Born: 11 May 1771, Turkey
Died: 22 May 1825
Country most active: Greece
Also known as: Laskarina Boubouli, Λασκαρίνα Μπουμπουλίνα, Kapetanissa, Καπετάνισσα
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Many women, especially Suliote women, distinguished themselves during the Greek Revolution of 1821-28, but very few island-women, with the exception of Lascarina Bouboulina, the famous sea heroine of Spetsai the “Capitanissa.” She with her little fleet of four ships and resolute character rendered real services to her country. She was, as regards both appearance and character, of a decidedly masculine type. Born to be a warrior, her every word bore the stamp of authority and her every thought that of resolution. She was always just. The well-known Captain Bouboulis, whose fleet of four sailing vessels took an active part in the Greek struggle for liberty, made Lascarina’s acquaintance accidentally, and sought her hand in marriage. On his death she, at once, took over the command of the little fleet, and appointed her sons and brothers to be her lieutenants; she besieged Monemvasia and Nauplia and blockaded the sea-coast of all that region.
Unceasingly she pursued the Turkish ships until, learning that Kolokotronis was besieging Tripolis she hastened to his relief with her men. After the fall of Tripolis she worked for the liberation of the captive town. Councillors and archbishops she exchanged for the harem of Hourschid Pacha, the Governor and Visier of the Peloponnesus, in accordance with an agreement made by her with Elkas Aga, the military commandant of Tripolis. The Albanian and Greek soldiers were so infuriated by this arrangement that they began to threaten her very life. She accordingly notified all her men to assemble at a given place, where she addressed them, no longer as their “Capitanissa,” but as a mother. “My children,” she cried, “it is barely eight days since my son John was killed by the Turks. Yet I do not desire that women who are guiltless shall come to harm. I offer you their jewels and their riches, but I say to you that no one of you is to molest them. Whoever attempts to do so will have first to pass over my dead body.” The men who knew her well, did not dare to disobey her commands, but they set fire to the fortress, and in the ensuing confusion they attempted to assault the women.
But Bouboulina, divining their plan, aroused the Generals, and herself rushed sword in hand to the rescue of the unfortunate women, whom she sent off by an especially chartered vessel, to the shores of Asia Minor. Bouboulina had implacable enemies, who finally assassinated her, in spite of all her many services to her country. In her house at Spetsai the window where she was assassinated is still to be seen, and the wall still bears the traces of her blood.