Joseph Kiappe ΙΩΣΗΦ ΚΙΑΠΠΕ
Born (?) in the Gulf of Genoa Died in Athens, July 1,
1848
Section One, Number 404
While walking through the First Cemetery, one cannot help but notice
that some of the names on the monuments, although spelled in Greek characters,
are not Greek names. One such name is Κιάππε. I knew it wasn’t Greek but was not at all sure what nationality is was
until I investigated and found out that the family were Italian in origin and
that one Guiseppe Chiappe had come to Greece in 1820 with his wife and young
son, had settled here to teach at the Merchant Marine Academy in Hydra, only to
join the fight during the Revolution, and eventually to become a Greek citizen. Like so many philhellenes, he had harboured
strong liberal sentiments in his own country and, disappointed by the outcome
of the Napoleonic wars, decided to come to Greece and lend a hand in creating a
liberal republic in this far corner of Europe. He started one of the first
newspapers in the nascent country.
His contribution to journalism offers us the
perfect opportunity to look at his life as well as the origins of the Greek
newspaper during the War of Independence, - then
as new and wonderful a tool as the internet is for us today.
The Beginning
Greek language newspapers were being printed in the
late 1700s, - but in Europe. The first
was in Vienna in 1790.
‘Efimeris’
of Vienna
These newspapers (perhaps more correctly called
periodicals or news sheets since they were not as the Greek term suggests,
dailies. The first Greek “daily” would not appear in Athens until 1876). These
news sheets cropped up in all the major European centres where Greek bankers
and traders were prominent residents. But
there was virtually nothing available in the ‘homeland’ and this at a time when
newspapers of one sort or another had existed in Europe for more than three
hundred years!
The planners and leaders of the 1821 Greek Revolution
understood the power of the press and wanted to create newspapers as soon as
possible as a vital component of the struggle. The message of the revolution
and the details of its progress would then be available to each citizen – in
real time. It was firmly believed that a vigorous patriotic press would encourage
even the most hesitant! (Remember not
every inhabitant of Greece was on board for the revolution.) And, of course,
once a government was organized,
newspapers would be the means to inform the public of the government’s activities
and decisions.
Adamantios Korais, who had laid so much of the
groundwork for the Greek struggle in Europe prior to the actual fighting,
understood this very well. Just after the war began, he wrote to his friend
Neofitos Vamvas (Νεόφυτοs Βάμβαs) urging him to quickly put to use the printing
presses being brought from Europe by Philhellenes and returning patriotic Greeks
from the diaspora.
Adamantios Korais
The newly formed Senate of Western Greece agreed,
and on the eighth of February 1822, wrote to the then Interior minister Ioannis Kolettis:
His excellency knows very well these people and knows that printed matter causes enthusiasm. Diligently work fast so the printers can catch up with the Decisions/ Acts of the Administration in many copies, 50 copies of each Act are enough to please all in extensive Western Greece- now that we are in the beginning it must be generous and must guide the forces of the printers.
This was easier said than done because of the scarcity of presses, paper
and technicians with enough knowledge to work them as they became available.
Then there was the unfortunate fact that so few Greeks living in situ under the Ottomans were able to
read the printed word... Note that their reference is to just 50 copies being
sufficient for Western Greece.
There had been a couple of attempts to produce news
sheets in manuscript form in 1821 and 1822. One Rumeliotis wrote a news sheet (no
title) which was passed from hand to hand and even made it as far as the
Peloponnese. The desire and need was there. A newspaper, was produced in Galaxidi very
briefly. It has been called the “Fake Newspaper” because it was not using the
facts, - rather it saw its function to encourage the revolutionary spirit no
matter what.
More serious efforts were the Messolonghian Aitoliki Newspaper (Εφημερίς Αιτωλική),
again
handwritten, and The Axeloos
(Αχελώος),
edited by Nikolaos Louriotis which attempted to keep Western
Greece informed about the management and
measures taken by the then president of the provisional government, Alexandros Mavrokordatos. (1) It has been called the prototype of a future government
newspaper.
The provisional government plan:
Responding to / Acting on the demands of the times, the 2nd Assembly of the Nation at Astros Kinourias on April 13 1823 voted the new revision of the Constitution which protected among other things the free press and the freedom of man. According to the Constitution every Greek citizen had the right to express through the press his views as long as these did not insult the Christianic ethics, the ethics and his views were not abusive towards third parties.
The new leaders clearly did want to create a liberal press, but there
were to be a few rules...
The Pressing Issue
of the Day
Printing presses were trickling into the country from various centres as
the revolution began. The very first to be used was for the short lived Greek Trumpet (Σάλπιγζ Ελληνική)
printed in
Kalamata on the small wooden press that Demetrios Ipsilantis had brought to
Greece in 1821. It has the distinction of being the first
newspaper ever printed in free Greek territory.
Its editor was the archimandrite Theoclitos
Farmakidis (Θεόκλητος Φαρμακίδης) and its typographer was Konstantinos Tombras (Κωνσταντίνος Τόμπρας)
who had learned his trade in France at the publishing House of Didot. He had
been sent there at the request of Adamantios Korais so that the new country
would have trained operators. The Greek Trumpet lasted only three issues
because Farmakidi resented what he considered to be censorship on the part of
Ipsilantis.
Of course, the stated object was a free press, but
there were different interpretations of what that meant at different times
during the struggle. The idea that a newspaper could and should be a tool for
propaganda, even in the good sense of that word, was inherent in the gift of
the presses and their intended function as a tool of the revolution.
In 1823 the London
Philhellenic Society had sent a printing press of the latest design to
Greece with Colonel Leicester Stanhope. Apparently he was responsible for more than one press
being brought to Greece.
The Crown and Anchor Tavern shown here was the
first venue of this very important society
Notice that in the list of towns to receive the new presses, Athens is
not mentioned. It is sometimes hard to remember how unimportant Athens was
before the Revolution whereas Messolonghi, certain islands and towns in the
Peloponnese were the centres that mattered.
As printing presses were trickling in, the island
of Psara got its first one in 1824 and the island of Hydra was also lucky
enough to acquire two – one from Admiral Jacob
Tombazi (Ιάκωβου Τομπάζη) and the second from the French publishing house of
Firmin Didot. This latter had been
sent to Lazarus Koundouriotis on
Hydra at the behest of Adamantios Korais.
Firmin Didot was a committed philhellene and the head of one of the most
progressive publishing houses in France – the Steve Jobs of his era.
Firmin Didot
Ultimately, a printing press also arrived in
Kranidi, at the time when it was the seat of the executive.
Once such precious possessions were secured, the search was on to find enough technicians who could use them– and then the call had to go out for writers as well – both in the Greek and Philhellenic community. A small business enterprise was in the making – to write, print, and, of course, to distribute the output of these presses! This last was quite a problem since a Post Office had not yet been created.
Two Important Newspapers Come into Being
In 1824, two Philhellenes began newspapers in
different parts of the country.
The Swiss Philhellene Ioannis Jacob Mayer (Ιάκωβος
Μάγερ) (2) published The
Greek Chronicles (Ελληνικά Χρονικά.)
in Messolonghi. His printer was Demetri Mesthenea from Thessaloniki. (Mayer’s
story is worth telling but he died and is buried in Messolonghi.)
 |
Ioannis, Jacob, Mayer (1798 - 1826)
|
The second Newspaper was formed by Guiseppe Chiappe, the focus of this entry.
Guiseppe Chiappe /Joseph Kiappe
Giuseppe Chiappe came from Albenga
on the Gulf of Genoa. He studied law in Italy and France and practiced law in
Livorno until 1819. He was a liberal thinker and
reputed to be a member of the secret revolutionary organization – the Carbonari
– an anti-royalist secret society. Its suppression by the Austrian government likely
precipitated his decision to leave Italy and come to Greece in 1819 where there
was still great hope for a successful revolution and that a republic might be
formed.
He and his wife Chiara and young
son Petros first went to Corfu but in May of 1820 arrived and settled in Hydra
which was then a thriving community of ship owners.(3)
Although a Doctor of Law, he took up a
position teaching Italian and French at the Merchant Marine Academy of Hydra
which had been founded in 1749 and was situated in the port in the mansion of
the Tasmados Family. When the Revolution began, he was also the
secretary of Anastasios Tasmados.
Anastasios Tsamados
Hydra officially declared its
participation in the Greek revolution in April of 1821 and Giuseppe asked to
join in the struggle. He took his place on
the war ship “Agamemnon” under his boss, Anastasios Tsamados. There he took
on the duties of secretary and had the responsibility of entries in the ship’s
log. As a crew member he participated in battles such as the siege of the
castle on 5 May 1821, in the gulf of Pagasitikos, an operation supporting the
uprising of 24 villages in the region of Volos, in the important naval battle
of Eressos on the island of Lesvos and in the rescue of the Christian inhabitants
of Kydonia in Asia Minor.
When the fleet returned to Hydra, he
was appointed First Secretary of the Police and Secretary of Lazaros Kountouriotis, a member of one
of the wealthiest and most influential ship owning families in Hydra.
The Bust of Lazarus Kountouriotis placed
in Hydra in 1886, the work of Demitrios Filippotis
Then, in 1824, Kiappe undertook to
publish in Hydra the newspaper The Friend of
the Law (Φίλος του Νόμου)
which would prove to be the longest-running newspaper during the Greek
Revolution.
In a letter to the then House of
Representatives on February 16, 1824, Guiseppe wrote:
...I intend to publish twice a week a political newspaper
entitled “the Friend of the Law”. I contact your respected administration
asking to be appointed journalist, and in line with article 44 of the Law of
Epidaure, to obtain permission to follow the regular and extraordinary
Assemblies of your respected Body, with the exception of the secret ones ….”.
The Letter
The first issue of the newspaper
was published on March 10, 1824 and it would circulate for three years, until
1827. (Three years only! But they were important
years). The Friend
of the Law was printed on the machine, donated to Greece by
Firmin Didot. It was called The Friend of
the Law because Kiappe believed that only the law could protect the rights
of people. For him, the title was a symbol of hope.
Copy of ‘The Friend
of the Law’
The Friend of
the Law briefly became the official
journal of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the independent
Greek territory from 1824 to 1825. So,
for a time, it had a dual function – not always a comfortable position because,
in fact, the paper was very much an organ of the Koudouriotis family. Because
of the family business, the newspaper had very reliable sources from ports of
the eastern Mediterranean such as Syros
and Smyrna. Altogether it was both detailed and interesting.
During the life of the newspaper it duly published
the decisions of the legislature, its legislation, their encyclicals along with
political wrangling and details of the
war effort. In 1825 the provisional government in Nauplio
insisted that an official government newspaper should be published in the
capital.
After October of 1825, when the newspaper was no
longer acting as the official government organ, it continued writing articles
and texts while attempting at the same time to create a democratic conscience.
Two regular contributors were Panayiotis and Alexandros Soutsos.
The problem of the distribution of these early newspapers was a serious
one because there was no postal service. Meyer and Chialppe tried to solve this
by creating a small service of their own in which they attempted to assure
readers that letters could be safely sent to the editors for a small fee.
Kudos
In recognition of his work, the
leaders of Hydra adopted a resolution granting to Giuseppe Chiappe the status
of citizen of Hydra (and by extension of the Greece that was to be). His wife Chiarra had also worked tirelessly for
the Greek cause, especially in letters to liberal women in Europe asking for
their support! It is a pity that we have no portrait of either of these
imported friends and eventually citizens of Greece.
In 1827 Giuseppe Chiappe stopped
the publication of The Friend of the Law, and instead published a
French-language newspaper, entitled Abeille Grecque (Greek Bee), which circulated in Greece and abroad
until 1829.
When Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias came to Greece, Giuseppe Chiappe was appointed
by him to the judiciary in 1830. He would serve as secretary of the Court of
western Sporades and subsequently as judge at the Court of First Instance at
Pylos. In 1835 he was placed in the Commercial Court of Syros and, in 1841, in
Patras.
Giuseppe Chiappe’s son, Petros,
also pursued a career in the Greek justice system and was honored with the
degree of Areopagite. The Chiappe
family became linked by Petros’ marriage to the family of German doctor Erik
Treiber, another notable Philhellene. His wife, Rosa, was Treiber’s daughter.
They are all buried in the First Cemetery.
 Section Four Number 354
Eric Treiber’s bust sits on a tall stele and is
by sculptor Ioannis Broutos
|
Guiseppe’s Death
Giuseppe Chiappe died on the 1st
July 1848 in Athens. Greece honored him for his valuable services to the
liberation of the country, with the “Medal of the Struggle” of the Greek
Revolution militants and the Cross of the Redeemer.
The Grave
 |
Section
One, Number 404
|
Joseph's monument was from the studio of Ioannis Chalepas and in Latin writes the simple truth: That Kiappe was a friend of man
The Map
Footnotes
(1) In 1821, Alexandros Mavrokordatos sailed from Marseilles
bringing arms, money, and a printing press.
(2) Ioannis Jacob Mayer came to Greece in 1822. He
took part in the naval battle of Patras under the leadership of Andreas Miaioulis
and then settled in Messolonghi. With the partnership of the German doctor
Johann Elster, he opened a small hospital to care for those wounded in battle.
In 1824, he began his newspaper. He was a political ally of Georgios
Koundouriotis and Alexandros Mavrokordatos. A street in Athens near the
Archaeological Museum is named in his honour. Poor Kiappe lost out there.
(3) By
1813, the Greek navy already owned 615 ships (some of the best American design)
and employed 17,500 sailors. Greek shipping was the largest commercial force in
the Levant!
Sources
In English:
See http://afroditi.uom.gr/uompress/pdf/Ephemeris.pdf good on Greek newspapers in Europe before the outbreak of
the revolution
http://doras.dcu.ie/16934/1/antonis_sknmakis_sc.pdf On a history of the Greek press in
English.
In Greek:
1. Εταιρεία για τον Ελληνισμό
και τον Φιλελληνισμό https://www.eefshp.org/o-italos-filellinas-giuseppe-chiappe-dikigoros-ethelontis-agonistis-ekdotis-efimeridas-kai-dikastis-sto-neosystato-elliniko-kratos/
2. Η Συμβολή της
Τυπογραφίας στη Στήριξη της Επανάστασης του 1821
ΕΛΛΗ ΔΡΟΥΛΙΑ-ΜΗΤΡΑΚΟΥ
./ΤΡΙΑΝΤΑΦΥΛΛΟΣ Ε. ΣΚΛΑΒΕΝΊΤΗΣ
3. Cognosco Team, Μιχάλης Ρέττος, Ο τύπος στον
Αγώνα του 1821: Τα «Ελληνικά Χρονικά» και ο «Φίλος του Νόμου» κατά το πρώτο
τρίμηνο του 1825.
4. Historical Quest, ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ ΤΟΥ 1821: Η
δραματική Β' Εθνοσυνέλευση στο Άστρο Κυνουρίας
5.https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/truth/1821-1828-t7725.html ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΣ ΤΥΠΟΣ 1821-1828
ΕΝΑ ΝΕΩΤΕΡΙΚΟ ΟΠΛΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗΣ
ΕΝΑ ΝΕΩΤΕΡΙΚΟ ΟΠΛΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΥΠΗΡΕΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗΣ
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