Background At the end of January 1593 Petar Čedolini, a bishop from
Hvar, sent a letter to the Pope inviting him to send envoys to Russia to forge a united Christian coalition against the Ottomans. In the same year a similar proposal was sent to the Pope by Komulović himself. An anonymous report from 1593, attributed to Komulović by many scholars, lists predominantly Slavic regions that could be mobilized to fight the Ottomans:
Herzegovina, Slavonia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Serbia, Moesia,
Bosnia,
Rascia,
Požega and
Temeşvar. Dalmatian friar
Francesco Antonio Bertucci and Ivan (Janko) Alberti went to Rome to propose to Pope to start anti-Ottoman campaign by
Uskok attack and capture of
Klis and
Herceg Novi. Their proposal was accepted At the beginning of 1594, Clement VIII sent clergyman
Aleksandar Komulović of
Nona to central and eastern Europe with the purpose to persuade the rulers of
Transylvania,
Moldavia,
Wallachia, and
Russia to join an alliance against the Ottomans. Another member of Komulović's mission was
Thommaso Raggio (1531–1599), who returned to Italy in 1595 while Komulović stayed in the Balkans until 1597 and submitted a detailed report to the Pope upon his return. He travelled to Moscow and twice visited the court of the Russian emperor, in 1595 and in 1597, but failed to convince the Muscovites to accept his proposals.
Countries, territories and people projected as members This coalition was to include all Christian Slavs, including Orthodox
Russia. According to some sources he continued his journey to
Ancona,
Hvar,
Dubrovnik,
Venetian Albania,
Kosovo,
Macedonia,
Bulgaria, and finally
Moldavia.
Serbs (1912) In Pope Clement VIII's instructions to Komulović, the Serbs were explicitly praised as brave, while the neighbouring Bulgarians were said to be unwilling to fight. It is possible that these instructions were composed by Komulović himself. Still, the mission inspired a series of uprisings in Serb-populated territories, such as the
Uprising in Banat and
Uprising in Peć in 1594. Clement VIII chose not to support the
Serb Uprising of 1596–97. Without appropriate support from other Christian countries all this uprisings were suppressed with heavy casualties for Serb civilian population. In an act of retaliation, Grand Vizier
Koca Sinan Pasha ordered burning of the relics of
Saint Sava, the patron saint of Serbia and Serbs. The
Archbishop of Peć and Serbian Patriarch and the spiritual leader of the
Serbian Orthodox Church Jovan Kantul who supported the uprising of Serbs was captured by the Ottomans and strangled in
Istanbul.
Russia Russia refused to participate using bad relation with Poland as justification.
Cossacks After the outbreak of the Long War in 1593, Rudolph II sent his envoy Count Eric Lasota to
Zaporozhia. In 1594 and 1595 Cossacks plundered Moldavia and invaded Transylvania.
Albanians In 1593 a strange letter in Italian language was sent to Pope in which "elders from Albania" requested the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Poland to "move" against the Ottomans. Komulović was instructed to first travel to
Venice to establish contacts with
Albanians. The Popes instructions and several letters Komulović had sewed in a cushion. When he left Venice he made tremendous mistake and forgot the cushion leaving behind three letters written in
lingua Serviana by the "people of Albania". The Venetian authorities got in possession of those letters and concluded they were forged by Komulović, which is also believed by modern Australian historian Zdenko Zlatar. In July 1594, an assembly was summoned in a monastery in
Mat, by Albanian tribal chieftains, joined by some Venetian subjects, of whom Mark Gjin was elected their leader. In 1595 he visited Rome to receive the Pope's support. The
Himara Revolt broke out in Albania in 1596, but it was easily suppressed after the Venetians convinced some of the chieftains not to join the rebellion.
Republic of Ragusa According to some rumours, the
Republic of Ragusa was ready to expel Komulović because the Ottomans offered them some benefits if they did. Ragusans were worried because of the anti-Ottoman actions of Ragusan Jesuits.
Holy Roman Empire In 1597 Komulović began his return journey and stopped in Prague to propose to
Emperor Rudolf II to re-capture Klis, which had a year earlier been briefly captured by the
Uskoks. as none of the countries accepted the Pope's invitation. == Treaty of alliance ==