was certain.  

When Karakozije was sailing by I actually did not make any moves, because I become brave from the past encounter, so I felt that these galleys were not as strong as those in Uluz-Ali’s fleet. These were made for shorter trips and did not carry as many soldiers. After the fourth nightly guard the ships from Karakozije reached the shore of Trstenica just east of Orebic [Sabbioncello], only three miles east of Korčula. There the stayed for about two hours. They formed a line, appearing, as they were to head toward us and attack again, then again they leave formation. Finally four small galleys reached our island of Badija where there is a Franciscan monastery. There they set the monastery on fire and stole the church bells. This monastery was one of the nicest ones in all of Dalmatia ['''original''': monasterium totius '''Illyrici''']. Beautiful church could not completely burn, because it was all built with cut stone, while everything inside that was wooden had burned. Wall were all damaged by smoke and blackened. Later on all of these ships sailed over to Lumbarda [Lombarda], where there are our summer homes. There they met with 1500 men who night before have disembarked in bay of Račišće [Porto Barbier]. That night they rested, spread over the entire width of the island, starting from the centre they advanced eastward, inspecting every rock and hill, the valleys and caves, they took 34 peasants as prisoner. They also took many domestic animals, and that which they could not drag with them they left laying dead for eagles and crows to feed on. In Lumbarda [Lombarda] their senses or any reasoning left them, after drunkenness, and partying in the home courtyards, they left, after setting all those homes on fire. Finally we noticed in direction of Mljet [Meleda] a boat on sails and oars heading towards our island, and also Karakozija galley which headed directly towards this boat. Where they joined, and after some exchanges, together they sailed away. We concluded that the order was delivered to Karakozije from the Turkish fleet, to as soon as possible join the rest of the fleet. We also received information on this from our side. Next day, not only did we hold our usual yearly celebration that was started by our ancestors in memory or our home towns attack by terrible Aragonian navy 80 years ago, but also to give thanks best we could, for surviving the recent attack, where we collected several of Uluz-Ali’s cannon balls and arrows as trophies, which we placed right next to those from Aragonian attack.

When Karakozije was sailing by I actually did not make any moves, because I become brave from the past encounter, so I felt that these galleys were not as strong as those in Uluz-Ali’s fleet <ref>Wkipedia: Occhiali (Giovanni Dionigi Galeni or Giovan Dionigi Galeni, also Uluj Ali, Turkish: Uluç Ali Reis, later Uluç Ali Paşa and finally Kılıç Ali Paşa; 1519 – 21 June 1587) was an Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral, who later became beylerbey of the Regency of Algiers, and finally Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman fleet in the 16th century.

 

Born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, he was also known by several other names in the Christian countries of the Mediterranean and in the literature also appears under various names. Miguel de Cervantes called him Uchali in chapter XXXIX of his Don Quixote de la Mancha. Elsewhere he was simply called Ali Pasha. John Wolf, in his The Barbary Coast, refers to him as Euldj Ali.</ref>. These were made for shorter trips and did not carry as many soldiers. After the fourth nightly guard the ships from Karakozije reached the shore of Trstenica just east of Orebic [Sabbioncello], only three miles east of Korčula. There the stayed for about two hours. They formed a line, appearing, as they were to head toward us and attack again, then again they leave formation. Finally four small galleys reached our island of Badija where there is a Franciscan monastery. There they set the monastery on fire and stole the church bells. This monastery was one of the nicest ones in all of Dalmatia ['''original''': monasterium totius '''Illyrici''']. Beautiful church could not completely burn, because it was all built with cut stone, while everything inside that was wooden had burned. Wall were all damaged by smoke and blackened. Later on all of these ships sailed over to Lumbarda [Lombarda], where there are our summer homes. There they met with 1500 men who night before have disembarked in bay of Račišće [Porto Barbier]. That night they rested, spread over the entire width of the island, starting from the centre they advanced eastward, inspecting every rock and hill, the valleys and caves, they took 34 peasants as prisoner. They also took many domestic animals, and that which they could not drag with them they left laying dead for eagles and crows to feed on. In Lumbarda [Lombarda] their senses or any reasoning left them, after drunkenness, and partying in the home courtyards, they left, after setting all those homes on fire. Finally we noticed in direction of Mljet [Meleda] a boat on sails and oars heading towards our island, and also Karakozija galley which headed directly towards this boat. Where they joined, and after some exchanges, together they sailed away. We concluded that the order was delivered to Karakozije from the Turkish fleet, to as soon as possible join the rest of the fleet. We also received information on this from our side. Next day, not only did we hold our usual yearly celebration that was started by our ancestors in memory or our home towns attack by terrible Aragonian navy 80 years ago, but also to give thanks best we could, for surviving the recent attack, where we collected several of Uluz-Ali’s cannon balls and arrows as trophies, which we placed right next to those from Aragonian attack.

== Here our Grandfathers Inscribed ==

== Here our Grandfathers Inscribed ==