The story of the Albanian Laskarina Bubulina, the National Heroine of Greece!

(…)Only you can/ still crying/ turn and ask to see your children again/ spin and not know what to say/ be silent in wonder/ and appear as big as the earth itself/ the heavens sing your love song... (Alda Merini)

Laskarina Bubulina was born in prison on May 23, 1771. Her father was in Constantinople, where as a clandestine participant in the Orlof Revolution (1769-1770) against the Ottoman Empire, he was arrested by the Turks. Being born in prison and forced to live there for some time, in the soul of a child must have been born the genius of rebellion in front of any captivity or restriction of freedom, which characterized her whole life.

Bubulina's family was from the Arvanite (Albanian) communities of the island of Hydra in the Peloponnese and Laskarina had inherited all the physical characteristics, such as: olive skin color, sharp features, brown eyes and the fact that she was very proud.

When her father died, Laskarina's mother, Skeva, returned to Hidra, then moved to Specie where Skeva married Dhimitri Lazaru-Orlof who lived there. At that time, the Peloponnese islands were distinguished by the flourishing of commercial activities, and Dhimitri himself was the owner and captain of a small fleet of ships.

This was more or less the environment in which Laskarina would grow up: a world of professions, trade, fishing... full of stories and stories of seas and pirates... but at the same time a very strong desire for freedom.

Greece had been under the long rule of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years, and the Greek porters, sailors, shipowners and soldiers who were in the service of the Turkish generals hatched a conspiracy that gave vent to the fantasy of freedom and rebellion of that people. printed. All this, Laskarina, not only heard, but also the first words she had learned as a child were: "revolution" and "freedom". Perhaps this happened at that time when she began to wish that one day the Arvanites would also live in a free Greece.

She married for the first time at the age of 17. Later, after the death of her husband, she became the wife of Dhimitri Bubuli, owner and captain of the fleet, from a noble family, but also a very rich man. All this wealth passed to Laskarina after his death in a battle against pirates.

Bubulina, already a mother of seven children, twice a widow, at the age of 40 could have ended her life. But she did not faint spiritually. A sharp mind and rare dexterity led her to quickly acquire all of her husband's wealth, creating agreements and alliances with shipowners and partnering with other fleets, significantly increasing the number of her ships. In a short time he managed to create a considerable fortune.

Such an initiative could not go unnoticed. The Ottoman Empire declared her guilty of treason, due to her husband's past of siding with Tsarist Russia during the Russo-Turkish war for control of the Black Sea, and tried to confiscate all her assets. Bubulina sought protection from the Russian ambassador Strogonoff, known for his pro-Hellenic tendencies, and landed in the churches of Constantinople seeking to speak with the mother of Sultan Mahmud II. We do not know what Laskarina said and asked, or what her attitude was; perhaps that one-on-one conversation between a woman and a woman, or between a mother and a mother about her life up until then, or maybe she confessed to her children asking for help as if she were her own daughter! It is only known that the Sultan's mother, greatly moved by the courage and courage of that woman, convinced her son to give up the confiscation of her property.

After a short stay in the Crimea, Bubulina returned to Specie, and not only to attend to work, but already bringing with him the winds of revolution. During her stay in Constantinople, Laskarina actually joined, as the only woman, the secret society "Filiki Eteria", a conspiracy for the freedom of Greece. Therefore, her return home coincided with the meticulous preparation of the uprising against the Turkish rule: the illegal purchase of arms and ammunition, their secret transfer by ship to the island of Spice, their conversion into warships, and the construction of the famous " Agamemnon” – a warship armed with 18 cannons, the front of the warships of the fleet which led her to gather around herself a small army of “brave boys” (palikari) as she called them: an organization where she paid, fed and supported all ships and crews. All her wealth was sacrificed for the cause of the liberation of Greece.

On the 13th of March, 1821, with the roar of the cannon of the "Agamemnon", whose command was in the hands of Bubulina, the Greek separatist flag was raised on the mast of a warship. This was the "Beginning of the Revolution" - on May 3, 1821, the fleet of the islands of Species, Hydra and Psaras attacked Nafplio to organize a naval blockade. The official iconography shows Laskarina Bubulina standing at the foot of "Agamemnon" facing forward, with her head covered in traditional clothing, with her arm pointing towards the conquest of the castle, now protected by 300 cannons. The battle was fierce and Kapedania, as she is called, landed on the ground with her men and participated in the first battle with all her energies. And then followed the battles of Monemvasia, Pylos and Argos, where she also lost her first son, Janus.

But, Bubulina did not remain famous for her fighting spirit. It also deserves to be remembered for the act of forgiveness sought by the Greek separatists ready for the massacre of the besieged population in the fortress of Tripolis, in the heart of Lakonia. With her intercession, the Greeks spared the lives of the women and children of the Pasha's family, the ruler of the city, in respect for the former act of Sultan Mahmud's mother when she came down to Constantinople for the first time. Then 1825 happened: the borders of Greece were again in danger, after the Turkish-Egyptian fleet had arrived on the coast of the Peloponnese, in the city of Pylos. Laskarina, even though she was now in poverty, having spent all her wealth on the revolution, appears again ready to fight, prepare and organize the people.

Suddenly she receives a defamatory accusation from the family of her son's girlfriend. This incident made Laskarina forget about Greece, the homeland and the revolution. It happened that she abandoned political ideals and put the war aside. Thus, Kapedania loses her public role and becomes simply a mother. She confronts the relatives of the girl's family, defending her son. Suddenly the atmosphere ignites and a firearm, fired by a hand that remained forever anonymous, hits him between the forehead, leaving him dead. And that's how her life ends...

This is how Laskarina Bubulina died, the National Heroine of Free Greece, the only woman admiral of the Russian Imperial Navy, born in prison, but with one word in her heart and on her lips: Freedom! /progettomediterranea.com/Translated by: Jozef Radi/