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

Náxos, Páros and Ándhros. As well as internal disruption, external threats were increasing. In the years between 1500 and 1521 the Turkishnavy carried out raids on most of the islands in the central and western Cyclades – larger islands such as Náxos and Ándhros, smaller ones such as Mílos and Kéa. Often the islanders resisted fiercely, and the damage done was limited: a fortification destroyed, a few men captured. But after the Turks seized Rhodes from the Knights of St John in 1522, and for the first time had a naval base in the southern Aegean, the Turkish threat became increasingly clear.
    It became a reality with Barbarossa’s incursions in 1537 and 1538. Barbarossa, to the Turks Khair-ed-din, was a Turk from the island of Lésvos, born in 1466. As a pirate he established himself on the Barbary coast of north Africa, but entered Turkish service some time before 1520. Algiers was by now annexed to the Ottoman Empire and Barbarossa was appointed its governor, under whom it soon became a thriving city-state. In 1533 Suleyman the Magnificent appointed Barbarossa as kapitan pasha, that is supreme commander of the Turkish navy, with a seat alongside the grand vizier in the imperial council and a residence in the Galata quarter of Constantinople. This was the representative and wielder of Turkish power, with a fearsome reputation in his own right, who now descended on the islands of the Cyclades.
    Barbarossa left Constantinople in the summer of 1537 with a fleet of about 100 ships. His first target was Venetian Corfu, but he was repulsed. Sailing back round the Peloponnese he had more success at the island of Éyina (Aegina) near Athens, where reputedly all the male inhabitants were killed, to be replaced by Albanian immigrants; 6,000 women and children were taken away as slaves.
    When Barbarossa reached the Aegean his first target was Páros, which surrendered to him after a few days. The island was sacked, some of the inhabitants were killed, and the young girls forced to dance on the beach in ‘un ballo alla greca’ so that the Turks could make their selection for the Sultan’s harem. According to some sources one of these girls was Cecilia Venier, daughter of a previous ruler of Páros, who rose from the harem to become the Sultana Nur Banu, powerful queen-mother and the first to use the title officially. Genealogists note that thus a descendant of the first Duke of Náxos, Marco Sanudo, became one of the most influential figures in the Ottoman Empire. 9
    Barbarossa now moved on to Náxos. Neither he nor the Duke of Náxos Giovanni IV wanted a battle, Barbarossa because it was now late in the campaigning season and the island was well defended, Giovanni IV because he had no strong loyalty to Venice. So the island offered surrender at once, which was accepted on condition that it recognised Ottoman sovereignty and paid an annual tribute. At the end of the yearBarbarossa returned in triumph to Constantinople with booty, it was said, of 400,000 ducats, 1,000 boys and 1,500 girls.
    At the beginning of 1538 Barbarossa sailed again for the Cyclades, on the way attacking the Sporades islands of Skiáthos, Skópelos and Skíros and bringing them under Turkish rule. Ándhros submitted on the same terms as Náxos had in the previous year. Tínos initially surrendered to him, or possibly only some villages did so. But Tínos quickly repudiated this surrender and successfully resisted Barbarossa’s attacks, remaining a Venetian possession. Each year thereafter, on 1 May, a grand procession would make its way to the Venetian castle on the hilltop ten miles north of the main town, where the air would be rent with gunfire commemorating the island’s resistance and with cries of ‘Viva San Marco.’ 10
    By the end of 1538 all the Cyclades islands except Tínos were under some form of Turkish control, six of the smaller islands, including Míkonos, under direct Turkish rule, the rest paying tribute. The terms on which the