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the ph f first o s 150 year
• pietro marubbi, Dona turca de Scutari d’Albania, circa 1878.
PIETRO MARUBBI • I primi ritratti albanesi, colorati con pigmenti naturali, collezione Pierre de Gigord
Taccuini Maltagliati Senigallia 2019
Exhibitions, fairs, conferences, meetings, compose the "introductory piece" of the Biennale, whose first edition, announced in May 2020, and subsequent ones, will keep the free form and the intention to celebrate the first 150 years of photography, 1839-1989.
An "hypothesis", to be tested collectively, around the first sedimentary clues of this golden age of our past: what if the ideal museum of the future, like Marcel Duchamp's "Boîte-en-valise", was a suitcase containing a selection of ancient photographic prints? A "Boîte-en-musée".
The City of Senigallia was appointed by the Regional Council of the Marche "City of Photography" a year ago. The home of Giuseppe Cavalli, Ferruccio Ferroni, Mario Giacomelli and many other photographers, is recognized as an exceptional place, a denomination of controlled cultural origin. On May 2, 3 and 4, 2019 it will host the “première” of an ambitious Biennale, co-organized by the City Council and Serge Plantureux, with the collaboration of Francesca Bonetti, guest curator.
From the invention of photography to the advent of our Digital dark age, in an artistic and scientific approach of photography as a work and as an object, the Biennale di Senigallia invites us to explore together the potential richness of this material history.
Grouped under the title "Once upon a time there was photography", two exhibitions are set up in two noble locations in the heart of the city. Welcome to Senigallia ! Maurizio Mangialardi Maire of Senigallia 21 marzo 2019
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• CONTENT •
© 5OCHE 2019, published by SCBS di Serge Plantureux Palazzo Arsilli, Via Marchetti, nr 2, 60019 Senigallia (IT)
Albania, a country of few images The Marubbi family from Val del Ceno Mazzinian ideas Parma and Piacenza in Turmoil Pietro Marubbi goes to Scutari Cabinet Cards
8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-21 22-23
Albanian Characters
27-57
The Man who would be their King
58-71
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ALBANIA, A COUNTRY OF FEW IMAGES
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Pietro Marubbi was the first artist to open a photographic studio in the Balkans. Before him few painters had visited the area and the country was very mysterious for the Occidental public. “— Les Turcs sont campés en Europe — a écrit Chateaubriand. Je n’ai jamais trouvé d’expression plus juste pour peindre l’insouciance avec laquelle ce peuple étrange laisse s’accumuler les ruines et les incommodités de toute espèce dans l’immense empire dont il est le locataire. Au premier abord, cela parait pittoresque, et on s’amuse : puis on y trouve quelque chose d’ingénu, de résigné, et on en est touché : on finit par l’impatience et l’irritation. Un voyageur allemand, en arrivant à Sophia, voit de grands jeunes gens de trente ans, accroupis au milieu de la rue et s’occupant gravement à établir de petits moulins sur le ruisseau. Le peuple turc est ce grand enfant, et de la civilisation occidentale il n’a guère pris que ce que les enfants aiment par-dessus tout : faire l’exercice et battre du tambour.” (guillaume lejean, Voyage en Albanie, au Monténégro, en 1858, Le Tour du Monde, volume 1). • louis dupré́(1789-1837). The Chibouk Smoker, pashalik of Yanina, 1825. ink wash, 220x160 mm 8
• louis dupré́(1789-1837). The Jeered, pashalik of Yanina, 1825. ink wash, 160x220 mm.
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THE MARUBBI FAMILY FROM VAL DI CENO & PIACENZA
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The Marubbi family originate from Val di Ceno, a west-East valley part of the Ligurian Appennines. The Ceno is flowing entirely the Province of Parma, having its source on Monte Penna on the border between Liguria and EmiliaRomagna. One locality bares their name : Marubbi is a hamlet in the Val di Ceno, East of Santo Stefano d’Aveto, west of Pellegrino Parmense *.
In 17th century, three Marubbi - Tommaso, Geronimo, Antonio - are listed in the books of the Confraternita di San Lorenzo del luogo di Santo Stefano d'Aveto, on Ligurian side of Monte Penna.
In mid-19th century, we can trace the presence of four Marubbis in public fonctions, explicited in the Duchy of Parma’s yearly agendas between 18331859 **. Dottor Giambattista Marubbi, Judge, Pretura di Pellegrino ; Don Pietro Marubbi, Pellegrino ; Angelo Marubbi, secretary, Bergeto ; Don Giacomo Marubbi, dean substitute, vicariato (deanary) di Varano de’ Melegari ; Girolamo Marubbi, sindaco (maire), Pellegrino. Pietro Marubbi was born in 1834 in the city of Piacenza.
* Ferruccio Botti, Famiglie illustri del Parmense: i Marubbi della Val di Ceno, “Il telegrafo”, 22-24 Set. 1940 ** Stati di Parma, 1833 ; idem, 1840 ; Almanacco di Corte, Parma, 1859.
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• Castle of pellegrino parmense, in Val di Ceno
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MAzzInIAn IDEAS
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In young age, Pietro Marubbi was fascinated and involved in the political and social movement that consolidated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single unitary state, Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872).
On 30 April 1849 the Republican army, under Garibaldi's command, had defeated the French army. Subsequently, French reinforcements arrived, and the siege of Rome began on 1 June. On 30 June the Roman Assembly met and debated 3 options: surrender, streets fighting, or retreat to the Apennine mountains. Garibaldi, having entered the chamber covered in blood, made a speech favouring the third option, ending with: Ovunque noi saremo, sarà Roma. (Wherever we go, Rome will be there).
The sides negotiated a truce and on 2 July 1849, Garibaldi withdrew from Rome with 4,000 troops, and an ambition to rouse popular rebellion against the Austrians in central Italy.
An Antonio Marubbi was on a wanted list of young men escaping military enrolment in the Austrian Army in San Rocco al Porto, Piacenza, 1849. Garibaldi and his forces, hunted by Austrian, French, Spanish, and neapolitan troops, fled to the north. After an epic march, Garibaldi took momentary refuge in San Marino, with only 250 men having not abandoned him. Garibaldi went to America. He would return to Italy in 1854.
• The red skirt of a garibaldino, collection of Mondolfo (Senigallia)
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• Ulisse passani, Portrait of Charles III, Duke of Parma (1823-1854)
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PARMA AnD PIACEnzA In TuRMOIL
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Charles III of Bourbon’s reactionary and militaristic mania induced him to maintain a permanent garrison of 6,000 men in Piacenza, to institute a Praetorian Guard, to proceed to the militarization of the Police, intensifying the repressive controls. He substituted the normal detention with the "punishment of the stick" also for the common crimes, such as the nocturnal shouting and the diffusion of subversive writings. He suppressed high schools both in Parma and Piacenza to prevent teachers from transmitting "perverse and subversive maxims" and closed Collegio Alberoni, considered a hotbed of liberal ideas.
Charles III's government ended with his violent death: on 26 March 1854 he was killed in an ambush, the result of a conspiracy whose perpetrators were not found but probably had links with exiled Parmesans. The government was taken over by the overweight widow Luisa Maria, who redoubled repression on young men with republican ideas. Pietro Marubbi had to leave.
Years later, Antonio Carra, saddler and upholsterer by profession, claimed from Argentina the assassination with a letter to the Government of Parma, and in 1859, with the outbreak of the second war of independence he returned to Parma, but was advised by friends to leave and go back to Buenos Aires. In fact, his gesture was never appreciated by the circles of the Risorgimento as opposed to the one carried out by the Calabrian soldier Agesilao Milano who on 8 dec. 1856 attacked the life of the King of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand II.
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PIETRO MARUBBI GOES TO SCUTARI
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In 1856, aged 22, Pietro was forced to leave his native country after being suspected of political activities. Trying to get asylum in the Ottoman Empire, he heads to Corfu, from where he leaves to reach Vlorë, but could not succeed in taking asylum. He decided to move to Scutari d’Albania (now Shkodër), populated by Catholics and a small community of Italians in the city, where he married Marietta, a midwife born in Gorizia, twenty years older than him.
Shkodër or Shkodra, historically known as Scutari, Σκόδρα, İşkodra or Scodra, is one of the most ancient cities in the Balkans, founded in the 4th century BC by the ancient Illyrian tribes of the Ardiaei and Labeates. The Archdiocese of Scodra was founded and in 535 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.
Protected and administrated by the Venetians since 1396. The city fell to the Ottomans in 1479 and the defenders of the citadel emigrated to Venice, while many Albanians from the region retreated into the mountains. It became the centre of the sanjak and by 1485 there were 27 Muslim and 70 Christian hearths, by the end of the next century there were more than 200 Muslim ones compared to the same 27 Christian ones, respectively. In the second half of the 19th century, Scutari was an important trading center for the entire Balkan peninsula. It had over 3,500 shops, and clothing, leather, tobacco, and gunpowder factories. Pietro Marubbi decided to open a photographic studio that he named "Dritëshkronja" (Written with light).
• pietro marubbi, Selfportrait in studio, scutari, circa 1880, digital cropping from a preserved collodion on glass negative 16
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During the first months of staying, the young Parmesan befriends Arsen Idromeno, whose son, nicoló (Kolë) Idromeno (1860-1939), becomes his apprentice at the age of eleven, until he helped him to go in Venice to learn at the academy of fine arts. After his studies in Venice, nicoló started to travel around Europe and decided to move back to his hometown in 1878. now, he is widely regarded as a central character of the Albanian Renaissance, painter, sculptor, architect, photographer, cinematographer, composer and engineer.
Pietro also befriends a mountain man, Rrok Kodheli, and teach photography to his two sons Mati and Mikel Kodheli. Mati is sent to Venice and later to Trieste in Sebastianutti & Benque photographic studio. unfortunately, Mati died suddenly in 1881 at the age of 19. Mikel (Kel) Kodheli is sent to Trieste to be trained as a photographer.
The first picture of Pietro Marubbi dates back to 1858, in which was photographed Hamza bey Kazazi, at that time a patriot and leader of the movement for independence from the Ottoman Empire in Albania.
At that time, Marubbi was only 24 years old and so began his career as a photographer, where he would pursue until the last days of his life. Many of early works of Marubbi show the political events, important figures and events that have changed the country's history, such as the League of Prizren (1874) and the Mirdita uprising (1876-1877). Marubbi’ portrait of the Shkodra's delegation attending the League of Prizren is considered one of the rare testimonies of that peaceful gathering. • pietro marubbi. Verso of a Cabinet Card, scutari (shkodër), 1870s
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The League was not bellicosely appealing for Albanian independence, or even autonomy within Ottoman Empire but, as proposed by Pashko Vasa, simply for the unification of all Albanian speaking territory within one vilayet.
Marubbi often worked as a photojournalist for foreign magazines, such as L'Illustration, The Illustrated London news and the Italian newspapers La Guerra d'Oriente and L'Illustrazione Italiana. His photos were published in these newspapers to show the events of the time.
Pietro Marubbi died in 1903, in Sanjak of Shkodër, at the time Ottoman Empire, probably 69 years old. unmarried and childless, Pjëter Marubbi left his studio, his works and everything else possessed, as a legacy to his pupil, Mikel "Kel" Kodheli. After the death of Pjeter, Mikel Kodheli, as a gesture of gratitude, changed his own last name to Marubbi, keeping alive the memory and the work of his master.
After the Albanian Revolt which lasted from January until August 1912, the Ottoman government agreed to accept all demands, and in September 1912, the Porte recognised the autonomy of the Albanian vilayet. These events for Albanian autonomy and Ottoman weakness were viewed at the time as directly threatening the Christian population of the region. On 8 October 1912, Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria) jointly attacked the Ottoman Empire. and during the next few months partitioned all Ottoman territory inhabited by Albanians. The Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Greece
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occupied most of the land of what is today Albania and other lands inhabited by Albanians on the Adriatic coast. Montenegro occupied a part of today's northern Albania around Shkodër. The Serbian army in the region viewed its role as protecting local Orthodox Christian communities and avenging the medieval battle of Kosovo, though it forced Catholic Albanians to convert to Orthodox Christianity. Leon Trotsky was sent as a journalist to cover Balkan Wars in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. In his report sent to Kiev newspaper Kievskaya Misl he writes about many "atrocities committed against the Albanians of Macedonia and Kosovo in the wake of the Serb invasion of October 1912"*.
Kel Marubi, as he is widely known, continued to work in the footsteps of his master. With an orthographic simplification, the Marubi Dynasty continued for two more generations, with Kel and Gegë Marubi, Keli's son. The original albumen prints, hand colored by Pietro Marubbi, exhibited in Senigallia Anteprima, belong to the Pierre de Gigord collection, Paris. We understand that no sophisticated pigments were available in that time in Ottoman Albania. These early photos of Marubbi are colored with very organic pigments, mudd for example. The result is fascinating.
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CABINET CARDS
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Cabinet cards lithographed versos are often the first piece of evidence for the historian investigating the period. The carte-de-visite versos being the equivalent for the earlier period. Marubbi’s lithographed advertising are in Italian and Turkish language- using arabic alphabet.
• Marubbi’s cabinet card, 1870s
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• Marubbi’s cabinet card, 1890s, printed in Wien by Bernhard Wachtl, specialized in cabinet cards
As a lithographer and printer of this specific product, Wachtl formed contracts throughout the Balkans and the East, from Athens to Batoum, Trebizond, Philippople and from Adrianople to Constantinople, Smyrna and Cairo.
• Idromeno’s cabinet card, 1890s
• Marubbi’s cabinet card, 1910s
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• “Montagnola di Kotti ?”, intact negative in the national museum museum caption : “Kostum gruaje malësore e vjetër” 24
• “Montagnola di Kotti ?, hand-colored albumen print, circa 1878
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Costume Turco scutarino - Turco scutarino Donna Turca in casa Giovani scutarino. Cattolico Ragazza scutarina in casa Cattolica Donna scutarina in strada Cattolica Sposa scutarina, cattolica - Greca scutarina Montagnola di Kotti - Montagnolo di Kotti, cattolici Montagnola di Jiosci. Cattolica Paesana di Bussatti Montagnola di Culitti - Montagnole di Culitti Montagnola di Plav - Montagnolo di Plav Montagnola di Croja. Krujë. Cattolica Dibrano. Dibër Uomo Mereditese -Donna Meriditese Mirditë Paesana di Siralla ? - Montagnolo di Scialla? Jirala ? Montagnola di Yannina. Turca Montagnola di Mirtur Montagnolo di Clementi Costume di Breno a Ragusa (A. Jellasca. Ragusa. ) Femme Catholique de Scutari chez elle - Sans titre (couple)
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• “Donna Turca in casa”, turkish Woman at Home
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• “Turco Scutarino”, turkish from scutari museum caption : “Kupe Danja” 29
• “Sposa Scutarina Cattol.”, W
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• “Greca Scutarina”, greek Woman from scutari
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• “Ragazza Scutarina in casa cattol.” museum caption : “Kostum gruaje i vjetër (me sallman)” 32
• “Donna Scutarina catt. in strada”, Woman in town costume
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• “Giovane Scutarino cattolico”, W museum caption : “ 34
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• “Montagnola di Sciosci ? Cattolica”, W
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• “Montagnola di Kotti ?”, museum caption : “Kostum gruaje malësore e vjetër” 38
• “Montagnolo di Kotti ?”, museum caption : “Vasel Marku (i Hotit)” 39
• “Paesana di Busatti ?”, museum caption : “Grua fshatare“ 40
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• “Montagnola di Culiti ?”, W museum: “Grua malësore e ngarkuar me kosh (kostum)” 42
• “Montagnole di Culiti ?”, W museum: “Kostume të vjetra grashë malësore” 43
• “Montagnolo di Plav”, W museum caption : “Kostum burri” 44
• “Montagnola di Plav”, W museum caption : “Bjeshka Zef Ndoca” 45
• “Montagnolo di Croja- cattolica”, Woman costume from Krujë museum caption : “Kostum i vjetër gruaje katundare” 46
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• “Dibrano”, mountaineer from dibër
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• “Montagnolo di Clementi”, Warrior from the Clementi tribe museum caption : “Nikë Leka (i Kelmendit)” 50
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• “Donna Meriditese”, Woman costume from mirditë museum caption : “Kostum gruaje nga Mirdita i vjetër” 52
• “Uomo Meriditese”, man costume from mirditë museum caption : “Kostum burri” 53
• “Paesana di ...lla ?”, W museum caption : “Kostum i vjetër gruaje fshatare” 54
• “Montagnolo di ...lla ?”, W museum caption : “Burrë malësor” 55
• “Montagnola di Yannena, Turca”, turkish montaineer from ioannina museum caption : “Kostum gruaje malësore” 56
• “Montagnola di Mirtur”, W mirditë
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THE MAn WHO WOuLD BE KInG
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BARON FRANZ NOPCSA: THE CONGRESS OF TRIESTE
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Franz Baron nopcsa (1877-1933), was born the son of Hungarian aristocrats at the family estate in Szacsal near Hatzeg in Transylvania.
He was able to finish his schooling at the Maria-Theresianum in Vienna with the support of his uncle and godfather, Franz von nopcsa, who was headmaster of the court of the Empress Elisabeth. nopcsa developed quickly into a talented scholar.
He travelled extensively in the Balkans and lived in Shkodra for some time in the early years of the twentieth century. He soon became one of the leading Albania specialists of his times and was even a candidate for the Albanian throne in 1913.
His fifty-four publications in the field of Albanian studies from 1907 to 1932 were concentrated primarily in the fields of prehistory, early Balkan history, ethnology, geography, modern history and Albanian customary law The list of nopcsa’s publications includes over 186 works, primarily in the fields of palaeontology, geology, and Albanian studies.
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Suffering from depression, Baron nopcsa committed suicide at his home in Vienna on 25 April 1933 and killed his longtime Albanian secretary and lover Bajazid Elmaz Doda (ca. 1888-1933). His memoirs “Reisen in den Balkan: die Lebenserinnerungen des Franz Baron Nopcsa” (Travels in the Balkans: The Memoirs of Baron Franz nopcsa), Peja 2001, from which the following extract is taken, were published posthumously. This text deals with the Albanian Congress of Trieste in 1913 and with nopcsa’s candidacy for the Albanian throne.
The Congress of Trieste, Alb. “Kongresi i Triestit”, was convened in early 1913 to show solidarity among Albanians from Albania and abroad for their country following the declaration of independence in Vlora on 28 november 1912. About 150 representatives from Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Egypt, Turkey and the united States attended to discuss the affairs of the nation. The congress recognized the provisional government set up by Ismail Qemal bey Vlora and discussed the various candidates for the new vacant throne. Among the candidates being discussed at the time were Ferdinand François Bourbon OrléansMontpensier of France, Albert Ghika of Romania, Count urach of Württemberg, the Egyptian prince Ahmed Fuad, and the son of the Marchese Castriota from naples.
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Austria-Hungary promoted the congress, in particular to ensure the selection of a prince of its choice.
— From 27 February to 6 March 1913, after my reignation, I took part in the Albanian Congress of Trieste. This congress was a strange affair. The Albanian throne was vacant in the spring of 1913 and Albanian affairs were under the direction of Ismail Qemali who had first met with Berchtold in Budapest at the home of Excellency Hadik Janos and had then journeyed to Vlora, entrusted by him and with his support. There he formed the provisional government of the newly founded Albanian state.
As a long-term friend of the Greeks and as their paid agent, he also promised to facilitate their occupation of Janina if he remained head of Albania. It is obvious that Ismail Qemali wished to remain at the head of the provisional government because such positions usually bring in a lot of money. Less obvious was the fact that Berchtold, after a tête-à-tête with Ismail Qemali, was convinced that he could outmanoeuvre the Albanian leader. And of course he failed. I was easily able to foresee that Ismail Qemali would betray Albania to Greece because Stead had told me much about Qemali’s relations with Greece in 1911 and because the writer Alexander Ular, author together with Enrico Insabato of the book “Der erlöschende Halbmond” [The waning crescent], Frankfurt 1909, had revealed to me a number of details about Ismail’s conduct as Governor of Tripoli.
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When Berchtold asked me what I thought of Ismail Qemali two weeks after he had founded the provisional government, I said to him quite literally, “Ismail Qemali is an ass.” Ismail Qemali’s betrayal of Albania was confirmed to me completely by Eqrem Bey Vlora, who was himself the son of the Albanian ambassador in Vienna, Sureja Bey, and the nephew of Ismail Qemali.
I do not know what the Greeks intended to do with Ismail Qemali once they had occupied Janina. Perhaps they wished to proceed according to the old saying, “The Moor has done his duty, the Moor may now depart.” At any rate, intensive propaganda campaigns were being waged in Europe on behalf of the various pretenders to the Albanian throne while the provisional government was being headed by Ismail Qemali, who was open to bribery, though only with large sums of money.
Albert Ghica, who had been a pretender to the Albanian throne himself, had managed to interest the Duke of Montpensier [Ferdinand François Bourbon OrléansMontpensier] in the Albanian throne. He ceded his ‘rights,’ which were recognized by no one as a matter of fact, to the duke and began to campaign on his behalf in exchange for an appropriate remuneration.
Montpensier easily won over the miserly Fazil Pasha Toptani and a number of other Albanians, and thus arose the plan to have Montpensier proclaimed King of Albania at the Congress of Trieste.
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Montpensier was at the same time to break through the Greek blockade and take possession of Vlora and of Ismail Qemali.
Because our Monarchy, in view of Montpensier’s relatives, was expected to resist this choice, it was shown to be expedient for the Albanian Congress to be supported by Austria-Hungary. A decision was then taken to hold the congress in the Monarchy in order to lay a real diplomatic cuckoo’s egg.
As a strawman for convoking the conference, skilled use was made of the kind, but dumbwitted Stefan Zurani, who suspected nothing.
Curani was naive, ambitious and well viewed at the foreign ministry, and out of pure vanity claimed to the foreign ministry that he himself had had the idea of convoking the Albanian Congress in Trieste. Since the foreign ministry enjoyed the idea of Albanians in the Monarchy demonstrating on behalf of their country, the plan was accepted and supported by Vienna.
Aside from the Albanians themselves, the Italo-Albanians also turned up at the congress, and with them came Marchese Castriota from Naples with all of his sons. Also present was Albert Ghika, Baron Dungern, who was a university professor and historian from Czernowitz, two Christian-Socialist Members of Parliament, Count Taaffe and Mr Panty from Vienna, as well as the Rome correspondent of the ‘Reichspost,’ Cavaliere Mayerhöfer, and myself.
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I brought with me Dr Leo Freundlich, a former Socialist Member of Parliament from Vienna who, at the very moment Albania became ‘in,’ had skilfully founded the periodical ‘Albanische Korrespondenz’ and was now on about ‘imperialist power politics.’ Hasan Arnauti was in Trieste, too, as my private detective.
The press was represented by various newspapers. Also in Trieste was a certain Mr Jovo Weis from Belgrade who, it was said, wanted to sell rifles to the Albanians at a price of 90 crowns a piece, but who in reality was a Serbian agent.
Representing the Austrian Government was Makavetz, a calm, intelligent and energetic figure who never lost his composure.
After welcoming ceremonies the first evening, Marchese Castriota was chosen as honorary president of the congress and Faik Bey Konitza was elected chairman. Hilë Mosi, Fazil Toptani and Dervish Hima were also elected to the chair.
The nomination of Konitza was not to the liking of Ghika since, when the latter was on the point of bringing up the issue of candidates to the Albanian throne, his old rival Faik prevented him from doing so. In order to have an ace in his hand, Ghika, who like many a Romanian had a long career as an impostor behind him, had cunningly succeeded in getting control of Ismail Qemali’s retarded son.
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Before the congress started, he travelled to Nice, where the Qemali family resided in virtual poverty, and, as Qemali himself was unable to attend, invited the son Tahir to the Albanian Congress in Trieste at his own expense, or, to be more precise, at the expense of Montpensier.
Since Tahir did not have a penny to his name and had to have everything, even his cigarettes, bought for him by Ghika and as such could not do anything without Ghika or his representative, he had virtually become Ghika’s prisoner. What Ghika intended to do with Tahir only became clear at a later date...
Since the many Italo-Albanians attending the congress were becoming over-bearing with their Italian-language speeches, I had myself introduced at the opening by Faik as an old friend of the Albanians. I had but a few minutes to think of my reply, mounted the podium and held a spontaneous speech in Albanian. With the exception of Kral and a few other Austro-Hungarian and Italian consuls, I don’t think many a central European would be in a position to repeat that feat.
All in all, there was nothing but hot air at the congress, aside from a dispute between the Vlachs and Albanians, during which the little nation of Vlachs, not even officially born yet, gave substantial proof of its fanaticism and Balkan megalomania, and from a further clash between the chairman Faik Bey Konitza and the rather crooked Nikolla Ivanaj, who endeavoured unsuccessfully to challenge the authority of the chairman simply in order to draw attention to himself.
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The day before the congress was to end, I therefore felt compelled to call Faik Bey Konitza aside and inform him that the congress had as yet done no work at all and that the least one could expect from a political congress was a resolution. Faik agreed and I dictated to him a resolution which the congress was to telegraph to all the Great Powers the next day.
The matter was attended to within half an hour, and the next day, Faik presented the document to the congress as a resolution. After a debate on the position of the Vlachs at the congress and in a future Albania, which Faik overcame in favour of the Albanians by presenting the Vlachs more or less with an ultimatum, the resolution was accepted and, as such, my text was sent to the Great Powers as the congress resolution.
During the congress, Cavaliere Mayerhöfer learned from Tahir, the son of Ismail Qemali, that Montpensier was preparing a putsch. He informed me, but side from this no one else found out, not even Freundlich and Dungern. The two of us informed Makavetz, who told the foreign ministry. All necessary countermeasures were prepared. Ghika’s plan to bring the throne question up at the congress had failed, but another coup was in the making since Montpensier disposed of a yacht ready for sail. We spent two days in Trieste waiting to find out what Vienna thought of Montpensier’s candidacy, in particular in view of his relationship with the Archduchess Maria Dorothea.
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The Albanians, among whom Faik Bey, began to ask us how they should react to the candidacy. I said to them on my own behalf, “In a hostile manner, for I do not believe that Montpensier is a candidate for Vienna.” In the end, the reply arrived, confirming my suspicions. We were now free to act against Montpensier. As it happened, the Viennese Members of Parliament were holding a banquet for the congress at the Palace Hotel.
I interrupted a pause in the conversation by saying in an audible voice, “I hear that Montpensier wants to become King of Albania and that proclamations have already been printed! Does anyone of the gentlemen here happen to have one in his pocket? You know, gentlemen, I am a great collector of printed material on Albania.”
Tremendous surprise and a stunned silence. Fan Noli forgot himself, drew a proclamation out of his pocket and gave it to me.
Montpensier’s secret was divulged. That evening the proclamation was in the mail on its way to Berchtold. Our worries were less now, but not done away with entirely.
The next day there occurred a dramatic moment at the congress when rumours suddenly began to fly that a messenger from the Provisional Government of Albania had arrived in Trieste from Vlora. A few minutes later a tall, but stooped and awkward-looking old man, exhausted from his journey, was conducted into the hall, causing great commotion.
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It was the Albanian minister, Kristo Meksi. He had arrived straight from Vlora. There was frenetic applause, the atmosphere was electrified.
Faik turned pale for he realized that the chair had now lost all influence over the congress. It was now the Provisional Government that was in the chair. He did not know what message Meksi had brought with him. If Meksi, as a result of some secret agreement as an emissary of the Provisional Government in Vlora, were to proclaim the Duke of Montpensier as King of Albania, he would certainly be elected. I sat down next to the representative of the Austrian Government, Makavetz, and said, “You know, if Kristo Meksi proposes Montpensier as a candidate, we are lost because he will be proclaimed unanimously.” Makavetz remained externally calm but every hair on his head was raised. He was prepared to let the scandal happen and to end the congress. Kristo Meksi began to speak. He conveyed to the Albanian Congress the best wishes of the Provisional Government and informed those present that the members of the Government were all well. Then, without even realizing what decision was in his hands, he left the podium to the frenetic applause of the auditorium. The storm had passed. We realized that Ismail Qemali had not yet been informed of Montpensier’s plan.
Now it was simply a matter of freeing Tahir from the clutches of Ghika. A coincidence facilitated our plan. Ghika did not wish to pay Tahir’s hotel bill and had turned to others to solve the problem for him.
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As such, an Albanian patriot soon made his appearance. I believe it was Mark Kakarriqi or Koci who approached me and explained that Tahir, the son of the president of the Albanian Government, was in financial difficulties. Knowing me to be a friend of the Albanians, the patriot asked me if I would be willing to assist by paying Tahir’s debts, adding that, if the matter became known to the public, it would put Albania in a bad light. Tahir needed 500-600 crowns and, I was told, was too embarrassed to approach me directly. I declared myself willing to assist immediately and promised to pay his expenditures that very afternoon. At noon I dined with Tahir and Mayerhöfer and succeeded in making it clear to Tahir that he was being used as a tool and was in fact a hostage in Ghika’s hands. His father in Vlora could be compelled to resign from the Provisional Government in favour of Montpensier in order to save his son’s life. Tahir was of course dumbfounded and told me everything he knew, admitting, however, that he had no money to free himself from Ghika.
I promised to arrange everything. I paid Tahir’s hotel bill that afternoon and left enough money for his expenses until the next day. I later met the Albanian patriot who had demanded 500-600 crowns and told him that I had already paid Tahir’s debts, but that he had made a mistake, the debt being a mere 190 crowns and not 500-600. An Albanian patriot was thus deprived of a sum of 300-400 crowns! I also invited Tahir to supper that evening and, in order to prevent him from talking to Ghika, who was staying at the same hotel, I got him drunk. At midnight I returned him reeling to his hotel where we met Ghika in the lobby.
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He understood what was going on and realized that he had lost out as far as Tahir was concerned. At my insistence, Tahir told him that he was leaving for Vienna, where he would be staying with me.
All further contact between Ghika and Tahir was thus rendered impossible. The next morning I had Tahir’s luggage picked up and he set off for Vienna, this time as my prisoner, and once again without a penny to his name. I put him up at a hotel and subsequently bought him a train ticket to Nice, gave him some travelling money and sent him back to his mother.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry also sent Mrs Ismail Qemali a larger sum of money to help her with her financial difficulties, in order that such a problem not occur again. In order to describe the level of Tahir’s intelligence, it is sufficient to note that he had been a Turkish naval cadet under Abdul Hamid. This tells it all. This was thus the extent of my involvement at the Albanian Congress of Trieste....
From Trieste I returned to Vienna, where I urged Berchtold to ensure that the recently created Albanian throne be occupied as quickly as possible because I foresaw the negative consequences of leaving it vacant for too long. He complained that he was unable to find a suitable candidate for the throne. There were in fact a good number of candidates. Foremost among them was Count Urach of Württemberg. An Egyptian prince, Ahmed Fuad, and the son of the Marchese Castriota of Naples had also made their candidacies known.
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At this moment I resolved to take a step which could easily have made me a laughing stock and have put all my activities on behalf of Albania in a bad light. Nonetheless, I decided to go through with it. I informed Excellency Conrad verbally that I would be willing to join the list of candidates for the throne if the Foreign Ministry would support me and told him that, to have myself proclaimed King of Albania, I would simply need the one-time payment of a larger sum of money in order to buy the support of the so-called Albanian patriots which, as I learned from the Montpensier putsch, was no problem at all.
Once a reigning European monarch, I would have no difficulty coming up with the further funds needed by marrying a wealthy American heiress aspiring to royalty, a step which under other circumstances I would have been loath to take.
I did not even attempt to contradict the slanderous allegations which my opponents revelled in, because I knew that events to come would prove to be my best defence. The collapse of the Albanian State in 1914 showed that I was right to get off the sinking ship in time in 1913.
My only ‘mistake’ was to have recognized what was to come long before my opponents did. Prince Wied ascended the Albanian throne while the Conference of London was still underway... Soon after the Albanian Congress I resigned from the Albanian committee because of the borders set forth by London, and withdrew from all further political activity...”
I was sure of the support of the inhabitants of the northern part of the country in view of the stance I had taken in the years 1910 and 1911 and Vienna could expect to overcome any difficulties caused by Ismail Qemali who was being supported by Berchtold...
My candidacy may have been ridiculed in competent circles. Be that as it may, I grew disgusted a few weeks later and withdrew from all further activities concerning Albania. Some of those in the know said that I only did so because my highfalutin plans had not come about. I for my part gave as my reason [for withdrawing my candidacy] that the Albania created by the Conference of London was a stillbirth.
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(Extract from: Reisen in den Balkan: Die Lebenserinnerungen des Franz Baron Nopcsa. Eingeleitet, herausgegeben und mit Anhang versehen von Robert Elsie, Peja: Dukagjini 2001. Translated by Robert Elsie.)
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COLLOPHON
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This Maltagliato notebook, edited by Serge Plantureux, was printed on 19 April 2019 for SCBS, Servizi Centrali della Biennale di Senigallia, via Marchetti 2, Senigallia in an edition of 1500 copies, by IGO, Chemin des Amours au Poiré-sur-Vie ISBn 978-88-32191-07-3