Naslov
Conversion under the threat of arms. Converts and renegades during the War for Crete (1645-1669)

Autori
Domagoj Madunić

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Poglavlja u knjigama, znanstveni

Knjiga
Conversion and Islam in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Lure of the Other

Urednik/ci
Clair Norton

Izdavač
Routledge

Godina
2017

Raspon stranica
30-49

ISBN
9781472457226

Ključne riječi
Conversion, Ottoman Empire, Republic of Venice, War for Crete

Sažetak
The problem of conversion in the circumstances of a major armed conflict constitutes the main research topic of this study. Outbreak of the new war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, in 1645, over the Island of Crete resulted in drastic increase of violence along the Venetian-Ottoman frontier in the Adriatic. Full scale military campaigns, raids and counter-raids represented realities of everyday life for the populations on the both sides of the frontier, with war prisoners being one of the most valuable commodities that could be obtained form the enemy lands. In the course of twenty-five years both Venetian and Ottoman forces, captured unaccounted number of prisoners in this battlefield, and all of these faced similar dilemma. For Christians prisoners, only way out of captivity, (except of escaping) were either paying of high ransom, or conversion to Islam. Similar choice was also faced by Muslims captured by Venetian irregulars ; for them also the payment of ransom was the most secure way to avoid slave markets of Southern Italy. Muslims captured by Venetian regular forces, fared no better ; for them baptism was the only way to escape very deadly service of chained rowers aboard Venetian war galleys. Through analysis of several well documented cases, typical for this region, and this war (a captured Montenegro chieftain who willfully turned Muslim and advanced in the Ottoman administrative hierarchy, a Bosnian Franciscan who converted to Islam under the threat of loss of), this study explores the problem of conversion in the circumstances of the major armed conflict. As this study argues, the conversion did not provide equal opportunities for Muslims and Christians. While for captured Muslims it was simply a means of survival (converts were mainly offered to bring their families and settle on Venetian territories in Dalmatia), turning renegade could prove to be a path for considerable social advancement for adroit Christian prisoner.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
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