ABSTRACT
The problem of conversion in the circumstances of a major armed conflict constitutes the main research topic of this study. Through several case studies from this conflict, this chapter aims to reconstruct the conditions and circumstances under which conversions took place and demonstrate how, in the midst of war, conversion functioned as a survival strategy. The inefficacy and temporary nature of conversions made under a direct threat of arms is very nicely illustrated by the case of the Franciscan Giorgio Lerotich (Juraj Leroti-c) from the monastery of St. Cross (Svetog Kri a) on the Makarska littoral. The community of Makarska, where fra Giorgo's monastery was situated, was one of the first to overthrow Ottoman rule and accept Venetian protection in August 1646. The only way for the fra Giorgio to save his life was to renounce his faith and, as the sources put it, to become a "Turk".
