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The Phanariot prince nicolae Petru Mavrogheni... 45
on the very moment he came at grips with Mavrogheni. Văcărescu would
have wished to take refuge to Constantinople, but for fear he would report
Mavrogheni to the Sultan, he was sent into exile to nicopole with his
family and with other great boyars. In the beginning they were able to live
there and in comfort. After his protector Selim pasha was moved from the
place, they started having terrible times and were finally sent to the Isle
of rhodes. Mavrogheni’s death was apparently caused by a letter sent by
Văcărescu. here is his testimony:
By this time prince Mavrogheni came from Vidin and had with him seven
to eight thousand soldiers and twenty canons. And as the romanians
through a letter had revealed all his actions to the vizier and the vizier to
the Sultan an order was sent, and he vizier sent an officer and that man’s
brother and as they met in a village called Beala they beheaded him and
brought him into the camp. the vizier called me and sent me to the violet
tent... to look at his head .When I came back he ordered me to write a
letter to the boyars in Bucharest with an order of his and show then the
justice of the almighty emperor who had learned of Mavrogheni’s deeds
in the romanian land, and sent him his due pay. Following his order I
informed them and they were all very happy.
the remaining story of the severed head is recorded in his diary by a
local boyar, namely ban Constantine Caragea:
on September 14, one Monday two tartars came from the ordi,
and they brought Mavrogheni’s head… and threw it into the sea
following orders… as his body was thrown into the Danube in
the village of pelaina near nicopole where he was beheaded. his
house was sealed13 .
two contemporary romanian chronicles in verse are equally
interesting14 . the first is called “Mavrogheni’s history” and belongs to
pitar15 hristache while the second one is anonymous. Both chronicles16 refer to the ascent of Mavrogheni on the throne of Wallachia. the two
chroniclers set up a portrait of the prince, who is savage mainly to the
13 the manuscript belongs to the library of the romanian Academy (Ms. Gr. 1464)
and was edited by p.p. pAnAIteSCu, Un manuscript necunoscut al “efemeridelor” lui
Constantin Caragea Banul, Institutul de Arte Grafice «Mercur», Bucharest, 1924.
14 text from Dan SIMoneSCu (ed.), Cronici şi povestiri româneşti versificate,
Bucharest, 1967, pp. 225-281.
15 A boyar supplying bread to the court and the army.
16 the first has 1098 verses while the second 1328.