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c h a p t e r t h r e e The Uno≈cial Nation Banditi, Schiavi, Greci The Venetian nation in Constantinople in the early modern era was, in narrow legal terms, limited to the bailo, his famiglia, and the merchants possessing legal status as full Venetian citizens. These groups arrayed themselves around the institutions and physical space of the bailate, and represented the o≈cial nation, sanctioned and recognized by the sponsoring state, the Republic of Venice. Surrounding this small core of the o≈cial nation, however, there existed a much broader community comprising men and women who identified themselves, and were identified to varying degrees, with Venice, its rulers, and its institutions. In strictly institutional and juridical terms, these individuals were not members of the o≈cial nation. Their presence was without o≈cial sanction; they had no legal or constituent status or right to participate in the o≈cial community; and they maintained only minimal claim on the services and protection of the nation. But if we break free of this structuralist view with its rigid boundaries and instead consider community in a broader sense, as a number of important recent studies have, then these marginal individuals and groups constitute an integral part of the larger whole.∞ Despite their murky legal status, these peripheral members of the Venetian community were acknowledged by the institutions of the nation, participated in their activities and life, and benefited from these associations. These individuals existed on the fringes of the nation yet were in many ways a central part of it, and their existence forces us to reconsider both nation and community in the context of the early modern Mediterranean. At any given time in the period after Lepanto, Venice’s diplomats, their famiglie , and the sanctioned merchants numbered probably no more than a hundred 62 v e n e t i a n s i n c o n s t a n t i n o p l e individuals total. They were significantly outnumbered by the several thousand men and women who moved in and out of the orbit of the o≈cial nation and who resided in Constantinople without o≈cial approval. Some came from Venice proper or the terraferma; the majority, however, were Greek-Venetian subjects. Their motivations for coming to the Ottoman capital varied: some were slaves, others banditi—men and women banished from Venetian territories for criminal activities, unpaid debts, or other infractions. Some were small-scale traders who came to sell lemons, oils, or wines independent of the o≈cial nation; others sought work as artisans in Ottoman industries, especially shipbuilding and textiles . Some were travelers drawn by the allure of the Mediterranean’s largest city.≤ The status of this uno≈cial contingent was ambiguous. Some individuals, while not o≈cially incorporated into the nation, nonetheless worked closely with its members and provided useful services, carrying out many of its more onerous tasks, such as bagging and transporting cloth, loading ships, and baking bread. In addition, they often functioned as an uno≈cial intelligence network for the baili. At the same time, Constantinople was the front line in the always sensitive relations between Venice and the Ottoman Empire, and the maintenance of this balance was often precarious. Thus the presence of unauthorized persons in the Ottoman capital posed a potential political risk to the republic. Often such individuals possessed knowledge of artisanal techniques in shipbuilding, glassmaking, and other industrial activities which the Signoria did not want passed on to Venice’s powerful neighbor. Many soldiers and sailors with detailed knowledge of the extensive defenses of Venice’s stato da mar also ended up in the city. And the fear of spontaneous conversion to Islam always loomed large as well. Thus, Venice’s rulers attempted to control the presence and activities of all its citizens and subjects in Constantinople, wavering between tolerating these groups and encouraging them to return home with promises of pardons and employment. This chapter examines the various parts of this diverse but uno≈cial community , their reasons for being in Constantinople, and some of the problems they encountered and created while in the city. The focus is primarily on three groups—banished people, slaves, and Greek subjects. To understand their roles provides a more nuanced understanding of the constituent elements of the Venetian nation in Constantinople, and the need to problematize and progress beyond strictly juridical and political definitions of community and early...

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