466 benjamin ravid
the poor Greeks, while the other, the collegio Flangini, supported by an
annual subvention from the Venetian government, offered instruction in
Greek, Latin, and the general humanistic curriculum, and both together
combined to give the Greeks in Venice an effective cultural center.
Vithe case of the ottoman turks was somewhat more complex, especially
since the term “turk” was generally misleadingly used to refer not only
to subjects of the ottoman turks but also to all Muslims.48 Because the
Muslims had not relapsed from catholicism, they were considered infi-
dels rather than heretics, as were also the Jews. religious infidelity, unlike
heresy, was basically tolerated in the catholic world, although often with
reluctance and much ambivalence, and in Venice an attempt eventually
was made to segregate infidels. after the ottomans took possession of the
dalmatian hinterland in the later 14th century, and especially after the
fall of constantinople in 1453, the presence of Muslims in Venice became
more frequent and attracted increasing attention in art and literature.
since the ottomans did not maintain permanent representatives abroad,
their ambassadors and diplomatic missions came from istanbul to Venice
briefly to negotiate peace treaties and settle other important issues with
the Venetian government. in order to maintain their commercial privi-
leges in the Mediterranean ports of the expanding ottoman empire, the
Venetians had to extend reciprocal privileges in Venice to ottoman sub-
jects, both Muslim and Jewish. Most of these ottoman subjects came to
Venice temporarily by themselves, unaccompanied by their families, and
stayed in inns or private homes. additionally, ottomans who had been
captured in warfare or purchased from others served as domestics in
Venetian patrician households.
as well as being considered religiously undesirable, visiting ottoman
Muslims were increasingly perceived as constituting a real political threat,
since the ottoman empire had long controlled the dalmatian hinterland
48 For the basic treatment of the turks in Venice, see P. Preto, Venezia e i turchi
(Florence, 1975), esp. pp. 116–45; and for the latest, see M. P. Pedani, Venezia porta d’Oriente
(Venice, 2010), pp. 211–41. see also the account in B. ravid, “the religious, economic and
social Background and context of the establishment of the Ghetti of Venice,” in G. cozzi,
ed., Gli Ebrei e Venezia (Milan, 1987), pp. 234–43, to a considerable extent based on archivio
di stato di Venezia, cinque savii alla Mercanzia, n.s., b. 187, which unfortunately i have
not been able to reconsult.