Marcantonio Borisi

Marcantonio Borisi (Ital: Marc'antonio Borissi) (Alb: Markanton Borisi) (b. 1570, Capodistria - d. 1621, Istanbul) was an Albanian Venetian dragoman, known as "The Albanian", employed as bailo and giovanne di lingua in Istanbul in the 17th century. Born in the Venetian colonial town of Capodistria, his father was Pietro Borisi, an exiled nobleman from Antivari and his mother was Giacoma Bruti, an Istrian noblewoman, sister of three dragomans: Bartolomeo Bruti, Cristoforo Bruti and Benedetto Bruti, of the Bruti family.

Marcantonio Borisi first married Cassandra Prion, a noblewoman. After some time, he married his cousin Giustiniana Tarsiae and after her, he married Caterina Olivieri, who became a widow after he was executed and who remarried. With Caterina, they had four daughtes and a son. In 1596, when Borisi was working in Istanbul, he had a love affair with a Turkish woman, however, Ottoman law forbade inter-religious marriages which forced the Venetians to act in secret. In 1619, Borisi sought to wed his daughter the recently elected prince of Moldavia, Gaspar Graziani. In July, 1608, Cassandra Borisi née Piron, widow of Marcantonio, found herself in a legal dispute with an official of the Islamic pious endowment of Galata, in Istanbul. Cassandra claimed that the house the endowment owned was actually legally Cassandra's as her husband had a paper of ownership, which the kadı had saved in the imperial archive. In 1620-21, due to having offended the Sultan, Marcantonio Borisi was hanged by the Ottomans in Istanbul and his wife received his wealth. His widow, Caterina Olivieri-Borisi, daughter of a dragoman herself, remarried Venetian Grand Dragoman Giovanni Antonio Grillo who also, many years later, was executed. 20 years later, Marcantonios's daughter Francesca Borisi married the Danish Hans Andreas Skovgaard, the Sultan's physician, in Istanbul some time before March, 1641. During this time, Skovgaard had difficulty trusting the people in Istanbul, however, Marcantonio had previously helped him settle, 20 years earlier.

Marcantonio was from the Borisi family (Boricius, Borisci, Boriši), an Albanian medieval family founded by Bernardo Borisi, who moved from Antivari to Istria at the end of the 16th century escaping Ottoman attacks. Bernardo Borisi founded the family in 1503 and was the advisor the Duke of Wallachia and Transylvania. He worked as captain in Motovun (Istria) in 1602. In 1725, the family entered in the list of the title counts of Istria with the approval of Venice. In the 19th century, Austrian emperor Franz I recognized the family as Counts and Nobles.

As a young man, Borisi was sent to Istanbul in 1585 to study language and in 1588, he petitioned to officially become a giovanni della lingua which was granted by the Venetian Senate. Borisi quickly proved himself as a trustworthy dragoman and in 1592 he was elected as a full-fledged Venetian Dragoman. Bailo Lorenzo Bernardo described him as following: "possessing prudence and experience in the negotiations of [Venice] in the Porte as if he was 40 years old and this because he is patient in his duties, and he delights in them". Marcantonio Borisi was a polyglott who spoke fluent Italian, Wallachian, Albanian, Greek, Slavic, Persian and Arabic and Turkish. Eventually, he met a Turkish woman, who remains unnamed, which almost derailed his mission as an agent. Borisi was confronted by another Venetian official, Bailo Marco Venier in his apartment in Istanbul demanding that he end the relationship as Borisi risked damaging the Ottoman-Venetian relations. The woman risked facing consequences of the family's honor culture, specially since they met during Ramadan. Borisi continued with the affair, however, this time he purchased a house far away from the embassy. One night, the horse servant guarding the Bailo's horse, saw Borisi, the Turkish woman and a German man passing by, they attacked and wounded the servant, out of fear, and fled. Venier once again demanded that Borisi his affair and Venier sent a damage report to Venice. However Borisi's value as a dragoman had him pardoned by the Senate. On April 22, 1594, Marco Venier sent a letter to the Senate: "I have, as desired by your Serenity, sent Marc'Antonio Borisi to accompany the Cavass Giafer to Venice".

In 1613, Gabriel Cavazza and Marcantonio Borisi traveled to Istanbul to meet with the Sultan to discuss a border issue. Borisi was described as "dressing pompous and carrying himself gently as if he was the Prince of Bogdania". In 1620, Ottoman merchant Resul Aga and several others lost a ship to pirates in the Adriatic and the controversy threatened the Venetian-Ottoman peace which, besides another offense, ended in Marcantonio Borisi being hanged. The order was sent out by Grand Vizir Istanköylü Güzelce Ali Paşa as Borisi had spoken against the Vizir. Alexander H. de Groot writes that the reason was that Marcantonio had taken the Sultan's Galiot.