Afenduliev, Mikhail Komninos

Mikhail Komninos Afendulief is one of the most mysterious figures of the Greek revolution. It is significant that some researchers question the truth of his surname. Most researchers are inclined to believe that his real name is Komninos, and Afendulief or Afendulis were an epithet that was awarded to the inhabitants of Crete during the period when he was appointed ruler of the rebellious island. There are researchers who are of the opposite opinion that Afenduliev is his real surname, and he attributed the surname Komninos to himself, pointing to an imaginary connection with the Komnin dynasty of the Byzantine Empire .

It is authentically known that he was born in Nizhny Novgorod, in a rich Greek family. According to indirect information from Afenduliyev himself, he was born approximately in 1769. In his youth, Mikhail chose a military career. He studied at a military school in St. Petersburg. According to available information, he rose to the rank of major . According to Afenduliyev himself, he later served in the diplomatic corps. However, the nature of his service and position is not entirely clear. There is information that he was at the disposal of the Russian ambassador in one of the European countries. Mikhail himself, after his failures and upheavals in Crete, in his letter to Colettis of June 17, 1822, gives indirectly the following information about himself:

“Having been born in Russia, I studied Greek from childhood. But then, moving and living in almost all the capitals of Europe, I did not have the opportunity to use it and almost forgot. After 30 years, I needed the Greek language and I myself am surprised that I am writing to you in it. Despite this, I prefer to write to Your Grace myself, as I can, rather than use the secretary ” ^[1] . Afenduliev himself claimed that he served the Russian Tsar ("the greatest basileus in the world") for 27 years ^[1] .

Mikhail Afenduliev arrived in rebellious Greece , accompanying Prince Alexander Kantakuzin, who, in turn, the Greek historian A.E. Vakalopoulos reckons with the retinue of Dmitry Ipsilanti ^[1] . In the summer of 1821, Kantakuzin and Afenduliyev ended up in a rebel camp besieging the fortified city of Monemvasia . Here, among others, they met the fighters from Crete , who invited Kantakuzin to head the rule of their rebellious island. Kantakuzin could not accept their offer, as he was sent by Dmitry Ipsilanti to other regions. Instead of himself, Kantakuzin offered the Cretans Afenduliev. According to some sources, Afenduliyev himself offered himself the role of the eparch of Crete, that is, the role of military leader and ruler of Crete. In any case, Ipsilanti approved his appointment. Dmitry Ipsilanti, a former officer of the Russian army, a member of the Greek revolutionary organization Filiki Eteria, acted on behalf of his brother Alexander Ipsilanti . The fact that Dmitry Ipsilanti entrusted Afenduliyev with the rule of Crete and the management of hostilities on the island is an indirect argument for those researchers who do not question the information about Afenduliyev’s life before his arrival in Greece. On October 25, 1821, Ipsilanti sent Afenduliev to Crete. The Greek historian D. Fotiadis writes that “the choice turned out to be the worst of all possible” ^[2] .

The first in Crete were the inhabitants of the mountainous region of Sfakia on the southwestern coast of Crete. Sfakia along with Mani in the Peloponnese , Suli and Himara in Epirus for centuries remained a Greek freemen and only nominally recognized the power of the Sultan.

In turn, the most brave of those who spoke only Greek Cretan Muslims were the "Castriots", that is, the inhabitants of Castro (Greek: Fortress) ( Heraklion ). Having received news of the beginning of the uprising of the Sphakiot, the Castriot Muslims forced Metropolitan Gerasim to call on the rebels to lay down their arms. However, before speaking out against Sfakia, the Muslims slaughtered the metropolitan on the altar . 12,000 castriots and Muslims of Rethymnon invaded the region of Sfakia, which was defended by “only 700 rifles” and burned 3 villages. But on July 16, 1821, the sphakyots ambushed Xerocampo. D. Fotiadis believes that the Battle of Xerocampo should be put on a par with the first Greek victories at Valtesi in the Peloponnese and at Basilica in Central Greece. In the three-day battle, more than 2 thousand Muslims died, the rest fled. To top it off, having closed the gorge at Ampelos, the Sphakyots destroyed a column of 960 Castriots who came to the aid of the Muslims, including Heraklion. In the two-day battle, which historiography refers to as the massacre, only one Muslim survived. In August, Cretan Muslims and Turks of the island declared general mobilization and burned Sfakia and Loutro (Chania) . But the sphakyotes took refuge in the mountains, on the island of Gavdos and other islets. When the Muslims left, the Sfakiot returned to their villages. Sfakiot asked the Provisional Revolutionary Government to send a ruler to Crete who could resolve local differences, withdraw the uprising from the limited territory of Sfakia and contribute to the uprising throughout Crete ^[2] .

Afenduliev arrived in the Sfakian coastal Loutro in November 1821. He arrived as ruler, representing Ipsilanti and Etheria . Afenduliev was dressed in the uniform of the gentleman of the Order of St. John of Malta , in which he was a member. He was accompanied by the Cretans, who returned from the battlefields in the Peloponnese . The ship on which he arrived also delivered 4 tons of wheat. The inhabitants and commanders of Crete trusted him and followed his orders, despite the fact that he was not familiar to them and they did not offer it to their commanders. Fotiadis adds that the Cretans accepted Afenduliev as “a heavenly angel, despite the fact that he was an ugly person and they understood little from what he said, due to his poor knowledge of the language and strange pronunciation . ”

Fotiadis writes that Afenduliyev did not realize the complexity of the task assigned to him, given the fact that even towards the end of the war, British Foreign Minister Lord Aberdeen, George Hamilton-Gordon, said: “The British government will never allow this important island to pass into the hands of the state Count of Kapodistrias or any other Force ” ^[2] .

Afenduliev organized his office in the village of Mylopotamos ^[1] .

The first step of Afenduliyev was the convening of a Council of local military and political leaders to plan future operations and create an atmosphere of unity. The uprising began to take on a large scale. To help Afenduliev, the Corsican Balest born in Crete , Joseph ^[1] , who arrived on the island on March 20, 1822, was sent. On April 8, rebels under the command of Balest, Vourdumbas and Deliyannakis defeated the Turks in the battle of Castelo, near the city of Rethymnon . However, on April 14, on the same battlefield, the rebels were defeated. The balest was captured by the Turks and beheaded ^[2] . His head and right hand were sent as a gift and received in June by the Kapudan Pasha Kara-Ali, who stood with an armada on Chios , after the massacre perpetrated by the Turks on this island ^[3] . On April 28, 1822, the rebels expelled the Turks from the dioceses of Mylopotamos and Amari. At the same time in Kydonia, in a three-day battle, the Turkish commander Karagyulbey and the commander of Greek volunteers from the island of Kasos were killed. On May 26, in the town of Armenians, the Cretans proclaimed their Provisional Constitution. Fotiadis writes that all historians recognize the inability and ambition of Afenduliev. “His only concern was to put his stamp on the documents with imperial symbols” ^[2] . On May 28, an Egyptian fleet arrived in the Bay of the Court , numbering 114 ships, of which 30 were warships. Transports carried flags of all European maritime states. The fleet landed a 6,000th corps, whose commander was the Albanian Hassan Pasha. Organization of troops and direct command was carried out by French, former Napoleonic officers ^[2] . Afenduliev failed at this point to create an atmosphere of unity on the island. Having lost all authority among the Cretans, Afenduliyev unsuccessfully tried to organize a defense at the landing site of the Turkish-Egyptians. The Cretans simply disobeyed him. Afenduliev realized his powerlessness and in his letter to Colettis dated June 17, 1822 wrote about "the disease of the Greek family, which is civil strife" ^[1] . Afenduliev further wrote that “with such anarchy, I wash my hands. In these circumstances, I can’t benefit the nation, but most likely harm. Please, for God's sake, send me a replacement. And to call me and several local people for questioning and punish those who deserve it ” ^[1] . The fact that Afenduliyev failed to find contact with the Cretan military leaders follows from his strange, for wartime, his statement: “here they call virtuous the one who killed the most. He is not called a murderer, but a young man. ” He calls the local commanders Nero and Robespierre and declares that he does not want to remain on Crete, not only in his current position, but also the king " ^[1] In mid-November, the Cretans deposed the" unworthy Afenduliyev "and imprisoned him ^{[2 ]} . Vakalopoulos writes that this was the result of conflicts with the Cretans, mainly with the Sfakiot. m to the Cretans on December 28, from prison.Afenduliyev vowed by the Holy Trinity that he had not appropriated money ^[1] Afenduliev was accused of using a false name, fake orders, a fake seal, that he acted without taking into account the opinions of other board members that his motives were suspicious. All his written documents were confiscated. In mid-February 1823, Afenduliyev departed from Crete, and a temporary eparch, Neophytos Iconom, arrived on the island.

In May 1823, a new ruler, Idriot captain Tombazis, Emmanuel arrived in Crete. Tombazis directly commanding the battles began his activity with an impressive capture of the Kissamos fortress ^[2] . Information about Afenduliyev’s life after Crete is fragmentary and vague. "Most likely, in the summer of 1823 he lived with relatives, or friends, on the island of Syros , and then on the island of Milos ." In October, he left fighting Greece and departed for Trieste . After Trieste, Malta and Rome became its next stops. Afenduliev especially insistently demanded the return of his documents in order, as he claimed, to prove his real activities in Crete. Toward the end of his life, Afenduliev lived in Florence . Mikhail Komninos Afendulief died in Livorno on June 9, 1855, at the age of 86. He was buried in the Orthodox cemetery of the Greek community of Livorno ^[4] .

Regarding the reign of Afenduliyev in Crete, different and conflicting views were expressed. On the one hand, it is argued that before Crete, Mikhail took part in the battles in the Peloponnese (siege of Monemvasia and the Siege of Tripolitsa ), that he was active in conducting military operations in Crete and organizing military camps, and that he was respected by the inhabitants of the island. It is alleged that Mikhail possessed military and administrative capabilities, maybe not the ones that were required for Crete at that time, but that it was difficult for him to adapt and become effective in an unfamiliar region and in difficult times. The other side estimates that his behavior towards local residents was characterized by excessive self-conceit, authoritarianism, as well as obvious inefficiency. This side believes that Afenduliyev abandoned Crete as such and that he settled in the coastal Loutro (Chania) , paying more attention to commercial activities. At the same time, at the administrative level, he took steps towards the creation of bodies that could hardly function. The fact that he himself proclaimed himself the commander in chief, that he kept a huge archive and kept constant correspondence with politically inclined politician Colettis began to arouse suspicions regarding Afenduliyev, especially among local military commanders. His centralized activities peaked in the spring of 1822, when, according to one version, Mikhail did not intend to cooperate either with the local military commanders or with the Provisional Government of revolutionary Greece. Some of his critics even claim that Michael intended to create a kingdom on Crete, in which he would become an absolute hegemon. Such a prospect could not bring about the consent of the Cretans, who were ready to accept it only as the eparch of provisional power on the island, and always in collaboration with the Provisional Revolutionary Government. Critics of Afenduliyev believe that his presence on the island caused internal strife, which at some point began to take on a serious scale. After Michael's failure to provide the desired result in the battles of May 1822, discontent against him began to take on a huge scale. Realizing that the uprising on the island was in crisis, Afenduliyev himself, after a few months, asked to resign. He stated that he wanted to go to the Peloponnese for help, or to stay there, providing himself a replacement. The Cretans' steering committee had similar intentions, which soon denounced Afenduliyev’s appointment and removed him from the post of eparch so that another person would come to replace Afenduliyev. The committee hoped that military reinforcements would arrive with the eparch ^{[5] [6]} .