Manto Mavrogenous

Manto Mavrogenous

“I yearn for a day of fighting as you yearn for a night of dancing” Manto Mavrogenous, heroine of Greece’s War of Independence

Today is a very special day for Greece, marking the anniversary of the war of Greek Independence, (1821–32), a rebellion of Greeks within the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the establishment of an independent kingdom of Greece.

Manto Mavrogenous was a brave woman, a fierce fighter in Greece’s war for independence, and in life.

She was born into a wealthy Greek family, in Trieste, Italy, in 1796. Her father was from Cyclades and her mother from Mykonos.

In Trieste, she was known as the “Bella Greca”, the beautiful Greek woman. Mavrogenous had a steady supply of suitors, as her beauty, combined with her exceptional education (she was fluent in French, Italian and Turkish) gained her many admirers.

Her life story reads like a novel. In battle she was heroic (eventually becoming the only woman to be honored with the title of general-in-chief). She devoted her entire personal fortune (the amount is estimated at 700,000 groschen, an enormous figure for the time) to the struggle for Greek
independence, a decision that pitted her against her own family.

From the writings of European travellers and philhellenes we know that she personally took part in many battles. On the other hand, her open letters to the ladies of French and British society played an important role in bolstering the philhellenic movement.

Her romantic attachment to Prince Dimitrios Ipsilantis broke the social conventions of the time and ultimately ended in betrayal and denial.

Mavrogenous died of typhoid in Paros in July 1840. Her grave has unfortunately not survived, but Mavrogenous lives on in the Greek national consciousness.