May 12, 2022 • 35 mins
The Ottoman Empire started as one of many Turkish tribes in Western Anatolia in the 1200s, but eventually conquered a vast region, including the Byzantine Empire and the Morea. Here we discuss their history and how they took control of the Morea.
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Jen (00:00):
The district of Vostitsa circa 1463 in the first Ottoman
defter of the area had 1,529households in 67 towns and
villages.
Wheat and barley were bothcultivated.
Along with various fruit trees.
olive trees and grapevines.
(00:21):
Pigs were counted in thisrecord, separate from other
livestock.
And those other livestock, wereall listed as sheep.
Cotton and flax for bothproduced.
But neither was as extensive inthe Vostitsa district as the
number of mulberry treescultivated for silk.
There was salt production fromsalt pans and watermills for
(00:45):
grinding grain.
And fulling mills for makingfelt as well.
This information is from the2019 book by Georgios
Liakopoulos called The EarlyOttoman Peloponnese.
Information comes from TableFour, Demographic Statistics of
the Peloponnese on page 221.
(01:07):
Table 15 on District ofVostitsa.
Pages 255 through 257 and Chart10 on page 258.
I'm Jen Glaubius and this is TheHelonaki Deep Dive a podcast
about mapping and analysis forhistorical and archeological
(01:28):
research.
In this episode, I'll discussthe Ottoman empire.
From its beginnings in AsiaMinor to how it conquered the
Byzantine empire, includingConstantinople and the Morea.
Let's dive in.
We're going to talk today aboutthe Ottomans, but let's start
(01:50):
just with a little recap aboutwhat was happening in the Morea,
in the Peloponnese around 1400,before we really get to the
Ottomans.
So the Byzantines had made acomeback and they controlled a
lot of territory in the Morea,but not all of it.
They were in a pretty goodposition.
(02:11):
The Venetians had the ports ofModon and Koron, and they had
also acquired Nauplio throughtime.
So they held three port cities.
That they had fortified.
The former Frankish baronies,some of those were kind of
holding on, but they were nolonger Frankish at all.
(02:32):
They were either owned by someItalians, Florentines, or most
of them, including Vostitsa werecontrolled by the Navarrese
Company.
And where left off last time.
The first Ottoman raid happenedin 1387.
And the Ottomans were actuallycalled in by Theodore the Despot
(02:54):
of Morea.
Now let's talk about theOttomans.
And what became the genesis ofthe Ottoman empire was one of
many nomadic Turkish tribes thathad arrived in Western Anatolia
between the 1220s and 1240s.
(03:16):
They came from the area of Iranand Eastern Anatolia, but were
pushed westward after theMongols had beat the Seljuk
Sultanate.
So they're moving, trying tofind an area where they can
thrive by themselves.
The leader of the principalitywas a man named Osman.
(03:38):
And from that they became theOttomans, but it started with a
man named Osman.
And his principality was thefurthest north of all these
other little ones.
And it was on the border of whatremained to the Byzantine
empire, which had just reformeditself around the 1260s after
(03:59):
being taken apart by the Franksand the Fourth Crusade.
And the Ottomans would continueto push against Byzantine land,
especially the city of Nicaea,which they first besieged in
1301, but did not take until 30years later.
But the Ottomans were only inAnatolia until they made an
(04:22):
alliance with a man named JohnCantacuzenus who married his
daughter, Theodora to Osman'sson Orhan.
Later when Cantacuzenus was onthe Byzantine throne.
He became the Byzantine emperor.
He asked for the Ottomans tohelp him out in Thrace, in the
Balkans in Europe.
(04:43):
That help us supposed to betemporary, but when the Ottomans
were about to cross back toAnatolia in 1354, an earthquake
destroyed Byzantine fortresseson the Gallipoli peninsula.
And the Ottomans took advantageof the confusion and established
villages on the Gallipolipeninsula.
(05:04):
And had their foothold inEurope.
From their foothold on theGallipoli peninsula, the
Ottomans then started conductingraids into Thrace and across the
Balkans to expand theirterritory.
I just want to talk a little bitabout how they made progress,
(05:25):
how they gained territory inThrace and in other places.
So the process was they wouldstart conducting raids into an
area.
And because of these raids, mostof the people living there would
decide to move into the townsbecause it wasn't safe except
behind city walls.
Then the Ottomans would approachthe town.
(05:47):
And they would say, okay, if yousubmit to us, you'll be okay.
You'll just have to pay tribute.
If you don't, we're going toenslave the people and you might
go elsewhere or you'll bekilled.
And so those are the choices.
If they had to take the town byforce, then people would be
enslaved and the town wouldmostly be settled by Turkish
(06:09):
peoples.
Through raiding the Ottomansquickly gained control of a lot
of territory in the Balkans.
But much of the area that theygained, they did not actually
control directly.
But through vassals.
And that was when the leader ofa territory would agree to
(06:30):
become a vassal of the Ottomanleader.
So then they would have to payan annual tribute to show that
they were under Ottoman control.
Whoever the vassal was, wouldhave to come to the Ottoman
Sultan to swear allegiance.
And as well on top of theseother things.
(06:52):
That vassal would have to supplyauxiliary troops for the
Ottomans.
And so the Ottomans acquiredvassals through the areas that
are now Bulgaria, into Albania.
And especially including theByzantine emperor.
That includes the Despot ofMorea.
(07:12):
So there was this rapidexpansion through the Balkans
and that was able to happenbecause the area was so
fragmented into so many smallterritories who often fought
amongst themselves.
And then looked for the Ottomansfor help against their other
enemies.
Ottoman domination of the regionwas not a foregone conclusion at
(07:37):
this point.
A lot depended on the individualSultan, his choices and his
personal leadership of themilitary.
Various vassal states such asthe Byzantines would do their
best to weaken the Ottomans bysupporting infighting when they
could.
(07:58):
So they were trying to weakenthe Ottomans.
And this especially happenedwhenever there was a new Sultan
and there would be fightingamongst all the contenders for
the Ottoman throne.
But these various vassal stateswere also unstable internally,
and this is especially the casein the Morea.
(08:20):
Where you have the ByzantineDespot of Morea, but they're up
against the Venetian ports,which had been long established
for centuries at this point.
And they still have fightingagainst the Principality of
Achaia and the NavarreseCompany.
And in addition to those, theelite landowners of the Morea
(08:42):
would also rebel against them.
And that's how that firstOttoman raid of 1387 happened.
Because the Despot of Moreacalled in the Ottomans for help
against a rebellion by thoseelite landowners.
The next time the Ottomans wouldactually come into the Morea was
in 1393.
(09:04):
And this time, it wasn't theByzantines asking for help, but
it was the Navarrese Company.
An Ottoman general named EvrenosBeg got into the Morea and they
seized two Byzantine fortresses.
And then they left.
But there's a new Sultan in1394.
(09:24):
His name is Bayezid and hecalled all of his vassal princes
in to reaffirm their bonds thatthey owed to him.
Including the Byzantine emperorand Theodore the Despot of the
Morea.
Theodore, to be able to leavethis meeting, he had to promise
(09:45):
that he would give the OttomansMonemvasia that very
impenetrable fortress, alsoArgos and some other fortresses.
So Theodore the Despot promisedto give up those fortresses, but
once he escaped did not followthrough and instead kept them
for himself.
The new Sultan was not happyabout that.
(10:07):
And so in the next year, 1395,he sent raiders.
And these raiders went from theisthmus near Corinth.
They went all the way to theother end of the Peloponnese to
the Southwestern part.
Up to Modon and Coron, theVenetian colonies.
1395 wasn't the last time raidanother raid happened in 1397
(10:32):
and another one in 1400.
With these raids, you end upwith a lot of food shortages.
Including in the Venetian heldlands because they require
people to be there to growgrain.
And especially in the 1397 raid,centered on the town of Argos in
(10:53):
the Northeastern Morea at least14,000 people were enslaved
during that one raid.
The Venetians controlled Argosat that point.
And so they tried to bring inpeople to repopulate it.
They did bring in some AlbaniansBut there's a lot of problems
and there's also the devastationcaused by the raid itself, like
(11:15):
burned fields and ruined crops.
So during these years, just atthe end of the 13 hundreds, you
have a lot of alliances that arefluid through time.
Shifting who was allied withwho.
So you've got the DespotTheodore who had first called in
the Ottomans.
He'd been a vassal, but then hegets punished for not actually
(11:38):
paying them tribute and he's ina pretty weak position.
The commander of the NavarreseCompany, a man named San
Superan.
He's the one who was actually incharge of Vostitsa at this
point.
He fights against the Ottomansin 1399.
So he's helping fight againstthem.
But two years later in early1401.
(12:00):
He's helping them conduct raidsagainst Venetian Modon and
Coron.
And then you also have thelandowning elite of the area.
They change who they're workingwith through time.
So they'll cooperate with theNavarrese Company for awhile
against the Despot.
And then they look for help fromthe Ottoman Sultan.
(12:22):
So.
Late 13 hundreds going into thevery beginning of 14 hundreds,
things were looking pretty bleakfor the Morea.
But the Morea and the Byzantineempire as a whole, get a break.
When the Ottomans under theirSultan, leading them into the
battle, lost badly to Timur,some times known as Tamerlane.
(12:47):
There was a large battle nearAnkara in the year, 1402.
The Ottomans lost badly andBayezid, their sultan was
actually taken captive.
After he died, it kicked off anOttoman civil war, basically,
like who would succeed him?
And this gave breathing space tobasically everyone.
(13:08):
So the Byzantines and all of theother vassals basically are gone
because they were like, Nope.
You do not have a hold on us atthis point.
So back in the Morea.
They don't have raids for a fewyears.
Manuel the Byzantine emperorcomes to the Morea in spring of
(13:29):
1415.
He lands at a port near theisthmus of Corinth.
And there he restores this wallknown as the Hexamilion.
The Hexamilion was this wallacross the isthmus, which was
intended for defense.
A much, much earlier wall hadbeen placed there, but the
(13:53):
earliest one definitely attestedwas during the early Byzantine
period.
But now, Manuel the Byzantineemperor is trying to restore the
Hexamilion.
And to do that he needs money.
So he raises the taxes on thelocal population.
(14:13):
And of course they're unhappyabout that.
It's like the Hexamilion doesn'tusually work.
And you want us to pay for this?
And they rise up against theByzantines and Manuel has this
uprising put down.
And then after that he goes toMystra.
The Byzantines actually ended upmaking strides in the 1410s.
(14:36):
They capture basically all ofthe area of Messenia and they
start going northwards intoEllis, which was the center of
the Frankish principate.
The Venetians have Modon andCoron in Messenia.
So they take the area betweenit, a castle between the two.
And they also end up purchasingthe fortress at Navarino.
(14:59):
Which today is known as PaleoNavarino, not the newer one in
the town of Pylos.
It had been about 20 years sincethe Ottomans had raided.
The Hexamilion had been updatedin 1415.
But in 1423, the Ottomans invadethe Morea.
(15:21):
And the Hexamilion did not stopthem at all.
So you've got Ottomans comingin, they raid, it causes a lot
of destruction, then they leave.
After the 1423 raid there'speace in the Morea for a little
while.
At least from the Ottomans.
But the Byzantines during thistime end up taking care of what
(15:42):
was left of the NavarreseCompany and the Principate of
Achaia.
And by 1430, all of the Morea,except for the little Venetian
ports, are back in Byzantinehands.
In 1443, the Ottomans end upplaying defense.
(16:05):
There's a small crusade thatcomes out of the west and it
takes out the Turkish governorin what is now Bulgaria.
At about that same time, there'san uprising in Albania by
Skanderbeg.
And then in the Morea the eldestson of the Byzantine emperor,
the Despot ConstantinePalaeologos, first rebuilds the
(16:27):
Hexamilion at the isthmus ofCorinth, even though it has not
stopped the Ottomans or anyoneelse.
And then he continues on intocentral Greece and occupies
Athens and Thebes, which wereactually owned by a Florentine.
So a couple of years later,Constantine ends up going
(16:51):
raiding throughout what iscentral Greece and up into
Albania.
Constantine had left a governorin his place in the Moria.
This governor was based inVostitsa.
but he leaves a small force backin Vostitsa.
And crosses the Gulf of Corinthinto western Phocis.
(17:12):
And he drives the Ottomans outof the area around the site of
Delphi.
So in response to this.
The Ottoman Sultan was not happyabout this raiding.
And in November 1446.
He allies himself with the Dukeof Athens and Thebes.
And takes an army of 50,000 tothe Morea.
(17:37):
So Constantine who had goneraiding and his brother, the
Despot Thomas, they try to holdthem at the Hexamilion.
But the defenders can't hold it.
And the two Despots barely getthemselves back into Mystra.
At the same time those Greekelite landowners are also rising
up.
So they're rebelling at the sametime.
(17:59):
The Sultan Murad, who is leadinghis army himself, he ends up
splitting that army into two.
He sends half towards Mystratowards that Capitol where the
despots are.
And he took the other half to goalong the Northern coast of the
Morea.
So he goes from Corinth andmakes it to Patras going through
(18:21):
Vostitsa and causing devastationalong the entire path.
The population of Patras hadmostly fled across the water to
Naupktos.
But then the Sultan marches toGlarentza, which had been that
Frankish stronghold and meets upwith his general who had not
(18:42):
been able to take Mystra.
So the despots were safe.
After meeting up, the Ottomansthen marched back out of the
Morea.
It was a devastating raid.
With over 22,000 people dead.
And at least 60,000 people takenprisoner.
(19:06):
So after that Constantinebecomes the Byzantine emperor.
He goes off to Constantinople.
And his younger brotherDemetrius Palaeologos joins
their other brother, Thomas inthe Morea.
These two brothers do not agreein how they're actually going to
deal with foreign politics.
(19:28):
So Demetrius the one who hadjust arrived was very pro
Ottoman.
He would have been fighting withthem since his father was their
vassal.
Thomas who'd been in the Morealonger was more anti-Ottoman.
But even though they disagreed,they also had to deal with the
elite landowners of the Moreawho would cause problems.
(19:54):
So there's another raid by theOttomans in the fall of 1452,
which keeps Demetrius andThomas, very busy.
And it keeps them from sendingaid to their brother.
Constantine the Byzantineemperor in Constantinople.
That April in 1453.
(20:17):
Ottoman forces under theirSultan surrounded
Constantinople.
They'd been attacking andsieging Constantinople and
building fortresses, gettingready to take the city.
But in 1453, they really meanbusiness.
They bring cannons.
There are very few defenders forthe miles and miles of walls of
(20:38):
Constantinople.
The population was greatlydecreased from its height.
And the Ottomans had a blockadeto prevent anyone from supplying
them.
The final assault came on the29th of May in 1453.
And that's when the city fellcompletely to the Ottomans
followed by three days oflooting.
(20:58):
And then all of that was stoppedand the Sultan made
Constantinople into his capitol.
Just as a little side note, thecity remained Constantinople for
some time.
And the name Istanbul camelater.
So, once Constantinople comesinto Ottoman hands, I'm now
(21:23):
going to call it Istanbul fromhere on out.
Members of the Byzantine elitewere able to escape the fall of
Constantinople.
Some of these elite refugees,they end up in the Morea, they
end up on the island of Corfu oron other islands.
A lot of them end up in Italyand especially in Venice.
(21:45):
So one of the biggestconsequences from 1453 is that
the last real outpost of theByzantine empire is the Morea.
With the two despots, butthey're on their own completely.
The despots Thomas and Demetrioshave control over the entire
area except for the Venetianports.
But that control is very, veryunsteady.
(22:08):
The elite landowners aren'thappy.
They keep revolting.
There's another revolt byAlbanians in 1453.
And so to put down this revolt,the despots get help from the
Ottomans.
But there have been constantraids off and on for years at
this point.
Meanwhile, the Ottomans continuemaking advances.
(22:31):
So they capture Athens in 1455.
But the Ottomans don't come intothe Morea until 1458 and they
have a pretext.
And that pretext is that thedespots did not pay the tribute
to the Sultan for three years.
And so the Ottomans were able tothen invade in 1458.
(22:54):
Corinth itself surrenders afterthree months siege.
then the Ottomans are able tosweep through and take most of
the Peloponnese by 1460, exceptfor the Venetian colonies.
Because the Despot Thomas endsup fleeing Monemvasia puts
itself under Venice's control.
(23:15):
In 1463 the Pope and Hungary andVenice decide to get together a
crusade to try to help out theByzantines who have basically
just lost the Morea.
But there's not enough support.
That crusade doesn't do much.
But in July, 1463, the peoplewho are left in the Morea, try
(23:36):
to give what's left to theVenetians to see if they can
hold back the Ottomans.
And so this very brief period in1463 is called the first
Venetokratia, the first periodof Venetian rule, even though
it's super brief.
During this brief period,Vostitsa was among the castles
(23:58):
occupied by the Venetians.
But it didn't last very long.
So with this, the Morea becomesOttoman with those few Venetian
holdouts.
Now what happened when theOttomans took over territory?
(24:20):
In most cases, they didn'treally change much at first.
Now all the land would nowbelong to the Sultan.
And there would be a new surveycalled a defter.
So that they would know how muchtax money could be collected.
But administrative boundarieswould be kept at first.
(24:42):
The peasants would remain on theland that they were on.
They would have that use of thefarm land.
And would be taxed on anyproduce that they raised.
The tax revenue from the landcould be given to institutions
like dervish lodges.
And later on to individuals.
(25:04):
But most of the land would begranted to cavalryman and this
is called the timar system.
Where these cavalryman would beresponsible for collecting the
taxes and that tax revenue wouldfund them to actually be able to
go off and fight in Ottomanwars.
(25:27):
And the cavalrymen would besettled there and they would
help keep order for the Ottomansin that area.
I do want to note that thesetimars could be granted to local
nobility, to the local elites.
They did not have to be Ottomansto actually be awarded timars.
And I'm not sure if it happenedin the Morea, but in other parts
(25:49):
in Albania and in Thessaly,there would be Christian
timarots awarded.
They just had twoqualifications.
If you're a Christian.
You had to have some militarytraining and origin, you had to
be of the military to hold atimar.
And you also have to have provedyourself loyal to the Sultan.
(26:12):
And through this and other waysthe Ottoman state helped
preserve the elite status ofindividuals that worked with
them.
And so the peasants were stillwhere they were and the elites
mostly were able to stay aselites as well.
Some of them would have fled.
(26:33):
But many would have stayedbecause they had roots there.
And so this is how we get thefirst Ottoman defter between
1460 and 1463 in all of theterritories that the Ottomans
controlled.
So none of the Venetian areas.
But we get a snapshot of whatwas happening in Vostitsa.
(26:53):
And at this point it's reallywhat was Vostitsa like, at the
very end of the Byzantine periodin 1460, when this defter was
compiled.
There were 73 localities thatincluded 38 Greek villages.
28 Albanian villages.
And then one mixed village.
(27:14):
There were also fouruninhabited, but cultivated
areas included as localities.
And as I read in the beginning,there were salt pans in the
area.
Wheat was cultivated.
You had viticulture forwine-making.
And then you especially have thesilk industry.
You have a lot of Mulberry treesin this area.
(27:37):
I'll talk a lot more about howthis defter was collected and
what it means when I get intoanalysis in the second half of
this season.
Now Let's talk about whathappened afterwards.
So.
After this, the Morea's prettystable.
What fighting there is betweenthe Venetians and the Ottomans,
(27:59):
the Ottomans in the meanwhile,expand their territory to Egypt
and along the coast of northAfrica.
They also have fighting to theEast against the Persians, so in
the area of Iran.
And they're fighting in thewest, in the Balkans near the
Danube first with the Hungarianempire and later against the
(28:22):
Habsburgs.
We're going to focus mostly whatwas going on with the Venetians.
Cause this is where most of thedirect conflict comes from.
In 1470, Venice loses the islandof Evia to the Ottomans.
This was a major blow to them.
They'd had a colony there for along time.
(28:44):
And used it for resupplying.
The Venetians and the Ottomansfight for a while.
And then they sign a treaty andthere's peace for decades.
But in 1499, the Venetians losea naval battle to the Ottomans
off the island of Sapienza offthe Southwestern tip of the
Peloponnese.
And the next year in 1500.
(29:05):
They lose Modon and Coron.
They also lose Naupaktos whichwas across the Gulf of Corinth
from the Morea.
They lose all of that to theOttomans in 1500.
So in response Venice and thePapacy and Hungary joined
together in a league against theOttomans.
(29:30):
This league isn't very strong.
Venice tries to attack theOttomans in Anatolia, but
nothing really happens.
It doesn't really do anything.
But the Venetians still have theislands of Cyprus, Crete, and
Corfu.
After a failed Ottoman siege ofVienna in 1529.
a so-called holy league joinstogether in 1538.
(29:53):
And this holy league is theHapsburg, Charles, the fifth.
The Pope.
And then Venice And this leaguecomes into a naval battle
against the Ottomans led byBarbarosa who simply, beats the
holy league.
(30:14):
After this defeat Monemvasia.
and Nauplio are both taken bythe Ottomans from Venetian
families that had been holdingthem.
And that ends any control thatthe Venetians have over any
place in the Morea.
This leads us to the year 1571.
(30:36):
Which is when the Ottomansdecided to take control of the
island of Cyprus which Venicehad been in charge of since
1489.
Venice had basically been tryingto stay at peace with the
Ottomans, but the Ottomansstarted attacking Cyprus.
Venice hurriedly joins into aleague with the Pope and with
(30:59):
Spain.
Venice was supposed to helpSpain fight in north Africa and
Spain would help the Venetiansagainst the Ottomans on Cyprus.
This league puts together afleet.
That's led by Don John ofAustria.
And they leave for Cyprus inSeptember of 1571.
(31:21):
But Cypress has alreadycompletely fallen to the
Ottomans.
Instead this fleet finds theOttoman fleet at the Gulf of
Patras.
So it's at the mouth of the Gulfof Corinth.
And there's a battle off ofNaupaktos, which is also known
as Lepanto.
(31:44):
The fleet led by Don Juan isoutnumbered by the Ottoman
fleet, but they have more modernships.
And they're able to destroy mostof the Ottoman fleet in this
huge horrific battle that'sknown as the battle of Lepanto.
The battle of Lepanto issometimes called a turning point
(32:07):
in the, the fighting between theOttomans and Christian nations
of the west.
But in many ways nothing reallychanged after it.
There was no momentum for thisleague of the Spanish, the
Venetians and the Pope.
There would be minor skirmishes,but the Ottoman fleet was able
(32:30):
to rebuild Nothing really isgained.
The Venetians have lost Cyprusand they'll never get it back.
And the Venetians end up havingto pay a lot of money to the
Ottomans as reparations.
So, although the battlesometimes seen as a great
Christian victory over theOttomans.
(32:52):
It didn't really do anything.
And that's where we're going toleave off for this episode We'll
pick up in the next episode withwhat happens after 1571.
And mostly it's more fightingbetween the Venetians and the
Ottomans and leads into thesecond period of Venetian rule
(33:14):
in the Morea.
For the endnotes.
I just want to say a few wordsabout the way that the Ottomans
are often portrayed in differentbooks and resources you might
see out there.
And there's a lot of antiOttoman bias.
I'm not saying that the Ottomansdid not do horrible things, but
(33:37):
they are portrayed as the worstof the worst.
Even when Christians, such asthe crusaders did things that
were just as bad.
And the difference is definitelyreligion.
I try not to let that biasaffect me, but to do that, I
also try to read things from theOttoman perspective, as well, as
(34:00):
much as possible.
And one book that I am usingextensively for this section.
Is by Caroline Finkel calledOsman's Dream.
The history of the Ottomanempire.
And it's a very, very superdetailed read.
And very good for just getting afeel for what the Ottoman empire
(34:21):
was like without pullingpunches.
So I highly recommend it.
Thanks for listening.
Email questions or comments todeepdive@helonaki.com or ask
them on the Helonaki Deep DiveFacebook page.
Show notes with links toresources mentioned in this
(34:42):
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(35:26):
Thanks for listening.
The district of Vostitsa circa 1463 in the first Ottoman
defter of the area had 1,529households in 67 towns and
villages.
Wheat and barley were bothcultivated.
Along with various fruit trees.
olive trees and grapevines.
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Pigs were counted in thisrecord, separate from other
livestock.
And those other livestock, wereall listed as sheep.
Cotton and flax for bothproduced.
But neither was as extensive inthe Vostitsa district as the
number of mulberry treescultivated for silk.
There was salt production fromsalt pans and watermills for
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grinding grain.
And fulling mills for makingfelt as well.
This information is from the2019 book by Georgios
Liakopoulos called The EarlyOttoman Peloponnese.
Information comes from TableFour, Demographic Statistics of
the Peloponnese on page 221.
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Table 15 on District ofVostitsa.
Pages 255 through 257 and Chart10 on page 258.
I'm Jen Glaubius and this is TheHelonaki Deep Dive a podcast
about mapping and analysis forhistorical and archeological
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research.
In this episode, I'll discussthe Ottoman empire.
From its beginnings in AsiaMinor to how it conquered the
Byzantine empire, includingConstantinople and the Morea.
Let's dive in.
We're going to talk today aboutthe Ottomans, but let's start
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just with a little recap aboutwhat was happening in the Morea,
in the Peloponnese around 1400,before we really get to the
Ottomans.
So the Byzantines had made acomeback and they controlled a
lot of territory in the Morea,but not all of it.
They were in a pretty goodposition.
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The Venetians had the ports ofModon and Koron, and they had
also acquired Nauplio throughtime.
So they held three port cities.
That they had fortified.
The former Frankish baronies,some of those were kind of
holding on, but they were nolonger Frankish at all.
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They were either owned by someItalians, Florentines, or most
of them, including Vostitsa werecontrolled by the Navarrese
Company.
And where left off last time.
The first Ottoman raid happenedin 1387.
And the Ottomans were actuallycalled in by Theodore the Despot
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of Morea.
Now let's talk about theOttomans.
And what became the genesis ofthe Ottoman empire was one of
many nomadic Turkish tribes thathad arrived in Western Anatolia
between the 1220s and 1240s.
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They came from the area of Iranand Eastern Anatolia, but were
pushed westward after theMongols had beat the Seljuk
Sultanate.
So they're moving, trying tofind an area where they can
thrive by themselves.
The leader of the principalitywas a man named Osman.
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And from that they became theOttomans, but it started with a
man named Osman.
And his principality was thefurthest north of all these
other little ones.
And it was on the border of whatremained to the Byzantine
empire, which had just reformeditself around the 1260s after
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being taken apart by the Franksand the Fourth Crusade.
And the Ottomans would continueto push against Byzantine land,
especially the city of Nicaea,which they first besieged in
1301, but did not take until 30years later.
But the Ottomans were only inAnatolia until they made an
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alliance with a man named JohnCantacuzenus who married his
daughter, Theodora to Osman'sson Orhan.
Later when Cantacuzenus was onthe Byzantine throne.
He became the Byzantine emperor.
He asked for the Ottomans tohelp him out in Thrace, in the
Balkans in Europe.
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That help us supposed to betemporary, but when the Ottomans
were about to cross back toAnatolia in 1354, an earthquake
destroyed Byzantine fortresseson the Gallipoli peninsula.
And the Ottomans took advantageof the confusion and established
villages on the Gallipolipeninsula.
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And had their foothold inEurope.
From their foothold on theGallipoli peninsula, the
Ottomans then started conductingraids into Thrace and across the
Balkans to expand theirterritory.
I just want to talk a little bitabout how they made progress,
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how they gained territory inThrace and in other places.
So the process was they wouldstart conducting raids into an
area.
And because of these raids, mostof the people living there would
decide to move into the townsbecause it wasn't safe except
behind city walls.
Then the Ottomans would approachthe town.
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And they would say, okay, if yousubmit to us, you'll be okay.
You'll just have to pay tribute.
If you don't, we're going toenslave the people and you might
go elsewhere or you'll bekilled.
And so those are the choices.
If they had to take the town byforce, then people would be
enslaved and the town wouldmostly be settled by Turkish
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peoples.
Through raiding the Ottomansquickly gained control of a lot
of territory in the Balkans.
But much of the area that theygained, they did not actually
control directly.
But through vassals.
And that was when the leader ofa territory would agree to
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become a vassal of the Ottomanleader.
So then they would have to payan annual tribute to show that
they were under Ottoman control.
Whoever the vassal was, wouldhave to come to the Ottoman
Sultan to swear allegiance.
And as well on top of theseother things.
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That vassal would have to supplyauxiliary troops for the
Ottomans.
And so the Ottomans acquiredvassals through the areas that
are now Bulgaria, into Albania.
And especially including theByzantine emperor.
That includes the Despot ofMorea.
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So there was this rapidexpansion through the Balkans
and that was able to happenbecause the area was so
fragmented into so many smallterritories who often fought
amongst themselves.
And then looked for the Ottomansfor help against their other
enemies.
Ottoman domination of the regionwas not a foregone conclusion at
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this point.
A lot depended on the individualSultan, his choices and his
personal leadership of themilitary.
Various vassal states such asthe Byzantines would do their
best to weaken the Ottomans bysupporting infighting when they
could.
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So they were trying to weakenthe Ottomans.
And this especially happenedwhenever there was a new Sultan
and there would be fightingamongst all the contenders for
the Ottoman throne.
But these various vassal stateswere also unstable internally,
and this is especially the casein the Morea.
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Where you have the ByzantineDespot of Morea, but they're up
against the Venetian ports,which had been long established
for centuries at this point.
And they still have fightingagainst the Principality of
Achaia and the NavarreseCompany.
And in addition to those, theelite landowners of the Morea
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would also rebel against them.
And that's how that firstOttoman raid of 1387 happened.
Because the Despot of Moreacalled in the Ottomans for help
against a rebellion by thoseelite landowners.
The next time the Ottomans wouldactually come into the Morea was
in 1393.
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And this time, it wasn't theByzantines asking for help, but
it was the Navarrese Company.
An Ottoman general named EvrenosBeg got into the Morea and they
seized two Byzantine fortresses.
And then they left.
But there's a new Sultan in1394.
(09:24):
His name is Bayezid and hecalled all of his vassal princes
in to reaffirm their bonds thatthey owed to him.
Including the Byzantine emperorand Theodore the Despot of the
Morea.
Theodore, to be able to leavethis meeting, he had to promise
(09:45):
that he would give the OttomansMonemvasia that very
impenetrable fortress, alsoArgos and some other fortresses.
So Theodore the Despot promisedto give up those fortresses, but
once he escaped did not followthrough and instead kept them
for himself.
The new Sultan was not happyabout that.
(10:07):
And so in the next year, 1395,he sent raiders.
And these raiders went from theisthmus near Corinth.
They went all the way to theother end of the Peloponnese to
the Southwestern part.
Up to Modon and Coron, theVenetian colonies.
1395 wasn't the last time raidanother raid happened in 1397
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and another one in 1400.
With these raids, you end upwith a lot of food shortages.
Including in the Venetian heldlands because they require
people to be there to growgrain.
And especially in the 1397 raid,centered on the town of Argos in
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the Northeastern Morea at least14,000 people were enslaved
during that one raid.
The Venetians controlled Argosat that point.
And so they tried to bring inpeople to repopulate it.
They did bring in some AlbaniansBut there's a lot of problems
and there's also the devastationcaused by the raid itself, like
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burned fields and ruined crops.
So during these years, just atthe end of the 13 hundreds, you
have a lot of alliances that arefluid through time.
Shifting who was allied withwho.
So you've got the DespotTheodore who had first called in
the Ottomans.
He'd been a vassal, but then hegets punished for not actually
(11:38):
paying them tribute and he's ina pretty weak position.
The commander of the NavarreseCompany, a man named San
Superan.
He's the one who was actually incharge of Vostitsa at this
point.
He fights against the Ottomansin 1399.
So he's helping fight againstthem.
But two years later in early1401.
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He's helping them conduct raidsagainst Venetian Modon and
Coron.
And then you also have thelandowning elite of the area.
They change who they're workingwith through time.
So they'll cooperate with theNavarrese Company for awhile
against the Despot.
And then they look for help fromthe Ottoman Sultan.
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So.
Late 13 hundreds going into thevery beginning of 14 hundreds,
things were looking pretty bleakfor the Morea.
But the Morea and the Byzantineempire as a whole, get a break.
When the Ottomans under theirSultan, leading them into the
battle, lost badly to Timur,some times known as Tamerlane.
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There was a large battle nearAnkara in the year, 1402.
The Ottomans lost badly andBayezid, their sultan was
actually taken captive.
After he died, it kicked off anOttoman civil war, basically,
like who would succeed him?
And this gave breathing space tobasically everyone.
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So the Byzantines and all of theother vassals basically are gone
because they were like, Nope.
You do not have a hold on us atthis point.
So back in the Morea.
They don't have raids for a fewyears.
Manuel the Byzantine emperorcomes to the Morea in spring of
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1415.
He lands at a port near theisthmus of Corinth.
And there he restores this wallknown as the Hexamilion.
The Hexamilion was this wallacross the isthmus, which was
intended for defense.
A much, much earlier wall hadbeen placed there, but the
(13:53):
earliest one definitely attestedwas during the early Byzantine
period.
But now, Manuel the Byzantineemperor is trying to restore the
Hexamilion.
And to do that he needs money.
So he raises the taxes on thelocal population.
(14:13):
And of course they're unhappyabout that.
It's like the Hexamilion doesn'tusually work.
And you want us to pay for this?
And they rise up against theByzantines and Manuel has this
uprising put down.
And then after that he goes toMystra.
The Byzantines actually ended upmaking strides in the 1410s.
(14:36):
They capture basically all ofthe area of Messenia and they
start going northwards intoEllis, which was the center of
the Frankish principate.
The Venetians have Modon andCoron in Messenia.
So they take the area betweenit, a castle between the two.
And they also end up purchasingthe fortress at Navarino.
(14:59):
Which today is known as PaleoNavarino, not the newer one in
the town of Pylos.
It had been about 20 years sincethe Ottomans had raided.
The Hexamilion had been updatedin 1415.
But in 1423, the Ottomans invadethe Morea.
(15:21):
And the Hexamilion did not stopthem at all.
So you've got Ottomans comingin, they raid, it causes a lot
of destruction, then they leave.
After the 1423 raid there'speace in the Morea for a little
while.
At least from the Ottomans.
But the Byzantines during thistime end up taking care of what
(15:42):
was left of the NavarreseCompany and the Principate of
Achaia.
And by 1430, all of the Morea,except for the little Venetian
ports, are back in Byzantinehands.
In 1443, the Ottomans end upplaying defense.
(16:05):
There's a small crusade thatcomes out of the west and it
takes out the Turkish governorin what is now Bulgaria.
At about that same time, there'san uprising in Albania by
Skanderbeg.
And then in the Morea the eldestson of the Byzantine emperor,
the Despot ConstantinePalaeologos, first rebuilds the
(16:27):
Hexamilion at the isthmus ofCorinth, even though it has not
stopped the Ottomans or anyoneelse.
And then he continues on intocentral Greece and occupies
Athens and Thebes, which wereactually owned by a Florentine.
So a couple of years later,Constantine ends up going
(16:51):
raiding throughout what iscentral Greece and up into
Albania.
Constantine had left a governorin his place in the Moria.
This governor was based inVostitsa.
but he leaves a small force backin Vostitsa.
And crosses the Gulf of Corinthinto western Phocis.
(17:12):
And he drives the Ottomans outof the area around the site of
Delphi.
So in response to this.
The Ottoman Sultan was not happyabout this raiding.
And in November 1446.
He allies himself with the Dukeof Athens and Thebes.
And takes an army of 50,000 tothe Morea.
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So Constantine who had goneraiding and his brother, the
Despot Thomas, they try to holdthem at the Hexamilion.
But the defenders can't hold it.
And the two Despots barely getthemselves back into Mystra.
At the same time those Greekelite landowners are also rising
up.
So they're rebelling at the sametime.
(17:59):
The Sultan Murad, who is leadinghis army himself, he ends up
splitting that army into two.
He sends half towards Mystratowards that Capitol where the
despots are.
And he took the other half to goalong the Northern coast of the
Morea.
So he goes from Corinth andmakes it to Patras going through
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Vostitsa and causing devastationalong the entire path.
The population of Patras hadmostly fled across the water to
Naupktos.
But then the Sultan marches toGlarentza, which had been that
Frankish stronghold and meets upwith his general who had not
(18:42):
been able to take Mystra.
So the despots were safe.
After meeting up, the Ottomansthen marched back out of the
Morea.
It was a devastating raid.
With over 22,000 people dead.
And at least 60,000 people takenprisoner.
(19:06):
So after that Constantinebecomes the Byzantine emperor.
He goes off to Constantinople.
And his younger brotherDemetrius Palaeologos joins
their other brother, Thomas inthe Morea.
These two brothers do not agreein how they're actually going to
deal with foreign politics.
(19:28):
So Demetrius the one who hadjust arrived was very pro
Ottoman.
He would have been fighting withthem since his father was their
vassal.
Thomas who'd been in the Morealonger was more anti-Ottoman.
But even though they disagreed,they also had to deal with the
elite landowners of the Moreawho would cause problems.
(19:54):
So there's another raid by theOttomans in the fall of 1452,
which keeps Demetrius andThomas, very busy.
And it keeps them from sendingaid to their brother.
Constantine the Byzantineemperor in Constantinople.
That April in 1453.
(20:17):
Ottoman forces under theirSultan surrounded
Constantinople.
They'd been attacking andsieging Constantinople and
building fortresses, gettingready to take the city.
But in 1453, they really meanbusiness.
They bring cannons.
There are very few defenders forthe miles and miles of walls of
(20:38):
Constantinople.
The population was greatlydecreased from its height.
And the Ottomans had a blockadeto prevent anyone from supplying
them.
The final assault came on the29th of May in 1453.
And that's when the city fellcompletely to the Ottomans
followed by three days oflooting.
(20:58):
And then all of that was stoppedand the Sultan made
Constantinople into his capitol.
Just as a little side note, thecity remained Constantinople for
some time.
And the name Istanbul camelater.
So, once Constantinople comesinto Ottoman hands, I'm now
(21:23):
going to call it Istanbul fromhere on out.
Members of the Byzantine elitewere able to escape the fall of
Constantinople.
Some of these elite refugees,they end up in the Morea, they
end up on the island of Corfu oron other islands.
A lot of them end up in Italyand especially in Venice.
(21:45):
So one of the biggestconsequences from 1453 is that
the last real outpost of theByzantine empire is the Morea.
With the two despots, butthey're on their own completely.
The despots Thomas and Demetrioshave control over the entire
area except for the Venetianports.
But that control is very, veryunsteady.
(22:08):
The elite landowners aren'thappy.
They keep revolting.
There's another revolt byAlbanians in 1453.
And so to put down this revolt,the despots get help from the
Ottomans.
But there have been constantraids off and on for years at
this point.
Meanwhile, the Ottomans continuemaking advances.
(22:31):
So they capture Athens in 1455.
But the Ottomans don't come intothe Morea until 1458 and they
have a pretext.
And that pretext is that thedespots did not pay the tribute
to the Sultan for three years.
And so the Ottomans were able tothen invade in 1458.
(22:54):
Corinth itself surrenders afterthree months siege.
then the Ottomans are able tosweep through and take most of
the Peloponnese by 1460, exceptfor the Venetian colonies.
Because the Despot Thomas endsup fleeing Monemvasia puts
itself under Venice's control.
(23:15):
In 1463 the Pope and Hungary andVenice decide to get together a
crusade to try to help out theByzantines who have basically
just lost the Morea.
But there's not enough support.
That crusade doesn't do much.
But in July, 1463, the peoplewho are left in the Morea, try
(23:36):
to give what's left to theVenetians to see if they can
hold back the Ottomans.
And so this very brief period in1463 is called the first
Venetokratia, the first periodof Venetian rule, even though
it's super brief.
During this brief period,Vostitsa was among the castles
(23:58):
occupied by the Venetians.
But it didn't last very long.
So with this, the Morea becomesOttoman with those few Venetian
holdouts.
Now what happened when theOttomans took over territory?
(24:20):
In most cases, they didn'treally change much at first.
Now all the land would nowbelong to the Sultan.
And there would be a new surveycalled a defter.
So that they would know how muchtax money could be collected.
But administrative boundarieswould be kept at first.
(24:42):
The peasants would remain on theland that they were on.
They would have that use of thefarm land.
And would be taxed on anyproduce that they raised.
The tax revenue from the landcould be given to institutions
like dervish lodges.
And later on to individuals.
(25:04):
But most of the land would begranted to cavalryman and this
is called the timar system.
Where these cavalryman would beresponsible for collecting the
taxes and that tax revenue wouldfund them to actually be able to
go off and fight in Ottomanwars.
(25:27):
And the cavalrymen would besettled there and they would
help keep order for the Ottomansin that area.
I do want to note that thesetimars could be granted to local
nobility, to the local elites.
They did not have to be Ottomansto actually be awarded timars.
And I'm not sure if it happenedin the Morea, but in other parts
(25:49):
in Albania and in Thessaly,there would be Christian
timarots awarded.
They just had twoqualifications.
If you're a Christian.
You had to have some militarytraining and origin, you had to
be of the military to hold atimar.
And you also have to have provedyourself loyal to the Sultan.
(26:12):
And through this and other waysthe Ottoman state helped
preserve the elite status ofindividuals that worked with
them.
And so the peasants were stillwhere they were and the elites
mostly were able to stay aselites as well.
Some of them would have fled.
(26:33):
But many would have stayedbecause they had roots there.
And so this is how we get thefirst Ottoman defter between
1460 and 1463 in all of theterritories that the Ottomans
controlled.
So none of the Venetian areas.
But we get a snapshot of whatwas happening in Vostitsa.
(26:53):
And at this point it's reallywhat was Vostitsa like, at the
very end of the Byzantine periodin 1460, when this defter was
compiled.
There were 73 localities thatincluded 38 Greek villages.
28 Albanian villages.
And then one mixed village.
(27:14):
There were also fouruninhabited, but cultivated
areas included as localities.
And as I read in the beginning,there were salt pans in the
area.
Wheat was cultivated.
You had viticulture forwine-making.
And then you especially have thesilk industry.
You have a lot of Mulberry treesin this area.
(27:37):
I'll talk a lot more about howthis defter was collected and
what it means when I get intoanalysis in the second half of
this season.
Now Let's talk about whathappened afterwards.
So.
After this, the Morea's prettystable.
What fighting there is betweenthe Venetians and the Ottomans,
(27:59):
the Ottomans in the meanwhile,expand their territory to Egypt
and along the coast of northAfrica.
They also have fighting to theEast against the Persians, so in
the area of Iran.
And they're fighting in thewest, in the Balkans near the
Danube first with the Hungarianempire and later against the
(28:22):
Habsburgs.
We're going to focus mostly whatwas going on with the Venetians.
Cause this is where most of thedirect conflict comes from.
In 1470, Venice loses the islandof Evia to the Ottomans.
This was a major blow to them.
They'd had a colony there for along time.
(28:44):
And used it for resupplying.
The Venetians and the Ottomansfight for a while.
And then they sign a treaty andthere's peace for decades.
But in 1499, the Venetians losea naval battle to the Ottomans
off the island of Sapienza offthe Southwestern tip of the
Peloponnese.
And the next year in 1500.
(29:05):
They lose Modon and Coron.
They also lose Naupaktos whichwas across the Gulf of Corinth
from the Morea.
They lose all of that to theOttomans in 1500.
So in response Venice and thePapacy and Hungary joined
together in a league against theOttomans.
(29:30):
This league isn't very strong.
Venice tries to attack theOttomans in Anatolia, but
nothing really happens.
It doesn't really do anything.
But the Venetians still have theislands of Cyprus, Crete, and
Corfu.
After a failed Ottoman siege ofVienna in 1529.
a so-called holy league joinstogether in 1538.
(29:53):
And this holy league is theHapsburg, Charles, the fifth.
The Pope.
And then Venice And this leaguecomes into a naval battle
against the Ottomans led byBarbarosa who simply, beats the
holy league.
(30:14):
After this defeat Monemvasia.
and Nauplio are both taken bythe Ottomans from Venetian
families that had been holdingthem.
And that ends any control thatthe Venetians have over any
place in the Morea.
This leads us to the year 1571.
(30:36):
Which is when the Ottomansdecided to take control of the
island of Cyprus which Venicehad been in charge of since
1489.
Venice had basically been tryingto stay at peace with the
Ottomans, but the Ottomansstarted attacking Cyprus.
Venice hurriedly joins into aleague with the Pope and with
(30:59):
Spain.
Venice was supposed to helpSpain fight in north Africa and
Spain would help the Venetiansagainst the Ottomans on Cyprus.
This league puts together afleet.
That's led by Don John ofAustria.
And they leave for Cyprus inSeptember of 1571.
(31:21):
But Cypress has alreadycompletely fallen to the
Ottomans.
Instead this fleet finds theOttoman fleet at the Gulf of
Patras.
So it's at the mouth of the Gulfof Corinth.
And there's a battle off ofNaupaktos, which is also known
as Lepanto.
(31:44):
The fleet led by Don Juan isoutnumbered by the Ottoman
fleet, but they have more modernships.
And they're able to destroy mostof the Ottoman fleet in this
huge horrific battle that'sknown as the battle of Lepanto.
The battle of Lepanto issometimes called a turning point
(32:07):
in the, the fighting between theOttomans and Christian nations
of the west.
But in many ways nothing reallychanged after it.
There was no momentum for thisleague of the Spanish, the
Venetians and the Pope.
There would be minor skirmishes,but the Ottoman fleet was able
(32:30):
to rebuild Nothing really isgained.
The Venetians have lost Cyprusand they'll never get it back.
And the Venetians end up havingto pay a lot of money to the
Ottomans as reparations.
So, although the battlesometimes seen as a great
Christian victory over theOttomans.
(32:52):
It didn't really do anything.
And that's where we're going toleave off for this episode We'll
pick up in the next episode withwhat happens after 1571.
And mostly it's more fightingbetween the Venetians and the
Ottomans and leads into thesecond period of Venetian rule
(33:14):
in the Morea.
For the endnotes.
I just want to say a few wordsabout the way that the Ottomans
are often portrayed in differentbooks and resources you might
see out there.
And there's a lot of antiOttoman bias.
I'm not saying that the Ottomansdid not do horrible things, but
(33:37):
they are portrayed as the worstof the worst.
Even when Christians, such asthe crusaders did things that
were just as bad.
And the difference is definitelyreligion.
I try not to let that biasaffect me, but to do that, I
also try to read things from theOttoman perspective, as well, as
(34:00):
much as possible.
And one book that I am usingextensively for this section.
Is by Caroline Finkel calledOsman's Dream.
The history of the Ottomanempire.
And it's a very, very superdetailed read.
And very good for just getting afeel for what the Ottoman empire
(34:21):
was like without pullingpunches.
So I highly recommend it.
Thanks for listening.
Email questions or comments todeepdive@helonaki.com or ask
them on the Helonaki Deep DiveFacebook page.
Show notes with links toresources mentioned in this
(34:42):
episode will be available athelonaki.com.
That's H E L O N A K I.com.
You can also find ways tosupport the show now, including
merch such as t-shirts mugs andstickers with the Helonaki Deep
Dive logo athelonaki.com/support.
My thanks to Patreon supportersat the geospatial analyst level,
(35:05):
Leah Varrell and Janice andJerry Farrell.
Your support keeps the HelonakiDeep Dive going.
The Helonaki Deep Dive iswritten and produced by me, Jen
Glaubius of the Helonaki.
The theme music is Deep OceanInstrumental by Dan-o of
danosongs.com additional soundsfrom zapsplat.com.
(35:26):
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com