136 Papadia-Lala
of records of the community members (Libro d’Oro) in 1572, as well as of the
books of marriages, births and baptisms. From that point, the city residents
were divided into the members of the civic communal council (cittadini) and
those outside of this (popolari), while in the 17th century the more eminent of
the popolari composed the social stratum of the civili.
The first half of the 17th century saw the fixing of the criteria for partici-
pation in the community as well as the entry of those families who fulfilled
the criteria based on birthright. The “civic” nobility of Corfu, which was never
formally recognised by Venice, differed from the statutory feudal nobility of
the island. Nonetheless, in the 18th century the term “nobleman” was firmly
established and essentially indistinguishable from the Corfiot “cittadino”, that
is, from the members of the communal council of Corfu.
Analogies with Corfu are to be seen in the social history of Venetian
Zakynthos (1484–1797). During the first decades of Venetian dominion, the
local community was of an open character composed of a very small number of
indigenous inhabitants as well as settlers and refugees from formerly Venetian
regions, while its seat, the city of Zakynthos, was characterised by its distinctive
development into two residential areas, the castle and the littoral town.
From the mid-16th century, coordinated efforts took place on the island for
the closure of the communal council, on the one hand through the adoption of
the institution of the Small Council of 150, and on the other via the inception
of the “cleaning-up” of the General Council and the institution of the civic cri-
teria of participation. In this context, the city residents gradually were divided
into the members of the civic communal council (cittadini) and those outside
of this (civili and popolari). In the 17th century, the year 1683 marked the strict
“closure” of the communal council with the numerical restriction of its fami-
lies to 93 who, as in Corfu, took on the unofficial title of nobles. The 17th and
18th centuries were marked by social clashes, most notably the so-called the
“Rebellion of Populace” (1628).
The particularities of the community in Venetian Cephalonia (1500–1797)
are also worth noting. The first efforts towards the forming of a communal
council can be traced to the 16th century, with its administrative seat in the
capital of the island, the Fortress of Saint George, in accordance with the cri-
teria for citizen status as prevailing in Corfu and Zakynthos. During the first
decades of Venetian rule, the community was an open body with members
who were divided into cittadini and the lower urban strata. A substantial
change would come about in 1593 when the communal council, on the initia-
tive of its members, proceeded to a radical self-imposed clean-up operation
and a list of 450 legal members would be drawn up.