Dimitrie Cantemir

Dimitrie Cantemir (??????? ???????? in Russian, Kantemiro?lu in Turkish), (October 26 1673 - 1723) was a Moldavian Voivode, linguist and scholar.

Life and family

Born in 26 October 1673 in Sili?teni as the son of the Moldavian Voivode Constantin Cantemir, from the boyar family of Cantemir (lower Moldavian nobility). His mother, Ana Bant??, was a learned and enlightened woman of noble origins. (However, not satisfied with his status, Cantemir later forged his paternal ancestry and pretended to descend from a (...non-existent...) Khan Temir, of Tartar origins.)

Related Topics:
26 October - 1673 - Sili?teni - Boyar

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His education began at home, where he learned Greek and Latin and acquired a profound knowledge of the classics. Between 1688 and 1710 he lived in forced exile in Constantinople (Istanbul), where he learned Turkish and studied the history of the Ottoman Empire at Patriarchy's Greek Academy. In 1710 he returned to became Voivode of Moldavia.

Related Topics:
Greek - Latin - 1688 - 1710 - Constantinople - Moldavia

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He had ruled only for less than a year (1711) when he joined Peter the Great in his campaign against the Ottoman Empire and placed Moldavia under Russian suzerainty. Defeated by the Turks, Cantemir sought refuge to Russia, where he and his family finally settled. There, he was conferred the title of Prince of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great and received the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Charles VI. He died in his estate, to the north of actual Kharkov in 1723 (the very day he received the Roman-German princely diploma).

Related Topics:
1711 - Peter the Great - Ottoman Empire - Russia - Prince - Peter the Great - Charles VI - Kharkov - 1723

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Cantemir's children were rather prominent in Russian history. His elder daughter Maria (1700-1754) attracted the attention of Peter the Great who allegedly planned to divorce his wife Catherine and marry her. Upon Catherine's ascension to the throne, she was forced to enter a convent. His son Antiokh (1708-1744) was the Russian ambassador in London and Paris, a prominent satirical poet and Voltaire's friend. Another son, Constantine (1703-1747), was implicated in the Galitzine conspiracy against Empress Anne and exiled to Siberia. Finally, Dimitrie's younger daughter Smaragda (1720-61), the wife of Prince Dmitriy M. Galitzine, was a friend of Empress Elizabeth and one of the great beauties of her time.

Related Topics:
1700 - 1754 - Catherine - 1708 - 1744 - London - Paris - Voltaire - 1703 - 1747 - Galitzine - Empress Anne - Siberia - Empress Elizabeth

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