13 Facts About Limberakis Gerakaris

Limberakis Gerakaris served as a rower in a Venetian galley before becoming a pirate.

Limberakis Gerakaris soon returned to piracy and was imprisoned again by the Ottomans.

However, when the Venetians invaded the Peloponnese in 1685, the Ottomans released Limberakis Gerakaris and made him ruler of Mani, and in return he promised to fight for the Turks.

Limberakis Gerakaris is next heard of five years later, as a feared pirate.

When Limberakis Gerakaris returned to Mani, he ruled like a tyrant with the backing of the Turkish garrisons in Kelefa and Porto Kagio, although the Turks were boxed into the castles by the surrounding Maniots.

Limberakis Gerakaris made life so difficult for his enemies, the Stefanopouli family and some other families, that they were forced into self-exile, with 700 people moving to Corsica, where they were granted asylum by Genoa.

However, Limberakis Gerakaris soon fell out with the Turks and turned to piracy, raiding not only Ottoman but European ships.

The Ottomans, pressed by the Habsburgs, were unable to hold the Peloponnese, so the new Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha suggested that Limberakis Gerakaris be released from the Bagnio.

Limberakis Gerakaris accepted on the condition that he was given the title "His Highness, the Ruler of Mani" and that an amnesty was given to all the people of Greece.

Limberakis Gerakaris joined the Ottoman army at Thebes and over the next few years launched several invasions of the Peloponnese.

Limberakis Gerakaris defected to the Venetians in 1696 after the Turks tried to unsuccessfully poison him.

Later that year, Limberakis Gerakaris led a brutal sacking of Arta in retaliation for the Artans burning his property in Karpenisi.

However, some Artans escaped and complained to the Doge, who had Limberakis Gerakaris arrested and placed under house arrest at Brescia until his death in 1710.