1557 – d. 1591)[1] was an Albanian[2][3] postelnic (chamberlain), diplomat,[4] merchant, spy, agent,[5] translator[6] and a multilingual trader, part of the Bruti family[7] from Dulcigno (Ulqin), Venetian Albania.

He worked for the Venetians,[8] Philip II of Portugal, Habsburg Spain,[9][10] the Queen of England,[11] the Principality of Moldavia, Zygmund III Vasa and the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha to whom he was related.

[16] Together with Sokollu who gave him secret information, Bruti made a deal with the Habsburg authorities to spy on Ottoman military activity.

[17] Bartolomeo proposed a new deal; if Philip II of Portugal could offer Sokollu 30,000 ducats then they could bribe Ottoman officials to eventually create an anti-Ottoman alliance in North Africa, particularly in Algeria.

[26] In the summer of 1546, Bruti and Mariano di Lipari landed on Trapani pier with valuable information for the Sicilian government.

Bruti wrote to the Pope asking for spiritual shepherds (Franciscans and Jesuits, from Poland)[29] in order to increase the number of Catholics of 15,000 who were to fight Transylvanias "heretics" (protestans and hussites).

[31] On January 14, 1587, Bruti wrote a letter from Iași to Annibal de Capua: "These Franciscans are very few and they speak neither German, nor Hungarian, so they can't take spiritual care of these catholics, 15000 in number".

[34] The Ottoman-Polish peace talks were conducted that year through the mediation of England, with the capture of Bartolomeo Bruti, "agent del Principe di Moldavia", in Warsaw and Constantinople.

when he became Duke (1574-1579), he summoned Bruti, conferring on him the title of secret chancellor and advisor, and, as a diplomat for both the duchy and the port, played an important role in the political life of Moldova.

However, they soon became rivals as they competed for the influence on the Sultan, and Sokollu arrested Bruti in his own castle accusing him of being a spy and threatening him with forced conversion to Islam.

The real reason behind Bruti's arrest was that he contained secret information on two of Sokollu's men, Hurrëm Bey, a Spanish agent, and Solomon, who were in fact Muslims and pretended to be Christians.

Bruti gave Fourquevaux a payment order to be extracted in Lwów at grand customs officer Sima Vorsi.

In 1582 he was commissioned to go to Constantinople to bring unusual gifts on the occasion of the circumcision festival for the son of the Sultan Murad III.

Mieczysław Brahmer states that Zamoyski, Bartolomeo Bruti and the hospodar Pietro lo Zoppo, left no stone unturned to bribe, with the sum of 50,000 thalers, Sinan Pasha and other pashaliks.

[41] In the spring of 1577, Martín de Acuña from Valladolid guaranteed the possibility of a hidden truce with the Ottoman Empire, while Bruti delivered the letters of Mehmet Bey of Algeria, an act of betrayal to the Sultan.

In interrogation, Bruti claimed to be a Venetian spy who had been sent to Italy by the Jewish merchant and Ottoman official Joseph Micas.

[42][43] Bruti and Acuna argued and confused Philip II with contradictory statements on how to rescue the Christian slaves captured in Istanbul and how to attack the Ottoman fleet.

Philip II eventually believed that establishing Mehmet Bey as king in Algiers was a good idea and decided to send Bruti back to Istanbul to continue negotiations.

[44] In 1580, the French ambassador Jacques de Germigny (1579–1585) reported from Istanbul to Henry III of France that Bruti, who had been used by Spanish agent Don Marillano, working for Philip II of Spain, was arrested in Lezina (La Zenia) after having been tipped off by several drunken individuals who were crying due to the death of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha.

[45] During his contract with Venice, he helped the Ottomans make a plan against Spain in favor of the Portuguese king Antonio I of Portugal.

Bruti also was interested in gaining the Queen's support in order to influence the British ambassador in Constantinople securing Petru Schiopul's throne.

Barton, the Queens man, said ”The Albanian, who in his missive offered his services for the future, had long desired to see the English court”.

On October 2, 1590, Queen Elisabeth sent a letter to Bruti thanking him for having halted the war between Poland and the Ottomans as it otherwise would have had "serious impact on the English munitions trade".

Bruti had made a deal with the Habsburg authorities to help Marliani on the one hand and on the other continue negotiating with Sinan Pasha.

Sinan Pasha then made another petition claiming that Sokollus closest physician, a Jewish man named Solomon Ashkenazi, deceived Marliani into submitting a document with no credit.

Unfavorable winds saved Bruti from a possible shipwreck and he remained on a Ragusan island where he passed on to Lezhë to his home city.

His nose was cut off and he was strangled when he was in his 30s by the new prince Aron Tiranul (1591–1595) who had borrowed money from Bruti and refused to pay it back.