Land and Landowners in the Greek Territories 77
years, we must sidestep the issue, content with the simple statement that this
document illustrates for the first time some of the basic principles concerning
land-tenure that Venice instituted as she started to conquer the lands she had
won through the Fourth Crusade.
Around two years after the conquest of Corfu, in March 1209, one of the
Italian triarchs of Euboea, Ravano dalle Carceri, swore allegiance to Venice. The
document that accompanies this act states that the Greeks of the island would
remain under the same regime under which they existed during the reign of
Emperor Manuel Komnenos. This expression, reminiscent of the one referring
to the inhabitants of Corfu, does not clarify the situation. Further on, however,
the same document becomes more specific, stating that all of Ravano’s men
as well as all the Latins and the Greek magnates (magnates Greci) ought to
swear fidelity first to Venice and then to Ravano himself. This clarification, con-
trary to the document of Corfu, makes a distinction between the general Greek
population of the island and the Greek landowners, who were treated in the
same manner as the newly installed Latins. What is indirectly implied is that
the important position of the Greek landowners amongst the native popula-
tion had been recognised (hence their oath of fidelity was required) and fur-
thermore that in all probability they had retained their lands.6 The issue of the
local church is nowhere mentioned in this document.
A few months later, in June 1209, Venice took control of the two Peloponnesian
ports of Modon and Coron by ceding the rest of the Peloponnese to Geoffrey
de Villehardouin. The agreement signed between the two parties on the
little island of Sapienza is not particularly enlightening in matters concern-
ing land tenure. It only makes reference to the Latin bishoprics of Modon
and Coron, whose status and property would remain the same as under the
Franks.7 The two bishoprics had supplanted the pre-existing Greek ones and
had received their properties, some of which were located within the borders
of the Principality of Achaea. The treaty makes no mention of Greek land-
owners, possibly because Venice was not troubled by this matter, since the
larger estates were located outside the jurisdiction of the two port cities.8 The
issue of landownership in these two towns does, however, presents certain
6 Tafel and Thomas, Urkunden, 2:92, no. 204 and 95, no. 205.
7 Tafel and Thomas, Urkunden, 2:96–100, no. 207. Jacoby, La féodalité en Grèce médiévale: Les
“Assises de Romanie”: sources, application et diffusion (Paris, 1971), 223–35. Andrea Nanetti, ed.,
Il patto con Geoffroy de Villehardouin per il Peloponneso. 1209, Pacta Veneta 13 (Rome, 2009),
pp. 46–47.
8 Jacoby, La féodalité, pp. 224–26; Christine Hodgetts, “Land Problems in Coron, 1298–1347: A
Contribution on Venetian Colonial Rule,” Βυζαντινά 12 (1983), 141.