The Increasing Power of the Armatolos

Since the early decades of the 18th century, the armatoloi had undergone a phase of significant change. Their origin goes back to the first period of the Ottoman domination of the Balkan peninsula. Until then the armatoloi constituted a complementary police force that guarded the inaccessible regions of the Empire. Armed groups of local Christian protected the mountain passages and dealt with theft. The armatoloi were officially charged by the central administration to maintain order in the less well protected regions. In return they were provided with incentives (tax exempts and privileges). By the beginning of the 17th century, the number of the armatoloi increased in the central and south Balkans, with the exception of the Peloponnese.

Important armatolik in Greece

Ferman, firman: edict from the sultan, generally bearing his tughra

In the middle of the 18th century, vast regions were under the control of armatoloi groups in Greece. Powerful local families passed on privileges to their successors. The leading casts developed close relationships between themselves but also with Christian armed groups. The traditional conflicts between the armatoloi and klephtes were gradually replaced by relationships that caused anxiety to the Port and powerful Muslim officials. Families such as the Lazaioi, Tsariaoi, Vlachovaioi, Karatasos and Nikotsara symbolized power, resistance and self-determination in the eyes of the Christian populations of central Greece. From 1720, when the sultan's firman abolished many armatolos groups in Thrace and eastern Macedonia, and until the eve of the Greek Revolution (with the continuous 'liquidations' of Ali Pasa in western Greece), measures were taken to limit the power of Christian families. In some cases this led to agreements between the conflicting parties, but agreements that further complicated the controversy over control and power. There is no doubt, however, that a century of local conflict offered the armatoloi valuable experience of war. Some decades later, they used this experience in the revolution; later on they became a counterbalancing political force in the newly established Greek Kingdom.