Mavromikhalis, Ilias Katsakos

Ilias was born on the Mani Peninsula, in the south of the Peloponnese , whose inhabitants maintained their autonomy from the Ottoman . The year of birth is unknown. Presumably he was born in 1800-1801. In the historiography of the War of Independence , it is often referred to as Ilias Katsakos (diminutive on behalf of his father), so as not to be confused with his famous cousin Ilias Mavromihalis . Father, Ioannis Katsis Mavromihalis , was the brother of the ruler of Mani, Peter Mavromihalis . Ioannis Katsis was a handsome and stately man, with great authority in Mani, which is why the manat called him Basileus (king). From the traditions of the Maniats, it follows that after the ruler of Mani T. Grigorakis lost power, the Ottoman Kapudan Pasha expressed the desire that Ioannis become the ruler. But he refused, recalling that he has an older brother, whom, according to laconic traditions, he must respect. So the ruler of Mani was Petros Mavromihalis .

Koroni Fortress

With the start of the Greek Revolution in March 1821, unlike dozens of other Mavromikhalis clan generals who fought in all the rebel regions, Ioannis Katsis limited himself to conducting clan questions on the spot and defending Mani, as necessary.

Unlike his father, twenty-year-old Ilias Katsakos (son of Katsis) was directly involved in hostilities. Despite his youth, Elias led a nearly disintegrated camp of rebels besieging the Koroni fortress. Ilias distinguished himself in the capture of the fortress of the city of Argos , during the invasion of the troops of Dramali Pasha in July 1822. Elias gained even more fame during the Turkish-Egyptian invasion of Mani in the summer of 1826.

Even when Ibrahim Pasha had just landed on the Peloponnese (see The Siege of Navarino (1825) ), the manats built a wall on the road leading from Kalamata to western Mani. The wall went from Almiros Bay, along the river bed, to the steep slope of Taygeta , and was no more than 600 m long ^[1] . The wall, by virtue of its configuration, was called Verga (Greek Βέργα - pole). Learning about Ibrahim’s speech, about 3 thousand maniat took positions along the wall, under the command of A. Mavromikhalis, I. Katsakos, G. Kumunturakis, G. Grigorakis, N. Pierakos ^[2] .

On June 20, the Egyptian armada began shelling Almiros Bay, where the wall began. On June 22, Ibrahim launched cavalry and 9 regular infantry battalions into the attack. The battle lasted 10 hours and during these 10 hours Ibrahim launched 10 attacks. But the wall of manat was much more powerful than the plain wall of stones. By evening, the Egyptians with shame departed. Historiography notes that during this battle, Elias, risking his own life, rushed behind the wall and “took” a beautiful Arabian horse from the Ottoman cavalryman.

In August, Ibrahim decided to enter Mani from the east, where the slopes of the mountains were more gentle and accessible. Faced with little resistance, the Egyptian army reached the heights of Taygetus , from where Ibrahim already saw Mani, whom he hated. On August 27, Ibrahim approached Maniakov on the eastern slope of Taiget. Here P. Kosonakos with 300 fighters stood in his way. When the battle broke out, Elias arrived in time with another 300 fighters and hit the Egyptians in the rear. The Egyptians were forced to retreat to Pasava.

On August 28, the army of Ibrahim approached Poliaravo and the population began to run away, until a local woman shouted: "run away cowards, I will remain to protect your home . " Then the priest Ikonom, with his sons and another 90 villagers, locked themselves in their towers and held the defense against Ibrahim for 6 hours. During this time, Tsalafatinos and the Yatrakos brothers, Konstantin Mavromihalis and Ilias Katsakos approached Poliaravo with their troops - a total of 2 thousand fighters. The course of the battle has changed. Ibrahim and his army fled in panic, leaving 400 corpses of their soldiers in Poliaravo ^[2] .

The first ruler of a resurgent Greek state and former Russian foreign minister, John Kapodistrias , tried to create an advanced European state, curbing the tendency of parochialism. About 50 members of the Mavromikhalis clan, during the years of the War of Independence, laid their heads on the altar of the Fatherland, however, the clan’s ambitions could only partially fit into the state structure created by Kapodistria. The clan of Mavromikhalisov and the inhabitants of Mani, for the most part, together with the shipowners of the island of Idra , became the main driving force of the opposition against Kapodistria. In 1830, Elias was imprisoned in Navplion . Many sources write that the reason was his opposition to Kapodistrias. However, D. Fotiadis, a 20th-century Greek historian, insists that Ilias was sent to prison as a result of an intra-clan showdown, after attempting to kill his cousin, Pirakos Mavromihalis. It should be noted that during the same period, his father, Ioannis Katsis Mavromihalis, was under arrest on the island of Spets, accused of piracy ^[2] . On January 17, 1831, Elias escaped from prison, reached Mani and joined the fellow countrymen who rebelled against Kapodistrias ^[2] . March 10, after the arrest of Peter Mavromihalis , Ilias, along with other manats, tried to take the islet of Maratonisi, but without success ^[2] . After the assassination of Kapodistrias by Konstantin Mavromihalis in May 1831, Ilias, like many other members of the Mavromikhalis clan, was accused of participating in a murder conspiracy, but was acquitted.

With the enthronement of the minor Bavarian prince Otton to the throne of Greece, his regents also tried to pacify the inhabitants of Mani, who did not fit into the order they established.

An attempt by the Bavarians to disarm the manats and demolish their battle clan towers provoked an armed rebellion. Elias acted as an intermediary between the Minister of War, the Bavarian Christian Schmaltz (Christian von Schmaltz 1787-1865), and the Manat. He also took part in the pacification of Messenia , where he spoke on the side of government forces against Nikitaras and Mitropetrovas .

Ilias was rewarded for his pro-government stance. Unions of local military leaders were disbanded, except for two, one of which was headed by Ilias Katsakos Mavromihalis.

The services rendered to the throne were credited to Elias. When moving the capital to Athens and seeking to strengthen his ties with the Mavromikhalis clan and the Manat in general, Otton appointed Ilias one of his adjutants. The phenomenon of Elias in the emerging court and aristocratic Athenian circles was impressive. Elias possessed both bodily and spiritual virtues. Being a tall, young man, with a beautiful face and “Apollo features”, possessing natural nobility and courage, as well as having managed to acquire a heroic past, Ilias earned admiration and recognition from Greeks and foreigners.

In April 1836, a young Otton went to German lands to find his wife. The king took with him two adjutants, Anthony Miaulis and Ilias Katsakos. The king and his retinue arrived in Munich when a cholera epidemic raged in the city. Elias fell ill and died. Soon Antonios Miaulis fell ill and died. Both were buried with military honors in the old southern cemetery of Munich. The tombstone of Elias, the majestic mausoleum, was erected by the father of Otto, King of Bavaria, Ludwig I. Opposite the graves of the adjutants, the king was buried, studying in Munich and also died during the cholera epidemic, the 12-year-old son of the hero of the Greek revolution, Odysseus Andrutzos , Leonidas. On the death of Elias Mavromihalis, a German priest and poet Michael von Jung (1781-1858) wrote one of his odes ^[3] . During the short period of his stay in Germany, the 36-year-old lieutenant colonel Ilias Mavromihalis managed to conquer court circles and the public with his appearance and character, which is reflected in the German press of those years. Journalists described his “gigantic body”, physical and spiritual courage and good nature. They wrote that Elias laughed at his illness, claiming that it was female cholera, and he was not afraid of women. German journalists wrote, "He was a child of nature, a hero of mountains and gorges, a representative type of joy and high spirits."

Maniats could not believe in the natural death of Elias, who was in the prime of male age. A myth appeared about his murder in the Bavarian palace, either as a result of an erotic adventure, or as a retribution for the shame inflicted by the Bavarian military manat during the rebellion. This myth is the theme of the famous ballad, which in different versions, but always under the name “Ilya Katsis’s song”, is still sung by wandering musicians at holidays in Mani ^[4] . The theory of the violent death of Elias was immediately accepted by the publisher of the Athenian newspaper Elpis, Konstantinos Levidis, which caused his conflict with Bavarian officers in November 1837.

Among the maniats and descendants of Elias, there is a legend about his relationship with the Duchess Sophia de Marbois and her daughter Elisa. Elias somehow stopped the strollers of Sofia, who had run up and got out of control, on the run. Ilias stopped the carriage a few meters before the cliff into the Ilyssos River. Since then, the Duchess considered Elias, her and her daughter, to be a savior, and although she was a kind of eccentric and legible in her connections, she often accepted the adjutant of the king with joy. Eliza considered him her future bridegroom. Legend has it that Elias became an apple of contention between two women. The legend is believable, as Ilias divorced his wife and even married her to a friend. Proponents of the legend believe that so Elias wanted to clear his way to a new marriage. However, when Eliza learned that Elias was married, she was shocked. After this daughter's loving disappointment, the Duchess organized a trip to Lebanon , where Eliza fell ill. In Beirut, Eliza found out about the death of Elias, which accelerated her own death. For all the plausibility of the plot and the coincidence of dates and circumstances, the legend (so far) has no documentary evidence ^[5] .

When King Otton visited Elias before his death, the last words of the dying were: "My children, Your Majesty!" Otton did not forget the request of his adjutant and took under his protection two sons of Ilias Mavromihalis: Ioannis and Dimitrios. Ioannis was repeatedly elected to the parliament and became a personal friend of the poet Aristotelis Valaoritis . He left politics early and retired to his estate. He died in old age. Dimitrios died young, but managed to leave offspring.

• Ημερολόγιον της Μεγάλης Ελλάδος, Τόμος 15 / Γεώργιος Δροσίνης. - Αθήνα: Ι. Ν. Σιδέρης, Τυπογραφείον "Εστία", 1936.
• Γεώργιος Α. Βασιλειάδης, “The Duchesse de Plaisance in fact and fiction”, Athens News, 14 Μαΐου 2004.
• Α. Δ. Δασκαλάκη, "Αρχείον Τζωρτζάκη- Γρηγοράκη", Ανέκδοτα Ιστορικά έγγραφα της Μάνης, 1810-1815.

• Ύμνος στον Μαυρομιχάλη