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Pyotr Melissino

18th-century Russian artilleryman

Field	Value
name	Pyotr Melissino
birth_date	c. 1726
birth_place	Cephalonia, Venetian Republic
image	P.I. Melissino (Kursk gallery).jpg
caption	A portrait of General of the Artillery Pyotr Melissino in the Kursk gallery, Russia.
allegiance
serviceyears	1740 — 1797
rank	General of the Artillery

Pyotr Ivanovich Melissino (, , ); c. 1726 – c. 1797) was a General of the Artillery of the Russian Empire and was widely considered the best Russian artilleryman of the 18th century.

Early life

He was born as Petros Melissinos in 1726, into a Greek family, in the island of Cephalonia, which was then under Venetian rule. His father was a physician who descended from a branch of the noble Eastern Roman family of Melissenos that had left Crete in the 15th century and settled on Cephalonia. Throughout his life, he prided himself on his origin. He received a thorough education in his youth and was fluent in many languages, including Russian, German, Italian, French, and Turkish, as well as his native Greek; he also knew some Latin and English.

Career

Melissinos arrived in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great and ended his career as Vice-President of the Commerce Collegium in 1740-45.

During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, Pyotr Melissino was in charge of the Russian artillery. His efficient command helped Russian forces prevail against a fourfold numerical superiority of the Ottomans at Khotin, Larga, and Kagula. In 1783, he was appointed Director of the Artillery and Engineering Corps in St. Petersburg. He is remembered as an organizer of the artillery education in the Russian Empire. After the ascension of Emperor Paul, Melissino was put in charge of the entire Russian artillery but died the following year.

Melissino was instrumental in promoting the career of one of Paul's favourites, Aleksey Arakcheyev. His son Aleksey Melissino, a Major General, was killed in the Battle of Dresden (1813). His brother, Ivan Melissino, was Dean of the Moscow University under Catherine the Great.

Jenkins (pp. 35–36) says:

References

Sources

Michael Jenkins, Arakcheev: Grand Vizier of the Russian Empire (Dial Press, 1969)

References

Schenker, Alexander M.. (2003). "The Bronze Horseman: Falconet's monument to Peter the Great". Yale University Press.
Duffy, Christopher. (2015). "Russia's Military Way to the West: Origins and Nature of Russian Military Power 1700-1800". Routledge.
Masson, Charles François Philibert. (1802). "Secret memoirs of the court of Petersburg: particularly towards the end of the reign of Catharine II and the commencement of that of Paul I.". T.N. Longman and O. Rees.
Илизаров, Симон Семенович. (1999). "Московская интеллигенция XVIII века". Янус-К.
(1992). "Russian heraldry and nobility". Dramco.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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