Forced Population Shifts in Crete Under Venetian Rule (13Th-17Th C.): a Practice of Imposing Authority

Romina N. Tsakiri Forced population shifts in Crete under Venetian rule (13th-17th c.): a practice of imposing authority Abstract Violent shifts of population were a standard practice of the Venetians throughout their domination of the island of Crete. Many of the instigators of rebellions or riots and outlaw leaders, the perpetrators of heinous crimes and fugitives were exiled from their homelands, the major cities of Crete and their regions, the whole island or even from the state of Venice. Similarly, the Venetians displaced many convicts to specific parts of the island, as a means of controlling people who were likely to cause upheaval and criminal acts on the island, with the relative isolation that the relocation offered. Furthermore, the demolition of villages, evacuation and devastation, mainly in mountainous and inaccessible areas, were adopted by the Venetians over the centuries in order to deal with rebellions and riots. This practice also worked as a means of suppressing insubordination and as a measure for dealing with the action in these areas of groups of bandits and outlaws, whose delinquent activity was directed against both the authorities and the local people. The places of residence of the outlaws and their relatives, their hideouts, but also neighbouring hamlets whose residents aided them, became the recipients of the wrath and punishing attitude of the Venetians. Similar methods of shifting populations and devastating areas, as well as resettling them with populations that can be controlled, are timeless standard mechanisms of imposing authority. In this paper an attempt is made at an overall review of this policy in the centuries of Venetian rule in Crete. Particularly interesting is the monitoring and study of the geography of the regions with problems and tendencies of delinquency that have characterised these areas until today, due to their isolation and inaccessibility, which consequently makes them difficult to control. Finally, we examine the areas of isolation and displacement of people whom the Venetians regarded as dangerous for the security and stability of the state, as well as for the protection and quiet living of the rest of the population of the island. Keywords: Crete under Venetian rule, violence, deviance, social control, exiles and fugitivesbanditi ( ), henchmen (bravi), population shifts, displacement, relocation, devastation of places, punishment, Sfakians, petitions for pardon Immigration and refugee flows, persecutions and relocations, exchange of populations, minglings: violent or milder, population shifts are noted throughout history. Sometimes they are deliberate but necessary, to secure food and survival; on other occasions they take place after violent invasions, occupations or wars. They often occur for political, military, national, religious Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies isbn: 978-960-9480-35-2 Heraklion, 21-25.9.2016 12iccs.proceedings.gr 2 ΠΕΠΡΑΓΜΕΝΑ ΙΒ΄ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΚΡΗΤΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΥ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟΥ or economic reasons; or they may be part of racial, state or international practices aiming at promoting specific interests and ultimately strengthening any given “authority” (e.g. with the exploitation of the particular manpower, security and control of an area). More specifically, a violent transfer of populations has always been and still is a standard means of imposing authority and exercising control in global history (Broudel 1977; Watson 1992; Bernstein – Milza 1994/1995; Idem 2017; Hooper 2003).1 My presentation deals with the shift of individuals and groups of people in the context of law enforcement by the Venetian authorities in Crete. This mobility is examined on the basis of two main axes: on the one hand we have the authorities, which applied certain policies so as to remove the populations that posed a threat to them. A form of shift as well as a method of control by the Venetian authorities was exile, a standard practice of the Venetians throughout the period of their rule over the island. Sometimes the removal was violent and arbitrary, with the persecution of populations from certain areas of the island to achieve more effective control over them. On the other hand we have the persecuted, on their way to exile or choosing to flee as a means of avoiding punishment, preferring to lead a life as fugitives.2 The penalty of exile was already imposed on those participating in the major revolutionary movements of the 13th, 14th and 15th century and their families. Men were usually sent away from the island, while women were banished to other parts of the island, away from their place of residence. Exiles who returned despite their conviction faced the death penalty. Several were obliged to appear before the Duke at regular intervals. Punishments accompanying exile were the seizure of property and the revocation of feudal land, offices and privileges, the seizure and destruction of their villages, the destruction of their homes and crops, the seizure of livestock and movable property (Scafini 1907, 87-108; Zoudianos 1960, 99-189). Similar penalties can be found later on over the centuries. For example, the people who participated in the rebellion of Georgio Gadanoleo, alias Lyssogiorgis,3 in the 16th century were sent into exile not only in various parts of Crete but also in Cyprus and the Aegean islands, while their properties were seized (Zoudianos 1960, 208-220; Papadia-Lala 1983, 127-128).4 Banishment was initially the penalty in cases of high treason, rebellion, murder, sacrilege and fleeing from justice, but gradually it was imposed for a plethora of offences (possession and use of arms, blasphemy, adultery). Those charged with heinous crimes or fugitives were exiled (they were all called banditi), usually for several years or for life, away from their place of origin and away from the major towns of the island and their regions (Tsakiri 2008, 179-184).5 There are characteristic cases of family heads who caused a bloody feud (vendetta), who were sent away from the town where they lived and where they had caused a riot 1 The bibliography is only indicative. In Hooper’s article there is an interesting comparative reference to population shifts in different periods of time and civilizations. 2 On the penalty of exile in Crete see in detail Tsakiri 2008, 179-223, 295-300. 3 Georgios Gadanoleos was the rebellion ringleader of the mountainous villages of Chania in 1527, in social causes, against the tax oppression and the arbitrary administrative acts of the Venetians. 4 On the continuity in punishments see Tsakiri 2015a. 5 Regarding the notion of the bandito and the types of exile (bando) see Ferro 1845², 234-240 (banditi), 240-242 (bando); Povolo 1980, 220-232, especially 224 note 202; Tsakiri 2008, 179-183. ROMINA N. TSAKIRI 3 or clashed with a rival family (Tsakiri 2007, 174-175).6 Some of the perpetrators of atrocious crimes and many of the chiefs of illegal or bandit groups which were active on the island were exiled (even in absentia) not only from Crete but also from Venice and the lands bordering its region or even from the whole state of Venice (Stato da Terra e da Mar). Others, who participated in these illegal acts but were charged with minor offences, were condemned to exile usually from the whole of Crete. In some cases, the option of living in a particular place on the island was offered (Tsakiri 2014a, 580, 587-589; Eadem 2014c, 361-363, 381-386). Similar practices were applied, οver the centuries, against the rowdy Sfakian families who inhabited the inaccessible and isolated mountain villages in the White Mountains, in the south of the Chania and Rethymnon districts (Tsakiri 2014a).7 Shifting populations, as mentioned above, also consisted of fugitives condemned to exile in absentia. I will only refer to the case of a woman, Elena Syropoulou, from the village of Brussa in the region of Temenos,8 who was banished as a fugitive in 1578 from the whole of Crete except the provincies (castelli) of Sitia and Ierapetra (the document does not mention her offence or her status, though. I suppose that she belonged to the lower socioeconomic strata) (Tsakiri 2003, 218, 239-240). 9 According to the decrees of the authorities in Crete in the 13th and 14th centuries, exiles or fugitives who returned to the island or any place from where they had been banished and were arrested would be subject to the death penalty, imprisonment or corporal punishments such as mutilations and public whipping (Scafini 1907, 87-108; Tsakiri 1999, 144-146). Later on, in the 16th and 17th centuries, if people sentenced to banishment for serious crimes or wanted individuals were to be arrested, they would be brought to trial or for punishment before the Venetian official of the region where they had originally been convicted (Tsakiri 2008, 186). Under an act of 1531, an exile would be found guilty of insubordination to the Doge, for which offence the usual punishment suffered by exiles who illicitly crossed the borders was death (Ferro 1845², 235). Convictions by 16th and 17th century courts in Crete also imposed the death penalty, the galley, mutilation, public ridicule and the seizure of property in case of arrest (Tsakiri 2008, 184-185, 186-187; Eadem 2014a, 587-590). Banishment resulted in a great number of people being shifted either within Crete or in the rest of the Venetian territory. Many exiles and fugitives moved of their own accord to the interior of the island, in areas neighbouring theirs, trying to make a living by finding jobs in villages, in farming or livestock breeding (e.g. as shepherds), while subject to various outstanding convictions for delinquent activity (Tsakiri 2014a, 595-596). Their delinquent actions did not usually stop in their new place of settlement, either. Some of them offered their services to feudalists and prominent families of the island, mainly in the countryside, which was harder to control, as paid murderers and henchmen (bravi) (Tsakiri 2014b).10 For example, in 1567 6 On the vendetta in Venice and other regions of Italy see Muir 1998²; Bianco 1994.

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