Alexandros Mavrokordatos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Μαυροκορδάτος; 11 February 179118 August 1865) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
statesman, diplomat, politician and member of the
Mavrocordatos
The House of Mavrocordatos (also Mavrocordato, Mavrokordatos, Mavrocordat, Mavrogordato or Maurogordato; el, Μαυροκορδάτος) is the name of a family of Phanariot Greeks originally from Chios, a branch of which was distinguished in the ...
family of
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greeks, Greek families in Fener, Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople whe ...
.
Biography
In 1812, Mavrokordatos went to the court of his uncle
John George Caradja
Ioan Gheorghe Caragea (sometimes Anglified as John Caradja; pre-modern Romanian: ''Ioan Gheorghie Caragea'', Cyrillic: Їωан Геωргïє Караџѣ; Greek: Ἰωάννης Γεώργιος Καρατζάς, ''Ioannis Georgios Karatzas''; ...
,
Hospodar of Wallachia, with whom he passed into exile in the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
(1818), where he studied at the
University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...
. He was a member of the
Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends ( el, Φιλικὴ Ἑταιρεία ''or'' ) was a secret organization founded in 1814 in Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule of Greece and establish an independent Greek ...
and was among the
Phanariot
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenic ...
Greeks who hastened to
Morea
The Morea ( el, Μορέας or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used for the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the Ottoman ...
on the outbreak of the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
in 1821.
At the time of the beginning of the revolution, Mavrokordatos was living in Pisa with the poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
and his wife
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
, and upon hearing of the revolution, Mavrokordatos headed to
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
to buy arms and a ship to take him back to Greece. Mavrokordatos was a very wealthy, well educated man, fluent in seven languages, whose experience in ruling Wallachia led many to look towards him as a future leader of Greece. Unlike many of the Greek leaders, Mavrokordatos, who had lived in the West, preferred to wear Western clothing, and looked towards the West as a political model for Greece. The American philhellene
Samuel Gridley Howe
Samuel Gridley Howe (November 10, 1801 – January 9, 1876) was an American physician, abolitionist, and advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. In 1824 he had gone to Greece to ...
described Mavrokordatos:
"His manners are perfectly easy and gentlemanlike and though the first impression would be from his extreme politeness and continual smiles that he was a good-natured silly fop, yet one soon sees from the keen inquisitive glances which involuntarily escape from him, that he is concealing, under an almost childish lightness of manner, a close and accurate study of his visitor... His friends ascribe every action to the most disinterested patriotism; but his enemies hesitate not to pronounce them all to have for their end his party or private interest... Here, as is often the case, truth lies between the two extremes".
Mavokordhatos, a crafty, intelligent man was the best politician thrown up by the Greek struggle and he dominated directly or indirectly the various assemblies that endeavoured to establish a government for Greece. He was active in endeavouring to establish a regular government, and in January 1822 he was elected by the
First National Assembly at Epidaurus
The First National Assembly of Epidaurus (, 1821–1822) was the first meeting of the Greek National Assembly, a national representative political gathering of the Greek revolutionaries.
History
The assembly opened in December 1821 at Piada (to ...
as the "President of the Executive", making him in effect Greece's leader. The Epidaurus assembly was largely Mavrokordatos's triumph as he wrote the first Greek constitution and become the new national leader. Reflecting the fact that the Greek government had little power, Mavrokordatos was more interested in defending his power base in West Rumeli (
Continental Greece
Continental Greece ( el, Στερεά Ελλάδα, Stereá Elláda; formerly , ''Chérsos Ellás''), colloquially known as Roúmeli (Ρούμελη), is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic region of Greece. In English, the a ...
), going first to the island of Hydra to secure the support of the Hydriots' warships and then to Missolonghi, where he supervised the building of the defensive works while using his wealth to create a network of patronage designed to secure him support from the western Rumeliot clans. Mavrokordatos did not play the part of a national leader, and had created a deliberately complicated constitution largely to ensure that no one else could become a successful leader while he was off securing his power base in West Rumeli. One observer commented about Mavrokordatos's tactics: "He imitates the cunning of the hedgehog who, they say, flattens his needles and makes himself thin to enter his burrow, and once inside fluffs them out again and becomes a ball of prickles to stop anyone else getting in".
![Mavrokordatos by Hess](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Mavrokordatos_by_Hess.jpg)
He commanded the advance of the Greeks into western Central Greece the same year, and suffered a serious defeat at
Peta
Peta or PETA may refer to:
Acronym
* Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943
* People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization
* People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...
on 16 July, but retrieved this disaster somewhat by his successful resistance to the
First Siege of Missolonghi (November 1822 – January 1823).
At Peta, Mavokordatos wanted a victory by his philhellene units and his Greek soldiers trained by the German philhellene
Karl von Normann-Ehrenfels to show the advantages of professional military training to the Greeks. Mavorkordatos appointed Normann-Ehrenfels, formerly a captain in the Württemberg army his chief of staff. At the Argos assembly in 1823, Mavrokordhatos did not seek office again, but had himself appointed as general secretary of the Executive, which made him responsible for the flow of paperwork both to and from the Executive. In 1823, Mavokordatos supported the Senate in its dispute with the Executive dominated by supporters of his rival
Theodoros Kolokotronis
Theodoros Kolokotronis ( el, Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης; 3 April 1770 – 4 February 1843) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotronis's g ...
. In 1824, Mavrokordatos welcomed
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
to Greece and tried to persuade him to lead an attack on Navpaktos. In 1824, Mavorokordhatos backed a plot by the American philhellene
George Jarvis and the Scottish philhellene Thomas Fenton to murder his rival
Odysseas Androutsos
Odysseas Androutsos ( el, Οδυσσέας Ανδρούτσος; 1788 – 1825; born Odysseas Verousis el, Οδυσσέας Βερούσης) was a Greek military and political commander in eastern mainland Greece and a prominent figure of the ...
and Androutsos's brother-in-law
Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny (13 November 179213 August 1881) was a British biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family ...
.
Mavorokordhatos's English sympathies brought him, in the subsequent strife of factions, into opposition to the
"Russian" party headed by
Demetrius Ypsilanti
Demetrios Ypsilantis (alternatively spelled Demetrius Ypsilanti; el, Δημήτριος Υψηλάντης, ; ro, Dumitru Ipsilanti; 1793August 16, 1832) was a Greek army officer who served in both the Hellenic Army and the Imperial Russian Ar ...
and
Kolokotronis Kolokotronis (Greek: Κολοκοτρώνης) is a Greek surname. When used without any other context, it refers to the Greek warlord Theodoros Kolokotronis whose contribution to the Greek revolution of 1821 against the Ottoman Empire, was determin ...
; and though he held the portfolio of foreign affairs for a short while under the presidency of Petrobey (
Petros Mavromichalis
Petros Mavromichalis (; 1765–1848), also known as Petrobey ( ), was a Greek general, politician and the leader of the Maniot people during the first half of the 19th century. His family had a long history of revolts against the Ottoman Empi ...
), he was compelled to withdraw from affairs until February 1825, when he again became a Secretary of State. The landing of
Ibrahim Pasha followed, and Mavrocordatos again joined the army, barely escaping capture in the disaster at
Sphacteria
Sphacteria ( el, Σφακτηρία - ''Sfaktiria'') also known as Sphagia (Σφαγία) is a small island at the entrance to the bay of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece. It was the site of three battles:
*the 425 BC Battle of Sphacteria in the ...
, on 9 May 1825, on board the ship
''Ares''.
After the
fall of Missolonghi (22 April 1826) he went into retirement, until President
John Capodistria
Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: ...
made him a member of the committee for the administration of war material, a position he resigned in 1828. After Kapodistria's murder (9 October 1831) and the resignation of his brother and successor,
Augustinos Kapodistrias
Count Augustinos Ioannis Maria Kapodistrias ( el, Αυγουστίνος Ιωάννης Μαρία Καποδίστριας, 1778–1857) was a Greek soldier and politician. He was born in Corfu.Otto
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded fro ...
as his Minister of Finance, and in 1833
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
.
From 1834 onwards, he was Greek envoy at
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and, after a short interlude again as Premier of Greece in 1841, he was appointed envoy to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
. In 1843, after the 3 September uprising, he returned to Athens as Minister with no portfolio in the
Metaxas cabinet, and from April to August 1844 was head of the government formed after the fall of the
Russian party
The Russian Party ( el, Ρωσικό Κóμμα), presenting itself as the Napist Party ("Dell Party", el, κόμμα των Ναπαίων), one of the Early Greek parties, was an informal grouping of Greek political leaders that formed during t ...
. Going into opposition, he distinguished himself by his violent attacks on the
Kolettis government. In 1854-1855 he was again head of the government for a few months. He died in
Aegina
Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born ...
on 18 August 1865.
Family tree
References
Works cited
* E. Legrand, ''Généalogie des Mavrocordato'' (Paris, 1886).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mavrokordatos, Alexandros
1791 births
1865 deaths
19th-century heads of state of Greece
19th-century prime ministers of Greece
Alexandros
Members of the Filiki Eteria
Greek people of the Greek War of Independence
Foreign ministers of Greece
Prime Ministers of Greece
Politicians from Istanbul
History of Greece (1832–1862)
Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament
Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens
English Party politicians
Finance ministers of Greece
Constantinopolitan Greeks
Diplomats from Istanbul