한국서양중세사학회

After the Fourth Crusades, the Venetian Republic began to build colonies in the ports and islands in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is well known that the social and political structure of the colonies were very similar to that of the mother city. The reasons for this can be explained to some extent by Venetian immigration. The promotion of Venice led its citizens, including some major families of the nobles, to live in newly acquired cities or ports outside the mother city. In other words, Venice’s colonial policy had its own foundation on the Venetian immigrants in the Eastern Mediterranean. On the other hand, Venice established the Councils in its colonies, an organization that F. Thiriet describes as very similar to the political system of the mother city. However, A. Papadhia-Lala revealed through her recent synthetic analysis of Venetian colonial political organizations that there is a range between openness and closure in the character of various Venetian colonies formed in the Eastern Mediterranean between the 13th to 18th centuries. Venice has develop d and adopted its colonial governance more suited to the local communities it governed. The Councils of Candia, the capital of Venetian Crete, is said to be one of the examples of a closed communal political organization. The island was one of the first colonies of Venice. For this reason, Venice has established its councils very similar to its own organizations. F. Thiriet applied the character of the councils of Candia to all the other communal councils of the Venetian colonies. Although recorded only from 1341 to 1363, the summary of deliberations of these Councils was one of the most important sources for analyzing the function of the councils and the relationship between the local community of Candia and Venice. From a certain point of view, the councils of Candia showed a character quite different from that of the mother city. The political leaders were not limited to the Venetians. A small number of Greek families of Crete had suffrage and often played important roles, such as the task of coastal defense against the danger of invasions of the Turkish Anatolian beylics. Non-Venetian citizens of Candia often held positions of political leadership in the local councils. The status of the local councilors themselves was also ambiguous. It is well known that after the “The Great Council Lockout” in 1297, members of the Great Council in Venice were defined as nobles. Such a definition, however, does not apply to the colonial community in Candia. This is because the establishment of its political system preceded the formation of aristocracy in the mother city. The Venetian descents in Candia soon found it difficult to identify themselves as an “elite” within the Venetian colonial rule.