page_title: Edward John Trelawny
section_title: Mountain fortress
hierarchical_section_title: Edward John Trelawny / Mountain fortress
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Edward John Trelawny
context_page_description: Edward John Trelawny was a British biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history. Though his father became wealthy while he was a child, Edward had an antagonistic relationship with him. After an unhappy childhood, he was sent away to a school. He was assigned as a volunteer in the Royal Navy shortly before he turned thirteen.
  Trelawny served on multiple ships as a naval volunteer while in his teen years. He traveled to India and saw combat during engagements with the French Navy. He did not care for the naval lifestyle, however, and left at nineteen years of age without becoming a commissioned officer. After retiring from the navy, he had a brief and unhappy marriage in England. He then moved to Switzerland and later Italy where he met Shelley and Byron. He became friends with the two poets, and helped teach them about sailing. He enjoyed inventing elaborate stories about his time in the navy, and in one he claimed to have deserted and become a pirate in India.
context_section_description: Trelawny then began lobbying members of the London Greek Committee to fully support Odysseas. He also lobbied for a Greek Congress and criticised Mavrokordatos. In a letter to Mary Shelley Trelawny described Mavrokordatos as a "miserable Jew" and said that he hoped to see him beheaded. Trelawny was able to transfer some portions of weapons shipments from London to Odysseas. This was a controversial move among Greek leaders and the London Greek Committee, many of whom saw it as a foolish move. He also suggested that the Greek authorities should hire privateers to harass Turkish ships.
  In May 1824 Trelawny brought a load of guns to the fortified cave in which Odysseas was based. He arrived with a British military officer, Whitcomb, and a military engineer, Fenton. Trelawny recorded that Odysseas commanded a force of 5,000 men, who killed over 20,000 people during their campaign. Odysseas and his men retired to Parnassus after they learned the Greek government would not give them more funds. The Greek Government had decided to try to raise a regular army and take power away from the warlords. The size of his force soon diminished.
  Trelawny hoped to convince Odysseas to leave with him for the Ionian islands, but Odysseas refused. He also helped Odysseas hide some valuable antiquities; they were never found. Some sources claim that Odysseas was attempting to strike a deal with the Turks at that time. Trelawny soon married Teritza, the half-sister of Odysseas. She was much younger than he, and was probably a teenager. Some have speculated that their wedding was performed by a local Greek Orthodox priest. Teritza then lived with him in the cave. At this point Trelawny's life had actually began to resemble many of the stories that he had previously constructed about his past. Word soon spread to England that Trelawny was working for the Turks with Odysseas now. Trelawny again tried to convince Odysseas to escape with him to the Ionian Islands in order to prevent the Greek government from arresting him. Odysseas was caught on his way to find a boat. He was charged with treason and imprisoned in Athens. Trelawny administered the cave in his absence.
caption: Trelawny by Joseph Severn
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