Giovanni Renesi

Giovanni Renesi (Alb: Gjon Renësi) was an Albanian military captain and mercenary from Rrencë, Shkoder, part of the Kelmendi tribe. Giovanni Renesi, or Gjon, served Venice and was known for having tried to initiate uprisings against the Ottomans in between 1607-1612. Renesi was from a Stradiot family originating in 1416-17 with a Don Joanne Renesi figuring in 1610. He first opposed an uprising in 1608 explaining that it lacked a basis, but he tried again in 1612 with the help of local dukes. He was supported by the Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel, the Serenissima of Venice and the Spanish Habsburg. In 1607, Renesi was banished from Venice for murder. The same year, Giovanni Renesi met with the ambassadors of Piemontese who waited in Raugsa who then left for Italy in January. Later, in the summer of the same year, they met up with Serbian monk Damjan Ljubibratić. On September 10, 1615, Sultan Yahya sent Giovanni Renesi from Paris to attend the meeting of the nobles of the Balkans who planned a revolt. Giovanni Renesi and the Bosnian ruler Nicolas Drasovic arrived in Turin and explained their desire for liberation, which encouraged the Duke to take action.

A special diplomatic mission from the Savoy, starting in Nice, sent Count Filiberto Provana of Leyni and cavalier Imberto of Saluzzo della Mania, accompanied by Giovanni Renesi, to join the uprising in Mljet. However, Turkish fortresses stretched across the adriatic forcing them to stop in Ragusa, where Renesi stepped ashore with instructions. Renesi was instructed to explain to the Catholic Italian states that the uprising with the Savoy had no intention of helping Protestant states such as Holland, England or the Germanic princes. Renesi spoke together with Pjeter Budi. The revolts failed since the Vatican did not to provide support for the uprising which they had promised to do. Failure to gain support from Clement IIX, Rudolf II and the Duke of Savoy forced Renesi to the Duke of Padua saying "do not do as other princes have done, as they have encouraged to engage in revolts, but they did not provide help, and we have lost our lives and our honour because Venice, who are the enemies of the Ottomans, have always accepted their proposals".

Background
Near the end of 1607, the Duke of Savoy sent out spies to visit Miljet and then Dubrovnik with the intention of aiding rebel leaders who had gathered in order to oppose Ottoman rule. Imberto Saluzzio, known as Commendator della Manta, and Fliberto Provona, pretended to be horse dealers and met up with the rebels giving instructions and drawing maps of the city's fortifications. However Giovanni Renesi, who negotiated with the rebels, was not impressed by their goal of revolting against the Ottomans considering that the populations in the Balkans did not want to replace "Ottoman tyranny with Spanish authority" and that the goal was based on "very uncertain grounds". This made the Duke of Savoy lose faith in the plan.

In 1612, Giovanni Renesi sent a letter to the bishop of Vigevano Lombardy who sent it to the Spanish court in Madrid where Renesi explained that another uprising with people from Albania, Bosnia, Hercegovina, Serbia and Montenegro was ready. The plan was first initiated by the Patriarch Jovan II of Peć and vojvoda Grdan of Nikšić. In 1602 and 1614, Albanian leaders gathered in Saint Alessandro in the Dukagjin Highlands in order to once again revolt against Ottomans. In 1615 and 1619, Giovanni traveled to France with Sultan Yahya to gain support from France, however, the French did not aid the Albanian cause.