Class and society in Ithaca under Tocco and early Venetian rule (1357–ca. 1600)

Abstract

Whereas the presence of class divisions in the larger Ionian islands has been well studied, the character of society in smaller Ithaca under Latin rule has been largely ignored. This article examines the evidence for social structures in Ithaca before and after its Venetian capture. Under the rule of the Tocco, the only nobles on Ithaca were the Galati, a family granted privileges for service to the court. The continuation of these privileges into the Venetian period was an exception in a society conditioned by a new agricultural economy following the resettlement of the island in 1504. This article shows how the development of the new economy did eventually allow for inequalities in the mass population to develop, though these were limited by the small size of the island's agricultural economy. The evolution of these structures reflected the tension between the feudal legacy of the Tocco period and the new economy conditioned by the Venetian resettlement. Yet the economic divisions of Venetian Ithaca were not recognized by the state as formal classes.