Tzanetos Grigorakis

Tzanetos "Kapetanakis" Grigorakis (; 1742–1813), also known as Zanetos or Tzanibey or Zanibey or Tzanetbey or Zanetbey, was a Greek politician, military leader ("") and the third bey of Mani, the most prominent together with Petrobey Mavromichalis. He was the longest-ruling bey of the Maniots, serving for 16 years, from 1782 to 1798.

Family

Grigorakis was born in 1742 at Skoutari of Gytheio, Laconia, and was a member of a famous Maniot family, Grigorakides, which was a leading local warrior clan. His father, Demetrios "Kapetanakis" Grigorakis, gave him the name Tzanetos or Tzannis, as the name Ioannis (Ιωάννης, John) is pronounced in Maniot dialect. Tzanetos was the father of Pierros (Πιέρρος, Peter) and Tzortzis (Τζωρτζής, George), or Tzortzakis Grigorakis, who later became the ancestor of the Tzortzakides branch. His grandson, and son of Tzortzis, Tzannetakis Grigorakis, later became the ancestor of the Tzannetakides branch.

Capture of Passavas

Hassan Ghazi, the ruler of Tripoli, asked the Grigorakis family to accept that Tzanetos Grigorakis will take over the duties of bey and use the power of their clan to achieve peace in Mani and their neighboring areas. However, when the Grigorakis family rejected his proposal, he suggested Tzanetos Koutoufaris as Bey of Mani. Hassan Ghazi sent an envoy to the Grigorakis family leader, Exarchos Grigorakis, saying that he wanted to negotiate. The men met in Tripoli, but once Exarchos arrived, Hasan Ghazi had him seized and hanged.

Bey of Mani In 1780, in the aftermath of the Orlov Revolt and just before the Siege of Kastania, Tzanetos Grigorakis received a message with an envoy from his son-in-law Panagiotaros Venetsanakis and Konstantinos Kolokotronis to send a relief force and avoid the siege, but Grigorakis having a personal rivalry with Panagiotaros, resigned to the fact that they would have to fight alone. The refusal of support and assistance to the Kastanian chiefs in 1780, objectively served the plans of Kapudan Pasha Hassan, so the Ottoman military leader did not forget it and, in 1782, Tzanetos Grigorakis became the Bey of Mani.

Founding of Marathonisi and Mavrovouni Grigorakis decided to build forts on the border line, occupying all the surrounding areas, renovating the towers or building new ones, and transferring his hegemony from Skoutari to Gytheio, where he founded Marathonisi, and also founded a new village on the nearby hill Lykovouni, which it named after the region's old name as Mavrovouni, Laconia. He also built a tower in Mavrovouni and permanently moved there after 1806.

The Russo-Turkish War termination treaty took place in 1792, but Lambros Katsonis refused to abide by the agreement while hosted in Mani to Porto Kagio, so the Ottomans asked Grigorakis to chase him and arrest him. Katsonis was staying at Grigorakis' house in Mavrovouni, when the Ottomans learned of this and rushed to arrest him. After 1792, the Ottomans did not trust Grigorakis, so he decided to build a castle on the hill of Mavrovouni village. In 1795 the castle was finished and named Melissi castle, also known as Castle of Mavrovouni or Goulades or Beanica or Beanka.

Relationships with the French

In 1798, after the departure of the Russians, Grigorakis decided to turn to the French, sending a letter to Napoleon Bonaparte with Demetrio Stefanopoli, writing to him that he would allow the mooring and supply of French ships in Mani. Grigorakis sent to Napoleon his son Pierros Grigorakis, major of the Imperial Russian Army. Pierros fought in Italy, where he distinguished himself and was wounded, but won Napoleon's regard, who gave secret instructions to Demetrio Stefanopoli to meet all the representatives of the Greek areas, but Grigorakis suggested that Demetrio stay in Mani and safely meet everyone from there. Indeed, he did, and later, in 1801, Grigorakis was supplied with gunpowder by Napoleon.

The Ottomans soon realized that something was wrong and they decided to attack Grigorakis, sending three ships to the port to disembark strong army forces, while at the same time attacking, encircling Mani with their armies from Mystras and Vardounia. Grigorakis convened a war council, were Demetrio also participated, and decided to resist with a direct counterattack from many points with small army units. Although he had only 1,000 men at his disposal, the Ottomans suffered heavy casualties and retreated to Mystras and their ships, so the counterattack had a successful result. After this, in 1798, the Ottomans had Grigorakis replaced as bey with Panagiotis Koumoundouros.

The Ottomans accused Koumoundouros of tolerating piracy and suspicious foreign agreements, so they replaced him with Antonis Grigorakis, now Antonbey, whom they asked to arrest Tzanetos and Pierros Grigorakis. The Ottoman troops in the area were numerous and the local Capetaneoi preferred not to take the risk to attack Antonbey, so Tzanetos fled to Zakynthos to retaliate later. However, the situation worsened when Patriarch Callinicus V and all the dignitaries turned against the clan of Grigorakis, even Antonbey, confiscating the towers and all their property. Pierros came from Paris to Zakynthos with the permission of Emmanouil Papadopoulos to gather an army under the Russian flag and campaign to Mani. As soon as the Ottomans found out this, they forgave them both and, in 1806, Tzanetos and Pierros successfully returned to Mani.

In 1813, Tzanetos Grigorakis died in his castle at Mavrovouni village.