The Dushmani were an
Albanian family in
Pilot (now the
Dukagjin highlands in northern Albania). The oldest generation of the family is mentioned on 2 June 1403 when the
Venetian Senate confirmed Goranin, Damjan and Nenad the rule over Pilot Minor (as Venetian subjects). A "Dusmanus" (or
Dussus) was the bishop of Pilot in 1427. In 1440 he served as pastor in
Treviso (in Italy), in 1443 as bishop of
Svač (in Montenegro), and in 1446 as bishop of
Drivasto (in Albania), and in 1454 as
bishop of Craina (
Skadarska Krajina). In July 1452
Pope Nicholas V sent him to settle the conflict between
Lekë Dukagjini and
Skanderbeg. His predecessor at the newly founded archbishopric of Craina,
Uniate prelate of Greek origin Sabbas, was seated at the
Prečista Krajinska since 1452, and holding on to Eastern Rite psychologically readied the people (Serbian Orthodox) to accept Catholicism. In 1454, when the Franciscans complained about persecution from
Đurađ Branković, Pal became the Papal Nunciate in Serbia and Albania with the rights to preach for war against the Ottomans. In order to lend Dushmani freer hand, the Pope excluded Drivasto from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Antivari, which led to bitter resistance from the latter. Dushmani's adaptive tactics in an Orthodox environment were presented to the Pope as betrayal of Catholicism: according to accusations, Dushmani claimed that the Orthodox Church was the right one and that it should be regarded higher than the Roman Church, allegedly prohibited that requests against his procedures be submitted to the Roman curia, and he himself acted as a Pope. In 1457, an investigation was ordered against him, but he died the same year, before it was started. In his place as bishop came John from Crete, another
Uniate Greek. ==References==