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Turkophiles and francophiles: The resistance to the revolution in Tinos (1822-1823)

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Title

Turkophiles and francophiles: The resistance to the revolution in Tinos (1822-1823)

Date

15 June 2022

Abstract

The attitude of the Tinians at the beginning of the Greek Revolution was hesitant. However there were quite a few cases of inhabitants who manned the crews of ships from Hydra and Spetses and participated in the naval campaigns from the first months of the revolution. Memoirs and historians of 1821 have attributed the inaction of the Cyclades, among others, to the presence of a large Catholic population on some islands, which held a passive stance, both for diplomatic reasons and because of their place in local society. The confrontations of the Catholics with the Orthodox inhabitants escalated mainly after the subordination of the Aegean islands to the Provisional Administration in the spring of 1822, with the “Organisation of the Greek Provinces”. The arrival in Tinos of the first prefect, Emmanouil Spyridonos, in May 1822, and his subsequent interventions in the organisation of the community administration of the island, the system of administration of justice and policing, provoked multifaceted reactions, which cannot be interpreted solely as a dogmatic dispute between communities. The prefect and his supporters were opposed by representatives of the island's community authorities and residents, regardless of dogma, who considered their influence on the population and the smooth running of the local administration to be threatened, as well as consular agents of foreign forces, especially French who represented the interests of their protected Catholics and foreign merchants. Fierce disputes broke out during the same period on the occasion of the Administration's efforts to raise revenues from the regular taxation, but also from emergency contributions, for the operations of the revolutionary fleet. The notables and the elders of the villages of the island sought to collect the tax claim according to the customs of the place. At the same time, the Catholics did not pay the tax claim to the revolutionary administration in the first year, which gave the confrontation between supporters of the revolution and its opponents a strong religious character, given the significant size of the Catholic community.

Starting with the unpublished administrative correspondence of the prefect, Spyridonos, this research, in combination with additional documentary material from the Hydra Archive, the Interior Ministry (General State Archives), the Archive of the Catholics of Tinos and the Propaganda Fide in the Vatican will attempt to outline and interpret the reactions of part of Tinian society towards the revolutionaries.

(Edited and translated abstract from organiser’s website)

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Text

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Number Of Pages - Duration

00:20:00

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BY-NC-SA Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Position: 5730 (25 views)