A modern poster featuring the portraits of the powerfulMavromichalis clan of Mani
Part 1 of 2 articles
In January of 1821, at the secret meeting organized by the Filiki Eteria at Vostitsa (today Aigio), the Peloponnesian dignitaries and chieftains in attendance settled on March 25, 1821, as the day for the declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire.
One month later, in February of 1821, in the Danubian Principalities (modern day Romania and Moldova), Alexander Ypsilantis was forced to hastily declare the start of the revolution, as the plans of the Filiki Eteria were divulged to Ottoman authorities by traitors. His efforts in the Danubian Principalities were eventually suppressed, but the spark of revolution was lit.
As word spread south that Ypsilantis had declared war, the Greeks throughout mainland Greece and the islands were agitating to commence the war. With revolution in the air, the majority of the Maniot Greeks, no longer interested in waiting for March 25, officially declared war against the Ottoman Empire one week earlier on March 17, 1821.
The start of the Greek Revolution in Mani
In Mani, as in other areas of the Morea (the Peloponnese), there were disagreements about the appropriate time to begin the Greek Revolution. The Mourtzinos and Tzannetakis families were in favor of the immediate declaration of the Greek Revolution, while Petros Mavromichalis (also known as Petrobey as he held the title of Bey, that is the ruler, of Mani) and the conservative dignitaries were in favor of postponing it in order to secure the necessary assurances and guarantees.
Mavromichalis had been initiated into the secret organization Filiki Eteria without, however, the "Invsible Authority", that is, its leader, ever being revealed to him. He himself believed that its leader was Kapodistrias, who was incited by the Russians. In 1820, wanting to make sure of this, Mavromichalis assigned his friend and trusted advisor on Mani's affairs, Kyriakos Kamarinos, who came from Kalamata and who was also a member of the Filiki Eteria, to go to Russia carrying a letter for Kapodistrias in which the Mani ruler's concerns were expressed, mainly regarding the financial side of the preparations.
Kamarinos left Constantinople for Russia in order to meet Kapodistrias. The latter did not even accept to see him, according to some sources, however, he told Kamarinos that he had no connection whatsoever with the Filiki Eteria. In Saint Petersburg, Kamarinos was informed that the leadership of the secret organization had been assigned to Alexander Ypsilantis.
Mavromichalis' envoy managed to meet Ypsilantis in Chișinău (now the capital of Moldavia), who informed him that it had been decided to start the Revolution in the Danubian Principalities and that he was unable to offer financial assistance for the Revolution in the Morea. In an argument with Ypsilantis, Kamarinos came to the arbitrary conclusion that the Filiki Eteria had ceased to exist and that Ypsilantis' movement served nothing but his own purposes.
Because of his pointed questioning of Ypsilantis and his openly doubting the existence of the secret organization, Kamarinos was branded a dangerous person and, on the orders of the leadership of the Filiki Eteria, he was murdered while on a riverboat crossing the Danube by Karavias and Sfaellos who pretended to be sailors on the boat. His murder happened shortly before the start of the Greek Revolution and Mavromichalis' concerns were never addressed.
Despite the efforts of Perraivos and Kolokotronis to calm his concerns regarding the secret organization, Mavromichalis remained wary. However, when members of the Filiki Eteria hatched a very daring escape plan for his son Georgios, who was being held hostage as part of a "loyalty test" by the Turks, Mavromichalis began to warm to the idea. Georgios returned to Mani after his escape and openly expressed his enthusiastic support for the Revolution. The Turks were alarmed as Mavromichalis, as the Bey of Mani, had not obeyed their orders to arrest Kolokotronis and Papaflessas. However, to calm the Turks, Mavromichalis sent his young son Anastasios to be held as a hostage in Tripolitsa in another "loyalty test" and any suspicions that the Turks had were allayed.
The revolutionary fervor in the Peloponnese since the beginning of March was evident. From the early days of the same month, the Turks began to send their families to the castles of the Morea for safety as they had heard rumors that the Greeks were up to something. The Turkish commander of Kalamata, Suleiman Agha Arnautoglu, called the prominent Greeks of the region to a meeting and expressed his concerns to them. To reassure him that the rumors of a planned revolt were false, some families even gave him their children to be held as hostages "to prove their loyalty." However, that was a ruse, albeit a very dangerous one. In a further act of deception fabricated by Papaflessas, the Greeks also managed to convince the commander that dangerous bandits were operating in the region, and that the 150 Turkish guards were not enough to protect all of Kalamata. Papaflessas reassured him that he asked for help from the Maniot Greeks in order to aid the Turks against the bandits. Since banditry was always an ongoing threat for Ottoman authorities, Arnautoglu believed the fabricated story.
In the same period, around the middle of March, a ship loaded with munitions that had been sent by members of the Filiki Eteria from Smyrna arrived at the port of Armiros in Mani. Papaflessas informed Nikitaras and Anagnostaras, who were lying in wait at the Prophet Elias monastery, of the arrival of the precious cargo and assigned them to transport it. Previously, he had managed to persuade Mavromichalis to grant permission for customs clearance of the cargo, thus exposing Mavromichalis himself to the Turks in case of its discovery. The Turkish commander was informed that armed villagers were transporting the cargo inland in the middle of the night and demanded to know what was happening and why were people armed. Greek officials lied to him and told him that the villagers were transporting oil and were armed out of fear of the bandits. In reality, they were armed in case Arnautoglu ordered his Turkish guards to personally inspect the cargo.
In the meantime, the Greek chieftains had gathered in Kitries and had convinced Mavromichalis to lead the Revolution. Thus, on March 17, 1821, in Areopolis (then Tsimova), all the Maniot chieftains gathered and they held a doxology for the Revolution in the church of the Taxiarches. According to local tradition, the flag that was raised at that time was made of white cloth with a blue cross in the center. On the upper side it read "Victory or Death" (not "Freedom or Death" like the motto in the rest of Greece because Mani was always considered free) and on the lower side the ancient Spartan motto "With Your Shield Or On It."
To be continued on March 23, the day of the Liberation of Kalamata...
In January of 1821, at the secret meeting organized by the Filiki Eteria at Vostitsa (today Aigio), the Peloponnesian dignitaries and chieftains in attendance settled on March 25, 1821, as the day for the declaration of war against the Ottoman Empire.
One month later, in February of 1821, in the Danubian Principalities (modern day Romania and Moldova), Alexander Ypsilantis was forced to hastily declare the start of the revolution, as the plans of the Filiki Eteria were divulged to Ottoman authorities by traitors. His efforts in the Danubian Principalities were eventually suppressed, but the spark of revolution was lit.
As word spread south that Ypsilantis had declared war, the Greeks throughout mainland Greece and the islands were agitating to commence the war. With revolution in the air, the majority of the Maniot Greeks, no longer interested in waiting for March 25, officially declared war against the Ottoman Empire one week earlier on March 17, 1821.
The start of the Greek Revolution in Mani
In Mani, as in other areas of the Morea (the Peloponnese), there were disagreements about the appropriate time to begin the Greek Revolution. The Mourtzinos and Tzannetakis families were in favor of the immediate declaration of the Greek Revolution, while Petros Mavromichalis (also known as Petrobey as he held the title of Bey, that is the ruler, of Mani) and the conservative dignitaries were in favor of postponing it in order to secure the necessary assurances and guarantees.
Mavromichalis had been initiated into the secret organization Filiki Eteria without, however, the "Invsible Authority", that is, its leader, ever being revealed to him. He himself believed that its leader was Kapodistrias, who was incited by the Russians. In 1820, wanting to make sure of this, Mavromichalis assigned his friend and trusted advisor on Mani's affairs, Kyriakos Kamarinos, who came from Kalamata and who was also a member of the Filiki Eteria, to go to Russia carrying a letter for Kapodistrias in which the Mani ruler's concerns were expressed, mainly regarding the financial side of the preparations.
Kamarinos left Constantinople for Russia in order to meet Kapodistrias. The latter did not even accept to see him, according to some sources, however, he told Kamarinos that he had no connection whatsoever with the Filiki Eteria. In Saint Petersburg, Kamarinos was informed that the leadership of the secret organization had been assigned to Alexander Ypsilantis.
Mavromichalis' envoy managed to meet Ypsilantis in Chișinău (now the capital of Moldavia), who informed him that it had been decided to start the Revolution in the Danubian Principalities and that he was unable to offer financial assistance for the Revolution in the Morea. In an argument with Ypsilantis, Kamarinos came to the arbitrary conclusion that the Filiki Eteria had ceased to exist and that Ypsilantis' movement served nothing but his own purposes.
Because of his pointed questioning of Ypsilantis and his openly doubting the existence of the secret organization, Kamarinos was branded a dangerous person and, on the orders of the leadership of the Filiki Eteria, he was murdered while on a riverboat crossing the Danube by Karavias and Sfaellos who pretended to be sailors on the boat. His murder happened shortly before the start of the Greek Revolution and Mavromichalis' concerns were never addressed.
Despite the efforts of Perraivos and Kolokotronis to calm his concerns regarding the secret organization, Mavromichalis remained wary. However, when members of the Filiki Eteria hatched a very daring escape plan for his son Georgios, who was being held hostage as part of a "loyalty test" by the Turks, Mavromichalis began to warm to the idea. Georgios returned to Mani after his escape and openly expressed his enthusiastic support for the Revolution. The Turks were alarmed as Mavromichalis, as the Bey of Mani, had not obeyed their orders to arrest Kolokotronis and Papaflessas. However, to calm the Turks, Mavromichalis sent his young son Anastasios to be held as a hostage in Tripolitsa in another "loyalty test" and any suspicions that the Turks had were allayed.
The revolutionary fervor in the Peloponnese since the beginning of March was evident. From the early days of the same month, the Turks began to send their families to the castles of the Morea for safety as they had heard rumors that the Greeks were up to something. The Turkish commander of Kalamata, Suleiman Agha Arnautoglu, called the prominent Greeks of the region to a meeting and expressed his concerns to them. To reassure him that the rumors of a planned revolt were false, some families even gave him their children to be held as hostages "to prove their loyalty." However, that was a ruse, albeit a very dangerous one. In a further act of deception fabricated by Papaflessas, the Greeks also managed to convince the commander that dangerous bandits were operating in the region, and that the 150 Turkish guards were not enough to protect all of Kalamata. Papaflessas reassured him that he asked for help from the Maniot Greeks in order to aid the Turks against the bandits. Since banditry was always an ongoing threat for Ottoman authorities, Arnautoglu believed the fabricated story.
In the same period, around the middle of March, a ship loaded with munitions that had been sent by members of the Filiki Eteria from Smyrna arrived at the port of Armiros in Mani. Papaflessas informed Nikitaras and Anagnostaras, who were lying in wait at the Prophet Elias monastery, of the arrival of the precious cargo and assigned them to transport it. Previously, he had managed to persuade Mavromichalis to grant permission for customs clearance of the cargo, thus exposing Mavromichalis himself to the Turks in case of its discovery. The Turkish commander was informed that armed villagers were transporting the cargo inland in the middle of the night and demanded to know what was happening and why were people armed. Greek officials lied to him and told him that the villagers were transporting oil and were armed out of fear of the bandits. In reality, they were armed in case Arnautoglu ordered his Turkish guards to personally inspect the cargo.
In the meantime, the Greek chieftains had gathered in Kitries and had convinced Mavromichalis to lead the Revolution. Thus, on March 17, 1821, in Areopolis (then Tsimova), all the Maniot chieftains gathered and they held a doxology for the Revolution in the church of the Taxiarches. According to local tradition, the flag that was raised at that time was made of white cloth with a blue cross in the center. On the upper side it read "Victory or Death" (not "Freedom or Death" like the motto in the rest of Greece because Mani was always considered free) and on the lower side the ancient Spartan motto "With Your Shield Or On It."
To be continued on March 23, the day of the Liberation of Kalamata...
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