112 Gasparis
dispense justice, and they were militarily strong as well, as they possessed the
right to build castles. In Cyprus no noble feudatory held a castle in his fief nor
could dispense justice within his domains. Although some of the nobles stood
out on account of their wealth or social status, in theory, they were all equally
under the control of the king.
In all of the above territories, various tiers of feudatories emerged, depend-
ing on the size and number of the fiefs that each received. Contrary to the
Frankish territories where feudatories were almost invariably members of the
nobility, in Crete feudatories were not necessarily noble. Even in Crete though,
the noble feudatories occupied the topmost tier within their class, without,
however, having an institutionalised function. The stratification of the feuda-
tory class progressed over the decades and centuries, especially in areas where
the class was not closed and where there were no limitations to the inheritance
of fiefs, like Crete. Here, the increase in the number of feudatories and the
associated subdivision of the fiefs eventually weakened the entire class, thus
strengthening—in the long run (starting from the 15th century)—the nobility.
Finally, in Cyprus the feudatory class remained powerful through 13th and 14th
centuries, although a decrease in the number of feudatories occurred during
the Black Death and the Genoese war in 1373–1374, when about 70 noble feuda-
tories were captured and transported to Genoa.56
In all of the Latin states, the ruler or the metropolis in the case of colo-
nies (Venice in the case of Crete) retained the direct ownership of the land
it handed out, and thus heirs almost invariably had to seek the ratification of
their inheritance. In all cases, production was mainly based on the labour of
the unfree peasantry and also of free but landless farmers; only a small per-
centage of the land was cultivated through the angariae. All of the states in
question retained some land to exploit directly, through leasing, either in order
to bolster the fisc or to reward individuals for services rendered to the ruler
or the homeland. A striking example is the island of Chios, which in 1347 was
ceded in its entirety by Genoa to an association of private citizens (Mahonna)
in return for an annual rent. The members of the Mahonna were not so much
interested in the control of land, as they were interested in the land’s produce.
Thus, they exploited the land only indirectly, by collecting taxes. The land con-
tinued to be cultivated mainly by local middling and great Greek landowners
as well as by a few Italians who installed themselves on the island and received
some of the Mahonna’s lands.57 The land was exploited in similar ways across
56 Edbury, “Franks,” p. 85.
57 The original agreement between Genoa and the authorities of Chios in 1346 stipulated
that the property rights of the Greek landowners would be respected. However, after an