The Jewish Communities in the Social Fabric of Latin Greece 263
After 1492 the Spanish refugee Abraham Zakut settled for some time in Naxos.43
These testimonies reveal the presence of several Jewish settlements in the
Cycladic islands, apparently small.
The evidence regarding Jews in the Venetian outposts and colonies of Latin
Greece is abundant. Venice ruled over Modon and Coron and their countryside
in the south-western Peloponnese from 1207 to 1500. The two ports became
major outlets for Peloponnesian oil, wine and other products of the region
from the 13th century onwards.44 They were important tanning centres, thanks
to an abundant supply of skins.45 Modon also fulfilled a pivotal function as
port of call and trans-shipment station, thanks to its location at the juncture of
the two main Venetian shipping lanes in the Eastern Mediterranean, one lead-
ing to Constantinople and the other to Egypt. It was also a major transit station
for pilgrims sailing between Venice and the Holy Land.
There is no documentary evidence on Jews in Modon and Coron until the
mid-14th century,46 although they had clearly settled there earlier. A former or
son of a former resident of Coron lived in the Cretan port of Candia in 1357,
when jointly with another Jew he shipped skins to Coron for tanning.47 He
must have been acquainted with local Jewish tanners. A Jew from Modon or
Coron trading in Byzantine Morea shortly before 1359 suffered severe losses,
inflicted by Turkish raiders according to a Byzantine ambassador.48 In 1368 a
Jew from Candia lived in the suburb of Coron.49 A Jewess from Modon wedded
in Candia returned to Modon before 1372.50 The Jewish tanners of Modon are
mentioned in 1389.51 In 1391 some of them resided outside the suburb along
43 Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium, p. 156, n. 98.
44 Jacoby, “Rural Exploitation,” pp. 240, 243–44, 246, 251, 254–55, 261–62, 265–67, 269–70,
272–73.
45 Jacoby, “Rural Exploitation,” p. 265, n. 472, and p. 268. Numerous documents on tanning
in Konstantinos N. Sathas, ed., Documents inédits relatifs à l’histoire de la Grèce au Moyen
Âge, (Μνημεία Ελληνικής Ιστορίας) 9 vols. (Paris, 1880–90), 4:33–186, passim.
46 A baptised Jew lived in 1336 in Modon: Nanetti, Documenta, 2:100–01, nos. 6.183–84.
He may have come from another location, since Jews often moved to other places after
baptism.
47 A. Lombardo, ed., Zaccaria de Fredo, notaio in Candia (1352–1357) (Venice, 1968), p. 76,
no. 104; see also pp. 84–85, no. 120, which relates to the same journey.
48 Ermanno Orlando, ed., Venezia—Senato, Deliberazioni miste. Registro xxiv (1347–1349)
(Venice, 2007), p. 426, no. 783, and p. 430, no. 792.
49 Nanetti, Documenta, 2:51, no. 6.77.
50 Nanetti, Documenta, 1:166–67, nos. 3.55–56.
51 Sathas, Documents, 4:60.