Constantin Hangerli

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Constantin Hangerli

Constantin Hangerli (also: Constantin Hangerliu, Hangherli, Handjery; Greek Κωνσταντίνος Χαγγέρλι ; Turkish Konstantin Hangerlı ; † February 18, 1799 , Bucharest , Principality of Wallachia , Ottoman Empire ) was a prince of Wallachia , which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. He was in office from 1797 until his death. His brother Alexander Hangerli was Prince of the Principality of Moldova until 1807.

Life

Youth and career

As a Phanariote , Hangerli claimed family relationships with the Byzantine ruling family of the palaeologists . He was married to Doamna Roxana. Tradition reports that the family name Hangerli ( Hanjeri ) was given to an ancestor because he had cured Sultan Mehmed IV of a serious illness. The name comes from the root word handjer , which is a name for a person who is close to the sultan. The Hangerlis were related to other high-ranking families such as the Ypsilantis and the Mourousis .

After serving as a dragoman in the Ottoman fleet , he was surprisingly sent to Bucharest as prince , although he was only considered the second candidate after the more famous Alexander Ypsilantis . This vocation can possibly be traced back to the influence of his former comrade and Kapudan Pasha , Husein Küçük : the latter had been sent to suppress a rebellion by Osman Pazvantoğlu in Rumelia and had demanded that a trustworthy prince be installed in Wallachia.

Hangerli reached Bucharest on January 4, 1798. He broke with the local custom of entering the city through the Calea Şerban Vodă and moved in through the Podul Mogoşoaiei . The population considered this to be a bad omen and omen for an "unwise rule". Like all Phanariots, he stopped at Văcăreşti Monastery to prepare for the official inauguration. For reasons unknown, he stayed there for over a month before moving to St. Sava Monastery , where he stayed until the Curtea Nouă was fully restored.

"Hangerlıs Winter" and conflict with Husein Küçük

Hangerli implemented huge tax increases and invented new taxes, including one for widows. These measures were not only determined by the demands of the Sublime Porte . While the military actions against Pazvantoğlu had to be financed, the prince also wanted to increase his own income.

The tax burden reached its peak when the hated văcărit (cow tax) was reintroduced, which his predecessor Konstantinos Mavrokordatos had permanently abolished. In addition, Hangerli had to buy the lifting of a curse from Patriarch Gregory V , which had been imposed on the tax. Even so, the tax still aroused fierce opposition from the Romanian Orthodox Church and Metropolitan Dosiftei Filiti . The boyars also refused to sign the decree, and Hangerli had to bribe four of them (including Nicolae Brâncoveanu and Cornescu) to get them to sign. To prevent a rebellion, all boyars were exempt from tax.

The winter months of 1798, when the Prince's envoys plundered the land while the peasants tried to hide their cattle, became known as "Hangerlıs Winter". The censuses showed large numbers of animals, but the population had no money to pay the tax. Ultimately, Hangerli ordered extortion through torture . It is said that Hangerli himself said: "If they pay, nobody will be killed."

The ongoing war between the Ottoman forces and Pazvantoğlu brought the regular troops several defeats. Husein Küçük retired to Bucharest. For fear of the wrath of Selim III. , he put the blame on Hangerli by claiming that he had not provided enough funds. When he found out, Hangerlı was still trying to spin an intrigue against Küçük, but fell from grace himself because a coalition of his opponents was fighting against him. The chronicler Dionisie Eclesiarhul reports that Hangerlı tried to buy Küçük's grace by bringing prostitutes to him at a banquet , disguised as members of the influential boyar families.

execution

On February 11, 1799, the Sultan issued a firman with the order to execute Hangerli immediately, and a Kapucu (Delegate of princes) was sent to Bucharest, that of an executioner was accompanied (Dionisie describes him as "a furchteinflösenden black"). The two traveled incognito and on arrival initially spent three days hidden in an inn.

Despite warnings from his Postelnic , Hangerli received them and, after reading Ferman, was immediately attacked and strangled by the Moor before he could call his guards. He was shot twice in the chest, stabbed and finally beheaded. The guards who stormed into the room when they heard the gunshots were presented with the Ferman and could not do anything. The Kapucu exhibited Hangerli's head for all witnesses and remarked: "Here is the dog that ate Sultan's Rayah ". Then he showed it to Roxana with the words: "Here is your husband's head".

Hangerli's body was exhibited in the palace courtyard for several days; a passerby threw a Para at the severed head and scolded: "Here, choke on money!" ( Satura-te de bani ). The body was buried in the church of St. Spyridon the New (Sfântul Spiridon Nou).

Zilot Românul wrote a poem about the story praising Sultan Selim for "making good out of bad" because he "unwittingly freed us from angarea ". Angarea or angarà is an ancient word for high taxes.

literature

  • Anton Caragea, "Ceasul cel mare al lui Constantin Hangerli" ("Constantin Hangerli's Big Hour"), in Istoric magazine , December 2000
  • Neagu Djuvara , Între Orient and Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne ("Between Orient and Occident. The Romanian Lands at the beginning of the modern era"), Humanitas , Bucharest, 1995
  • Constantin C. Giurescu , Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre ("History of Bucharest. From the earliest times until our day"), Editura Pentru Literatură , Bucharest, 1966
  • Ernest Mézière, "Alexandre Handjeri", in Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours , Tome 23, Firmin Didot, Paris, 1858, p.290
  • Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu , Ethymologicum Magnum Romaniae. Dicţionarul limbei istorice şi poporane a românilor (Pagini alese) , Editura Minerva , Bucharest, 1970: "Angarà", p.330-333
  • Ştefan Ionescu, Bucureştii în vremea fanarioţilor ("Bucharest in the Time of the Phanariotes"), Editura Dacia , Cluj, 1974

Web links

Commons : Constantine Hangerli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Mezière
  2. ↑ a b c d Caragea, p. 85
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Caragea, p. 84
  4. ↑ Official correspondence, in Djuvara, pp. 44-45
  5. ↑ Caragea, pp. 83-84
  6. ↑ a b Ionescu, p. 244
  7. ↑ Caragea, p. 84; Djuvara, pp. 72, 148
  8. ↑ Caragea, p. 84; Ionescu, pp. 247-248
  9. ^ Ionescu, pp. 247-248
  10. ↑ Caragea, p. 84; Djuvara, pp. 72-73; Giurescu, p. 107
  11. ↑ Caragea, pp. 84-85; Djuvara, p. 335
  12. ↑ Caragea, p. 84; Dionisie, in Djuvara, p. 17, in Giurescu, p. 107
  13. ↑ a b Dionisie, in Djuvara, p. 18
  14. ↑ Caragea, p. 85; Dionisie, in Djuvara, p. 19; Giurescu, p. 107
  15. ↑ Dionisie, in Djuvara, p 19
  16. ↑ Zilot, in Hasdeu
predecessor Office successor
Alexander Ypsilantis Prince of Wallachia
1797–1799 		Alexander Mourousis
personal data
SURNAME Hangerli, Constantin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hangerliu, Constantin; Hangherli, Constantin; Handjery, Constantin; Χαγγέρλι, Κωνσταντίνος (Greek); Hangerlı, Konstantin (Turkish)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Wallachia
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1799
Place of death Bucharest , Principality of Wallachia , Ottoman Empire