In his lecture Yannis Spyropoulos will talk about the janissaries of Crete, a special corps created by Ottoman soldiers sent to the island during the War of Crete (1645-1669) and by recruited local population who converted to Islam. The discussion is primarily based on ottoman sources with the aim of examining the complex relationship within the Cretan society and to present the institution of the janissaries in context. 

Yannis Spyropoulos is a doctoral candidate in the Programme of Post-Graduate Turkish Studies, University of Crete