In 1599 Florentine knights of  Aghios Stephanos (Saint Stephen), who tried to eliminate the presence of the Turks in the sea, disembarked four hundred (400) soldiers at Chios.  They killed the Turk guards who were in patrol at the port.  The Turks thought that the army who was laying siege to Chios was numerous and they barricaded themselves in the castle.  The Florentines began to loot the Christians’ houses, acting more like bandits than warriors.  The Turks managed to massacre most of them.  Those who managed to rescue themselves reached the location of Delphini and they boarded their ships.  The Turks thought that the Chians were accomplices to the Florentines and so a numerous fleet whose Fleet Admiral was Pasha Tsigal arrived in Chios.  A lot of Chians were killed and hung and many of the Catholic Chians were forced to sell their houses at a very low price and leave the island.  The Turks following that way of reaction wanted to make it clear that the rebellions against them caused more trouble to the Christians than to them.  The castle of the island was fortified by four thousand (4,000) soldiers.

After the island having been seized by the Turks, the Chians were assigned once again many privileges which would have to be renewed by each new Sultan.  New temples were allowed to be built, priests could take icons and crosses to village after village, litanies could be held, no Christian would be forced to be islamized and the Turks could have only one mosque and that one would be in the castle.  No taxes would be paid for their houses and no customs tax would be paid every time the Chian merchants crossed the Black Sea.