Leonardos Philaras

Leonardos Philaras (c. 1595 – 1673)(Greek: Λεονάρδος Φιλαρᾶς, Leonardos Filaras, French: Leonard Philara also known as Villeret, Villare) was a Greek French 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 Τῇ Θεοτόκῳ καὶ ἀειπαρθένῳ Μαρίᾳ ἁγνῶς καὶ ἀμώμως συλληφθείσῃ (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.