Lecture by Dr. Stela Lepida entitled: “Privilege as Relation: Ottoman Law, Taxation, and Negotiation at the Monasteries of the Great Meteoron and Varlaam (16th–17th centuries)” (to be dellivered in Greek)
The M.A. Program in “Ottoman History,” organized by the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Crete in collaboration with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), invites you to a lecture by Dr. Stela Lepida (Ph.D., Turkish Studies, University of Cyprus), entitled: “Privilege as Relation: Ottoman Law, Taxation, and Negotiation at the Monasteries of the Great Meteoron and Varlaam (16th–17th centuries)” (to be dellivered in Greek). The lecture will take place on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, at 7:30 p.m., in the lecture hall of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies, 130 Nikiforou Foka Street, in the old town of Rethymno.
Abstract
The lecture examines the tax privileges of the monasteries of the Great Meteoron and Varlaam in Meteora during the 16th and 17th centuries within the framework of Ottoman law and provincial administration. Based on Ottoman archival material, it analyzes the functioning of lum-sum taxation (maktu) and tax exemption (muafiyet), focusing primarily on their practical application and contestation. The lecture approaches privilege not as a fixed institutional status but as a relation shaped through continuous documentation, legal appeals, and negotiation with provincial officials and local communities. Through these two monastic cases, the lecture highlights the negotiatory character of Ottoman provincial governance.