What is it about?
In the 1630s, when the island of Crete was still under Venetian rule, a landowner on an estate 15 kilometres south of the capital Candia (modern Heraklion) wrote a letter to the authorities complaining about the abbot of an Orthodox monastery adjacent to his land. The landowner, Piero Querini, was a member of the Catholic aristocracy planted as settlers in Crete after the island was awarded to Venice in 1204 CE. The abbot, Querini claims, had turned the monastery into a den of bandits, by admitting as monks and lay workers men who had been sentenced to exile for various crimes. With the aid of these criminals, says Querini, the abbot terrorised the whole area. In particular, he alleges, the abbot had withheld some of the "presents" due to the landowner by feudal custom, and had allowed the monastery's flock to graze illegally on the Querini's land. When Querini complained, the abbot replied that he should have waived his right to the "presents" for the sake of his soul! As the dispute escalated, the abbot sent armed retainers to abduct by force Querini's own flock of 300.
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Why is it important?
Querini's letter to the authorities raises interesting questions about Venice's effectiveness in maintaining law and order, and the relations between the feudal Catholic elite and the Orthodox majority.
Perspectives
Querini's letter provides a vivid account of an apparently trivial dispute which escalated into a tit-for-tat exchange with a real threat of violence.
Alfred Vincent
University of Sydney
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: When is a Monk not a Monk? A Landowner’s Complaint in Seventeenth Century Crete, June 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/9783111010335-022.
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