370 



C A N D I A. 



Candia. this fine island from the yoke of the infidels. After 

 <' various encounters in the field, he drove them to 

 their fortresses, which he successively reduced, and 

 in 912 took Chandak, their last resource, with their 

 king Curup, and his lieutenant Aremas, prisoners. 

 The island was again united to the empire, of which 

 it continued to form a part till the taking of Con- 

 stantinople by the Crusaders, when Baldwin, count 

 of Flanders, being raised to the throne, bestowed it, 

 with several other islands in the Archipelago, upon 

 the Venetians in 1204, as a recompence for their im- 

 portant services during the war. Under the wise 

 and liberal government of the Venetians, the com- 

 merce and agriculture of Candia soon began to re- 

 vive ; and in a short time it became a most flourishing 

 conquest. The Genoese, jealous of the growing pros- 

 perity of their sister republic, excited the Candians 

 to revolt^ and promised them powerful succours. 

 Some of their chief men, accordingly, appeared in 

 arms ; but, though powerfully supported by the Ge- 

 noese, they were unable to withstand* the bravery of 

 the Venetians, who soon reduced them to obedience, 

 and divided the whole island among the nobility, up- 

 on condition that they should maintain it at their 

 own expence, pay an yearly tribute, and acknowledge 

 the sovereignty of the mother country. The peace 

 of the island being re-established, it continued with 

 little interruption till the middle of the 17th century ; 

 when the Turks, who had made several attempts up- 

 on Candia, obtained by perfidy, what they could not 

 accomplish by open force. During the preparations 

 of a mighty armament which was to be employed 

 against this island, the emperor of Constantinople 

 deceived the Venetian ambassadors with the most so- 

 lemn assurances, that Malta was the object of attack, 

 and that the republic might be under no apprehen- 

 sions for the safety of her possessions. He even load- 

 ed them with presents, and directed his fleet to bear 

 for Cape Matapan, as if they were bound far west of 

 the Archipelago. But in the midst of his protesta- 

 tions of amity, the Turkish fleet, consisting of 400 

 sail, with 60,000 troops on board, entered the bay 

 of Canea, in 1645. The Venetian governor, Corna- 

 ro, who had made no preparations for their recep- 

 tion, was awakened from his seeming security only 

 by the intelligence of their descent upon the island. 

 A body of 3500 infantry, and a small number of ca- 

 valry, were the only force he had to oppose to this 

 powerful armament ; and his distance from Venice 

 deprived him of all hope of a speedy reinforcement. 

 The Turks having seized the forts upon the island 

 of St Theodore, invested the city of Canea, whose 

 garrison consisted only of 1000 regular troops. These, 

 however, being strengthened by 250 more, which 

 Cornaro found means to throw into the city, made a 

 most desperate resistance. Monks arid women ap- 

 peared upon the walls among the defenders ; and for 

 two months they held out against the mighty power 

 of the Turks. Despairing at last of relief from Ve- 

 nice, with three breaches in their walls, and reduced 

 to 500 men, exhausted with fatigue and covered with 

 wounds, they made an honourable capitulation, and 

 marched out of the city with the honours of war. 

 Twenty thousand Ottomans was the sacrifice which 

 the Cancans had exacted for the loss of their city. 



The fall of Retimo soon succeeded, with the death Candia. 

 of Cornaro, who fell in the ranks of his soldiers, when " ^v~ ' 

 boldly opposing the approach of the Turks to that 

 city ; and the victors sat down before Candia in 1646. 

 Many heroic deeds of valour were performed before 

 this city, and its siege is one of the most memorable 

 recorded in history. For two years, the Turks made 

 little or no progress. They were routed in many 

 desperate and bloody encounters, and sometimes com- 

 pelled to retire to Retimo, in order to recruit their 

 shattered forces. In the mean time, the plague had 

 been introduced into the island by some Turkish re- 

 inforcements, and had spread with such rapidity, that 

 many of the inhabitants fell before its fury, and 

 others, to escape its ravages, had fled into the Vene- 

 tian territories on the continent. Candia was thus 

 in a manner depopulated ; scarcely a Greek was to be 

 seen in the open country, for such as had escaped 

 from the pestilence took refuge in the different for- 

 tresses ; and the Turks themselves had suffered so 

 much, both by disease and the sword, that they were 

 compelled to raise the siege in 1649, and retire to 

 Canea. But in the following year, they were ena- 

 bled, by the arrival of fresh troops, to renew the 

 siege, which they prosecuted with such vigour, that 

 they soon made themselves masters of one of the ad- 

 vanced forts. This being turned against the city, 

 proved so troublesome to the besieged, that they 

 were obliged to blow it up. The Venetians, howe- 

 ver, had now got possession of the sea. The Otto- 

 man fleets had been defeated in several engagements, 

 and their supplies were every year intercepted in the 

 Straits of the Dardanelles. Depressed by some se- 

 vere losses, and the want of succours, the Turks had 

 converted the siege of Candia into a blockade ; while 

 the Venetians, on the other hand, elated by success, 

 attempted the recapture of Canea in 1660, which, 

 however, when about to surrender, was snatched 

 from their grasp by the appearance of the Pacha of 

 Rhodes, who having escaped the Venetian gallies 

 which were stationed to intercept him, but which 

 were becalmed off Cape Spada, reinforced the de- 

 fenders with two thousand men. The Turks were 

 now commanded to appear again before Candia, and to 

 make every possible effort for its reduction. For six 

 years, however, their efforts were unavailing, and it 

 was not until they had been reinforced by a formida- 

 ble army under the Grand Vizier, and supported by 

 a numerous artillery, that they made any impression 

 upon the Venetian works. A rapid demolition now 

 commenced. All the exterior forts were destroyed ; 

 and the walls, battered by incessant discharges of 

 cannon, gave way on all quarters. The Turkish 

 troops, encouraged by the presents and promises of 

 their chiefs, performed prodigies of valour ; and du- 

 ring one year (1667) it is recorded, that 500 mines 

 were blown up ; 18 combats were fought in the un- 

 derground works ; 17 sallies were made by the be- 

 sieged ; 32 times the city was assaulted ; and 20,000 

 Turks and 3000 Venetians fell in the contest. The 

 Candians, however, though reduced to the most 

 dreadful extremities, were still undismayed, and held 

 out for three years more against all the forces of the 

 Ottoman empire. Succours from France, under the 

 Duke of Noailles, had animated their hopes. But 



