Εταιρεία για τον Ελληνισμό και τον Φιλελληνισμό
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Εταιρεία για τον Ελληνισμό και τον Φιλελληνισμό
Santorre Annibale Derossi (1783 – 1825), Earl of Pomerolo and lord of Santarosa, was an Italian officer and Philhellene, a hero of the Greek Revolution of 1821.

He was born in Savigliano to noble parents. His father, Annibale Derossi, Earl of Pomerolo and lord of Santarosa, served as a colonel in the Army of the Kingdom of Piedmont[1].

Following the family tradition, Santorre du Santarosa joined the Grenadier Regiment of the Kingdom of Piedmont at the age of just 13[2]. Upon joining the Grenadier Regiment, he took part in the Battle of Mondovi on April 21, 1796, which ended in victory for the French and led to the proclamation of the Republic of Piedmont[3].

This resulted in the Santarosa family taking refuge in Sardinia, which had not been occupied by the French and where King Charles Emmanuel IV had taken refuge[4]. There, Santorre du Santarosa and his father continued their military service[5], until June 1800, when they secretly moved to the mainland of Italy with the Grenadier Regiment of the Royal Guard. Santarosa’s father was now its general and honorary commander[6].

Santorre du Santarosa fought heroically with the rank of lieutenant in the victorious fur the French, battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800[7]. There his father fell heroically and he was taken prisoner[8]. After the battle, the French government offered amnesty to those who had fought against it[9]. Santarosa was released and remained in Turin to study at the University[10].

After graduating from the University of Turin, Santarosa, who despite his amnesty remained loyal to the Royal House of Piedmont, got involved in politics[11]. Thus, in 1807, he was elected mayor of Savigliano[12]. hen, from 1812 to 1814, he served as the Prefect of La Spezia[13].

With the restoration of the Kingdom of Piedmont in 1814, Santarosa returned to the army, as captain of the 1st Battalion of the Grenadiers, of the Regiment of the Royal Guard. From this position, he fought against the French in the victorious for the Piedmontese, battle of Grenoble, on July 6, 1815[14].

In 1816, Santarosa was demobilized and took over the duties of Political Inspector of the Provincial Troops in the Ministry of Military and Naval Affairs of the Kingdom of Piedmont[15]. His contribution from this position, as well as his background as a military commander, led the government of the Kingdom of Piedmont to honor him on August 16, 1820, with the highest distinction of the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Mauritius and Lazarus[16].

Santarosa was associated from 1819 with the young heir to the throne, Prince Charles Alberto of Carignano[17], who was the only member of the Royal House of Piedmont interested in the unification of Italy[18].

He remained in constant contact with the heir to the throne, Charles Alberto, and with political and military figures, in order to organize the revolution for the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy, the unification of Italy, and the proclamation of a constitution[19]. Eventually this revolution was decided to take place in the first months of 1821, as the Austrians were facing uprisings in Naples[20].

On March 6, 1821, Santarosa and the leaders of the revolution made the final decisions in agreement with Charles Alberto[21], and the revolution began on March 10, 1821, from the military units of Alessandria, Vercelli and Turin[22].

King Victor Emmanuel I resigned on March 13, 1821 in favor of his brother Charles Felix[23], who had returned from Montena, in order not to legitimize the revolution. The new king appointed Charles Albert as interim regent, with the task of granting a constitution[24]. Santarosa was then appointed Minister of War in the new government[25].

Meanwhile, the revolution emerged the radicals Michele Gastone and Carlo Bianco, Count of Saint Jorioz, who were radically different from Santarosa and his rivals, as they supported the Carbonari extremists of Filippo Buonarroti[26]. Due to their actions and the conversion of Charles Felix in favor of the Austrians, the revolution soon degenerated and the government lost its cohesion. Regent Charles Albertus had lost control[27]. Thus, Charles Felix forced him to resign and follow him by force to Novarra on March 22, 1822, where he was obliged to renounce the revolution[28].

Santarosa then warned the people of Piedmont about the possibility of a civil war because of the Austrians[29]. The prospect of civil war, and the expected repression of the revolutionaries from the Austrians, paralyzed the cabinet of ministers, who met for the last time, on April 9, 1821[30]. failing to organize a last line of defense[31]. Thus, on April 25, 1821, the Austrian army, in collaboration with forces loyal to King Charles Felix, invaded Piedmont and disbanded the rebels[32]. Santarosa and many of his associates were arrested by the Austrians. But thanks to the help of Polish colonel Schultz of the Austrian Army, as well as 30 students from the Theresian Military Academy in Vienna and other universities, they managed to escape[33].

After their escape, Santarosa, Luigi Ornato, Ferdinando dal Pozzo and their comrades passed through Genoa, Marseille and Lyon and ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. They left on November 19, 1821, due to pressure from the Austrians and King Felix of Piedmont[34]. Santarosa arrived in Paris[35], under the pseudonym Conti. During this period he wrote his memoirs from the revolution in Piedmont[36]. In February 1822, with the rise of the Villèle government, Santarosa took refuge in Auteuil, at the home of his friend, the philosopher Victor Cousin[37]. From there, he fled after many adventures, to London, in October 1822, where he faced serious problems. He was cut off from his country and his family, and it was impossible for him to work because of the structure of the British society at the time[38]. So he survived by teaching Italian and French, although it was clear that a quiet life did not suit him.

During this time, he continued correspondence with his friend Victor Cousin, while in mid-1823, he became closely associated with the emblematic Philhellene poet Ugo Foscolo and the Philhellene Piedmontese officer, Count Giacinto Ottavio Enrico Provana di Collegno, who was also exiled to London since 1821[39]. At the same time, he came in contact with the Philhellenic Committee of London and with Lord Byron.

His friendship with Giacinto Collegno familiarised him with the positions of the Greek revolutionaries. Santarosa was an important officer, but at the same time, a noble and highly cultured man, a lover of Greek classical culture. Giacinto Collegno, on the other hand, was a typical officer.

In fact, he wrote to his later comrade-in-arms Giacinto Collegno: “I feel love for Greece. It is the homeland of Socrates. The Greek people are brave and good. The centuries of slavery have not destroyed their good character. I believe that Greece is a brother nation“. The Italian Philhellenes had a sense of common cultural origin with the Greeks, and this added an additional dimension to the Italian Philhellenism.

These fermentations with the philhellenic circles of England, soon led them to Greece as volunteer fighters on the side of the Greeks. In September 1824 Santarosa went with Collegno to Nottingham, from where they traveled by ship, and arrived in Nafplio on December 10, 1824[40].

There, Santarosa was examined by a committee of Greeks, who evaluated the motives of the Philhellenes fighters who landed in revolutionary Greece.

This committee was chaired by the President of the Executive, George Kountouriotis and the Minister of the Interior, Papaflessas.

Santarosa’s request was initially met with suspicion because he was exiled and persecuted by the government of his homeland. For this reason he had received in London, and submitted to the committee, a letter of recommendation from Mavrokordatos.

When he appeared, he wore an impressive uniform of a senior officer with his medals. He asked to fight under the flag of Greece. The members of the committee informed him that the administration could not offer any remuneration for his services. Santarosa replied that he knew that Greece needed even the last soldier and that he would not accept any reward even if he was offered it.

He was then asked what rank he wanted to receive in the Greek army, and what rank he had in his country. Santarosa replied that he was “General and Minister of the Army“, but that he wanted to participate in the Greek army as an ordinary soldier, because at that time Greece needed soldiers.

The committee then realized who it was dealing with. In fact, Koundouriotis embraced him for his kindness and selflessness.

And of course the value and experience of this important officer would justify such an office. But Santarosa’s fame, and his action in Piedmont, forced the Greek authorities not to grant him a high-ranking position. The Greek administration, but also the circles of the Philhellenes internationally, did not want the Greek Revolution to be identified with the carbonari movements. We note here that the Philhellenic Committee of London, Alexandros Mavrokordatos and the representatives of the Greek administration in England (Ioannis Orlandos and Andreas Louriotis), assured the Greek authorities of the origin and military value of the great Philhellene.

Santarosa asked to be sent immediately to the front line. However, he had to wait three months to finally join the Greek army voluntarily in March 1825 as an ordinary soldier, under the pseudonym “Derossi”[41].

He then toured Epidaurus, Aegina, Athens and Marathon, where he inspired the inhabitants, with fiery patriotic speeches. Santarosa, this noble, selfless and conscious Philhellene, was saying: “I love Greece with a love that has something wonderful. … “.

Finally, in March 1825, he returned to Nafplio[43]. In April 1825 he joined the regular army, following Koundouriotis and Mavrokordatos in their campaign in Pylos.

On April 19, 1825, his unit of 100 men arrived in Navarino. From there, on April 21, 1825, he went to Sfaktiria to undertake its defense, as requested by Anagnostaras, who was one of the leaders of its defense[44].

Before moving to Sfaktiria, Santarosa, as an experienced officer, suggested the immediate repair of the castle of Navarino. This action would allow the Greeks to defend themselves better. But he was not listened to by the Greek Administration.

The defense of Sfaktiria began when on May 5, 1825, the Turkish-Egyptian troops under Ibrahim Pasha began their attack on the island[45]. The decisive phase of the siege began on May 7, 1825, when the reserve unit of 100 men where Santarosa belonged, got involved in the battle, with him fighting on the front line[46].

Ibrahim took advantage of the lack of drinking water, and repeatedly attacked the defenders of Sfaktiria, who were inexperienced in the battle against artillery, and began to surrender[47]. The unit to which Santarosa belonged continued to resist. Santarosa fought heroically to the end, and the next day, when his unit was surrounded, he was seriously wounded. But he refused to surrender to Ibrahim Pasha’s Turkish-Egyptians and continued to fight as best he could, until Ibrahim, an Egyptian soldier, was shot dead[48]. Along with Santarosa, the leaders of the Greek forces, Anagnostaras and Anastasios Tsamados, as well as the chiliarch Stavros Sachinis, fell heroically[49].

In total, 350 of the 800 defenders of Sfaktiria fell heroically.

Eventually, Sfaktiria was handed over to the Turkish-Egyptians on May 13, 1825. The personal belongings of the fallen, including Santarosa, were looted. Sfaktiria was temporarily recaptured for a while by the Greeks on May 16, 1825[50]. An old comrade located the personal belongings of the great Philhellene and was informed of his death.

After the recapture of Sfaktiria, the search for the body of the great Philhellene began[51], mainly by his comrade-in-arms and friend, Giacinto Ottavio Enrico Provana di Collegno, who, however, could not find the body of his friend. The remains of the great and noble Philhellene were found only in 1827, after the Battle of Navarino, where the allied fleet of Britain, Russia and France defeated the Turkish-Egyptian forces[52].

On the 100th anniversary of his death, an official memorial service was held in April 1925 in Sfaktiria and the Monument of Santarosa was erected in honor of the great Philhellene, who fell fighting heroically for Greece. This monument was designated in 2000 by an official decree of the Greek Government, a historic monument[53]. The decision read as follows:

“We characterize as a historical monument and work of art, which needs special state protection according to the provisions of Law 1468/50, the monument of Philhellene Santaroza on the island of Sfaktiria, Messinia, because it is connected with modern Greek history and presents interesting architectural and artistic elements, such as the relief of the figure of Santarosa, the anthem and the small face at the top of the marble column “.

The Municipality of Athens honorably gave its name to one of the streets of the city.

Roads in his honor exist in the following cities: Agrinio, Ilion, Ano Liosia, Acharnes, Gargalianoi, Ilioupoli Attica, Argyroupoli Attica, Thessaloniki, Kavala, Kalamata, Katerini, Keratsini, Kozani, Livadia, Messini, Mytilene, Nees Pagases, Nikaia, Patra and Piraeus.

The Greeks and the SHP, honor the noble Philhellene and hero Santorre Annibale Derossi, Earl of Pomerolo and lord of Santarosa, who fought with modesty, self-denial and selflessness for the ideals of freedom and civilisation, leaving his last breath, fighting for the Greek Independence. The sacrifice of this great Philhellene forms a bridge of friendship between the peoples of Greece and Italy.

References

[1] De Gubernatis, Angelo, “Santorre di Santa Rosa”, εκδ. Unione Tipografico Editrice Torinese, Τορίνο, 1860.

[2] Guerrini, Domenico, “La Brigata dei Granatieri di Sardegna”, εκδ. Roux & Viarengo, Τορίνο, 1902.

[3] Boycott-Brown, Martin, “The Road to Rivoli”, εκδ. Cassell & Co., Λονδίνο, 2001, σελ. 271.

[4] Manzotti, Teofilo, “Memorie storiche intorno a Carlo Emanuele IV, re di Sardegna, morto religioso nella Compagnia di Gesù“, εκδ. Tempesta, Ρώμη, 1912

[5] Boselli, Paolo, “Santorre di Santarosa”,εκδ. Nuova Antologia, Ρώμη, 1925.

[6] Τσερέζολε, Ερρίκος, “S antorre Derossi di Santarosa”, εκδ. Εστία, Αθήνα, 1925.

[7] Bestoso, Andrea, “Diario di Andrea Bestoso dal 1796 al 1856”, επιμ. Gabriele Serraferro, εκδ. Comune di Pontestura, Pontestura, 1996.

[8] Gandi, Pier Casimiro, “Biografia del Conte Santorre di Santarosa”, εκδ. Tipografia Saviglianese, Savigliano, 1925.

[9] Biancotti, A.,”Santorre di Santarosa”, εκδ. Casa Editrice Oberdan Zucchi, Μιλάνο, 1935.

[10] Ceva, Bianca, “Santorre di Santarosa”, εκδ. Casa Editrice Leonardo, Μιλάνο, 1943.

[11] Gali, Lorenzo, “Santarosa”, εκδ. Edizioni Garzanti, Μιλάνο, 1946.

[12] Scotta, G., “Santorre di Santa Rosa Sindaco di Savigliano”, εκδ. Universita degli Studi di Torino, Τορίνο, 1975, σελ. 211.

[13] Gullino, A. “Ricerche storico-giuridiche sulla famiglia Santa Rosa e la sua Biblioteca”, εκδ. Universita degli Studi di Torino, Τορίνο, 1996, σελ. 33.

[14] Ferrara, Αrnaldo, “Storia documentale dell’Arma dei Carabinieri”, εκδ. Comando dell’Arma dei Carabinieri, Ρώμη, 2004, α’ τόμος, σελ. 102.

[15] Ambroggio, Giulio, “Santorre di Santa Rosa nella Restaurazione piemontese”, εκδ. Edizioni Pintore, Τορίνο, 2007.

[16] Cavallotti, Felice, “Martirologio italiano”, εκδ. Sonzogno, Μιλάνο, 1898.

[17] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Ricordi 1818-1824 (Torino, Svizzera, Parigi, Londra)”, εκδ. Olschki, Φλωρεντία, 1998.

[18] Συλλογικό, “L’altro Piemonte nell’età di Carlo Alberto”, εκδ. Fondazione Cassa Risparmio, Alessandria, 2001, α’ τόμος, σελ. 273.

[19] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Storia della rivoluzione piemontese del 1821”, εκδ. Presso Tutti I Librai, Τορίνο, 1850.

[20] Pepe, Guglielmo, “Relazione delle circostanze relative agli avvenimenti politici e militari in Napoli nel 1820 e 1821”, εκδ. Presso I Principali Libraji, Παρίσι, 1822.

[21] Bertoldi, Silvio, “Il re che tentò di fare l’Italia. Vita di Carlo Alberto di Savoia”, εκδ. Rizzoli, Μιλάνο, 2000.

[22] Bendiscioli, Mario, Gallia, Andriano, “Documenti di storia contemporanea: 1815-1970”, εκδ. Mursia, Μιλάνο, 1972.

[23] Perrero, Domenico, “Gli ultimi reali di Savoia del ramo primogenito ed il principe Carlo Alberto di Carignano: Studio storico su documenti inediti”, εκδ. F. Casanova, Τορίνο, 1889.

[24] Montanelli, Indro, “L’Italia giacobina e carbonara. (1789-1831)”, εκδ. Rizzoli, Μιλάνο, 1971.

[25] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Storia della rivoluzione piemontese del 1821”, εκδ. Presso Tutti I Librai, Τορίνο, 1850.

[26] Federici, Libero, “L’egualitarismo di Filippo Buonarroti”, εκδ. Il Prato, Πάδοβα, 2007.

[27] Perrero, Domenico, “Gli ultimi reali di Savoia del ramo primogenito ed il principe Carlo Alberto di Carignano: Studio storico su documenti inediti”, εκδ. F. Casanova, Τορίνο, 1889.

[28] Bendiscioli, Mario, Gallia, Andriano, “Documenti di storia contemporanea: 1815-1970”, εκδ. Mursia, Μιλάνο, 1972.

[29] Συλλογικό, “Santorre di Santa Rosa e la rivoluzione mancata in Piemonte nel 1821”, εκδ. Museo Tipografico Rondani, Carmagnola, 2011.

[30] Bendiscioli, Mario, Gallia, Andriano, “Documenti di storia contemporanea: 1815-1970”, εκδ. Mursia, Μιλάνο, 1972.

[31] Montanelli, Indro, “L’Italia giacobina e carbonara. (1789-1831)”, εκδ. Rizzoli, Μιλάνο, 1971.

[32] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Ricordi 1818-1824 (Torino, Svizzera, Parigi, Londra)”, εκδ. Olschki, Φλωρεντία, 1998.

[33] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Storia della rivoluzione piemontese del 1821”, εκδ. Presso Tutti I Librai, Τορίνο, 1850.

[34] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Lettere dall’esilio (1821-1825)”, επιμ. A. Olmo, εκδ. Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento Italiano, Ρώμη, 1969.

[35] Ottolenghi, Leone, “Vita, studii e lettere inedite di Luigi Ornato “, εκδ. Loeschner, Τορίνο, 1878.

[36] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Storia della rivoluzione piemontese del 1821”, εκδ. Presso Tutti I Librai, Τορίνο, 1850.

[37] Di Santarosa, Santorre, “Lettere dall’esilio (1821-1825)”, επιμ. A. Olmo, εκδ. Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento Italiano, Ρώμη, 1969.

[38] Campbell Walker Wicks, Margaret, “The Italian exiles in London, 1816-1848”, εκδ. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1937.

[39] Provana di Collegno, Giacinto Ottavio Enrico, “Diario dell’assedio di Navarino. Memorie di Giacinto Collegno precedute da un ricordo biografico dell’autore scritto da Massimo d’Azeglio”, επιμ. A. Mauri, εκδ. Pelazza, Τορίνο, 1857, σελ.22.

[40] Barth, Wilhelm, Kehrig-Korn, Max, “Die Philhellenenzeit.Von der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zur Ermordung Kapodistrias’ am 9. Oktober 1831”, εκδ. Max Hueber Verlag, Μόναχο, 1960, σελ. 214.

[41] St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still be Free: The Philhellenes in the War of Independence“, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008, σελ.256.

[42] Birtachas, Stathis, “Solidarietà e scambi ideologico-culturali italo-ellenici in epoca risorgimentale: l’emigrazione politica italiana nelle Isole Ionie e in Grecia”, εκδ. περ. “Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche“, Παλέρμο, Δεκέμβριος 2012, τεύχος 26, σελ. 469.

[43] Μπίρταχας, Στάθης, “Εκφάνσεις του ιταλικού φιλελληνισμού κατά τη δεκαετία του 1820“, εκδ. Ηρόδοτος, Αθήνα, 2015, σελ. 385.

[44] Barth, Wilhelm, Kehrig-Korn, Max, “Die Philhellenenzeit.Von der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts bis zur Ermordung Kapodistrias’ am 9. Oktober 1831”, εκδ. Max Hueber Verlag, Μόναχο, 1960, σελ. 214.

[45] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[46] Συλλογικό, “Italy on the Rimland. Storia Militare diuna Penisola Eurasiatica”, εκδ. Società Italiana di Storia Militare, Ρώμη, 2019, α’ τόμος, σελ. 150.

[47] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[48] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[49] Τσαμαδός, Αναστάσιος, “Ιστορικά Ημερολόγια Ελληνικών Ναυμαχιών του 1821”, εκδ. Διον. Καραβίας, Αθήνα, 2007.

[50] Μακρυγιάννης, Ιωάννης, “Αρχεία Νεωτέρας Ιστορίας. Αρχείον του στρατηγού Ιωάννου Μακρυγιάννη”, επιμ. Γ. Βλαχογιάννης, εκδ. Σ.Κ.Βλαστός, Αθήνα, 1907, α’ τόμος, σελ. 194.

[51] Provana di Collegno, Giacinto Ottavio Enrico, “Diario dell’assedio di Navarino. Memorie di Giacinto Collegno precedute da un ricordo biografico dell’autore scritto da Massimo d’Azeglio”, επιμ. A. Mauri, εκδ. Pelazza, Τορίνο, 1857, σελ. 56.

[52] Φωκάς, Δημήτριος, “Η Ναυμαχία του Ναυαρίνου”, εκδ. περ. “Ναυτική Επιθεώρησις”, Αθήνα, 1927.

[53] “Εφημερίδα της Κυβερνήσεως”, ΦΕΚ 1018/10, Αύγουστος 2000, Αθήνα.

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Manzotti, Teofilo, “Memorie storiche intorno a Carlo Emanuele IV, re di Sardegna, morto religioso nella Compagnia di Gesù“, εκδ. Tempesta, Ρώμη, 1912.

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Boselli, Paolo, “Santorre di Santarosa”, εκδ. Nuova Antologia, Ρώμη, 1925.

Τσερέζολε, Ερρίκος, “Santorre Derossi di Santarosa”, εκδ. Εστία, Αθήνα, 1925.

Gandi, Pier Casimiro, “Biografia del Conte Santorre di Santarosa”, εκδ. Tipografia Saviglianese, Savigliano, 1925.

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Campbell Walker Wicks, Margaret, “The Italian exiles in London, 1816-1848”, εκδ. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1937.

Φωκάς, Δημήτριος, “Η Ναυμαχία του Ναυαρίνου”, εκδ. περ. “Ναυτική Επιθεώρησις”, Αθήνα, 1927.

Μακρυγιάννης, Ιωάννης, “Αρχεία Νεωτέρας Ιστορίας. Αρχείον του στρατηγού Ιωάννου Μακρυγιάννη”, επιμ. Γ. Βλαχογιάννης, εκδ. Σ. Κ. Βλαστός, Αθήνα, 1907, α’ τόμος.

Συλλογικό, “Santorre di Santa Rosa e la rivoluzione mancata in Piemonte nel 1821”, εκδ. Museo Tipografico Rondani, Carmagnola, 2011.

Τσαμαδός, Αναστάσιος, “Ιστορικά Ημερολόγια Ελληνικών Ναυμαχιών του 1821”, εκδ. Διον. Καραβίας, Αθήνα, 2007.

Birtachas, Stathis, “Solidarietà e scambi ideologico-culturali italo-ellenici in epoca risorgimentale: l’emigrazione politica italiana nelle Isole Ionie e in Grecia”, εκδ. περ. “Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche“, Παλέρμο, Δεκέμβριος 2012, τεύχος 26.

Μπίρταχας, Στάθης, “Εκφάνσεις του ιταλικού φιλελληνισμού κατά τη δεκαετία του 1820 “, εκδ. Ηρόδοτος, Αθήνα, 2015.

Pietro Tarella (1781 – 1822), was an Italian officer and a Philhellene. One of the first organizers of a regular army in Greece and a hero of the battle of Peta.

He was born in Turin, but his parents, Francesco Tarella and Margherita Minuti, were from Cannero[1].

The bibliography does not provide us with information on the first years of his life. We know that in 1805 he enlisted as a second lieutenant in the army of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, which was founded by Napoleon with regent Eugene de Beauharnais[2].

As an officer in the army of the Kingdom of Italy, he was a member of Napoleon’s Great Army during the Napoleonic Wars[3]. He served in 1805 as an officer of the guard of the English Channel and was promoted to lieutenant[4]. Then, in March 1807, he took part in the siege of Kolberg, Prussia, where he was promoted for his bravery second-class captain[5].

From May 5 to June 29, 1811, he took part in the victorious for the French siege of Tarragona in Spain[6]. On October 25, 1811, he fought in the victorious for the French Army, battle of Saguntum where he was promoted to first class captain for his bravery[7]. This promotion, as well as his skills as a commander, led the Italian regent Eugene de Beauharnais to approve the appointment of Tarella to his staff[8].

As a staff officer, Tarella took part on May 2, 1813, in the victorious battle for the French in Lützen, Saxony[9]. There he was promoted to Major[10].

On February 8, 1814, the battle of Mincio in Lombardy against the Austrians took place. This battle marked the end of the Kingdom of Italy as a state entity[11]. Thus Tarella enlisted in the French Army and took part in the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815[12].

After the French defeat at Waterloo and the resignation of Napoleon from the French throne on June 22, 1815, Tarella returned to Turin[13]. There he was appointed in the General Staff of the Army of Piedmont with the rank of lieutenant colonel[14].

Tarella joined the liberal movements of his country, as a result of which he was demobilized due to his actions.

With the beginning of the Greek Revolution of 1821, Tarella is one of the first Philhellenes to decide to go to Greece and offer his services. He left Trieste and arrived in Greece (in Hydra) on June 7, 1821[15], with the same ship that carried Dimitrios Ypsilantis, Panagiotis Anagnostopoulos, the heroic French Philhellene Joseph Baleste and the important Italian Philhellene Dania[16].

On July 2, 1821, he was appointed aid de camp of Demetrios Ypsilantis and took part in the battle for the liberation of Tripolitsa. When the operations were completed, Tarella, the British chief of staff of Ypsilantis and prominent Philhellene Thomas Gordon, most of the Philhellenes, and Ypsilantis himself, undertook other missions and did not attend the entrance of the Greeks to Tripolitsa, on September 23, 1821[17].

After the battle of Tripolitsa, Tarella returned to Italy, with the aim of introducing more of his compatriots to the Philhellenic movement, and to procure ammunition for the Greeks fighters and the Philhellenes[18]. Instead, Dania stayed in Greece and took part in the first operation for the liberation of Nafplio, which took place in December 1821[19].

After completing his mission in Italy, Tarella returned to Greece on January 3, 1822[20]. There he undertook the task of forming the Infantry of the first Regular Army in Greece, according to the Law “On the Organization of the Army”, which was passed by the Parliament in Nafplio, on April 1, 1822 and which formed the basis of the military legislation[21].

Tarella took command of the 1st Infantry Regiment, with his direct collaborator, Andrea Dania, commander of the Battalion of the Philhellenes. The commander-in-chief of the Regular Army was the important German Philhellene General, Count Karl Friedrich Leberecht von Normann-Ehrenfels. The first mission of the Regular Army was the termination of the siege of Souli by the Ottoman forces, which would result in the revival of the Struggle in Epirus, the further strengthening of the Greek Forces with experienced officers, as well as the removal of the danger of an immediate descent of the Ottomans to suppress the Greek Revolution to the south[22].

Normann, Tarella and Dania faced several strategic issues. For example, decisions and moves were slow. Instead of the Greeks and Philhellenes moving quickly towards Arta, without allowing the Turks to gather an army that would give them a strategic advantage, they wasted valuable time. On the one hand, the Turks were gathering undisturbed forces, when on the other hand, the Greek army was beginning to face diseases and food shortages. Another big problem was the behavior of the irregular forces. And especially the one of Chieftain Bacolas. There were also concerns about how units of irregulars would be integrated into the battle plan. In fact, many days before the start of the march to Arta, it was rumored that Bacolas had a strange attitude and that he had a relationship with the Turks. Of course, it was impossible to believe that a Greek would betray the struggle of his compatriots[23].

The Greek forces came in contact with the Turks at Kompoti, on June 22, 1822. The war plan provided that, “the Philhellenes, as regular soldiers, should not seek the mountain tops to defend themselves comfortably, but to stay in the great and dangerous points and not to miss the opportunity to confront the enemy“[24]. Following this, the 1st Infantry Regiment under Tarella and the Battalion of the Philhellenes under Dania, were placed at critical points at the foot of the hills. The enemy attack was successfully repulsed and the Turks retreated to Arta with heavy losses[25].

Already exhausted by fatigue, illness, hunger and thirst, the Philhellenes left from Kompoti in a hurry at night to Peta, where the Turks were moving. The other Greek forces gathered there, and the preparation for the battle began.

Disagreements arose in the war council of the leaders on two issues: 1) The position of the regular army in relation to the irregulars. That is, who would constitute the vanguard and who the rearguards, and 2) whether or not fortifications (tambouria) should be used. For the first one, the view which prevailed was to place the forces in a circle around Peta. Normann was dissatisfied with this decision and realizing the disadvantaged position of the Greek side, he felt obliged to express his concerns in a letter to Mavrokordatos[26]. Although he was the leader of the Greek forces, Mavrokordatos was absent from the battlefield. He had placed his headquarters in Lagada, six hours away from Peta[27]. In his letter, Normann stressed that the regular soldiers now numbered only 515[28]. He also noted that he was afraid that Bacolas would leave his post and that the other irregular fighters would not be able to help. Mavrokordatos was not convinced and the battle plan did not change. The Philhellenes accepted this decision out of courtesy[29].

After the leaders’ disagreement about the fortifications, the opinion which prevailed was that they should be built. In fact, as many sources confirm, the “tambouria” were also used by Philhellenes. This is a rare case in which European soldiers fought in the “Greek way”. That is, with the methods of the irregulars. It is worth noting that the Philhellenes had a different code of bravery and honor, which results from a position attributed to Dania: “our tambouria are our breasts”[30].

However, other mistakes were also made, which were due to the lack of complete control of the situation from the Philhellene officers. After the battle of Kompoti, Gennaios Kolokotronis and his Corps returned to the Peloponnese, following an order from his father, for which he was criticized[31]. At the same time, 1,200 Greek fighters left the camp and moved to the north to help the Souliotes. The corps comprised Markos Botsaris, Karatasos, Aggelis Gatsos, Georgios Varnakiotis, Alexakis Vlachopoulos and Andreas Iskos. These 1,200 fighters did not even manage to approach Souli. The Turks stopped them in the village of Plaka on June 29, 1822 and crushed them. Those who survived returned to Peta. Gogos Bacolas enticed Marco Botsaris to move towards Souli, and as soon as he left the camp, he warned the Turks to trap him in Plaka[32].

On the day of the battle of Peta, a Corps of Maniates also arrived in Splantza with Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis to help the Greeks. However, they did not form part of a single strategic plan. A corps of Souliotes arrived there and joined them to confront the Turkish forces that were sent to repel them. Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis himself was killed in this battle[33].

All these moves were out of the general coordination plan, and hindered the work of the Greek forces that would face the main attack of the Turks. But again, despite their small numbers, these forces could still be defeated.

At dawn on July 16, 1822, the attack of the Turkish forces that had arrived from Arta (7,000 to 8,000) began. Normann woke up the men, cheered them with warm words and inspected all positions on horseback.

At first the forces of the Philhellenes and the Tactical Corps repulsed the numerous enemy troops with great success. The constant and coordinated shots reaped the attackers. The key to success in this way of warfare is for the soldiers to stay calm, to constantly and quickly load their weapons, to fire in a coordinated manner, and above all, to hold their ground, without allowing a rift in their ranks. The 1st Infantry Regiment and the battalion of the Philhellenes were an impenetrable wall, as Baleste’s training paid off[34].

Unfortunately, suddenly a fatal thing happened. Chieftain Bacolas and his men treacherously left their positions, opening the path for the Turkish forces to attack the rear of the 1st Infantry Regiment and the battalion of the Philhellenes[35]. Tarella was trying to encourage the men of his Regiment. He was surrounded by the attacking Turks and had a tragic death (he was beheaded)[36].

General Normann, the emblematic Philhellene, took himself the command of the 1st Infantry Regiment and led it back to battle, shooting: “For the salvation of the Philhellenes! Victory or death!”. In the ensuing raid, he received a bullet in the chest and was transported to the rear to treat his serious injury[37]. Gradually the Regiment began to recede and was now an easy target for the Turkish cavalry. The Philhellenes had been abandoned by all the forces of the irregulars. The forces of the Philhellenes and the Greeks from the Ionian islands experienced a sad and unjust disaster. They were surrounded by the enemy at an exposed point and were exterminated.

Amazing scenes of incredible heroism followed. Dania, who was cheering the soldiers of the battalion of the Philhellenes until the end, was surrounded by Turks, who beheaded him as they did with Tarella[38]. Fifteen brave Poles, led by the Polish officer Mierzewski, gathered at the St George’s Church in central Peta and fought with incredible heroism, even fighting on the roof of the church. They were all killed heroically[39]. In fact, the Turks set fire to the roof of the church to burn them alive beig unable to defeat them. A French officer, Mignac (who had clashed with German Philhellenes during the campaign), also fought with a heroism of Homeric proportions. The Turks tried to capture him alive because he was wearing an impressive uniform and they thought that he was General Normann, the leader of the Regular Army. Mignac refused to surrender and fought valiantly. In the end, being severely injured in the leg, because he could not stand, he leaned on the trunk of an olive tree to stay upright and by fighting in all directions, he neutralized fourteen more Turks. His body was full of wounds, and when he broke his sword, he committed suicide by cutting his throat[40].

Among the volunteers of the Regular Army, 160 Greeks from the Ionian islands and Philhellenes (one third of the forces) were killed. Many were taken prisoners to Arta and were killed there, after being tortured and humiliated in a horrible way. Many Philhellenes were forced to walk naked for hours, holding in their hands the heads of their comrades[41].

The few survivors gathered in Lagada; among them the tragic figure of the day, the noble and brave General Normann. As after the battle of Kompoti, so this time he arrived at the camp last on his dying horse and presented himself to Mavrokordatos, to whom he stated the following: “We lost everything your highness, except our honor!”[42]. The 1st Infantry Regiment, the Battalion of the Philhellenes, and hundreds of enthusiastic European Philhellenes, and Greeks from the Ionian islands, no longer existed.

Greece and SHP pay tribute to Pietro Tarella and his brave comrades, who fought to the end for the Freedom of Greece and are eternally grateful for their sacrifice.

References

[1] Συλλογικό, “Tarella, Pietro”, εκδ. Α Spese Degli Editori, Φλωρεντία, 1853.

[2] Miller, E.J., “The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy”, εκδ. περ. “The British Museum Quarterly“, Λονδίνο, 1967, τεύχος 31.

[3] Gregory, Desmond, “Napoleon’s Italy“, εκδ. Associated University Presses, Plainsboro, 2001.

[4] Elting, John R., “Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon’s Grand Armee“, εκδ. Free Press, Νέα Υόρκη, 1988.

[5] Horward, Donald D., “Napoleonic military history:a bibliography“, εκδ. Garland Publishing, Νέα Υόρκη, 1986, σελ. 639.

[6] Gates, David, “The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War“, εκδ. Pimlico, Λονδίνο, 2002.

[7] Smith, Digby, “The Napoleonic Wars Data Book “, εκδ. Greenhill, Λονδίνο, 1998.

[8] Φορνέζης, Ερρίκος, “Οι Φιλέλληνες”, εκδ. περ. “Εβδομάς”, Αθήνα, 1884, σελ. 125.

[9] Chandler, David G., “The Campaigns of Napoleon. The mind and method of history’s greatest soldier“, εκδ. Simon and Schuster, Νέα Υόρκη, 2009, σελ. 1120.

[10] Φορνέζης, Ερρίκος, “Οι Φιλέλληνες”, εκδ. περ. “Εβδομάς”, Αθήνα, 1884, σελ. 125.

[11] Uffindell, Andrew, “Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars“, εκδ. Spellmount Ltd., Stroud, 2003.

[12] Stites, Richard, “The Four Horsemen: Riding to Liberty in Post-Napoleonic Europe“, εκδ. Oxford University Press, Λονδίνο, 2014.

[13] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[14] Φορνέζης, Ερρίκος, “Οι Φιλέλληνες”, εκδ. περ. “Εβδομάς”, Αθήνα, 1884, σελ. 125.

[15] Πρασσά, Αννίτα, “Ο Φιλελληνισμός και η Επανάσταση του 1821”, εκδ. Δημιουργία, Αθήνα, 1999.

[16] Ξάνθος, Εμμανουήλ, “Απομνημονεύματα περί της Φιλικής Εταιρείας”, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 1996, σελ. 168.

[17] Persat, Maurice, “Memoires du Commandant Persat, 1806 à 1844”, εκδ. Librairie Plon, Παρίσι, 1910, σελ. 87-88.

[18] Nada, Narciso, “La Partecipazione degli Italiani alla Guerra di Indipendenza Ellenica. Risorgimento Greco e Filellenismo Italiano: Lotte, cultura, arte”, εκδ. Edizioni del Sole, Ρώμη, 1986, σελ. 89.

[19] Συλλογικό, “Italy on the Rimland. Storia Militare di una Penisola Eurasiatica“, εκδ. Società Italiana di Storia Militare, Ρώμη, 2019, 1ος τόμος, σελ. 143.

[20] “Τα Αρχεία της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας”, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 1857, α’ τόμος, σελ. 272.

[21] Διεύθυνση Ιστορίας Στρατού, “Η ιστορία του Ελληνικού Στρατού”, εκδ. Γενικό Επιτελείο Στρατού, Αθήνα, 1997.

[22] “Ιστορικόν Αρχείον Αλεξάνδρου Μαυροκορδάτου”, επιμ. Εμμ. Πρωτοψάλτης, Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους, Αθήνα, τόμος 1, φακ. 197, σελ. 254.

[23] Κουτσονίκας, Λάμπρος, “Γενική Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, εκδ. Δ. Καρακατζάνη, Αθήνα, 1863, δ’ τόμος, σελ. 177.

[24] Βυζάντιος Χρήστος, “Ιστορία των κατά την Ελληνικήν Επανάστασιν εκστρατειών και μαχών και των μετά ταύτα συμβάντων, ων συμμετέσχεν ο Τακτικός Στρατός, από του 1821 μέχρι του 1833”, εκδ. Κ. Αντωνιάδου, Αθήνα, 1874, σελ. 203.

[25] Συλλογικό, “Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους”, εκδ. Εκδοτική Αθηνών, Αθήνα, 2000, 12ος τόμος, σ. 232.

[26] “Ιστορικόν Αρχείον Αλεξάνδρου Μαυροκορδάτου”, επιμ. Εμμ. Πρωτοψάλτης, Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους, Αθήνα, τόμος 2, φακ. 548, σελ. 135.

[27] Φωτιάδης, Δημήτρης, “Η Επανάσταση του ’21”, εκδ. Μέλισσα, Αθήνα, 1971, β’ τόμος, σελ. 211.

[28] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[29] Woodhouse, Christopher Montague, “The Philhellenes”, εκδ. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison 1971.

[30] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[31] Κολοκοτρώνης, Γενναίος, “Απομνημονεύματα”, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 2006.

[32] Voutier, Olivier, “Απομνημονεύματα του συνταγματάρχη Olivier Voutier από τον πόλεμο των Ελλήνων”, μετ. Ειρήνη Τζουρά, επιμ. Παναγιώτα Παναρίτη, εκδ. Εθνικό Ιστορικό Μουσείο, Αθήνα, 2019.

[33] Περραιβός, Χριστόφορος, “Πολεμικά Απομνημονεύματα. Μάχες του Σουλίου και της Ανατολικής Ελλάδας 1820 -1829”, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 2003, σελ. 160.

[34] St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still be Free: The Philhellenes in the War of Independence”, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008, σελ. 277.

[35] Κουτσονίκας, Λάμπρος, “Γενική Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, εκδ. Δ. Καρακατζάνη, Αθήνα, 1863, δ’ τόμος,σελ. 178.

[36] St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still be Free: The Philhellenes in the War of Independence”, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008.

[37] Gridley Howe, Samuel, “An Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution”, εκδ. White, Gallaher & White, Νέα Υόρκη, 1828, σελ.

[38] Fassino, Pier Giorgio, “Andrea Dania”, εκδ. περ.”Accademia Urbense”, Ovada, Σεπτέμβριος 2006, σελ. 188.

[39] Τράιμπερ, Ερρίκος, “Αναμνήσεις από την Ελλάδα 1822- 1828”, επιμ. δρ. Χρήστος Ν. Αποστολίδης, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1960, σελ. 136.

[40] Raybaud Maxime, “Mémoires sur la Grèce pour servir à l’histoire de la guerre de l’Indépendance, accompagnés de plans topographiques, avec une introduction historique par Alph. Rabbe”, εκδ. Tournachon-Molin Libraire, Παρίσι, 1824, τόμος 1.

[41] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[42] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

Bibliography – Sources

Συλλογικό, “Tarella, Pietro“, εκδ. Α Spese Degli Editori, Φλωρεντία, 1853

Miller, E.J., “The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy“, εκδ. περ. “The British Museum Quarterly “, Λονδίνο, 1967, τεύχος 31.

Gregory, Desmond, “Napoleon’s Italy“, εκδ. Associated University Presses, Plainsboro, 2001.

Elting, John R., “Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon’s Grand Armee“, εκδ. Free Press, Νέα Υόρκη, 1988.

Horward, Donald D., “Napoleonic military history: a bibliography“, εκδ. Garland Publishing, Νέα Υόρκη, 1986.

Gates, David, “The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War“, εκδ. Pimlico, Λονδίνο, 2002.

Smith, Digby, “The Napoleonic Wars Data Book“, εκδ. Greenhill, Λονδίνο, 1998.

Φορνέζης, Ερρίκος, “Οι Φιλέλληνες“, εκδ. περ. “Εβδομάς“, Αθήνα, 1884.

Chandler, David G., “The Campaigns of Napoleon. The mind and method of history’s greatest soldier“, εκδ. Simon and Schuster, Νέα Υόρκη, 2009.

Uffindell, Andrew, “Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars“, εκδ. Spellmount Ltd., Stroud, 2003.

Stites, Richard, “The Four Horsemen: Riding to Liberty in Post-Napoleonic Europe“, εκδ. Oxford University Press, Λονδίνο, 2014.

Πρασσά, Αννίτα, “Ο Φιλελληνισμός και η Επανάσταση του 1821“, εκδ. Δημιουργία, Αθήνα, 1999.

Ξάνθος, Εμμανουήλ, “Απομνημονεύματα περί της Φιλικής Εταιρείας“, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 1996.

Persat, Maurice, “Memoires du Commandant Persat. 1806 à 1844“, εκδ. Librairie Plon, Παρίσι, 1910.

Nada, Narciso, “La Partecipazione degli Italiani alla Guerra di Indipendenza Ellenica. Risorgimento Greco e Filellenismo Italiano: Lotte, cultura, arte“, εκδ. Edizioni del Sole, Ρώμη, 1986.

Συλλογικό, “Italy on the Rimland. Storia Militare di una Penisola Eurasiatica“, εκδ. Società Italiana di Storia Militare, Ρώμη, 2019, 1ος τόμος.

“Τα Αρχεία της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας“, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 1857, α’ τόμος.

Διεύθυνση Ιστορίας Στρατού, “Η ιστορία του Ελληνικού Στρατού“, εκδ. Γενικό Επιτελείο Στρατού, Αθήνα, 1997.

“Ιστορικόν Αρχείον Αλεξάνδρου Μαυροκορδάτου“, επιμ. Εμμ. Πρωτοψάλτης, Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους, Αθήνα, τόμος 1.

St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still be Free: The Philhellenes in the War of Independence“, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008.

Voutier, Olivier, “Απομνημονεύματα του συνταγματάρχη Olivier Voutier από τον πόλεμο των Ελλήνων“, μετ. Ειρήνη Τζουρά, επιμ. Παναγιώτα Παναρίτη, εκδ. Εθνικό Ιστορικό Μουσείο, Αθήνα, 2019.

Κολοκοτρώνης, Γενναίος, “Απομνημονεύματα“, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 2006.

Περραιβός, Χριστόφορος, “Πολεμικά Απομνημονεύματα. Μάχες του Σουλίου και της Ανατολικής Ελλάδας 1820 -1829“, εκδ. Βεργίνα, Αθήνα, 2003.

Συλλογικό, “Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους“, εκδ. Εκδοτική Αθηνών, Αθήνα, 2000, 12ος τόμος.

Κουτσονίκας, Λάμπρος, “Γενική Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως“, εκδ. Δ. Καρακατζάνη, Αθήνα, 1863, δ’ τόμος.

Fassino, Pier Giorgio, “Andrea Dania“, εκδ. περ. “Accademia Urbense“, Ovada, Σεπτέμβριος 2006.

Gridley Howe, Samuel, “An Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution“, εκδ. White, Gallaher & White, Νέα Υόρκη, 1828.

Raybaud Maxime, “Mémoires sur la Grèce pour servir à l’histoire de la guerre de l’Indépendance, accompagnés de plans topographiques, avec une introduction historique par Alph. Rabbe“, εκδ. Tournachon-Molin Libraire, Παρίσι, 1824, τόμος 1.

“Ιστορικόν Αρχείον Αλεξάνδρου Μαυροκορδάτου“, επιμ. Εμμ. Πρωτοψάλτης, Γενικά Αρχεία του Κράτους, Αθήνα, τόμος 2.

Βυζάντιος Χρήστος, “Ιστορία των κατά την Ελλην. Επανάστασιν εκστρατειών και μαχών και των μετά ταύτα συμβάντων, ων συμμετέσχεν ο Τακτικός Στρατός, από του 1821 μέχρι του 1833“, εκδ. Κ. Αντωνιάδου, Αθήνα, 1874.

Φωτιάδης, Δημήτρης, “Η Επανάσταση του ’21“, εκδ. Μέλισσα, Αθήνα, 1971, β’ τόμος.

Woodhouse, Christopher Montague, “The Philhellenes“, εκδ. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison 1971.

Τράιμπερ, Ερρίκος, “Αναμνήσεις από την Ελλάδα 1822- 1828“, επιμ. δρ. Χρήστος Ν. Αποστολίδης, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1960.

George Finlay (1799-1875), was a British Philhellene who fought in Greece during the Greek Revolution, an important historian and lawyer.

He was born in Faversham, Kent, to Scottish parents. George Finlay’s father, John Finlay was an officer in the British Army with the rank of Captain in the Corps of Engineers. Among other things, he was an inspector of the local state gunpowder factory[1].

Finlay had a difficult childhood, as in 1802, at the age of just 3, he became fatherless[2]. So he moved to Glasgow with his mother, where they came under the protection of his uncle, Kirkman Finlay (1773-1842), a businessman and politician[3].

Finlay’s love of history, especially of antiquity, began in childhood and under the influence of his mother[4]. It is perhaps there, that the foundations of his later Philhellenism were laid, which professed with his participation in the Greek Revolution of 1821 and with his permanent settlement in Athens, after the liberation of Greece.

Between 1815 and 1819, Finlay studied law at the University of Glasgow, where he received his academic degree[5]. Then in 1821, he enrolled in Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Saxony for postgraduate studies in Roman law. It is during his stay there that learned about the Greek Revolution, embracing immediately its messages, since in addition to his adoration of history, he had already been influenced by the poetry and work of Lord Byron[6].

As a result, on January 1823 he decided to abandon his studies in Göttingen and he returned to Great Britain[7]. Although he did not become a member of the Philhellenic Committee of London, which was founded on 28 February 1823, he was closely associated with Lord Byron, who was one of its founding members[8].

His personal friendship with Byron, his love for history and the constitutive Philhellenism that Finlay possessed, led him in October 1823, to his decision to go to Greece. Thus, in November 1823, he arrived at Cephalonia, which was under British rule. There he was greeted by Lord Byron, who was hosted at the house of Count Deladetsimas, a friend of Alexander Mavrokordatos and sponsor of the Messolonghi guard[9].

Then, in December 1823, Finlay settled in the Tower of Ilia, where he was taking notes on the events of the Greek war of independence, while in parallel he was learning the Greek language and studying history and antiquities[10].However, due to the humid climate of the area, in October 1824 he ailed of ague. In order to recover, he went to Rome in November 1824, and remained there until February 1825[11].

From February to May 1825, he resided in Naples and Sicily, where he fully recovered[12]. In June 1825, he returned to Great Britain and settled in Toward Castle in Argyllshire, which belonged to the family of his uncle, Kirkman Finlay[13]. There, he devoted himself to study, with the aim of completing his postgraduate studies at the University of Edinburgh[14].

Finally, in the winter of 1825, he received his master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh[15]. Hereupon, he took part in philhellenic actions. Among other things, he wrote pamphlets informing the British public about the situation in Greece[16].

During the second period of his Philhellenic activity, Finlay was closely associated from April 1826, with the emblematic Philhellenic and National Benefactor of Greece, Captain Frank Abney Hastings. During this period, Hastings had bought in his name, on behalf of the Greek government, the steamship ship “Karteria”. The first steam-powered warship of the Greek Fleet, which was built and equipped at the “Greenland Dock” shipyards in London. The ship was purchased in the name of Hastings for diplomatic reasons. Indeed, it was not possible at this time for a Revolutionary (and therefore technically illegal) government to officially buy a warship that would be used against a recognized country. In fact, Hastings allocated a large part of his personal fortune to equip ‘’Karteria’’ with weaponry that he had designed[17]. Finlay followed these initiatives with Hastings.

At the same time, through Hastings, Finlay came in contact with Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, later commander of the Greek Navy. Cochrane was a legend at the time because of his military and political action during the Napoleonic Wars, as well as his contribution to the liberation of South American countries from Spanish and Portuguese rule in the period 1818-1824, and the prospect of his involvement in the Greek Revolution opened new perspectives for the struggle of the Greeks[18].

Finlay’s friendship with Hastings, his proven philhellenism, but also his experience of Greek life, contributed to his appointment as Hastings’ secretary. From this position, he took part in the majority of naval operations and battles of the period 1826 – 1827.

In July 1826, when “Karteria” had sailed to Cagliari, Sardinia, and encountered mechanical problems, Finlay (on Hastings’ orders) hurried back to London to recruit engineers and buy spare parts[19].

This important mission was successfully completed, the mechanical damage was repaired, and the “Karteria” arrived in Nafplio, at the beginning of September 1826. There this emblematic ship was enthusiastically received by the Greeks, and Hastings handed it over officially to the Greek Administration officially[20].

A few days later, the Greek flag was raised at “Karteria”, and the second period of Finlay’s action in Greece began, who was now serving as a member of the crew of the emblematic boat.

On February 5, 1827, he participated in the operations to support the landing in Piraeus of the Greek Forces under the important British Philhellene general Thomas Gordon, as well as in the bombing of St. Spyridon. With this operation, 3 of the 5 large caliber cannons, which had been installed there by the Turks, causing losses to the Greek forces, were destroyed[21].

In March 1827, Finlay took part in the siege of Eretria and in the operations in Oropos, led by the important Bavarian Philhellene, General Karl Wilhelm von Heideck, later a member of King Otto’s Regency[22]. This operation aimed at destroying the supply lines of the Turkish troops besieging the Acropolis of Athens. The strategic goal was the expulsion of the Turks from Attica and the end of the siege of the Acropolis[23].

In this operation, the “Karteria” captured two rival cargo ships, which had arrived from Evia, in order to assist the Turks. He then anchored 200 meters from the shore and with continuous fire, he neutralized the Turkish fort and blew up its gunpowder depot[24]. After that, he sailed to Aegina, as enemy reinforcements had arrived in the area[25].

On April 8, 1827, Finlay took part in the bombing of Volos, which was the most important supply center in Thessaly. The shipments of men and ammunition from Constantinople and Thessaloniki ended there, before they penetrated to Central Greece [26]. “Karteria” fired 300 shells, in an operation that lasted 4 hours and resulted in the destruction of the Ottoman gunpowder depots and fortifications, as well as the sinking of most Turkish ships[27]. On the way back, Karteria captured 4 cargo ships, which were sent to support the Turks[28].

From May to September 1827, Finlay took part (always as a member of the crew of Karteria) in all the naval operations that contributed to the success of the Greek Revolution, in conjunction with the Treaty of London signed on July 6, 1827. In particular, he distinguished himself in the Battle of Itea, on September 30, 1827, where the “Karteria” sank the Turkish flagship and destroyed 9 of the 11 Turkish ships stationed there. Also, after the naval battle, three large carriers and their cargos were confiscated[29]. In this naval battle, the Greek side introduced many innovations in the field of naval operations, with the use of a steam-powered warship and new artillery techniques, which were the subject of international research[30].

The Battle of Itea, finally convinced the Greeks to abandon the tactic of building a fleet by leasing private ships and to create an entirely government owned navy that would be under state supervision. Those who have rented their ships to the state up to that time, received certificates for their offer[31].

After the Battle of Itea, Finlay retired to Poros for health reasons and was replaced by the Georgios Economides, who was officially appointed interim secretary of Hastings by Ioannis Kapodistrias, as soon as he took office as Governor of Greece on the 18th of January 1828, in order to facilitate Hastings in his work to create the National Fleet[32].

During this time, Finlay continues to correspond with Hastings. This great British Philhellene died on June 1, 1828, further to his fatal injury during the attempt to land to Aetoliko, with the aim of liberating Missolonghi. When this became known, Kapodistrias informed Finlay, and Hastings close Greek friend Nikolaos Kallergis, with the following letter: “Captain Hastings is no more. The fatal wound he received, while giving new examples of his devotion to Greece under the walls of Aetoliko, took him away from us on June 1st”.

After praising Hastings’ services, he underlines the duty of the Greeks in memory of the “brave defender of our independence who suffered that fatal wound for us, he was a good man, a soldier and a brave sailor. A military and naval funeral belongs to him par excellence”.

At Hastings’ funeral, which took place in Aegina on June 13, 1828, Finlay, the Secretary of the Navy, Alexandros Mavrokordatos, and Nikolaos Kallergis, had the general command. Recalling Hastings’s funeral years later, Finlay wrote: “Never have foreigners perhaps lamented a more sincere and profound manly stranger for his untimely demise. When the numerous Greek sailors who served from time to time learned of his death at his command, they immediately raised a large sum of money and executed a memorial service in the Diocese of Aegina through the Greek clergy after every procession and line-up there during these turbulent times“[33]. He concludes, as follows: “what the Greek fleet could become if Captain Hastings lived only those who knew him and saw what measures he took to recruit naval officers can imagine”[34].

After Hastings’s funeral, Finlay settled permanently in Athens. There, he bought and renovated in 1835, an old building which was built during the Turkish occupation, on Kekropos Street in Plaka. At the same time, he bought the Liosati estate in Afidnes, in order to apply the new European cultivation methods. However, this vision failed and he was forced to sell this land to General and later Minister Scarlatos Soutzos, a descendant of a significant Phanariote family of the Greek Revolution[35].

When his attempt to renew the cultivation systems failed, Finlay turned to writing essays on the social, political and economic situation of Greece. Thus in 1836 he wrote the essays “The Hellenic Kingdom and the Greek Nation” and “Essai sur les principes de banque appliques a l’état actuel de la Grèce“, which show his insight and sharpness. In fact, in his works he connects the economy with society, which was a new method at that time for scientific research[36].

In 1838 he was named a member of the American Archaeological Society, while in 1839, he was honored by King Othon with the Silver Cross of the Order of the Redeemer and the Bronze Award of the Greek War of Independence, in recognition of his services during the Greek Revolution[37].

From 1844, he dedicated himself to his important historical work, in which he was a pioneer, as he was the first historian in Greece, who understood the dynamics of the society for the conduct and evolution of history. The first fruit of this work is his book “Greece under the Romans: a historical view of the condition of the Greek Nation“, which was published in Edinburgh in 1844[38]. Then, from 1846 to 1847, he traveled to the Holy Land, for the purpose of field research, which would bring greater objectivity to his work. This trip resulted in the writing of the book “On the Site of the Holy Sepulcher“, which explained in detail the situation prevailing in the Near East and contained a topographic plan of Jerusalem[39]. Also, after this trip, he published “The History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 716-1453“, in 1854[40].

Finlay, in recognition of his work and contribution to the Hellenic Movement, was honored in 1854 with the title of Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Edinburgh. In the period 1856 – 1861, despite the fact that his health was shaken by the adventures of the National Uprising, he completed his scientific work with the books “History of Greece under the Ottoman and Venetian Domination“, “History of Greece From its Conquest by the Crusaders to its Conquest by the Turks” and “History of the Greek Revolution”[41].

The last book, which is the epitome of Finlay’s work, is particularly important, on the one hand because it was written by an internationally renowned historian, and on the other hand, because it combines primary experience with continuous, on-site research and study[42]. In fact, until the end of his life, he revised it many times, seeking the utmost objectivity.

His book was translated into Greek by Alexandros Papadiamantis in 1908 and was published only in 2008 by the Greek Parliament[43].

Finlay’s last intervention in Greek and European public life was as a correspondent for the ‘’Times’’ of London from 1864 to 1870, when he retired spending the rest of his life in private[44].

George Finlay passed away in Athens on January 26, 1875. His tomb is in the First Cemetery of Athens.

The Greeks and SHP express their gratitude to the great Philhellene George Finlay, who fought for the Greek rights and who, through innovative methods in historical research, opened new paths in historical science and through it in culture.

References

[1] Chisholm, Hugh, “Finlay, George”, εκδ. Cambridge University Press, Λονδίνο, 1911, εγκ. “Encyclopædia Britannica”, 10ος τόμος.

[2] Cousin, John William, “A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature”, εκδ. J. M. Dent & Sons, Λονδίνο, 1910.

[3] Συλλογικό, “Dictionary of National Biography”, εκδ. Smith, Elder & Co, Λονδίνο, 1889, τόμος 19.

[4] Cousin, John William, “A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature”, εκδ. J. M. Dent & Sons, Λονδίνο, 1910.

[5] Συλλογικό, “Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Δομή”, εκδ. Δομή, Αθήνα, 2005, τόμος 30, σελ. 81.

[6] St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still Be Free. The Philhellenes in the War of Independence”, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008, σελ. 176.

[7] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[8] Moore, Thomas, “Letters and Journals of Lord Byron with Notices of His Life”, εκδ. J. & J. Harper, Νέα Υόρκη, 1831, β’ τόμος.

[9] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[10] Συλλογικό, “Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Δομή”, εκδ. Δομή, Αθήνα, 2005, τόμος 30, σελ. 81.

[11] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[12] Woodhouse, Christopher Montague, ”The Philhellenes”, εκδ. Hodder and Stoughton, Λονδίνο, 1969.

[13] Συλλογικό, “ Dictionary of National Biography”, εκδ. Smith, Elder & Co, Λονδίνο, 1889, τόμος 19.

[14] Chisholm, Hugh, “Finlay, George”, εκδ. Cambridge University Press, Λονδίνο, 1911, εγκ. “Encyclopædia Britannica”, 10ος τόμος.

[15] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[16] “Αρχείο George Finlay” (ανέκδοτο), φακ. εγγρ. 1826, Βρετανική Σχολή Αθηνών.

[17] Woodhouse, Christopher Montague, ”The Philhellenes”, εκδ. Hodder and Stoughton, Λονδίνο, 1969.

[18] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[19] Abney-Hastings, Maurice, “Commander of the Karteria. Honored in Greece. Unknown at home”, εκδ. Authorhouse, Bloomington, 2011.

[20] Ράδος, Κωνσταντίνος, “Ο Άστιγξ και το έργον του εν Ελλάδι”, εκδ. περ. “Ναυτική Επιθεώρησις”, Αθήνα, 1928.

[21] Gordon, Thomas, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, εκδ. ΜΙΕΤ , Αθήνα, 2015, β’ τόμος.

[22] Seewald, Berthold, “Karl Wilhelm Von Heideck: Ein Bayerischer General Im Befreiten Griechenland (1826-1835)”, εκδ. De Gruyter, Ολδεμβούργο, 1994.

[23] Roberts, Elisabeth, “Freedom, Faction, Fame and Blood: British Soldiers of Conscience in Greece, Spain and Finland”, εκδ. Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 2010.

[24] Τράϊμπερ, Ερρίκος, “Αναμνήσεις από την Ελλάδα 1822-1828”, μτφρ.-επιμ. Δρ. Χρήστος Ν. Αποστολίδης, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1960.

[25] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[26] Παπασωτηρίου, Χαράλαμπος, ”Ο αγώνας για την ελληνική ανεξαρτησία. Πολιτική και στρατηγική των Ελλήνων και της οθωμανικής αυτοκρατορίας 1821-1832”, εκδ. Ι. Σιδέρης, Αθήνα, 1996.

[27] Κόκκινος, Διονύσιος, “Η Ελληνική Επανάστασις”, εκδ. Μέλισσα, Αθήνα, 1974, 6ος τόμος.

[28] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[29] Ρούσκας, Ιωάννης, “Ο Άστιγξ και η Καρτερία”, εκδ. περ. “Ιστορικά Θέματα”, Αθήνα, Φεβρουάριος 2007, τεύχος 59.

[30] Brewer, David, ”The Greek War of Independence. The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation”, εκδ. The Overlook Press, Νέα Υόρκη, 2001.

[31] Οικονόμου, Μιχαήλ , “Ιστορικά της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας ή ο ιερός των Ελλήνων αγών” εκδ. Θ. Παπαλεξανδρή, Αθήνα, 1873.

[32] Finlay, George, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, μτφρ. Παπαδιαμάντης, Αλέξανδρος, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2008, α’ τόμος, σελ. 218.

[33] Finlay, George, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, μτφρ. Παπαδιαμάντης, Αλέξανδρος, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2008, β’ τόμος.

[34] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[35] Σούτζος, Δημήτρης Σκαρλάτου, “Έλληνες Ενωμένοι και Διχασμένοι”, εκδ. Νέα Θέσις, Αθήνα, 1992.

[36] Chisholm, Hugh, “Finlay, George”, εκδ. Cambridge University Press, Λονδίνο, 1911, εγκ. “Encyclopædia Britannica”, 10ος τόμος.

[37] Μαρκεζίνης, Σπύρος, «Πολιτική Ιστορία της Νεωτέρας Ελλάδος 1828-1964», εκδ. Πάπυρος, Αθήνα, 1966, α’ τόμος.

[38] Finlay, George,” Greece under the Romans: a historical view of the condition of the Greek Nation”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1850.

[39] Finlay, George, “On the Site of the Holy Sepulchre”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1848.

[40] Finlay, George, “The History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 716-1453”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1856.

[41] Cousin, John William, “A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature”, εκδ. J. M. Dent & Sons, Λονδίνο, 1910.

[42] Βλ. στο ίδιο.

[43] Finlay, George, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, μτφρ. Παπαδιαμάντης, Αλέξανδρος, εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2008, α’ τόμος.

[44] Μαρκεζίνης, Σπύρος, «Πολιτική Ιστορία της Νεωτέρας Ελλάδος 1828-1964», εκδ. Πάπυρος, Αθήνα, 1966, α’ τόμος.

Bibliography – Sources

Cousin, John William, “A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature”, εκδ. J. M. Dent & Sons, Λονδίνο, 1910.

Μαρκεζίνης, Σπύρος, «Πολιτική Ιστορία της Νεωτέρας Ελλάδος 1828-1964», εκδ. Πάπυρος, Αθήνα, 1966, α’ τόμος.

Chisholm, Hugh, “Finlay, George”, εκδ. Cambridge University Press, Λονδίνο, 1911, εγκ. “Encyclopædia Britannica”, 10ος τόμος.

Σούτζος, Δημήτρης Σκαρλάτου, “Έλληνες Ενωμένοι και Διχασμένοι”, εκδ. Νέα Θέσις, Αθήνα, 1992.

Finlay, George, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, μτφρ. Παπαδιαμάντης, Αλέξανδρος , εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2008, α’ τόμος.

Finlay, George, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, μτφρ. Παπαδιαμάντης, Αλέξανδρος , εκδ. Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Αθήνα, 2008, β’ τόμος.

Καποδίστριας, Ιωάννης, ”Αρχείον Ιωάννου Καποδίστρια”, εκδ. Εταιρείας Κερκυραϊκών Σπουδών, Κέρκυρα, 1985, 6ος τόμος.

Οικονόμου, Μιχαήλ, “Ιστορικά της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας ή ο ιερός των Ελλήνων αγών” εκδ. Θ. Παπαλεξανδρή, Αθήνα, 1873.

Brewer, David, ”The Greek War of Independence. The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation”, εκδ. The Overlook Press, Νέα Υόρκη, 2001.

Παπασωτηρίου, Χαράλαμπος, ”Ο αγώνας για την ελληνική ανεξαρτησία. Πολιτική και στρατηγική των Ελλήνων και της οθωμανικής αυτοκρατορίας 1821-1832”, εκδ. Ι. Σιδέρης, Αθήνα, 1996.

Seewald, Berthold, “Karl Wilhelm Von Heideck: Ein Bayerischer General Im Befreiten Griechenland (1826-1835)”, εκδ. De Gruyter, Ολδεμβούργο, 1994.

Ράδος, Κωνσταντίνος, «Ο Άστιγξ και το έργον του εν Ελλάδι», εκδ. περ. “Ναυτική Επιθεώρησις”, Αθήνα, 1928.

Abney-Hastings, Maurice, “Commander of the Karteria. Honored in Greece. Unknown at home”, εκδ. Authorhouse, Bloomington, 2011.

Woodhouse, Christopher Montague, ”The Philhellenes”, εκδ. Hodder and Stoughton, Λονδίνο, 1969.

Συλλογικό, “Dictionary of National Biography”, εκδ. Smith, Elder & Co, Λονδίνο, 1889, τόμος

Συλλογικό, “Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Δομή”, εκδ. Δομή, Αθήνα, 2005, τόμος 30.

St Clair, William, “That Greece Might Still Be Free. The Philhellenes in the War of Independence”, εκδ. Open Books, Λονδίνο, 2008.

Moore, Thomas, “Letters and Journals of Lord Byron with Notices of His Life”, εκδ. & J. Harper, Νέα Υόρκη, 1831, β’ τόμος.

Κόκκινος, Διονύσιος, “Η Ελληνική Επανάστασις”, εκδ. Μέλισσα, Αθήνα, 1974, 6ος τόμος.

Finlay, George,” Greece under the Romans: a historical view of the condition of the Greek Nation”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1850.

Finlay, George, “The History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 716-1453”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1856.

Finlay, George, “On the Site of the Holy Sepulchre”, εκδ. William Blackwood & Sons, Εδιμβούργο, 1848.

Ρούσκας, Ιωάννης, “Ο Άστιγξ και η Καρτερία”, εκδ. περ. “Ιστορικά Θέματα”, Αθήνα, Φεβρουάριος 2007, τεύχος 59.

Τράϊμπερ, Ερρίκος, “Αναμνήσεις από την Ελλάδα 1822-1828”, μτφρ.-επιμ. Δρ. Χρήστος Ν. Αποστολίδης, ιδ. εκδ., Αθήνα, 1960.

Roberts, Elisabeth, “Freedom, Faction, Fame and Blood: British Soldiers of Conscience in Greece, Spain and Finland”, εκδ. Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 2010.

“Αρχείο George Finlay” (ανέκδοτο), φακ. εγγρ. 1826, Βρετανική Σχολή Αθηνών.

Gordon, Thomas, “Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως”, εκδ. ΜΙΕΤ , Αθήνα, 2015, β’ τόμος.

“Oh sadness! Oh sadness! The miracle of Europe,

the pride of Great Britain,

the idol of his friends, the savior of Greece –

Lord Byron no longer exists ”

(Byron‘s death announcement in the newspaper Telegrafo Greco from Messolonghi)

George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron (London 1788 – Messolonghi 1824). His name is synonymous with Philhellenism. His death in Messolonghi, on April 19, 1824, caused an international shock, led “the whole universe to darken”, paraphrasing the words of the then fifteen-year-old poet Alfred Tennyson. Ironically, the “heroic failure” of his death, resulted in his greatest contribution to the Greek Struggle, which he supported mentally, materially, politically, diplomatically and artistically. The tragic loss of the “pop star” Byron (an object of worship and envy in Great Britain), of the adored “Milord” in Messolonghi, spotlighted the Greek Struggle yet again, revived the philhellenic movement internationally and set a series of actions in motion, which resulted in the founding of the modern Greek state. In this way, Byron became a national hero of another country, not of his own. “I gave [Greece] my time, my health, my property, and now I give my life. What could I do more?”, he wondered, sensing his end approaching.

“Angel or demon”, according to the French poet, Alphonse de Lamartine, a personality that united contradicting tendencies: he was a romantic revolutionary and a political realist, an idealist and an adventurist, a “victimizer” in love and a victim of love, a brave man who was born with a physical disability, but gained the status of an athlete. Numerous publications and biographies of Byron have so far failed to completely decipher this enigmatic figure, who continues to attract heterogeneous crowds around him, even almost two hundred years after his passing. His legendary life made him a role model for the greatest names of art and intellect in his time: every soul that felt suffocated in the traditional establishment wanted to look like him. His 39-year-old elder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), considered him to be his spiritual descendant. “What words should I trust to the one with the stormy soul, to the one who knows how to face the blows of Fate? […] And as I imagined him, let him be in fact!”: Goethe farewelled Byron with these tender words for his transition to Greece, the “noble struggle he has undertaken”, although they never met. When the poet lost his life for this fight, the whole city of Messolonghi cried for him: from the youngest child, to the toughest warrior.

He was the most famous Briton, not only of the 19th century, but of all time. In 1823, he was also the most famous man on earth. According to Spyridon Trikoupis, he was the man who gave his name to the 19th century. “I woke up one day and I was famous“, it is said that he expressed with some kind of casualness, one day after the rapid success of the publication of his most famous work, Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage (1812). Did this destiny surprise him or had he already felt its voice echoing inside him? Maybe the poet wished to be at the forefront of action or celebrity, in some way. After all, he had showed his tendencies, from a young age, towards scandal, sin, or rebellion. Not without any cost, of course. He was a Calvinist, yet he angrily strived to “penetrate the wall of the ultimate destination“. Was the expectation of (self) punishment pending for everything that he so indecently dared? And in that way he became, as he indirectly confesses in one of his verses from the poem Epistle to Augusta (1816), “the careful navigator of my (his) own misery“?

The Byronic hero of his poems, the “hypersensitive, cynical, lonely, honest, melancholic” type, with whom the poet identified, drew his origin from the experiences of his youth. As a child, he happily recollected the glory of his ancestors: the Burons (an older spelling of his name), a family descending from the Normans, were William the Conqueror’s companions (1027-1087, King of England from 1066). Byron’s immediate predecessor in the title of lord was the “evil lord”, his grandfather’s brother (the 5th lord Byron), who bequeathed the ownership of the tower of Newstead Abbey to the ten-year-old George Byron. Aside from the honor of services to the royal crown, this title carried the dishonor of some crimes. Byron, who had already experienced the guilt and loneliness of a “dissenter” – due to his congenital malformation in one of his legs- was fascinated by the figure of his predecessor. His mother’s criticism of his disability, and his parents’ poor marriage, were both factors that shaped Byron’s sense of non-belonging and his tendency to flee.

His mother, Catherine Gordon of Gight, descended from an old Scottish, noble family, with a well-known violent prehistory, and her father probably committed suicide. She married Captain John Byron in 1785, Mad Jack, as his fellow officers called him, whose sole purpose in life was to celebrate and have fun. He squandered Catherine’s fortune, as he had previously done with his ex-wife and mother of Byron’s half-sister, Augusta – Mary Byron. The pregnant Catherine abandoned him, gave birth to her son, George Gordon Byron in London (22 January 1788) and settled with him in Aberdeen. The father was absent, and made brief reappearances. He died, ironically, at the age of 36 in a foreign country (France), as it would happen to his son 23 years later in Greece.

Byron, however, defended his “rascal” father. Their common feature was the tendency to enter into dangerous or inappropriate relationships. Young Byron’s “greatest sin” was his relationship with his half-sister Augusta, a secret kept by his later friend, John Cam Hobhouse (1786 – 1869). Given the difficult relationship he had with his mother, Augusta had probably been the only female in his family who could offer him love and protection. Despite his mother’s insistence on referring to her glorious relatives, the boy grew up in unfavorable conditions. Did a nostalgia for some glorious past develop in him during those years? A nostalgia which would later make him sympathize with the enslaved descendants of ancient Greeks?

During his years at Trinity College, Cambridge University (1805-1807), he evolved from a “colorless” young man, to a poet of ever-increasing fame. He had now a thin figure, due to his physical training (boxing, swimming, etc.). He gradually formed a circle of loyal friends around him. Friendship for Byron has always been a priority over love, and he believed that the feelings of love and friendship cannot coincide for one person. Upon the loss of his mother, he remarkably exclaimed that he “lost the only friend he had”. Her death in 1811 crushed him, although in one of his letters to Augusta he refers to her as his “tormentor”. During his youth he developed various romantic relationships with boys. One of them was with John Edleston in Cambridge, whose loss he would mourn in 1811. This socially maladapted young man had already acquired the air of an “aristocratic guerrilla”, according to Bertrand Russell. He spent more money than he had, loved a good life and felt a “secret connection” with Napoleon Bonaparte, his country’s enemy, the only man alive who bore the same initials as him (“NB”: Byron acquired the name Noel, when his mother-in-law, Lady Judith Noel Milbanke, died in 1822. In Messolonghi he was addressed as “Lord Noel Byron”).

He burned his first poems (“Fugitive Pieces”, late 1806 / early 1807) because they were described as “obscene”, and distributed his second collection of poems (“Poems on various occasions”) only to friends. He chose a rather “understating” title for his third collection of poems expressing real pain, “Hours of Idleness” (1807), but was not spared the arrows of Francis Jeffrey (1773 – 1850), publisher of the Edinburgh Review, a Whigs journal in Scotland. The frustration shocked him, but also inspired him to write a thousand satirical lyrics under the title English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.He became famous by publishing this satire anonymously, targeting not only Jeffrey, but his later friend and biographer, Thomas Moore, as well. Moore felt insulted by Byron’s satire. The misunderstanding was however resolved after Samuel Rogers’ intervention (1763 -1855), who acted as a catalyst for the birth of a long-standing friendship between Byron and Moore. Moore later tried to make up for the loss of Byron’s Memoirs, which the poet had entrusted to him in 1819, in order to publish them after his death. Byron’s inner circle had destroyed these writings in order to preserve his memory, and Moore decided to write a biography of his friend in order to fill the void left by the loss of the original memoirs.

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

The importance of Byron as a poet is somehow often overlooked, as more emphasis is being put on his turbulent life. It suffices to say, that his first literary success, Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage, was the first best seller in the USA, even in 1828. A remarkable fact, considering that Byron was an English writer, and it had not been a long time since the United States gained their independence. The second best seller of that year belonged to the American Philhellene Samuel Howe for his work An Historical Sketch of the Greek Revolution. Also remarkable is the fact that Byron had almost a new publishing success every year. His brilliance as a poet could be compared to that of William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

The unique movement called Byronism, interacted with Romanticism and Liberalism and revived the whole Philhellenic Movement. The Byronic hero in Literature defined European thought and creation. Top representatives of this movement are, among others, Alexander Pushkin (1799 – 1837) and Mikhail Lermontov (1814 – 1841). It also defined Greek Literature, reaching its peak during the 1860s. As the national poet of Greece, Kostis Palamas (1859 – 1943), once put it, Greek poetry “had dived into Byronism for a period of over forty years”.

Although Lord Byron had already expressed his will to write poetry while studying at Cambridge, the romantic poet Byron emerged in Greece: “If I am a poet … the air of Greece has made me one“. His decision to travel to the Mediterranean in 1809, marked the beginning of his emerging as a poet, as well as the gradual alienation from his homeland England. He was accompanied by Hobhouse on this journey, his most precious friend, his ”Argos“ until the end. Both of them were politically radical. Byron, a member of the House of Lords, who in 1812 did not hesitate to publicly defend the Luddites, set out on a journey in search of exotic pleasures. Hobhouse followed him having his own historical, archaeological and scientific interests. He was later imprisoned for his political views (1819 – 1820) and eventually won a seat in the House of Commons (1820). The tour started in Plymuth on July 2, 1809, bound for Lisbon, then Seville, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malta and Preveza. The different phases are described through Byron’s letters to his mother. During this Journey, Byron began to conceive himself as Childe Harold, the archetype of byronic figure, that inspired his later heroes.

In September 1809 they arrived at the French-occupied Ionian Islands. On September 26, they entered the Corinthian Gulf, in the direction of Patras, and moved towards Preveza, after seeing Messolonghi for the first time. They continued their route to Ithaca, Lefkada and landed in Preveza, three days later. On October 3, they set out for Ioannina, in order to meet, according to Byron, the “Muslim Bonaparte”, Ali Pasha. When the two young men faced a human arm along with a part of a body, hanging from a tree at the city’s entrance, they realized what Ali’s rule in Epirus really meant. They belonged to the guerrilla priest Efthimios Vlachavas. This spectacle caused them disgust. They finally met Ali in Tepeleni and received a warm welcome, as Englishmen. Byron seems to have developed mixed feelings for this man, guilty for the most heinous crimes. Byron will soon come in contact with Ali’s “constant headache”, the Souliotes, and he will express himself positively for them in the second Canto of Childe Harold.

In Ioannina he had begun to compose the first verses of his great poetic novel Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage. It was his own journey, which Byron named a pilgrimage from the beginning. In his literal and his literary pilgrimage, he studied his inner nature and landscape, other people’s mentality and history. In his second Canto, which was completed in Athens and Smyrna, he enriched English literature with the sites of Pindos, Souli, Zitsa and Ioannina.

The pilgrimage continued in the direction of Athens. On their way, they stopped in Delphi, where they performed their own revival of the Olympic Games. They observed the traces of English travelers as they approached the Attic land, and noticed the looting and disastrous traces left by their compatriots. Byron had already criticized Elgin in his work English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. By the time he arrived in Athens, in the autumn of 1809, and had met Lord Elgin’s agent, the Neapolitan painter Giovanni Battista Lusieri (1755-1821), he had already witnessed several operations of marble trading. The rage he felt for “those who commit this vile looting” led to a brutal attack on Elgin, with his poem “The Curse of Minerva”. He composed it in Athens in 1811, and published it a little later. The poem led to Lord Elgin’s public disgrace and his retirement to a quiet life.

He remained in Athens for ten weeks and visited Sounio, Marathon, and Eleusis. Thanks to his Greek-centered classical education, he valued antiquities. But he differed from his companion, Hobhouse, as his interest was not limited to a theoretical, or distanced approach to Greece and the Greeks. His sincere interest and sympathy for the enslaved Greeks of that time set him apart from most foreign travelers. He was a man of action, not of art or theory. He believed that if there is action, poetry is superfluous. He learned some modern Greek, in order to socialize with his contemporary Greeks, participating in their conversations and intervening with audacity. An incident mentions Byron’s wrath, when in a discussion about the murder of a Greek slave, nobody referred to the murderer as a Turk, but as a Lamia, a demonic creature in Greek mythology. Byron stood up shouting: “Does this Lamia swallow only Greeks? Will she not eat any Turks?” He had already begun to identify himself with the Greek struggles and anxieties.

His interest in Greek things pre-existed. When he met Andreas Londos (1784 – 1846) in Vostitsa, he already knew who Rigas Feraios was, for whom Londos so passionately talked. He was an excellent connoisseur of the intellectual activity of Greek scholars inside and outside Greece: Adamantios Korais (1748 – 1833), Panagiotis Kodrikas (1762 – 1827), Athanasios Psalidas (1767 – 1829), who sharply criticized civilized Europe for its attitude towards the Greeks. Byron reacted to his compatriots’ “sensitivity”, and gave the Greeks every right to revolt, literally and figuratively:

“Now, in the name of Nemesis! For what are they to be grateful? … They are to be grateful to the Turks for their fetters, and to the Franks for their broken promises and lying counsels. They are to be grateful to the artist who engraves their ruins, and to the antiquary who carries them away; to the traveler whose janissary flogs them, and to the scribbler whose journal abuses them. This is the amount of their obligations to foreigners”.

(From a note he wrote in January 1811 in Athens).

He was romantic, yet a realist, and noticed the neglect of the modern Greeks towards the ancient Greeks: “they have been abandoned to the Turkish tyranny of their masters, although it takes only a very small effort to remove their bonds… The Greeks never lost hope”.

The growing interest of the time for the East brought him to Izmir (October 1809 – April 1810) and Constantinople (May 1810), where he spent two months and witnessed horrific spectacles once again. He achieved Leander‘s task and swam the Hellespont from Sistos to Abydos, an accomplishment that meant more to him than any “political, poetic or rhetorical” glory. Less known is his climbing of the Symplegades or Clashing Rocks. This was his only visit to Turkey. He returned to Athens in July 1810. There he expressed his (imaginary) love for the three daughters of the Deputy Consul of England in Athens, Prokopis Makris (1764 – 1799), in whose house he was hosted during his first stay. He was mainly fascinated by his youngest daughter, the twelve-year-old Teresa, for whom he composed “Maid of Athens” (1810). After the poem was published in England in 1812, Makris’ House became a target of curiosity for the British visiting Athens.

Return to England

He returned to England after two years, on July 14, 1811. On the way to Newstead, the news of his mother’s death devastated him. In 1811 death left a mark on his personal life, taking three of his friends away: his former classmates, Charles Skinner Matthews, John Wingfield and John Edleston, for the loss of whom Byron composed melodic and painful elegies. On the other hand, it was the year that filled the void with new faces and prospects: Lord Byron’s fame took off just 15 days after the first issue of Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage, which ran out in three days. At the end of the year he acquired a permanent collaboration with the publisher of the first two Cantos, John Murray (1778 – 1843). He became famous and an object of desire for both women and men.

The spotlight was on him, not for his poetic work exclusively, but also for his public defense of the Luddite uprising in the House of Lords. He passionately defended the position that the human race must resist the domination of machines.

The conservative world of the time felt reserved about the poet’s agitation. But the Whigs’ parlors were wide open to welcome him. There, he met two influential women of the time, Lady Elizabeth Holland, and Lady Elizabeth Milbanke – Melbourne. He developed a very close bond with the sixty-two-year-old Melbourne, which could have been erotic, as he confessed. Melbourne stood by him even after hearing about his relationship with her son’s wife, Lady Caroline Lamb. Caroline’s husband was the twice Prime Minister of Great Britain (1834, 1835 – 1841), William Lamb. Lady Lamb referred to Byron as “mad, bad and dangerous to know”.

In January 1815 Byron married Melbourne’s niece Anabella Milbanke, who gave birth to his daughter, Augusta Ada Byron (10/12/1815). A year before, Byron’s half-sister Augusta had given birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Medora Leigh (15/04/1814), and rumors started circulating about the paternity of her child. These rumors, combined with others’ envy for his success, financial hardship, and the mental alienation from Annabella (which made her abandon the marital home in London), were all factors that led Byron to self-exile in 1816.

The decade 1813 – 1823 was the most glorious period of Byron’s poetic production. Childe Harold, the character people identified him with – despite his objection – inspired numerous fictional heroes that followed. Byron was influenced by the “Mal du siècle”; he was referring to the deep pain, the “long labyrinth of sin”, his homeland that looked like a hermit cell. Harold relied on the poet’s personal experiences, while drawing on elements from earlier literary heroes: for example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Goethe’s Werther. René, Chateaubriand’s protagonist is his “twin brother”. The Byronic hero is a cynical and proud misanthrope, who despises the rules, but is capable of strong and deep affection. The love for man and the joy for his human actions are met in many of Byron’s works.

From mid-1812 to the beginning of 1816, Byron published six large tales with Orientalist themes:

The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale (1813),

The Bride of Abydos: A Turkish Tale (1813),

The Corsair: A Tale (1814),

Lara (1814),

Parisina (1816),

The Siege of Corinth (1816).

In addition to their literary spread, Byronic heroes were depicted in works of art, as was the figure of Byron himself, which merged with that of Childe Harold. Paintings, ornate table clocks or French porcelain vases depicting figures of Byronic heroes, circulated throughout Europe. Gradually, Byron’s heroes became identified with emblematic figures of the Greek revolution, and the acquisition of such works, which promoted the Greek issue, became status symbols of the philhellenic salons. Thus, the Giaour, a subject that occupied the imagination of the French painters A. Scheffer, A.M. Colin, A.C.H. Vernet, E. Delacroix and T. Géricault, became identified as a Greek fighter. The victor, the “infidel” Giaour, who triumphantly steps on the slain Hassan, allegorically spoke of the victory of the Christian world over the Muslim.

The characters from the Bride of Abydos were identified with Souliotes refugees from Parga.

Scenes from The Corsair gave inspiration for the farewell of the Greek fighter. Images from Don Juan, Byron’s last masterpiece from 1818, were identified with the theme of the wounded Greek fighter, as well as with Byron in a woman’s arms, who was Greece.

Byron‘s second journey: Switzerland, Italy, Greece

“They made me an Exile / not a slave of me”

(The Prophecy of Dante, 1919)

When Hobhouse farewelled Byron on the coasts of England on April 25th, 1816, neither of them suspected that they would never reunite in their homeland. The poet left, in self-exile, the “hermit cell”, to end his life gloriously on the ground, where he felt happy for the first time, as he said.

Accompanied by his chamberlain, W. Fletcher, and the twenty-year-old doctor Dr. John Polidori (1795-1821), he headed via Ostend to Brussels. He visited the Battlefield of Waterloo, which he compared to the plain of Marathon. The sight of the landmark inspired two verses for Childe Harold’s third Canto, which he began writing while leaving his homeland. He continued his journey to Switzerland. Inspired by the patriot of Geneva, Francois-de-Bonnivard (1496 – 1570), he composed the poem The Prisoner of Chillon in Lausanne in an attempt to speak about the highest ideal of Freedom. In June 1816, he had already settled down in Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Geneva. A young woman, who had fallen in love with him, followed Byron on his tour. Her name was Claire Clairmont (1798 – 1879) and she happened to be half-sister to the author Mary Shelley, wife of Percy Shelley. Claire acted as an intermediate to bring the two English poets in contact. Hence a group of self-exiled, romantic intellectuals was formed in Geneva, which resulted in the creation of seminal works of literature. Byron was encouraged by Shelley to create Don Juan (that he wrote shortly afterwards in Pisa); Mary Shelley conceived Frankenstein on a night the group was enjoying themselves with “ghost stories”; Polidori based his Vampyre – the progenitor of the whole romantic vampire genre – on Byrons’ personality.

The Shelleys reluctantly returned to England, with Claire carrying Byron’s child. Byron and Hobhouse left Villa Diodati on October 5, 1816. The two of them wandered the Bernese Alpes, where Byron conceived Manfred. A Dramatic poem, which he completed in Venice in 1817. Manfred’s Promethean character (an “inverted Faust”) was considered to be autobiographical. Its central ideas are sadness, guilt, a feeling of deep loneliness and the remembrance of a sinful love of the past. Manfred’s Astarte is linked to Augusta. Byron then wandered to the cities of Venice (1816 – 1819), Ravenna (1819 – 1821), Pisa (1821 – 1822) and Genoa (1822 – 1823), where he entered his productive Italian period; he composed eight plays, the fourth and last Canto of Childe Harold, his historical-political poem The Age of Bronze, the satirical work Beppo, and the sixteen Songs of Don Juan.

After reuniting with the Shelleys in Venice, and meeting his daughter from Claire, Allegra, he moved to Ravenna. His love for the young Countess Teresa Guiccioli, daughter of the fiery Italian patriot Count Ruggero Gamba Ghiselli, led him to this new destination. The Gambas introduced him to carbonarism. Pietro Gamba, the count’s son, had a great admiration for Byron and accompanied him to Greece. After Byron had already passed, he joined Fabvier’s regular army in Greece. Teresa, who became romantically involved with Byron, divorced her (older by 37 years) , Count Alessandro Guiciolli. Nevertheless, Teresa’s paternal family developed a great sympathy for Byron due to his political views.

1820 is the year that the liberal patriotic movements in Italy erupted. Italy was the melting pot of English romantics, Italian conspirators, modern Greek Enlighteners and members of the Filiki Eteria (Society of Friends). Ravenna’s enlightened aristocrats were Carbonari, and Byron found his place in the movement, as an honorary leader of its third branch, the Turba (“Mob”), made up mostly of workers. He chose this branch wishing to take action and not just to guide the movement. He offered weapons, protection and encouragement to the Italian fighters. In a letter he wrote: “the people will win in the end. I will not live to see it, but I predict it“. This wording does not sound in line with any particular ideology. Historian Roderick Beaton doubts that Byron fully embraced the revolutionary ideology of the Carbonari. It is probable that the poet was motivated by romance and enthusiasm for action, without being dedicated to a specific struggle or purpose at this point.

When the liberal movements in Italy finally failed, the Gambas were led into exile. Shelley, who had visited Ravenna to meet Allegra at the monastery her father had sent her, pulled Byron and Gamba to Pisa. It is his friend, Percy Shelley, and his wife, Mary, who will unhook him from the Italian issue and spark his philhellenic feelings. The first news of the events in Greece had begun to reach Italy as early as April 1821. Shelley composed his masterpiece poem Hellas in autumn 1821 and prophesied the triumph of the Greek Struggle for Independence, which was synonymous with the Struggle for Freedom and Justice. He dedicated this poem to his friend, Prince Alexandros Mavrokordatos, with whom the Shelleys were closely associated through the circle of Pisa.

The developments that took place in Pisa shaped the English poets’ Philhellenism. The co-founder of the Philomuse Society, Archbishop Ignatius, could safely act here, away from Metternich’s police. He gathered a group of people around him who sought to play an active role in Greek affairs, including Alexandros Mavrokordatos and the ruler of Wallachia, Ioannis Karatzas. John Eduard Trelawny (1792 – 1881) and Leigh Hunt (1784 – 1859) also arrived in the city in 1822. According to one version, the Shelleys introduced Mavrokordatos to Byron, while another version refers that the two men first met in Messolonghi. In any case, it seems that important mental and intellectual processes took place for Byron in Pisa, which led him to the decision to go to Greece. Before leaving this city, Byron witnessed the tragic drowning of his friend, Percy Shelley, whom he farewelled along with Hunt and Trelawny on the beach of Viareggio. He then moved with Teresa to Genoa in September 1822, having already mourned the loss of Polidori, Lady Milbanke (Anabella’s mother) and his five-year-old daughter, Allegra.

“I must stand by the Cause”

For two years after the outbreak of the Greek revolution of 1821, Byron remained uninvolved with this issue. His decision to dedicate himself to “The Cause”, as he called it, should be seen as “the culmination of a poetic and ideological development that had consistently sought to break through the limiting barrier of words, so as to change the course of things in the world of real politics and action”, according to R. Beaton. Greece as an ideal begun to gain ground in him after Shelley’s tragic loss.

In April 1823, he was ready to move from the world of ideas to that of action. He was visited in Genoa by two delegates of the London Philhellenic Committee: Andreas Louriotis, who negotiated the first two national loans to Greece in London, and British Captain Edward Blaquière. He was invited to go to Greece on behalf of the Philhellenic Committee, act as a referee between the Greeks, as well as to direct the aid sent there. He accepted the invitation, feeling “the urgent need to give a new direction to the course of his ideas”. The decision to fight for the liberation of Greece, was all of his own.

His first stop was Argostoli, Kefallinia (August 3, 1823), where he met with the English commander, Sir Charles James Napier (1782-1853). Together with Pietro Gamba he settled in the village of Metaxata until the end of the year, where a bust in front of the house he lived, reminds us of his presence today. He took good care of a group of Souliotes refugees he came across there, paying for their safe passage to Messolonghi. News were spread in Greece about Byron’s arrival. The kind hero of the Greek Revolution, Markos Botsaris, addressed his last letter ever to Lord Byron, before dying in Karpenisi. In this moving letter, he expressed his joy and desire to meet him in Messolonghi.

When he arrived in Greece, Byron had a fairly realistic picture of the disputes between the Greeks. But he kept a diplomatic distance from the two warring factions, which were both trying to join him. He hesitated whether he should go to Messolonghi in the autumn of 1823, before receiving clear instructions from the government (“Ektelestiko”). In order not to provoke the Mavromichalis – Kolokotronis government, he rejected Mavrokordatos’ invitation to meet him in Hydra. His delay in going to Messolonghi was not due to indecision, but to his practical and political wisdom. The moment the lord set foot in Greece, he was indeed transformed from a poet into a realist politician. Byron understood that there were three possibilities for the Greeks; to regain their freedom, to become a vassal of the European rulers, or to become a Turkish province again. He knew that a civil war could only lead to the last two options, and urged the Greeks to decide immediately if they wanted to be free and independent or not, otherwise they might never have the same opportunity again.

Historian George Finley estimates that if Byron had lived, he would have had a great impact in preventing two civil wars. His purpose in Greece was to unite, not to divide.

He arrived in Messolonghi on January 5, 1824. Crowds of civilians, soldiers, women and their children, anxiously awaited the arrival of their saviour. The famous oil painting “Byron’s Oath at Missolonghi” by Lodovico Lipparini (1824), as well as “The reception of Lord Byron in Messolonghi” by Theodoros Vryzakis (1861), demonstrate the enthusiasm that prevailed upon Byron‘s arrival.

He settled in the mansion of the Kapsalis family, which was blown up by Christos Kapsalis during the Heroic Exodus 