La structure sociale de la nation grecque avant la Révolution de 1821 (d’après les informations de deux essais inédits de Georges Lassanis, membre de Philiki Hétairie)

Abstract

In this communication, the author examines the social structure of the
Greek nation prior to the War of Independence of 1821. He draws his material
from two historical treatises of paramount significance, written by George
Lassanis.
Lassanis distinguishes the following social groups: a) the clergy, b) the
self-styled nobility, c) the emigrants, d) the seamen, e) the mountaineers, and
f) the workers.He further divides the clergy into lay, monkish, and high priesthood.
He praises the former group, but vehemently attacks the latter two.
Lassanis denies the existence of any nobility in Greece. He goes as far as to
deny their existence during the Byzantine era, claiming that there were simply
rich families such as Comneni, the Cantacuzenes, the Palaeologi, the Lascaris,
and others whose descendants, assuming there were any, were mistakingly
called princes by the Europeans. Lassanis severely criticizes the Phanariots
for their vanity and mania for power, but has only warm words of praise for
the Phanariot family of the Ypsilantis for their high principles, and services
to their country.
Of all the social groups, Lassanis admires most the emigrants, perhaps
because he came from an emigrant family and saw with his own eyes the
obvious contributions made by members of this group towards the national,
intellectual, and economic awakening of the Greek nation.