Nicholas Mavrocordatos
Nicolae Mavrocordat
Nicholas Mavrocordatos, 1721
Prince of Moldavia
(1st reign)
Reign25 January – 21 November 1710
PredecessorMihai Racoviță
SuccessorDimitrie Cantemir
Prince of Moldavia
(2nd reign)
Reign8 November 1711 – 25 December 1715
PredecessorJohn Mavrocordatos
SuccessorMihai Racoviță
Prince of Wallachia
(1st reign)
Reign26 December 1715 – 25 November 1716
PredecessorȘtefan Cantacuzino
SuccessorJohn Mavrocordatos
Prince of Wallachia
(2nd reign)
ReignMarch 1719 – 3 September 1730
PredecessorJohn Mavrocordatos
SuccessorConstantine Mavrocordatos
Born3 May 1670
Constantinople
Died3 September 1730
Bucharest
Spouse
  • Casandra Cantacuzino
  • Pulcheria Tzouki
  • Smaranda Stavropoleos
IssueConstantine Mavrocordatos, Ioan II Mavrocordat
HouseMavrocordatos
ReligionOrthodox

Nicholas Mavrocordatos (Greek: Νικόλαος Μαυροκορδάτος, Romanian: Nicolae Mavrocordat; May 3, 1670 – September 3, 1730) was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan (1697),[1] and consequently the first Phanariote Hospodar of the Danubian Principalities, Prince of Moldavia, and Prince of Wallachia (both on two occasions). He was succeeded as Grand Dragoman (1709) by his brother John Mavrocordato (Ioan), who was for a short while hospodar in both Wallachia and Moldavia.[1]

Reigns

Mavrocordatos being captured by Habsburg troops (1716), as imagined in an Imperial gazette of the time.

Mavrocordatos was born in Constantinople. Deposed as Prince (Hospodar & Voievode) of Moldavia in favor of Dimitrie Cantemir, owing to the suspicions of his Ottoman overlord, Sultan Ahmed III, he was restored in 1711[1] (after Cantemir's rebellion during the Russo-Turkish War of 1710-1711), and, for this second rule, is considered the first in a line of Phanariotes in Moldavia (indicating that the election by the traditional Moldavian council of boyars was no longer enforced).

Soon afterwards, he was replaced by Mihai Racoviță and became ruler of Wallachia, being thus the first Phanariote in that country – after the Porte decided to regulate the same system following the rebellion of Ștefan Cantacuzino. According to Anton Maria Del Chiaro, the Florentine secretary to Constantin Brâncoveanu (predecessor and rival of Ștefan Cantacuzino), Mavrocordatos tortured and otherwise persecuted Wallachian boyars who had supported the Cantacuzinos, and also ordered the execution of Ștefan's son. He was also noted for awarding tax exemptions to the majority of high-ranking boyars, as one of the first rulers to concede to the growth of monetary economy and the decay of manorialism.

In 1716, during the Austro-Turkish War, Mavrocordatos attempted to resist Habsburg invasion, but was betrayed by his boyars and had to flee to the Ottoman-held town of Rousse. He returned to Bucharest with Ottoman assistance, and executed a number of his adversaries, including Lupu Costachi, but was deposed by the troops of Prince Eugene of Savoy, and held prisoner in Sibiu.

Replaced by his brother John until 1719, he was restored after the Peace of Passarowitz[1] through which the country lost its westernmost part, Oltenia, to the Habsburgs; Nicholas' second ascension followed a period of major distress, including a bubonic plague outbreak and a major fire in Bucharest (it is possible that John himself had died as a result of the epidemic). Prince Nicholas died while in office in Bucharest; he was succeeded as prince of Wallachia in 1730 by his son Constantine Mavrocordatos, who would rule Wallachia six times and Moldavia five times until 1769.[1]

Cultural achievements

Nicholas Mavrocordatos was the first in a line of rulers appointed directly by the Porte. He introduced Greek manners, the Greek language and Greek costume, and set up a splendid court on the Byzantine model.[1] At the same time, Mavrocordatos was influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, the founder of libraries, the builder of the monumental Văcărești Monastery and of the Stavropoleos Church, and himself the author of an original work entitled Peri kathekonton / Liber de Officiis (Bucharest, 1719). He wrote also the first Greek novel, Philotheou Parerga / The Leisures of Philotheos.

A polyglot, he surrounded himself with savants from several parts of Europe, including the Daniel de Fonseca and Stephan Bergler; his library was among the continent's most treasured. Mavrocordatos engaged in a correspondence with major religious figures of his time, including Jean Leclerc, William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chrysanthus, Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; the first volume written by an author from the Danubian Principalities to be published in England was Mavrocordatos', and it is during his last rule in Wallachia that a more intimate knowledge of politics and society in the Kingdom of Great Britain became evident in historical records kept by locals (the chronicler Radu Popescu recorded the accession of George II as King of Great Britain). He died in Bucharest, aged 60.

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Mavrocordato s.v. Nicholas Mavrocordato" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 917.

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