Venetian Cyprus

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.

In the course of 1580, Agostino Valier, a bishop of Verona, conducted an apostolic visitation to Istrian dioceses. The report on the visitation represents an historic source of great importance for the knowledge of late 16th century Istrian history. This paper brings to light information about Pula and its inhabitants  contained in the report on Bishop Valier’s visitation to the Pula Diocese. Descriptions include the very visit and other social, economic and religious circumstance in Pula of the period.

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 author analyzes the monumental topography of Paphos, a harbor town in western Cyprus, during the Lusignan (A.D. 1191/2-1474/89) and the Venetian periods (A.D. 1474/89-1570/1). The analysis was based on narrative sources (primarily travelogues and chronicles), as well as archaeological finds. These were used to record the activities reflecting its economy, character, and geographical range, its mariculture. The process highlighted the vulnerability of the medieval monuments and the importance of creating a Cultural Heritage Management plan. Potential cultural trails can highlight new areas of cultural interest, consider other under new light, and raise awareness among the public in order to safeguard them.

Since Fredrik Barth’s work on the development, maintenance and negotiation of group boundaries (1969), scholars have been focusing on the relationship between identity and boundary construction, especially in multi-confessional and multi-ethnic societies. Although hardly impenetrable, boundaries ―physical/territorial and imaginary/psychological/spiritual― diachronically function as visible, audible, tangible and performed markers of religious and cultural perception and self-perception. The aim of this conference is to address the status of Cyprus as a “borderland” or “frontier-zone”, already noted but not adequately investigated and analysed in historiography. In what ways were religious and cultural borders defined, constructed, negotiated, performed, and crossed in Cyprus between ca. 1500 and 1600? How can borders help us better understand Cypriot Christian identities (Orthodox, Latin, Maronite, Armenian, among others) and forms of cultural expression? By bringing together scholars working on early modern multi-confessionalism and Cyprus from different disciplines and perspectives, and employing different sources, approaches and methodologies, we seek to offer a channel for fruitful dialogue and exchange of views and ideas on key themes related to the island’s religious geography and cultural physiognomy in this critical period.

Zoom link to the Conference will be announced closer to the event.

https://www.fhs.unizg.hr/images/50041648/Hrvatski%20pomorski%20regesti_RMC_III.pdf

The "Croatian Maritime Regesta – the 18th Century" 3rd vol. are a valid source for History of Adriatic and different nation's travellers (Italians, Croats, Jews, Albanians, Greeks). They consist of 3 published volumes with 16.000 documents from different collections of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Archivio di Stato di Ancona and Archivio di Stato di Fano. They tell the story of the Venetian Republic at the 18th century Adriatic. The project of transcription and publication of the “Croatian Maritime Regesta of the 18th century” was started by late prof. Nikola Čolak in the 1956. The result of his 40 years in different archives of Italian and Croatian ports are 100.000 microfilmed documents. Focusing and mainly dealing with documents of maritime-commercial nature produced in the context of eastern-western 18th century Adriatic trade, Regesti marittimi croati is in fact a largely unexplored and for the time being also a mostly untapped source of information. Far from being completed, its current 16.000 documents represent only a portion of a numerically much bigger, thematically and geo-chronologically much wider mine of information.
Getting specific information from a general archive (as Regesti marittimi croati in fact are, in spite of their economic-trading focus) is an extremely taxing task. The degree of serendipity intrinsic to such type of research, however, can drastically be reduced by singling out from each document the most relevant metadata and crisscrossing the pieces of information they provide.

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Projekt pronalaženja i publiciranja hrvatskih maritimnih dokumenata 18. stoljeća je izvorno osmislio i započeo pokojni prof. Nikola Čolak koji je za života objelodanio „Hrvatske pomorske regeste” sv. I. i II.
Radi se o pažljivo prikupljanim izvorima u hrvatskim i talijanskim arhivima u razdoblju od 40 godina, od 1953. do 1996. (do autorove smrti) i obuhvaća dokumente o pomorskom prometu tijekom 18. stoljeća između luka dviju jadranskih obala.
U prva dva sveska javnosti je predstavljeno oko 12.000 dokumenata iz Državnih arhiva Venecije, Fana i Ancone.
Treći svezak nastavlja započeti niz dokumenata, iznoseći daljnje dokumente iz Državnog arhiva u Veneciji (Archivio di Stato di Venezia), i Državnog arhiva u Anconi (Archivio di Stato di Ancona). I ovaj svezak, kao i prethodni, pruža zanimljive podatke o vrstama i imenima teretnih brodova, o imenima i porijeklu kapetana, brodovlasnika i mornara koji su njima plovili, o robi koju su prevozili, cijenama i porezima, ali i o osobama koje su njima putovale zbog posla, hodočašća ili drugih razloga, o rutama, dogodovštinama svakodnevnog života, sklapanju poslova, brodolomima, gusarstvima, pa čak i svađama.
Dokumenti se prenose u obliku regesta (dakle sažetog sadržaja), a njihov obujam (dakle daljnjih 4.000 dokumenata, što sveukupno s prethodno tiskanima u Padovi iznosi 16.000) omogućuje realniju sliku prometa između dviju obala u 18. stoljeću.
Urednica je Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek, doktorandica na Poslijediplomskom studiju povijesti Sveučilišta u Splitu, također Čolakova unuka.
U predgovoru ona predstavlja, iz jedne intimnije i obiteljske angolacije, pok. profesora Čolaka, njegov život i rad, sav posvećen hrvatskoj povijesti.
U knjizi se zatim predstavlja Popis prikazane građe (str. 25.) iz arhiva Venecije i Ancone.
Na str. 481. se nalazi Onomastički popis; na str. 629. Toponomastički popis, i na str. 647. Analitički popis. Zatim na str. 675 Pogovor te se na str. 679. nalazi Biografija – Životopis Nikole Čolaka (koju je on sam napisao još davne 1958. strojopisom), a na str. 683. In memoriam iz pera Lovorke Čoralić iz 1997. godine. Na str. 686. Popis slika; knjiga završava sa stranicom Sadržaja.
Treći svezak Hrvatskih pomorskih regesta, sa svojim 3927. dokumenata potvrđuje jake poveznice hrvatskog naroda s Europom, ne samo povijesno i kulturalno nego i ekonomski, baš zato što je živio i živi okrenut prema tom istom Jadranskom moru, koje je bilo poticaj, te ujedno cilj i put kojim je prolazila trgovina, razmjena i međusobni odnosi, kao što se vidi iz dokumentacije u obradi.
Nakana je da ovaj 3. svezak bude samo početak nastavljanja niza pomorskih regesta (ne samo 18. stoljeća), kojima je pok. Nikola Čolak započeo Codex Diplomaticus Maritimus Croatiae.
Prof. dr. sc. Josip Vrandečić

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Nel primo volume dei Regesti Marittimi Croati si trovano 4.890 documenti raccolti negli Archivi di Stato di Venezia e di Fano, nel secondo pubblicato anch’esso a Padova 6.891 provenienti dagli Archivi di Stato di Venezia e di Ancona, ed infine nel terzo 3.927 unità dagli ultimi due archivi. Tutti e tre i volumi sono accompagnati da indici onomastici, toponomastici ed analitici. I documenti sono presentati in forma di regesti dato che Čolak si è deciso, giustamente, per il criterio secondo il quale, visto il gran numero di documenti che compaiono dal XVI secolo in poi, essi debbano essere pubblicati solo in forma sintetica. I regesti a loro volta devono essere direzionali e completi, ed in tale forma da fornire un’informazione completa affinché i ricercatori non debbano essere costretti a seguire nuovamente lo stesso percorso indicato dalle annotazioni sulle fonti.
Una volta che saranno pubblicati tutti i volumi ed avremo digitalizzata davanti agli occhi tutta la nostra flotta navale del XVIII secolo: le navi, i marinai e le merci, allora, in accordo con il grande Fernand Braudel, avremo raggiunto la massima perfezione che la storia sia in grado di fornirci; e talvolta, nei momenti di ispirazione, come d’incanto potremo entrare in quel tempo e spazio, e vedere dinanzi a noi ogni nave e persona nella sua navigazione quotidiana per l’Adriatico. Per una tale impresa anche al giorno d’oggi, pure gli stati moderni con centinaia di ricercatori e generosi fondi monetari, avrebbero bisogno di molti sforzi e tempo, mentre grazie all'eredità lasciata da Čolak, lo Stato croato ha ricevuto tutta la storia marittima di un suo secolo, e cosa più importante, nel periodo in cui i Veneziani avevano finalmente ceduto e lasciato il commercio adriatico ai Dalmati, non potendoli più ostacolare con varie leggi navigatorie a favore della propria marineria. La crescita economica della Dalmazia nel XVIII secolo si basava proprio sul commercio marittimo e la viticoltura ambo redditizi, fungendo da collegamento tra i territori periadriatici e la penisola appenninica. La libera esportazione dell’esubero di vino dalmata aveva favorito la marineria dalmata, i suoi porti e lazzaretti. La crisi delle rotte oltreadriatiche veneziane aveva ulteriormente incentivato l’apertura delle comunicazioni commerciali adriatiche in cui si erano inseriti i mercanti dalmati con le proprie eccedenze. Nel 1771 la regione che possedeva 378 grandi velieri e 2.148 navigli più piccoli aveva rilevato la maggior parte della redditizia navigazione costiera nell’Adriatico. Gli alti prezzi dei noli che rendevano fino a 200 zecchini per viaggio verso Venezia, avevano contribuito a sviluppare il commercio marittimo delle isole dalmate e dei comuni del Litorale. In base ai regesti collezionati un giorno saremo in grado di ricostruire la vita di ciascuna nostra nave dalla sua prima navigazione fino all’ultima, ed è qualcosa di cui non si può vantare nessun popolo marittimo al mondo, neppure le grandi potenze marine. 
Per questo sforzo di un’intera vita bisognava possedere tutte le qualità di uno storico collezionista: l’integrità, l’erudizione e la conoscenza, cui il prof. Čolak ha aggiunto anche un amore pronunciato verso la Patria. Nel suo lavoro è contenuto del tutto il nostro ideale storico legato all’Adriatico, questo nostro mare che, come egli ha sottolineato, ci rende l’unico popolo marittimo, in pieno senso, all’interno della grande famiglia dei popoli slavi.
Il prof. Čolak ha avuto la fortuna di aver trovato, all’interno della sua famiglia, in sua nipote Zrinka la continuatrice della sua opera. Tuttavia ella in futuro non può fare tutto da sola. Oltre alle citate circa 16.000 unità finora stampate in tre volumi, nel suo archivio, ora conservato nell'Archivio di Stato Croato a Zagabria, aspettano ancora altre circa 30.000 unità regestate da sistematizzare, ed ancora altri circa 70.000 documenti originali microfilmati e fotocopiati. Questo tesoro giace ora sulle spalle di sua nipote e sulla nostra coscienza. Una volta pubblicato per intero la Croazia diverrà simbolicamente quello stato marittimo forte dell’Adriatico che è in realtà.

Prof. Dott. Ric. Josip Vrandečić

Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming (until 1571) the most important stronghold of Latin Christianity in the Eastern Mediterranean—first under the Frankish dynasty of the Lusignans, and later under the Venetians. Modern historiographical readings of Cypriot identity in medieval and early modern times have been colored by British colonialism, Greek nationalism, and Cyprocentric revisionism. Although these perspectives have offered valuable insights into the historical experience of Latin-ruled Cypriots, they have partially failed to capture the dynamics of noncoercive resistance to domination, and of identity preservation and adaptation. Orthodox Cyprus under the Latins, 1191–1571 readdresses the question of Cypriot identity by focusing on the Greek Cypriots, the island’s largest community during the medieval and early modern period. By bringing together theories from the fields of psychology, social anthropology, and sociology, this study explores continuities and discontinuities in the Byzantine culture and religious tradition of Cyprus, proposing a new methodological framework for a more comprehensive understanding of Cypriot Orthodoxy under Crusader and Venetian rule. A discussion of fresh evidence from hitherto unpublished primary sources enriches this examination, stressing the role of medieval and Renaissance Cyprus as cultural and religious province of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine Orthodox world.

Lepanto, fires in the twilight
Venice and the Ottomans, 1416-1571

The Ottomans: for centuries the enemy par excellence of the Venetian name, the geopolitical rivals capable of stifling long-distance trade, before the Portuguese cut their routes starting from the Indian Ocean. A confrontation that takes place over the span of about four centuries, characterized by seven wars declared and an uninterrupted state of tension and low-intensity conflicts.
The struggle with the Ottoman padişa, imposing the urgency of protecting the long-range maritime routes and the defense of the State from Màr, prevents Venice from fully developing the strategic thrust in Italy and therefore from acquiring the territorial and demographic size necessary for the rank of great power. It is therefore the key junction in the history of the republic.

Οι δύο τελευταίες δεκαετίες της βενετικής κυριαρχίας στην Κύπρο σηματοδοτούνται από εντάσεις και κινήματα των αγροτικών πληθυσμών και των λαϊκών στρωμάτων των πόλεων, τα οποία πυροδοτούνται αφενός από τη διαιώνιση του αναχρονιστικού φεουδαρχικού κοινωνικοοικονομικού συστήματος και αφετέρου από την πλημμελή πολιτική των κυβερνώντων στο ζήτημα της σιτάρκειας και εκφράζουν την ανάγκη για κοινωνική αναδιανομή. Στον αντίποδα, εκδηλώνεται ένας καθυστερημένος και συνάμα βραχύβιος, λόγω της πρόωρης οθωμανικής κατάκτησης, ιταλοκυπριακός πολιτισμικός συγκρητισμός, στον οποίο πληθώρα μελετητών έχει αποδώσει «αναγεννησιακά» χαρακτηριστικά, με κύριες αντανακλάσεις στην παραγωγή νομικών, ιστοριογραφικών και λογοτεχνικών κειμένων, στην ομιλούμενη γλώσσα, στη θρησκευτική τέχνη και στην ενδυμασία. Τα προϊόντα του συνθέτουν εν πολλοίς την κουλτούρα των ανώτερων κοινωνικών στρωμάτων, που μονοπωλούν τον πολιτικό διάλογο με τη βενετική αποικιακή εξουσία και τροφοδοτούν με τους γόνους τους το φοιτητικό δυναμικό ανώτατων σχολών του ιταλικού χώρου και ιδίως του κρατικού Πανεπιστημίου της Πάδοβας. Ανεξάρτητα από τον «εξιταλισμό» αυτό της παιδείας, που συχνά υπαγορεύεται από τις ανάγκες της βενετικής διοίκησης, στο θρησκευτικό πεδίο παρατηρούνται, ομοίως, διεργασίες και μεταβολές, απότοκες των γενικότερων εξελίξεων στον ευρωπαϊκό χώρο. Αναμφισβήτητα, η συνύπαρξη καθολικών και ορθοδόξων ήδη από την περίοδο των Λουζινιάν είχε συνυφάνει το σύνολο του πληθυσμού μέσα στην ίδια θρησκευτική ατμόσφαιρα. Ιδίως μετά την ενωτική Σύνοδο της Φερράρας-Φλωρεντίας, τα δύο ετερόδοξα στοιχεία συμβίωναν ειρηνικά τις θρησκευτικές ιδέες και τα λειτουργικά ήθη και έθιμά τους, έτσι που ήταν δύσκολο ή και αδύνατο σε κάποιους (ακόμη και σε λατίνους ιερείς και μοναχούς) να συνειδητοποιήσουν τις διαφορές της Εκκλησίας τους ως προς ορισμένα ζητήματα. Στον συγχρωτισμό αυτό και γενικότερα στο υφιστάμενο ήρεμο θρησκευτικό κλίμα είχε συμβάλει αναμφίβολα και η βαθμιαία παρακμή της καθολικής Εκκλησίας τόσο σε τοπικό επίπεδο όσο και στη Δύση γενικότερα, που συμβάδιζε με μία παράλληλη ενδυνάμωση του ρόλου και της σημασίας της ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας όχι μόνο στο θρησκευτικό επίπεδο, αλλά και γενικότερα στην πολιτική και κοινωνική ζωή της κτήσης. Η έλευση του τελευταίου λατίνου αρχιεπισκόπου Filippo Mocenigo κατά την τελευταία δεκαετία της βενετικής κυριαρχίας (εκείνη του 1560) και η απόπειρα επιβολής από μέρους του των αποφάσεων της Συνόδου του Τρέντο στους ορθοδόξους ήλθαν να διαταράξουν την αρμονία στις σχέσεις των τελευταίων με τους ομόθρησκους «άλλους», να τονίσουν τις δογματικές διαφορές και να φέρουν στην επιφάνεια το ζήτημα της χειραφέτησης της ακμάζουσας κατ’ εκείνη τη χρονική φάση ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας. Σε γεωπολιτικό επίπεδο, τέλος, ο οθωμανικός κίνδυνος καθίσταται ολοένα και περισσότερο ορατός και απειλητικός για τη βενετική κυριαρχία. Η Υψηλή Πύλη, στο πλαίσιο της πολιτικής ευθείας σύγκρουσής της με τις χριστιανικές δυνάμεις στη Μεσόγειο, προετοιμάζεται μέσω συνωμοσιών, επαφών ακόμη και με γηγενείς Κύπριους και αδιάκοπων στρατιωτικών εξοπλισμών, για την προσάρτηση του Βασιλείου της Κύπρου στην επικράτειά της. Οι εξελίξεις αυτές ασφαλώς επηρεάζουν συνειδήσεις και διαμορφώνουν νέες νοοτροπίες και συμπεριφορές όχι μόνο σε μεμονωμένα άτομα ή σε δυσαρεστημένες ομάδες της κυπριακής κοινωνίας, αλλά και μεταξύ της άρχουσας ελίτ.
Με αφορμή την εμβάθυνση στη θεματική της πρόσληψης της Μεταρρύθμισης και της Αντιμεταρρύθμισης από μέρους εγγράμματων κύκλων κύπριων ευγενών και αστών, αλλά και γενικότερα από τον γηγενή πληθυσμό, η εργασία εστιάζει στις κοινωνικές ταυτότητες και ανατέμνει ορισμένες ενδιαφέρουσες πτυχές της κυπριακής κοινωνίας της περιόδου: τις ατομικές και συλλογικές νοοτροπίες και συμπεριφορές που αναπτύσσονται εντός του ανώτερου κοινωνικού στρώματος επ’ ευκαιρία της εμφάνισης ιεροεξεταστών στο νησί και των διώξεων που ασκούνται τόσο στην Κύπρο όσο και στη Βενετία σε βάρος ορισμένων γόνων αριστοκρατικών οικογενειών, που είχαν προνομιακή σχέση με τους βενετούς αποίκους. Ο συγγραφέας φθάνει στην απόφανση ότι στην προκειμένη περίπτωση το δικαστήριο της Ιεράς Εξέτασης μετατρέπεται, μέσω των μαρτυρικών καταθέσεων, από μηχανισμό συμμόρφωσης σε πεδίο επίλυσης διαφορών και εκτόνωσης του ανταγωνισμού μεταξύ των μελών της άρχουσας ελίτ. Από την άλλη, κατευναστικό και εξισορροπητικό ρόλο αναλαμβάνει το συλλογικό όργανο της τελευταίας, η Κοινότητα των φεουδαρχών, ευγενών και εύπορων αστών της Λευκωσίας (Communitas ή Universitas nobilium, feudatorum et burgensium), απενοχοποιώντας τις φιλοσοφικές και θρησκευτικές αναζητήσεις μελών της και εκλαμβάνοντάς τες ως μη επιλήψιμες διανοητικές ενασχολήσεις, που δεν απειλούν την ορθή κοινωνική τάξη˙ τουναντίον, στοχοποιεί τους κληρικούς που εκτελούν χρέη ιεροεξεταστών στο νησί –αυτοί είναι που τη θέτουν σε κίνδυνο–, παρέχει ταξική αλληλεγγύη στα μέλη της-θύματα διώξεων των τελευταίων και, εν τέλει, πείθει την κυρίαρχο να παρέμβει και να παράσχει την προστασία της. Όσον αφορά δε τα υπάλληλα κοινωνικά στρώματα, αυτά επισήμως δεν διαθέτουν «φωνή», παραμένουν στο περιθώριο της όλης διαδικασίας και δεν παρουσιάζονται στο προσκήνιο παρά διαμεσολαβημένα, ανάλογα με τις περιστάσεις και κατά το δοκούν, με δύο αντιφατικές εκδοχές: είτε υπό τη μορφή «αμαθών χωρικών», έτοιμων να υποκινηθούν από τους φορείς της απόκλισης σε εξέγερση κατά της καθεστηκυίας τάξης πραγμάτων, είτε και θεματοφυλάκων της λαϊκής ορθόδοξης θρησκευτικότητας, που αντιδρούν στην απόρριψη καθιερωμένων αξιών της (όπως λ.χ. της λατρείας των αγίων και των εικόνων, ή του εθίμου της λιτάνευσης της εικόνας της Παναγίας της Βροχής σε περιόδους ξηρασίας).

Η εβραϊκή παρουσία στον ελλαδικό χώρο (4ος-19ος αι.), επιμ. Άννα Λαμπροπούλου – Κώστας Τσικνάκης (Διεθνή Συμπόσια 12), Αθήνα, Ινστιτούτο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών/Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών – Εταιρεία Μελέτης Ελληνικού Εβραϊσμού, 2008, 155-170 (in Greek).

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.

Graduate students, scholars and practitioners in the study and conservation of Venice and its former territories are invited to apply for grants towards travel to undertake historical and contemporary research in Venice and/or the former Venetian empires. Applicants from all disciplines within the humanities and social sciences are eligible for areas of study including, but not limited to: anthropology; archaeology; architecture; the fine and applied arts; bibliography; design; economics; history; history of science; language and linguistics; law; literature; music; political thought; religion; theatre, film and television. Applications for research on the environment and conservation are welcomed. Other relevant research interests will be considered. The closing date for applications is 1 st May every year. Applicants are advised to check on the accessibility of the institutions where they propose to work. On-line applications and further information can be found on http:// delmas.org/grants/venetian-program-grants/venetian-research-program-british-commonwealth/ Grants will be announced in the early summer. In view of Covid-related restrictions on travel, successful applicants will be expected to complete their research within two years, and to file a report with both the New York office and the British and Commonwealth committee. F.C.B Cadell, From the Calcina Hotel (1910) Reproduced with the kind permission of the trustees of the National Galleries Scotland

The scarce information that we find in the Venetian sources concerning the social status of paroikoi (villeins, parici) during the Venetian occupation of Cyprus (15th-16th c.) paints a dark picture of the Venetian administration’s aims and measures for the island. It is an undisputed fact that the personal status of parici in Cyprus worsened in comparison to that of the former Luzinian period. This paper closely examines a compelling attempt by Cypriot villeins to point the finger at corrupted administrative officers and to press charges against the feudatari (feudatories). We discuss the social status of this group a few years before the war of 1570-1 and compare this status to that of small landholders on the Venetian mainland within the wider framework of contemporary religious disputes, revolts and the spread of Humanism. Furthermore, we examine the central government’s response alongside the measures taken to protect Venice’s second largest colony against Turkish threats, on the one hand and on the other, in relation to Spanish promises. Cyprus’ economic potential is discussed as well as the position taken by other Cypriot social groups on the villein matter.
This research focuses on the humiliating treatment of a social class forced into submission, a state that eventually became implicit for the villeins. This state was characterized by endless drudgery and humiliation based on an anachronistic sense of human life. However, enforced obedience proved inefficient in preventing individual defections to the enemy, the desertion of entire villages and, on occasion, even more violent reactions from the oppressed. Despite being confined to Europe’s corner, the social phenomenon of the human distress of Cyprus’ parici was analogous to similar events in the heart of the continent. In the end, this phenomenon bore the signs not only of a distress of the Venetian regime itself, but of the distress of a whole socio-political system based upon the human bondage.

Taking the Venetian domination over the island of Cyprus as an exemplar, this book is addressed to a wider audience, as well as to students in the faculties of Arts and Humanities who wish to familiarize themselves with the period of Italian sovereignty in many eastern Mediterranean lands during early modern times. Given the lack of similar succinct, scientifically accurate and up-to-date synthetic studies in the field, it aims to contribute to the historical debate regarding the use of more compatible – to the modern phases of historiographical research – approaches to the said rule in an insular and maritime region inhabited mostly by Greek Orthodox Christian populations, the experiences of which during that era have only recently begun to be examined outside the scope of (a) the traditional-ethnocentric Greek historiography, which deals predominantly with “our” race’s struggles to preserve “our” national identity, and (b) a short-sighted local historiography, namely, all the relatively autonomous “narrations” of the history of each region, written regardless of the history of the Empire-Repubblica of which it was part, and which claim its integration with the vocabulary and topics of early colonial, or “proto-colonial”, history.
Thus, the perspective through which the author approaches Venetian sovereignty over Cyprus distances itself from policies of identity and sides with the view that historicity, the classification of recorded data within a historical framework with specific parameters and the linking of the particular, the local-regional with the general, is the most effective intellectual weapon against the ideological abuse of history, which is based on anachronisms and leads to the construction of national and other myths.
The issue of Venetian rule in Cyprus is examined on the basis not only of knowledge of the history of the institutions of the Venetian State, but also of other political formations in the Italian Peninsula which produced similar social and economic models (i.e. the formation and development of the Italian communities [comuni]), other similar socio-economic systems which were applied in other Italian colonies at the time or earlier in the Levant (i.e. in Crete), developments in the political, social, economic and cultural structures of the wider European space, as well as the consequences to the Mediterranean basin of the differentiations in the geo-political status quo and the balance of power following European expansion overseas and to the New World.
Further, the author uses the data made available to historians in the last decades, through the publication or the republication of primary sources of the Cypriot history of the period. Equipped with these tools, as well as with the conclusions of several published and even unpublished researches, he examines a series of basic questions regarding the formation of a historically inferred view of Venetian sovereignty, such as the political, institutional, social and economic restructuring imposed on Cyprus, the means and methods adopted by the Venetians for colonizing the island, the degree of its success and its impact on the everyday lives of the several classes of the local society, the “language” of power of the Venetian administration, the worldviews and the ways in which the indigenous population resisted the authority of the overlords, but also the possible convergences and osmosis between the two parties.
Particular emphasis is given to re-examining questions which have not been studied in full detail or may have been misunderstood, such as the social structure and the clash between the classes, the uprising of Jacob Diassorinos in combination with the problem of the production, stock-piling and export of wheat, the religious policy of Venice in correlation with developments in the Western Church during the period, as well as the influx of ideas in relation to the wider social and cultural processes on the island, and the ways of deviation and the means of compliance in the field of religion. As seen within this specific framework, the social situation is enhanced as a precondition for understanding the political and cultural ones. Furthermore, one of the fundamental premisses of this study is that the Venetian authorities did not treat their Cypriot subjects as a solid and unified entity, whose main distinctive feature was its nationality or its religion. On the contrary, the social status and the participation of specific social groups in the organizational structure of local administration constituted those elements which placed separating lines within the spectrum of subjects and were subsequently essential criteria for shaping identities.
Finally, in an attempt to reproduce (a) the two-way flow of people, ideas and texts between Cyprus and the Italian or the West European area in general – a basic element of the culture of the limited circles of a local aristocracy and intellectual élite associated with centres and universities in Italy–, and (b) the parallel dynamics of forging a domestic identity based on the legacies of ancient, Byzantine and Frankish Medieval tradition are discussed, as well as the educational structures, Greek and Latin, the written language (the Cypriot idiom as well as the Italian one) and the principal works of literature and historiography of the period, including the texts relating to the Cyprus War.


Παρουσίαση
Φιλοδοξία του βιβλίου είναι να αποτελέσει επίτομη και συνάμα περιεκτική επισκόπηση της κοινωνίας και του πολιτισμού που παρήχθησαν κατά την αυγή των νεότερων χρόνων σε μια ιδιάζουσα ζώνη του βενετικού αποικιακού Κράτους της Θάλασσας στην ανατολική Μεσόγειο, σ’ εκείνον της Κύπρου˙ μιας ηπείρου σε μικρογραφία, όπου η Ανατολή και η Δύση απαντώνται και συγκρούονται εδώ και χιλιάδες χρόνια˙ ενός εμπορείου του αλατιού, της ζάχαρης, του κρασιού, των δημητριακών, του ελαιόλαδου, του μελιού, του βαμβακιού, του κανναβιού, της ζαφοράς, των κοραλλιών, των αμπελοπουλιών, της ξυλείας για τη ναυπηγική, της πορσελάνης, των αρωμάτων, των πολυτελών υφασμάτων –των καμιλό, των samiti και των camacadi– και των εξωτικών αγαθών της άπω Ανατολής˙ ενός χωνευτηρίου των εθνοτικών και πολιτισμικών συνυπάρξεων και αλληλεπιδράσεων –με πιο αδιάσειστα τεκμήρια τα έργα της «κυπροαναγεννησιακής» ζωγραφικής, τα αριστουργήματα της ιταλικής στρατιωτικής αρχιτεκτονικής, τα πετραρχίζοντα ερωτικά ποιήματα, την αξιόλογη ιστοριογραφική παραγωγή στην ιταλική γλώσσα ή ακόμη και την πρόσληψη των ιδεών της Μεταρρύθμισης–, αλλά και του φεουδαρχισμού, της δουλοπαροικίας, των έντονων κοινωνικών αντιθέσεων, των επαναστατικών δράσεων και των συνωμοτικών κινήσεων. Ο συγγραφέας επιχειρεί να ξαναζωντανέψει αυτόν τον κόσμο της εποχής της βενετικής κυριαρχίας διερευνώντας ενδελεχώς τις πολιτικές, θεσμικές, κοινωνικές και οικονομικές αναδιαρθρώσεις που επιβλήθηκαν στο νησί, τις στοχεύσεις και τον βαθμό επιτυχίας του βενετικού εγχειρήματος, τις επιπτώσεις του στις ποικίλες εκφάνσεις του βίου και της καθημερινότητας όλων των επιμέρους στρωμάτων της τοπικής κοινωνίας, τη «γλώσσα» της εξουσίας των Βενετών διοικούντων, τα «κοσμοείδωλα» και τους τρόπους αντίστασης των διοικούμενων, το είδος και το εύρος των συγκλίσεων και ωσμώσεων ανάμεσα στις δύο πλευρές. Βασική θέση του βιβλίου είναι πως η έγκυρη ανάγνωση του αφηγήματος αυτού προϋποθέτει την αποδοχή της ιστορικότητας των φαινομένων και την παράλληλη απόρριψη των μεθοδολογικών εργαλείων εθνικιστικών ιστοριογραφικών παραδόσεων, αλλά και τοπικιστικών ιστοριογραφικών προσεγγίσεων, αυτόνομων, δηλαδή, εξιστορήσεων της ιστορίας ενός τόπου, ανεξάρτητα από την ιστορία της αυτοκρατορίας-Repubblica στην οποία ήταν ενσωματωμένος.

In base ai 16.000 documenti dei "Regesti marittimi croati del Settecento", Fonti documentarie, voll. I-III, viene data una radiografia dei porti, delle rotte, dei tipi di navi con cui si viaggiava nel Settecento. Grazie ai documenti e' possibile tracciare le rotte su cui si viaggiava non solo all'interno dell'Adriatico stesso, ma anche fuori verso i porti del Levante, del Tirreno ed anche oltre il Mediterraneo verso l'Olanda e l'Inghilterra.
Verra' presentato nell'occasione il III volume dei "Regesti marittimi croati" di Nikola Čolak, a cura di Zrinka Podhraški Čizmek. Il volume e' uscito quale pubblicazione della Facolta' di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Universita' di Spalato in Croazia. Le due sponde dell'Adriatico si incontrano nuovamente tramite lo studio, l'interesse e l'amore per lo stesso mare che ci riunisce.

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 Veneti...

Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Συμποσίου: Kύπρος - Bενετία. Kοινές ιστορικές τύχες (Aθήνα, 1-3 Mαρτίου 2001), επιμ. Χρύσα Α. Μαλτέζου (Συνέδρια 6), Bενετία, Eλληνικό Iνστιτούτο Bυζαντινών και Mεταβυζαντινών Σπουδών Bενετίας –Kυπριακή Πρεσβεία-Σπίτι της Kύπρου – Γεννάδειος Bιβλιοθήκη-Aμερικανική Σχολή Kλασικών Σπουδών, 2002, 175-207 (in Greek).

The Venetian political writer Paolo Paruta presented Filippo Mocenigo, the last Catholic Archbishop of Nicosia (Cyprus) before the Ottoman conquest, as an important character of his 1579 dialogue Della Perfettione della vita politica. Mocenigo, a most prominent member of the contemplative party, is depicted by Paruta as a sort of bishop-philosopher, very optimistic about the fact that Aristotelian philosophy (as it was still taught in the University of Padua in the mid-16th century) could help the search for human reason. Yet, Mocenigo was persecuted by the Roman Inquisition for his not-fully orthodox religious beliefs. In the essay, a comparison between Mocenigo as historical man and Mocenigo as Perfettione’s fictional character is developed.
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All'interno del suo dialogo Della Perfettione della Vita Politica (1579), lo scrittore politico veneziano Paolo Paruta utilizza Filippo Mocenigo, ultimo vescovo cattolico di Nicosia (Cipro) prima della conquista ottomana. Mocenigo, membro importante del gruppo dei contemplativi della Perfettione, è dipinto da Paruta come una sorta di vescovo-filosofo, assertore del fatto che la filosofia aristotelica possa aiutare la ricerca della ragione umana. D'altra parte, nel corso della sua esistenza storica, Mocenigo venne perseguitato dall'Inquisizione Romana a causa del suo credo eterodosso. Il saggio sviluppa dunque un confronto fra il Mocenigo-uomo reale , e Mocenigo-personaggio di Paruta.

Unpublished until now, the possibly monastic church of Saint Paraskevi (or Saint Perpyros), situated on the northern slope of the Pentadaktylos mountain range in the Cypriot district of Akanthou, is a sixteenth-century ruin of a rather common, single-nave type. It is exceptional, however, in its up-to-date Renaissance decoration, i.e., the rustication of the northern portal. This feature is unique in the context of a rural Greek church in Cyprus, where, unlike in Crete, no other Renaissance portals found in late-medieval rural church architecture have been proven. Because there are no written sources, the context of St Paraskevi’s creation and the actors involved are hypothetical. Presumably, the still-unknown models were transmitted via Famagusta, but the modes of transmission remain a puzzle. One possibility would be inspiration from pattern books such as Serlio’s Libri dell’architettura, which may have either directly guided the masons working on the church, or provided a model for an urban Famagusta workshop commissioned to design the church’s portal. Including this curious object in broader future studies of the appearance of Renaissance forms in the late-medieval Eastern Mediterranean region might yield further insights.

Baili, civitani and banieri: these were the figures – expression of the local society – involved in the government of subordinate jurisdictions in the island of Cyprus, where no patrician officials were sent by Venice. By focusing on the contrata Carpathi, located in the North-Western part of the island and under the authority of the Captain of Famagosta, this presentation will analyse the modalities through which these minor roles were elected, their duties towards the local communities and Venetian officials staged in Cyprus and, finally, their role within the justice administration system in the periphery of the Reign.