The Jewish Communities in the Social Fabric of Latin Greece 275
applied to presently uninhabited or ruined sites, and are not attested in medi-
eval documentation, except for Thasos in 1394. However, the existence of
Hevraiokastro on Mytilene seems to confirm Benjamin of Tudela’s statement
that in 1163 the Jews of the island were scattered in ten places, most of them
obviously villages.113 It renders the presence of small Jewish communities in
the other locations, mainly small islands, quite plausible. The period following
the Fourth Crusade is the most likely one, considering the continuous expan-
sion of demand for kosher edibles and wine.114
As noted above, in Crete, Euboea and Chios various credit operations
resulted in the transfer of rural land and dependent peasants to Jews, whether
temporarily as security for loans, or permanently following their acquisition
from insolvent debtors. It is likely that David Kalomiti, already encountered
above, acquired in that way fields and vineyards in Euboea in the second half
of the 13th century.115 Venice was strongly opposed to Jewish acquisitions of
property outside the Jewish quarters of its overseas territories, especially of
fiefs and sergeantries entailing military service in Crete, which were granted
by the state to Latins and some Greeks. However, despite repeated injunctions
from the 1360s onward Jews continued to obtain, rent, or buy rural land. There
were apparently no limitations to Jewish rural property outside Venetian-
ruled territories, namely in late 14th-century Chios and the region of Patras
around 1440.116
Jewish Mobility
Both economic and social factors account for the particularly high degree of
Jewish mobility, which by far exceeded in frequency and geographic range the
mobility of other ethnic or religious groups. Most Jews resided in cities and
were involved in economic activities not necessarily tied to a specific location.
The links between scattered members of the same families, the tightly-knit
internal organisation of the communities, essential for the collective survival
of their members’ religious and ethnic identity, as well as the charity, hospi-
tality and solidarity they provided enhanced Jewish mobility. The network
linking individual communities throughout the Mediterranean had a strong
impact upon the nature, orientation and channelling of migration. The same
113 See above, n. 6.
114 For the entire paragraph, see Jacoby, “The Jews in the Byzantine Economy,” pp. 223–26.
115 See above, n. 10.
116 Jacoby, “The Jews in Byzantium,” pp. 45–46, for the entire paragraph.