Career
Kourmoulis was originally known as Hussein Agha, and was the leader of an important Cretan family from Messara that was flourishing since the time of the Venetian rule over Crete. In 1814, in response to the murder of some armed Ottomans, Kourmoulis was accused as a secret Christian, but managed to be acquitted. During the Easter of 1821, while he was in Chania, he revealed in public his Christian faith.
When the revolution broke out in Crete, he became head of his family, which numbered 75 armed men as well as head of the armed Greeks of Messara.
Initially, together with other local leaders he laid ambushes on the Ottoman forces in the Rethymno area, whilelater he temporarily fled to Kassos with other rebels, only to return later in Crete. His compatriots proposed him to Demetrios Ypsilantis as a candidate for the position of the general chief of Crete, but eventually Michail Komninos Afentoulief was selected by Ypsilantis.
He was appointed as pentakosiarch and managed to repeatedly beat the Ottoman military officers, Sherif and Hassan Pasha. He was also one of the first leaders to set up a Greek cavalry unit
After the suppression of the revolution on the island by the Egyptian army, Michael Kourmoulis fled to Hydra where he died from his wounds in 1824.
