The life of Ioannis Kapodistrias was one of those topics that did not intrigue me. So many people had dealt with it and so much had been published about the activity of the Corfiote politician that I believed nothing new could be said about him.

Suddenly, I remembered something that the famous English historian A. J. P. Taylor had written many years ago, commenting on John Plamenatz's book about German Marxism and Russian communism, that no serious historical work could be done before 1850, when accurate statistics began to exist.

And he added: “However, the statistics were so flawed that some excluded the possibility of an indisputable history before the outbreak of the Second World War” (A. J. P. Taylor, “Europe: Grandeur and Decline” Penguin Books, 1967, p. 135).

This observation made me reconsider my views and approach the topic of Kapodistrias's life with greater optimism. I must confess that I was not disappointed by the research I conducted, which showed me that many of the published works were inaccurate and that many aspects of the life of the Governor, as Costis Palamas referred to him, were unknown to me.

And I decided to proceed. Whether I did well or poorly will be judged by the readers.