The monasteries had become very rich by the time the Ottoman Turks captured Thessaloniki in 1430. The communities offered to submit to Turkish overlordship if they were allowed to keep their properties and revenues, paying an annual tribute in return.2 Initially Turkish demands for tribute led to monastic impoverishment. Such was the threat from pirates, however, that from the end of the fifteenth century and through the sixteenth any revenues available were spent on the building of substantial fortifications round every monastery, by strengthening existing fortifications or by the addition of walls and towers.3

The monasteries had become very rich by the time the Ottoman Turks captured ThessalonikiGREECE in 1430. The communities offered to submit to Turkish overlordship if they were allowed to keep their properties and revenues, paying an annual tribute in return.2 Initially Turkish demands for tribute led to monastic impoverishment. Such was the threat from pirates, however, that from the end of the fifteenth century and through the sixteenth any revenues available were spent on the building of substantial fortifications round every monastery, by strengthening existing fortifications or by the addition of walls and towers.3