Pyotr Ivanovich Melissino ( gr, Πέτρος Μελισσηνός, Petros Melissinos, russian: Пётр Мелиссино, french: Pierre De Mellisino); c. 1726 – c. 1797) was a

General of the Artillery General of the Artillery is/was a general officer of artillery, and may be: *General of the Artillery (Germany) and Austria-Hungary *General of the Artillery (Imperial Russia) *General of the Artillery (Poland) *Feldzeugmeister (OF-8) of the Austria ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and was widely considered the best Russian artilleryman of the 18th century.

Early life

He was born as Petros Melissinos el, Πέτρος Μελισσηνός in 1726, into 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 ...

family, in the island of

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It i ...

, which was then under Venetian rule. His father was a physician who descended from a branch of the noble Eastern Roman family of

Melissenos Melissenos ( el, Μελισσηνός), latinized Melissenus, feminine form Melissene (Μελισσηνή), latinized Melissena, was the name of a noble Byzantine family that flourished from the late 8th century on until the end of the Byzantine Emp ...

that had left

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

in the 15th century and settled on Cephalonia. Throughout his life, he prided himself on his origin. He received a thorough education in his youth and was fluent in many languages, including

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, German, Italian, French, and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, as well as his native

; he also knew some

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and English.

Career

Melissinos arrived in Russia during the reign of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

and ended his career as Vice-President of the Commerce Collegium in 1740-45. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, Pyotr Melissino was in charge of the Russian artillery. His efficient command helped Russian forces prevail against a fourfold numerical superiority of the Ottomans at

Khotin Khotyn ( uk, Хотин, ; ro, Hotin, ; see #Name, other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one o ...

, Larga, and Kagula. In 1783, he was appointed Director of the Artillery and Engineering Corps in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He is remembered as an organizer of the artillery education in the

. After the ascension of

Emperor Paul Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...

, Melissino was put in charge of the entire Russian artillery but died the following year. Melissino was instrumental in promoting the career of one of Paul's favourites,

Aleksey Arakcheyev Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (russian: граф Алексе́й Андре́евич Аракче́ев) ( – ) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. He served under Tsars Paul I ...

. His son Aleksey Melissino, a Major General, was killed in the

Battle of Dresden The Battle of Dresden (26–27 August 1813) was a major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle took place around the city of Dresden in modern-day Germany. With the recent addition of Austria, the Sixth Coalition felt emboldened in t ...

(1813). His brother,

Ivan Melissino Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, was Dean of the

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

under

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

. Jenkins (pp. 35–36) says:

References

Sources

*Michael Jenkins, ''Arakcheev: Grand Vizier of the Russian Empire'' (Dial Press, 1969) {{DEFAULTSORT:Melissino, Pyotr 1726 births 1797 deaths 18th-century Greek people 18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire Artillery of Russia Greek emigrants to Russia Greek generals Imperial Russian Army generals Russian Freemasons Pyotr People from Cephalonia Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Third Degree Burials at Lazarevskoe Cemetery (Saint Petersburg)