13.28 Act of the Despot Demetrios Palaeologos
July 1462
Vatopedi Monastery, Archives
Paper, 21 x 29 cm
The despot grants the Vatopedi Monastery the right to collect from ten tenants of Moudros (Lemnos) the total amount of their taxes (the State had formerly taken half) and exempts it from the contribution to the coastal watch which it had formerly paid on account of these tenants.
Although the Byzantine Empire had been dissolved nine years previously, the despot Demetrios had managed to maintain his sovereignty over Lemnos, which he ruled in accordance with Byzantine tradition. The 'coastal watch' was an obligation on the part of the inhabitants of the island to keep an eye on shipping and alert the Ottoman authorities of the appearance of pirates or enemies.
Bibliography: Arkadios 1919, pp. 436-7. Goudas 1926, pp. 47-8. Dolger 1931, no. 36