Konstantinos Kolokotronis

Konstantinos Kolokotronis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κολοκοτρώνης) was a notable Greek klepht leader in the third quarter of the 18th century in the Peloponnese, and the father of Theodoros Kolokotronis, one of the protagonists of the Greek War of Independence.

Biography

He was born around 1745 and he was one of Ioannis Kolokotronis's five children. He was of medium height and was dark-skinned. When he was still young he worked as an armatole in Corinth under the command of Halil Bey for four years. He developed close connections with some of the most influential families of the Peloponnese and soon accumulated significant power himself, to the point of influencing the choice of the Ottoman governors (vali) of the Peloponnese. During his four years of service under Halil Bey, he developed the plan of driving the Turks out of the Peloponnese. He became close friends with the renowned klepht Panagiotaros. In 1762 he quit his job as an armtole, climbed the mountain Taygetus and with Panagiotaros's help he built a fort at Kastanitsa of Mani and two small houses close to it. From there he began launching raids against the Turks.

In 1770, he took part in the Orlov Revolt and the battles that followed, where both his father and two of his brothers were killed. He fought the Turks across the Peloponnese. In one ambush at the bridge of Birbaga in Katsana he managed to kill one of the most infamous leaders of the Albanian irregulars, Bekiaris, along with 36 of his men. At another incident, near Androusa, he managed to kill another infamous Albanian leader called Veizos and 24 soldiers of his men. With these deeds, he managed to encourage around 5,000 Greeks to go to the mountains and become klephts. On 10 June 1779 along with other Greek klepht leaders and 3,000 men he participated the so-called "massacre of the Albanians", in which the Ottoman Kapudan Pasha Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha destroyed 12,000 Albanian irregulars and ended their depredations in the Peloponnese. Hasan Pasha soon turned against him, and gathered ships and 14,000 men and landed at Gytheio to capture him. Kolokotronis and Panagiotaros made their last stand at the Siege of Kastania, where Panagiotaros was captured alive and killed. Kolokotronis received an almost fatal blow from a sword. While he was dying, he was found by 7 Turkish soldiers, who cut him to pieces. They threw his head in a hole and his body over a cliff.

Sources

• Article from the Ethnos(Έθνος) newspaper : "History Of The Greek Nation Theodoros Kolokotronis General Of The Greeks" pages 8–13
• Μεγάλη Στρατιωτική και Ναυτική Εγκυκλοπαιδεία, Τόμος 5, Ν-Σ. Αθήνα: Έκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικής και Ναυτικής Εγκυκλοπαιδείας. 1929. pp. 677, 685, 693 και 701.