Bouboulina was visited by nationalist priest Papaflessas in 1818. Following her meeting with Papaflessas, she ordered the construction of a ship, the Agamemnon, that was larger than Ottoman regulations would allow. The Ottomans dispatched admiral Hussein to ensure Bouboulina adhered to Ottoman law. Bouboulina proceeded to bribe Hussein, who then signed a report indicating that the ship was a long range Spetsiot trade ship.
Unknown artist
The 30,72 meter long Agamemnon, c. 1820
Armed with 18 (possibly 12pdr) long guns.
Property and flagship of Laskarina Bouboulina the only woman in world naval history, until recently, to hold the rank of Admiral.
The Agamemnon was burned by Andreas Miaoulis along with the frigate Hellas and the corvette Hydra in the naval base of Poros, during the Greek civil war in 1831.
Agamemnon was armed with 18 cannons and went on to become the first warship in modern-day Greece. Upon the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence, Bouboulina sailed on the Agamemnon, which was commanded by her son Yiannis Yiannouzas, to Nafplion, along with another ship commanded by her half brother Manolis Lazarou-Orlov, imposing a naval blockade on the city on 4 April 1821. Bouboulina and Staikos Staikopoulos then appealed to the Spetsiots who dispatched seven more ships to assist in the siege. Bouboulina commanded great respect among the revolutionaries who nicknamed her Kapetanissa (Captain) and Kyra (Lady).
Bouboulina’s sword
The Bouboulina Museum
On 10 April, the besieged Ottomans exploited the fact that the Greek sentries were celebrating Orthodox Easter, breaking through the siege. Bouboulina then disembarked at Myloi and traveled to Argos on horseback, supplying the local rebels with money and ammunition. In Argos, Bouboulina participated in a conference of local military commanders and kodjabashis, where the Greeks decided to resume the siege of Nafplion.
Peter von Hess
Laskarina Bouboulina
Bouboulina museum
Peter Heinrich Lambert von Hess ( 29 July 1792 , Düsseldorf – 4 April 1871, Munich ) was a German painter , known for history paintings, particularly of the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence.
Peter von Hess initially received training from his father Carl Ernst Christoph Hess . He accompanied his younger brother Heinrich Maria to Munich in 1806 and enrolled at the Munich Academy at the age of sixteen. He also trained with Wilhelm von Kobell .
During the Napoleonic Wars , he was allowed into the staff of General Wrede , who commanded the Bavarians in the military operations leading up to Napoleon 's abdication . There he acquired new war experiences and the pleasure of long journeys. During this period, von Hess painted his first battle pieces. In 1818 he spent some time in Italy where he painted various Italian scenes and landscapes and traveled to Naples with Joseph Petzl and a group of other Bavarian artists.
In 1833, at Ludovico 's request , he accompanied Otto of Greece to the newborn Kingdom of Greece , where in Athens he collected material for the paintings of the war of liberation. The sketches he made later were placed, in the number of forty, in the Picture Gallery, after being copied in wax on a large scale by Nilsen , in the northern arcades of the Hofgarten in Munich.
The siege of Nafplion continued until the rebels became aware of the Kehaya Bey's force which had reached Corinth and was heading to relieve the siege. Her son Yiannis Yiannouzas then assembled troops from Argos, Spetses and Kranidi in order to check the Kehaya Bey's advance and was killed in May in the ensuing battle. Bouboulina subsequently traveled to the battlefield in order to collect her son's remains who was beheaded in the aftermath of the battle. Bouboulina personally executed three Ottoman prisoners during her son's funeral ceremony.
Anonymous-Greek
LASKARINA BOUBOULINA, 19C
Oil on canvas
75 x 90 cm. (29.5 x 35.4 in.)
Private collection
After failing to capture Argos, Kehaya Bey reinforced Nafplion's garrison and departed for Tripolitsa. Bouboulina then resumed the naval blockade of Nafplion. In May 1821, she blockaded Monemvasia with the Agamemnon, while the rest of the Spetsiot fleet remained off the shore of Nafplion. The garrison of Monemvasia surrendered on 25 July, at the same time another ship under her command resupplied Galaxidi.
Bouboulina, c. 19th
Russian engraving
Bouboulina was well-known and respected in the Russian Empire. The Greek people - themselves Orthodox Christians, aroused a deep admiration among Russian society.
Bouboulina - who was known as ‘Bobelina’ in Russia - was often portrayed on paintings (interestingly, always on horseback, instead of a ship) and the subject of numerous works of literary fiction - including those by the mighty Nikolay Gogol, Ivan Turgenev and Nikolay Leskov.
Russian Emperor Aleksandr I, having heard of Laskarina’s death, posthumously awarded her the honorable rank of Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. In all of Russian history, she remains the only woman to have ever received the title. More on this work
Rumors of Bouboulina's exploits spread beyond Greece and many foreign philhellenes sought to meet her. During one such meeting in Astros, one foreign volunteer showed her a lithograph depicting her which he had purchased in Paris. The highly romanticized and inaccurate depiction caused Bouboulina to burst out laughing.
Laskarina Bouboulina, 19th-century painting
National Museum of History, Athens
I have no further description, at this time
In September 1821, she arrived in Tripolitsa which was besieged by the troops of general Theodoros Kolokotronis. The Ottomans were on the brink of surrender and were requesting a safe exit of the local officials along with their harems and release of a number of prisoners. Bouboulina took an active part in the negotiations, intervening to save the lives of the women from Hursit's harem upon Valide Sultan's request. Kolokotronis allowed only the officials of Albanian origin to depart the city. Three days later the city fell to the Greeks who massacred the local Muslim population and looted their properties.
Unknown author
Bouboulina attacking Nafplion, c. early 19th century
Painting
Museum Bouboulina
After the fall of Tripolitsa, Bouboulina returned to Nafplion to personally oversee its blockade. On 22 November 1822, the Ottomans surrendered the Palamidi fortress. On 3 December 1822, the Ottoman population of Nafplion was allowed to safely depart for Asia Minor, surrendering the city to the Greeks. Bouboulina was appointed to one of the commissions tasked with redistributing the property of Nafplio's Muslim population, a position she abused for personal gain.
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)
The Massacre at Chios
Oil on canvas
height: 419 cm (13.7 ft); width: 354 cm (11.6 ft)
Louvre Museum
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)
Flight from Chios, c. 1839
Oil on canvas
height: 82 cm (32.2 in); width: 104 cm (40.9 in)
Private collection
Francesco Hayez (10 February 1791 – 21 December 1882) was an Italian painter, the leading artist of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories and exceptionally fine portraits.
Hayez came from a relatively poor family from Venice. He was brought up by his mother's sister, who had married a well-off shipowner and collector of art. From childhood he showed a predisposition for drawing, so his uncle apprenticed him to an art restorer. Later he became a student of the painter Francesco Maggiotto with whom he continued his studies for three years. He was admitted to the painting course of the New Academy of Fine Arts in 1806. In 1809 he won a competition from the Academy of Venice for one year of study at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. He remained in Rome until 1814, then moved to Naples where he was commissioned by Joachim Murat to paint a major work depicting Ulysses at the court of Alcinous. In the mid-1830s he attended the "Salotto Maffei" salon in Milan.
Francesco Hayez lived long and was prolific. His output spanned both historic paintings, and Neoclassic style grand themes, either from biblical or classical literature. He also painted scenes from theatrical presentations of his day. More Francesco Hayez
Bouboulina then moved into a house in Nafplion. Bouboulina stayed in Nafplion until the outbreak of civil war of 1824 during which she supported the faction of Kolokotronis. After the defeat of her faction, Kolokotronis was imprisoned while her house in Nafplion was confiscated and she departed for Spetses. She was imprisoned for some time on false charges of witchcraft and heresy by her Spetsiot political opponents before being eventually released.
Eugenia Koutsi and Bouboulina's son Georgios Yiannouzas had eloped, after the former was forced by her family to betroth a man she disliked. Bouboulina had supported her son's decision. On 22 May 1825, armed members of the Koutsis family went to Bouboulina's house, believing that the couple was hiding inside. When Bouboulina confronted them from the balcony, she was shot and killed by one of the armed men.
More on Bouboulina
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