Leonardos Philaras

Leonardos Philaras (c. 1595 – 1673)(Greek: Λεονάρδος Φιλαρᾶς, Leonardos Filaras, French: Leonard Philara also known as Villeret, Villare) was a Greek FrenchAthenian scholar, politician, philosopher, writer, diplomat, and doctor of theology. He is best known for his plot to liberate Greece in the early 1600s along with Charles III as Duke of Nevers, who proclaimed himself King Constantine Palaeologus which never surfaced. Philaras wrote a poem for the Virgin Mary entitled Τη θεοτόκω καί Άειπαρθενω Μαρία Αγνώσ καί Àμώμωσ Συλληφθείσ (To the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the fruit of a Pure Immaculate Conception) and became well known among European aristocracy serving as ambassador to the French court of French King Louis XIII for the Duke of Parma Odoardo Farnese and French King Louis XIV for the Duke of Parma Ranuccio II Farnese. Philaras also became acquainted with Cardinal Richelieu and British statesmen and poet John Milton. Philaras campaigned to liberate Greece his entire life.

Philaras was born to a prominent Greek family in Athens while it was part of the Ottoman Empire, and his father's name was Ioannis. He travelled to Rome from a young age, where he studied at the Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius from 1613-1617 and obtained the equivalent of a doctorate of divinity. In 1619, along with Charles, known as King Constantine and the Greek community of Rome, Philaras was involved in an organized plot to overthrow the Ottoman Empire and liberate Greece. The small group was able to amass a massive European force, but the organized plot ended during the 1620s before they could go to battle. By the 1630s, Philaras was a diplomat living in Paris, France. He continued his diplomatic services throughout the 1640s. He was honored in 1644, when his ode entitled: Ode in Immaculatam Conceptionem Deiparæ cum Aliis Quibusdam Epigrammatibus was used in the dedication address of the fifth Archbishop of Paris François de Harlay de Champvallon.

By the 1650s, Philaras had a feud with Cardinal Richelieu's replacement Cardinal Mazarin, who suspected him of treason. Mazarin had him put under house arrest and forced him to sell his belongings. There was constant instability between France and England, Charles I was beheaded several years prior, and Philaras was in contact with John Milton about the liberation of Greece in 1652. Milton instigated the removal of the catholic King. In 1654, after Philaras' removal as ambassador of the Duke of Parma to the French King, he briefly traveled to England and met Milton. By the late 1650s, Philaras was the ambassador of the Duke of Parma living in Venice. He moved back to Paris following the death of Mazarin in 1661. Close to the end of his life, he was honored by being elected the Librarian of the Marciana Library in Venice in 1668, a prestigious position he never filled due to his ill health. He died several years later in Paris in 1673.