VENETIANS AND OTTOMANS IN THE ... - evangelia balta

172 Evangelia Balta
called upon the Venetians to occupy their land. s One year later, in
1464, it is attested that the Ottomans, in a skirmish with the
Venetians in Tsakonia, slew 200 people and took captive as many
again.6 It is not exactly clear where the battle was fought, but it is
described that the Turks laid ambush in a defile, at one end of which
was the sea and at the other a high mountain. In 1476 Tsakonia had
not yet passed into Ottoman hands, but Aghios Leonidis (Leonidi)
had been destroyed. It is not clear, however, whether Tsakonia and
Kynouria were continuing to hold out, with Venetian support, or
whether they had capitulated to the Ottomans. What is certain is that
in Ottoman taxation registers preserved in the Prime Ministerial
Archive in Istanbul, 7 the villages of Tsakonia and Kynouria, as well
as Monemvasia, are recorded for the first time in the reign of
Siileyman the Magnificent. "Andan bundukani Venedik'i elinde iken
Ebii'l-feth ve Bayezid-i Veli bu kala iizre berren ve bahren sefer
ediip bu kala-i Benef§e ve ka/'a-i Anapolya ve kala-i Termi§'in fethi
miiyesser olmayup ciimle cezire-i Mora A/-i Osman hiikmiinde olup
Ebii 'l-feth 'den fa Sultan Siileyman Han'a gelince mezkur iif aded
kJla'-i metinler sene ( . .)." With these words Evliya