Σάκης Δημητριάδης
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of History & Archaeology, 2018
Type: Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation explores the history of the large landed estate owners of the Greek island of Euboea for a period of about eighty years, from 1830 to 1910. After the end of the Greek Revolution, for reasons related to the extraordinary circumstances under which Euboea, as well as parts of the adjacent areas of Attica, Boeotia and Phthiotis formed part of the independent Greek kingdom in 1830, large landownership became the norm in these regions. However, the large landed estates of these areas have not yet become the subject of systematic research. Addressing this gap, to some extent, is the primary aim of this study, which focuses equally on the social, economic and political activities of this social stratum and attempts to place this analysis in the context of a broader international literature. To this end, private records of landowners’ families, as well as a variety of other primary sources, such as other private and state archives, published statistics, newspapers and magazines, travelers’ accounts and literary texts, are being used. The central theme underlying this research is the relationship between landlords and peasants (both the farmers of their properties and the independent smallholders of the surrounding areas, who often found work there), as it emerges through discourse, symbols and practices; it is indeed these relationships that essentially shape and define the identities of both parties. It is argued that, after the annexation of Euboea to the Greek kingdom (1833), the shortage of hands related to the abundance of available lands, the granting of full civil rights to the peasants and other secondary causes significantly bolstered the bargaining power of immediate producers in their relations with the landowners and mitigated the social tensions between the two sides. Moreover, the same causes fostered the acceptance among the landowners of a fundamentally paternalistic perception of their role. The study comprises seven chapters, a brief outline listing the main findings of the research, and three annexes.