A History of Crete by Moorey Chris;

Author:Moorey, Chris;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Published: 2019-05-08T00:00:00+00:00

Once the war was over, the motive became more economic. The vastness of the empire gave the Ottomans a virtually unlimited pool of recruits for the galleys, and it made sense to reserve the fertile island of Crete for agricultural production and to ensure it had a thriving rural population.

War and Revolt

Resistance to Ottoman rule began almost immediately. Young men fled to three Venetian fortresses, from which they carried out guerrilla raids. Not for the first (or last) time, many priests could be found among the resistance. The motives for the resistance were often more personal than political – revenge for a particular injustice against a family, for example. Nevertheless, as long as the fortresses existed, there was always the hope that Venice would one day reconquer the island. The guerrillas were known as hains (treacherous ones) by the Ottomans, and they were a thorn in the side of the authorities for many years. Meanwhile, ships from the Venetian fortresses continually harassed Ottoman merchant shipping. The three islands were centres of espionage, especially the fortress at Souda. Several of the Christian secretaries to the divan are believed to have been spies, and there is circumstantial evidence that even some high-ranking Muslims, including aghas, were giving information to Venice, although it is not clear whether this was deliberate or inadvertent.

The Venetian hopes of reconquering Crete lasted fewer than fifty years. During the war between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire of 1684 to 1699, a Venetian force landed on Crete in 1692, aiming to stir up rebellion and recapture Chania. After forty days, the expeditionary force retreated with many losses, while the fortress at Gramvousa was surrendered to the Ottomans by its commander for a large sum of money. Souda and Spinalonga survived for another twenty-two years as refuges for Cretan families, with about 600 people on each island. During another war from 1715 to 1718, both were finally captured and the inhabitants sold into slavery or enlisted as oarsmen in the Ottoman galleys. Crete, described by one proveditore generale as “the most beautiful crown to adorn the head of the Most Serene Republic”, was now totally in Ottoman hands.5

From then on, the hains operated from the mountains and remote monasteries, and often acted more as brigands than resistance fighters, as much a danger to the Christian villagers as to the authorities.6 This led to requests by the villagers for protection and, for a short time, armatoloi (armed Christian militias) were appointed for the purpose. These did something to curb the activities of the hains, but the government was wary of arming Christians, and preferred instead to organise bands of Muslims to hunt them down. Another tactic was to intimidate the villagers into betraying any hains in the area. Christian provincial leaders were held personally responsible for any Muslim taken hostage or for any damage to Muslim property. In some areas, villagers were obliged to act as lookouts or sentries, and any actual help to the hains (or to pirates) was severely punished.

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