[133] It is also complained that the Archbishop’s palace was appropriated by the Muhammadans, but it had been left unoccupied for eight years, as Archbishop Ambrosius (flor. 1579–1598) had found it prudent to go into exile, having attacked Islam “with more fervour than caution, inveighing against Muḥammad and damning his Satanic doctrines.” (Farlati, vol. vii. p. 107.) [↑]
[134] Bizzi, fol. 9, where he says, “E comunicai quella mattina quasi tutta la Christianità latina.” From a comparison with statistics given by Zmaievich (fol. 227) I would hazard the conjecture that the Latin Christian community at this time amounted to rather over a thousand souls. [↑]
[135] Bizzi, fol. 27, b; 38, b. [↑]
[136] Veniero, fol. 34. This was also the custom in some villages of Albania as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century; see W. M. Leake: Travels in Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 49. (London, 1835): “In some villages, Mahometans are married to Greek women, the sons are educated as Turks, and the daughters as Christians; and pork and mutton are eaten at the same table.” [↑]
[137] Bizzi, fol. 38, b. Farlati, tom. vii. p. 158. [↑]
[138] Bizzi, fol. 10, b. Veniero, fol. 34. [↑]
[139] Shortly after Marco Bizzi’s arrival at Antivari a Muhammadan lady of high rank wished to have her child baptised by the Archbishop himself, who tells us that she complained bitterly to one of the leading Christians of the city that “io non mi fossi degnato di far a lei questo piacere, il qual quotidianamente vien fatto dai miei preti a richiesta di qualsivoglia plebeo” (fol. 10, b). [↑]
[140] For modern instances of the harmonious relations subsisting between the followers of the two faiths living together in the same village, see Hyacinthe Hecquard: Histoire et description de la Haute Albanie (pp. 153, 162, 200). (Paris, 1858.) [↑]