Emmanuel Mormoris

Family and early years

The Mormori family, also recorded as Murmuri, came from Nauplion in southern Greece. Emmanuel Mormoris is noted as being of Greek or Albanian descent. In the 1400s, a wealthy Nauplion landowner named Emmanuel Mormori married a woman from the Bua family. When the Ottomans took Nauplion in 1540, one branch of the family fled to Crete, which was under Venetian control. Many family members fought against the Ottoman Empire. Emmanuel’s father, Jacomo, served as a Venetian cavalry officer and commanded Crete’s Stratioti units. Around 1570, the Venetian governor of Crete sent Emmanuel to Sfakia to persuade local rebels to accept Venetian authority. In 1568, he took command of a Greek Stratioti cavalry unit and was sent to Corfu. The next year, the Venetian Senate recognized him as a member of the Cretan nobility.

Activity in Epirus

During the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1570-1573, Mormoris took action in Epirus. The provveditore of Corfu, Sebastiano Venier, provided arms and ammunition to the Greeks of Himara. Mormoris proposed capturing the coastal fortress of Sopot across Corfu, which was the most important stronghold in the region. Greek groups participating included units of Greek Stratioti from Corfu and Himariotes.

After a successful siege on June 7, 1570, Mormoris was appointed commander of the fortress and surrounding region, triggering a general revolt under his leadership. Ottoman presence was then limited to a few military outposts. Mormoris and groups of Himariotes attempted to advance and neutralize them. The anti-Ottoman movement spread to Argyrokastron, Delvina, and Parga with guidance from local Greek nobility and Stratioti such as Petros Lantzas and Georgios Renesis.

Inhabitants of Himara supported the uprising and submitted voluntarily to Venetian rule. Mormoris, with his soldiers and a large number of Albanians, besieged the coastal fortress of Nivice. After operations lasting a year, it was taken in spring 1571, though difficulties arose due to lack of preparations and artillery support. An Ottoman fleet under admiral Uluz Ali approached the coast of Himara.

Mormoris was assisted by his brother Zorzis Mormoris, who commanded Stratioti units in Margariti, Santa Maura (Lefkada), and Corfu.

Later activity

By 1583, Emmanuel Mormoris had risen to colonel and was leading Venetian infantry on Crete, where he helped build a new fortress and port at Rethymno. Sent to Italy in 1590-1591, he crushed a revolt by Alfonso Picollomini, lord of Montemarciano, who was executed in March 1591. The next year, Mormoris returned to Crete to put down several uprisings. In the summer of 1593, he oversaw construction of the Venetian fortress at Asos on Kefallonia. He also wrote multiple military reports about fortifying the Ionian islands and Crete.