Francesco Antonio Bertucci

Bertucci was at the heart of 1596 plans for the uprising in the eastern Adriatic region.[8] According to some suggestions, the main reason for his anti-Ottoman activities were his plans to recapture the Priory of Vrana from Ottomans.[8]

The contemporary Venetian sources and later sources that rely on them considered Bertucci as papal agent, while some other sources simply considered him as an adventurer who managed to achieve access to the Pope through emperor Ferdinand II.[8] Elisabeth Springer, an Austrian scholar who studied the career of Bertucci, emphasize that Bertucci's earlier attempts to access the pope (before he gained support of Ferdinand II) aimed to convince him to inspire general anti-Ottoman uprising in the Balkans and organize an anti-Ottoman crusade (Holy League), were not successful. Springer further concluded that Bertucci was actually an agent of Holy Roman Empire who initially gained support of Archduke Ferdinand of Graz and later emperor Ferdinand II and members of his court, for his anti-Ottoman plans.[8] According to Bertuccis plan, the rebels (including Uskoks) would first capture Klis, Herceg Novi and Scutari from the Ottomans.[9] That would trigger large Ottoman naval expedition into north Adriatic and draw Venetians, who otherwise refused to join the crusade, to join the alliance against the Ottomans.[8]

In the early 1590s the seat of anti-Ottoman conspiracy of Bertucci and his associates was in Ragusa.[8] According to some rumours, the Republic of Ragusa was ready to expel them because the Ottomans offered them some benefits if they did.[10] The seat of anti-Ottoman conspiracy was then moved to Split.[11]

In 1595 Bertucci tried to convince the Metropolitan of Cetinje Rufim Njeguš to accept union with Catholic Church.[12]

On 7 April 1596 a group of Uskoks who were Habsburg citizens and about thirty Venetian citizens attacked the Ottoman-held fortress of Klis (Battle of Klis (1596)) and captured it with the support of some members of the Ottoman garrison.[8] The Habsburgs and Papal State joint troops, led personally by Antonio Bertucci, were sent to reinforce weak Christian garrison in the newly captured fortress.[8] The releaf troops were supplied from the port of Senj.[13] The Ottoman forces first defeated reinforcement troops and then reoccupied Klis.[8] The Habsburg general who was supposed to lead relief troops blamed Bertucci for this defeat.[8] Bertucci was captured during this battle and briefly held in Ottoman captivity until he was ransomed.[8] This defeat had negative influence to his further attempts to convince Balkan Christian rulers to rebel against the Ottomans.[8]

• Gligor Stanojević (1973). Senjski uskoci. Vojnoizdavački zavod.
• Kukuljević Sakcinski, Ivan (1886). "Franjo Antun Brtučević prior Vranski" (PDF). Priorat vranski sa vitezi templari i hospitalci sv. Ivana u Hrvatskoj (in Croatian). Zagreb. p. 138. Retrieved 15 September 2017. Nakon duga reda svjetskih upravljatelja priorata vranskog pojavljuje se početkom 17 stoljeća opet jedan prior vranski reda sv. Ivana jerusolimškog. Prior taj bijaše Franjo Antun Brtučević. Franjo Brtučević poteče od stare vlasteoske porodice hvarske. Taljanski pisao se, po običaju onoga vremena Bertuzzi i Bertucci, hrvatski zvala i pisala se porodica Bartučević i Bertučević.