Mavrocordato, Alexander |
| PRINCE, STATESMAN (GREECE) |
| BORN 15 Feb 1791, Arnauköy (near Constantinopel) - DIED 18 Aug 1865, Aegina |
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Alexander Mavrocordato (or Alexandhros Mavrokordhatos) was born into a family of Byzanthine Greeks in service of the Turks. On 2 Dec 1820 he met the poet Shelley in Greece. Shelley dedicated his 'Hellas' to him and Mavrocordato taught Mary Shelley Greek. Mavrocordato was an important figure in the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829). In 1822 He became president of the first national assembly of the rebellious Greeks and he helped to defend Missolonghi against the Turks in 1823. In 1824 Lord Byron answered Mavrodato's call to join the Greek cause. Byron's diplomatic approach seemd far more effective than Mavrocordato's, but he died before he saw action. Mavrocordato wrote the Greek Declaration of Independence and the new Greek king Otto I made him minister of finance in 1832. He was several times prime minister (1833-1834, 1841, 1843-1844, 1854-1855) but he never managed to realise the modernization he had been propagating for years. In 1830 Mavrocordato married Chariclée, the daughter of Jacques Argypoulos. Related persons • has a connection with Byron, George Noel Gordon • was a friend of Shelley, Mary Events |
| 2/10/1820 | Shelley meets Mavrocordato for the first time [Shelley, Percy Bysshe] |
Sources • Feldman, Paula R. and Diana Scott-Kilvert, The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987 |