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29-453: Revolutionary action in Himara broke out again after Manthos Papagiannis ' death in 1596. Metropolitan bishop Athanasius I of Ohrid , an ethnic Greek who originated from Mani , was an influential personality in the area of his religious jurisdiction and took initiatives to stir up in revolt Epirotes and Albanians. The Himariotes considered him a saint and showed him full loyalty. Himara was among

58-796: A certain Paniperis, close associate and representative of Himara, to Neaples. The Neapolitan vice-king, the Count of Olivares, sent one of his captains, the Albanian stratiot Miguel Bua, to oversee the coastal fortresses of Bari and Otranto , as well as the events that were occurring in Himara, and to get to know the real intents of the people. While the Neapolitan captain was in Albania, the Himariots south of Vlorë immediately rose up. Bua brought ammunition and equipment for

87-453: A meeting on 26 January 1596, during which Athanasius spoke of the "miserable state of Christians" and asked for help for a general uprising. Rejected by Venice, he openly joined the Spanish conspirators, who contacted the Neapolitan deputy about this. Athanasius sent his minister to Naples to ask for weapons and 2,000 soldiers from Spain, and to establish the whole plan of the uprising. He also sent

116-416: A small unit of Spaniards attacked the nearby Ottoman fort of Cerna. The fort was simultaneously attacked from three directions by 1,300 men, of whom only 300 were equipped with arquebuses. Initially a group of 100 Spaniards managed to capture part of the fort raising their flag, killing 80 Ottoman soldiers including the commander of the fort. During the attack Nicodemos Konstantinos was wounded by an arquebus on

145-641: A theater and an amphitheater and was connected to the Hadrian Port (the current San Cataldo ). Orontius of Lecce , locally called Sant'Oronzo, is considered to have served as the city's first Christian bishop and is Lecce's patron saint. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , Lecce was sacked by the Ostrogoth king Totila in the Gothic Wars . It was restored to Roman rule in 549, and remained part of

174-565: A thousand inhabitants. In 1943, fighter aircraft based in Lecce helped support isolated Italian garrisons in the Aegean Sea during World War 2 . Because they were delayed by the Allies , they couldn't prevent a defeat. In 1944 and 1945, B-24 long-range bombers of the 98th Heavy Bomber Group attached to the 15th U.S. Army Air Force were based in Lecce, from where the crews flew missions over Italy,

203-601: Is home to the University of Salento . According to legend, a city called Sybar existed at the time of the Trojan War , founded by the Messapii . It was conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, receiving the new name of Lupiae . Under the emperor Hadrian (2nd century AD) the city was moved 3 kilometres (2 miles) to the northeast, taking the name of Licea or Litium. Lecce had

232-713: The Battle of Lepanto (1571), where the Ottoman fleet was defeated by the Holy League . He initiated correspondence with various Western European rulers, where he propagated that his compatriots were eager to cast off Ottoman rule. He also claimed that a victory could be easily achieved with the creation of an anti-Ottoman alliance with the local Greek subjects. In 1572, after securing the support of various local Orthodox metropolitan bishops, especially Joachim of Ohrid , he moved to Venice . There he negotiated with Doge Sebastiano Venier for

261-599: The Eastern Empire for five centuries, with brief conquests by Saracens and Lombards . After the Norman conquest in the 11th century, Lecce regained commercial and political importance (count Tancred of Lecce was the last Norman King of Sicily), flourishing in the subsequent Hohenstaufen and Angevine rule. The County of Lecce was one of the largest and most important fiefs in the Kingdom of Sicily from 1053 to 1463, when it

290-588: The Italian Peninsula , and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture , Lecce is nicknamed "The Florence of the South". "Lecce stone"—a particular kind of limestone —is one of the city's main exports, because it is very soft and workable, and thus suitable for sculptures. Lecce is also an important agricultural centre, chiefly for its olive oil and wine production, as well as an industrial centre specializing in ceramics . Lecce

319-668: The Serbs rose up in 1596–97, but without foreign support the rebels were forced to capitulate. In 1600, a rebellion broke out in Thessaly . Manthos Papagiannis Manthos or Matthaios Papagiannis ( Greek : Μάνθος or Ματθαίος Παπαγιάννης , ? – died between 1580 and 1596) was a Greek noble and revolutionary. He was involved in various plots to overthrow Ottoman rule in the northern regions of Epirus . For many years, Papagiannis attempted to convince various rulers of Western Europe to lend him military support for an uprising against

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348-572: The Venetian Republic . The subsequent revolt of Himara brought another wave of anti-Ottoman activity in 1596. Lecce Lecce ( / ˈ l ɛ tʃ eɪ / ; Italian: [ˈlettʃe] ) is a city in southern Italy and former capital of the province of Lecce , with the second-highest population in the Apulia region. It is on the Salentine Peninsula , at the heel of

377-465: The Balkans, Austria, Germany and France. Lecce experiences a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ). Lecce is home to Serie A football club U.S. Lecce , founded in 1908. Since 1966, they have played at the 33,786-seater Stadio Via del Mare . Lecce is served by Lecce railway station . The local public transport includes trolleybus service , introduced in 2012. Lecce

406-632: The Greek inhabited regions where revolutionary activity was mainly reported during this period (1571-1621). Due to the Ottoman-Venetian peace treaty sign at 1573 various uprisings in the Balkans and especially in Epirus received encouragement by Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. As such Athanasius' attempt received the support of the local nobility, scholars, clerics as well as from Greek military figures under

435-571: The Ottoman Empire. Papagiannis was born in Gjirokastër (modern southern Albania ), Epirus region, Ottoman Empire to a local Greek family. He was one of the representatives of the town's Greek community. Papagiannis was one of the most active merchants in his homeland as well as in the nearby Venetian possessions on the Ionian coast. Papagiannis organized a rebellion against Ottoman rule after

464-589: The Ottomans and Papagiannis's proposals were dismissed. The following year, Papagiannis, together with another local noble from Argyrocastro, Panos Kestolikos, moved to Naples and asked the Spaniards to support their revolutionary plan. They also discussed the possibility of an anti-Ottoman armed struggle with the head of the Holy League, John of Austria , "as Greek representatives of enslaved Greece and Albania". John

493-411: The Ottomans. He escaped to Western Europe, but his property was confiscated by the Ottoman authorities and his wife and children were arrested and jailed. The local rural communities were also subjected to Ottoman punishment, even those that were not involved with the preparations. Papagiannis died between 1580 and 1596. His daughter, Argyro, moved to Venice where she received a monthly allowance from

522-566: The Pope. The following 20 years he continued to visit various western European leaders to trigger their intervention against the Ottomans, but without success. Lantzas was one of the main supporters of the Himariotes while Greek agent Hieronimo Combis was against any anti-Ottoman action in the region. Combis also discouraged Michael Bua and his companions. In the Sanjak of Herzegovina and Montenegro Vilayet ,

551-515: The Spanish king. Simon Konstantinos being taken prisoner was sent to Constantinople and his property was confiscated. However, due to his noble origin he wasn't executed. On August 23, 1596 he met with the Albanian captains Michael Bua, Giovanni Golemi, and Michael Papada. They each received a monthly pay of 50 ducats. They then went to Lecce to arm the Himariots with 1,000 arquebuses, powder, lead, four drums, and four royal banners ( insegne del Re ). Athanasius then moved to Rome and had an audience with

580-630: The command of western powers. Spanish conspirators decided to invite Athanasius I of Ohrid into their plans. He was described as "discrete and intelligent". In the beginning, Athanasius was uninvolved, until the beginning of 1596 when he offered his cooperation to the Venetian official in Corfu. Athanasius sent a letter to the provveditore and captain of Corfu , Angelo Basadonna, in January 1596, about wanting to meet up and discuss "very important things". The two had

609-522: The insurgent inhabitants of Himara, and served as the captain and colonel of 2,000 Albanians. Meanwhile, the Venetian ambassador in Naples suspected that the Himariotes received weapons from the Spanish and that they immediately sold them to the Ottomans. He also accused Petros Lantzas , a Greek agent that worked for the Spanish, for having organized this. Nevertheless those weapons were finally confiscated and sent back to Otranto. The Albanian revolt of Himara

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638-503: The opportunity to the Ottomans to launch a successful counterattack. The revolt was easily suppressed after the Venetians convinced some of the chieftains not to join the rebellion, and the fact that the rebel army was undisciplined. After the unsuccessful operation Athanasius returned to Himara for the preparations of another rebellion. The remaining Spaniards left the region, but Athanasius awaited this time an aid of 3–4,000 soldiers from

667-448: The possibility of Venetian involvement in the revolt. In February–April 1572, a Venetian fleet of twelve galleys was ready to attack the coastal region of Delvine. However, Venier recalled the attack order, in fear that his manpower was not enough for a successful assault. The Venetian activity was limited to a minor raid against the coastal village of Mazaraki on the Ionian coast. Nevertheless, Venice ultimately decided to make peace with

696-421: The right arm while his brother Simon was taken prisoner by the Ottomans. However the Himariots being confused about this turn of the battle withdrew from the battlefield. Meanwhile a part of the soldiers engaged in looting and fled with their loot to the mountains. Ottaviano had to defend the fort with just 50 men, but finally had to withdraw without dismantling it, as had been foreseen in his initial plan. This gave

725-474: Was active in July and August, with initial success, the rebels managing to control the coastal towns. Athanasius attacked the fortress of Kanina with the support of Ottaviano di Loffredo. A number of Greek and Albanian captains in the service of the Spanish in Naples also participated in this operation, such as Miguel Bua, Giovanni Golemi, Esteban Bublia, Nicodemos Konstantinos, etc. The rebel force being reinforced by

754-414: Was annexed directly to the crown. From the 15th century, Lecce was one of the most important cities of southern Italy, and, starting in 1630, it was enriched with precious Baroque monuments. To avert invasion by the Ottomans, a new line of walls and a castle were built by Charles V (who was also Holy Roman Emperor ), in the first part of the 16th century. In 1656, a plague broke out in the city, killing

783-528: Was eager to provide the necessary support for an immediate revolt, but the Spanish dismissed the plans. They provided only a limited amount of money to Papagiannis in exchange for remaining in their service as an agent. After the dissolution of the Holy League, both Papagiannis and Kestolikos approached Philip II of Spain (r. 1554–1558). In 1574, Papagiannis was in Ottoman-controlled Epirus to prepare another planned revolt. The following year, he

812-605: Was located in Himara , on the Ionian coast, together with Basque spy Antonio de Echavarri, in order to determine if the situation was ripe for that purpose. Later, in 1577, he established contacts with Spanish spy Martin de Acuna in Constantinople . After several unsuccessful attempts to trigger Western intervention against the Ottoman Empire and agitating for the liberation of the northern part of Epirus, Papagiannis's plans were exposed to

841-697: Was part of a range of anti-Ottoman movements in the Western Balkans at the end of the 16th century during the Long Turkish War in areas that extended from Epirus up north to the area of Šibenik (in Croatia). Following Athanasius' promise to raise 6,000 Albanians and his plea for help in munitions, the Spaniards began preparations to attack. Athanasius had returned to Albania by the summer of 1596 and stayed in Himara. A contemporary source stated that there were 10,000 fighters in red costumes in Himara. The revolt

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