Page 396 - Beholding Liberty!

Petrobey Mavromichalis (1765-1848)
LAST LORD («bey») of Mani since 1815 and member of the Society of Friends since 1818.
On 17 March 1821 he declared the revolution in Areopolis, while, together with Theodoros Kolokotronis, Nikitas Stamate- lopoulos and others, raised on 23 March 1821 the revolution- ary flag in Kalamata. In May 1821 he was elected President of the Messinian Senate, which addressed a proclamation («warning») to the European courts, defining the national character of the Revolution of Greece, aiming at shaking off the Turkish yoke.
In the last ten days of May 1821, Mavromichalis took part in the meeting of the Kaltetzes monastery, where the «Pelopon- nesian Senate» was set up. In the First National Assembly of Epidaurus (21 December 1821-15 January 1822) he was elected vice-president of the Legislative and until the end of the Struggle he occupied important administrative posts, such as President of the Second National Assembly (1823), Presi- dent of the Executive (26 April 1823 - 5 January 1824), mem- ber of the Administrative Council of Greece (1826) et al.
Important was also his military activity, as he participated in the siege of Tripolitsa (September 1821), fought against Dra- malis in the summer of 1822 and participated, leading about 500 Maniots, in the defense of the city of Missolonghi during the first siege, at the end of the same year.
After the arrival of Kapodistrias he was appointed member of the Panhellenion and the Senate (1828). However, soon, the good relations of the Mavromichalis family with the Governor were interrupted, ending tragically in the assassination of Io- annis Kapodistrias.
396 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
ΙΙI.1.4
Konrad Lange (1809-1856)
Medallion of Petrobey Mavromichalis, 1836
obverse: Symbolic representation with the reinstitution of Greece reverse: Portrait of Petrobey Mavromichalis
signed: Κ. ΛΑΓΓΕ (front side)
inscribed: ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΜΑΥΡΟΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ – ΑΡΧΙΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ (front side) Ο ΔΕ ΘΕΟΣ ΗΓΕΙΤΟ ΑΥΤΩΝ • ΤΡΙΠΟΛΙΣ 23 ΣΕΠΤΕΜΒ. /
1821 (back side)
bifacial bronze medallion, diameter 4.4 cm Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 886
ONE OF THE SERIES OF 12 BRONZE MEDALS
with elaborate figures and events of the Greek War of Indepen- dence published by Konrad Lange in 1836. The Bavarian engraver Lange came to Greece during Otto’s reign, in 1834, and worked at the Athens Mint until 1840.
On the verso, a symbolic representation of Greece in antique style, standing, supported by two fighters. This allegorical image refers, according to the date and place given below, to the fall of Tripolitsa, on September 23, 1821, when the Struggle was firmly established in the heart of the Peloponnese. The inscription ‘Ο ΔΕ ΘΕΟΣ ΗΓΕΙΤΟ ΑΥΤΩΝ’ ( the Lord went ahead of them) comes from the Book of Exodus (13:21).
On the recto, an official portrait of Petros Mavromichalis as gen- eral, according to the inscription (recto) of “Spartan forces”; Mav- romichalis was instrumental in the fall of Tripolitsa.