Michalis Kourmoulis (1765 – 1824)

Michalis Kourmoulis (1765 – 1824)

From Messara, a south-central region of Crete, he was a Greek fighter and one of the major military leaders and chieftains of Crete, during the Greek Revolution of 1821.

He was one of the wealthiest people on Crete, outwardly an Ottoman named “Hussein”, he was in fact a crypto Greek Orthodox Christian.

During the years pre the Revolution of 1821, he personally intervened to save the lives of numerous Greeks on Crete, additionally, the Turks were continuously stumped over the disappearance of and frequent killing of many Janissaries, Ottoman soldiers and other Ottoman officials in Messara.

The Turks were suspicious of Kourmoulis playing a hand, but they could never prove it with any certainty.

After the outbreak of the Revolution on the mainland in early 1821, during Easter in Chania, Kourmoulis publicly proclaimed his true identity and together with the other captains of Crete, launched the Revolution on Crete.

Kourmoulis had his own force of some 100 men, many of which were his own family members, while he assisted in equipping, arming and supplying the other Greek fighting groups on the island.

After some early successes, the uprising was put down by 1823 after Turkish and Egyptian re-enforcements arrived on the island and suppressed the revolt.

Kourmoulis who was wounded several times, fled to Hydra where he eventually died of those wounds in 1824.

His son Dimitrios, took over as leader of the family, he would also die in the Revolution, at the Battle of Faliro near Piraeus in April of 1827.