Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox in Venice’s overseas colonies (mid-fifteenth to mid-seventeenth century)

This chapter deals with the period running from the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the mid-fifteenth century, to the beginning of the long war over Crete in the mid-seventeenth century. Pope Paul III intervened in 1540 to ensure that Greek Orthodox believers in the Venetian island of Corfu effectively enjoyed the privileges conceded to them by his predecessors, and in 1549 the same pope reconfirmed the direct dependence of the Greeks of Venice to papal jurisdiction. Such repeated declarations by three Renaissance popes may reflect difficulties in carrying out such a liberal policy, but above all, they express an attitude that was without precedent in the relations between the two churches. This policy was soon to be radically reversed, creating new challenges to relations between Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics in Venetian territories. The dynamics hitherto presented reached a turning point in 1645, with the outbreak of the war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire over Crete.