F:. Phoenix Corfu

(Corfu 1777 – 1837)

Born into the historical family of the Theotokides, he received a significant education with studies in Italy. As a philologist and historian he was one of the scholars of the time. He was a corresponding member of several European Academies. He was founder and life president of the English Bible Society, for the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures in Corfu. After the Franco-Russian Treaty of Tilchit and the annexation of the Ionian Islands to French rule, Theotokis served as president of the latter Senate. Napoleon awarded him the title of Baron. He worked hard to spread Greek letters, founding schools. He was also director of the Library of Corfu. When the Ionian Islands came under English rule in 1815, Commissioner Maitland , nominated him as the 1st president of the Senate as well as the first of the united state of the Ionian Islands which ratified the Constitution of 1817. In 1818 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He wrote historical and literary treatises on the Ionian Islands, left memoirs, etc.