Summary:
The present Postgraduate Diploma Thesis discusses the collective protest, through official petitions, of the lower strata of Greek revolutionaries to the Provisional Administration. Adopting the perspective of "history from below", the research attempts to detect the needs, the claims, the perceptions and the use of language of these social strata in order to highlight the changes (and the continuations) brought about by Revolution in everyday life and social relations, as well as in the relations between state and society.
The documentation mainly relies on collective petitions of the citizens to the "Supreme Administration" and its bodies (Parliament, Government/ Ministries) during the period of 1822-1826, which are in transcribed form in the Archives of Greek Rebirth. The extensive information provided by these petitions was used along with the basic Greek Revolution bibliography and with studies that discuss the practice of petitioning in pre-modern Europe and Ottoman Empire.
In the introduction, we attempt to highlight the importance of petitioning in early modern Europe and Ottoman Empire, as an expression of social protest and a means of interference in politics by the lower strata. The first chapter highlights the transition from the Ottoman references (arzuhal) to the references of the Revolution and attempts to explain the increased number of collective petitions, compared to the Ottoman past, sent by the citizens to the central Administration. The second chapter attempts to correlate the stages of formation of the Provisional Administration with the geographical origin and time of sending of collective petitions by the citizens to the central authority, in order to interpret the local and time limits set by the sources.
By the third chapter the work is introduced in its main part, i.e. in the discussion of the content of petitions. More specifically, we highlight the collective requests of citizens to the Provisional Administration for protection from the attacks of the external enemy (Ottomans), but mainly from the arbitrages and abuses of power of the internal "enemy", as we define the neighboring communities, the military corps and the representatives of the central Administration, who oppressed the lower social layers. The fourth chapter describes the confrontations between central Administration and society in the field of local authority. In particular, it focuses on the intensity of intervention of the lower strata with the appointment of their local governors, but also with the demarcation of their provinces. The fifth and last chapter deals with the financial demands of the citizens, which appear either in the form of claiming tax exemptions, national estates and privileges, or in the form of entreaty for welfare.
On the basis of all these, it is argued that the struggle for liberation along with the change of the identity of inhabitants from reayas to citizens – with all that entails in the field of civil liberties and "natural rights" – turn the lower social layers into a fierce force that is rapidly politicized, becomes familiarized with the new mechanisms and claims its interests in upgraded terms. Finally, it is concluded that freedom for the lower strata is perceived first and foremost in material terms. The improvement of the conditions of production and utilization of their products, combined with the assurance of peace and order by a skillful administration are the common basic requirements for their freedom and, consequently, their central pursuits from the participation in the Greek Revolution.
Keywords:
Greek Revolution, "from below", collective protest, petitions, Provisional Administration
