Posted by patriwths on May 24, 2002 at 19:12:24:
In Reply to: what about the influence of the franks/venetians on the islands? posted by aristos on May 24, 2002 at 14:30:45:
: The info above seems really good. I have query on how the years of frankish and venetian rule affected the Greek gene pool.
: thanks
Well, there was not very much intermixing with franks, etc, and greeks, though one can never say it didnt happen. Certainly it did, people are people after all :-)
However, neither side would have approved. The franks who ruled their little dukedoms in greece after 1204 never brought much of their native population with them. They were 'nobles' of mostly french origin, probably assisted by some greek folks who saw the way the wind blew and sold their services to the new bosses. In any case, frankish nobles, being obsessed with the idea of nobility and proper pedigree, would never let their daughters marry a greek, and while i'm sure their men sometimes had their way with greek women, since they were the rulers, the community that the franks were part of, namely a community of
them and other frankish petty-nobles, would have frowned on it and probably told them 'wasnt there a girl of proper blood that suited you?'
At the same time, greeks have always had a strong objection to mixing blood with 'barbarians' and they certainly regarded the franks as barbarians. So, while it certainly happened, it was somethign neither party wanted to talk about, and was probably kept to a minimum by both sides. All in all, i dont consider it to have happened enough to be significant.