Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

58 HOME LIFE IN HELLASof Greece.The Angevins firmly established thefeudalism of the Normans, and the Venetians confirmedit whilst suffering the baronies to lapse.They were lavish, however, in conferring patentsof nobility. In 1672 no fewer than 112 noblefamilies were inscribed in the Liber Aureus.They purposely kept the people ignorant, leavingthem without schools, whilst they allowed theIonian youth the privilege of taking their degreesat Padua without examination. Residence wascompulsory, so that the wealthy class wereItalianised with the minimum of education. Butin spite of Italian influence, Hellenism, everindomitable, asserted itself. The Turkish conquestof Constantinople stimulated it by theinflux of refugees. Thus came the Theotokisfamily, which is still in the front rank of intellectualGreece. Thus came Phrantzes, thehistorian. The revival of the Greek languagehad its fount in Corfu, and its sponsors were theancestors of the Bulgaris and the Theotokis, whoare prominent in contemporary Hellenic politics.The Ionians are the only Greeks who own an aristocracy,the creation of the Angevins and Venice.No titles are acknowledged in Greece, but theyare still borne in the islands. Corfu is the onlyportion ofthe Greek dominions that was neverunder Turkish rule. Zante suffered it for a fewyears, from 1479 to 1482, Cephalonia for twelveyears longer.Santa Maura has seen more of theTurks, who held it for two centuries, from 1479