Venetian possessions in the Eastern Mediterranean

A B S T R A C T
This paper aims at the fullest possible presentation of the numismatic history of Venetian occupied Crete in the opening three decades of the 17th century. To date, this period has preoccupied researchers mainly with regard to socio-political aspects and cultural activity.
The above goal was attained by recourse both to written testimony and to numismatic remains from the period. The detailed cataloguing of Venetian state archives (reports by the general provveditori of Crete, provveditori in the Venetian Zecca, senate decisions) offers a wealth of unknown or unused evidence on existing numismatic conditions on the island, endemic and chronic problems, as well as desperate attempts by the central administration to control monetary circulation and overcome obstacles of various kinds.
Record is made of established or unusual administrative measures aimed at dealing with lack of coinage; tackling forgery in Cretan markets; rectifying anomalies in currency exchange rates; limiting dependency on foreign numismatic issues from political and commercial rivals (mainly Spain and the Ottoman Empire) etc.
Strictly numismatic concerns seriously affected financial life in the Regno di Candia: they hampered large-scale commercial transactions and day-to-day dealings, limited trade liquidity and had a knock-on effect on tax income, forcing local public treasuries and citizens to jump through all manner of fiscal and numismatic hoops.
In turn, this led to the proliferation of problems in society: problems paying employees and soldiers created social tensions, upsetting social harmony and contributing to the degradation of the lower classes.
Day to day financial reality is also reflected by individual finds, and still better by hoards located in Cretan museums, which are virtually unrecorded in the international bibliography. These vividly portray the means used in small transactions and savings on Crete, when taken together with the mass issues from the Venetian mint destined for exclusive use on the island, which were often ideologically loaded by the choice of Greek-language inscriptions.
So as to examine market practice in medium or large scale transactions over the widest possible financial and geographical range, statistical analysis was carried out on all the legal dealings recorded in the surviving ledgers of two notaries: M. Varouchas (Amari, 1579-1613, published) and J. Da Scitia (Chandax, 1613-1625, unpublished).
These quantitative data permit us to make observations that both support and add substantially to other testimony. Matters addressed include: the liquid assets of townsfolk and country dwellers; the extent and intensity of barter; currency used in transactions on the island, in contrast to those carried out in the mother city; the frequency of bills of exchange; the abundance of bronze and rarity of gold and silver; measures taken to protect transactions against rampant forgery; language used on coinage and related issues etc.

Η Κεφαλονίτικη Πρόοδος. Τριμηνιαίο περιοδικό Ιστορίας, Λαογραφίας, Τέχνης και Επικαιρότητας, περ. Β΄, τχ. 27, Κοριάννα Λειβαθούς Αργοστόλι, Ιούλιος-Σεπτέμβριος 2018, 14-20· τχ. 28, Οκτώβριος-Δεκέμβριος 2018, 17-20· τχ. 29, Ιανουάριος-Μάρτιος 2019, 19-22 (in Greek).

LAND AND PEASANTS IN MEDIEVAL CRETE. XIIIth – XIVth c.

The conquest of Crete by the Venetians and the new state of affairs imposed by Venice soon led to a new social and economic order for the island. If, on a social level, the changes that ensued were not entirely radical, on the economic level they were decisive for the future development of Crete.
The new system of land ownership imposed by the Venetians was founded on the general principle that the land belongs to the state, and the state disposes of the land as it sees fit, always with a view to serving best its interests and maintaining security both in its overseas domain and at home. The Venetian settlement of the island was conducted on a systematic basis, and the greater part of the island was divided up among the Venetians who were sent there as the feudal, landowning cast. A portion of the land was held by the Latin Church, by monasteries and churches (both Catholic and Orthodox), while the state retained a large region for itself -Paracandia, containing numerous villages in the area around the Cretan capital, Candia. The first major changes to take place on the island were not completed until the end of the thirteenth century, mainly on account of the slow progress made in the face of resistance from the indigenous landowning classes who delayed not only the redistribution of land but also the full conquest of the island. These longestablished, noble families were to profit from their resistance by succeeding in carving out for themselves a right to the land they had fought for. Indirectly, their resistance paved the way for less well-placed Greek families to acquire property rights through various means.
By the late thirteenth century the political situation had stabilized and land distribution and ownership had become established. The island held two large social groups, the feudal lords and the peasants, bound to one another by the land. The peasant class was composed of two clearly defined groups: those who were, and those who were not, subject to their lords. The larger of the two groups was composed of villeins, the successors to the Byzantine paroikoi, subject to a rigorously defined dependency on their masters. The villeins in turn were composed of two main categories: those who were bound to the land itself, and thence to the feudal lord, and those who belonged directly to the feudal lord, regardless of the land. In contrast to the villeins, free peasants were not subject personally to their lords, farming the land while being economically dependent on its owners.
Although the land was divided into fiefs, cavallarias and serventarias, all serving to assist the state in its task of collecting taxes from the feudal lords, economic life in the countryside was based on the village, whose unity was assured irrespective of the regime of landownership. The peasants lived in the village, they cultivated the farmland roundabout, and they rendered their dues to its owners.
While many features of society and daily life in the countryside remained little changed since Byzantine times, the colonial characteristics that the Cretan economy started to acquire as a result of the Venetian conquest led to a number of important changes. More intensive exploitation of the land and the development of city ports that gradually grew into major export and transit centres of, principally, agricultural produce, were the most obvious results of these changes. During the first two centuries of Venetian rule the agrarian economy played a key role. The island's agricultural production was dominated by cereals and vines, while livestock breeding was also important, contributing to the island's export market.
Tilling the land (divided into small and medium-sized plots) was based on family-scale labour, as in Byzantine times. The direct cultivation of large areas of land owned by the feudal lords, whether by means of the system of compulsory communal labour (angarie) or by the employment of paid workers -as was the case in western Europe- does not appear to have been the practice in Crete. The Venetians interfered very little in the operations of rural life on the island; rather, their principal objective was to maximise agricultural production. Thus, all those who owned land -feudal lords, the state, the Church and monasteries- made their land available for longer or shorter lengths of time for cultivation by the peasants, under various terms, according to the kind of cultivation undertaken. Thanks to long-term grants of land-cultivation rights (gonico, renting for 29 years), peasants were able to secure practically a lifelong right to the land, to the extent that they were often able to pass on land to their inheritors. This fact was instrumental in binding the peasant to the land and in providing the feudal lord with a much needed agricultural workforce. For his part, the peasant was able to develop his farming activities to the best possible advantage. On the other hand, short term grants of land (such as rents of limited duration and "labour agreements") served, primarily, intensive cultivation of cereals, often destined for the export market. In such cases the landowner would be reluctant to commit his land for long periods with an unproductive peasant farmer or at a rental rate that might turn out to be unprofitable on account of rises in grain prices. The variety of grants of land, combined with the type of cultivation and the small plots of land in different regions gave both peasant and landowner the opportunity to choose the best possible farming solution with the best possible prospects.
Landowner, land and peasant were closely bound to one another and interdependent. Nevertheless, the individual owning the land always had a distinct advantage, however much he might depend on farm-labourers in order to turn his land into a profit-making concern. The numerous farm-labour contracts that have survived are evidence of this relationship of dependence, as well as of the landowner's decisions with respect to the best exploitation of his land, and the efforts of both sides to secure their interests by means of the terms of the agreement and by the practice of signing the contract and having it formally ratified. The large number of contracts testifies to the mutual dealings of peasants of the same land, to the increase in the cultivable land area as more and more land was granted for cultivation, and the arrival of new peasant farmers. However, one cannot determine accurately the size and extent of these phenomena, since it is not possible to establish correlations across historical periods, or, what is more, for specific regions, since the sources do not cover the entire island.
The profits deriving from the exploitation of the land of the feudal lords were chiefly in kind, as agricultural products, grain, wine and, to a lesser extent, livestock breeding. Everything was destined for the local or international market. Besides the land rent, the feudal lords also reaped various feudal revenues -all kinds of dues and rights- that the peasants paid in order to use the land and other features of the countryside. These revenues, part money, part in kind, did not entail vast sums; they did, however, serve to reaffirm the relationship of dependence, economic and personal, of the peasant on the feudal lord, and determined the position of the peasant within the social and economic system of Crete.
The two social classes -feudal lord and peasant- occupied by definition the base and the peak of the economic pyramid of medieval society, that is, the many poor and the few rich. Yet within these two classes further pyramids quickly emerged displaying significant intermediate levels. In other words, by the midfourteenth century there were a considerable number of feudal lords who were running into serious financial difficulties, and a relatively small number of peasants who, while one hesitates to describe their situation as prosperous, at least found themselves to be getting by on a satisfactory economic level. It appears to be the case, therefore, that although Cretan society had clearly defined lines separating the social classes, the level enjoyed by each group's members was not the same, however much their position in the social hierarchy provided them with differing opportunities, starting from a differing base.
The prospects and likelihood of finding an alternative livelihood were very limited for a peasant, and any attempt at breaking out of the mould entailed considerable risks. Nonetheless, small-scale trade and investment (basic characteristics of the city-ports, where large numbers of people came together from much of Europe and the Near East), served to fuel the desires and hopes for betterment of the poor of both city and countryside. At difficult moments in the island's history, the peasants turned to the cities and towns. There they hoped to find refuge, or the means by which they might leave the island to seek a better fortune elsewhere.

The legation sent by Pope Eugenius IV to Constantinople in 1437 played a critical role in the long diplomatic efforts towards a reunification of the Latin and Greek Churches, and paved the way for the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438–1439). With some exceptions, such as the later Cardinal Nicholas Cusanus, the members of the delegation have not received wide attention. This paper presents a biographical analysis of all those involved – the nuncios, the financiers and the galley commanders – and their relationship to the Pope. The findings provide new insight into Eugenius IV’s diplomacy towards the Byzantines, as well as Cusanus’s place in it. Cusanus’s presence added conciliar legitimacy, but the key functions were in the hands of a core team of Venetians – including non-patricians – who had prior experience in Constantinople and a personal connection to the Pope.

This book discusses the evolution of the fortifications that have defended the town of Nafplio and its port over the centuries. It provides a detailed guide to the substantial elements that survive and a description of the sections that have been lost. These survivals include the acropolis defences, the fifteenth century Venetian fort built on a rock in the harbour, sections of the first walls enclosing the lower town, fragments of the great land walls built by the Venetians between 1701 and 1711 and finally the system of fortifications atop the mountain of Palamidi. It also describes the fortifications of the outlying territory connected to the city: the castle of Thermisi and the artillery fort at Drepanon.
ISBN 9780957584624

Italien als Vorbild.Ökonomische und kulturelle Verflechtungen europäischer Metropolen am Vorabend der 'ersten Globalisierung' (1300-1600)
Internationale Jahrestagung des Mittelalterzentrums „Forum Mittelalter“
der Universität Regensburg in Verbindung mit dem     
DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 2337 „Metropolität in der Vormoderne“ 
15. - 17. November 2018, Regensburg

Στόχος της μελέτης είναι να καταγραφούν οι ναοί της πόλης, των προαστείων και της υπαίθρου της Κέρκυρας που υπήρχαν τον 15ο αιώνα. Η καταγραφή δεν έχει τον χαρακτήρα παράθεσης ολοκληρωμένων ιστορικών σημειωμάτων για τον κάθε ναό, αλλά περιορίζεται στην παρουσίαση εκείνων των πληροφοριών που πιστοποιούν την ύπαρξη του συγκεκριμένου ναού στην ανωτέρω χρονική περίοδο, καθώς και όλων εκείνων που κρίθηκαν απαραίτητες για την εξακρίβωση της θέσης του ναού και των ονομάτων των κτητόρων του.
Η μελέτη στηρίζεται κυρίως στα διασωθέντα νοταρικά κατάστιχα που φυλάσσονται στα ΓΑΚ-Αρχεία Νομού Κέρκυρας και σε σκόρπιες πράξεις που ανήκουν ή αναφέρονται στην συγκεκριμένη χρονική περίοδο, ενώ παράλληλα καταβλήθηκε προσπάθεια να αξιοποιηθούν και τα δημοσιευμένα πορίσματα της αρχαιολογικής έρευνας για τον τόπο.

Η μελέτη εξετάζει το σύνθετο πλέγμα σχέσεων και αλληλεξαρτήσεων που αναπτύχθηκε στη διάρκεια του πρώτου αιώνα της λατινικής κυριαρχίας στο Αιγαίο μεταξύ κατακτητών, εποίκων και εγχωρίων καθώς και με τον υπόλοιπο λατινοκρατούμενο χώρο (φεουδαρχικές σχέσεις, πολιτικές εξαρτήσεις, οικογενειακοί δεσμοί, οικονομικές συναλλαγές κ.α.). Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο ερευνώνται οι παράγοντες εκείνοι που με τον ένα ή το άλλο τρόπο λειτούργησαν καθοριστικά στη διαμόρφωση των σχέσεων αυτών, όπως η προέλευση και η κοινωνική θέση των νέων κυριάρχων, οι συνθήκες εγκατάστασής τους στην περιοχή, η εκάστοτε πολιτική συγκυρία, η θέση και η γεωπολιτική σημασία των νησιών, η διάταξή τους σε ομάδες ή μεμονωμένα. Η πραγμάτευση του θέματος εστιάζει στις μικρές ανεξάρτητες ή ημιανεξάρτητες δυτικές κυριαρχίες που δημιουργήθηκαν στο Αιγαίο μετά την Τέταρτη Σταυροφορία και αγγίζει περιφερειακά τα δύο μεγάλα νησιά της Εύβοιας και της Κρήτης.

Famagusta Maritima: Mariners, Merchants, Pilgrims and Mercenaries
presents a collection of scholarly studies spanning the thousand year history of the port of Famagusta in Cyprus. This historic harbour city was at the heart of the Crusading Lusignan dynasty, a possession of both Genoa and Venice during the Renaissance, a port of the Ottoman Empire for three centuries, and in time, a strategic naval and intelligence node for the British Empire. It is a maritime space made famous by the realities of its extraordinary importance and influence, followed by its calamitous demise.

Contributors are: Michele Bacci, Lucie Bonato, Tomasz Borowski, Mike Carr, Pierre-Vincent Claverie, Dragos Cosmescu, Nicholas Coureas, Marko Kiessel, Antonio Musarra, William Spates, Asu Tozan, Ahmet Usta, and Michael Walsh.

Charalambos Gasparis assesses the implications of the dissolution of the Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy in Venetian Crete and the influence this had on the imagery of Hell. He offers an overview of the continuities and novelties in the political, administrative, economical and ecclesiastical realm that shaped a society that produced numerous images of Hell. The study of the Cretan images of Hell has become essential for our understanding of social norms as well as the enforcement of Venetian penal law and the survival of Byzantine law on the island. By providing a detailed analysis of the organisation of the local Orthodox Church as well as a comparative analysis of offences, presented in both pictorial and textual form, as found in hitherto unpublished documents from the Venetian archives, where the social, economic and religious profile of the donors is also reflected, Gasparis correlates iconography to its social background and demonstrates how images can mirror aspects of the society that depicted Hell in their churches.
The parts of the Chapter are:
2.1 The Political, Social and Economic Context
2.2 The Religious Context: Greek Orthodox Priests and Churches
2.2.1 The Orthodox Priests
2.2.2 The Churches
2.3 Earthly and Heavenly Justice: From Sin to Crime, from Crime to Sin
2.3.1 Murder, Theft and Robbery
2.3.2 Professional Transgressions (Millers, Tailors, etc.)
2.3.3 Usurers and Notaries
2.3.4 Sins of a Social/Moral Nature
2.3.5 The Sins of the farmers
2.3.6 Religious Sins
2.4 Documents

[English abstract after the French]

Apprenons quelques mots de turc:
un glossaire arabo-turc de la Genizah du Caire
Cet article traite d'un carnet de comptes en judéo-arabe qui a probablement appartenu à un agent consulaire en Egypte Au début du 17ème siècle. Il contient des listes de produits achetés et toutes sortes de relevés comptables. Mais, quelques pages sont en fait un glossaire arabo-turc rédigé en caractères hébraïques. Nous avons ainsi la preuve de l’intérêt certain que portaient les Juifs de l'Empire ottoman pour la langue turque, un intérêt d'ordre culturel et économique.
Par le passé, la thèse dominante préconisait que si les Juifs ottomans parlaient le ladino et l'arabe, ils ne parlaient pas le turc. Cependant, des recherches publiées ces dernières décennies ont montré que les Juifs vivant dans l’Empire ottoman participaient de façon active à la scène culturelle turque et possédaient, du moins pour beaucoup d'entre eux, une maîtrise indéniable de la langue turque. C’était surtout vrai pour les hommes. Cette constatation, que nous mettons ici en exergue, vient renforcer la thèse soutenue par d'autres articles et révèle donc l'intérêt des Juifs pour la langue turque, et ce, non seulement parmi la classe supérieure dont les médecins, les Juifs de Cour par exemple, mais aussi parmi la

This article discusses a Judeo-Arabic accounting book composed by a Jew who, it appears, served as an agent of one of the European consuls in Egypt. The accounting book, which seems to have been written in early 17th century, contains primarily lists of products bought by the agent and various other accounting notes; however, some of its pages contain a unique text – an Arabic-Turkish glossary composed by the agent, written in Hebrew letters. This glossary reflects the interest displayed by the Jews of the Ottoman Empire in the Turkish language, an interest driven by both cultural and economic motives. In the past the accepted assumption has been that the Jews of the Empire spoke only Ladino or Arabic and had no command of Turkish. Studies published in the past few decades have disproven this assumption and exposed the deep involvement of the Jews of the Empire in Ottoman culture, and the command many of them – primarily men – had over the Turkish language. The finding discussed in this article joins previous findings on this topic, and teaches us that the interest in the Turkish language was not limited to member of the Jewish elite (doctors, courtiers, etc.), but can also be clearly identified amongst members of the Jewish middle class.

Nicolò Barbaro’s famous account of the siege of Constantinople in 1453 is frequently cited in studies, but the lists of Venetian noblemen in it are less well known. Based on a close examination of Barbaro’s manuscript and a biographical analysis of the noblemen in question, this paper offers new insights into Barbaro’s work and, for the first time, determines the date of its completion (between 1503 and 1507). It also presents unnoticed archival records on Barbaro himself – possibly the last surviving Venetian nobleman of the siege – adding context to help understand his work. This was not only an account of the conquest of Constantinople, but also a living document in which, over decades, Barbaro kept track of the Venetians who had played a role in the city’s defense.

Questo articolo presenta cinque diversi fondi e raccolte di catasti veneziani e documentazioni relative alla produzione catastale, che sono conservati nell’Archivio di Stato di Zara. Vengono descritte le circostanze in cui furono creati dal XV al XVIII secolo. I catasti furono realizzati parallelamente all’espansione dei possedimenti veneziani in Dalmazia (Acquisto Vecchio, Acquisto nuovo (Linea Grimani) e Acquisto nuvissimo (Linea Mocenigo)). Contengono molte informazioni preziose sugli abitanti della Dalmazia di allora, sulle proprietà che coltivavano e sui luoghi in cui vivevano. In quanto tali, rappresentano un potenziale scientifico e culturale eccezionale. Nell’articolo vengono inoltre presentati e analizzati i dati sull’uso del materiale catastale nella sala di lettura dell’archivio, nonché il lavoro dell’Archivio nel campo della pubblicazione catastale e nel campo delle attività espositive.

Tο θέμα της παρούσας μελέτης αφορά στην εδραίωση του τοιχογραφημένου χτιστού τέμπλου στις εκκλησίες της Κρήτης κατά το 14ο και το 15ο αιώνα. Η συγκεκριμένη μελέτη περιλαμβάνει υλικά τεκμήρια που εντοπίστηκαν μέσα από τη διαδικασία της αρχαιολογικής έρευνας πεδίου κυρίως στη δυτική Κρήτη και δεν αποτελεί έναν εξαντλητικό κατάλογο ναών με χτιστά τέμπλα. Κύριος στόχος της είναι η ερμηνεία της ύπαρξης του χτιστού τέμπλου ως τμήμα της ευρύτερης μετάπλασης των λατρευτικών μορφών, δίνοντας ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στην ερμηνεία αυτής της κατασκευής ως υλικού τεκμηρίου «ομολογίας πίστης» στις εκκλησίες του νησιού  κατά την περίοδο της πρώιμης Eνετοκρατίας.

The publication of the most significant collections of historical sources regarding Venetian rule in the Levant (Greece and Eastern Mediterranean) remains a standing request of the research community. These sources include final Reports (relazioni) by Venetian governors of overseas dominions in the area under study. This book comprises those related to the Kingdom of Cyprus (Regno di Cipro). They are 25 Reports by Venetian patricians who were members of the supreme administrative body on the island (luogotenenti of Cyprus [6] and their counsellors [8], capitani of Famagusta [8] and provveditori generali of Cyprus [3]); the reports were located in archives or manuscript collections in Venice: Archivio di Stato, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana and the Library of Museo Civico Correr. Furthermore, it is included the reproduction of the abstract of the Report by provveditore generale Bartolomeo Contarini (1518), from the 27th volume of the Diarii by Marin Sanudo (report No 1), which isn’t located elsewhere (Marino Sanuto, I diarii, eds. Federico Stefani, Guglielmo Berchet and Nicolò Barozzi, vol. 27, Fratelli Visentini, Venice 1889, pp. 36-44). In addition to the 25 Reports, there is another one by a Venetian government official, Giovanni (Zuan) Franscesco Stella (1566), secretary of the Chancellery of Cyprus responsible for matters of the provveditori generali, which deals exclusively with issues related to the activities of provveditore generale Antonio Bragadin during his term in office before his death in Cyprus (report No 24). The texts that are published here belong to the category of sources that serve history in an inclusive manner, since their subject matter is related to political, economic as well as social history.

The book includes an extensive and informative introduction, aiming at both understanding the institutions that produced the published texts, and commenting on their nature and the themes elaborated in them. Followed by the diplomatic edition of the final Reports, their abstracts in Greek and documented lists of the supreme administrative officials on the island. The introduction and the abstracts of the Reports are also available in English, an option that makes the work accessible to the international research community. The publication concludes with a detailed index of human names and toponyms, as well as thematic terms from the Reports.

The War of Cyprus (1570–71) took place within the framework of the Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War, which was concluded with the naval Battle of Lepanto and the peace treaty signed by the two contenders in 1573. This essay deals with the consequences of the War of Cyprus, focusing on a category of veterans that comprised native Cypriot non-professional combatants and militiamen who had fought alongside the Venetian overlords, as well as subjects of the Serenissima originating from former territories (such as the Morea) in the Venetian Maritime State (stato da mar), who served as professional military personnel in the army of Cyprus (stradioti). The principal issues explored in this essay are: firstly, their captivity in the hands of the Ottomans and the procedures for their liberation; and secondly, their subsequent claims to restitution through their recruitment into the Venetian armed forces. The sources on which the study is based are the veterans’ unpublished petitions to the Venetian authorities, in combination with other types of documents (notarial documents, court cases, deliberations by various Councils and magistracies etc.) from the Archivio di Stato di Venezia.

The study of archival material has unearthed a treasure trove of information on the movements and activities of the Cretan painters in the Ionian Islands during the 16th and 17th centuries. Painters both known and anonymous would, in their travels to the then-contemporary mecca of learning and the arts, Venice, pass through the Ionian Islands; primarily Corfu and Cythera, but also Zakynthos and Cephalonia, were mandatory layovers for such a long journey. The present study was made possible thanks to the discovery of heretofore unknown notary records from the General State Archives of the Prefecture of Corfu which reference the two most well-known Cretan painters of the 17th century, Emmanuel Tzanes Bounialis and Filotheos Skoufos.

Βυζαντινές οικογένειες σε βενετικό περιβάλλον: Οι οικογένειες Γαβαλά και Γιαλινά στη βενετική Κρήτη (13ος-14ος αι.)
Οι στρατηγικές των μεγάλων βυζαντινών/ελληνικών οικογενειών στη βενετική Κρήτη κατά τον 13ο και 14ο αι. είχαν ως πρωταρχικό στόχο τη διατήρηση ή και την ισχυροποίησή τους στο νέο πολιτικό, κοινωνικό και οικονομικό περιβάλλον. Αν εξαιρέσουμε τον πλέον δυναμικό τρόπο επίτευξης του στόχου αυτού, δηλαδή τις επαναστάσεις, τότε οι κύριες στρατηγικές ήταν από τη μια οι επιγαμίες τόσο μεταξύ των οικογενειών αυτών όσο και με τις νέες βενετικές οικογένειες, και από την άλλη η αστική οικονομική δραστηριότητα. Με τον τρόπο αυτό κατόρθωσαν να διατηρήσουν ή και να ενισχύσουν την έγγειο ιδιοκτησία τους, καθώς και να αυξήσουν τον πλούτο τους. Οι ελληνικές οικογένειες επέδειξαν την απαραίτητη προσαρμοστικότητα, αν και όχι όλες στον ίδιο βαθμό. Έτσι, δεν μπορούμε να μιλάμε για ενιαία στρατηγική των μεγάλων ελληνικών οικογενειών, αλλά για στρατηγικές που υιοθετούνται από κάθε ελληνική οικογένεια ξεχωριστά, ή ακόμη και από έναν κλάδο της ίδιας οικογένειας.

Many foreign travellers, geographers, botanists, naturalists, archaeologists etc. travelled  during previous centuries to Crete (1204-1939) and recorded their experiences and researches, also many similar experts studied and wrote about the island based on ancient texts without having visited it, acting often as guides of those who did visit. Important work has also been done by Greek archaeologists and antiquities’ curators. For anyone who would like to look for relevant information I quote their names below as well as the titles of books or articles or scientific (archaeological, etc.) magazines where they published their writings and generally the sources where these writings can be found. As my research actually intended to find out citations and visitors of Polyrrinia Kissamos some special notes in such cases are quoted.
The links usually lead to the e-books. In many cases there are also links to informative websites about the authors. Wherever possible I have already linked or noted the page where Crete and Polyrinia are referred.

The battle between the French Republican forces and Ali Pasha's Ottoman-Albanian troops on 23 October 1798 and the ensuing Halasmos (Χαλασμός) or "destruction" of Preveza have become landmarks in the political and social history of Preveza.  The battle had two distinct components: the first part took place at Nicopolis, primarily between the North Roman walls and the hill of Michalitsi, and the second occurred in in the streets of Preveza itself.  Each of these episodes have been recorded by somewhat different sources, most of which do not portray all of the events. The size of the opposing forces, the numbers of soldiers and civilians killed and the locations, and the events in Preveza all range widely. To have a complete picture of what transpired, these different accounts must be compared and combined. This paper presents some of the initial findings of such a comparison, which will be developed further in a forthcoming publication on the 1798 Battle.

"The memory of the stradioti in the late Renaissance italian literature.

The stradioti, mercenary mounted troops of Albanian, Greek and Slavic origin, recruited by the Republic of Venice and other Italian and European States during the wars of the late 15th and much of the 16th century, were among pioneers of light cavalry tactics in the early modern era. They made an impact in Italy and the West, mainly due to their style of fighiting and combat effectiveness. They were also famous for their peculiar manners and outfit, as well as for the simplicity of their equipment. This paper investigates the reception of the stradioti by Italian historiography and literature of the time. Furthermore, it presents a number of contemporary Venetian musicians and composers that set to music selected texts of the relative literature. Finally, it examines the adventurous lives and the intellectual and literary production of some exceptional and remarkable scholars from the ranks of the stradioti."