part of Greece never conquered by the Muslim Turks. The Ottomans occupied briefly some of the other Ionian islands, but were unsuccessful with their four sieges of Corfu. This fact gave Corfu and Malta the title of "Bastions of Christian Europe" during the late Renaissance. Language During these centuries, many Venetians moved to the island. Because of its association with the ruling elite, by the end of the 15th century, the influence of the Italian language and culture (including in some ways the Roman Catholic church) assumed a predominant role in the island. Until the second half of the 20th century the Veneto da mar was spoken in Corfu, and the local Greek language assimilated a large number of Italian and Venetian words, many of which are still common today. Indeed, even before the fall of the Byzantine Empire much of the population in Corfu spoke the Veneto da mar or the Mediterranean Lingua Franca Sabir as a second, or first, language. Corfu passed as a dowry from the Greek Despot of Epirus to Manfred of Sicily in 1259, and was not ruled by Greeks again until the 19th century. It became Venetian in 1386 although, with the exception of Corfu city which maintained a majority of a Venetian-speaking population (due partially to the Italkian of the capital's Jewish community), most of the peasants retained Greek as their first language. According to historian Ezio Gray, the small communities of Venetian-speaking people in Corfu were mostly assimilated after the island became part of Greece in 1864 and especially after all Italian schools were closed in 1870. However, the Italian language maintained some importance, as can be seen by the fact that poets like Stefano Martzokis (Marzocchi was the surname of the father, an Italian from Emilia-Romagna) and Geranimos Markonos, the first from Corfù and the second from Cefalonia, wrote some of their poems in Italian during the second half of the 19th century. Culture and learning Venetian rule significantly influenced many aspects of the island's culture. The Venetian feudal families pursued a mild but somewhat assimilating policy towards the natives, who began to adopt many aspects of Venetian customs and culture. The Corfiotes were encouraged to enrich themselves by the cultivation of the olive, but were debarred from entering into commercial competition with Venice. The island served even as a refuge for Greek scholars, and in 1732 became the home of