Ειδήσεις για την Ελληνική κοινότητα της Προύσας (15ος-17ος αι.)

Abstract

Some new literary and documentary sources permit us to complete the
rather scarce pieces of information heretofore available about the Greek community
of Bursa during the 15th-17th centuries. More specifically, these new
historical sources, edited and commented in this paper, are: 1) A register of
subscribers to the Holy Sepulchre, dated from the years 1565-1567, and including
some 57 subscribers from Bursa (Cod. Hierosol.-Patriarc. 496). 2) Two
liturgical texts (synaxaries) composed by the well known scholar Manuel Corinthios
(15th/16th century), and referring to two —unknown so far— Greek
neo-martyrs coming from Bursa (Cod. Athon. - Iviron 512). 3) Two letters
dated from Bursa, 1565, and addressed to a certain Stathis Karamanlis in
Rome (Cod. Vatic, gr. 2124).
The information deriving from the above mentioned texts —in combination
with that of the already published sources— refer mainly to the demographic
fluctations of the Greek population of Bursa during the early post-
Byzantine era, to the orthodox bishopric of Bursa, to the ethnic composition
of the Christian population of the town, and to various events relating to the
history of the Greek community of Bursa during the period under consideration.
In treating of these questions, some more general problems are also
discussed, such as the islamization of Christian populations of Asia Minor, the
so-called Gelali rebellion in late 16th and early 17th centuries, the migratory
movement from Greece proper to Asia Minor, the massive immigration of
Armenians from eastern and central Anatolia westward during the first half
of the 17th century.