Anti-Ottoman revolts of 1565–1572
They were instigated and assisted by western powers; mainly by the Republic of Venice, and the victory of the Holy League against the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Lepanto, in November 1571, triggered further revolutionary activity.
[1] As a result of this kind of intensified oppression and arbitrary rule the local populations hoped for a military intervention by a Christian power.
[3] Additionally, the Greek diaspora at Venice, Naples and in other western European cities also hoped for an armed struggle that would end Ottoman rule.
[16] Alarmed by the spread of the rebellions, between December 1570 and March 1571, the Sultan ordered local Ottoman authorities to gather a force of janissaries and cavalry to attack Lezhe.
[12] In spring 1570 Venetian administration in Corfu sent the stratiot Meksha Gjerbësi in the hinterland of Vlorë with the aim to "subvert countless villages" in the area.
After the meetings the Venetian provveditore informed the Senate that "in a short time, such a large number of Albanians will gather, that getting a little garrison of people and of weapons from us, they will easily do any enterprise and we will get the whole country of Albania".
[22] The revolt in the coastal region of Himara received the support of both local Albanian and Greek elements and as a result it came under Venetian control.
[32] The uprising spread to various parts of Epirus under with the guidance of local Greek nobles and various Stratioti military leaders such as Petros Lantzas.
[33] The revolt in this coastal region of Thesprotia received the support of both local Albanian and Greek elements and as a result it came under Venetian control.
[37] The Maniot rebels received reinforcement by volunteers from the region of Ioannina, who were landed there by a Spanish fleet that consisted of twenty five galleys.
[37] After a short decline, the rebellion reached a new momentum and the newly erected fortress was captured in the summer of 1570 with the support of a Venetian force.
[38] Additionally many Greek rowers serving on Turkish galleys managed to seize them with mutiny and deliver them in time to the Christian allies.
As a result Greek-Venetian activities reached a new momentum and the leaders of the Orthodox Greek communities continued to invest their resources and energy for the purpose of uprooting Ottoman rule.
[38] News of the Christian victory spread immediately in the nearby region of Patras where the inhabitants rejoiced in the destruction of the Ottoman fleet.
[40] Meanwhile, some Ottoman crews that managed to flee from the victorious Christian fleet and landed on the nearby coast of Peloponnese were annihilated by the insurgents.
[42] Major role in the spread of the movement played the hegumen of the Taxiarchs Monastery at Aigio and the local lord Ioannis Tsernotabeis.
[45] Moreover, the religious leaders of the Greek communities in and around Ioannina and Aetolia-Akarnania initiated secret communications with the Venetians to overthrow their local Ottoman authorities.
[27] Revolts were also noted in the islands such as Andros, Paros, Rodos, Kos, Karpathos, Imbros, Skiathos, Chios, Agios Efstratios and Mitilini, as well as on the Asia Minor coast: at the surroundings of Smyrna, Phocaea and Cesme.
[49] The Venetian landing operation in Lefkada at January 31, 1572, was supported by Greek stradioti as well as of units from the Ionian islands, the coast of Epirus and Cretans who had previously fought at Lepanto.
[54] The rebels in Mani approached the Spanish,[37] while others, such as Manthos Papagiannis and Panos Kestolikos, visited Don Juan, commander-in-chief of the Holly Alliance.
[37] At March 1572 the metropolitan bishop of Grevena, Timotheos, proposed a plan to Pope Pius V that an expeditionary force from the western European countries should meet the rebels in the plain of Thessaloniki and from there they should attack Constantinople.
[37] The Ottomans sent a large army as well as naval forces which attacked the rebellious provinces and compelled Emmanuel Mormoris to retreat to the castle of Sopot, where he was later arrested.
[62] In Ioannina the Ottoman governor under the pretext that local nobles were in contact with Venetian and Spanish spies proposed the expulsion of the entire Christian community from the castle and their replacement with Muslim settlers.
[70] Both Greek and Ottoman contemporary literature agree that heavy taxation imposed on the Christian subjects of the regions was one of the main reasons that triggered the revolt.
