Society, Administration And Identities In Latin Greece 123
the transiting and storage of goods, all these factors fostering the development
of urban settlements and, by extension, of urban communal institutions.
Data regarding the social evolution of Euboea are limited. However, drawing
upon the little evidence that is available, one may conclude that the organ-
isation of the “powerful” of the local society into a community or a Maggior
Consiglio, which represented the entire population of Euboea, preceded the
direct rule of Venice. This collective organ continued to function after 1390 as
the “community of Euboea”, the universitas-communitas.
On the other hand, in the Duchy of the Aegean (also known as the Duchy
of the Archipelago, or Duchy of Naxos) on the basis of the feudal organisation
and under the dominion of local Latin lords, society was divided in principle
into two categories, the notables and the lower strata. The first were composed
of feudatories, who received fiefs from their lords in exchange for military and
administrative service or levy furnished to the sovereign. These men were
often the lords’ second-born offspring or illegitimate children and relatives
of the Venetians of Crete, as well as of lay and ecclesiastic functionaries and,
in general, of reputable citizens, both Latin and Greek. All the above enjoyed
the privilege of residing in castles and grew in influence throughout the entire
network of the islands, their main common characteristic being high social
standing and not the ethnic-linguistic factor. The second social category com-
prised mainly Greek landless peasants dwelling in the burghi and the villages
on whom onerous taxes were levied.15
The feudal system strongly marked the history of the Ionian Islands during
the early Latin period, that is to say, that of Corfu under the Angevins (1267–
1386) and of Ζakynthos/Zante, Cephalonia, Ithaca and Lefkada, which from
the 13th to the 15th centuries found themselves successively under the rule of
the Orsini and the Tocco families.
More specifically Corfu during the Angevin period was administered by a
delegate of the king named vicarius/capitaneus generalis. A particularly impor-
tant position in the hierarchy was occupied by the castellani and the magister
massarius, while there is evidence of numerous other officials being assigned
special duties. The administration of the island was firmly grounded in a sys-
tem of strict bureaucracy, including the meticulous registration of all acts, as
well as officials’ reports and inhabitants’ petitions addressed to the king. The
Angevins preserved the pre-existing feudal system of landownership, which
15 Guillaume Saint-Guillain, “Cavalieri, feudatari, borghesi e altri vassali: le forme di notabil-
ità nelle Signorie delle Cicladi (13o–15o secolo),” in Il Ducato dell’Egeo: atti dell’incontro di
studio (Nasso—Atene 2007), ed. Nikos G. Moschonas and M.-G. Lilly Stylianoudi (Athens,
2009), pp. 136–47.