Alexander Hangerli

Alexander Hangerli or Handjeri (, , or Hangerliu, Russian: Александр Ханжерли, Aleksandr Hanzherli, Александр Хангерли, Aleksandr Hangerli or Александру Хангерли, Aleksandru Hangerli; 1768 – 12 June 1854) was a Dragoman of the Porte of the Ottoman Empire, and Prince of Moldavia between March 7 and July 24, 1807. He spent the latter part of his life as a refugee in the Russian Empire, where he became noted as a linguist. He was the brother of Constantine Hangerli, who reigned as Prince of Wallachia before being executed in 1799.

Life Born in Constantinople, Hangerli received a thorough education, was trained to speak several European languages, as well as Ottoman Turkish and Arabic, and prepared for a high-ranking position in the Danubian Principalities. In his twenties, he married a princess of the Callimachi family. Sources diverge in respect to the reason for this measure: according to the 1858 Nouvelle biographie générale, feeling insecure of his position as opposition to Sultan Selim mounted throughout the Empire, he had asked for his own deposition; in full, it was titled . In recognition of this work, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna. According to the , he had begun work on the volumes as early as 1806, upon the request of Armand Charles Guilleminot, future Ambassador to the Porte. Hangerli retired from public life after that date, and dedicated himself to the education of his grandson, Michel Ulangali (a literary critic, the latter settled in France).