Kodjabashis

The kodjabashis (Greek: κοτζαμπάσηδες, romanized: kotzabasides; singular κοτζάμπασης, kotzabasis; Serbo-Croatian: kodžobaša, kodžabaša; from Turkish: kocabaṣı, lit.

In some places they were elected (such in the islands for example), but, especially in the Peloponnese, they soon became a hereditary oligarchy, who exercised considerable influence and held posts in the Ottoman administration.

[2] The title was also present in Ottoman Serbia and Bosnia,[4][5] where it was known as starešina ("elder, chief") instead of the official Turkish name.

[6] The terms chorbaji (from Turkish çorbacı) and knez (a Slavic title) were also used for this type of primates, in Bulgaria and Serbia respectively.

[9] During the Greek War of Independence, the antagonism between the Peloponnesian kodjabashis, who sought to retain their previous preponderance and power, and the military leaders drawn from the klephts, was one of the main driving forces behind the outbreak of the Greek civil wars of 1824–1825, in which the "aristocratic" faction comprising the kodjabashis, the wealthy shipowners of Hydra and the Phanariotes, prevailed.