Part 35

After the restoration of Greek rule in Chios and the appointment of Kalothetos as Imperial viceroy, Andronikos III had proceeded to Phocæa. By this time the Genoese had abandoned the old city and had strongly fortified themselves in the new town, purchasing further security for their commercial operations by the payment of an annual tribute of 15,000 pieces of silver and a personal present of 10,000 more to Saru-Khan, the Turkish ruler of the district. The Emperor, having placated this personage with the usual Oriental arguments, set out for Foglia Nuova. Andriolo Cattaneo chanced to be absent at Genoa on business, and the Genoese garrison of 52 knights and 400 foot-soldiers was under the command of his uncle, Arrigo Tartaro. The latter wisely averted annexation by doing homage to the Emperor, and handed the keys of the newly constructed castle to his Varangian guard. After spending two nights in the fortress, in order to show that it was his, Andronikos magnanimously renewed the grant of the place to Andriolo during good pleasure. But Domenico Cattaneo, who succeeded his father not long afterwards with the assent of the Emperor, lost, in his attempt to obtain more, what he already had.

Cattaneo, not content with the riches of Foglia Nuova, coveted the island of Lesbos, which had belonged for just over a century to the Greeks, and it seemed in 1333 as if an opportunity of seizing it had arisen. The increasing power of the Turks, who had by that time taken Nicæa and Brusa and greatly hindered Greek and Latin trade alike in the Ægean, led to a coalition against them; but, before attacking the common enemy, the Knights, Nicolò I of Naxos, and Cattaneo made a treacherous descent upon Lesbos, and seized the capital of the island. The crafty Genoese, supported by a number of galleys from his native city, managed, however, to outwit his weaker allies, and ousted them from all share in the conquered town, whither he transferred his residence from Foglia Nuova. Andronikos, after punishing the Genoese of Pera for this act of treachery on the part of their countrymen, set out to recover Lesbos. The slowness of the Emperor’s movements, however, enabled Cattaneo to strengthen the garrison, and Andronikos, leaving one of his officers to besiege Lesbos, proceeded to invest Foglia with the aid of Saru-Khan, whose son with other young Turks had been captured and kept as a hostage by the Genoese garrison. The place, however, continued for long to resist the attacks of the allies, till at last Cattaneo’s lieutenant prevailed upon them to raise the siege by restoring the prisoners to their parents and pledging himself to obtain the surrender of the city of Mytilene, which still held out, and which the Emperor, fearing troubles at home, had no time to take. Cattaneo, indeed, repudiated this part of the arrangement, and bribery was needed to seduce the Latin mercenaries and thus leave him unsupported. From Lesbos he retired to Foglia, which the Emperor had consented to allow him to keep on the old terms; but four years later, while he was absent on a hunting party, the Greek inhabitants overpowered the small Italian garrison and proclaimed Andronikos III[484]. Thus ended the first Genoese occupation of Phocæa and Lesbos—the harbinger of the much longer and more durable colonisation a few years later. Two gold coins, modelled on the Venetian ducats, of which the first of them is the earliest known counterfeit, have survived to preserve the memory of Andriolo and Domenico Cattaneo, and to testify to the riches of the Foglie under their rule[485].

APPENDIX

DIGEST OF GENOESE DOCUMENTS

22-24 Aug. 1285. Fourteen documents of these dates refer to the mercantile transactions of Benedetto and Manuele Zaccaria, such as their appointment of agents to receive their wares from “Fogia” and to send them to Genoa, Majorca, Syria, the Black Sea, and other places.

(Pandette Richeriane, fogliazzo ii. fasc. 10.)

17 April, 1287. “Benedetto Zaccaria in his own name and in that of his brother Manuele” gives a receipt at Genoa to “ Percivalis Spinula.”

(_Ibid._ fasc. 20.)

24 Jan. 1287. “Nicolino” is mentioned as brother of Benedetto and Manuele Zaccaria.

(_Ibid._ fogliazzo i. fasc. 178.)

9 May, 1291. “Clarisia, wife of the late Manuele Zaccaria, in her own name and on behalf of her sons Tedisio, Leonardo, Odoardo and Manfred,” appoints an agent for the sale of a female slave.

(_Ibid._ fogliazzo ii. fasc. 27.)

14 April, 1304. “Paleologo Zaccaria” is cited as witness to a monetary transaction.

(_Ibid._ fogliazzo A. fasc. 7.)

31 May, 1311. Two documents executed at Genoa. In one Domenico Doria acknowledges receipt of monies from Andriolo Cattaneo, son of Andriolo; in the other Andriolo appoints Lanfranchino Doria and Luchino Cattaneo his agents.

(_Ibid._ fasc. 7.)

13 Aug. 1313. “Manuel Bonaneus” acknowledges receipt of monies from Andriolo Cattaneo.

(_Ibid._ fasc. 13.)

21, 24 Sept. 1316. Mention of “the galley of Paleologo Zaccaria, which was at Pera in 1307.”

(_Ibid._ fasc. 13.)

GENOESE COLONIES IN GREEK LANDS

I. LORDS OF PHOCÆA (Foglia).

Manuele Zaccaria. 1275. Benedetto I ” 1288. [Tedisio ” governor. 1302-7.] Nicolino ” 1307. Andriolo Cattaneo della Volta, governor, 1307; lord, 1314. Domenico ” ” ” 1331-40. [Byzantine. 1340-6.] Genoese (with Chios). 1346-8. | +-----------------+-------------------------+ | | (_a_) Foglia Vecchia:— (_b_) Foglia Nuova:— [Byzantine: 1348-58.] [Byzantine: 1348-51.] Genoese (with Chios): 1358-(_c._) 1402. Genoese (with Chios): Gattilusj, (_c._) 1402-55 (December 24). 1351-1455 (Oct. 31). | | +---------------------+----------------------+ | Both Turkish: 1455-1919; Greek (with Smyrna): 1919-

II. LORDS OF CHIOS, SAMOS AND IKARIA.

[Latin Emperors: 1204-25; Greek Emperors: 1225-1304.] Benedetto I Zaccaria. 1304. Paleologo ” 1307. Benedetto II ” } Martino ” } 1314-29. [Byzantine. 1329-46.] | +------------+----------+-------------------------+ | | | (_a_) (_b_) (_c_) Chios:— Samos:— Ikaria:— Genoese: 1346-1566. Genoese: 1346-1475. Genoese: 1346-62. [Turkish: 1566-1694.] [Turkish: 1475-1832. ] Arangio: 1362-1481. [Venetian: 1694-5. ] [Autonomous: 1832-1912] [Knights of St John:] [Turkish: 1695-1912.] | [ 1481-1521. ] | | [Turkish: 1521-1694.] | | [Venetian: 1694-5. ] | | [Turkish: 1695-1912.] | | | +-----------------------+-------------------------+ | All Greek: 1912-

III. LORDS OF LESBOS.

[Latin Emperors: 1204-25; Greek Emperors: 1225-1333.] Domenico Cattaneo. 1333-6. [Byzantine. 1336-55.] Francesco I Gattilusio. 1355. Francesco II ” 1384. [Nicolò I of Ænos, regent. 1384-7.] Jacopo Gattilusio. 1404. [Nicolò I of Ænos again regent. 1404-9.] Dorino I Gattilusio: succeeded between March 13, 1426, and October 14, 1428. [Domenico ” regent 1449-55.] Domenico ” 1455. Nicolò II ” 1458-62. [Turkish: 1462-1912; Greek: 1912- .]

IV. LORDS OF THASOS.

Tedisio Zaccaria. 1307-13. [Greek Emperors. 1313-_c._ 1434.] Dorino I Gattilusio. _c._ 1434 or ? _c._ 1419. ? Jacopo Gattilusio. _c._ 1419. [Oberto de’ Grimaldi, governor. 1434.] Francesco III Gattilusio. 1444-_c._ 1449. Dorino I ” again. _c._ 1449. [Domenico, regent. 1449-55.] Domenico. 1455. (June 30-October.) [Turkish: 1455-6; Papal: 1456-9; Turkish: 1459-60; Demetrios Palaiologos: 1460-6; Venetian: 1466-79; Turkish: 1479-1912; Greek: 1912- .]

V. LORDS OF LEMNOS.

[Navigajosi, Gradenighi, Foscari: 1207-69; Greek Emperors: 1269-1453.] Dorino I Gattilusio. 1453. (Castle of Kokkinos from 1440.) [Domenico, regent. 1453-5.] Domenico. 1455-6. [Nicolò II, governor. 1455-6.] [Turkish: 1456; Papal: 1456-8; Turkish: 1459-60; Demetrios Palaiologos: 1460-4; Comnenos: 1464; Venetian: 1464-79; Turkish: 1479-1656; Venetian: 1656-7; Turkish (except for Russian occupation of 1770): 1657-1912; Greek: 1912- .]

VI. LORDS OF SAMOTHRACE.

[Latin Emperors: 1204-61; Greek Emperors: 1261-_c._ 1431.] Palamede Gattilusio. _c._ 1431. [Joannes Laskaris Rhyndakenos, governor: 1444-55.] Dorino II Gattilusio. 1455-6. [Turkish: 1456; Papal: 1456-9; Turkish: 1459-60; Demetrios Palaiologos: 1460-6; Venetian: 1466-79; Turkish: 1479-1912; Greek: 1912- .]

VII. LORDS OF IMBROS.

[Latin Emperors: 1204-61; Greek Emperors: 1261-1453.] Palamede Gattilusio. 1453. [Joannes Laskaris Rhyndakenos, governor.] Dorino II Gattilusio. 1455-6. [Turkish: 1456-60; Demetrios Palaiologos: 1460-6; Venetian: 1466-70; Turkish: 1470-1912; Greek: 1912-14; Turkish: 1914-20; Greek: 1920- .]

VIII. LORDS OF ÆNOS.

Nicolò I Gattilusio. _c._ 1384. Palamede ” 1409. Dorino II ” 1455-6. [Turkish: 1456-60; Demetrios Palaiologos: 1460-8; Turkish: 1468-1912; Bulgarian: 1912-3; Turkish: 1913-20; Greek: 1920- .]

IX. SMYRNA.

Genoese. 1261-_c._ 1300. [Turkish, _c._ 1300-44.] Genoese. 1344-1402. [Mongol: 1402; Turkish, interrupted by risings of Kara-Djouneïd: 1402-24; continuously Turkish: 1424-1919; Greek (“under Turkish sovereignty”): 1919- .]

X. FAMAGOSTA.

Genoese: 1374-1464. [Banca di San Giorgio: 1447-64; Lusignans: 1464-89; Venetian: 1489-1571; Turkish: 1571-1878; British (under Turkish suzerainty): 1878-1914; British: 1914- .]

2. THE GENOESE IN CHIOS (1346-1566)

Of the Latin states which existed in Greek lands between the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 and the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, there were four principal forms. Those states were either independent kingdoms, such as Cyprus; feudal principalities, of which that of Achaia is the best example; military outposts, like Rhodes; or colonies directly governed by the mother-country, of which Crete was the most conspicuous. But the Genoese administration of Chios differed from all the other Latin creations in the Levant. It was what we should call in modern parlance a Chartered Company, which on a smaller scale anticipated the career of the East India and the British South Africa Companies in our own history.

The origins of the Latin colonization of Greece are usually to be found in places and circumstances where we should least expect to find them. The incident which led to this Genoese occupation of the most fertile island of the Ægean is to be sought in the history of the smallest of European principalities—that of Monaco, which in the first half of the fourteenth century already belonged to the noble Genoese family of Grimaldi, which still reigns over it. At that time the rock of Monaco and the picturesque village of Roquebrune (between Monte Carlo and Mentone) sheltered a number of Genoese nobles, fugitives from their native city, where one of those revolutions common in the mediæval republics of Italy had placed the popular party in power. The proximity and the preparations of these exiles were a menace to Genoa, but the resources of the republican treasury were too much exhausted to equip a fleet against them at the cost of the state. Accordingly, an appeal was made to the patriotism of private citizens, whose expenses were to be ultimately refunded, and in the meanwhile guaranteed by the possession of any conquered territory. In response to this appeal, twenty-six of the people and three nobles of the popular party equipped that number of galleys, which were placed under the command of Simone Vignoso, himself one of the twenty-nine privateers. On April 24, 1346, the fleet set sail; and, at its approach, the outlawed nobles fled to Marseilles, whence many of them entered the French army and died four months later fighting at Crécy against our King Edward III.

The immediate object for which the fleet had been fitted out had been thus accomplished. But it seemed to Vignoso a pity that it should not be employed, and the Near East offered a tempting field for its activities. The condition of south-eastern Europe in 1346 might perhaps be paralleled with its situation in later times. An ancient empire, which Gladstone described as “more wonderful than anything done by the Romans,” enthroned on the Bosporos with one brief interval for ten centuries, was obviously crumbling away, and its ultimate dissolution was only a question of time. A lad of fourteen, John V Palaiologos, sat on the throne of the Cæsars, while a woman and a foreigner, the Empress-mother Anne of Savoy, governed in his name. Against her and her son the too-powerful Grand Domestic (or, as we should say, prime minister), John Cantacuzene, whom posterity remembers rather as an historian than as an Emperor, had raised the standard of revolt. In Asia Minor Byzantium retained nothing but the suburb of Scutari, Philadelphia, and the two towns of Phocæa. Independent emirs ruled the south and centre, the Ottomans the north, whence in seven years they were to cross into Europe, in eight more to transfer their capital to Adrianople. Already the European provinces of Byzantium were cut short by the frontier of the Bulgarian Empire and still more by the rapid advance of Serbia, then the most powerful state in the Balkan peninsula. Seventeen days before Vignoso sailed for the East, the great Serbian conqueror and lawgiver, Stephen Dushan, one of the most remarkable figures in mediæval history, was crowned at Skoplje “Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks” and had proposed to Genoa’s rival, Venice, an alliance for the conquest of the Byzantine Empire. Greece proper, with the exception of the Byzantine province in the Morea, was parcelled out between Latin rulers, while Byzantium had no fleet to protect her outlying territories. Under these circumstances a commercial Italian republic might not unnaturally seek to peg out claims in the midst of the general confusion in the East, where only two years before Smyrna, formerly a Genoese colony, had been recaptured from the Turks.

Vignoso’s first intention was to protect the Genoese settlements on the Black Sea against the attacks of the Tartars; but information received at Negroponte, where he touched on the way, led him to change his plans. There he found a fleet of Venetian and Rhodian galleys, under the Dauphin of Vienne, preparing to occupy Chios as a naval base for operations against the Turks in Asia Minor. Vignoso and his associates were offered large sums for their co-operation, but their patriotism rejected the idea of handing over to the rival republic an island which had belonged to the Genoese family of Zaccaria from 1304 to 1329, and which as recently as seventeen years earlier had been recovered by the Greeks. They made all sail for Chios, and offered to assist the islanders against a Venetian attack, if they would hoist the Genoese flag and admit a small Genoese garrison. The scornful refusal of the garrison was followed by the landing of the Genoese; four days sufficed to take the rest of the island; but the citadel made such a spirited resistance that three months passed before food gave out and on September 12 the capitulation was signed. The governor, Kalojanni Cybo, himself of Genoese extraction, and a member of the well-known Ligurian family which afterwards produced Pope Innocent VIII, made excellent terms for himself and his relatives, while the Greeks were to enjoy their former religious liberties and endowments, their property, and their privileges. A Genoese governor was to be appointed to administer the island according to the laws of the Republic, and 200 houses in the citadel were assigned at once for the use of the Genoese garrison. Vignoso proved by his example that he meant to keep these promises. He ordered his own son to be flogged publicly for stealing grapes from a vineyard belonging to one of the natives, and bequeathed a sum of money for providing poor Chiote girls with dowries as compensation for any damage that he might have inflicted upon the islanders.

Vignoso completed the conquest of Chios by the annexation of Old and New Phocæa, or Foglia Vecchia and Nuova, as the Italians called them, almost the last Byzantine possessions on the coast of Asia Minor, and celebrated for their valuable alum-mines, whence English ships used to obtain materials for dyeing, and of the neighbouring islands of Psara, or Santa Panagia, Samos, Ikaria, and the Œnoussai[486]. All these places had belonged to the former Genoese lords of Chios, with whose fortunes they were now reunited. The two Foglie, with the exception of a brief Byzantine restoration, remained in Genoese hands till they were conquered by the Turks in 1455; Foglia Vecchia, after about 1402, being administered by the Gattilusj of Lesbos, Foglia Nuova being leased to a member of the _maona_ for life or a term of years. Samos and Psara were abandoned in 1475 from fear of corsairs, and their inhabitants removed to Chios, whilst the harbourless Ikaria, where pirates could not land, was in 1362 granted to the Genoese family of Arangio, which held it with the title of Count until 1481. In that year it was ceded for greater security to the knights of Rhodes, and remained united with that island till it too was conquered by the Turks in 1522. Vignoso desired to add the rich island of Lesbos and the strategic island of Tenedos, which, as we have been lately reminded, commands the mouth of the Dardanelles, to his acquisitions. But his crews had had enough of fighting, and were so mutinous that he returned to Genoa[487].

The Genoese exchequer was unable to repay to Vignoso and his partners their expenses, amounting to 203,000 Genoese pounds (£79,170 of our money) or 7000 for each of the twenty-nine galleys, the Genoese pound being then, according to Desimoni, worth 9 lire 75 centesimi. Accordingly, by an arrangement made on February 26, 1347, it was agreed that the Republic should liquidate this liability within twenty years and thereupon become the direct owner of the conquered places, which in the meanwhile were to be governed—and the civil and criminal administration conducted—in her name. The collection of taxes, however, and the monopoly of the mastic, which was the chief product of the island, were granted to the twenty-nine associates in the company, or _mahona_, as it was called. The origin of this word is uncertain. In modern Italian _maona_ means a “lighter”; but those vessels of Turkish invention are not mentioned before 1500. On the other hand, we read of a _maona_, or _madona_ (as it is there written), in connexion with a Genoese expedition to Ceuta in a document of 1236, and it has, therefore, been suggested that _maona_ is a Ligurian contraction of _Madonna_, and that such trading companies were under the protection of Our Lady, whose image was to be seen on the palace of the Giustiniani at Genoa. At any rate, the name was applied to other Genoese companies, to the Old and New _maona_ of Cyprus, founded in 1374 and 1403, and to the _maona_ of Corsica, founded in 1378. Other derivations are from the Greek word μονάς (“unit”), the Genoese _mobba_ (“union”), and the Arabic _me-unet_ (“subsidy”)[488].

This convention with the _maonesi_[489] was to be valid only as long as the popular party remained in power at Genoa. The Republic was to be represented in Chios by a _podestà_, selected annually out of a list of twenty Genoese democrats submitted in February by the Doge and his council to the _maonesi_; from these twenty the _maonesi_ were to choose four, and one of these four was then appointed _podestà_ by the Doge and council. Should the first list of twenty be rejected by the _maonesi_, a second list was to be prepared by the home government. The _podestà_ was to swear to govern according to the regulations of Genoa and the convention concluded by Vignoso with the Greeks. Twice a year he went on circuit through the island to hear the complaints of the natives, and no _maonese_ was allowed to accompany him on those journeys. Another officer of the Republic was the _castellano_, or commander of the castle of Chios, likewise chosen annually, from a list of six names, submitted to the Duke and his council by the _maonesi_. This officer was bound to find security to the amount of 3000 Genoese pounds (£1170) for his important charge. A _podestà_ and _castellano_ for Foglia Nuova and the _castellano_ of Foglia Vecchia, who had the powers of a _podestà_, were appointed in the same way. These officials were responsible for their misdeeds to a board of examiners, and the _podestà_ was assisted by six, afterwards twelve, councillors called _gubernatores_, elected by the _maonesi_ or other nominees, in everything except his judicial work, where their co-operation was at his discretion. Salaries were not high; those of the _podestà_ of Chios and Foglia Nuova were only 1250 (or £560) and 600 _hypérpera_ (or £268 16_s._) respectively; those of the three _castellani_ ranged from 400 to 500 (or £179 4_s._ to £224). Out of these sums they had to keep and clothe a considerable retinue. Local officials called generically _rettori_, but familiarly known as _codespótæ_ (“joint lords”) or _protogérontes_ (“chief elders”) in the eight northern, and as _logariastaí_ (or “calculators”) in the four southern or mastic districts of Chios, were appointed by the _podestà_.