Laskarina Bubulina, the intrepid naval commander who was instrumental in Greece’s independence from the Ottoman Empire

His life was unconventional from the beginning: he was born in 1771 in a prison in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), where his father, a Greek captain, was imprisoned for having participated in a rebellion against the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Clearly little Laskarina inherited her father’s revolutionary fervor because, half a century later, she would become a heroine of the Greek War of Independence, whose bicentennial is celebrated this year.

Bubulina earned the nickname “mother of modern Greece” not only for her role on the front lines, where she was an intrepid naval commander, but also for her key role as a financier of the independence cause.

Something that would leave her living in misery at the end of her life.

The radio show The Forum, from the BBC World Service, recently dedicated an episode to review the legacy of this extraordinary fighter, about whom even today stories bordering on the fantastic are told.

Two experts on the life of Laskarina Bubulina and one of her descendants explained to BBC journalist Bridget Kendall why she remains a relevant figure to 250 years from his birth.

“She was a protagonist, a leader, of events that shaped modern Europe“, Highlighted the historian Margarite Poulos, from the Western Sydney University in Australia, expert on Greece and author of the book” Weapons and women “, which analyzes the role played by Greek women in the military struggles of her country.

“The Greek revolution was one of many that occurred during the nineteenth century and that would lead to the disappearance of the Empire, introducing the new order of nation states -in other words, of the world we know today- ”, he pointed out.

Poulos highlights the figure of Bubulina because “she stepped out of the role assigned to a woman in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and literally shattered that role.”

That makes it, according to the academic, in “an icon of all ages, which is as relevant now as it ever was, when we consider that so many people, especially women, are still struggling to have their basic humanity recognized. “

For her part, April Kalogeropoulos Householder of the University of Maryland, in the United States, who wrote and also made a documentary on Bubulina, highlighted that many of the political disputes that are discussed in Greece today are disagreements that have been traced back to the time of the independence.

“The issues that polarized the two camps that emerged from the emerging nation, that she fought for and that led to her being persecuted, still unresolved today, “he said.

And he named some: “The struggle between external domination and self-government, Greece’s relationship with Russia, territorial disputes that still remain with Turkey and the place of women and other minorities in national identity,” he listed.

His life

Pavlos Demertzis-Bubulis, a descendant of Bubulina and director of a museum dedicated to her on the island of Spetses, where she spent most of her life, told the BBC a bit about her origins.

“Laskarina’s father was in prison because he had participated in the Orlof Revolution, which was instigated by Russia, and his mother was visiting him when she gave birth, so her life has a dramatic start from the beginning,” she recounted.

“Unfortunately her father died in jail and she and her mother returned to Hydra, the island where the family was from.”

“But some four years later they were expelled from their place of origin and they should have moved to Spetses”.

There, Bubulina’s mother remarried and had eight other children.

Although it is known that Bubulina could read and write -the family keeps two letters in his own hand- there has not been a single record written by her about the events that occurred during the revolution.

“Everything that was written about her was, either through family history, written and oral, or what the Greeks and foreigners who traveled to Greece to help the revolutionary cause wrote,” says Demertzis-Bubulis, who belongs to the sixth generation of the heroine family.

This, he acknowledges, has meant that although “everything that was written is mainly based on the facts, there is also a bit of fantasy in these stories ”.

Something that all versions agree on is that it was a passionate about sailing, an activity that she carried out together with her stepfather and later with her two husbands (something very unusual for a girl or woman at that time).

Demertzis-Bubulis says that she also had a strong personality from a young age.

“According to our oral family tradition, Bubilina was, without a doubt, the leader of her eight half-siblings. He had this relentless character. “

“For a girl to sail with her stepfather was totally shocking. Definitely was determined, and also a very tough person, to achieve everything he did, although he was also someone very human, as would be shown in some gestures he had during the revolution, “he says.

Own fleet

Another peculiarity of Bubulina is that it came to have its own fleet of ships.

Some she inherited after the death of her second husband, Dimitrios Bubulis, a wealthy owner and captain of the ship from whom she adopted her surname and also her various maritime businesses.

She would send another three ships to build, including the mythical warship Agamemnon, which would play a key role during the battle for independence.

Although it was not entirely unusual in Spetses for a woman to inherit her husband’s fortune, it was unusual for her to take over the family business, as Bubulina did.

And even more so that it expanded the business, becoming a successful businesswoman on their own.

But she was not only a pioneer in the trade.

Inspired by the independence of the United States (1776) and the French Revolution (1789), the Greeks, who until then had managed independently in the different islands and mainland Greece, began to unite with the idea of ​​freeing themselves from Ottoman control .

In the late 1810s, when the Napoleonic wars came to an end, the Greek independence fighters began planning and organizing their insurrection.

It is believed that it was in 1818, during a business trip to Constantinople, that Bubulina joined the Filiki Etaireia (Friendly Association), a secret society created in Odessa (in Ukraine) by Greek merchants seeking independence from Greece.

Some versions claim that Bubulina was the only woman.

The revolution started in 1821 and in April of that year Spetses was the first island to join.

According to Demertzis-Bubulis, her relative played a key role as captain of the Agamemnon, which was one of the largest warships of the time.

“Bubulina was the unofficial leader of the small squadron of ships that sailed towards the fortified city of Nauplia, which was an Ottoman stronghold, to block it, ”he says.

The vessels resisted the fierce Ottoman attack, which according to April Kalogeropoulos Householder included some 300 guns.

“It was at this time that the stories about his bravery and courageous attacks against the coastal forts, ”says his proud descendant.

“A Greek historian who was present during the siege described her as someone with a ‘Lion heart‘”He says.

Another famous story told about Bubulina is that a few months later, when the city of Tripoli fell, she managed to rescue many Greek women who were part of the sultan’s harem.

An inglorious ending

But despite all her contributions and her crucial role in the independence struggle, many years would pass before Bubulina was recognized as a national heroine.

Because three years after the independence struggle began, the different Greek factions clashed in a civil war, in which the opposite side to Bubulina, who supported the pro-Russian leader Theodoros Kolokotronis, prevailed.

She was arrested but later allowed to return to Spetses, where she lived together with the six children she had during her two marriages.

But the successful businesswoman now he was poor, since he had donated his fortune for the revolutionary cause.

Furthermore, he lived under the constant threat from his political enemies, who constantly intimidated her.

“We know that locals sometimes shot at her house and that she prepared her own food for fear of being poisoned,” says Kalogeropoulos Householder.

On May 22, 1825, he died, aged 54, under confusing circumstances.

The official version indicates that it was a domestic matter: she was trying to defend her son, who was in a relationship with the daughter of a wealthy family, who was opposed to the bond, and someone shot her in the head during the argument.

It could never be determined who killed her.

The American academic believes that it was actually a “political assassination” covert.

“To recognize this would have been to show that she was worthy as a political force and that was a threat to the political order of the time”.

“To say that he died of a domestic dispute was a way to silence her”, He says.

However, neither this nor the fact that he left no records of his incredible feats have managed to erase Laskarina Bubulina from the collective Greek memory, whose incredible legacy is celebrated especially this bicentennial year.

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