 Solomos - Poet of Zakynthos |
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By the time the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) was drawing for a close the appetite of the European aristocracy for conquest in the east had been growing rapidly. Under the pretext of liberating the Holy Lands from the heathens, crusader armies and booty-hunters swarmed to invade the riches of the East.
On the way home from one such crusade, the Norman noble Volmonde attached the Eptanissos Islands with insane fury. His was intent on revenging the failure of his father, Giscard, to take Zakynthos and Kefalonia in 1084. Zakynthos was laid waste again in 1147 when the Normans returned.
The Eastern Roman Empire with the help of the Venetians took the island back but by 1185 Zakynthos and Kefalonia broke away from the Eastern Roman Empire for good and was ruled by pirates until 1206 when the islands were handed over to Pope Innocent III.
In 1209, Matthaio Orsini accepted Venetian ever lordship for Zakynthos and Kefalonia. From this point, according the Dionyssion A Melitas, "followed a string of masters who secured their succession by either advantageous marriage, or carefully executed murder. It was the exception if one in a while one of them died a natural death."
Through all this there were constant fights with the Turks, until September 1479 when the turks finally pillaged the island and quartered a Turkish garrison on Zakynthos.
The Venetians, who at this time were busily expanding their possessions and influence in the Mediterranean, had for some time been aware of the value and significance of Zakynthos. In 1484 they persuaded the Turks to cede them the island, in return for an annual tribute of five hundred gold ducats to be paid to the Sultan.
Venetian rule created the conditions for peaceful stability such that had not been known for centuries. One result was that the typical medieval settlement of Zakynthos, which had been huddling close to the defensive strength of the castle, began to expand outside the walls and in time became a major town on the seaward slopes with well planned streets, open squares, and imposing buildings. Known by the name Aegialos, this new town came to be dubbed by the people of the time as the Florence of Greece. Emboldened by Venetian protection, the islanders also began to establish settlements elsewhere on the island for the first time in history. By1515 public records could easily testify to more than 20,000 people living in Zakynthos.
Zakynthos had to Frequently fend off attacks from the Turks. Sometimes they fought alone, sometimes with their ionian neighbors. Zakynthos sent its own ships and troops to the sea battle of Nafpaktos in 1571, when the Christian fleet secured a major victory against the Turks.
By the late 1600's the Republic of Venice was declining markedly. Biding their time with ill concealed impatience, the Turks were hovering expectant, while new powers were coming to ascendancy in Europe. One by one Venice lost her overseas possessions as her power shrivelled.
In the wake of the French Revolution, Zakynthos received the new French ideas of human rights, equality, and national independence, with enthusiasm. Realizing the dangers to their class the nobility decided to murder all the Jacobins.
Despite their bloody stand, the Republic of Venice had run it's course. The last Venetian Governor surrendered the town and the island toe the French on July 14, 1797. Free from the nobility, the local people celebrated the end of oppression by pouring into the streets and squares, singing and dancing. Their celebration reached its climax on July 30, 1797.
Under the French, Zakynthos became the administrative headquarters of the Prefecture of the Aegean. But while the winds of democracy were sweeping across europe, the monarchical powers were doing all they could to reverse the trend. Turkey, England, Russia, portugal and Naples managed to drive the French out of the eastern territories and the Russians and Turks prepared to take Zakynthos.
On October 25, 1798, after a siege by the Russo-Turkish fleet, the French garrison was forced to surrender.
On March 1, 1800, Russia and Turkey signed a treaty in Constantinople which founded the Eptanissos State of the Ionian Isles. This State, according to the terms of the treaty, was to be a self governing part of the Russian Empire, and would pay an annual tax to the Port of Constantinople.
This treaty provided the nobles of Zakynthos with a new opportunity for furthering their schemes for power. They sent a delegation to Constantinople as ambassadors of the Eptanissos State, who saw to it that a "constitution" was devised to lay down the principle for the government of the islands. This constitution stipulates that the Eptanissos Islands should be a confederation and that each island was to be administered by a local government, the members of which were to be drawn exclusively from the "hereditary nobility".
The people of Zakynthos did not agree, and they began to revolt. One of their democratic leaders, Antonios Marinegos, organized a movement which declared the island to be independent of the Eptanissos confederation. Playing on the acquisitive tendency of the English, they hoisted the Union Jack on the Zakynthos fortress on February 10, 1801. But the hopes of the Zakynthos democracy was premature. Seven months and numerous strange agreements between the Great Powers later, the Turks and the English returned the island to the Eptanissos State.
After two more years of French rule, this time under Napoleon, three English frigates with 3,000 soldiers sailed into Zakynthos on September 19, 1809, took the fortress and hoisted the English flag
When the Greek revolution was openly declared, in 1821, the people of Zakynthos were filled with fresh hopes of liberation. Thousands of them went to the Peloponnesos to fight at the side of their fellow Greeks, even though the English had strictly forbidden any assistance whatsoever to the insurgents. The Zakynthos Fighting Committee achieved miracles. It provided asylum on the island for many refugees and sent money and men to support the cause. Men from Zakynthos took part in the battles of Tripoli, Neokastro, Lala, Peta and especially Missolonghi, where Zakynthos ships frequently broke through the Turkish blockade and took food and ammunition to the besieged.
After Greece became liberated from the Turks a movement for unification with the rest of Greece took hold. Members of the ruling Ionian parliament first proposed on union with Greece on December 2, 1851. Tough reprisals from the English followed the proposal, ut ethnic passions could no longer be held back. On June 5, 1863 a treaty was signed in London by England, France and Russia, under which England has to abandon her status as protector of the castle of Zakynthos, and the people of Zakynthos jubilantly celebrated their union with Greece.
| Solomos - Poet of Zakynthos |
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