Kastamonitsa, Heraklion

Kastamonitsa (Κασταμονίτσα) Heraklion

Kastamonitsa is a radical village and Community of Pediada Province with 537 inhabitants, according to a 2001 census. It is located 42 km southeast of Heraklion, built at the western foot of the Sklopa of Dikti hill, at an altitude of 520 m. Municipality of Kastelli, prefecture of Heraklion. The metochion Wall belongs to the same community. Kastamonitsa has a strategic geographical location, as it controls access to the Lassithi plateau, which explains the fierce fighting during the Turkish occupation and, on the other hand, its emergence as an important trading hub in the 20th century until the 1970s.

Designation

The name of the village was given by the first inhabitants - after the liberation of Crete from the Saracens, in 961 AD. - originating from Kastamonu in Central Asia (see Th. Detorakis).

According to a second version, the village got its name from the fact that in the place where the cemetery with the church of the Virgin Mary exists today, there was, in the past, a chestnut tree with the representation of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and at this point a church was built. became a monastery. From the Monastery of Kastania - Kastamonia, most likely, came the derogatory Kastamonitsa, which became the name of the village.

Population

The village is not mentioned in the Venetian censuses, nor in the Turkish census of 1671. In the census of 1834 it is mentioned with 35 Christian families and in 1881 with 320 Christian inhabitants. Today, the Community of Kastamonitsi has 537 inhabitants (2001 census), is based in the homonymous village and includes the settlements:

Kastamonitsa [537]
Toichos [21]. It is an old settlement and a short distance from the beginning of the Kastamonitsa-Tsouli Mnima path, with its main feature - from which it took its name - the stone wall, part of the Lyttos aqueduct.

The decrease in the population of the village during the revolution is mainly due to the plague epidemic, which was transported and transmitted by the Egyptian army.

Historical data
Part of the Roman aqueduct of Lyttos, north of Kastamonitsa.

The village was first inhabited by Christian settlers from Central Asia, immediately after the victory of Nikiforos Phocas in 961 AD, against the Arabs and the liberation of Crete. These first inhabitants cultivated chestnuts for the first time in a rural area of ​​the village, which were preserved about sixty years ago. Due to its location, Kastamonitsa was a battleground.

When the Venetians conquered Crete, the island's inhabitants, during the 450 years of their enslavement, made successive revolutions to shake off the Venetian yoke, but failed. After each failed revolution, the most vital elements of the Cretans formed revolutionary groups, which were supported by the inhabitants of mountainous Crete.

The Venetian government, in order to get rid of these revolutionaries, ordered the evacuation of the plateau of Lassithi and the radical villages of the province of Pediada, in 1364 AD. The village of Kastamonitsa and the surrounding area were declared a dead zone and it was forbidden to enter it with the death penalty. From 961 to 1271, the village was destroyed many times. The ban on entering the area lasted until 1514 AD.

With the return of the residents to the village, it is doubtful whether the descendants of the first inhabitants or a part of them settled. During the ban, a Venetian settled in the village, from the then province of Amori of Rethymno and occupied the entire surrounding rural area, with the result that only a small agricultural area came under the possession of the Greeks settled there.

In 1363 AD The Venetian inhabitants of Crete, along with locals, declared their apostasy. At that time, a stubborn, deadly battle took place between the revolutionaries and the Venetian army, at the location between Kastamonitsa and Amarianou, at the place where Agios Georgios Kefaliotis is today. The revolutionaries were defeated and left for the plateau of Lassithi. In this place there are many graves of the dead of the battle.

On February 25, 1823, during the Cretan revolution against Turkish rule, Hassan Pasha, driving an Egyptian army, tried to enter the Lassithi plateau through the Tsouli Mnithia mountainous location, but also after a strong pan-Hellenic attack by the rebels. he was forced to retreat. During his retreat, he was defeated in a new battle by the rebels in Kastamonitsa. The Greek revolutionaries took all of Pasha's supplies and a flag. In this battle, 200 Turks and 15 Christians were killed, who are buried in Kastamonitsa. The Turks were buried in a grave, while the Christian patriots were buried in separate graves.

On May 23, 1841 AD There was a great battle between Christians and Turks in the rural area of ​​Agios Georgios Mesadas. The Turks were 3,000 and the Greeks, led by Chief Vassilogiorgis, were 1,000. In the battle that lasted five hours, it proved once again the patriotic feeling and courage of the revolutionaries. 150 Turks and 20 Greeks were killed, including the leader from Lower Messara, Michael Papadakis.

On August 23, 1866, the Turks beat the revolutionaries gathered in Kastamonica, but they were forced to retreat due to the large number of Turks and the use of artillery. In the mountainous location of Havgas, a fierce battle took place, an unequal battle, in which the monk Kallinikos and the chief Emmanuel Tilinakis from the village of Avdou were killed, whom, due to his height, were named Anamisi. The place where he was killed by the Turks is still called Anagimis Lagkadi. Tradition has it that in the place of Havgas, in a gorge, Eusphorus lived with the devils. It is even said that passers-by from the site heard bells and chains.

During the last revolution of Crete against Turkish rule, in 1897 AD, it was located in the village revolutionary committee led by Antonis Tryfitso and Secretary Michael Lagoudianaki from Plain Castelli. At that time, a revolutionary court was set up in the village, which sentenced the young criminal Em. Borbandonaki or Mavrovounioti or Katroulio, who killed a volunteer from Markopoulo, Attica, who was called Aristides.

On April 26, 1944, General Kripe was abducted in Crete with the aim of arresting General Mύller. The kidnapping team of General Kraipe consisted of: Grigoris Hnarakis, Patrick Le Fermor, Stanley Moss, Stratis Saviolis, Manolis Paterakis, Leonidas Papaleonidas, George Tyrakis and Nikos Komis.

The identities of the kidnappers were made in 1944 in the office of the Community of Kastamonitsa. The President and the members of the Kastamonitsa Community Council together with Georgios Zografakis or Xirouchis made the papers and sealed them. On April 7, 1944, George Zografakis or Xirouchis gave false identities to the Allies 'representatives, Patrick Le Fermor and Stanley Moss, when the kidnappers' mission ended at his home. The kidnappers were staying at Zografakis 'house and from there they moved over Kastamonitsa, to Sifogiannis' yard. At the entrance of the now ruined mantra and on the threshold, Patrick Le Fermor himself has carved the initials of the owner in calligraphic letters in the year 1943. (19 + 43 ΙΣ).

For the IDs, they chose the names of young Kastamonitsanas, sixteen and seventeen years old. The name and details of 18-year-old Giorgis Saridakis (later a police officer) were chosen for the identity of Giorgis Tyrakis. Saridakis' father, Michalis or Baltzis, who agreed to this, took an active part in the Resistance and was a butcher by profession. The event is narrated by Giorgis Tyrakis himself, one of the kidnappers, in his book "The kidnapping of General Kraipe", where he reveals that the fake ID given to him by the Allied Headquarters belonged to a resident of Kastamonitsa.

Michalis Saridakis or Baltzis was one of the 20 Kastamonitsanis arrested by the Germans on July 8, 1943, immediately after the 2nd sabotage of Kastelli airport, and was taken to Heraklion prison. There, after their mustaches were cut, shaved, beaten and tortured for forty days, they were finally released after the intervention of the Major Commander of Castellio Trost or Koutsafti Airport, as he was known to the Castellians.

In Kastamonitsa, and in the ordered house of Dr. Emmanuel Manousakis, he operated from 1943-1944.

ext to the temple there is the restored old primary school that was built at the same time. Today it is called "KOSTIS MANOUSAKIS" hall in memory of the late mayor of the village.

Inside the village there is a kindergarten, primary school and a church dedicated to Agios Nikolaos. To the north of the village there are remains of part of the Roman aqueduct of ancient Lyttos.

The oldest families of the village are Tsapakides, Saridakides, Fragiadakides, Oikonomakides, Psilakides and Delavirakides.
Churches

In the village before the revolution there were eleven churches, while after the revolution there were three. The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Agia Kyriaki and Agios Nikolaos.

At the entrance of the village, in the current cemetery, is the old church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, an old church, of the basilica style with frescoes of Agios Georgios Flegges or Mesada (14th century).

The patron saint of the church is Agia Kyriaki, which is a three-aisled church (Agia Kyriaki - Agios Dimitrios - Agios Pneumatos) of royal style, built in the late 19th to early 20th century, specifically in 1890.
External links

Travel to the Municipality of Kastelli [dead link]

Sources

Heraklion and its Prefecture, published by the Prefecture of Heraklion.
Personal file of Mr. David Dimitriou Delaverakis, (1935-2011).

"The identities of the kidnappers of General Kraipe, Rodanthi and Kastamonitsa", George Kalogerakis, Patris Newspaper.

"The abduction of German General Kraipe", Nikolaos Sifakakis, "Fotini Grammi" Magazine.

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