Global InformationDespo Botsi information
Despo (Despina) Botsi (Greek: Δέσπω (Δέσποινα) Μπότση) was a Souliotissa who went down in history for her resistance to the troops of Ali Pasha and her heroic death - together with the women and children she had under her protection - in the tower of Dimoulas, in the village of Riniasa (now Riza) of Zaloggos, on December 25, 1803.
Despo came from the Souliot family of Sachaioi. Her brothers were Giannakis, Giorgos and Dimitrios Sechos or Karametsis. She was the wife of the Soulioti chief Giorgakis Botsis. The extended family of Giorgakis Botsis had settled in the almost coastal village of Riniasa as early as 1802, tributary to Ali Pasha, where they now lived from agriculture. But when Ali Pasha's pursuit of the Souliots broke out, immediately after the decision of the former to abandon Souli and hand it over to the Pasha of Ioannina in December 1803, a group of about 500 Turkalvan soldiers passed through Riniasa and attacked the towns there established families. Despo Botsi, head of the family after the death of her husband, in order to avoid the soldiers and save her family, closed herself in the castle of the area, the Castle of Reniassa (better known as the "Tower of Dimoulas",[1] today it is also referred to as "Castle of Despo") along with all her daughters-in-law and grandchildren. From there, she fought bravely against the soldiers, refusing to surrender. When the guns stopped firing, she set fire to the tower and burned with her family.[2][3]
- ^ Αλιμπέρτη, Σωτηρία Ι. (1933). ΑΙ ΗΡΩΪΔΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΕΠΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ. ΑΘΗΝΑΙ: ΤΥΠΟΙΣ ΣΤΕΦ. Ν ΤΑΡΟΥΣΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ. p. 121.
- ^ Ξηραδάκη, Κούλα (1995). ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΣ ΤΟΥ '21, Προσφορές, ηρωισμοί και θυσίες. Αθήνα: ΔΩΔΩΝΗ. pp. 62–65.
- ^ Βασιλείου, Σωκράτης (2005). Γυναίκες Ηπειρώτισσες. Αθήνα: Κέντρο Έρευνας Θεμάτων Ισότητας.