Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Piccco (talk | contribs) at 15:28, 22 December 2024 (start). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Count Antonios Maria Kapodistrias (Greek: Αντώνιος Μαρία Καποδίστριας; 1741–1814) or Capodistrias (also in Italian: Capo d'Istria) was a Greek politician, lawyer, and diplomat. Born into a noble family from Corfu, he held the title of Count of Capo d'Istria and became a member of the island's Great Council. He was chosen as a representative of the island to the Ottoman Sublime Porte and played a major role during the negotiations and the founding of the Septinsular Republic in 1800.

Biography

Antonios Maria Kapodistrias was born in 1741 in Corfu, the most populous Ionian Island, then under Venetian rule. He was descended from a distinguished noble family of counts, inscribed in the Libro d'Oro (Golden Book) of Corfiote nobility, which from the sixteenth century begun to include some Greek families, along with those of the Italian settlers. The Kapodistrias family had a long and significant presence in the island's politics, economy, and social affairs. At his youth Antonios was educated by scholar and theologian Nikephoros Theotokis and later studied law in Padua. Antonios returned to Corfu and became active in the island's politics joining the Great Council of Corfu in 1760.

The Republic of Venice ruled the Ionian islands until its partition upon the Treaty of Campo Formio, when the islands came under brief French control between 1797 and 1799. Following the captured the islands by the allied Russian and Ottoman fleet, it was agreed that they would form an autonomous state that became known as the Septinsular Republic. Antonios Kapodistrias was one of the twelve delegates drawn from the noble classes of the Ionian islands that were to be sent to Saint Petersburg and Constantinople, in order to negotiate the status of the new state. Kapodistrias and the Zakynthian Count Nikolaos Gradenigos Sigouros Desyllas were chosen by the Sublime Porte as representatives during the nagotiations in Constantinople. The independence of the new state was one of the main requests of the two delegates. The Treaty of Constantinople was conluded creating the "Republic of the Seven United Islands" in 1800. Although its status as a semi-independent republic under Ottoman sovereignty was unpopular to the people, it was nevertheless seen as the first free Greek state to be established since the fall of the Constantinople in the 15th century. Kapodistrias and Sigouros Desyllas designed the new flag of the state and composed a new constitution of 37 articles, which became known as the 'Byzantine constitution'.

References

1. ^ "The Capodistrias Family". The Capodistrias Museum. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
2. Koukkou 1983, p. 94: "".
3. Mackridge 2014, p. 3.
4. ^ Mackridge 2014, pp. 4–5.
5. Dagkli 2018, p. 4, and note: 5.
6. Dagkli 2018, p. 3.
7. Dagkli 2018, pp. 55–56.
8. Dagkli 2018, p. 4.
9. "Antonio Maria conte di Capodìstria". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-12-22.

Sources

• Dagkli, Eleni (2018). Septinsular Republic: The organization and the society under the constitution of 1803 (Thesis). Thessaloniki: University of Aristotle.
• Koukkou, Eleni (1983). Ιστορία των Επτανήσων από το 1797 μέχρι την Αγγλοκρατία [History of the Heptanese from 1797 until English rule] (in Greek). Εκδόσεις Δημ.Ν. Παπαδήμα.
• Mackridge, Peter (2014). "Introduction". In Anthony Hirst; Patrick Sammon (eds.). The Ionian Islands: Aspects of their History and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 1–23. ISBN 978-1-4438-6278-3.

• Kapodistrias family
• Ioannis Kapodistrias
• Septinsular Republic