| After the Ottoman conquest of Crete, Sultan Mehmed IV ceded the villages of Margarites, Aghios Thomas and Aghia Varvara to the conqueror of Chandax, Vizier Ahmed Köprülü. The gift gave Köprülü the right to hold the villages in full and bequeath them to his inheritors. In the Turkish Archives of Heraklion are preserved the documents drawn up when Köprülü’s proxy Ebu Bekir, Defterdar (Treasurer) of Crete, requested that the Ecclesiastical Court of Chandax send a representative to ascertain the village boundaries. This was done by experienced inhabitants of these and neighbouring areas, in the presence of Turkish witnesses. The document concerning Aghia Varvara is published in Greek translation. It provides a wealth of place-names, many now lost. |