by David Brewer
Almost all the Peloponnese under Turkish rule
1489
Venetian rule in Cyprus begins
1492
Jews expelled from Spain settle in Ottoman Empire
1510–16
Turks take Barbary coast from Spain
1520–66
Sultanate of Suleyman I, the Lawgiver or the Magnificent
1522
Turks take Rhodes from the Knights of St John
1533
Barbarossa becomes Turkish kapitan pasha
1537–8
Turkish rule in Cyclades established by fleet under Barbarossa
1541
El Greco born in Iráklion, died in Toledo in 1614
1565
Turks fail to take Malta from the Knights of St John
1566
Turks take Chíos
1570–1
Turkish capture of Cyprus
1571
Turks defeated by Holy League at naval battle of Lepanto
1581
Elizabeth I of England grants charter to the Turkey (later Levant) Company
1589
Janissary revolt over payment in debased coinage
1620–38
Interrupted patriarchates of Kírillos I Loúkaris
1645–69
Turks capture Crete after prolonged siege of Iráklion
1656–83
and 1689–
1708
Members of Koprulu family hold office of grand vizier
1675–6
Spon and Wheler travel in Greece
1683
Last and unsuccessful Turkish siege of Vienna
1684
Venetian forces, as part of new Holy League, land in Greece
1687
Venetian shell wrecks the Parthenon
1694
Voltaire born, died in 1778
1699
Treaty of Karlowitz ends war between Turks and Holy League
1705
Greek resistance to devshirme at Náousa
1715
Turks expel Venetians from mainland Greece
1748
Adhamántios Koraḯs born, died in 1833
1751–72
Encyclopédie summarising Enlightenment thinking published
1757
Rígas Pheréos born, died in 1798
1762
Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia
1765–6
Richard Chandler travels in Greece
1768–74
Russian–Turkish war, ended by Treaty of Kutchuk-Kainardji
1770
Orlov revolt in the Peloponnese
1779
Turks finally drive Albanian irregulars from the Peloponnese
1783
Greek ships allowed to sail under Russian flag, extending their trading area
1789
French Revolution and Declaration of the Rights of Man
1790
Greek newspaper Ephimerís (Daily) first published in Vienna
1802
Elgin removes Parthenon Marbles
1806
Turks expel klephts from the Peloponnese
1811
Greek periodical Lóyios Ermís (Literary Mercury) first published in Vienna
1814
Philikí Etería founded in Odessa
1821
Start of Greek war of independence (March)
1822
First provisional national government of Greece established (January)
1822
Greek forces under Kolokotrónis defeat Turkish army near Argos (August)
1825
Ibrahim invades the Peloponnese (February)
1826
Turks take Mesolongi (April)
1827
Ottoman fleet destroyed at Navarino (October)
1831
Kapodhístrias, first president of Greece, assassinated (October)
1833
Otho of Bavaria arrives as first King of independent Greece
1844
Iánnis Koléttis proclaims Megáli Idhéa (Great Idea)
1878
British take over government of Cyprus from the Turks
1919–22
Unsuccessful Greek invasion of Turkey
1922
Smyrna destroyed by fire
1923
Lausanne Treaty on exchange of populations
Notes
Prologue: The Greek View of Turkish Rule (pp. 1–8)
1 Vasdravellis, Klephts, Armatoles and Pirates, pp. 123–6
2 James Creagh, Over the Borders of Christendom and Eslamiah, London, 1876, pp. 124–5, quoted in Wheatcroft, Infidels, p. 227
Chapter 1: Greece Before the Turks (pp. 9–19)
For the Fourth Crusade see Jonathan Phillips’ and Michael Angold’s books of that title, which supplement the material in Steven Runciman’s A History of the Crusades. For an account of the following centuries see Peter Lock, The Franks in the Aegean. Harold Lurier, Crusaders as Conquerors, The Chronicle of Morea is the most accessible translation of the chronicle, and Lurier’s introduction and notes are indispensable. Denis Zakythinos, Le Despotat grec de Morée deals mainly with the later part of the period. For the operation of the feudal system in Greece see Peter Topping, Feudal Institutions as Revealed in the Assizes of Romania.
1 Phillips, p. 5
2 Phillips, p. 62
3 Robert de Clari, quoted in Kelly, Istanbul, p. 123
4 Runciman, Crusades, vol. III, p. 130
5 Lurier in Chronicle, p. 5
6 Chronicle, pp. 115–17
7 Chronicle, pp. 67, 106
8 Chronicle, p. 156
9 Chronicle, p. 158
10 Zakythinos, p. 37
11 Quoted in Topping, p. 8
12 Chronicle, p. 158
13 Chronicle, p. 190
14 Chronicle, p. 194
15 Chronicle, pp. 177–8
16 Chronicle, p. 178
17 Lock, p. 111
18 Zakythinos, p. 71
19 Lock, p. 113
20 Lock, pp. 5–6
Chapter 2: 1453 – The Fall of Constantinople (pp. 20–33)
The main eyewitness and contemporary accounts are in J.R.M. Jones’ translations in The Siege of Constantinople, 1453: Seven Contemporary Accounts; and Nicolo Barbaro, Diary of the Siege of Constantinople (same translator); and in Sphrantzís, A Contemporary Greek Source for the Siege of Constantinople 1453: The Sphrantzes Chronicle (translated, with a valuable commentary, by Margaret Carroll). Of the many books describing the siege Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople is probably still the best factual account, but see also Roger Crowley, Constantinople: The Last Great Siege. For the Byzantine background see Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor; Judith Herrin, Byzantium; and A.A. Vasiliev History of the Byzantine Empire.
1 Dolfin in Seven Accounts, p. 126
2 Vasiliev, pp. 678–9
3 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 29
4 Ducas in Seven Accounts, p. 77
5 Barbaro, p. 11
6 Barbaro, p. 25
7 Tedaldi in Seven Accounts, p. 3
8 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 15
9 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 26
10 Ducas in Seven Accounts, p. 87
11 Barbaro, p. 33
12 Sphrantzís, p. 56
13 Barbaro, p. 45
14 Vasiliev, p. 650
15 Ducas in Seven Accounts, p. 91
16 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 33
17 Edward Pears (1903) quoted in Vasiliev, p. 652
18 Ducas in Seven Accounts, p. 111
19 Ducas in Seven Accounts, pp. 98–9
20 Ducas in Seven Accounts, p. 103
21 Barbaro, p. 61
22 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 25
23 Leonard of Chíos in Seven Accounts, p. 40
Chapter 3: Sultans and Pat
riarchs (pp. 34–43)
Martin Crusius’ history, his Turcograecia, was first published in Basel in 1584, and a facsimile of this original was produced in Modena in 1972. In this edition the original Greek and Crusius’ Latin translation are printed in parallel, and Crusius’ copious and valuable Annotations are included. However it is not easy to read as the Greek is somewhat crabbed and the Latin is full of abbreviations. A clean parallel Greek and Latin text, edited by Niebuhr, was published in Bonn in 1849, but without the Annotations. References are to Crusius, Turcograecia and to Crusius, ed. Niebuhr respectively.
The complete works of Yennádhios, in eight volumes, were first published in Paris in 1935, with an invaluable commentary in French. See also the relevant chapters of Papadopoullos, The Greek Church and People; Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation; and Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity.
For dates of patriarchates see endnotes to Chapter 10.
1 Sathas, Tourkokratouméne Ellás (Greece Under Turkish Rule), Athens, 1896, p. 1
2 Koran, ch. II, section 59, in e.g. The Koran, ed. Palmer, Oxford, 1900
3 Arnakis essay, The Greek Church of Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire, p. 240
4 Finkel, Osman’s Dream, p. 11
5 Yennádhios, vol. VIII, App. V, pp. 27–8
6 Yennádhios, vol. IV, p. 407
7 Runciman, Great Church, p. 169
8 Yennádhios, vol. IV, p. 265
9 Yennádhios, vol. IV, p. 232
10 Yennádhios, vol. VIII, App. V, p. 31, n. 3
11 Yennádhios, vol. VIII, App. V p. 33
12 Yennádhios, vol. IV, pp. 381–2. The acrostic reads ‘Scholaríou péphike pan chirón pónos’.
13 Yennádhios, vol. III, p. 23
14 Yennádhios, vol. IV, p. 415
15 Karoúzos, Martínos Kroúsios, p. 35
16 Crusius, ed. Niebuhr, p. 115
17 Papadopoullos, p. 133
18 Runciman, Great Church, p. 187
19 Crusius, ed. Niebuhr, pp. 158–69
20 Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation, p. 330, n. 36
21 Crusius, Turcograecia, p.487
Chapter 4: The Greek Peasants (pp. 44–52)
Detailed descriptions of the Turkish systems of landholding and taxation are in Inalcik and Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, vol. I; and in Gibb and Bowen, Islamic Society and the West. There is a useful summary in McGrew, Land and Revolution in Modern Greece, chapter 2, which also describes the Greek peasant’s way of life under Turkish rule. For the devshirme see Vasdravellis, Klephts, Armatoles and Pirates in Macedonia.
1 Spencer, Fair Greece Sad Relic, pp. 70, 56
2 Spencer, Fair Greece Sad Relic, p. 63. Lithgow was using ‘fastidious’ in its original sense of something evoking disgust rather than of a person who easily feels it.
3 Mahaffy, Rambles and Studies in Greece, quoted in Anderson, The Smile of Apollo, London, 1964, p. 188
4 McGrew, p. 5
5 Vasdravellis, p. 17
6 Finlay, History of the Greek Revolution, vol. I, p. 340
7 Gibb and Bowen, vol. II, p. 210
8 Crusius, Turcograecia, pp. 193–4
9 Vasdravellis, p. 114
10 Crusius, Turcograecia, p. 194
Chapter 5: The Italians in the Aegean (pp. 53–65)
The main sources are, for Chíos, Philip Argenti, The Occupation of Chios by the Genoese and Chius Vincta; and for the Cyclades, B.J. Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus. See also Peter Lock, The Franks in the Aegean, 1204–1500; and Apostolos Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation, 1453–1669.
1 Argenti, Occupation, pp. 99–100
2 Thomas Gordon, History of the Greek Revolution, vol. I, p. 351
3 Argenti, Chius Vincta, p. xliv, n. 3
4 Argenti, Chius Vincta, p. ci
5 ‘In a word, the views of the Greek leaders overrode the wishes of the Turkish authorities on every issue’, Argenti, Chius Vincta, p. cxciii
6 Randolph, The Present State of the Islands, p. 46
7 Randolph, The Present State of the Islands, p. 14
8 Slot, p. 22 (joke); Vacalopoulos, p. 90 (coercion); Carola Matthews, At the Top of the Muletrack, London, 1971, pp. 105–6 (pride)
9 Finkel, Osman’s Dream, p. 166, who points out that Nur Banu may in fact have been a Greek girl from Corfu – which would disappoint the genealogists.
10 Slot, p. 78
11 Slot, p. 77
Chapter 6: Pirates and Slaves (pp. 66–76)
For piracy in general see Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean, especially vol. II, chapter 7; and Nicholas Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea. Both praise Godfrey Fisher’s The Barbary Legend – ‘excellent book’ (Braudel), ‘an exuberant defence of the Barbary corsairs’ (Rodger) – so Fisher was no mere revisionist maverick. For Spain see J.H. Elliott, Imperial Spain, for Venice Alberto Tenenti, Piracy and the Decline of Venice, and for Greek piracy Vasdravellis, Klephts, Armatoles and Pirates.
For slaves see Braudel and Fisher as above, plus Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age; Inalcik and Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire; Faroqhi, Subjects of the Sultan; Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation; and Finlay, Greece Under Othoman and Venetian Occupation.
1 Elliott, p. 53
2 Fisher, p. 33
3 Fisher, p. 55
4 Fisher, p. 9
5 Fisher, p. 10
6 Fisher, p. 62
7 Fisher, p. 149
8 Tenenti, p. 108
9 Braudel, p. 871
10 Vasdravellis, p. 178
11 Vasdravellis, p. 156
12 Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age, p. 84
13 Grosrichard, The Sultan’s Court, p. 64
14 Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation, pp. 94–6
15 Slot, Archipelagus Turbatus, p. 45
16 Busbecq, Turkish Letters, pp. 44–5
17 Busbecq, Turkish Letters, p. 70
18 Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation, p. 94, quoting Bartholomeus Georgieviz
19 Argenti, The Occupation of Chios, p. 622
20 Finlay, Greece Under Othoman and Venetian Occupation, pp. 61, 68, 69
21 Finlay, Greece Under Othoman and Venetian Occupation, pp. 64, 75
Chapter 7: The Fall of Cyprus (pp. 77–85)
The main source for Cyprus is George Hill, A History of Cyprus, vol. III. For the 1570 expedition of the combined fleet see also Hugh Bicheno, Crescent and Cross; and the lively (but unfortunately unreferenced) Jack Beeching, The Galleys at Lepanto.
1 Hill, vol. III, p. 838 and n. 2
2 Hill, vol. III, p. 797
3 Hill, vol. III, p. 878, n. 3
4 Braudel, The Mediterranean, vol. II, p. 1074
5 Hill, vol. III, p. 884
6 Hill, vol. III, p. 888
7 Hill, vol. III, p. 889, n. 1. Some historians have confused the two votes and say that the ultimatum was rejected only by the narrow margin of 202 to 199.
8 Hill, vol. III, p. 897, n. 1
9 Bicheno, p. 197
10 Quoted in Hill, vol. III, p. 919
11 Hill, vol. III, p. 999, n. 1
12 Hill, vol. III, p. 1003
13 The story was included in Richard Knolles’ enormously influential Generall Historie of the Turks, London, 1603, and two centuries later part of Byron’s extensive reading about the Turks.
Chapter 8: 1571 – Lepanto (pp. 86–95)
As for Chapter 7, see Hill, Bicheno and Beeching. The tables and diagrams in Bicheno are particularly useful. The battle is also described in Andrew Wheatcroft, Infidels; and J.F.C. Fuller, The Decisive Battles of the Western World, London, 1954. Greek involvement is covered in I.K. Hasiótis, I Éllines, and Metaxí Othomanikís Kiriarchías (see Bibliography for details). The Turkish reaction to Lepanto is described in Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organisation and Economy, section IX.
1 Bicheno, p. 230
2 Bicheno, p. 231
3 Bicheno, p. 220
4 Bicheno, p. 268
&
nbsp; 5 Bicheno, pp. 277–8
6 Bicheno, pp. 306–7
7 Bicheno, p. 238
8 Cervantes, Don Quixote, part I, ch. 38
9 Finlay, Greece Under Othoman and Venetian Occupation, pp. 85–6
10 Hasiótis, I Éllines, p. 162
11 Hasiótis, Metaxí, pp. 217–18
12 Hasiótis, I Éllines, p. 14
13 This reading of Chesterton is in Wheatcroft, p. 33
14 Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organisation and Economy, section IX, p. 190
15 Wheatcroft, p. 34
16 Bicheno, p. 285
17 Bicheno, p. 288
18 Norwich, A History of Venice, p. 489
19 Beeching, p. 246
Chapter 9: Mainland Greece and Town Life (pp. 96–106)
The Turkish system of administration is covered in Peter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule; Gibb and Bowen, Islamic Society and the West; Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organisation and Economy; and Apostolos Vacalopoulos, The Greek Nation. For Thessalonika see Mark Mazower, Salonica: City of Ghosts, and for Athens Kevin Andrews, Athens Alive, though Andrews’ extracts from de la Guilletière should be read with caution – see text.
1 Sugar, p. xii
2 Gibb and Bowen, vol. I, p. 276
3 Iris Origo, The Merchant of Prato, London, 1957, pp. 62–5
4 Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organisation and Economy, section X, p. 217