Alexandros Mavrokordatos (Dragoman)

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Illustration from 1854

Alexandros Mavrokordatos (also Alexander Maurokordatos , Greek Ἀλέξανδρος Μαυροκορδάτος , * 1641 ; † December 23, 1709 ) was a dragoman around 1700 one of the most important politicians in the Ottoman Empire .

Alexandros Mavrokordatos came from the Phanarioten family Mavrokordatos . His father Nikolaos came from Chios , but moved to Constantinople . His mother was Loxandra Skarlatou (sometimes Roxandra or Roxane ), daughter of a wealthy Constantinople merchant. Alexandros Mavrokordatos left the Ottoman Empire and studied philosophy, theology and medicine in Rome , Padua and Bologna , where he received his doctorate in the early 1660s. In his dissertation published in 1664, he confirmed the theory of blood circulation established by William Harvey in 1628 . After his return to Constantinople, Mavrokordatos taught at the school of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and was the personal physician of several distinguished Turkish families. In 1689 he was accepted into the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina . His academic nickname was Alexander Magnus .

Thanks to his extensive knowledge of the language, he rose to the top dragoman (interpreter) in 1673 - at that time a highly influential position; in the same year he was appointed Grand Logothete , who mediated between the patriarchate and the Ottoman government. Through these two offices he gained great influence on Ottoman foreign policy.

After the defeat of the Ottomans in the Second Siege of Vienna , he was removed from office and sentenced to death, but after a year in prison he was released and rehabilitated. After a mission on behalf of the Sultan with Emperor Leopold I , he was instrumental in shaping the Peace of Karlowitz , which he signed for the Ottoman side in 1699. He died on December 23, 1709.

From the marriage of Mavrokordatos in 1670 with the Sultana Chrysoskoulaiou, who also came from a Phanariote family, the sons Nikolaos (later Prince of Moldavia and Wallachia ) and Johannes emerged.

literature

  • Nestor Camariano: Alexandre Mavrocordato, le Grand Drogman; son activité diplomatique (1673–1709). Institute for Balkan Studies, Thessaloniki 1970.
  • Johannes Irmscher : Alexandros Mavrokordatos, Greek scholar and Turkish diplomat. In: XII. Türk Tarih Kongresi, Ankara: 12-16 Eylül 1994. Kongreye sunulan bildiriler , Volume 3, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara 1999, ISBN 975-16-1172-5 , pp. 1005-1008.
  • Damien Janos: Panaiotis Nicousios and Alexander Mavrocordatos: The rise of the Phanariots and the office of Grand Dragoman in the Ottoman administration in the second half of the seventeenth century. In: Archivum Ottomanicum , Volume 23 (2005-2006), pp. 177-196.
  • Dimitris Livanios: Pride, prudence, and the fear of God: the loyalties of Alexander and Nicholas Mavrocordatos (1664-1730). In: Dialogos. Hellenic Studies Review. Volume 7 (2000), pp. 1-22 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Irmscher 1999, p. 1005.
  2. ↑ Irmscher 1999, p. 1006.
  3. ↑ Member entry of Alexander Maurocordatus at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on April 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ JDF Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 198
  5. ↑ a b Irmscher 1999, p. 1007.
  6. ↑ Irmscher 1999, p. 1006f.
personal data
SURNAME Mavrokordatos, Alexandros
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Μαυροκορδάτος, Αλέξανδρος (Greek); Maurokordatos, Alexander (Germanized name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Politician and dragoman in the Ottoman Empire
DATE OF BIRTH 1641
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1709