The Senate of the entire People of the Peloponnese provinces ( el, Γερουσία όλου του Δήμου των επαρχιών της Πελοποννήσου), commonly known as the Peloponnesian Senate (), was a provisional regime that existed in the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
during the early stages of the
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
.
History
On 25 March 1821 (all the dates are given according to the
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
), a few days after the outbreak of the
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
in March 1821, the rebels of the southern
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
, led by the
Maniots
The Maniots or Maniates ( el, Μανιάτες) are the inhabitants of Mani Peninsula, located in western Laconia and eastern Messenia, in the southern Peloponnese, Greece. They were also formerly known as Mainotes and the peninsula as ''Maina''. ...
, assembled at
Kalamata
Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...
and founded the Greek rebels' first organ of government, the
Messenian Senate
The Messenian Senate ( el, Μεσσηνιακή Σύγκλητος) was the first government of the Greek Revolution. It was the first move towards the creation of the Peloponnesian Senate.
History
The Messenian Senate was formed at Kalamata o ...
. As the uprising spread through Greece, the Messenian Senate's leader,
Petrobey 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 Emp ...
, invited representatives from the rest of the Peloponnese in an assembly held at the
Kaltetza Monastery. There, on 26 May the "Senate of the entire People of the Peloponnese provinces", commonly known, from the legend on its seal, as the "Peloponnesian Senate" and as the "Senate of Kaltetza" (Γερουσία των Καλτετζών), was founded, with Bishop
Theodoritos of Vresthena as president and as secretary.
Sotirios Charalambis,
Athanasios Kanakaris
Athanasios Kanakaris ( el, Αθανάσιος Κανακάρης; 1760 in Patras – 14 January 1823 in Ermioni) was a Greek politician. He fought in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.
He was born in Patras in 1760. ...
,
Anagnostis Deligiannis,
Theocharis Rentis and
Nikolaos Poniropoulos were members. Unlike the modern concept of a "
senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
" as the upper body of parliament, the Peloponnesian Senate was both a legislative and executive organ. The Senate's constitutional charter was created on 15 December 1821.
On 27 May 1821, the Senate moved its seat to the Chrysopege Monastery in
Stemnitsa
Stemnitsa ( el, Στεμνίτσα) is a mountain village in the municipal unit of Trikolonoi, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. It was the seat of the former municipality Trikolonoi. Stemnitsa is a traditional settlement and is considered one of t ...
. After the
capture of
Tripolitsa
Tripoli ( el, Τρίπολη, ''Trípoli'', formerly , ''Trípolis''; earlier ''Tripolitsá'') is a city in the central part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the capital of the Peloponnese region as well as of the regional unit of Arcadi ...
in September, the Senate established itself in the town in February 1822. The Peloponnesian Senate continued in existence (with
Asimakis Fotilas as president after February 1822) until it was dissolved by the
Second National Assembly at Astros
The Second National Assembly at Astros ( el, Βʹ Εθνοσυνέλευση στο Άστρος) was the second Greek National Assembly, a national representative body of the Greeks who had rebelled against the Ottoman Empire.
It convened at As ...
in April 1823.
Political institutions of the Greek War of Independence
States and territories established in 1821
Historical legislatures in Greece
1821 establishments in Greece
Peloponnese in the Greek War of Independence
{{Greece-hist-stub