Constantin Cantacuzino

Constantin Cantacuzino (1639 – Constantinople, 7 June 1716) was a Romanian nobleman and historian who held high offices in the Principality of Wallachia. He was a humanist scholar who drew the first local map of Wallachia in 1700, and started to write a History of Wallachia which remained unfinished. In his History of Wallachia, he "accepted a Daco-Roman mixing" (Lucian Boia) in connection with the origin of the Romanians. A promoter of a prudent anti-Ottoman policy, he was executed together with his son Ștefan. Life Constantin Cantacuzino was born in a Wallachian boyar family of Greek origin, which claimed descent from the Byzantine imperial family Kantakouzenos. In the second half of the 17th century, his family led a fierce fight for power with the Băleanu faction, which began with his father's execution in 1663 on the orders of Grigore Ghica. For a short time, he fled to neighboring Moldova. Constantin Cantacuzino pursued studies in Constantinople 1665-1667 and he also studied at the University of Padua (1667-1668), being well-traveled for his time. He acted as an agent for his family in Constantinople (1672). He was imprisoned by Grigore Ghica and exiled to Crete by the Ottomans (1673), managing to return to Wallachia in 1674.