Constantin Cantacuzino (died 1877)

Early life

Of distant Greek origins, the Cantacuzinos had reached prominence in the Danubian Principalities, which were governed as tributary states of the Ottoman Empire. According to diverging accounts, Constantin was born in 1793^[1] or "about 1798".^[2] His father was the Clucer Gheorghe (Iordache) Cantacuzino (1747–1803), grandson of Constantin I Cantacuzino; through his two paternal great-grandparents, Constantin descended from Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu and Prince Radu Șerban.^[3] Constantin was born from Gheorghe's marriage to Maricuța, daughter of Ban Ștefan Pârșcoveanu. The couple had another son, Grigore (1800–1849), who also served as Wallachia's Vornic.^[4]

Cantacuzino's involvement with the Wallachian administration began during the late stages of the Phanariote era, when both Principalities were being Hellenized. He first became a titled boyar in 1813, under Prince John Caradja, when he was appointed Serdar of the Wallachian military forces; in 1820, he was an Aga, or head of Wallachia's police.^[5] In 1821, following the Greek War of Independence and the anti-Phanariote uprising, he and his family took refuge in the Austrian Empire, joining a colony of boyars in Corona (Brașov).^[6]

The Aga had returned home by 1822, the year when he probably married Zoe Slătineanu, from whom he had his four children.^[7] In 1828, under Grigore IV Ghica, he issued the first-ever decree regulating Wallachia's police, which also marked a first step in its transition to modern metropolitan law enforcement.^[8] That year, he was also appointed as the first ethnic Romanian to serve as Efor (Curator) of the Wallachian theaters.^[9]

Cantacuzino's political climb was accelerated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828, when he welcomed the Imperial Russian Army and became a protege of Governor Pavel Kiselyov. Following the Treaty of Adrianople, both Principalities became protectorates of Russia under Ottoman suzerainty. In 1831, Cantacuzino was Vornic of the Wallachian Police in Bucharest. In this capacity, together with Gheorghe Bibescu he organized the very first elections for the Town Council, which took place in November 1831. When this was convened, he also presented himself as a candidate for an executive function (mădulăr), earning endorsements from 56 out of 80 councilors, and emerging as one of five town governors.^[10] Still serving as Aga in 1832, Cantacuzino was directly involved in the hunt for brigand Ioniță Tunsu.^[11] Kiselyov also assigned him to committees which supervised the paving and beautification of Bucharest's streets; his colleagues were Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei and Alecu Filipescu-Vulpea.^[12] His own townhouse, located outside Lipscani, was fitted with a bathhouse—one of the few private ones existing in 1830s Wallachia.^[13]

In parallel, Cantacuzino also ran in Wallachia's first legislative election, taking one of the 19 Ordinary Assembly seats reserved for the high-ranking boyars.^[14] After the election of 1836, there were protracted debates between the National Party and the conservative boyars. A ministerial crisis was finally ended in June 1837, when Cantacuzino agreed to enter a cabinet that also included his rival Știrbei.^[15] He served as Postelnic or Secretary of State, and was also Logothete or Justice Minister.^[16] He contributed to the pacification of Brăila in July 1841, signing Prince Alexandru II Ghica's proclamation to the rebellious Bulgarians.^[17] Acting on Ghica's behalf, he welcomed at Calafat the Ottoman inspector, Hüseyin Pasha, with whom he discussed means of tackling Russian intrigues in Wallachia.^[18]

Bibescu's reign and 1848 Revolution

Participants in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848 prosecuted by boyars. Political allegory in Ghimpele, 1868

Cantacuzino's friendship with Kiselyov afforded him a say in the legislative framework of Wallachia, codified as Regulamentul Organic. From within the Ordinary Assembly, Cantacuzino supported tagging the controversial "additional article" to Regulamentul, and thus revealed himself as a vocal backer of Russian influence in the Principalities.^[19] This pitted him against the National Party, whose leaders included Emanoil Băleanu, Ioan Câmpineanu, and his own brother, Grigore Cantacuzino.^[20]

Constantin was still a member of the Assembly following the election of 1841. However, on May 20, 1842, Russian commissioner Alexander Osipovich Duhamel obtained that he be deposed as Postelnic and replaced with Știrbei.^[21] Cantacuzino presented himself as a candidate in the princely election of December, but only managed 41 of 188 votes;^[22] the winner was Bibescu. Initially, Bibescu promoted him, assigning him office as an Efor of the Wallachian schools, jointly with Filipescu-Vulpea and Mihalache Ghica.^[23] Like his brother Grigore (who sat in the Assembly's committee for educational review), Constantin was a reactionary who objected to educational reform.^[24] Still present in the Assembly in 1843, he soon rallied with the anti-Bibescu opposition, blocking his legislative projects.^[25] He later chose to expatriate himself.^[26]

In June 1848, Wallachia's liberal revolution toppled Bibescu and installed a Provisional Government. His two eldest sons, Ion C. (Iancu) and Grigore, were enthusiastic participants in the events.^[27] In September, the movement was repressed by an Ottoman–Russian expedition. On September 21, Cantacuzino Sr rode from Corona to Bucharest, presenting his services to the Ottoman Army under Fuad Pasha; reportedly, he had been called back by Duhamel.^[28] Favored by both Russian and Ottoman overseers,^[29] he was subsequently appointed Caimacam by Fuad, on September 22. His ascendancy coincided with the mass arrest of revolutionary leaders, who were then kept under armed guard at Cotroceni Monastery.^[30] His acts became the topic of a protest, submitted to Âli Pasha, the Ottoman Foreign Minister, by revolutionary agents Abdolonyme Ubicini and Ion Ghica. According to Ghica, Âli informed them that Cantacuzino had only been appointed Caimacam because Reshid Pasha had mistaken him for his more reformist brother.^[31]

On September 24, Fuad and the Caimacam issued a deportation order for some of the core figures of the previous regime. The list included Costache Aristia, Nicolae Bălcescu, Cezar Bolliac, Ion C. Brătianu, Dimitrie Brătianu, Nicolae Golescu, Ștefan Golescu, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, C. A. Rosetti, and Ioasaf Znagoveanu.^[32] Cantacuzino's other preoccupation as Caimacam was an investigation into looting and arson by rebellious peasants, for which purpose he founded and led a specialized boyar committee.^[33] Assigning the direct supervision of education to Băleanu, Filipescu-Vulpea, and Petrache Poenaru, he initiated the purge of radical teachers, and, on November 1, personally ordered for all schools to be shut down.^[34] Though he endorsed additional anti-revolutionary measures, Cantacuzino was a moderate in this respect: Colonel Grigore Lăcusteanu, who organized the round-up, recalls that Fuad ordered him to limit the scope of his investigations, and also to submit to the Caimacam's every command.^[35] His son Ion was released from Cotroceni, and then successfully intervened to free another revolutionary, Nicolae Crețulescu.^[36]

On September 28, Cantacuzino and Fuad annulled the abolition of slavery, ordering the emancipated Romanies to return to their masters.^[37] The Caimacam also had a direct say in Wallachia's industrialization when, in March 1849, entrepreneur V. G. Browning presented him with designs for a large gristmill and bread factory.^[38] His municipal policies blended with repressive measures when he also ordered an inquiry into Iacob Melic's activity as a revolutionary architect, ordering him to pay back sums he owed to the city government of Bucharest an to Clucer Barbu Catargiu, and sequestering some of his assets.^[39] Additionally, the Caimacam set aside funds for the restoration of Bucharest's Monument to the Russian Soldiers, which had been nearly completely vandalized during the Revolution.^[40] He took hold of the arsenal of weapons collected by the deposed Provisional Government, and sent them to the Transylvanian Saxons, who used them in battle against the Hungarian State.^[41]

Final decades

Cantacuzino's mandate expired in June 1849.^[42] His attempt to be recognized as Prince was frustrated, as Russia imposed Știrbei on the throne. That moment marked the peak of Duhamel's participation in Wallachian affairs, as Știrbei soon turned against his Russian backers.^[43] His bipartisan cabinet included Cantacuzino, purposefully selected among his rivals to serve as Logothete.^[44] On August 23, he was advanced to Great Vornic and cited as "honest and faithful to His Highness".^[45] His 1848 victim Bolliac claimed that Cantacuzino had amassed a fortune from "things he stole while in office", having also received a prize of 25,000 ducats.^[46] Nevertheless, Știrbei refused to grant Cantacuzino 18,000 ducats, which the latter had requested as compensation; he also signed an order ending Cantacuzino's investigation of the peasant revolt.^[47] The former Caimacam remained involved in the agrarian debates, opposing measures to liberalize transactions between boyars and tenant farmers. Against Știrbei's own recommendations, he supported keeping peasants under a system of leases which closely resembled indentured servitude.^[48]

In June 1851 Cantacuzino and Bibescu were visiting the French Republic, both of them courting the Wallachian revolutionaries in exile, ostensibly to win their support for their candidacies for the throne. News of this infuriated Bălcescu, who suggested "that we kick these slick ciocoi [buzzards] in a certain spot on their bodies."^[49] The From October 1853, Russia and the Ottoman Empire fought with each other in what became known as the Crimean War. Știrbei left the country and Wallachia's fate remained uncertain until an Austrian occupation took over, establishing a buffer zone. In early August 1854, Cantacuzino welcomed in his home Halim Pasha, whose small expeditionary force restored an Ottoman presence in Bucharest. Their meeting was sanctioned by Austrian consul Anton Ritter von Laurin, who was also present.^[50] Again hoping to be made Caimacam or Prince, Cantacuzino also welcomed Omar Pasha and lend him a luxurious carriage.^[51] On August 31, Dervish Ibrahim Pasha partly satisfied Cantacuzino's request, appointing him and Constantin Năsturel-Herescu to lead a provisional government which was to handle affairs until Știrbei's promised return.^[52]

Cantacuzino resigned on September 23, when Știrbei appointed an entirely new cabinet.^[53] Probably at that stage, he commissioned a calligraphic and heraldic copy of his family's genealogy, originally written in the late 18th century by his ancestor, Mihail Cantacuzino; it remained one of the few surviving copies of the work.^[54] He eventually left Wallachia and settled in Paris; he died in exile in 1877.^[55] He was survived by all his four children. Ion was especially prominent, serving as a minister of the United Principalities; the youngest son, Adolf Cantacuzino, married to Ecaterina Iarca, served as the very first President of the Court of Appeals.^[56] From Ion's marriage to the daughter of Russian spy Nicolae Mavros, Constantin had been in-laws with Ion Ghica and with the Kotzebue family.^[57]

In 1857, Constantin and Zoe's only daughter, Alexandra, married General Gheorghe Manu, who later became Prime Minister of Romania.^[58] While Ion and Maria Cantacuzino had nine children together, Grigore died a celibate^[59] in 1903.^[60] Of the Caimacam's granddaughters, sisters Zoe and Sevastia became wives of two other Prime Ministers: the former married Dimitrie Sturdza, the latter Petre P. Carp.^[61] Adolf's son was the celebrated poet and diplomat Scarlat (Charles-Adolphe) Cantacuzino.^[62]