Kallergis
Kallergis (noble family) is the name of a Byzantine-Cretan noble family who are said to be descended from the Byzantine emperor Nikephorus II Phocas and who ruled Crete for a while.
Origin and name explanation
Emperor Alexios II. Komnenos (Greek: Αλέξιος Β 'Κομνηνός) sent distinguished settlers from the great Byzantine families Phokas, Ghavalas, Vlastos and others to Crete in 1082, who were given large estates and privileges. They founded a new Byzantine-Cretan aristocracy, which in the following periods of Venetian rule and Turkish occupation, in the revolutions, in the struggles of the Cretan people, was at the forefront of all events.
The Phokas changed their name to "Kallergis" during the Venetian rule. Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi describes in his book An Idea Conquers the World that the name Kallergis is composed of the Greek words kalon (= beautiful) and ergon (from ergō = "work, task, action") [Greek: Καλλ (ι ) έργης> Καλλέργης, later used in the variations Kalergis, Calergis, Kallergi, Callergi, Calergi].
Large parts of Crete belonged to these noble families. This is why there are nowadays villages called Kallergiana (Greek: Καλλεργιανά) in Kissamos or Kallergo (Greek: Καλλέργω ή Καλλέργο) in Rethymno . In the mountain range of the White Mountains (Greek: Lefkà Ori, Λευκά Όρη) there is also a mountain called Kallergis (height 1,650 meters).
Their prominent position and their privileges remained during the Venetian rule in Crete, as they were among the "privilegiati" (Greek: Αρχοντορωμαίοι) and sometimes among the "nobili Veneti".
After the end of Venetian rule after the conquest of Crete by the Ottoman Empire (1669), many Kallergis fled to the Ionian Islands as well as to Euboea , Venice or Russia .
In Venice, where this branch of the family was called Calergi , they joined the Vendramin , Crespi and Grimani families through dynastic marriages .
The family history is also linked to the Palazzo Vendramin , which is located in Venice on the Grand Canal , where Richard Wagner died in 1883 .
Famous name bearers
- Alexios Kalergis , leader of the Cretan uprising against Venice from 1283 to 1299
- Dimitrios Kallergis (1803–1867), Greek general and statesman
- Maria Kalergis (1822–1874), Polish pianist and patron
- Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894–1972), Japanese-Austrian writer, politician and founder of the Paneuropean Union
Remarks
- ↑ http://www.explorecrete.com/history/crete-byzantium-rulers.htm
- ↑ http://www.kreta.de/new/page.php?s=Byzantische_Zeit
- ^ Richard Nicolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi (Graf von) An idea conquers the world, Roy Publishers 1954, p. 4th
- ↑ http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kallergiana,+Kissamos+73400,+Chania,+Greece&sll=35.479264,23.711929&sspn=0.097852,0.259209&ie=UTF8&h Kallergiana, + Kissamos, + Chania, + Greece & z = 15
- ↑ http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Kallergos,+Geropotamos,+Greece&sll=35.482542,23.677113&sspn=0.024462,0.064802&ie=UTF8,hqopotoshnear+=Kallergos + Rethymno + Prefecture, + Greece & z = 14
- ↑ Nikolaos Panagiōtakēs / Roderick Beaton: El Greco, The cretan years, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009, p. 63ff.