- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Stamatēs, Kōnstantinos 1764-1817
- Title:
- Kōnstantinos Stamatēs Letters to Panagiōtēs Kodrikas
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/c247dv858
- Dates:
- 1788-1794
- Size:
- 1 box and 0.4 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box B-000778
- Language:
- Greek, Modern French
Abstract
Kōnstantinos Stamatēs (1764-1817) was a Greek patriot and secret agent working for the French government and for Michael Soutzo, the Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia, during the French Revolution. The collection consists of one hundred and ninety-eight letters from Stamatēs to Panagiōtēs Kodrikas (1762-1827), then secretary to Soutzo. Letters are primarily in Greek and are addressed from Paris (November 25, 1788 - 11 September 1793), Rouen (September 17, 1793), Le Havre-de-Grâce (September 30, 1793), Hamburg (October 15, 1793 - February 22, 1794), and Altona (March 1 - December 27, 1794).
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
The collection consists of one hundred and ninety-eight autograph letters sent between 1788 and 1794 by Greek patriot and French secret agent Kōnstantinos Stamatēs to Panagiōtēs Kodrikas (1762-1827), then the secretary to Michael Soutzo (1729-1803), the Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia, who was the final recipient of the letters. Addressed from Paris (November 25, 1788 - 11 September 1793), Rouen (September 17, 1793), Le Havre-de-Grâce (September 30, 1793), Hamburg (October 15, 1793 - February 22, 1794), and Altona (March 1 - December 27, 1794), the letters comprise 842 pages bound into three volumes in chronological order. While the vast majority of letters are in Greek, a few are in French, including two in a different hand.
In 1872, French Hellenistic scholar Émile Legrand (1841-1903) published a small sample of ten of Stamatēs's letters as Lettres de Constantin Stamaty à Panagiotis Kodrikas sur la Révolution française, janvier 1793 and announced his intention to print the Stamatēs-Kodrikas letters from Paris in their entirety. However, the proposed complete edition was never published.
- Arrangement
Letters are arranged chronologically within three bound volumes.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Stamatēs, Kōnstantinos 1764-1817
Kōnstantinos Stamatēs (1764-1817) was a Greek patriot, diplomat, journalist, and secret agent who worked covertly for the French foreign ministry and for the Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia, Michael Soutzo, during the French Revolution. Originally from Argos, Stamatēs left Istanbul in 1787 to study medicine in Paris and eventually gained French citizenship. Abandoning his studies around 1790 to participate in political causes, Stamatēs became actively involved with French efforts to generate an uprising in the western provinces of the Ottoman Empire towards the end of the 18th century. He served as general counsel for France in the Danube and Altona and undertook secret missions to procure arms to support the Greek independence movement.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Purchased in 2016 , with matching funds provided by the Program in Hellenic Studies with the support of the Stanley J. Seeger Hellenic Fund (AM 2017-27).
- Appraisal
No materials were separated during 2016 processing.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Kelly Bolding in August 2016. Finding aid written by Kelly Bolding in August 2016.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
Open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
Kōnstantinos Stamatēs Letters to Panagiōtēs Kodrikas; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/c247dv858
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box B-000778
Find More
- Existence and Location of Copies
Transcriptions of ten of Kōnstantinos Stamatēs's 1793 letters to Panagiōtēs Kodrikas were published by Émile Legrand in 1872. These are available in digital format through HathiTrust.
- Subject Terms:
- Spies -- Greece -- 18th century -- Correspondence.
- Names:
- Kodrikas, Panagiōtēs, 1762-1827
Stamatēs, Kōnstantinos 1764-1817 - Places:
- Balkan Peninsula -- Foreign relations -- France -- 18th century.
France -- Foreign relations -- Greece -- 18th century.
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Influence -- Greece.
Greece -- History -- 18th century -- Sources.
Turkey -- History -- Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918 -- Sources.
