Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer: A Transylvanian Baron at the Birth of Albanian Independence: The memoirs of Franz Nopcsa

PART II Research in Albania (1905–1910)

Part II Research in Albania (1905–1910) 13 Ibegan my travel for my Albanian research projects in 1905. At the end of August, I journeyed to Cetinje where I met our envoy, Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld23 and his wife, Countess Anna Ráday, once again. On this occasion, my name was registered with Prince Nikita and, in the afternoon , I went with the Kuhns to play tennis at the home of Princess Jutta von Mecklenburg.24 The sly peasant Prince Nicholas of Montenegro and his wife came around that day and I was introduced to them. Jutta was very nice though. I played with her against the French envoy, Marquis Sarcey, and Anna Kuhn. I seem to remember that we lost. That evening, Jutta and the Montenegrin Crown Prince Danilo were invited to dinner by the Kuhns, because it was Countess Anna’s name day. Danilo and I talked at length about hunting. He told me how much fun it was to shoot dolphins. I spoke about chamois, etc. We had a great time, and then the conversation turned to London. Danilo: “Londres, c’est superbe . C’est un état.” I replied: “Eh bien, Altesse, c’est bien plus grand que quelques états européens.”25 It was at that point that I remembered that I had before me the crown prince of the midget state of Montenegro so, without interrupting the flow of my sentence, I swiftly added: “Par example, la Norvège, qui n’a que quatre millions d’habitants.”26 I had saved the day. Danilo complained that evening to Countess Kuhn that he had still not been given an Austrian Grand Cross which any greenhorn German prince (“chaque blancbec de prince allemand”) already had, and 23 Otto Freiherr Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld, Austro-Hungarian minister to Montenegro from 1903 to December 1909. 24 DuchessJuttaofMecklenburg-Strelitz(1880–1946),consortofCrownPrinceDaniloofMontenegro. She married the prince in July 1899 and subsequently took the name Militza. 25 “London is wonderful. It is a nation.” “Well, Your Highness, it is at least larger than a number of European countries.” 26 “Norway, for example, that only has four million inhabitants.” 14 Part II sighed: “Moi, l’admirateur loyale de Votre Souverain, me voici quatorze ans sans advancement.”27 A social climber in the upper echelon of society, if there ever was one! In Cetinje, I made the acquaintance of the Turkish envoy, Ahmed Fevzi Pasha. With him and the Kuhns I went on an outing to Mount Lovćen and, on my departure from Cetinje for Shkodra, Ahmed Fevzi, who had become my bosom friend, gave me a letter of recommendation for the Vali of Shkodra. At the same time, as I was later to learn, he had sent a coded cable to the vali telling the latter not to allow me to explore the countryside. When I went to see the vali in Shkodra a few days later and presented my letter of recommendation, he adhered to the cable, gave me a cold reception and informed me that I was not to travel around in Albania . When I informed Consul Kral28 about the unexpected prohibition from the vali, he invited me over and said: “There is only one possible response to this. You must set off immediately despite the prohibition and spend the night somewhere outside of Shkodra.” And so it was. I set off on my excursion to Shoshi, but, alas, fell sick and it was only with great difficulty that I managed to get back to Shkodra via Prekal after two days of travel. I was in excruciating pain and spent a week sick there with Imre Csáky29 at the Vice-Consulate. Consul A. Kral is very good. He took advantage of me and I took advantage of him, so everything was fine. I met Monsignor Primo Doçi,30 the mitered Abbas Nullius of Mirdita. He is a genuine “fisher of men” but only for his own personal interests. As such, my first trip to Albania, although planned since 1901, was a failure as illness once again prevented me from completing the long journey. However, I did not give up. I went back to Szacsal and stayed there from August to October to recover in the Carpathians, and then returned to Shkodra via Cetinje in November. On this occasion I managed to stay in Albania until December. At the start of this new journey, Ahmed Fevzi once again...