Byzantine Period and Venetian Occupation
There is little information referring to the town of Rethymno during both the First Byzantine period (325-824) and the period of Arab occupation (824-961).
Crete's liberation by Nikiforos Foka in 961, followed by its re-integration into the Byzantine Empire, signaled the beginning of the Second Byzantine Period, which lasted up until the arrival of the Venetians on the island in 1204. At that stage a fortified wall was built around all the buildings, thus constituting the first fortified settlement, the so-called "Castrum Rethemi", which the Venetians later called Castel Vecchio .
The period of the Venetian occupation formally began in 1204, when Crete was passed over to Bonifatius of Montferrato, who later handed it over to the Venetians. However, in 1206 the Genoese pirate Enrico Pescatore invaded the island, and it was not until as late as 1210 that the Venetians actually succeeded in regaining control of Crete again. The Cretans were in opposition to their conquerors, which resulted in a series of revolutions during the period between 1211 and 1367. Despite the Cretan resistance, the Venetians embarked on successive administrative changes, according to which the island was initially divided into six, and later, during the 14th century, into four sections, with the capitals Chania, Rethymno, Chandakas and Sitia. The Duke (Duca), who had his seat in Chandakas, had sovereign power over the entire island. Rectors (Rettore), who were supported by two Councillors (Consiglieri), were in administrative command of the districts of Chania, Rethymno and Sitia.
The destruction in the year 1571 and the Cretan Renaissance
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the position of the Venetians in the East was gradually weakened. As early as in 1537/38, the architect Michele Sanmicheli from Verona was entrusted with a programme of fortification works, which had already been initiated by the town of Rethymno. His drafts included the land wall of the town, on which the construction works were started in 1540 and completed in 1570.
Chaireddin Barbarossa looted the village of Apokorona, the surrounding villages of Chania, and the towns of Rethymno and Sitia.
The attack of the pirate Ulutz-Ali on 7 July in 1571 devastated Rethymno. The Turks found the town deserted, whereupon they plundered it and set it on fire. Most of the houses were burnt; the walls of the Castel Vecchio as well as the land wall, which had only been completed a short time before, had vanished. As a result of these events it was decided to build a fortress on the hill of Palaiokastro, the walls of which should also protect the houses of the town. In 1573, the foundation works of the fortress were realised under the leadership of the Rector Alvise Lando. The architect Sforza Pallavicini drew the initial plans, whilst the supervising mechanical engineer was Gian Paolo Ferrari.
After the fortress had been completed they realised that the space was actually too small to house all the buildings. Consequently it was decided that only the Venetian administration, the Latin Episcopate and the Military authorities should be accommodated within the fortress, while it should merely serve as a place of shelter for the inhabitants in case of emergency.
After several years, when the fortress, the so-called Fortezza, was completed, the Venetians had secured a powerful position on the island. Thus, towards the end of the 16th century the city achieved characteristics of the Renaissance according to Venetian examples. This stage included the construction of luxurious public and private mansions, while at the same time the city achieved a central square (piazza) as did the city of Venice, a club house of the nobility (Loggia), fountains such as the Rimondi fountain, a large sundial, a central street, as well as smaller by-passing roads, which led to the temples, the monasteries, the mansions and the simple houses. Those magnificent buildings were ornamented with a variety of doorframes, some of which were kept simple, whereas others were greatly decorated. They have been preserved up until today and give evidence of that brilliant stage in history of the city of Rethymno. During that atmosphere of Renaissance, in which the Hellenic element definitely excelled, the union of two civilisations was accomplished, which influenced the intellectual and artistic domain to a large degree.
Scholars such as Markos Mousouros, Zacharias Kalliergis and the brothers Vergikios were highly esteemed in Europe, whilst G. Hortatzis, Troilos and Marinos Tzane Bounialis, the poet of the Cretan War, contributed to the flourishing Cretan literature and were rewarded for their achievements. On a similar line, Emmanuel Lambardos and Emmanuel Bounialis, both of who were worthy representatives of the so-called Cretan School, also expressed the era of Renaissance in the art of painting.
The siege of Rethymno
In 1645 the first Turkish troops landed at Chania and besieged the city immediately. After two months the city surrendered and the great Venetian-Turkish Wars of the 17th century had started. On 29 September 1646 the troops of Hussein Pasha arrived at the fortified walls of the city of Rethymno. These walls had already been weakened because of the many earlier raids led by the Turks, who had previously established themselves in the area of Chania.
Citizens and civilians gathered inside the fortress, where the situation had reached dramatic dimensions due to the plague, the injured, the lack of food and most importantly the lack of ammunition. When the Governor realised that the town could no longer be defended, he raised the white flag and negotiated the capitulation of the city of Rethymno - fortunately on favourable conditions: any of the inhabitants who wished to go to Chandakas were transferred there, while those who wished to stay became subjects of the Sultan. The Fortezza of Rethymno was surrendered to the Turks on 13 November 1646.
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