kodjabashis

File:Ioannis Logothetis.jpg, by Louis Dupré]]

The kodjabashis ({{langx|el|κοτζαμπάσηδες|kotzabasides}}; singular κοτζάμπασης, kotzabasis; {{langx|sh|kodžobaša, kodžabaša}}; from {{langx|tr|kocabaṣı|translation=office holder}} from {{langx|tr|koca|translation=big}} and {{langx|tr|baṣ|translation=head}}){{cite book | last=Speake | first=G. | title=Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-135-94206-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ockEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA896 | access-date=2023-04-09 | page=896}} were local Christian notables in parts of the Ottoman Balkans, most often referring to Ottoman Greece{{sfn|Stavrianos|2000|p=273}}{{sfn|Zakythenos|1976|p=}} and especially the Peloponnese. They were also known in Greek as proestoi or prokritoi (προεστοί/πρόκριτοι, "primates") or demogerontes (δημογέροντες, "elders of the people"). In some places they were elected (such in the islands for example), but, especially in the Peloponnese, they soon became a hereditary oligarchy, who exercised considerable influence and held posts in the Ottoman administration.{{sfn|Stavrianos|2000|p=273}}

The title was also present in Ottoman Serbia and Bosnia,{{cite book|author=Hannes Grandits|title=Herrschaft und Loyalität in der spätosmanischen Gesellschaft: das Beispiel der multikonfessionellen Herzegowina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPcvUev25p4C&pg=PA564|year=2008|publisher=Böhlau Verlag Wien|isbn=978-3-205-77802-8|pages=564–}}{{cite book|title=Jahrbücher für Geschichte und Kultur Südosteuropas: JGKS|volume=8–10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFAsAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Slavica Verlag|page=92}} where it was known as starešina ("elder, chief") instead of the official Turkish name.{{cite book|author=Milenko S. Filipović|title=Among the people, native Yugoslav ethnography: selected writing of Milenko S. Filipović|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuLYAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Michigan Slavic Publications, Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures|page=261|isbn=9780930042479}} The terms chorbaji (from Turkish çorbacı) and knez (a Slavic title) were also used for this type of primates, in Bulgaria and Serbia respectively.{{sfn|Stavrianos|2000|p=224}}

The equivalent of the kodjabashis in Orthodox villages was the mukhtar in Muslim villages, while mixed villages had both.{{cite book|title=Simpozijum Seoski dani Sretena Vukosavljevića: 14., 15. i 16. jun 1974. godine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DvBTAAAAYAAJ|year=1974|publisher=Opštinskȧ zajednica obrazovanja|page=98|quote=}}

In the Morea Eyalet, the title of {{Transliteration|ota|mora ayan}} ({{lang|el|μοραγιάνης}}), is attested, though not in Turkish sources; it was applied to the most senior rank of the local notables of the Peloponnese (Morea), who were members of the provincial council (the 'Divan of the Morea') advising the pasha of the Morea at Tripolitsa. Their number is variously given as 24 (François Pouqueville) or 30 (Athanasios Grigoriadis).{{sfn|Fotopoulos|2005|pp=48–49}}

During the Greek War of Independence, the antagonism between the Peloponnesian kodjabashis, who sought to retain their previous preponderance and power, and the military leaders drawn from the klephts, was one of the main driving forces behind the outbreak of the Greek civil wars of 1824–1825, in which the "aristocratic" faction comprising the kodjabashis, the wealthy shipowners of Hydra and the Phanariotes, prevailed.{{cite book | title=A Concise History of Greece | url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00clog_0 | url-access=registration | edition=Revised | first = Richard | last = Clogg | author-link = Richard Clogg | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 0521004799 | pages =35ff}}