venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 197
Whereas in early modern Crete the cittadini developed into something
similar to the Venetian cittadini originarii—an intermediate group enjoy-
ing several privileges, except for the more distinguished ones reserved for
the nobility—the same term simply denoted in Corfu those subjects who
were members of the urban council.274 In Famagusta it also denoted an
affiliation with the local urban council, but the social extraction of the
cittadini there was different from that in Corfu, since council member-
ship in Famagusta was based on membership in the craftsmen’s guilds.275
On the island of Cerigo the cittadini constituted the leading group among
the local inhabitants, whereas in the Cyclades, according to Slot, they
“blended with the feudatories in the same dominating class.”276 A similar
diversity characterizes the significance of the term popolo, which could
denote an agglomeration of middle-class merchants and affluent artisans,
as it did in the Dalmatian towns, or members of the artisan guilds, as in
the case of Nicosia. In Crete (as in Venice), it was clearly associated, at
least from the 16th century onward, with manual labor.277
Fidelity on the individual level could be expressed in many ways. In
the upper echelons of society, for example, one such expression can be
found in the marriage market. A considerable number of noblemen from
the stato da mar chose to marry their daughters to Venetian patricians,
in this way enhancing their ability to use Venetian networks of influence
and power.278 Other expressions of attachment to the Dominante were
service in public offices, conversion to the Roman Catholic rite and subse-
quent nomination to prominent ecclesiastical offices, participation in the
repression of local uprisings, and, last but not least, involvement, along-
side Venetians, in the defense of the colony against Ottoman invasions.
274 On the Venetian cittadini, see Andrea Zannini, Burocrazia e burocrati a Venezia
in età moderna. I cittadini originari (sec. XVI–XVIII) (Venice, 1993); Anna Bellavitis, “ ‘Per
cittadini metterete.. .’ La stratificazione della società veneziana cinquecentesca tra norma
giuridica e riconoscimento sociale,” Quaderni storici 89 (1995), 359–83; Bellavitis, Identité,
mariage, mobilité sociale, citoyennes et citoyens à Venise au XVIe siècle (Rome, 2001); James
S. Grubb, “Elite Citizens,” in John Martin and Dennis Romano, eds., Venice Reconsidered.
The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797 (Baltimore/London, 2000),
pp. 339–64; Reinhold C. Mueller, Immigrazione e cittadinanza nella Venezia medievale
(Rome, 2010).
275 Arbel, “Urban Assemblies,” pp. 210–11.
276 Maltezou, Τα Κύθερα, pp. 63–69; Slot, Archipelagus, pp. 49–50.
277 On the Venetian popolani, see Dennis Romano, Patricians and Popolani. The Social
Foundations of the Venetian Renaissance State (Baltimore, 1987), pp. 29–32.
278 O’Connell, Men of Empire, pp. 64, 66–72; Arbel, “Η Κύπρος,” p. 496; Benjamin Arbel,
“Greek Magnates in Venetian Cyprus: The Case of the Synglitico Family,” Dumbarton Oaks
Papers 49 (1995), 331–32, repr. in Arbel, Cyprus, article no. VII.