Petros Vrailas Armenis (; 1812-1884) was a Greek philosopher,

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

politician, and diplomat from

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

(Kerkyra) in the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

. He was politically active during the era of

British rule The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or dire ...

, being elected president of the protectorate's Legislative Assembly. After the islands were ceded to the

Kingdom of Greece The Kingdom of Greece (, Romanization, romanized: ''Vasíleion tis Elládos'', pronounced ) was the Greece, Greek Nation state, nation-state established in 1832 and was the successor state to the First Hellenic Republic. It was internationally ...

in 1864, he became an MP for Corfu in the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

and served as a Greek diplomat, including as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Family

Petros Vrailas Armenis was the son of Demetrios Vrailas, a merchant from

Vonitsa Vonitsa () is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. The beach town is situated on the south coast of the Ambracian Gulf, and is dominated by a Venetian fortress on a hill. Von ...

Acarnania Acarnania () is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today it forms the western part ...

(then part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

), and Anna Angiola Armeni from Corfu. The Armenis family has roots in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and was present in the

during the Venetian era.

Role in Corfiote culture

Vrailas Armenis completed his general education in Corfu before undertaking higher education in Western European cities, including Paris. He trained as a lawyer while studying philosophy. After returning to Corfu, he was involved in 1836 in founding the Corfu Reading Society, of which he became the first chairman. The society made European periodicals available for readers. He was also involved in founding the newspaper ''Patris'' in 1849. Historian Sakis Gekas describes him as "an emblematic figure of the Corfu liberal bourgeoisie." He was a professor of philosophy at the

Ionian Academy The Ionian Academy () was the first Greek academic institution established in modern times. It was located in Corfu. It was established by the French during their administration of the island as the ''département'' of Corcyre, and became a univer ...

, the first Greek academic institution to be established in the modern era. His philosophical and cultural works include ''Περί πρώτων ιδεών και αρχών δοκίμιον'' (An Essay of First Ideas and Principles, 1851) and ''Περί της Ιστορικής Αποστολής της Ελλάδος'' (The Historical Mission of Greece). Constantine Cavarnos, a writer on religious and philosophical subjects, calls him "foremost Greek philosopher of the nineteenth century."

Political career during British rule

During the British protectorate, Vrailas Armenis supported union (enosis) with Greece, but opposed the radicalism of the Party of Radicals. He approved of British-style constitutional monarchy; his political faction pushed for the Ionian Islands to similarly be governed constitutionally. In 1864, the United Kingdom awarded him the Knight's Grand Cross of the

Order of St. Michael and St. George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(GCMG), making him "Sir Petros" to the British.

Greek diplomatic career

In 1865, Vrailas Armenis became Greece's Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Greece's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Russia, and France. He and

Theodoros Deligiannis Theodoros Diligiannis (also transliterated as Deligiannis;Konstantinos Apostolou Vakalopoulos, ''Modern History of Macedonia (1830-1912)'', Barbounakis, 1988, p. 95. ; 1826–1905) was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parlia ...

represented Greece at the

Congress of Berlin At the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878), the major European powers revised the territorial and political terms imposed by the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878), which had ended the Rus ...

Legacy

Vrailas Armenis died in London in 1884. His estate in Corfu was known as the ''Villa Vraila''. The Achilleion Palace was later built in the same location by the new owner,

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

Notes

Sources

*Cavarnos, Constantine, 1987. ''Modern Greek Philosophers on the Human Soul: Selections from the Writings of Seven Representative Thinkers of Modern Greece''. *Gekas, Sakis, 2016. ''Xenocracy: State, Class, and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864.'' *Glycofrydi-Leontsini, Athanasia, 2017. Petros Vrailas-Armenis: History and Philosophy in National Context. Hansmichael Hohenegger and Riccardo Pozzo. ''Relations de la philosophie avec son histoire.'' https://iris.univr.it/retrieve/handle/11562/972559/89168/Finale_LIE_ENTRETIENS.pdf * *Kitromilides, Paschalis M., 1994 John Locke and the Greek Intellectual Tradition: An Episode in Locke's Reception in South-East Europe. G.A.J. Rogers. ''Locke's Philosophy: Content and Context.'' https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/61183538.pdf *Merry, Bruce, 2004. ''Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature.'' * *