Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule From the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence by David Brewer Read Free Book Online

products included olives (virtually everywhere), cotton, fruit and vegetables, honey and wax. Livestock was pastured in the hills during summer and on the fields in the plains once the harvest was over.
    Some islands specialised in one product, Páros in cotton for example, and Kéa in valonia, the husks of acorns valuable as an essential ingredient in tanning. More widespread was the culture of silk, particularly on Ándhros, Tínos and Kíthnos. On Ándhros silk culture dated back to 1100, the silk of Tínos was considered the best, and for Kíthnos silk became the principal export. When one product became dominant others inevitably declined, and in time the islands that specialised became dependent on imports for essentials, particularly grain. Historians argue about whether such monocultures were a good thing or not. It made basic economic sense to produce what commanded the highest price. Also when the monoculture was silk, production could be in the hands of the peasant, working independently with his family on his own plot rather than on the land of a rich proprietor. On the other hand, apart from the disadvantage of dependence on imports in an uncertain world, the producers were at the mercy of the merchants, who could control both the exports and the imports, and adjust the prices of each to their own profit.
    The Italian rulers of the islands were Roman Catholic and their subjects Greek Orthodox. For the Greeks the ultimate authority was the patriarch in Constantinople, who was now subordinate to the Sultan and so, at least in theory, an agent of a power hostile to western Europe. But though some possessions of the Greek Church were taken over by Catholics there was no wholesale imposition of the Catholic system. In practice the Italian rulers would have found such a policy impractical, as there were not nearly enough Catholic clergy available and most of their congregations would have been minute. The policy would also have been impolitic since it would have provoked fierce Greek resistance.
    So the two churches developed a form of cohabitation, in which the Catholics gained some powers but the Greeks retained many. When the crusaders first occupied the Cyclades islands after 1204, Catholic bishops were appointed to the seven existing Byzantine bishoprics, replacing Greek bishops. For a time they had the support of a Latin Emperor in Constantinople, but when in 1261 the Byzantine rulers were restored to the capital the influence of the Catholic bishops rapidly declined. Thereafter most of the islands had very few Catholics, commonly about 5 per cent of the population, and only on two did a significant Catholic community develop: on Tínos by the seventeenth century they made up half the population, and on neighbouring Síros as much as 95 per cent. These two islands lie most directly on the trade routes, and the stronger influence of the west from contact with traders may explain their exceptional adherence to the Catholic Church.
    The modus vivendi between Catholic and Orthodox quickly developed. On Náxos there was a Greek bishop side by side with a Latin archbishop. But the more usual arrangement was for a Catholic bishop to have under him an Orthodox protópappas or head priest. This protópappas handled church administration, and though legal matters were in the hands of the Catholic bishop he had to follow Greek law. The protópappas also acted as representative of the Greek population. In some churches there was both a Catholic and an Orthodox altar. When Catholic clergy were not available, and sometimes even for preference, the Italians – including the aristocracy – would call on a Greek priest. Religious persecution, which was currently doing so much damage in western Europe, was here wholly absent.
    By around 1500 the Greeks of the Cyclades, under the original crusaders and their successors, had enjoyed reasonable stability for three centuries, but now the situation changed. Dynastic disputes arose on