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The Phanariot prince nicolae Petru Mavrogheni... 43
“he” 3 seemed to be interested in the writing of a history of his own reign. In
fact what can one suppose the real Mavrogheni knew about Cantemir? As his
education was quite poor and he had spent all his life within the boundaries
of the ottoman empire, with quite a long period spent in Constantinople,
his acquaintance with the learned predecessor could consist at most in the
knowledge of Cantemir’s music 4 . In fact the remark seems to allude to Vita
Constantini Cantemiri 5 , the history Cantemir had drawn practically for his
family in which he made up a flattering lineage (imaginative, of course).
there is no doubt that Mavrogheni knew quite well about Cantemir’s
russian sympathies and final option, then the question arises how did that
function in building up the former navy captain’s penchant?
let us take the testimonies on Mavrogheni in a chronological order.
A quite humble employee, Dionisie eclisiarhul 6 , speaks in his diary
about the debut of Mavrogheni’s reign, dated 17/28 May 1786.the day
of his enthronement at the Metropolitan church, Mavrogheni observed the
protocol. there was nevertheless something strange in the laudatory speech
given by the teacher of Greek who said that everyone should behave, for
anyone who would trespass was liable of strict punishment. All the boyars
noticed the detail, as they noticed that the two executioners ere clad in
armour and that the personal guard of the prince was made up of sailors
from the Sultan’s suite.
Mavrogheni imposed a very strict order and sanctioned all illegitimacy.
he would walk in town dressed up so that he could catch the merchants and
the priests who were not doing their job properly. he had set up pales near
every church so that the thieves and whoever swore the priests and the
church would be run through.
Another witness of Mavrogheni’s reign, a very early and important
one, was lady Craven 7 . She had followed him out of Constantinople to
3 the quotation marks are due to the fact that we are talking about a character in a
novel.
4 namely in the treatise the prince had written in ottoman turkish Kitâbu 'Ilmi'l-
Mûsikí alâ Vechi'l-Hurûfât (“the Book of the Science of Music through letters”).
5 Vita Constantini Cantemiri Cognomento Senis Moldaviae Principis (1716–1720)
written in latin.
6 Dionisie eCleSIArhul, Hronograful ţărei Rumânesti de la 1764 pînă la 1815,
Cronicile medievale ale României, tome 10, . Dumitru BălAŞA (ed.) with an introduction
by Dumitru BălAŞA and nicolae StoICeSCu. Footnotes and comments nicolae
StoICeSCu. editura Academiei republicii Socialiste românia, Bucharest, 1987, pp.
181-184.
7 elisabeth CrAVen, A Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople in a series
of letters to His serene Highness the Margraf of Bradebourg, london, 1789, pp. 302-327.