Les princes phanariotes et l' européanisation des roumains

Abstract

In the Phanar (suburb in the old Constantinople) there lived the phanariot
princes’ families. After 1453, the Phanariots made their way to the Porte
quickly, because they were educated, cultivated, spoke many foreign languages,
they were skilled businessmen, great dealers, bankers and diplomats and that
was just what the Porte needed. Because of their remarkable gifts, they soon
reached high positions at the Porte (they soon became rulers at the Porte), so
that from the XVII-th century they were sent as voivodes in Wallachia and
Moldavia, Romanian principalities. The Porte couldn’t stand any more the
plots and the treasons of the Wallachians and wanted to settle the affairs
of these principalities. In this way, the members of the great phanariot families: Duca, Mavrocordat, Soutza, lpsilanti, bacarne rulers of the principalities. These princes (voivodes), although completely foreign, involved themselves into the peasants’ life, the economy of the countries and the social,
spiritual and cultural life. They brought in these countries the spirit of Europe
and something of its civilization. They took them out of the darkness of a
vegetative existence and led them to light.