Nicholas Mavrocordatos

Nicholas Mavrocordatos (, ; May 3, 1670 – September 3, 1730) was a Greek member of the Mavrocordatos family, Grand Dragoman to the Divan,

Cultural achievements

Nicholas Mavrocordatos was the first in a line of rulers appointed directly by the Porte. He introduced Greek manners, the Greek language and Greek costume, and set up a splendid court on the Byzantine model. At the same time, Mavrocordatos was influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, the founder of libraries, the builder of the monumental Văcărești Monastery and of the Stavropoleos Church, and himself the author of an original work entitled Peri kathekonton / Liber de Officiis (Bucharest, 1719). He wrote also the first Greek novel, Philotheou Parerga / The Leisures of Philotheos.

A polyglot, he surrounded himself with savants from several parts of Europe, including Daniel de Fonseca and Stephan Bergler; his library was among the continent's most treasured. Mavrocordatos engaged in a correspondence with major religious figures of his time, including Jean Leclerc, William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Chrysanthus, Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem; the first volume written by an author from the Danubian Principalities to be published in England was Mavrocordatos', and it is during his last rule in Wallachia that a more intimate knowledge of politics and society in the Kingdom of Great Britain became evident in historical records kept by locals (the chronicler Radu Popescu recorded the accession of George II as King of Great Britain). He died in Bucharest, aged 60.

Literature Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureștilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre. Ed. Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966, p. 94-96. Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient și Occident. Țările române la începutul epocii moderne. Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995, p. 31, 47f., 69, 92. Paul Cernovodeanu, "București-Canterbury via Amesterdam" , in Magazin Istoric, September 1997. Anton Maria Del Chiaro, Revoluțiile Valahiei .